On the tenth day of the main quest, Mu Shan got up specially at 5 a.m. to avoid the midday sun.
As soon as she stepped out of the temperature-controlled basement, the wave of heat in the sunroom hit her like a wall, making her breath catch.
Large beads of sweat slid down from her forehead. Mu Shan pulled down her straw hat, slung the bamboo basket over her back, grabbed her small shovel, and headed out to forage in the super-high temperature of 58 degrees under the first rays of morning sunlight.
She did not plan to go too far, but she needed to stock up on as many fresh ingredients as possible before the temperatures in the instance got truly ridiculous.
Judging by the system’s habits, the chances of getting fresh ingredients in the next instance were virtually zero. It might recreate the conditions from the Zombie Siege instance.
Moreover, if the temperatures kept rising, the trees in the forest might not survive.
Mu Shan crouched low, sweat dripping from her face, as she dug up mushrooms from a shady corner with her shovel. Her basket already held some wild fruits, beans, and greens.
In the scorching heat, something unexpected happened.
The two zombie workers tied at the safe house door were already walking corpses, but in this temperature, the rot on their wounds accelerated.
After a few days, they were barely recognizable…
But the zombie virus granted them superhuman “vitality.” Even with their bodies rotting to pieces—like a gore-fest straight out of an R-rated horror flick—the zombie workers stuck to their posts, diligent and unwavering.
Mu Shan, as their contractor, was deeply moved, but fearing they might spread some disease-causing bacteria, she reluctantly shot them down one by one and did not summon new ones.
On the tenth day, the card album yielded three character cards, all featuring signature monsters from this instance: two giant insect monsters and one king bug larva.
The card depicted a vivid cartoon beetle drawn in crayon style, shining golden like a little sun. Aside from being pretty and valuable, Mu Shan could not think of any other use for the king bug larva.
Yesterday’s random armor crafting produced the finished product, right on schedule.
【Player obtains: Flight Wings x3 pairs
Quality: Average
Description: A pair of wings can only carry one person (under 200 jin, and requires ample wing-flapping space). Wings are fragile and easily damaged, no defensive power.
Usage: Strap to the back.
Note: Every girl dreams of being a butterfly princess in her childhood, and players are no exception.】
The flight wings were made entirely from butterfly wings, with no change in appearance and vibrant colors. They only added a pair of shoulder straps at the attachment points. Players could fold them up when not in use, taking up almost no space.
The three pairs had slight quality differences: 86, 57, and 63 respectively. Mu Shan kept the 86 pair for herself and planned to sell the other two in the Blank Zone when she had time.
She tested them out. The butterfly wings were too bulky and required full flapping to hover, demanding a lot of space.
Moreover, suddenly sprouting wings made her feel like she had turned into a different species altogether, and they were hard to control.
After crashing into several trees in a row, Mu Shan gave up for the time being.
She brushed the leaves off her head and body, got up, and patted the dirt off herself.
Although it was not yet evening, clouds covered the sun, and the sky darkened.
As if she had a premonition, the next moment, a system notification appeared in her view from a friend message.
[He Yuncong (Dream Faller)]: Shanshan.
He said nothing else, but Mu Shan inexplicably froze. She turned back to look at the towering golden pyramid in the forest… It was melting at a visible speed.
Sand flowed down from its stepped surface like a flood, and with a “whooshing” sound, the pyramid flattened into the ground in moments.
The ancient Egyptian god that should not have existed in this instance vanished completely.
Mu Shan stood there for a long time before silently picking up her basket and returning to the safe house.
She followed her usual routine: washing up, cleaning, cooking. But inexplicably, a trace of anxiety stirred in her heart.
She paced back and forth inside the safe house.
He Yuncong had already left. There was a ten-day time difference between their instances. By the time she entered her third instance, he would have been in his next one for a long time. How could he teleport out midway through an instance?
No matter how hard she racked her brain, she could not figure it out. Mu Shan flung herself onto the bed, deciding not to dwell on future matters.
In the days that followed, one or two players left the instance each day. The temperature rose steadily. Mu Shan gathered enough vegetables, fruits, and fungi, processing and storing them as much as possible.
By the fifteenth day, the temperature in the Humid Heat Forest had reached the absurd 70 degrees Celsius. Masses of trees withered, streams dried up, and no animals remained active outside.
To gather intel, Mu Shan had no choice but to install temperature control in the sunroom too; otherwise, she could not even step out of the basement.
Through the glass ceiling, she saw countless decayed, withered leaves falling onto the wire mesh outside the sunroom, blocked by the diamond mesh screens. Among them were a few shriveled animal corpses, like deflated rubber skins.
That afternoon, she chatted with Xia Xueqin, though most of the output came from the other side.
[Xia Xueqin (Meteorologist)]: Sister, hang in there! I’m off to face the next challenge. I firmly believe that as long as you’re tough enough, you’ll live to see the system crash!
Mu Shan gave her a thumbs-up.
Soon, Xia Xueqin teleported away, and her avatar turned gray in the friends list.
Mu Shan put down her hand and gazed at the desolate scenery outside the window.
She was the only one left in the instance again.
On the sixteenth day, a distant mountain range burst into wildfire, the red flames staining the sky. Fortunately, a rainstorm put it out.
She saw massive gray clouds—like things flying away. They could not be birds; they had to be flying giant insect monsters.
Even the giant insect monsters had abandoned this forest.
Starting from the seventeenth day, Mu Shan pondered daily what lay ahead: harsher environments, more extreme weather.
The main limits on human survival were few, and the system would not bother draining the oxygen, so she cleaned every empty bottle and jar in the safe house, tirelessly boiling water in the electric kettle, letting it cool in an iron basin, then sealing it into plastic bottles.
Pouring hot water directly into plastic bottles would deform them due to heat, producing harmful substances.
Just boiling and cooling the water took her a full day.
To avoid burning out the kettle, she rotated two kettles with the water dispenser.
Storing boiled water might seem foolish, but it minimized risks. Not everyone had the patience for it; most would buy or steal instead.
Looking at the row of colorful bottles and jars lined against the wall, Mu Shan nodded with a sense of accomplishment. Now she had a large stock of usable water resources—enough to last 20 days without tap water.
By the nineteenth day, she had filled every big basin, small basin, big bowl, and small bowl in the house with unboiled tap water for washing.
The sight of water containers everywhere gave a strong sense of security. Without thinking, Mu Shan recalled her childhood, following her mom to collect water during shortages, and the corners of her mouth curved up unconsciously.
At noon, while inventorying supplies, she heard the patter of rain outside.
Rain was common in tropical forests, but the past three days had exceeded 80 degrees.
Mu Shan stepped out of the basement and found the sunroom shrouded in steaming heat.
Her first thought was that the system had boiled the safe house. Then she realized it was boiling water raining from the sky.
The “whooshing” downpour came with massive steam, filling the air with the odd smell of boiled mud. The already withered leaves cooked into straw-like stalks.
Mu Shan could not tell if this “boiling rain” boiled in the sky or upon falling. The world brimmed with steam, visibility poor, barely seeing into the distance.
Aside from the safe house, this instance likely had no other survivable spots.
As if entranced, Mu Shan stood by the window watching for a long time.
She had often fantasized about such surreal scenes in childhood nightmares—what if boiling water rained from the sky? How would humanity cope?
The “pitter-patter” of rain hammered the glass ceiling, heating it up, but far from melting point.
Her only worry was whether the doors, windows, and escape routes could withstand the heat. In truth, with the defensive array’s protection, everything held steady.
The boiling rain poured from noon on the nineteenth day until the twentieth, boiling the world and erasing all green.
Mu Shan habitually carried her laser sword and peashooter, standing silently in the center of the safe house, awaiting the second teleportation.
【Ordinary Player 537099, your Humid Heat Forest main quest completed
Growth: 65%
Rating: Good
Evaluation Proof: Skill upgrades, safe house upgrades】
【Rewards for this main quest:
Gold Coins +1000
Attribute Point Cards x3
Food Gift Pack x1 day】
【This instance has ended. Safe house teleporting. Please do not move.】
The familiar tremor swept through the safe house. The floor and walls shook violently like in a magnitude 7 earthquake, and all lights went out. Mu Shan grabbed the iron bunk bed beside her to steady herself.
She could not see it, but in the boiled forest, her little house launched like a missile from its spot, piercing the fog-like steam layer and vanishing into the sky.
After Mu Shan left, the Humid Heat Forest fell into absolute silence.
A line of text refreshed in midair, though no one remained to see it.
【Current instance’s last player main quest completed】
【Current instance Humid Heat Forest—Final Stats:
Instance Boss dead, Monster King dead, Monster horde migrated, All NPCs migrated
Current ecology permanently destroyed. Instance permanently closed.
Instance cumulative open 560 days: Normal tower defense 84 times, Player infighting 200 times】
【Tower defense game paradox confirmed: Humans cannot maintain operation via latent order alone. Requires social management personnel.】