Winter

An Ying rubbed her temples. "Perhaps, we'll have to go solve Instance."

Sheng Qingqiao's face immediately fell.

Tang Pin sat upright, just like Tao Yuan, her chin slightly tilted, her gaze fixed on them. "Try to look on the bright side. Given how unlucky you are, even without any missions, you still can't escape the Instance. At least with missions, you'll still get paid."

"... That's so heartbreaking."

Tao Yuan looked at Tang Pin through several people and said, "Your family head is still sitting right across from us, and you're talking to us like this? Is that alright?"

Tang Pin glanced at her quickly and said, "There's a problem, that's why I'm talking to you secretly."

"Look, they didn't even glance at your mom or my mom."

"Hmm." Tang Pin whispered to her as she turned her head while flipping through her book, "Let's continue pretending we don't know each other."

Tao Yuan gracefully brushed aside the pink stray hairs in front of her eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly. Turning her head, she saw the meaningful expressions on the faces of her teammates.

"... What kind of looks are you giving me, you sly fox? What are you laughing at?"

"And you, White Spring, you've gone astray, what's with that grin on your face?"

With the biggest matter temporarily resolved, Lin Nieran allowed himself to relax comfortably for two days. During this time, cards that were willing to go out were teleported away early, while those that were unwilling to go out rested in the Boundless Land.

The strange cards have all left; some of the human cards wander outside during the day and come back to cling to Lin Nieran at night.

But because Lin Nieran strictly instructed them not to bother him when they had nothing to do, they could only pretend to be very busy and circle around him.

At first, Lin Nieran felt somewhat helpless, but later he got used to it and let them do as they pleased.

Three days after the meeting ended, after seeing off a customer who only looked but didn't buy anything, Lin Nieran finally emerged from his Sin laziness, lay back in his rocking chair, and opened the system to check his Fame.

[Fame Balance: 248,900 points]

"So many?" In that very second, the number jumped up a few more points.

[The host has been remembered by many Authorities this time, and his Fame has increased significantly, including the Performance Points of the cards.]

007 flew around happily: [At this rate, the host will soon have 2 million Fame and 1 million Points to level me up!]

Lin Nieran grabbed the flying system and raised his voice. "You used to only need 200,000 Fame and 100,000 Points to upgrade, but now you need 2 million Fame and 1 million Points?"

[Yeah, what's wrong...?]

"You should just stick to your current level, it's fine." Lin Nieran refused ruthlessly. He had just been thinking he had a lot of Fame and wanted to try his luck.

[Host, no!]

"Speak normally," Lin Nieran said.

Lin Yi suddenly appeared behind him, watching him mutter to himself, and said, "You look even more neurotic than me right now."

Lin Nieran glanced at him. "Thanks for the compliment? Anyway, only I can see you. In 007's eyes, when I talk to you, I'm just talking to thin air."

A cold wind blew past outside, Lin Nieran shivered. He let go of 007 and rubbed his hands together. 007 quickly moved far away from him.

He pulled his coat tighter and looked outside the shop. "Why is the weather so much colder? Aren't there Constant-Temperature Weird Object in the Residential Zone?"

Muttering to himself, he went inside to find a thicker coat to put on, then went to the shop entrance and looked outside.

It was early morning, and there weren't many people on the streets, but most were wearing coats or thick clothes.

"Boss Lin, please have this sword repaired."

A boy with a nose red from the cold handed over a blue longsword. Lin Nieran took the weapon, and the cold made him shiver.

"This sword is rare," Lin Nieran said, toying with the Weird Object. "A sword with frostbite Rules is hard to come by here. Have you struck it rich lately?"

"Boss Lin probably doesn't know yet, but the Mohe Danger Zone next door has recently been spread by a Class A Weird. It's a Battle Royale- type Instance, and the Weird Object you get after dying is shaped like this longsword. I was just lucky to get it."

Lin Nieran thought the name sounded familiar, "Isn't this Instance called 'Icebound Survival'?"

"You've heard of it too?"

Yes, I've heard of it; I heard it in the materials 007 provided.

After seeing the guests off and collecting several thousand yuan, Lin Nieran lay back down in the rocking chair. 007 excitedly flew over and whispered something in front of Lin Nieran.

[Host, host, this is the Protagonist Group's cheat Instance coming soon! Although it's happening a bit fast in the timeline, it means that everything we've done hasn't caused his original growth trajectory to collapse!]

Lin Nieran closed his eyes, feigning sleep, and clapped his hands perfunctorily. "Oh, great."

007 couldn't believe his reaction was so indifferent, and flew resentfully into his ear: [Host, this is such a great opportunity! Aren't you going to let your Vest go? Even just showing up and striking a cool pose would be great!]

"Is an A-Rank Instance difficult for them right now?"

[It seems there are some, but not many?]

Lin Nieran lazily pulled the blanket off the rocking chair and covered himself with it. "That's fine then. Since they can handle it, why should I bother?"

"They should experience the storms of life for themselves before they know the wickedness of human nature."

007 nodded as he checked the original Protagonist Group's information, then belatedly realized something was wrong: [But this is an Instance with a long timeline, and it will be upgraded to S-Rank midway through. It's a late-game Instance...]

Lin Nieran didn't care whether they lived or died; he just found it really annoying that this Instance appeared near Wutong District.

The Residential Zone, which had always had a relatively mild temperature, suddenly felt like Winter on Blue Star.

"This Weird Instance is slowly having an expanding impact on the surrounding environment."

Outside the shop, passersby muttered among themselves.

Lin Nieran tightened the blanket around himself, opened his eyes and watched the passersby leave, the cold wind whipping up the scraps of paper outside.

The waste paper swirled in the air, flying higher and higher until it reached the rooftop, where it was finally moistened and frozen by the light snowflakes, falling outside the shop and being swept into the snowdrifts by brooms.

Wearing a down jacket Lin Nieran swept away the trash and snow in front of the door with a broom, exhaling a breath of cold white air.

The shop Shopkeeper next door opened early and, seeing him come out to shovel snow, handed him a cup of hot tea. "Unusual! It's already noon and you're still up? Aren't you making any money?"

"It's too warm in the blankets, I can't get up," Lin Nieran, taking the hot water and thanking him. "Everything's going up in price lately, and there are fewer customers coming to the store."

"Your Weapon Shop always gets customers, including the Calamity Crossing Squad. They ordered weapon maintenance and Weird Artifact upgrades from you two months ago before going into the Instance. How could you possibly not make money?"

"You've raised the prices of all your food by half, aren't you making enough profit?"

The Shopkeeper chuckled, "There's nothing we can do about it. The Wutong District is freezing because of that Battle Royale Instance in the next district. It's the first time I've seen something so strange that it can affect Constant-Temperature Weird Object. If we can't solve this, we'll have to endure this kind of weather for a long time."

"Everything is getting more expensive right now, and I'm just one of the many shops doing this. After all, transportation also has costs."