After taking the red envelopes, the skill activated successfully, and the ghosts dispersed. Or rather, the moment Mu Anqi handed the first red envelope to that ghost, the rest of the ghosts had already scrambled away in a panic.
The reason? They hadn't gotten any benefits, and if they stuck around and got cleared out like mobs by those glowing-eyed players, wouldn't they be crying to death! It wasn't even ambush time yet, and since all these players were still inside the stronghold, not like that Sheng Wujie who had gone out, they couldn't all swarm together now either! According to the rules, they had to come one by one—wasn't that just courting death?
After finishing all this, Mu Anqi finally calmed down a little. She looked at the newly found box. "Open the supply box and see what's inside? If it's compressed biscuits again… well, they'll do for a couple of meals."
With one less person, they could each have a bit more to eat.
Xia Yun nodded, took out her natal sword, and once again cut the lock off. When the box was opened, they froze. This time the supplies…
There were still five bottles of mineral water, but the compressed biscuits had turned into self-heating mini hotpots! Not exactly a feast, but a hundred times better than compressed biscuits! It was hotpot—even if all vegetarian, it was still hotpot!
Next to it was a small packet of salt, but compared to the previous chest, there was also an extra small packet of pepper. Finally, there was a small box of matches and a little iron pot.
"Looks like… we can have a good meal this time." Fang Xunjiu, rarely losing control, swallowed hard. Thinking of that sweet potato field, he hurriedly said, "I'll go dig some more sweet potatoes, and sweet potato leaves too! We can make a big hotpot right away, and the self-heating packs from the hotpot box can be saved for later! …Miss Mu, since you have a storage ring, if you have some space left, could you hold on to them first?"
"Then I'll go fetch another pot of water! And— and catch some more fish!" Xia Yun got excited as well. She had thought this meal would be ruined by Sheng Wujie, but never expected the supply chest to actually contain a mini hotpot.
"I still have some fish in my storage space." Mu Anqi thought for a moment before continuing, "Take me along too, so we can carry more things. And we need to get a big stone as well—grilled meat on a stone slab sounds good too." Among them, only Mu Anqi had a storage ring, and she naturally regarded herself as a mobile warehouse. It was very troublesome for Xia Yun to drag back a full pot of water alone, but with Mu Anqi going along, it would be different. As for moving a bit slower… that wasn't a big problem.
"I'll go cut some trees and gather branches." Fang Yunjiu also assigned herself a task. The self-heating hotpot came with chopsticks, but they were far too short… If possible, she would carve out a few more pairs herself. It wasn't complicated anyway.
Everyone busied themselves again. About an hour later, Xia Yun carefully washed the newly made bowls and chopsticks, while Mu Anqi cautiously peeled and diced the sweet potatoes that Fang Xunjiu had brought back. Fang Xunjiu quietly filled the small iron pot with water, washed the sweet potato leaves clean. Fang Yunjiu used matches to start a fire and boiled water in the large iron pot.
After washing the vegetables, Fang Xunjiu washed the small iron pot again, then opened up the self-heating hotpot, taking out three packets of hotpot base to put inside. She added three packets of vegetable mix and vermicelli, and finally placed in the diced sweet potatoes, sweet potato leaves, and prepared fish pieces, mixing them with the cleaner water from the top of the large iron pot—a hodgepodge of ingredients boiled together.
Hotpot heals everything.
Even if it was only fish meat, it still healed everything!
Smelling the fragrance, Mu Anqi silently swore in her heart that once this game ended, she would go to a food shop and eat hotpot again—order only meat, and eat to her fill!
…
While Mu Anqi and the others were eating steaming hot hotpot, Sheng Wujie, who had set fires and fled, was having a really rough time.
He had always been reckless, and after being recruited by the black bear demon, his temper became even more defiant, looking down on almost everyone. After suffering such a huge loss at Mu Anqi's hands, losing so much face, and on top of that, his other teammates standing with that woman… the moment he obtained the clearance map, he couldn't hold back anymore.
A head-on fight was clearly impossible—he had witnessed Mu Anqi's decisiveness in killing ghosts, and those strange skills of hers were simply impossible for him to counter. But the anger was suffocating in his chest. Once he got the map, he looked around the camp, packed up whatever supplies he could carry, and then went all out—he set the entire place ablaze in one go. Watching the camp go up in flames, Sheng Wujie felt utterly exhilarated in that instant. Just imagining those players returning with their loot boxes, only to see the ruins, fuming with rage yet unable to catch him, filled him with satisfaction from head to toe.
Of course, he didn't dare linger. Glancing at the boundaries of the Eternal Night Forest, he immediately ran toward the nearest exit.
"Goodbye to you all!~"
With light, cheerful steps, he thought this to himself.
As he drew closer and closer to the forest exit, the smile on Sheng Wujie's face grew wider. He had no plans to stockpile survival points for a better score. He couldn't stand those players, that woman irritated him constantly, and since he couldn't win in a fight, he might as well quit early and dive into a new game.
As for the black bear demon watching?
It was fine—he knew the black bear demon's temperament. That fire he set would definitely hit the black bear demon right in the heart. With that fire, even with a C-rank, black bear demon wouldn't be angry.
By now, those idiots should have returned to the stronghold, right? He really wondered what their expressions would be! Sheng Wujie thought gleefully, not noticing the faint tendrils of black mist emerging from the ground, suddenly seizing him and merging into his body. Sheng Wujie only felt a chill run through him, and when he turned back, he saw nothing at all.
"What the hell…" He shook his head, glanced at the map again, and continued on his way. He hadn't taken much food or water, so he'd better hurry and clear this level.
Just as he was thinking that, his foot suddenly slipped, and he landed hard on the ground, falling straight on his tailbone, pain shooting up his spine. Sheng Wujie cursed under his breath, climbed up in a sorry state, and saw a glaringly bright smear of yellow mud on the seat of his pants. Of course, he knew it wasn't shit, but it looked disgusting all the same.
Sheng Wujie was so furious he couldn't even speak, and he furiously tried to brush the mud off his pants, but it wouldn't come off no matter what. He gritted his teeth and held it in. Anyway, he was about to leave soon—it didn't matter…
As he walked, a flock of birds passed overhead, and out of nowhere a "rain of bird droppings" began to fall. Sheng Wujie was both shocked and furious, nearly vomiting up the compressed biscuits he had just eaten. He hurled stones at the birds, but the flock let out piercing cries, and almost instantly, a massive swarm of birds gathered like a dark cloud above him, following wherever he went, with the "rain" pouring down nonstop.
What could Sheng Wujie do? He buried his head and ran frantically, yanking off his jacket to shield his head, nearly driven to despair. What the hell was this?! Ghosts wanting emotional points was one thing, but tormenting him with such filthy methods was going too far!
Little did he know, the ghosts who had taken the bribe had gathered a whole gang of their ghost buddies nearby, watching. But seeing that downpour of "attacks," none of them dared step forward just yet.
"W-we should… maybe wait until this wave of attacks passes?" one ghost couldn't help but say. After all, even as ghosts, they still had their dignity.
"Mm… how about we trap him in a ghost wall first, make him run in circles around that big tree?" the ghost that had received the red envelope suggested after some thought. "Once those birds have emptied themselves, then we'll move in."
"Alright, no problem!"
The ghosts quickly reached an agreement. They cast the ghost wall, and Sheng Wujie ended up running circles around a big tree. The flock of birds above chased relentlessly, bombarding him with a mad "rainfall."
Eager to rush out of the forest, Sheng Wujie finally realized something was wrong after circling around that particularly large tree for the third time. Glancing at his map, he discovered that he had actually been running in circles in the same spot?! Damn it, was this… a ghost wall? Looking up at the flock of birds still relentlessly chasing him, he was nearly sick to his stomach; his jacket had already been dyed completely white.
"Ugh—" Gagging, Sheng Wujie carved marks into the tree, desperately trying to find a way out.
After about an hour, the birds finally let him go. Or perhaps… they had simply run out of "ammunition"? In any case, the flock finally left. Sheng Wujie slumped down beneath the tree he had marked, too exhausted to even move. But just as he was about to rest for a moment, a sinister ghostly wind carrying countless wails and shrill laughter suddenly echoed right in his ears.
Sheng Wujie swallowed hard, lifted his head—only to lock eyes with a human head hanging upside down from the tree above him.
"Ah—!"
…
Leaving Sheng Wujie's situation aside, Mu Anqi and the others had enjoyed a fine hotpot meal. The leftover hotpot base and a bit of vegetable and vermicelli packets could still be stretched to make another meal. After all, sweet potatoes, sweet potato leaves, and fish were more than plentiful.
"Hic." Mu Anqi rubbed her round, full belly and sat on the ground with a face full of contentment. "Do you all have any thoughts about the rating? Or do you want to leave the forest and clear the game now?" Of course, according to what that ghost had revealed, the road out of the forest wasn't exactly peaceful either—there would probably be opportunities along the way to kill ghosts and earn some survival points. But Mu Anqi felt that they were still far from breaking 50, or breaking 100, and steadily securing an S rating. After all, ghosts weren't idiots—if she killed too many, they might stop offering themselves up and instead target softer teams.
Of course, if her teammates wanted to leave… that was fine too. At worst, she would just stay behind alone and try to survive a few more days.
"You want to farm more survival points?" Fang Xunjiu immediately understood what Mu Anqi meant. After some thought, he said, "We could also stay a few more days. If we leave now, we'll probably only get a C rank at best—not much fun."
Although their team was down one member, the one missing had been the hidden danger. With that hazard removed, they no longer had to worry, which was actually a good thing.
One treasure chest was worth five survival points, and surviving one night guaranteed at least one point. If Sheng Wujie wasn't dead, that would be two points. More importantly, Mu Anqi and Xia Yun were both very friendly and powerful—why not make friends with them? Who knew, maybe they'd run into each other again in some competitive game later. Mu Anqi and Xia Yun, for instance, seemed to have cleared a dungeon together before.
"I'll stay," Fang Yunjiu said. "I've never gotten an S rank before—this is a good chance."
"I'll stay too." Xia Yun looked at Mu Anqi and smiled. "I just don't know if, when this game ends, I'll be able to add you as a friend?"
Mu Anqi also thought of that trial game where they had suddenly been separated, and she smiled as well. "Of course you can. I'll be looking forward to it."