The Graveyard Riot

It had finally come.

The instant the moon appeared and announced that the newbie protection period had been canceled ahead of schedule, Zhu Jiusi knew it was time to summarize the second rule. He immediately deployed his lair.

Though something unexpected had happened, what needed to be done still had to be done.

"Announcement!" Zhu Jiusi gritted out.

Acting out of character was what would seem suspicious. He hadn't hidden anything before, so if he failed to make an announcement now, that would only raise doubts.

The Path Seekers from the previous round had already begun to suspect something.

Journey Survival actually had two official sides. One was the rules themselves. The other was an organization much like a group of NPCs.

Under normal circumstances, the two were one and the same, but sometimes they weren't quite alike.

It was a little like—Heaven and the Celestial Court?

Heavenly punishments, lightning tribulations, and laws belonged to the rules. Management and punishment belonged to that mysterious organization.

The Scroll shuddered, radiating light as heavenly flowers rained down.

[Myriad World Announcement: In District 66 of the Immortal Seeking Domain, Path Seeker "Master of Cloud Stack Cave" deduced the Fifth Law and received an announcement reward. Path Seekers, keep moving forward and striving!]

[Law Five: The long night stretches on, and evil spirits are endless. Your lair and vehicle are the foundation of your survival.]

Two announcements arrived in quick succession, and everyone's newly settled nerves flared up again.

Squatting Grass and the others: "Holy shit! It's the Cave Master again?"

Beaver Does Not Drink: "I missed out on a fortune!! I was right there in the vehicle, even wondering why that tiger across from me wasn't attacking!"

"If only I'd been quicker!!"

They had seen Zhu Jiusi summarize a law just a few days ago. Ever since, whenever they noticed anything unusual, they immediately treated it as a law and posted it in the chat. But this time, they'd been too late!

He wasn't the only one kicking himself. The chat was now filled with exclamation marks, mixed with thanks to Zhu Jiusi.

Of course, some people were on the verge of losing their minds.

Sparrow: "Hail shattered my nest, and I still haven't repaired it! I can't keep the monsters out!"

He'd sent a voice message, and everyone could hear his despair.

Orchid Pavilion Scholar: "You birdbrain. You're a bird!"

Birds could fly. What did he have to fear?

Sparrow sent a livestream. Deep in the forest, an owl was being chased through the sky and across the ground by another owl.

He was a bird, sure, but the other one was a genuine wild bird. Its wings gleamed with a metallic sheen, and when it swooped past, its wings sliced through branches as thick as a man's arm.

Orchid Pavilion Scholar: "My condolences!"

Several people offered condolences at once—not to tease him. They'd seen death often enough these past few days to know that, in this situation, the bird was doomed.

Sparrow was on the verge of tears. But thankfully, Heaven left no road impassable.

Sword Seven Doesn't Learn Sword: "Stop running. I've got your location. I want that bird!"

The next moment, the forest in the livestream changed. One side showed mountains and woods; the other, grassland.

A woman who looked as if she'd just been released from a block of ice appeared out of nowhere. She drew her sword and struck down, cleaving the owl that had been chasing Sparrow out of the sky.

It hit the ground and tried to spring back up, but the woman pulled a birdcage from her pack and threw it over the owl. It charged this way and that, but couldn't get out.

It was her!

Zhu Jiusi's eyes lit up. So her name was Sword Seven Doesn't Learn Sword!

Zhu Jiusi had dealt with Sword Seven Doesn't Learn Sword a few days ago. She'd traded a Dao Discussion Card for three sanitary pads.

He'd seen her in his previous life, too.

In the previous round, this woman had been quite famous. People knew her by her nickname alone—Sword Fairy!

Only today had he matched the woman to the title.

Before entering Journey Survival, she had already been a top-tier talent in traditional swordsmanship. After entering Journey Survival, she'd also obtained an exceptional swordsmanship inheritance.

She was formidable!

That was Water Monarch's assessment. Water Monarch possessed the Kan trigram and was still wary of her, which spoke volumes about her talent.

Journey Survival had never lacked strong people. Wild Boar still had to keep working!

Zhu Jiusi kept his pride in check and looked back at the Scroll.

The announcement reward had already been calculated.

Metal ×125, stone ×125, wood ×125, drinking water ×5.

It was the same as the reward for the announcement about irreversibility.

He was close to gathering all the basic materials for his third upgrade. Zhu Jiusi was quite pleased.

Just as he put away the Scroll and prepared to face the Green-Hat Zombie ahead, the Scroll leaped out on its own again.

A flash of light crossed the Scroll, and a line of text appeared.

"Whereas a Path Seeker has discerned two great laws within seven days, by the authority of Heaven's laws, I hereby appoint you Law Enforcement Inspector. You are commanded to patrol on Heaven's behalf, impeach the unlawful, and report directly to the throne!"

As Zhu Jiusi stared in astonishment, a button appeared on the Scroll.

[Memorial to the Throne]

He now had the authority to submit memorials directly to Journey Survival and report wrongdoing!

The pig's eyes in Zhu Jiusi's head immediately lit up.

A position!

Journey Survival had many positions: doctor, pharmacist, catcher, judge...

Law Enforcement Inspector seemed to be something like a censor or an imperial guard.

For now, he couldn't see what use it had. But Journey Survival was full of native species.

For example, the NPCs in instance dungeons, the NPCs who chose the "god" Dao Path, and even the moon that had appeared earlier.

They were Journey Survival's administrators and servants, but they were also individual beings—though Zhu Jiusi wasn't sure whether the moon counted as one.

Individuals could have selfish motives, and selfish motives could lead them to violate the laws.

Heavenly Tribulations didn't descend in every situation. That was when the Law Enforcement Inspector had to act.

Report what he'd heard, submit it directly to Heaven's throne. The rest could be handled by Journey Survival.

Brilliant!

There was only one problem. To enforce the laws, the Law Enforcement Inspector ought to know all the laws.

But Journey Survival had given him the position without giving him the laws!

Was he supposed to figure them all out one by one himself?

So he'd earned the position by deducing two great laws in seven days?

If that was the case—should he report the moon first?

The seven-day newbie protection period was supposed to be an ironclad rule, yet it had been broken today.

While Zhu Jiusi was pondering this, everyone's Scrolls lit up at the same time.

The moon popped out again with its usual smug air, accompanied by a sound of regret. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Having Path Seekers with too much talent in your district isn't a good thing!"

"It took me no end of trouble to get the seven-day protection canceled for you, so you could get used to the monsters' pace and avoid too many deaths in tomorrow's Secret Realm Instance. What a shame someone figured out the purpose of lairs and vehicles."

"Well then—the newbie protection period continues! Young Path Seekers, are you ready to die heroically in Journey Survival's first instance dungeon? I believe in you!"

As soon as it finished speaking, it vanished. A countdown appeared in the upper-right corner of the Scroll.

Graveyard Riot: 09:32:17

Watching the moon disappear, Zhu Jiusi couldn't shake the feeling that it had fled in a panic.

"Law Enforcement Inspector?" Zhu Jiusi chuckled.

The moon probably wasn't a living being. In the previous round, countless people had studied it over the course of three whole years. If it were alive, they would have found out.

The moon was more like a system sprite. It had no feelings, yet it still knew how to avoid danger?

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it, looking instead at the countdown on the Scroll.

Sure enough, this time was different from the last.

The first instance dungeon in the previous round had been the Ghost Forest, a Secret Realm Instance much like the Temple of Lanruo.

This time, it had become the Graveyard Riot.

A riot of corpses meant a zombie-type instance dungeon. No wonder he'd run into zombies several times today.

Zhu Jiusi looked outside his lair. The moon had withdrawn, and the newbie protection period had returned. The zombie that had been fighting him had already howled and retreated into the fog.

Standing inside his lair, Zhu Jiusi tried to recall everything he knew about this instance dungeon.

He'd experienced four or five instance dungeons called Graveyard Riot, but few had been suitable for the very start of Journey Survival.

These dungeons were all much the same—kill!

They were full of zombies and walking corpses. The more you killed, the more points you earned, and rewards were given out according to your final rank.

Of course, those who ranked near the bottom were punished, usually by having supplies deducted.

In the early days of Journey Survival, losing supplies was no different from being killed.

The Scroll's chat was buzzing with discussion. Some people talked about how the newbie protection period had been canceled and what that meant for the difficulty of future survival. Others speculated about what tomorrow's instance dungeon might be.

Quite a few people tagged Zhu Jiusi, but he didn't respond. Instead, he took out the Crude Telescope and looked into the distance again.

Journey Survival had a particular trait: it never laid all its information out in the open. If there was a Secret Realm Instance the next day, then most of what happened the day before would be connected to it.

If he explored carefully, he might gain a couple more chances of winning.

Zhu Jiusi put away his lair and made one last nighttime journey along the main road.

As he walked, he would occasionally set up the Crude Telescope and check what lay ahead.

Unfortunately, after walking all night, he found nothing except a few Gourds.

It wasn't until the sky began to brighten that a hazy building appeared through the telescope.

The Mountain God Temple!