The No. 1 Hunfen King in the Entire Server [Interstellar] Chapter 16

For the first time, Feng Haozhong was faced with Lin Jing’s assertiveness, and it left him stunned. “You—” He glared in rage, trying to resist, but Lin Jing’s grip on his collar was unyielding. Struggling furiously, Feng Haozhong was dragged into the courtyard, his face right in front of the row of red cloth swaying on the bamboo pole. His expression darkened so much it looked like ink could drip from it.

Lin Jing said, “Cut seven strips, and tie them to the scarecrows’ legs before going up the mountain tomorrow.”

Feng Haozhong snapped, “Who the h*ll do you think you are? Why should I listen to you?”

Annoyed by the noise, Lin Jing yanked a strip down and used it to cover Feng Haozhong’s mouth. Finally, he said the words he’d been holding back for a long time: “I’m your dad. Happy now?”

Feng Haozhong: “Mmmph! Mmmph!” He was furious.

Lin Jing met his glare with a firm gaze. His imposing demeanor softened slightly as he attempted to reason with him. “Seriously, do you have some kind of problem? It’s one thing to do nothing all day, but why are you always targeting me? What did I ever do to you?”

Feng Haozhong, unable to speak with his mouth covered, glared daggers at Lin Jing, his eyes filled with rage and resentment.

Lin Jing sighed. “Can we focus on things related to the game from now on?”

Without waiting for a reply, he turned and walked away, leaving Feng Haozhong in the courtyard. When Lin Jing went back inside, Blondie was laughing uncontrollably, clapping like an overjoyed child. “Hahaha! Feng Haozhong spends all day messing with his teammates’ heads, and now he’s gone and gotten himself a ‘dad.’ Serves him right! Hahaha!”

Lin Jing didn’t find it amusing at all. All he could think about was points and winning. He turned to the others and said, “When we climb Spirit Mountain tomorrow, just keep walking. No matter what you hear or see, don’t believe it and don’t look back.”

Xiao Xu, who always listened to Lin Jing, paused for a moment before nodding. “Got it.”

Xixi turned pale. “Lin Jing, you’ve climbed Spirit Mountain before. Is it really that scary?”

Scary? Lin Jing hesitated briefly and then replied, “Not really.”

His previous trip up the mountain had been fairly uneventful.

The next day, the village chief woke them up very early—around five in the morning. The sky was still dark and shrouded in mist, with only a faint sliver of light on the horizon and the moon still hanging in the sky.

Today, the village chief seemed to have shaken off his prior gloom and regained the strange demeanor he’d shown on the first day. He held a large flashlight in his hand and glared at them coldly. “The ancestors of the villagers rest on Spirit Mountain. Keep quiet when you go up. No talking, understand?!”

He brought down seven scarecrows from the second floor. 

What Lin Jing had previously seen on the wall had only been prototypes. These completed scarecrows looked much more lifelike—and much more unsettling. Their heads were covered in white cloth, their faces marked with button eyes, and a blood-red mouth sewn with crimson thread. Each scarecrow was about as tall as a person and dressed in a large black mourning robe.

Their eerie appearance left Xiao Xu, Xixi, and Blondie visibly shaken.

The village chief barked, “Carry them carefully. No damage allowed along the way.”

Lin Jing examined one of the scarecrows for a long time and finally said, “Okay. But village chief, you have to keep your word. When we get to the top, you’ll tell us where that legendary cave is.”

The village chief scowled impatiently. “Do your part first, and then we’ll see.”

The large black cow was brought out again, but this time it was hitched to a long cart carrying seven coffins lined up end-to-end. With the heavy mist of the mountain and the village chief wearing a straw hat, leading the cow by a rope, the atmosphere felt oppressively somber as they headed downhill.

The cart wheels creaked against the mountain path, their echoing sound the only disturbance in the tranquil village morning. Surrounded by thick fog and the faint, cold scent of dew, the scene carried an eerie sense of desolation and melancholy.

The narrow, overgrown path was unnervingly quiet. Lin Jing’s definition of “carrying” the scarecrow was lax; he simply tied himself to one with a rope around his waist. Seeing this, the others quickly adopted the same method, abandoning their initial plan to “carry” them properly.

The scarecrows were light, and the downhill trek was easy. Feng Haozhong, walking alone up front, remained unusually quiet, following the village chief’s strict orders not to speak.

Lin Jing couldn’t help but find Feng Haozhong an odd character. He nitpicked friendly teammates but followed orders from shady NPCs without question. What a strange mindset.

There were hardly any animals on Spirit Mountain—just a few insects chirping faintly. Lin Jing hadn’t seen a single bird or rabbit, not even a snake. He suddenly paused, realizing that the unnatural quiet wasn’t limited to the mountain; it extended over the entire area. The stillness was too widespread to be normal.

“How much longer do we have to walk?” Blondie complained, visibly uneasy as he carried the creepy scarecrow. “Why do these scarecrows look so cursed?”

Lin Jing tried to reassure him. “Almost there. Spirit Mountain isn’t far.”

Taking advantage of the relative calm, Blondie tried to chat. “Lin Jing, I think we’re almost out of this script. Once we’re out, add me as a friend, okay? You have to!”

Lin Jing: “…” He’d been planning to leave the game and never see these people again. But Blondie was his first ally since rejoining, and there was a bit of sentimental value in that. “Alright,” he agreed.

Blondie rubbed his nose and sighed dramatically. “I don’t get it. I’m such a coward, so why do I keep ending up in these supernatural horror scripts? The last time, I barely survived that live-action Werewolf game by sheer luck, and now here I am again. I can’t tell if I’m lucky or unlucky.”

“You’re probably lucky,” Lin Jing replied. Deep down, he thought Blondie was indeed fortunate.

Blondie snorted twice. He wasn’t very old, and with his yellow hair, he had a bit of that rebellious-teenager vibe. But what he said was anything but rebellious: “I don’t get why Feng Haozhong looks down on drifters so much. I’ve been drifting along for two rounds now, and it feels amazing. Isn’t drifting fun? If you can coast, why bother grinding?”

If you can coast, why bother grinding?

Lin Jing curled his lips slightly. The problem was—he couldn’t coast. If he did, who would get him out of here? Feng Haozhong? That would probably get him killed by the scarecrows today, leaving him stuck in Spirit Mountain forever.

Lin Jing counted the days on his fingers. The Imperial University had given him six months.

Mental power damage was generally irreversible, so his only option was to obtain a certification for an acquired level.

The flow of time inside the Immortal’s space was one-to-one with the outside world. However, with his current physical condition, he might need a long time to recover his strength after each game.

Winning a match earned a maximum of 25 points, while losing deducted the same. With a six-month deadline, it meant—he couldn’t afford to lose a single game.

Lin Jing: “…” D*mn, this is too hard.

Blondie kept rambling, “Get my score up to 60, and I’ll stop. That’s just enough to meet the school’s requirement. After that, I’ll just watch other people play during live streams. Playing myself is too nerve-wracking.”

Lin Jing, thinking about his own target, felt a little disheartened. He glanced ahead and said, “Don’t keep relying on luck. If you depend on it too much, trouble will come sooner or later.”

Blondie nodded like a pecking chicken. “Yeah, yeah, I was just kidding. Honestly, I’d love to slack off carefree, but this game doesn’t allow teaming up. Otherwise, I’d definitely cling to your leg for life.”

Lin Jing chuckled. Survivor doesn’t allow matchmaking to prevent slackers. Isn’t that obvious?

Blondie turned to Xu Wanzhi. “Brother Xu, add me as a friend too, okay?”

Having been woken up early today, Xu Wanzhi hadn’t gotten enough sleep. His expression was cold and tired as he responded indifferently with an “Oh.”

Blondie was overjoyed for a while, then started chattering again, “We’re not at Spirit Mountain yet, so let’s chat. What are your game IDs? Mine is ‘One Hundred One Night.’” He grumbled, “Originally, I wanted to be ‘One Thousand and One Nights,’ but someone already took it. Then I tried ‘One Hundred and One Nights,’ but that was taken too. Frustrated, I went with ‘One Hundred One Night’ in a daze.”

“Man, this name is something else. My friend said when he first saw my name, he thought I was in the adult entertainment business—cheap adult entertainment at that. But Survivor doesn’t let you change your name. It’s driving me nuts!”

Cheap adult entertainment…

Lin Jing laughed so hard his shoulders shook.

Blondie grew increasingly indignant. “Now, every time I tell people my ID, I have to explain it for ages.”

Lin Jing casually joined in on the topic. “I came up with my name randomly too. Shuang Mu Cheng Jing—Lin Jing. ‘Lin Jing’ and ‘Shuang Mu Jing’ were both taken, so I added another character cheng.”
* shuang mu means two mu and two mu makes up how you spell lin

“Oh, I see.” Blondie turned to Xu Wanzhi. “What about you, Brother Xu?”

Xu Wanzhi lifted his gaze, his tired eyes carrying a trace of laziness. He said casually, “Wan Feng Wan Yue” 

“D*mn!” Blondie widened his eyes as if discovering a new continent. “Brother Xu, you chose a name like that?”

Xu Wanzhi gave him a puzzled glance.

Blondie awkwardly rubbed his nose. “It’s just… I didn’t think you’d pick such a trendy name. I’m a little surprised. The top-ranked player on the leaderboard is called Wan Feng Wan Yue. Since the game updated, they’ve been first place—totally insane. Tons of people copied their name, swapping ‘Wan’ (Sweep) for ‘Wan’ (Night) or changing ‘Feng’ (Wind) to ‘Feng’ (Madness).”

“There’s even a guy in my class called Wan Feng Wan Yue. No idea what he’s aiming for. Bragging about it in-game is pointless since no one would believe him. That pro’s average match score is probably in the thousands—there’s no way they’d get matched.”

Xu Wanzhi rubbed his eyes. “Oh.”

Blondie quickly flattered him, “But you’re different, Brother Xu. You must’ve just coincidentally picked the same name. Definitely not trying to follow trends!”

When Xu Wanzhi hadn’t slept well, he didn’t care about anything. He gave a faint smile, nodded slightly, and stopped speaking.

Lin Jing was still stuck on Blondie’s “One Hundred One Night” name, laughing uncontrollably.

By this point, the group had reached the base of the mountain.

As they neared Spirit Mountain, Blondie grew increasingly tired, feeling as if his legs weren’t his own. He muttered, “Am I just too exhausted? Why does this straw man feel heavier?”