Wild vegetables and fruits, sweet potatoes paired with fish—Teams Yellow and Blue officially merged. They had basically given up on the treasure chests; under the Red Team's bizarrely strong control, these chests weren't meant for them at all. Fortunately, the Red Team didn't eliminate them, so relying solely on the 2 survival points generated every 24 hours and the points from killing monsters, they could still clear the level, though life wasn't exactly comfortable.
Of course, this didn't mean they completely abandoned the treasure chests. Whenever a refresh occurred, they still went to the chest locations to try their luck. Even if they couldn't grab a chest, taking down a few monsters guarding the resource boxes was still great. After all, what if the Red Team earned enough survival points and cleared the level?
Mu Anqi and her group gradually noticed the Yellow and Blue Teams' self-abandonment. Of course, this didn't make Mu Anqi give up on S-rank; beyond the daily battles over supply boxes, she and her team began to take the initiative, clearing the monsters on the outskirts of the Eternal Night Forest.
The farther they went out, the more monsters appeared. As soon as they left the base's range, waves of monsters would attack. Of course, those monsters were unlucky if they ran into Mu Anqi—once her blessing control was activated, they became living targets. Even the monsters not affected by her control were handled by Fang Xunjiu, Fang Yunjiu, and Xia Yun. Xia Yun's signature sword had become far stronger than in the trial dungeon, and her single-target skill [Strong Strike] and area skill [Sword Formation] went without saying. Beyond these two acquired skills, Xia Yun's swordsmanship was also exceptional. If it weren't for her constantly mentioning her master, Mu Anqi would have suspected she had gone rich and hired a high-level teacher.
However, thinking of General Ji, who was proficient in eighteen types of martial arts, Mu Anqi didn't feel jealous anymore.
After talking with Xia Yun, Mu Anqi didn't feel that being taught by a recruited strong player was anything particularly special. But Fang Xunjiu and Fang Yunjiu's eyes went wide: "The strong… the strong who recruited us, can actually teach us skills for free?!"
"Yeah, isn't that normal?" Xia Yun looked a bit puzzled. "When my master recruited me, she saw my 'sword heart.' She thought I would achieve great things in swordsmanship in the future." But she hadn't practiced for very long yet, so the results hadn't shown.
After all… her sword-cultivating master was someone capable of ascending; her age was probably counted in hundreds.
"…But the strong player who recruited me liked me because I'm a good person," Fang Xunjiu said, his expression dazed.
Fang Yunjiu said nothing. She got recruited by her sister, the Green Vine Spirit, was simply because she was cute, special and had interesting abilities. No matter how you looked at it… these recruitments were really casual.
When the Red Team shared what their recruited big shots could teach them, the sword-cultivating female ghost looked proud, General Ji slightly raised an eyebrow but kept a calm expression. As for the Green Vine Spirit sisters over at the Underworld…
"…Sister, do we really have to teach the players skills?" the younger Green Vine Spirit seemed doubtful about her life as a spirit. They were already monsters—why would they need to be versatile? "I actually wanted to teach Fang Xunjiu to change gender, but he's not a plant, so it's impossible for him to be both male and female."
The older Green Vine Spirit thought seriously for a moment. "All our attacks use vines… this is actually quite similar to whip techniques. Why not, after this game, we teach them how to use whips?"
"But they don't even have whip weapons."
"Then let them save points to buy them. For practice, they can make do with vine whips."
The younger Green Vine Spirit hesitated for a moment, then realized that Fang Xunjiu always relied on his sister for protection, showing no signs of being a proper older brother. Indeed, he needed a skill to rely on.
"Sister is right!" the younger Green Vine Spirit said seriously. "Once this game ends, we'll bring them back and teach them in seclusion!"
The Fang siblings didn't know yet that after this game, they would be forced to learn an additional skill.
This skill wasn't the mighty broadsword Fang Xunjiu had been imagining, nor the magic Fang Yunjiu had envisioned—it was whip techniques. And… they wouldn't even be provided with a weapon.
The Red Team's four-person group lost a teammate, reducing their daily survival points from two to one. Fortunately, Mu Anqi and her team didn't care about such a small number of points. With three resource boxes obtainable in 24 hours, they earned a net 16 survival points per day—very satisfying. By the time Mu Anqi and her team secured the tenth resource box, her survival points had risen to 64, and the other Red Team members' points had all surpassed 50. Calculating the time, it was almost enough to clear the level.
After all, leaving the Eternal Night Forest still meant killing a large wave of monsters.
"Ah?! But I only have control and no powerful tools—doesn't that make it really hard for me to get survival points from kills?" Fang Xunjiu looked dejected. He pitifully glanced at his sister, but his precious little sister mercilessly turned her head away, pretending not to notice him.
"It's fine. Your survival points are already over 50—very likely S-rank. You should be content," Mu Anqi patted his shoulder reassuringly. After comforting him, she organized her storage ring. She stuck pots, bowls, and other kitchenware on empty boxes, then closed the boxes. She tore a piece of draft paper, labeled it "pots and bowls," and then used hot syrup to stick it onto the boxes. Next came "mineral water," "fish," "sweet potatoes," "branches," "stones," and so on. Placing the boxes into the storage ring was also done carefully; since space was limited, they had to be stacked.
Once almost everything that could be organized was done, Mu Anqi rubbed her hands together, thinking that after this game ended, her shopping list would have grown even longer. Of course, if possible, she also wanted to expand her storage ring by another cubic meter.
Points are never easy to save. Ordinary players spend like ordinary players, wealthy players have items specially for them, but the Nirvana Space never loses out.
When… will there be a half-price discount for expanding the storage ring? Mu Anqi sighed quietly to herself—she was simply never content.
"The storage ring is so nice, being rich is so nice." Fang Xunjiu saw Mu Anqi finish organizing the base items and looked at the remaining empty boxes, wondering if the Yellow and Blue Teams needed them. Well… since they were so poor, they probably didn't have anything to store. Thinking this, Fang Xunjiu couldn't help but ask Mu Anqi, "Rich player… are you married?"
"Even if I had a relationship in my previous life, that was then~ Now among the players in Nirvana Space, there aren't many good people like me." Fang Xunjiu looked hopeful. "See, I'm officially recognized as a good person by the Space!"
Almost instinctively, Mu Anqi grabbed the warm ring firmly, her expression determined. "Thank you, you are a good person!"
Fang Xunjiu laughed twice, "Alright, alright, I knew it… a good person like me can't be a pretty boy… boohoo…"
"Brother, show some ambition," Fang Yunjiu said, unable to watch any longer.
Fang Xunjiu continued fooling around, completely unaware of the deadly dangers brushing past him. The four-person squad set off. Xia Yun didn't fly on her sword—she only ascended to get a better view of the terrain when Mu Anqi was unsure of the direction.
As soon as they left the base, the atmosphere of the Eternal Night Forest grew increasingly eerie and terrifying. Chilling winds howled from all directions, and every dark thicket seemed to hide monsters. Whenever they passed a large tree, it always felt as if a pair of eyes was watching from the darkness, ready to pounce and tear your throat the moment you glanced away.
In this ink-black night, Mu Anqi walked at the front. The glowing brooch on her chest radiated a light of justice, not only dispelling the darkness ahead but also giving her teammates a tremendous sense of security.
"Sure enough, some items are expensive for a reason." Fang Xunjiu followed closely behind Mu Anqi, unable to help but sigh. Maybe at certain times the glowing brooch was just a useless trinket—other players might even curse, "Idiot with points to burn"—but in the Eternal Night Forest, this was practically a divine artifact! "Miss Mu, maybe you could make a suggestion to the weapon shop. What if this glowing brooch could be modified to shoot fire, or fire off a laser beam or something? That would make it way more practical."
"The weapon shop takes on that kind of work?"
"It's Nirvana Space, everything exists here—it's like a game. As long as you've got enough points, what can't be done?" Fang Xunjiu waved his hand. "Of course, functions like that have nothing to do with ordinary players like us. We wouldn't spend 100 points on just a glowing brooch, let alone spend more to modify it. Wouldn't it be better to just buy a brand-new item?"
His words practically had "you're rich and stupid" written right across his forehead.
Mu Anqi couldn't help but roll her eyes. Just as she was about to say something, a dark shadow lunged straight at them. She immediately shouted, "Blessing of Longevity and Peace!" and raised her hand, firing a special anti-ghost bullet that hit the shadow's head. A shrill, miserable wail rang out before the ghostly creature dissolved into dark mist.
"Stay alert! Watch out for ghost ambushes!"
Xia Yun's life-bound sword flew out, shielding the squad like a barrier. Fang Yunjiu's evil god possession ability had a time limit, so she didn't use her power; instead, she slowed her steps, walking behind Fang Xunjiu to cover the rear. If any ghosts attacked, she could react instantly.
With enough survival points, Mu Anqi and her team were determined to clear the level directly this time. But the forest was enormous. When the countdown for the next treasure chest refresh dropped to two hours and they once again passed by a large tree, Mu Anqi glared at it through gritted teeth: "Ghost wall."
What to do when you run into a ghost wall? Don't panic, don't be afraid. Gather firewood and stones under the tree, drink some water, eat a little food, and rest for a while. Once stamina was restored and supplies were reorganized, the younger sister with the evil god's flames could burn the tree down with her violet-black fire to open the path.
The eerie purple flames engulfed the entire tree, and Mu Anqi's sharp eyes caught several ghostly figures trying to flee from the treetop in fright! She quickly cast a string of blessings, and Xia Yun reacted just as fast, using her Sword Formation skill to trap the ghosts midair. Their shrieks echoed as they were forced down, accidentally catching on the ev
il god's flames. Within seconds, they dissolved into dark mist, leaving nothing behind.