Lin Yunyou had just opened her eyes when she realized that something about her surroundings seemed off.
Before she could react, a cold, unfamiliar mechanical voice suddenly rang out in her mind.
[Welcome to the Infinite Survival Game. The following novice missions will now be issued. Host, please pay attention.]
[Novice Mission 1: Please find a suitable Shelter within one hour and successfully complete the binding using the binding mark in your palm. Failure will result in death.]
[Novice Mission 2: Escape the Ghost Vine area at all costs!]
[Do not doubt your current situation. The world you are in now is real. Please do your best to survive in this world!]
After delivering this string of information, the mechanical voice vanished.
However, the sheer amount of information left Lin Yunyou’s head spinning.
Where on earth have I ended up?
Once she came to her senses, she struggled to sit up and examine her surroundings.
She was certain of one thing.
She was currently in a forest.
All she could see was green.
There was nothing but trees upon trees stretching as far as she could see.
Lin Yunyou froze.
Had she been kidnapped from the city and dumped in the middle of some remote wilderness?
However, she didn’t have time to overthink it.
An environment like this was filled with dangers.
She had to find a way to save herself.
She quickly shifted her position, half-crouching on the ground as she carefully observed her surroundings.
She glanced around.
It looked as though they had entered some kind of primeval forest, except the plants here seemed to be on steroids.
They were ridiculously huge.
There were several other people around her.
Some were sitting while others were lying on the ground.
They didn’t seem to have fully reacted yet.
Or perhaps they remembered the mission the System had just issued, so they all tacitly remained silent.
Not far ahead of Lin Yunyou was a thick Black Vine.
Its main vine was coiled around a withered tree, while the rest of its vines were tangled together in a chaotic mess, hanging down like a wall of vines.
Even more vines spread across the ground around it.
Scattered nearby were the bones of various unknown animals.
If nothing was amiss, this was probably the Ghost Vine mentioned in the mission.
To her left was an animal that the Black Vine had apparently dragged over from somewhere.
Its death was bloody and gruesome.
The Black Vine was currently wrapped around the carcass, feeding on it.
However, the Black Vine soon noticed the uninvited guests who had suddenly appeared in its territory.
The Black Vine, which had been leisurely feeding just moments ago, immediately lashed out with one of its vines, violently whipping it toward one of the people.
That person reacted quite quickly.
He rolled to the side and actually managed to dodge the Black Vine’s attack.
After missing its target, the Black Vine temporarily halted its attack.
How had these prey suddenly appeared in its territory?
This doubt made it hesitate to act rashly for the moment.
Although these prey looked very weak, it still had to remain cautious.
The person who had escaped the attack stared fixedly at the Black Vine as it watched him hungrily.
In truth, he hadn’t fully processed what was happening yet.
But the situation didn’t allow him to show any fear.
Once he showed weakness, the Black Vine would surely pounce on him immediately.
The other Survivors were also badly frightened by the Black Vine.
But after witnessing what had just happened, they quickly forced themselves to stay alert.
They had to keep a close eye on the Black Vine’s movements.
Otherwise, they might become its food without even realizing it.
But the Black Vine had already set its sights on all the Survivors nearby.
Having reigned supreme in this area for a long time, it had already become something of a minor overlord.
Now that so much prey had suddenly delivered itself to its doorstep, how could it possibly let them go?
With so much food, it could even keep some of them as reserves.
Although it wasn’t sure how these prey had appeared, it had plenty of patience.
It could afford to wait them out.
It didn’t believe these prey could outlast it.
Lin Yunyou watched the vine warily.
Seeing the slight movements of its vines, she knew that it wouldn’t let them go.
This thing seemed to possess some degree of intelligence.
Remembering what the mechanical voice had said, she raised her hand and looked at her palm.
A complex symbol was engraved there.
She looked around again.
But with nothing around her except plants, where was she supposed to find a place to bind a Shelter?
Wait.
The System hadn’t specified what kind of Shelter she had to bind.
It had only said that it had to be suitable.
And here...
There were only plants.
Lin Yunyou’s eyes lit up.
A brilliant idea seemed to have formed in her mind.
Meanwhile, the Black Vine had surrounded the Survivors.
It watched them hungrily, waiting for them to show a weakness so it could take them all down and enjoy a feast.
Seeing this, the Survivors couldn’t help thinking that things were looking bad.
How were they supposed to escape?
The surroundings were filled with vines, and they had no weapons at all.
They didn’t even have a chance to resist.
They began forcing themselves to calm down and think of a way to escape safely.
Time passed second by second.
A few Survivors with poor mental resilience had already broken down and started crying on the spot.
Seeing this, the Black Vine became even more excited.
This meant that its prey were afraid and lacked the strength to resist.
That realization caused its vines to move with even greater agitation.
However, it was still waiting for an opportunity.
It didn’t want to let a single one of these prey escape, so it had to wait a little longer.
Lin Yunyou didn’t even spare the others a glance.
She only stared at the Black Vine, a strange light flickering in her eyes.
She was waiting for the right moment.
Just then, someone suddenly moved.
The man’s plan was simple.
With so many people present, the Black Vine couldn’t possibly catch them all at once.
If he ran now, the others would surely follow.
However, the others hadn’t expected some fool to act on his own at a time like this.
Shouldn’t they be facing the Black Vine together?
Acting alone was equivalent to exposing one’s weakness!
The Black Vine visibly froze for a moment before reacting and waving its vines.
It had thought that these prey were hiding some kind of trump card.
But it turned out they were nothing more than a bunch of paper tigers.
It had wasted all that time being cautious.
Taking advantage of the moment the vine froze, some of the Survivors who had been carefully watching its every movement immediately stood up and bolted.
But many fools failed to seize the opportunity.
They were instantly caught by the vines.
"Ah—no! No! Help!"
"Damn it! Let me go! I don’t want to die!"
Lin Yunyou also moved the instant everyone else did.
She stood up and charged in the direction she had already chosen.
Everyone else was running outward, away from the vine.
But Lin Yunyou was different.
She was running toward the hanging main vine.
The Black Vine hadn’t expected someone to charge directly toward it without any fear of death.
By the time it reacted, several vines had already lashed out toward Lin Yunyou.
Long before Lin Yunyou decided to run toward the vine, she knew that she would get hurt.
But she feared death more than injury.
She had to take a gamble.
What if it worked?
She dodged several of the incoming vines.
But then one of them struck her with tremendous force.
Fortunately, because the blow came from behind and carried so much momentum, Lin Yunyou used the force of the impact to lunge forward several steps.
And those few steps were just enough to bring her close to the hanging vine.
Seizing the opportunity, Lin Yunyou raised the hand bearing the binding mark and pressed it against the thickest vine.
[Detected that the host has chosen the Ghost Vine...?]
The mechanical voice in her mind suddenly lagged.
It was as if the System itself couldn’t process what was happening.
System: ?
But Lin Yunyou couldn’t wait.
She quickly hissed,
"Don’t worry about it! Just bind it! Bind it for me first!"
[Congratulations to the host for successfully binding the Ghost Vine as a Shelter!]
The instant the binding was completed, Lin Yunyou vanished from the spot.
Ghost Vine: ?