[Lu Family Courtyard] Lu Qing's Instance

Three days later, in the living room of Lu Zihan's home.

Before the Instance began, Ren Man had decisively "left" Ren Yi at Lu Zihan's home for safekeeping.

Tangerine tea steamed on the table, and freshly baked ladyfingers lay golden and fragrant.

"Here, Xiao Yi, try one." Lu Qing smiled as she offered him a biscuit. "Thank you for looking after my Zihan in the last Instance."

Lu Zihan's face reddened beside her. "Mom! I'm the big brother between us, okay?" he muttered.

"Auntie, Zihan was the one looking after me," Ren Yi quickly said.

"All right, all right, my Zihan is the most capable." Lu Qing smiled and ruffled her son's hair. Lu Zihan looked thoroughly embarrassed, but he didn't pull away.

Lu Qing picked up her tangerine tea and gently blew on it. "You've seen the acknowledgment too. This time, the situation... Well, it really is rather unusual."

She took a small sip, then set the cup back on its saucer with a light, crisp clink.

"To put it simply, the Alliance did rush things a little this time. To give you youngsters an extra meal, they greatly simplified the process." Lu Qing spoke as though she were saying, "The eggs at the supermarket are half price today."

Her tone was gentle. "Guiding a Pasture World to its end is like pushing a rock that's already teetering on the edge of a cliff. It still takes a bit of effort."

"Normally, everyone would have to work hard laying the groundwork, slowly chipping away at its foundation and waiting for it to roll off on its own. But this time, someone's rules were triggered, and the rock has already started to fall. The countdown to the 'Calamity' began before your mission even started."

As she spoke, a subtle trace of envy even appeared on Lu Qing's face.

"Someone?" Ren Yi had caught the word Lu Qing had deliberately left vague.

"Do you mean a Calamity?" Lu Zihan's eyes lit up, and he blurted out the question without holding back. "Mom, is a Calamity coming this time? Which one is it?" He was clearly very curious about these legendary beings.

Lu Qing hesitated, but explained it to them anyway.

"I don't know the details, but there are only a few in the Alliance who can be dispatched right now." Lu Qing's expression grew more serious. "Heartmare, Rain Man, Shadow Play, Enke... Enke is unlikely. It doesn't seem to be responsible for harvesting, if I remember correctly."

"Heartmare?" Ren Yi grew curious when he heard the familiar name. "I heard there are lots of Heartmares, so is the Calamity Heartmare the strongest one of them?"

"Hey, now." Lu Qing pressed her slender fingers to her temples, caught between exasperation and amusement.

"You really are newborn calves who aren't afraid of tigers. 'One of them'? When you say these beings' names, they can sense it. If they slapped you for it, your little bodies wouldn't be able to take it."

"They can't be that petty..." Lu Zihan muttered from behind his hand, while Ren Yi took the hint and mimed zipping his mouth shut.

"Where was I?" Lu Qing glanced at them and lowered her hand.

"Uh, the countdown?" Lu Zihan had forgotten too.

"So our mission is...?" Ren Yi ventured.

"To eat. Oh, no, I mean 'observation and practice.'" Lu Qing winked, a teasing note in her voice. "To resist us, that world built a large-scale barrier of rules on its own. In the past, we used this place to open Instances and summon its participants inside."

"You can think of it as... drilling a hole in the ice and fishing through it. But this time, the Alliance plans to shatter the ice completely and drain the pond to catch all the fish."

"Before the net comes in, they're letting you little hawks down there to peck at the catch first. How much you can eat depends on your own abilities."

"Sounds like a picnic," Lu Zihan chimed in.

"A picnic isn't nearly that lavish. It's more like a deluxe buffet, at the very least." Lu Qing shook her head. "In the first stage, you'll have to work a short stint at this buffet restaurant and meet at least one 'work target' to get your admission ticket. Think of it as paying a deposit before the meal."

Ren Yi nodded. That was more or less what he had understood. "What about the second stage? After we get the tickets?"

"You'll be free in the second stage." Lu Qing spread her hands. "At that point, you can descend directly into the world. Before the Calamity, the world's rules will become more active, but also more fragile."

"Then it'll be a limited-time buffet. You can go wherever you like and have a look around, and hurry to eat your money's worth. The Alliance will teleport you back at the appropriate time."

As she spoke, a regretful expression appeared on Lu Qing's face, and she lightly licked her lips. "Sigh, the Alliance only lets you youngsters in. How stingy."

Ren Yi keenly noticed a key point. "Auntie Lu, what about the 'supplementary rule'? What is it this time? Since the Calamity has already been set in motion, why is there still a supplementary rule?"

Lu Qing's expression suddenly grew distant. She was silent for a moment before slowly speaking.

"That... A supplementary rule is a manifestation of a Calamity. You can think of it as 'the world's dying symptoms,' or 'an echo preceding the Calamity's arrival,'" she said slowly.

"It's an inevitable sign that precedes a Calamity. It exists, and it will only grow more severe."

"Getting you familiar with that kind of environment in advance will be very beneficial when you participate in Instances later. As for what the supplementary rule actually is..."

She paused, her gaze drifting toward the window.

"We won't know until the Instance begins."

She stood, the hem of her dress sweeping through a neat arc. "All right, that's the end of the theory lesson. Now, let me show you the practice site: my Instance."

Lu Qing led them into the storage room. Rather than being piled with clutter as they had imagined, it looked like a small private showroom, hung with all kinds of qipaos, Western-style dresses and wide-brimmed hats. Jewelry gleamed softly against velvet lining.

"Ahem, a bit of a personal hobby." Lu Qing cleared her throat somewhat awkwardly and walked straight toward the back, lifting aside layer after layer of hanging clothes. An antique full-length mirror, coated in a thin layer of dust and covered in intricate carvings, quietly came into view.

She looked back with a smile and stepped into the mirror. Ripples spread across its surface like water, swallowing her figure.

Ren Yi followed close behind. The instant he passed through the mirror, the light and atmosphere changed completely. He found himself standing in a second-floor corridor of a small wooden Chinese-style building. The air smelled of old books, wood and sunshine.

In front of him was an open carved wooden door, beyond which was a small hanging balcony. He walked out without thinking.

The afternoon sun poured down unobstructed. He rested his hands on the slightly warm wooden railing and looked down.

Below him was a tranquil little garden, lush with greenery. Emerald vegetable beds lay as neatly arranged as a chessboard, and tall trees cast deep shade. The branches of a mulberry tree reached up to the second-floor railing, heavy with purplish-red mulberries that were almost within reach.

Ren Yi had just reached out a hand.

"Flap, flap—"

A lark suddenly darted out from among the mulberry leaves and beat its wings as it soared into the sky, leaving only a few trembling leaves behind.

His gaze involuntarily followed its shadow across the sky and over the courtyard wall. Beyond it were fields stretching as far as the eye could see, filled with round, green watermelons. Farther away, intersecting waterways shimmered in the sunlight, dotted here and there with pink walls and dark-tiled roofs.

It was a pastoral scene so tranquil it seemed almost frozen.

"Welcome to my Instance."

"'Lu Family Courtyard.'"