Back at the base, Xia Yun and Fang Yunjiu were already gathered around the recovered supply box.
Mu Anqi looked at Fang Yunjiu. Fang's face didn't show any particular expression, so she couldn't help but ask out of curiosity, "During this time, have any ghosts come?"
"They have." Fang Yunjiu pointed to the scorched marks on the ground beside her. "But I burned them all clean." Shortly after Mu Anqi and the others left, two ghosts had crept over, but Fang was very alert. In an instant, she used her supernatural power, the Evil God Possession, and efficiently smashed those two ghosts, even giving them a full cremation service.
Mu Anqi gave a thumbs-up, then looked at the treasure box. "I wonder what kind of food is in here this time." The later it got, the harder it was to snatch treasure boxes, so the contents should be richer, right? —Although for their Red Team, this didn't seem particularly difficult.
Mu Anqi glanced at Fang Yunjiu, and after recalling a series of awkward powers like Si Maomao and the Magic Muscle Man, she suddenly realized: Doesn't the Nirvana Space require emotions?! These powers, which trigger awkwardness every time they're used, are basically an awkward-emotion perpetual motion machine!
Xia Yun had no idea what Mu Anqi was thinking. She skillfully swung her sword and broke the lock on the supply box, opening it.
The first things that caught their eyes were a bag of green baby bok choy and a bag of lettuce, along with three neatly packed boxes of fatty beef slices! The bottom of the box was lined with dry ice, and a bit of cold mist still wafted out as it opened. Five bottles of mineral water were stacked to the side, and next to the baby bok choy and beef slices was a box of energy drink powder, containing exactly five packets. Besides these, the box also held five round oranges and five chocolate energy bars, followed by a box of matches, a small bag of salt, a small bag of chili powder, and a small bag of MSG. This time, the box didn't include a pot, only a large iron tray at the very bottom. If one really wanted to use it as a pot… well, it could barely work? Grilled beef on an iron plate should be doable too.
A surprise, a really big surprise!
"This game isn't that bad after all," Mu Anqi couldn't help but say. "Aside from sleeping uncomfortably, three meals a day of delivery is pretty solid."
Fang Xunjiu gave a look that expressed his doubt about life. He glanced at the supply box, then at Mu Anqi. Though he said nothing, his eyes clearly conveyed: You call this thing "delivery"?!
He looked at Xia Yun but found her expression unchanged, showing no sign of thinking Mu Anqi's comment was strange. Fang Xunjiu blinked, then finally looked at his younger sister. When he saw the same look of "shock" in her eyes that he felt, he finally breathed a sigh of relief: thankfully, it wasn't just him who thought that remark was strange.
After that fire, they no longer kept a habit of stockpiling firewood. The bowls and chopsticks they made were packed by Mu Anqi into her ring. Once they received the new supplies, they scattered to collect branches, skillfully started a fire with matches, set up the small pot, added leftover hot pot base, vegetable packets, and noodle packets, washed the vegetables from the supply box, prepared the new fish pieces, cut the sweet potato chunks, and washed the sweet potato leaves to use together with the previous vegetables.
About an hour later, Mu Anqi and the others sat in a circle, enjoying an even richer hot pot than the previous meal!
Obtaining three treasure boxes in this endless night forest meant that 24 hours had passed. After finishing the hot pot and cleaning up, Mu Anqi and the others continued to take turns keeping watch and sleeping. It was only when Mu Anqi checked her survival points after tidying up that she realized her survival points had increased by two more.
Hmm, one point was for surviving a day, but the other… was it for the whole team surviving?
So Sheng Wujie isn't dead yet.
Mu Anqi didn't know how it worked if Sheng Wujie cleared the level safely—whether he would give survival points to his teammates or not. Next time, she'd have to catch a ghost and ask. If Sheng Wujie hadn't cleared it yet, that would be perfect. As long as he hadn't left, life for him would definitely be less comfortable than theirs, and Mu Anqi would have a chance to get revenge on him.
…
While the Red Team enjoyed a full meal and took turns sleeping peacefully, the Blue Team and Yellow Team completely exploded.
"Three times! Three treasure boxes! I haven't even touched a single box! This is totally unfair!" a player from the Yellow Team fumed. "Wild vegetables, wild fruits—these sour or bitter things I've eaten three meals straight. Can the next treasure box at least be something worthwhile? We can't rely only on eliminating ghosts to get ten survival points! Ten points each means fifty ghosts!"
Even if one teammate accumulated ten survival points and got the map, they could still clear the level together. But… why should that be? They couldn't even save ten survival points—how could a last-minute clear earn any praise? This was still a competitive player dungeon, and the bosses recruiting them were watching. If their performance was poor… there would be consequences once they got out.
"Aren't we doing well enough? Who are you to blame us? You don't even have any control powers, and not a single useful item!" another Yellow Team player snapped. "We're all in the same boat. Instead of blaming others, blame yourself. If you're so capable, why don't you go snatch a treasure box yourself?"
"You—!"
"Stop arguing, stop arguing, we're all teammates, speak properly…" the muscular player, seeing things were getting out of hand, hurriedly stepped forward to calm them down.
"Don't you talk to me either! This damn ghost power is disgusting! And turning into a magical girl, spinning around like that—ten years of brain clots couldn't come up with a power like yours!"
"Why the hell do you even have power discrimination? If you've got guts, let's settle this— loser isn't a real man!" The muscular player who had been trying to mediate suddenly snapped. With a surge of strength, his muscles bulged, and he swung a fist the size of a sandbag, issuing a direct challenge.
The disgruntled player froze, shrinking back, too afraid to say anything.
The Yellow Team's only female player sighed in the corner and silently started eating the sour, bitter wild fruits. Seeing these men arguing more and more ridiculously, completely abandoning the Red Team and treasure box topic, and resorting to personal attacks… she sighed deeply, stood up, and said, "Shouldn't we go talk to the Blue Team about temporary cooperation? Regardless of the box points, we need to have a proper meal." Otherwise, with players only giving two survival points a day, even if ghosts came to them, it was uncertain if they could survive four days.
"Or… does anyone here have the skill to catch some wild birds to eat?"
"…Better go talk to the Blue Team about cooperation," the four quarreling players fell silent and eventually agreed on this plan.
However, the Blue Team players weren't so easy to contact either. They didn't know each other's bases and could only meet when snatching treasure boxes… yet at those times, they were competitors. Sigh, the third treasure box appeared, and the Yellow Team was too slow—before they even got there, the box had disappeared. Just thinking about it was embarrassing.
While the Yellow Team was making new plans, the Blue Team was also grinding their teeth in frustration. But compared to the Yellow Team, they were a bit luckier. The Blue Team found a sweet potato field, and some of their teammates could start a fire. As a result, they had three meals of sweet potatoes that day. Apart from strong physiological reactions, there were no real downsides.
Still, even so, they couldn't swallow their frustration! The Red Team had already obtained ten survival points and unlocked the map, yet they didn't clear the level and even stayed to snatch boxes? Wasn't that just looking down on everyone else? How dare they! Here they were, struggling hard just to clear the level, while the Red Team was already farming survival points for a better rating? The more they thought about it, the angrier they got, and the angrier they got, the less they could tolerate it!
The angriest in the Blue Team was the player with maxed agility. He had always prided himself on his speed, but during the first box grab, he was a step too slow and got caught in the flying sword's smoke. The second time, he broke through the smoke trying to make the Red Team pay, only to get his face smeared with hot syrup. His eyes hurt all afternoon, and he wasted a lot of effort. The third time…
Never mind, better not mention it.
Just thinking about it brings nothing but bitter tears.
Who would have thought? When they first entered the dungeon, they were full of expectations, imagining that the three-player factions in the Endless Night Forest would be evenly matched, and a fierce battle would ensue! He even thought about rallying the players to unite against the ghosts. But reality slapped him twice hard. What ghosts? The ghost sneaking into your base was actually a cute little thing delivering survival points for you! The real bosses were the Red Team's completely uncooperative players!
The max-agility player shuddered at the memory of himself spinning and doing handstands with his eyes closed in the smoke, forcing all his willpower to keep from crying. He really couldn't understand how the female Red Team player had so many tricks—syrup, smoke bombs, strong crowd control—how did such a player never get randomly matched to their team? And that girl with the flying sword too, player matching was so unbalanced! How exactly did the game select players?
Amid their frustration, the idea of teaming up with the Yellow Team also sprang into the minds of the Blue Team players. After all, the Blue and Yellow Teams were equally unlucky—neither had obtained a treasure box, and none had even accumulated ten survival points. A sufficient shared interest could motivate them to cooperate. As for cooperating with the Red Team? With the Red Team snatching a box and disappearing immediately, forget cooperation—being able to exchange even a few words with them was a luxury! Besides, a strong team that could monopolize boxes would never be willing to cooperate with them.
The Blue Team held a small meeting and decided that when the next treasure box appeared, they would try to connect with the Yellow Team to achieve cooperation. If the two teams worked together, they might even eliminate the entire Red Team! Eliminating a team would grant extra survival points. The Red Team only grabbed boxes each time, never engaging in direct face-to-face fights, clearly lacking in combat ability. That was their weakness! As long as the Blue and Yellow Teams united, taking the treasure boxes and wiping out the Red Team wasn't a dream!
With such ambitious plans in mind, the Blue Team players huffed and puffed as they ate two large sweet potatoes together, then took turns keeping watch and sleeping. In their sleep, the players couldn't control themselves and occasionally emitted some mysterious gases.
The night-watch player's expression was hard to read as he listened to these occasional sounds—especially since his own stomach was also bloated and uncomfortable. He turned his head and took a deep breath: "Next time… next treasure box, we must get it!"
These sweet potatoes are basically inedible!