[Jiang Qi: Not reading it. I’m going to sleep.]
After sending the message, Jiang Qi pulled the blanket over herself and closed her eyes. In less than three minutes, she had already fallen into a deep sleep, not even getting the chance to read the messages Duan Xue and the others sent afterward.
No matter how much she tried to ensure her safety inside the instances, she could never truly sleep well there. Only inside the Survival Apartment could she completely relax.
When she woke up, ten hours had already passed.
Jiang Qi got out of bed and soaked in a hot bath for twenty minutes. Only after both her body and mind had fully recovered did she sit down with a bowl of crossing-the-bridge rice noodles she bought from the shop and open the Survival Apartment app on her phone. Right then, Qi Zhaozhao sent her a message.
[Qi Zhaozhao: Sister Jiang… I killed someone…]
“Killed someone? A player, or a normal NPC from the instance?”
Jiang Qi did not feel even the slightest bit of disgust toward the fact that Qi Zhaozhao had killed someone. First, if it was a player, they wouldn’t truly die. Second, if it was an instance NPC, there was no way to know whether those NPCs were even real people in the first place.
What if they were nothing more than strings of data and code created by the Survival Apartment System?
The Survival Apartment could already turn tens of billions of people into players simultaneously. Would creating NPCs out of data and code really be difficult for it?
Besides…
Qi Zhaozhao was a kind-hearted girl.
From what Jiang Qi knew about her, unless she had been pushed into a corner, there was no way Qi Zhaozhao would ever kill someone voluntarily.
Back in the City Instance, Qi Zhaozhao had even resisted using her ability to kill.
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Qi typed a reply.
[Jiang Qi: Was it self-defense?]
[Qi Zhaozhao: Yes.]
[Jiang Qi: Then you’re innocent.]
Curled up on her bed, Qi Zhaozhao broke down in tears the moment she saw Jiang Qi’s reply.
She was only eighteen this year, still at an age where her mind had yet to fully mature. Ever since entering the Survival Apartment, she had been unable to contact her parents, relatives, or friends. The only people she could trust were Jiang Qi and Ye Ling, whom she had met in the City Instance.
Ye Ling was a guy, so Qi Zhaozhao felt embarrassed confiding in him.
That left only Jiang Qi, this older sister figure who was merely four years older than her.
She truly didn’t know who else she could talk to. But if she kept bottling everything up, Qi Zhaozhao felt like she would eventually go insane.
Afterward, through the messages Qi Zhaozhao sent one after another, Jiang Qi finally learned just how twisted the Infection Instance really was.
[Qi Zhaozhao: The monsters in the Infection Instance are kind of like the zombies from the City Instance. The difference is that the monsters in the Infection Instance still look like normal people. They can talk, they have intelligence, and they can use all kinds of tools, but…]
[Qi Zhaozhao: All infected normal people turn into bloodthirsty lunatics.]
[Qi Zhaozhao: They’ll stop at nothing to hurt normal people, using all kinds of cruel methods!]
[Qi Zhaozhao: At first, there weren’t many infected people, so I managed to gather enough supplies and find a safe place to stay. But starting from Day 7, the entire city descended into chaos. I could only keep running and hiding from the frenzied infected crowds…]
Seeing this, Jiang Qi softly remarked, “Players with weapon-type items probably have a much easier time in the Infection Instance.”
[Jiang Qi: Did things eventually turn into full-scale shootouts in the later stages of the instance?]
[Qi Zhaozhao: How did you know?!]
[Jiang Qi: Didn’t you say the infected people still had intelligence? It’s easy to guess. At first, the infected would just fight with their fists or attack each other with knives. But once the infection spread across the whole city, the capable ones would definitely start bringing out weapons with greater destructive power.]
[Qi Zhaozhao: Exactly! By the later stages, the whole city was filled with explosions and gunfire!]
Qi Zhaozhao had stayed in the Infection Instance for fifteen days. The first seven days had been relatively peaceful, but during the last eight days, she had been running for her life nonstop.
If not for her upgraded Time Stop ability, which could now freeze time for five seconds per use and be used five times a day, she did not even dare imagine what horrific things she might have experienced inside the Infection Instance.
[Jiang Qi: What was the 10,000-point clearance mission for the Infection Instance?]
[Qi Zhaozhao: Kill the pathogen source.]
“So it’s pretty similar to the Parasite Instance…”
After discussing the Infection Instance, Jiang Qi also told Qi Zhaozhao about what had happened in the Parasite Instance. In the end, the two of them even went to ask Ye Ling what the Symbiosis Instance was like.
[Ye Ling: The monsters in the Symbiosis Instance are humans mutated after forming a symbiotic relationship with some “unknown organism.”]
[Ye Ling: You can think of them as really ugly, flying, sunlight-fearing vampires.]
“Ugh…”
Just hearing the description made Jiang Qi feel disgusted.
“So after all that, the monsters in the three instances this time are: in Parasite, they’re good at swimming; in Symbiosis, they’re good at flying; and in Infection, they’re good at running? Covering sea, land, and air all in one go, huh?”
[Ye Ling: Have you checked the instance page yet?]
Seeing Ye Ling ask this again, Jiang Qi could only helplessly tap into the instance page.
“Alright then, let me see what kind of instance has Ye Ling so fixated on.”
This time, unlike before, when the Survival Apartment instance page refreshed with three brand-new instances at once, it displayed two racing instances with the same name.
[Racing Instance: Drift (Solo Race)]
[Racing Instance: Drift (Team Race)]
Below the two instance options was a brief description.
[Racing instances use a registration system. Solo race requires individual registration, with an entry fee of 1,000 points. Team race requires teams of three players, with an entry fee of 3,000 points.]
[Unlike ordinary instances, only contestants and teams that achieve rankings in the Racing Instance can receive point rewards. The higher the ranking, the greater the reward. The lower the ranking, the smaller the reward.]
Jiang Qi also noticed that the registration timer for the Racing Instance was counting down.
[9 hours 53 minutes 36 seconds]
In other words, the Racing Instance would begin in less than ten hours.
“No wonder Ye Ling kept asking whether I’d checked the instance page…”
Jiang Qi reopened her friends list and discovered that people had already started inviting her to team up for the Racing Instance.
[Wu Shu: Boss! Look at me! Look at me! Let’s team up!]
[Liu Yusheng: Sis! I’m your most loyal fan! Please give me a chance to team up with you and clear the Racing Instance!]
There were still three other people on her friends list. Fang Huai hadn’t sent her a single message at all. After adding her as a friend, he had gone completely silent.
Yan Mei and Duan Xue, on the other hand, had sent greetings, but neither mentioned teaming up.
Fang Huai was easy to understand. He probably wanted to participate in the Solo Racing Instance instead.
As for Yan Mei and Duan Xue…
Jiang Qi felt that either they didn’t plan to participate in the Racing Instance, or they did want to participate but didn’t want to trouble her. Another possibility was that they wanted to use this opportunity to train themselves. That was entirely possible too.
“Both sides have two people. Which choice would suit me better?”
Jiang Qi was definitely going to participate in the Racing Instance.
Because it was obvious that racing instances gave certain players the chance to earn massive amounts of points.
Right now, the Survival Apartment was still in its early stages. The strongest players had only cleared two instances at most. If people didn’t work hard to earn points while everyone’s strength was still relatively low, they wouldn’t get such a good opportunity later on.
After all, tens of billions of people across the world were now standing on the exact same starting line. Former tycoons, capitalists, and politicians no longer possessed advantages or privileges.
For ordinary people, this was an unprecedentedly fair environment.
Jiang Qi had no intention of falling behind anyone else.
After thinking it over for ten minutes, Jiang Qi created a group chat and pulled Ye Ling and Qi Zhaozhao into it.
[One Rotten Life, Just Fucking Go For It (3)]
Ye Ling: This group name…
Jiang Qi: Well? Crude, but true, right?
Qi Zhaozhao: It actually does make sense.
Jiang Qi: Back to business. Do you guys want to sign up for the team race in this Racing Instance together?
Qi Zhaozhao: I’m in!
Ye Ling: I was planning to invite you two to the team race anyway.
***
There were reasons Jiang Qi didn’t choose Wu Shu and Liu Yusheng for the team race.
First, both of them were too impulsive and talked too much. She seriously doubted she’d be able to keep them under control.
Second, Wu Shu’s ability was fire manipulation, while the Racing Instance’s theme was drifting. Her ability would be directly countered, weakening the team overall.
On top of that, Jiang Qi’s own ability was unstable. If she failed to draw a useful item upon entering the instance, then Liu Yusheng would be the only one left in the group with any combat power.
Jiang Qi didn’t think that was safe enough.
But Ye Ling and Qi Zhaozhao were different.
First of all, Ye Ling was calm and powerful. Having him on the team was basically like having two captains among the three of them.
As for Qi Zhaozhao, although she was kindhearted, she was also smart. After going through the Infection Instance, Jiang Qi felt she would no longer hesitate to take action inside an instance.
A weapon manufacturer, an assassin prodigy—Jiang Qi felt that even if the item she drew turned out to be useless, their group would still have a very high chance of placing well in the Racing Instance.
As for why Ye Ling and Qi Zhaozhao were willing to team up with Jiang Qi, the reasons were simple.
Qi Zhaozhao only had two friends. She didn’t have any other players to choose from.
Meanwhile, Ye Ling had already been dragged down by unreliable temporary teammates in the Symbiosis Instance.
After that experience, he realized what he needed were teammates who could still think of ways to solve problems during a crisis, not teammates who could only count on him to protect them when danger struck.
Even if Jiang Qi’s ability might not be very useful in a Racing Instance, he still felt that teaming up with her offered more advantages.
As for Qi Zhaozhao, her reasoning was even simpler: hardworking, intelligent, brave, possessed an overpowered ability, and motivated to improve herself.
***
After confirming the team, Jiang Qi decided to come clean about her ability. Otherwise, it would be exposed once they entered the instance anyway.
[One Rotten Life, Just Fucking Go For It (3)]
Jiang Qi: There’s something I need to apologize to you both for.
Ye Ling: ?
Qi Zhaozhao: ?
Jiang Qi: I don’t actually have a spatial ability. My real ability is Lucky Blind Box Lottery Machine. Every time I enter an instance, I have to draw a new blind box. Different blind boxes give me different abilities.
Jiang Qi: In the City Instance, the blind box I drew was a 100-cubic-meter spatial ring. I lied and said I had a spatial ability because I was afraid you’d try to take my item.
Ye Ling: ……
Qi Zhaozhao: ……
Jiang Qi: Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you mad?
Qi Zhaozhao: No, I’m just amazed. So, Sister Jiang, you’re the real lucky one after all.
Ye Ling: This is good. It means our chances of placing well in the Racing Instance just got even higher.
Neither Qi Zhaozhao nor Ye Ling got angry after hearing Jiang Qi’s apology because it was completely understandable. Putting themselves in her shoes, if they had possessed Jiang Qi’s ability, they would have chosen to hide it too.
No relationship could withstand the temptation of enormous personal gain, let alone one between strangers who had only met inside an instance.
Seeing how readily they accepted her apology, Jiang Qi couldn’t help clasping her hands together and praying sincerely:
“Goddess of Luck, please let me draw a useful item in the Racing Instance! I’ll burn incense for you! At least ten sticks!”