The giant insect monsters had eaten their fill, and not a scrap of Norman Nov remained.
Wang Ruizhi watched the large rock moth lick its antennae, then hop and skip into the depths of the jungle until it vanished. She silently rubbed her arms.
At that moment, Xia Xueqin dragged her steps over. She casually asked, “How did it go?”
Exhausted, she plopped down on the ground with a thud. “I used a downpour to extinguish the fire. That damn No. 6 position would’ve been charged with arson back in the old days.”
“Did you find the people?”
“No, both of them are gone.” Xia Xueqin sighed. “No sign of life or body.”
Wang Ruizhi glanced at the nearby cliff. “No reply to messages either. Could it be…”
The two exchanged a look, both harboring ominous premonitions.
Neither of them had instant teleport or flight items. To the naked eye, the cliff was at least several dozen meters high. Falling from there would leave one crippled if not dead.
“Like this: Let’s first ask the others about their positions and see if anyone has a way to rescue them.”
Wang Ruizhi had just opened the system friends interface and hadn’t sent out the inquiry when Xia Xueqin beside her suddenly grabbed her.
Wang Ruizhi: “What…”
She looked up and was stunned by the sight before her.
The forest, scorched black by the massive fire, suddenly erupted in a sandstorm. Yellow sand flowed like a river, spreading silently yet at extreme speed.
In the blink of an eye, the sand swallowed the withered branches and leaves, drowning the post-fire forest into a sea of sand.
The sky grew oppressively dark.
Camel bells rang out, “Ding-a-ling—ding-a-ling—”
The hairs on Xia Xueqin’s arms stood on end. She tiptoed, avoiding the shifting sand, and hopped onto a rock.
Wang Ruizhi lowered her voice, warily eyeing the shadow that approached in an instant.
“Dream Faller?”
A pitch-black beast-head mask
—like it was embedded in the man’s face. His slender limbs defied human proportions. His clothes had vanished, replaced by tattered white bandages.
On his exposed dark skin, golden patterns sprawled everywhere. A cobra coiled around his arm, flicking its tongue as it slowly slithered.
It was the Dream Faller… probably.
They couldn’t be sure, for the “existence” before them seemed to have transcended the human realm. Only a vague humanoid silhouette remained. As for what lurked inside…
He Yuncong had followed the traces of battle all the way here. Ignoring the two women, he lowered his head and scanned the surroundings.
“Hah—”
He opened his mouth, but no human sound emerged. It was more like an animal’s low growl.
The two tensed up. Wang Ruizhi quietly gripped her machete.
At that moment, the Catwoman Li Gang emerged from behind a tree. With a few bounds, he arrived panting heavily and blocked them. “…He’s asking where Shanshan is.”
Xia Xueqin swallowed hard and pointed behind her. “She… seems to have fallen off the cliff.”
He Yuncong, who appeared completely unable to understand human speech or speak it himself, unexpectedly reacted. He dragged his steps to the cliff edge, sniffing the bottomless air below. Yellow sand rustled down from his body.
Scattering into the air and dissipating into the wind.
While Wang Ruizhi and the others wondered what he would do, the man before them suddenly toppled like a collapsing mountain, leaping off the cliff without hesitation.
“Hey, you—!”
By the time the three rushed over, his figure had already vanished into the vast treeline.
Xia Xueqin’s face was full of shock. “M-Martyrdom for love??”
Accompanied by a “Rumble—” a massive sandball tumbled down the cliff.
The sandball grew larger during its descent, whipping up gales that toppled and snapped the surrounding trees.
The seemingly soft grains of sand were indestructible, forcefully clearing a path through everything in their way.
The cliff bottom was a primeval forest untouched even by players. The sandball zigzagged wildly before finally smashing into a pile of jagged rocks, disintegrating into scattered grains.
After two seconds of silence, the strewn yellow sand pulsed like a heartbeat, then erupted again. More frenzied and rampant, countless grains whirled through the air like bullets, slicing through leaves.
—All heading toward one target.
Mu Shan still lay where she had fallen, covered in wounds large and small, unconscious.
The sand mass charged with immense momentum but braked sharply as it neared her, hovering silently above the girl like it possessed a mind of its own.
From the churning yellow sand emerged a human hand, its black skin etched with patterns even at the fingertips.
Fingers gently traced her outline, yet dared not truly touch her skin.
A stream of yellow sand slid from the pointed canine snout, landing in Mu Shan’s hair, only to be softly blown away by the wind.
He crouched low, layers of sand enveloping them into a massive silkworm cocoon.
The sandstorm raged, camel bells rang.
[In my dreams, I often see you]
[Sometimes as a child, sometimes as a budding young girl, every frame turned into an album stored in the library built by my brain]
The sky, shrouded in yellow sand, was dim enough that the sun was invisible.
The light resembled that day’s dusk.
Mu Shan, still a junior high student, was drenched through, wrapped in a dry bath towel at the dining table. A gash on her arm stood out starkly against her fair skin.
He Yuncong feared hurting her and handled the disinfectant swab with utmost care.
But Mu Shan seemed unconcerned, animatedly recounting her ordeal.
“He was wearing our school uniform too. I saw him struggling toward the shore, but he had no strength left and couldn’t reach the rocks. As a fellow alumna, of course I had to lend a hand!”
“This little scratch is nothing. Bro, don’t tell Mom and Dad, okay?” Mu Shan pleaded.
The boy before her meticulously applied the sterile dressing, packed away the medical supplies without looking up. “Uncle and Aunt can see for themselves. What I say doesn’t matter much.”
“He’s a boy, and adults passed by. He didn’t need you to save him. Your swimming isn’t good either. Did you ever think what would happen if you both ended up swept into the river?”
Mu Shan looked at his unusually cold features. “Bro, why are you so angry?”
He Yuncong froze, nearly losing his composure.
The boy’s thin chest heaved violently. After a long moment, he suppressed it, lowering his brows to resume his usual expression. “I’m just worried about you.”
His gaze flicked to the candy on the table. “That boy gave it to you?”
“Mm.”
“Give it to me.”
“Don’t you never eat candy?” Even so, Mu Shan placed the candy in his palm. “Here, for you.”
He Yuncong pocketed the small candy, clenching his fist until the veins bulged on the back of his hand.
“Don’t do these dangerous things again.”
[If possible, I wish to bear any pain in your stead]
The yellow sand rustled, carrying a dry, fragrant scent.
When Mu Shan awoke, she felt as if she’d had a long dream.
She subconsciously stretched, then sensed something off… Her limbs moved freely, and all the injuries from the fall had vanished.
She sat up abruptly and discovered her previously fractured areas were pristine. Even the abrasions and cuts had healed without medicine.
Was the system mall’s 20-gold healing potion that potent?
No way…
Realizing something was amiss, she noticed she lay atop a thick pile of sand. The yellow grains blanketed her like a quilt, shielding her from the forest’s venomous insects and snakes.
Mu Shan scooped up a handful of sand. Fine grains slipped through her fingers, glinting with beautiful gold.
This was He Yuncong’s skill, but he was nowhere in sight.
Her gaze locked onto the nearby “sand dune.” She dug in with her hands.
The dune was loose and crumbled with a few scoops, revealing the man buried beneath: eyes tightly shut, body wrapped in bandages like a mummy.
Mu Shan jolted in fright and dragged him out with hands and feet. “Bro Yuncong?!”
Good news: He was still alive. Bad news: He was one step from full mummy status.
He must have transferred her injuries to himself somehow, ending up like this.
He Yuncong’s profession differed from ordinary ones. Mu Shan wasn’t sure if feeding him water and medicine would help, so she sat beside him at a loss.
At that moment, flashing system notifications in her vision pulled her back.
In the friends interface, Wang Ruizhi and Xia Xueqin sent messages one after another, asking how she was.
[Mu Shan (Collector)]: Fell off the mountain, still alive.
[Xia Xueqin (Meteorologist)]: Sorry, we have no flight items and can’t get down. But No. 1 jumped down for martyrdom in love earlier. You must’ve seen him, right?
[Mu Shan (Collector)]: Martyrdom in love…
[Wang Ruizhi (Auntie Wang)]: Be careful. No. 6 ran off. Scourges last a thousand years; his thief’s heart might not be dead. He could attack your safe house.
[Xia Xueqin (Meteorologist)]: We’ve linked up with Catwoman now. We’ll head back ASAP.
Mu Shan recalled the life-saving item Huang Hongbo had tossed before “dying.”
[Mu Shan (Collector)]: Don’t worry, I have it under control.
The mountaintop fire had extinguished, and at least an hour had passed since her fall. Huang Hongbo hadn’t received a kill notification, so he knew she hadn’t died from the drop.
Surviving a cliff fall wasn’t easy. If lucky, she could still move but would need ages to find a way out. If unlucky, crippled or maimed, death at the bottom would be swift. Either way, it bought Huang Hongbo ample time.
Because in the Main God Instance, killing a player wasn’t limited to face-to-face combat.
In the humid, sweltering rainforest, a red poison dart frog perched on a leaf, bulging eyes glaring at the limping man passing by.
Huang Hongbo was soaked through, blood dripping from his body, clothes tattered, appearance wretched.
He panted like a bellows, “Huff—huff—,” sweat streaming down his face in beads, complexion pallid.
After trudging through the jungle for who knew how long, he parted the obstructing leaves and froze. Then he burst into manic laughter.
“Hahahahaha! Stinking bitch, so what if you have tons of skills? You’re still doomed to wait for death at the mountain bottom!!!’
His bloodshot eyes bulged as he quickened toward Mu Shan’s safe house.
“I’ll be the last one standing, definitely me…”
No. 5 Safehouse’s digits hovered in midair. The front door was locked, no one inside.
Outside Mu Shan’s sunroom stood defensive fortifications on the ground: stone brick walls topped with sharp tiles. The only entry was a double-layered iron gate.
Additionally, a seamless barbed wire mesh encased the sunroom and walls like a birdcage.
Huang Hongbo circled the sunroom with an excited grin, rubbing his hands.
A zombie worker chained by the neck nearby spotted him, mouth agape, reaching out with a “Grr-aaaah” roar.
Huang Hongbo sinisterly pointed at the zombie worker. “Ugly thing, I’ll deal with you later.”
Eagerly, he pulled various tools from his bag: crowbar, machete, axe. He hefted them.
The stinking bitch’s profession was Collector; the basement must hold plenty of goodies. He already fantasized sleeping atop piles of food.
Huang Hongbo approached the iron gate, raising the crowbar high with a ferocious grin.
Meanwhile, far away in the forest’s other end, Mu Shan received the system’s attack alert at once.
【Your safe house is under attack】
She breathed a sigh of relief, smiling. “You ran pretty fast. This time, you’ve got no third life.”
Huang Hongbo’s crowbar smashed the iron gate, damaging part of the lock.
But at the same instant, dazzling electric light flared. Before he could read the flashing system prompt—
“Aaahhhh!”
His agonized scream echoed through the forest, then faded.
The crowbar conducted electricity. Under high-voltage shock, the hand couldn’t let go—instead, contracting muscles gripped it tighter.
—Tighter and tighter.
Huge sparks exploded, blasting the man high into the air before he finally crashed to the ground with a “bang.”
His charred body still twitched faintly, but it soon fell completely still.
【Sunroom High Voltage Grid, System Product, Level 1 Energy Consumption, Environmentally Friendly】
【Current Remaining Power: 80%】
Mu Shan waited a few seconds and, as expected, received the system kill notification. She unclenched her fists and felt a trace of vengeful pleasure.
With that, all four hostile players in this instance were dead.
【You successfully killed player Huang Hongbo (Elementary Fire Mage)】
It had been worth the 500 gold she spent on the high voltage grid.
【You successfully seized player Huang Hongbo’s skill: Scorched Earth
(Active) Area Element Magic
1000°C high-temperature flames, burning enemies from all directions without blind spots, cooldown 3 days
“A big move that someone never used until death.”】
【Player unlocks title: National Grid Worker
Killed at least one player using a special method (electrocution)
Life +1
“Is falling in love also this electrifying feeling?”】
【Player unlocks achievement: Double Kill
Killed two players consecutively within one day
Strength +2
“You’ve already experienced it.”】
Excluding the unexpected steal of Norman Nov’s kill, this was the second player she had killed since entering the instance. People not only had to fight the instance and the monsters but also their fellow humans.
Mu Shan looked up at the sky and took a deep breath.
If the system’s so-called “growth” was like this, then congratulations—it had succeeded.