No one in the Blank Zone sold the supplies Mu Shan needed.
After washing all her clothes, she began preparing for the next instance.
When she had first been selected by the system and pulled into the Zombie Siege world, her first task had been to find her safe house.
Mu Shan was not sure if the second instance would be the same, but all her worldly possessions were currently in the basement. In case she was teleported somewhere far from the safe house, she had to ensure she had enough supplies on her to survive outside for three days.
She cleared the small table and began packing her items one by one.
For weapons, the Viking Battle Axe and Peashooter were ones she never parted with. Just in case, she also brought a multi-tool knife, machete, and entrenching tool. Besides those, there were three item cards in reserve in her Card Album: [a chainsaw, garden shears, and an iron hammer].
For tools: mechanical watch, magnesium fire starter, alcohol, rope, binoculars, and camping lantern were all must-haves.
In case of extreme environments, she also packed a tent, sleeping bag, small blanket, iron cup, cassette stove, small soup pot, disposable utensils, toilet paper, and towel. This small soup pot should suffice for boiling water or cooking rice; she did not need to bring other pots.
However, for short trips, Mu Shan still preferred cold meals. Lighting a fire carried high risk and required a safe surrounding environment, so she did not plan to take chances.
The most important strategic supplies: medical first aid kit, white sugar, salt, and twelve 500ml bottles of mineral water.
She did not bring many types of food. There were still a few pancakes she had made earlier, perfect for filling her stomach outdoors. She had meat, but it had too strong a smell, and the bones were hard to deal with.
Mu Shan chose to bring some chocolate, biscuits, and other high-calorie, odorless, easy-to-grab foods.
Unsure of the temperature in the next instance, she wore a waterproof jacket over soft pure cotton long sleeves, matching sweatpants and sneakers. A medical mask and electric bike helmet completely covered her face.
Additionally, she brought a set each of raincoat and rain boots, thick clothes, and thin clothes as backups.
Mu Shan packed a small waterproof backpack with a bottle of drinking water and small tools for close carry. The rest of the supplies and tools all went into the virtual backpack.
After two hours, the glaring light in the Blank Zone had completely dried her clothes. Mu Shan gathered them piece by piece and put them away. The clothes and bedding were fluffy and soft, filled with the scent of laundry detergent.
More players kept streaming into the Blank Zone from outside, and others left one after another. Everyone rested here before heading off to who-knew-which instance.
The middle-aged man in the safe house across from her had also left, quietly and without a sound.
Mu Shan still had plenty of rest time left. She took a hot shower, ate her fill, and comfortably climbed into bed for a nap.
She slept deeply until the world spun. When she woke, the countdown showed about two hours remaining.
Mu Shan ate a little more, double-checked her supplies for anything missing, then slowly warmed up, practicing Taiji.
Unsure of the new instance’s conditions, she had to adjust her physical state to its best.
As the final minute ticked down, her heart inevitably pounded. Mu Shan gripped the axe handle tightly, hoping to draw some strength from it.
A cold, merciless system prompt appeared before her eyes.
【Countdown: 3, 2, 1】
【Plane transfer in progress. Players, please do not move during plane folding.】
【Loading second instance…】
Mu Shan thought it would be like the Blank Zone, a full safe house migration, but after a few seconds, no tremors came from the basement.
Suddenly, the overhead light went out with a “pop,” and the familiar dizziness hit.
She barely had time to grab her backpack strap before her vision went black and she fell unconscious.
She did not know how long passed—perhaps an hour, or maybe just a minute.
When her mind gradually cleared and her eyes could focus, Mu Shan saw a long-missed green.
She climbed up from the ground covered in dead branches and leaves, brushing the dirt off her clothes. The axe was right beside her hand, and the backpack had not been lost.
The lush jungle blotted out the sky. Through gaps in the branches, she could only see small patches of fragmented blue sky overhead.
The air was muggy and humid, filled with the buzzing of insects and croaking of frogs.
The more Mu Shan looked, the heavier her heart sank… Her spawn point was in a tropical rainforest, where ordinary people had no way to survive in the wild.
At that moment, a square, transparent dialog box appeared before her eyes.
【Ordinary Player 537099, you have entered the instance [Humid Heat Forest]
Main Quest: Survive in the current instance for 20 days
Success rewards granted upon task completion
Failure results in character death
Note: Newbie protection period over. Task difficulty increased】
Main Quest (Day 1)
The uninhabited tropical rainforest was not silent.
Some bird flew overhead, its wings flapping with a “rustle.”
Mu Shan swapped the axe for the machete, hacking away the dead branches and vines blocking her path, advancing with difficult steps, deep and shallow.
The system map had no landmarks, just a point showing her current position and another marking the safe house location.
She could see the safe house was beside a wide river, like a major artery of the human body, branching into countless tributaries. Beyond that, there were no other reference points on the map; she could not even tell directions.
Trying to navigate by the sun in the jungle was nonsense. The trees here were all tall and thin, competing fiercely for sunlight overhead; the sun was nowhere to be seen.
The forest was a brutal slaughter. Weak plants either died or evolved shade tolerance, humbly creeping at the feet of towering trees to survive.
After a dozen swings, her arms began to ache. Mu Shan’s breathing grew rapid, fine sweat beading on her nose tip. She braided her hair and coiled it on top of her head. Though muggy, she did not dare remove the helmet.
The crisscrossing branches could snag hair, and many small bugs could fall into the strands.
The most dangerous things in a tropical rainforest, besides the humidity and heat, were the terrifying variety of flora and fauna. These little things might seem insignificant but could give survivors a hard time.
“Crack—”
She forcefully chopped a vine in her way. On a nearby treetop coiled a snake with a red body and black rings, its triangular head watching her, hissing and flicking its tongue.
Mu Shan threw a stone to scare the snake away.
She changed direction and kept going, not only hacking obstructing branches but also constantly beating the underbrush to drive off snakes and bugs. Soon, her clothes were completely soaked.
The forest all looked the same. Every few steps, she had to stop and check the map.
But whether because it was to scale or not, the two points did not seem any closer.
In a full half hour, she had not walked more than 500 meters.
Countless shrubs of all sizes blocked the way, nothing like scenic parks or wetlands in modern society. In primeval forest, there were no paths. The vegetation was so dense that even walking was arduous.
The sticky, muggy air made breathing hard. Mu Shan found a tree trunk to sit and rest on. She took a gulp of water, even having the leisure to daydream.
—If this instance had a veteran player instead, it would probably be hell level. Wheelchair and car could not move through the forest at all, unless they could fly a helicopter.
During the rest, she used the Renew Old with New skill.
【Today’s Renew Old with New: Electric bike helmet x1
Original: Worn helmet. New: Bulletproof helmet】
She flipped open the Card Album. The Zombie Siege slots were full, and a new page had appeared after it. [Humid Heat Forest] had refreshed three cards so far, but they were useless to her while lost.
【Environment Card: A hillside laden with fruit】
【Item Card: Bird Nest】
【Character Card: A lepidopteran insect monster】
Lepidopteran meant butterfly. Mu Shan was quite curious if this so-called “insect monster” was the instance’s signature monster, like zombies.
These signature monsters were numerous and the players’ main source of gold coins.
But she had walked so long in the forest without encountering a single one. Were insect monsters not randomly spawning everywhere?
After resting in place for about ten minutes, Mu Shan prepared to continue on her way.
But as she jumped down from the branch, she felt a stab in her calf. Looking down, her pants were sopping wet; she touched a hand of blood.
Gritting her teeth, she carefully rolled up her pant leg and found a slender little bug wriggling on her calf.
It was a vampire leech, common in rainforests.
The temperature here was about 30 degrees, hot and humid, but even so, Mu Shan did not dare wear short sleeves or shorts.
She could only take out rope and tightly tie her pant legs and cuffs to prevent leeches or other bugs from crawling in.
The ground was not always just leaf litter and humus; sometimes she encountered puddles of unknown toxicity, surrounded by strangely colored fungi.
The heat and humidity made her sweat profusely, speeding up her water consumption, but Mu Shan did not discard the empty mineral water bottles.
There was no shortage of food in the tropical rainforest. Along the way, she occasionally encountered trees with berries—small red or purple fruits hanging full from branches. Mu Shan collected some in her empty bottles.
By late afternoon, the forest grew even more humid.
She occasionally stepped into holes or tripped over vines, stumbling and falling several times.
She thought she was walking in a straight line, but in fact, she was not. The safe house seemed close at hand but was actually far away.
Her boots were caked in mud, her clothes filthy and damp, and blisters had formed where her palms gripped the machete.
Mu Shan thought wilderness survival was as tough as it could get.
A downpour shattered that illusion.
Jungle showers came without warning. There was no way to use an umbrella amid the dense trees, and besides, she feared branches tearing it. The raincoat was not breathable and hindered walking.
In the end, none of the rain gear proved useful. Mu Shan could only get drenched.
“Drizzle—” Raindrops pelted leaves and stung on skin and face. Soaked clothes clung tightly to her body; waterlogged boots were like lead weights. Every step cost her all her strength.
Rain streamed down her face, blurring her vision; she could not keep her eyes open.
Who knew how many dangers lurked in the wet, hot rainforest? Realizing she could not advance far in the rain like this, she simply squatted under a banana tree, holding an umbrella like a mushroom waiting for it to stop.
Raindrops drummed on the umbrella with a “patter.”
Mu Shan stared at the weeds underfoot, her mind blanking out.
Fortunately, the shower passed as quickly as it came.
Ten minutes later, amid the dripping moisture in the jungle, chirping birdsong resumed.
The backpack held only one spare set of clothes, but Mu Shan changed anyway. In these conditions, dampness could cause fungal infections, and she feared catching a cold.
She discarded her bra. In a 30-degree rainforest, soaked sponge was a woman’s nightmare.
After passing a slippery small hillside, the surrounding trees began to change. A tall tree with massive aerial roots protruded from the ground like natural barricades, blocking her path.
“Croak croak—”
A black frog with fluorescent green spots crouched on a root, highly conspicuous. Mu Shan gave it a wide berth from afar. The rainforest frog’s garish colors warned survivors: it was highly toxic.
There were many such “little animals”: ping-pong-ball-sized poison spiders, venomous mosquitoes that chased people…
Mu Shan swatted a few with her knife; no gold coins dropped, so insects did not count as monsters. She could only fan them away tirelessly with leaf-made fans.
However, at the hillside’s edge, she spotted a strangely shaped tree. Its crown bore many long, brown pod-like things, like enlarged pea pods. Many mature ones had fallen to the ground, split open to reveal white flesh inside.
From the bite marks of small animals, the contents were edible.
Following the principle of wasting no food, Mu Shan immediately raised her machete, stretching her arm to hack at those still on the tree.
The ground, slick from the recent rain, grew even more slippery. She wasn’t paying attention, and her boot slipped on the moss. Her whole body tilted, and she tumbled down the slope.
“Ah——!”
Mu Shan barely had time to shield her head with both hands. Her body collided with small rocks and branches, bending countless blades of grass as she rolled down the slope.
Fortunately, the dense bushes halted her momentum, and she continued rolling until she reached the flat ground below, finally coming to a stop.
Birds and sparrows scattered in fright.
Mu Shan lay face-down on the damp fallen leaves. She stayed in that position for a good while, until the pain on her body eased somewhat. Only then did she struggle to slowly climb to her feet.
Her already filthy clothes were even more disheveled now, torn in several places.
Mu Shan moved her arms and legs, relieved that nothing was broken. However, her body was covered in scratches and abrasions from the scrapes, line after line.
She hastily wiped away her tears, pulled down her sleeves, and reached for the bean pod that had fallen nearby.
No matter what tricks the system pulled, she had to survive.