Song Yue seriously doubted if this was actually a Beginner Instance .
First survival, then a rescue mission, and now she couldn’t even sleep without being interrupted. It was endless.
She lay silently in the darkness.
The curtain was yanked open, letting in a sliver of starlight. Song Yue sprang up, her blade flashing.
Three screams tore through the air.
The passengers in the cabin jolted awake. Flashlights flickered on, their beams revealing three men collapsed on the floor, clutching their thighs and howling in pain.
Blood streamed from their legs. Song Yue stood over them, her dagger dripping crimson.
Even though they knew she was capable, no one expected her to take down three grown men single-handedly. The passengers stared in disbelief, stunned that a young woman had neutralized the attackers.
Song Yue glanced down at the three men, ensuring they were no longer a threat. “Tie them up,” she ordered. “I’m going to check outside.”
The group finally snapped out of their stupor and rushed forward to bind the attackers.
Outside, the two accomplices heard the screams. But instead of realizing their comrades had been ambushed, they assumed the passengers had been subdued and burst into laughter.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a pitiful scream,” one of the men sneered. “I can’t wait to see them beg for mercy.”
“If you can’t handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen,” another laughed. “Sailing a boat this conspicuous? It was only a matter of time before someone robbed them. Serves them right! Hahaha!”
Nannan’s eyes widened in terror. She tried to call out to Sister Mei, her voice a desperate, airy whisper.
“Mmph… Mmph…”
Sister Mei, wake up! Please, wake up!
But no matter how she called, Sister Mei remained motionless on the floor, her eyes closed.
It’s over, Nannan thought, despair washing over her. It’s all over.
Song Yue and the others were gone. Sister Mei was unconscious. She was the only one left. She would be next.
I don’t want to die, she sobbed. I’m too young. I want to live!
Her hands and feet felt like ice. The sobbing choked her as she was transported back to that day, trapped on the supermarket rooftop. She had been just as hopeless then, certain there was no escape.
But then, a boat had appeared, and someone had reached out, telling her to get on.
Only those who have known true despair can understand the overwhelming surge of hope when it finally returns.
Nannan closed her eyes, replaying the memory over and over.
Yes. That’s the feeling.
Don’t despair.
Don’t give up.
Even if I’m alone, I can’t just wait here to die!
Nannan snapped her eyes open, summoning every ounce of her strength.
She didn’t know how she managed to stand up in an instant; only that a rush of heat surged through her, filling her limbs with power.
With a fierce cry, she threw herself forward, using her head as a shield and slamming into one of the men.
The impact caught him completely off guard, sending him stumbling backward.
The other man snarled, raising his foot to kick her. “Going out with a fight? Die, you bitch!”
Nannan stood her ground, her eyes bloodshot, bracing for the blow.
But before his foot could land, an arm shot out and wrapped around the man’s neck.
A second hand emerged, clutching a dagger.
Shink.
The blade sank deep into the man’s chest.
He stared at the knife protruding from his chest in utter shock.
The dagger was ripped out, and a torrent of blood gushed from the wound.
The man gasped, desperately trying to press his hand against the gash to stop the flow, but his frantic movements only made the bleeding worse.
His face drained of all color. His legs buckled, and he collapsed to his knees.
“You bastard!”
The man who had been knocked back spun around. His eyes widened as he realized his partner had been stabbed—by a woman.
His eyes bulged in fury as he lunged forward.
Thwack!
A wooden plank smashed into the back of his head.
The man’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed flat on the ground.
Old Man Li gripped the plank, panting. “How was that, girl? Still got a bit of strength in me, huh?”
Song Yue flicked the blood off her dagger. “Yep. Old Man Li’s still got it.”
Behind them, Nannan burst into tears. “I thought you were dead! Waaah! Thank god you’re okay!”
Her wailing woke Sister Mei, who had been knocked unconscious.
Sister Mei glared at her, exasperated. “…Nannan, if you keep crying like that, you’ll summon a ghost back from the afterlife.”
With the threat neutralized, the five men were bound together like zongzi.
Since sleep was out of the question, Song Yue dragged over a small stool, sat down, and began her “friendly” interrogation.
“Where are you from?”
“Laoshan Prison.”
“In neighboring Laocheng?”
“…Yes.”
“What’s the situation in Laocheng?”
The five men exchanged glances, their stories perfectly aligned. “Not good.”
Song Yue’s brow arched, her voice taking on a sharp, challenging edge. “How bad?”
“Laocheng is completely flooded,” one man said. “So many people died.”
“The roads are crawling with bandits and murderers,” another added. “Everyone’s terrified.”
“The police abandoned their posts and fled,” the third chimed in.
The fourth and fifth men followed suit, each adding a detail. In their telling, Laocheng had become a living hell.
“Is that so?” Song Yue chuckled softly. She drew her dagger and pressed the blade against one of their throats. “If you won’t tell the truth, you’re not much use to me alive. Why not settle this here? In this chaotic world, who’s going to investigate a few missing bodies?”
The five men flinched, their faces pale.
They recalled her fluid movements and ruthless blade. Exchanging glances, they finally closed their eyes and gritted their teeth. “Fine, we’ll tell you the truth. A major building collapsed in Laocheng a week ago, killing countless people.”
“Then the torrential rains started. The low-lying areas flooded, and everyone scrambled for higher ground.”
“The police were deployed, but they couldn’t maintain order. We aren’t lying about that.”
The five men had finally agreed to tell the truth, but Song Yue’s expression darkened.
Her original plan had been to take a boat east to Laocheng and find a rescue point. Now it seemed that was just as chaotic as anywhere else.
“So Laocheng isn’t safe either,” Song Yue murmured, though she was really speaking for the benefit of the others on the boat.
The group’s faces fell.
“Are we still going?” Nannan asked, her lips trembling.
She had only just recovered from the trauma of escaping the prison convicts. Hearing that Laocheng wasn’t a safe haven threatened to shatter her fragile composure.
Song Yue looked down, lost in thought. “We have to.”
“Thousand Crane Lake is practically an ocean now. There are no supplies left here. If we stay, we’ll run out of food in a few days. Laocheng might be chaotic, but it’s a city—there are resources. If we use our heads, we can survive.”
Neither option was good, but they didn’t have a choice. They had to pick the lesser of two evils.
Of course, Song Yue had her own reasons. She still hadn’t found Zheng Yuexi, and she needed to search other areas.
According to the chef, Zheng Yuexi and Jing Xiao had a sightseeing boat when they arrived at the hotel. They’d stolen a lot of food from the kitchen and fled by boat that same night.
Thousand Crane Lake was in a remote location, only connected to Laocheng in the east. Song Yue figured they’d most likely headed there.
The others listened, then fell silent for a moment. One by one, they looked up and nodded in agreement.
“You’re right,” Lin Sheng said. “If we run out of food, we’re dead. At least Laocheng gives us a fighting chance. A-Xin and I are with you.”
“My wife and I agree,” Old Man Li added. “No matter how chaotic Laocheng is, there might still be police to help. There’s nothing for us here.”
Sister Mei and her three companions said nothing, but their silence was the best kind of support.
“So, Xiao Yue, what do we do with those five?” Lin Sheng asked.
When the convicts had boarded the boat, he and everyone else had been fast asleep. Not a single person had noticed the danger until it was almost too late.
Only Song Yue had been awake, and in a single instant, she’d neutralized three of the attackers before they could even move.
That was the moment they’d all been jolted awake in terror.
The thought alone made Lin Sheng shudder.
If Song Yue hadn’t woken up when she did, they would have been dead. Once again, she had saved their lives.
A faint light touched the horizon, signaling the dawn of a new day.
Song Yue looked down at the five men bound like zongzi on the deck.
“Set them free,” she commanded coldly.
They had come in a boat, so she would leave them in one. Whether they lived or died after that was no longer her concern.
As the sun rose, the ripples on the water shimmered with broken light. If not for the cataclysmic backdrop, Song Yue might have found the morning glow beautiful. But she knew that behind its beauty lay countless deaths and desperation.
Song Yue had piloted the boat yesterday. Today, Lin Sheng took over.
They steered east.
Over the next three days, the small boat navigated the waters with Old Li guiding the way. They faced two major threats: a robbery and a landslide.
Song Yue, the deceptively unassuming master who had maxed out her combat stats, dealt with the robbers. The attackers were quickly repelled, forced into a panicked retreat just like the five convicts.
The landslide was averted thanks to Lin Sheng’s quick thinking. As rocks tumbled down the mountainside, he jerked the rudder, carving a perfect S-curve through the water and narrowly escaping.
On the seventh day of the Instance, the group finally reached Laocheng.
Laocheng sat much higher than Thousand Crane Lake. Even after a week of torrential rain, the flooding was far less severe. The water had only risen to the height of the first floor, and even then, only in the low-lying areas. Though the city was in chaos—with looted shops and refugees fleeing on every street—the police were still out, struggling to maintain order, just as the five men had claimed.
Nannan was on the verge of tears. After days of drifting on the water, they were finally seeing living people instead of the bloated corpses that had haunted them at Thousand Crane Lake.
Lin Sheng held his wife, Huang Xin, and wept with relief.
The journey had been an ordeal for the young couple. First, they were trapped in the hypermarket. Then, their buoyancy pack was stolen. Then, they were stabbed and nearly killed. They had even survived two robberies on the boat. If they hadn’t lived through it, they would have thought it was more surreal than any disaster movie.
But the nightmare was finally over. They could seek official help now and truly feel what it meant to be alive.
Old Li and Granny Li remained silent, but their hands were clasped tight, their eyes glistening with unshed tears. Their silence spoke volumes of the emotion churning within them.
Song Yue steered the boat to the police checkpoint and explained their situation and purpose. After a brief inspection, the officers agreed to escort them to a temporary shelter.
“We’re requisitioning your boat,” one of the leaders told Song Yue as they boarded the official yacht. “The city is desperate for vessels. I hope you understand.”
Song Yue waved a hand dismissively, saying nothing. The boat was nearly out of fuel anyway; it was of little use to her. If she ever needed to travel alone, she could simply retrieve the kayak from her space.
The official shelter for citizens was a gymnasium located on higher ground. By the time Song Yue and her group arrived, it was already crowded with people.
“These are free blankets. You can lay them on the floor to sleep,” a staff member explained, their eyes heavy with exhaustion.
“And here are your meal coupons for the week. Each person gets one free meal a day. Food is scarce right now, so please be understanding.”
The people in the gymnasium were grateful for the food and shelter, a far cry from drifting on the floodwaters. After collecting their meals, they sat on the floor and ate ravenously.
The food was a generic, mass-produced stew. Song Yue took one look at it, decided it didn’t suit her taste, and handed it to a hungry-looking child nearby. The child’s parents thanked her profusely as they took the container, and the boy began devouring the meal like a starving wolf.
Song Yue settled for the remaining crackers in her bag and a bottle of mineral water.
Behind her, two people were talking. At first, it was just idle chatter, but when they mentioned Thousand Crane Lake, Song Yue’s attention sharpened.
“I heard Thousand Crane Lake was completely submerged. So many people died!”
“Really? Why wasn’t it on the news?”
“Are you kidding? The entire scenic area was flooded—at least ten thousand people. How could they report that? It would cause a massive panic!”
“Even if they didn’t report it, they should have sent rescue teams, right? Laocheng is the closest city. Did they send anyone?”
“Look, I can only tell you this privately. Don’t go spreading it around.”
“Alright, stop teasing. I promise I won’t say anything.”
“Cough, cough… It’s like this,” the man whispered. “I have a relative whose kid works at the Laocheng Geological Research Institute. About two weeks ago, he went to Thousand Crane Lake for some fieldwork. It was supposed to be a routine survey, but guess what happened? When he got back, he started screaming for his findings to be reported immediately. He pissed off the entire institute and nearly got fired for it.”
“What? Did he find something at Thousand Crane Lake?”
“You bet. My relative can’t keep his mouth shut, so he told me everything. His kid discovered that the underground outlets at Thousand Crane Lake connect directly to Laohai. It creates a massive risk of seawater backflow. He reported it overnight, begging the higher-ups to take action before anyone got hurt. But they just dismissed him as a rookie with inaccurate data and shelved the report. Later, the kid heard from the Meteorological Bureau that a small tsunami was forecast for Laohai this year.”
“I know about the tsunami. We get those every year. This one wasn’t even that bad.”
“Sure, but the problem is how it affects Thousand Crane Lake. The groundwater is connected. The seawater just floods right back in!”
“Holy shit… If that’s true, then the authorities just sat on their hands while people died!”
“Shh! Keep your voice down! Someone will hear you!”
Song Yue narrowed her eyes, having caught every single word.
She finally connected the pieces of information. Huang An, the hardware store owner, had let something slip while on the second floor: “Dammit, if I’d known this place was so rotten, I never would have renewed the lease! Why didn’t I listen to those people?”
Those people. Later, when Song Yue questioned Huang An at the hotel, she learned they were a research team visiting Thousand Crane Lake.
While shopping at his store, the team had tried to warn Huang An that the lake’s waters might backflow, creating a flood risk.
They even suggested he move his business back to his hometown once his lease expired.
But Huang An hadn’t taken them seriously. He’d renewed the lease anyway.
And then the flood hit.
Song Yue recalled the details Huang An had given her: a gentle-looking young man with glasses, wearing a name tag that said Chu Xinghe.
“Chu Xinghe…” Song Yue murmured.
After finishing the last of her crackers, she slapped her thighs and approached a gym staff member. “Can I go outside?”
The staff member blinked, surprised. “You can, but it’s dangerous. I wouldn’t recommend—”
“Right. Thank you.”
Before he could finish, Song Yue gave Sister Mei a quick heads-up that she was going to check the situation outside.
She knew how to complete the Hidden Quest now: find Chu Xinghe and expose what happened.
Only then would the authorities learn the truth about Thousand Crane Lake’s backflow.
Her original plan was to take a taxi to the Geological Research Institute. But the driver informed her that the area was already flooded, as it sat on low ground, and inaccessible.
Song Yue asked the driver to drop her off at the nearest dry road, then found a spot without any surveillance cameras to quietly launch her kayak.
***
On the second floor of the Geological Research Institute, Song Yue spotted a young man with glasses standing by a window.
She tied her kayak to the building’s exterior, climbed onto the ledge, and vaulted inside. Before the startled young man could react, she extended her hand.
“Let me introduce myself. I’m Song Yue. I know what you found during your survey of Thousand Crane Lake two weeks ago, and I know your superiors suppressed your report. That’s why I’m here. The people at the top need to know the truth.”
She expected to see a glimmer of hope in his eyes, but instead, the young man offered a bitter smile. “It’s useless. It’s too late.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you think the groundwater is flooding in so quickly?”
Song Yue froze, a sudden sense of dread washing over her.
“Laocheng has been mined for underground minerals for years,” Chu Xinghe explained. “The caverns below have been completely hollowed out. Because they weren’t properly maintained, Laohai’s waters seeped in year after year, eventually filling the entire underground space.”
Song Yue’s eyes widened. “You mean… right now, beneath our feet, all of Laocheng is sitting on seawater?”
“Exactly,” Chu Xinghe said.
“Then the whole city could collapse at any moment.”
“Which is why I said it’s too late.” Chu Xinghe’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “This tsunami was the catalyst. The seawater rushed under the city, overloading the underground channels beneath Thousand Crane Lake. They collapsed completely, triggering the flood. Now the very foundations of Laocheng are being washed away. A commercial building already collapsed last week. It won’t be long before the rest follow.”
Song Yue knew this was far beyond what a single Task-taker could ever reverse. She forced herself to stay grounded, reminding herself to simply do her part.
Song Yue took a deep breath and fixed her gaze on Chu Xinghe. “I don’t care what happens to Laocheng later. You have to report your findings. Otherwise, the secrets of Thousand Crane Lake and Laocheng will be buried forever. Can you live with that?”
Chu Xinghe clenched his fists, his expression conflicted. “Why are you helping me? We don’t even know each other.”
“I’m not helping you,” Song Yue replied. “I’m helping the people of both cities. Is that reason enough for you?”
Silence hung in the air for two seconds.
Then, Chu Xinghe grabbed the documents from the table. “I know the way to the Broadcasting Station. Follow me.”
Song Yue’s jaw nearly dropped when she saw the yacht docked behind them. She had pegged Chu Xinghe as a stubborn bookworm, not a third-generation heir with a fortune to his name.
As she stepped onto the small private yacht, Song Yue couldn’t help but run her hand along its polished surface in envy. If only my Space were big enough, she thought. I could take this whole thing back with me.
But the road to upgrading her Space was still long and arduous.
The yacht was dozens of times faster than a kayak. In less than two minutes, they were already pulling up to the Broadcasting Station.
“The city’s been a mess these past two days,” Chu Xinghe explained, guiding her through the building. “The first floor of the Broadcasting Station is flooded, so many people haven’t shown up for work. There are several studios we can use.”
He navigated the corridors with such familiarity that Song Yue couldn’t help but wonder if he’d planned this all along.
Noticing her skeptical look, he cleared his throat. “I have a relative who works here. I used to visit all the time as a kid, so I’m pretty familiar with the layout.”
Ah, the power of connections, Song Yue thought.
Just as Chu Xinghe had said, many of the studios were indeed empty.
The two of them ducked into one and began setting up—organizing the documents, adjusting the camera, and positioning the microphone.
“Are you ready?” Song Yue asked.
She had originally planned to be the one on camera. After all, she was just a Task-taker; she’d finish her mission and vanish, leaving the aftermath for others to deal with. But Chu Xinghe had insisted on doing it himself, as if this were his personal mission.
Seeing the unwavering determination in his eyes, Song Yue knew he wouldn’t back down. She stepped aside and aimed the camera at him.
“I’m ready,” he said.
On screen, Chu Xinghe looked like a mess—wild hair, disheveled clothes. If not for his scholarly air, people might have mistaken him for a refugee.
He wasn’t a professional announcer, but his voice was surprisingly smooth and pleasing, like a piece of polished jade, unyielding to power or buried by chaos.
The footage aired across the country in real time, with black-and-white text scrolling across the screen as he spoke.
[Congratulations, Host. Hidden Quest successfully completed.]
[Reward: A Miraculous Cocktail.]
[Miraculous Cocktail: Drink when needed for an unexpected effect.]
Song Yue felt a surge of joy as she claimed the reward.
Suddenly, the building beneath her feet shuddered.
Oh no, she thought, her heart sinking.
Chu Xinghe sprang from the broadcasting chair and grabbed her, pulling her toward the exit. “Run! The building’s collapsing!”
A deafening roar erupted beside them.
The floor gave way. She felt her body lurch as she plummeted into weightlessness.
As the ceiling began to crumble above her, a thought flashed through Song Yue’s mind: 099, can I drink the cocktail now?
[Affirmative, Host.]
Good! I’m drinking it!
The cocktail materialized in her hand. As she fell, she tilted the glass back and drained it.
The liquid slid down her throat.
The system’s voice chimed in: [What is your wish, Host?]