Beef-Flavored and Crunchy

Although the Plush Cat's large size blocked most of the gap, the sound of the torrential rain outside was still clearly audible.

The sound of torrential rain was incessant, and the Gale pushing into the room from the outside stirred the flames, causing them to flicker and dance uneasily.

Although the image of the lightning bolt projected onto the wall was only a fleeting glimpse, Bai Zhi was certain he couldn't have mistaken it.

Xu Lian, who was changing clothes inside the tent, removed her own head.

In such a desolate Ghost City, especially with a torrential downpour outside, to suddenly see such a horrifying sight on the wall inside a building that is beyond repair would be an absolutely terrifying experience for any normal person.

Of course, Bai Zhi is not included among normal people.

"..."

Bai Zhi glanced at the tents not far away and narrowed his eyes slightly.

About two or three minutes later, Xu Lian, who had changed into dry clothes, crawled out of the tent. In addition to changing out of all the sweaty clothes she was wearing, she also put on a Red Scarf around her neck.

"You change clothes pretty quickly."

Bai Zhi glanced at Xu Lian, who quickly returned to the fire to warm herself, and while poking at the fire with a small stick, asked her casually.

"Since you were wearing a scarf, why didn't you think of wearing one when you were walking alone in the wilderness before?"

"I just found it! I just found it! I was thinking that anything could be used in the Dungeon, so I stuffed a lot of stuff into my Inventory, making it hard to find."

Sitting around the fire, breathing warm air into her palms, Xu Lian looked relieved.

"Thank goodness I met you. Otherwise, if it had been pouring rain on a night like this, I wouldn't have known what to do by myself. I probably would have been half-dead... Thank you so much this time."

"Helping others is a basic virtue, and I'm Young Man who has received the 'Three Good Student' award every year... By the way, let's share the map."

With a slight shrug, Bai Zhi brought up his Personal Map Interface.

This map interface can be considered a hidden perk provided by the system for these Player. Without it, getting lost in this vast wilderness with no landmarks would be a certainty.

"Uh... to be honest, I only opened one route, the rest should be basically the same as yours..."

Slightly embarrassed, Xu Lian scratched her cheek with her finger and then brought up her Personal Map Interface, clicking to share.

Although each person's interface is only visible to themselves, the system allows interaction with Personally Drawn Map like these.

"..."

Looking at the interactive content that appeared on the interface Levitation in front of him, Bai Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly.

The map shared by the other party was completely blank.

"By the way, what should we do next?"

Seemingly uninterested in the map he shared from the past, Xu Lian warmed her hands by the fire while humbly asking him for advice.

"The extremely harsh environment is only one aspect; we don't even have any clues yet. The Quest Target is to rescue survivors, but in this Silent City, are there really any survivors?"

"We'll go out and explore when it gets light or when the rain stops."

Bai Zhi closed the map interface in front of him, his expression noncommittal.

"The Safe Evacuation Point will randomly refresh among six fixed locations every six hours. It's been about four hours since we arrived in this Dungeon. We'll know the outcome in another two hours."

"Safe Evacuation Point... We Player also need to leave this Dungeon through the Safe Evacuation Point, right?"

After thinking for a moment, Xu Lian asked, somewhat puzzled.

"But the six fixed locations refresh randomly, and each session is only open for 15 minutes... Is this really necessary? Can't it be kept open all the time?"

"It's definitely necessary, but as for the specific reasons... let's talk about that once we find Safe Evacuation Point."

As he spoke, Bai Zhi turned his head to look at the Plush Cat.

Instead of thinking about these things, you should think about something else that's more meaningful.

"What is it?"

"Oh, you're about to face the College Entrance Exam."

"..."

The torrential rain outside showed no signs of stopping; on the contrary, it grew even heavier. Even though the Plush Cat's large size blocked a large portion of the wind and rain, a considerable amount of rainwater, mixed with the Gale, still managed to seep into the house.

Bai Zhi felt that he needed to sort things out properly for the time being.

If we take the assumption that Xu Lian has a problem as the premise for all the assumptions, then everything from the two invisible passengers in the car at the beginning to the Weird Events I've discovered so far can be understood.

The ID is fine, and the Player -exclusive Personal Map Interface also exists, although there are a few minor issues...

If it were any other suspicious and short-tempered Player who encountered this situation, they might have already taken the initiative and attacked the moment they saw the projection on the wall.

However, it's quite obvious that Bai Zhi isn't that kind of person.

"No, I feel like I've overlooked something... The guest inside the car who could only be seen by her, and those things I saw before... Could this guy actually be dead?"

Bai Zhi reached out and pressed his forehead, his expression slightly complicated as he turned his head back.

Then, his gaze suddenly sharpened.

Perhaps because she was freezing, Xu Lian was sitting quite close to the fire, since although there was a fire in front of her, the cold wind blowing in from outside was relentless.

Perhaps unable to bear the intense heat at close range, several large, White Worms, visible to Bai Zhi in the flickering light of the fire, struggled to crawl out from the scarf around Xu Lian's neck before falling into the fire and being burned to ashes.

Unlike the fleeting glimpse of lightning streaking across the Tian Kong before, this time, at close range, he could see it clearly.

Bai Zhi: "..."

"What's wrong?"

Noticing his gaze, Xu Nian cautiously reached out and protected her scarf.

"Your gaze just now made me feel like I was in danger. Even though we're in the middle of nowhere, alone together... I'm still High School Student. I can only date after I go to university!!"

You're overthinking it.

Looking at the insect corpses in front of him, which were quickly charred and turned to ashes in the fire, Bai Zhi calmly spoke.

"I just suddenly got hungry... Do you have anything to eat? I suddenly have a craving for tofu."

"???"