Cheng Feng pulled out the compact, compressed tent from the very bottom of her backpack, laid some dry leaves underneath it, and set it up on the lee side of a large tree.
By the time she finished tidying up, the temperature in the forest had indeed dropped considerably.
The rapid change in temperature caused the night wind to howl fiercely, much more violently than during the day.
The strong wind swept through the gaps in the forest – from afar, from all around -creating a series of rising and falling sobs. Accompanied by the swaying shadows of the trees, it staged a terrifying scene of wailing ghosts and howling wolves.
The campfire Cheng Feng had started began to flicker unsteadily. The flames were pressed low by the wind, struggling precariously between going out and burning on.
She quickly stacked a ring of stones around it as a windbreak, threw in a few more dry, thin sticks of kindling, and crouched low to the ground, hunched over with a wooden stick in her hand, her body shrunk into a small, huddled shape.
In that eerie, gloomy environment, Cheng Feng’s face was lit from below by the firelight, clearly revealing the shadow-like scars and mud stains on her cheeks. Yet instead of feeling frightened by the noise and the menacing atmosphere, she – for the first time since entering this instance – felt a sense of calm.
After turning over the wrapped pieces of meat so they would heat evenly, Cheng Feng once again took out some highly absorbent, clean cloth from her bag and decided to gather food, as well as collect dew along the way.
Throughout her journey, Cheng Feng had not found any suitable water source. Fruits and vegetables had helped replenish some of her fluids, but if it came down to it, she might still have to rely on dew.
After the temperature dropped, small droplets of water would condense on the leaves. Cheng Feng could use her rest time to distill and purify them, so that she would have fresh drinking water for the next day.
After setting up alarm devices nearby, Cheng Feng switched on her flashlight and walked off into the depths of the darkness.
After less than an hour of searching, Cheng Feng returned. She didn’t dare go too far, afraid that something might happen and she wouldn’t be able to deal with it in time – after all, her gear was still back at the camp.
The task of collecting dew wasn’t going smoothly. Perhaps the timing was off. She used the cloth to sweep through the nearby bushes, but at most, she only managed to dampen the towel. Wringing out any significant amount of water was still just a wishful hope for now.
She adjusted her schedule and decided to try again after waking up.
Fortunately, Cheng Feng came across a cluster of wild berries. The database tested them and confirmed they were non-toxic and edible. She picked about roughly 1–1.5 kg, so the issue of hydration was temporarily taken care of.
The campfire had already gone out.
Cheng Feng pulled out the roasted meat and, while it was still warm, dug a pit in the dirt nearby and buried it inside. She planned to wait until the meat had fully stewed in its own heat by tomorrow and had cooled down enough not to give off any smell before eating it.
She started a new fire, huddled close to the warmth, and ate the remaining compressed biscuits along with the fresh wild berries.
Throughout the entire day, Cheng Feng’s stomach had been subjected to too many things that tasted off, and it had officially entered its rebellious phase. The whole dinner left her staring blankly with unfocused eyes. It took every bit of her willpower to keep from throwing up.
When she was fighting those unknown beasts, she hadn’t felt drained. But now that she couldn’t even keep food down, she realized just how fragile life could be.
After raising all the values on her character panel to the baseline standard, Cheng Feng finally completed her task. She put down the remaining food and stretched her arms out in a long, lazy stretch.
By now, the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees compared to midday. The adjustment period was too short, and goosebumps had risen all over Cheng Feng’s arms.
Suspecting that there might be an even more severe cold test ahead, she took out the animal hide she had stripped in the afternoon and carefully cleaned it again. She held it close to the open flame to lightly dry and toast it, reducing its gamey smell. Then she brought it directly into the tent and, ignoring the stench, draped it over her warm clothes.
Cheng Feng was truly very sleepy.
The excessive physical exertion and mental tension, the moment she lay down on the ground, all transformed into a crashing wave of drowsiness that swept over her eyelids.
Before falling asleep, she repeatedly reminded herself to stay in a light sleep and stay aware of her surroundings. But once her consciousness began to sink, nothing remained in her mind except the sound of her own steady breathing.
In the dead of night, a diligent sojourner; leaping flames, a long, slanting shadow.
If you didn’t consider other factors, this scene might have been somewhat warm and comforting.
Darkness seemed to naturally lower one’s guard. After Cheng Feng fell asleep, the livestream camera briefly flashed over her other teammates.
Jiang Linxia lay in a hammock, covering his face with his clothes, sleeping leisurely and comfortably.
Xiang Yunjian stepped on splashing water everywhere, hurrying along his way under the cover of night.
Yan Shen was setting up a shelter for the night, piling up mud and leaves around it to help keep out the cold.
Xin Kuang was still searching for tomorrow’s breakfast…
For now, it seemed no explosive scenes would appear anytime soon. No matter how high the danger level of the instance was set, the system should still ensure the students had enough rest time.
The viewer chatted idly back and forth in the comment section for a while. Feeling that it was a bit perverse to keep staring at the tent where Cheng Feng was sleeping, they decided to log off for now, giving their overworked fingers and keyboards a rest.
But just as they were about to close the livestream page, their fingers inexplicably paused. Their brains subconsciously sensed something off, though they couldn’t quite put their finger on it.
Alert, the viewers dragged the progress bar back again.
Splashing water?
Where did splashing water come from? Throughout the dense forest, despite the humid air, Cheng Feng hadn’t encountered any water source yet. Who was being so wasteful?
It was as if their brains had gone on strike. After a few seconds, the viewers finally realized – it was raining.
It had already started raining where Xiang Yunjian was.
The spread of this rain wasn’t very fast.
To be precise, San Yao set the speed of these natural environmental changes based on the students’ skill levels. And the most effective data for judging a student’s caliber was their travel distance.
Therefore, students who stayed near the entrance of the instance would be safer.
Thus, it took more than an hour for the rain to reach Cheng Feng.
Yan Shen’s progress was roughly the same as hers, except that he fell asleep a bit later than she did.
In a state of mental exhaustion and deep sleep, it was very hard for the rhythmic, continuous sound of rain to wake someone up.
In Yan Shen’s dream, some music that sounded like tapping had appeared, making the scenes of his illusory world feel more real.
He had just won a bunch of prizes at a balloon shooting booth and was carrying a rifle on his shoulder, heading back to uni. Halfway there, the world started shaking for no apparent reason, and at the same time, a “beep beep” system alert sounded in his ear.
The scene shattered. Yan Shen jolted awake. After opening his eyes, it took him a long while to remember that he was in a simulation test. Once he was fully conscious, he clicked to reconnect to the system. There was already a shallow layer of standing water at the bottom of his tent, and the support poles had begun to warp.
Because it was a compact tent, its size was very small. In ensuring waterproofing and portability, a certain amount of stability had been sacrificed.
Yan Shen pulled a raincoat from one of his side bags, clumsily put it on in the cramped space, then unzipped the top of the tent. Standing water immediately seeped in through the gap, soaking the cuffs of his pants that were still exposed.
An unexpected blast of cold air chilled him to the bone.
Yan Shen tensed his muscles, and the blood flow throughout his body began to accelerate. He quickly grabbed his bag and went to retrieve the alarm detection devices from the clearing. But in the span of just turning around, the tent was blown away by the strong wind.
The icy rain pelted hard against his face. Yan Shen opened his mouth, but the curses he wanted to say wouldn’t come out. He could only turn and chase after the tent.
The torrential rain seeped through the gaps in his raincoat, quickly soaking the clothes underneath. The near-freezing temperature relentlessly drained the warmth from his body.
By the time Yan Shen finally finished reassembling his tent, a red danger alert had already appeared on his character panel.
He crouched under the rain tarp, every muscle in his body trembling uncontrollably. The wind swept across his damp skin like a knife, each gust slicing away his control over his body, until his limbs began to go numb.
Yan Shen waited for a while, but the rain showed no sign of letting up. His gaze gradually grew dark and grim.
Two minutes later, he took a long, deep look into the hazy rain and mist, raised a hand to push back his short hair – flicking away the water droplets from the strands – then drew a breath, stood up, wrapped himself tightly in the rain tarp with a few quick motions, and began to run straight into the heavy rain.
If he kept moving forward, he might run into his teammates. Otherwise, he would have to resign himself to dying in this place.
Yan Shen didn’t know which direction his teammates were in, but one of the timeless Four Great Classical Novels had taught him – to obtain the scriptures, you head west. Even if you fail, you can still pass away into the Western Paradise along the way. [1]
Not a bad deal.
West side of the map.
Cheng Feng had just been startled awake by the rain and had salvaged her roasted meat from the mud. Back inside her tent, she listened to the pattering rain outside and checked whether the meat had been soaked by the rainwater.
Translator’s Notes:
[1] This refers to the four best-known classic novels in China: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Dream of the Red Chamber, and Journey to the West. The last one is the novel being referenced here.
