“Ye Ling really is ruthless…”
Jiang Qi thought about what would happen if she had just come out of an instance only to immediately enter another one. With her nerves stretched to the limit and her body utterly exhausted, what would her chances of clearing the instance be? Probably less than 20%.
“Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about it. Go to sleep already!”
Just as she turned over, her phone rang again. This time, it was a message from Qi Zhaozhao.
Jiang Qi jolted in surprise. “She’s not going into an instance too, is she?!”
Please no. She really didn’t want more anxiety.
Thankfully, Qi Zhaozhao wasn’t inviting Jiang Qi to enter an instance together.
[Zhaozhao Loves Milk Tea: Sister Jiang, are you going into an instance with Brother Ye?]
Meanwhile, in her own apartment, Qi Zhaozhao was thinking that if Sister Jiang went, then she would go too.
[QiQiQi: Ye Ling invited you too?]
[Zhaozhao Loves Milk Tea: Mm…]
[QiQiQi: If you want to go, then go ahead. I can’t do it. I’m planning to get a good night’s sleep first and wait until I recover before deciding whether to enter a new instance.]
[Zhaozhao Loves Milk Tea: I understand.]
[QiQiQi: Just make your own decision. I’m going to sleep. Bye-bye.]
[Zhaozhao Loves Milk Tea: Good night, Sister Jiang.]
After putting down her phone, Jiang Qi could finally sleep peacefully. She could think about the new instance after waking up anyway. The instance wasn’t going anywhere.
Ten hours later…
Jiang Qi woke up naturally and reached a hand out from under the blanket, groping around beside her pillow until she found her phone. Only then did she open her eyes.
“What time is it…”
“Noon already? Then I’ll lie here a little longer.”
Out of habit, Jiang Qi opened the regional forum to check on the latest situation among the players, only to discover that even more people were emotionally collapsing than ten hours ago.
[What’s the point of clearing instances anymore? What’s the point of entering them? Survival Apartment was never planning to let players live in the first place!]
[You know what? I spent seven whole days hiding in a hotel, surviving on just a little water and a few crackers every day. And then what happened? The moment the seven days were up, the zombies wandering the hallway suddenly acted like they knew I was inside the room and all gathered outside my door! The slightest sound from me and they’d start slamming against the door like crazy!]
[In the end, I got bitten to death after the zombies broke in! All my previous effort was completely wasted!]
[Same here! I survived in a hospital for nine days! During the first seven days, as long as I didn’t make noise, the zombies couldn’t find me. But once the seven days passed, they somehow knew exactly where I was even if I did absolutely nothing!]
[Huh? So the zombie instance also gets harder after seven days? The Island Instance I chose was the same. During the first seven days, as long as you didn’t provoke the snakes or enter their territory, they wouldn’t attack humans. But after seven days, the snakes started actively attacking people. I died because I couldn’t keep hiding anymore.]
[Me too! I got bitten to death by a snake in the middle of the night! Wuwuwu… I never want to see anything related to snakes again in this lifetime…]
[Do you know why the snakes suddenly started attacking humans? Because after seven days, every snake on the island went into heat! They were crawling everywhere looking for female snakes!]
[Compared to you guys, the tsunami instance actually sounds okay? After seven days, infectious diseases start appearing. Anyone who can’t find medicine dies one after another within three days. I got beaten to death while searching for medicine.]
[I survived eleven days in the tsunami instance. It was terrifying. People throughout the entire shelter were dying everywhere!]
[Reading through all this, everyone really does have their own unique way of dying…]
[Huh? Hearing you all talk, it sounds like the “difficulty increase after seven days” was intentionally designed by the system?]
[Probably. I think Survival Apartment doesn’t want to see players surviving comfortably. It wants to see players struggling to survive.]
[No, no, no. It’s not struggling to survive. It’s survival of the fittest. People unwilling to take risks simply can’t survive in the apocalypse.]
After reading this, Jiang Qi also began thinking.
“So… Survival Apartment actually prefers players to choose harder ways of clearing instances?”
Why would it do that? To train players? Or to filter them?
After thinking for a long time without reaching any conclusions, Jiang Qi decided to eat first.
While cooking noodles, she sent Qi Zhaozhao a message asking whether she wanted to enter a new instance together.
[Zhaozhao Loves Milk Tea: Sister Jiang, this time I plan to enter an instance alone.]
[QiQiQi: Huh?]
[Zhaozhao Loves Milk Tea: In the City Instance, I didn’t do anything. I just followed behind you guys and still cleared it. If I keep going like this, I don’t think that’s a good idea.]
[QiQiQi: Then have you thought about which new instance you want to enter?]
[Zhaozhao Loves Milk Tea: I’m planning to try the Infection Instance.]
[QiQiQi: Alright. Then I wish you a smooth clear in the Infection Instance too.]
[Zhaozhao Loves Milk Tea: I’ll do my best!]
“So energetic.”
Jiang Qi laughed with admiration, then suddenly remembered something. Ye Ling still hadn’t returned!
She had slept for ten hours, which meant ten days had already passed inside the instance. So did that mean he still hadn’t cleared it?
“Could it be because the new instance is so difficult that even he couldn’t clear it quickly?”
Jiang Qi felt that Ye Ling was stronger than she was. If even he couldn’t clear it quickly, then could she?
Unease spread through her heart, but she quickly suppressed it.
“No. You can’t lose heart.”
Jiang Qi stood up and began giving herself a full mental pep talk.
“I can clear it. I can clear it. I can clear it. I can clear it…”
Ten minutes later, after finally calming down, she opened the special shop.
If she was going to enter a new instance, then she needed to prepare in advance.
The special shop sold all kinds of items, but most of them were too expensive for Jiang Qi, so she focused only on the ones she could afford.
“What I’m lacking most right now is probably an improvement in my physical abilities…”
Jiang Qi’s gaze settled on the descriptions of several items she could afford.
《Women’s Self-Defense Techniques》 (Beginner Level) — 2000 points.
[Description: It won’t let you beat up hooligans, but it will let you break free from them.]
《Basic Firearms Mastery》 — 2,000 points.
[Description: At the very least, you won’t accidentally shoot your teammate in the back.]
《Constitution Cleansing Pill》 (Beginner Level) — 2000 points.
[Description: Grants a slight improvement to physical constitution after consumption.]
《Skill Upgrade Card》 — 5000 points.
[Description: No losses, no scams.]
Jiang Qi had already spent over 1,900 points on daily necessities the night before, so out of the four items she liked, she could currently afford only two.
“No wonder Ye Ling said points were never enough…”
She didn’t have enough either!
Still, Jiang Qi didn’t regret buying the daily necessities, because having those things made her want to keep living and gave her greater courage.
In the end, Jiang Qi gritted her teeth and chose the beginner-level 《Women’s Self-Defense Techniques》 and the 《Skill Upgrade Card》.
There were reasons for her choices.
The prerequisite for Basic Firearms Mastery was actually obtaining firearms inside an instance. But what if she couldn’t? Then wouldn’t the skill be useless?
Although the Constitution Cleansing Pill could improve her physique, make her run faster, and increase her stamina, a beginner-level pill probably wouldn’t provide a huge boost. In that case, she might as well choose something with a better return.
Women’s Self-Defense Techniques, on the other hand, was different. The entire point of it was using weakness to overcome strength. Considering that Jiang Qi’s physical strength, power, and build were all inferior to those of most men, and that she already had some basic self-defense training, the skill would be the most useful to her.
As for why she still chose Women’s Self-Defense Techniques despite already learning self-defense before?
Because there was still a difference between theory and practice.
At the very least, Women’s Self-Defense Techniques would allow Jiang Qi to break free and escape even if she couldn’t defeat someone.
Lastly, there was the Skill Upgrade Card.
Jiang Qi chose the Skill Upgrade Card because she felt that improving her ability was the real key to clearing instances. What if, after upgrading, her power changed from a temporary blind box into a permanent one?
[System: Are you sure you want to use the Skill Upgrade Card on Lucky Blind Box Lottery Machine?]
[Confirm]
[System: Upgrading A-rank Lucky Blind Box Lottery Machine…]
[System: Upgrade complete. A-rank Lucky Blind Box Lottery Machine has successfully upgraded to A+1-rank Lucky Blind Box Lottery Machine.]
[System: Upgrade effect — the composition of the Lucky Blind Box Lottery Machine’s blind box pool has changed from 100% ordinary blind boxes to 90% ordinary blind boxes + 10% special blind boxes.]
Huh?
HUH?!!
That’s it? That’s all the upgrade did?!
Jiang Qi broke down. “So I still have to rely on luck?!”
Fine. She got it now. From now on, if she drew good items, she’d clear the instance. If she didn’t, she was doomed.
What kind of nonsense was this?
Everyone else was playing a survival game, while she alone was stuck playing a lottery game?
[System: Are you sure you want to learn Women’s Self-Defense Techniques (Beginner Level)?]
[Confirm]
A beam of light from nowhere suddenly enveloped Jiang Qi’s entire body. Very quickly, her mind was filled with knowledge she had never learned before.
After trying a few self-defense moves, Jiang Qi realized her form was much more precise and polished than when she had learned them herself in the past.
“Not bad.”
After training in the room for two hours, Jiang Qi took another shower.
“One more meal, then I’m entering an instance!”
This time, instead of instant noodles, she spent 100 points on a beef hot pot.
After eating and drinking her fill, Jiang Qi began choosing which instance to enter. By now, Qi Zhaozhao had already entered the Infection Instance, while Ye Ling, who had gone into the Symbiosis Instance, still hadn’t cleared it yet.
“Well, the names don’t really tell me anything anyway. I’ll just pick the Parasite Instance since they didn’t choose it.”
After mentally preparing herself once again, Jiang Qi clicked on the instance interface and selected ② Parasite Instance.
[Parasite Instance Clearance Conditions:]
[① Survive for 30 days in the Yu City Instance to obtain 1000 points.]
[② Kill one Parasite Host Mother to obtain 10,000 points.]
[Countdown until entering the Parasite Instance:]
[3]
[2]
[1]
Darkness swallowed Jiang Qi’s vision. This time, she didn’t panic. She silently waited for the instance transfer, and when she opened her eyes again, she found herself sitting on a moving bus, surrounded by other passengers.
There weren’t many.
Only around a dozen people.
And the clearance conditions for the Parasite Instance were actually different from those of the City Instance…
Kill a Parasite Host Mother? Parasite? Host Mother?
What exactly was the parasite? What was the Host Mother? And how did the parasitism even work?
Amid her confusion and uncertainty, Jiang Qi used her Lucky Blind Box Lottery Machine ability.
[Congratulations, you have obtained a White Special Blind Box.]
The white blind box that appeared out of thin air in her hands was much larger than the pink one from last time. After opening it, Jiang Qi discovered a white retro CCD digital camera inside. It was a Polaroid camera.
“A Polaroid? What’s this supposed to do?”
[Photo Materialization Camera (B-rank): Can only be used 3 times per day.]
Photo materialization?
Did that mean the photos it took could become real objects?
Then if she photographed food, would the materialized food actually be edible?
If it could…
Jiang Qi’s eyes lit up. Maybe this Parasite Instance could be cleared smoothly after all!