The Sixth Draw

Unexpectedly, it wasn't an underground river channel outside, but a sealed natural cavern.

The underground cavern wasn't very large, about the size of a classroom. The surroundings were low, while the middle was slightly higher.

It was extremely clean, with no traces of artificial excavation and no human waste.

At the bottom of the cavern, a short section of the underground river channel was exposed aboveground, forming a natural stone trough. The water rushed through a depression in the corner of the cave.

The water's surface was only about a meter wide, and the water was unexpectedly clear. Under the white beam of the flashlight, he could clearly see the rocks and patterns on the riverbed.

Lin En increased the flashlight's brightness, illuminating the space.

This should be a short tributary of the underground river, like one of the tiny capillary roots branching off a plant's main root.

The entire cavern was empty. There was nothing at all, only the sound of water and Lin En's breathing.

Damn, is this heaven? There's even free running water.

Lin En happily crouched beside the water and reached out to test its surface.

It was cold.

That was normal. Underground rivers were always very cold.

Lin En scooped up some water with his hands and shone the flashlight on it.

The water was clear and pure. There were no organisms, no strange smells, no bizarre fluorescent colors, and none of the eerie stickiness commonly found in Chaos-polluted waters.

Thank goodness, it's clean water!

Pure, natural mineral water with no additives. It was even cleaner than the bottled water sold in supermarkets—a natural reverse-osmosis purification system filtered through layers of rock over millions of years. The quality was guaranteed.

The water from the underground river had already been proven drinkable.

There was nothing he could do if someone insisted that untreated water was unhealthy. He couldn't start a fire underground. If he didn't drink it, he could only wait to die of thirst.

Lin En took out the empty waterskin, filled it with water, and then gulped down a refreshing drink.

The bottleful of cold, sweet water slid down his throat and into his parched stomach.

It was like drinking a bottle of ice-cold cola in summer.

Lin En let out a long breath. In that instant, he felt as if his entire bodily system had been refreshed.

He sighed and went to bother the system again. "Big Bro System, I've realized that people really can't live without water."

The system let out a cold laugh. [Hmph, are you only realizing that now?]

What a bad temper. Big Bro System has such a bad temper.

Lin En didn't get angry with it. He happily refilled the waterskin and put it back in his pack.

Then he buried his face in his palms and splashed himself several times, letting the icy water wash away the dust and sweat that had built up on his face over the past few days.

Refreshing.

After enduring so many days on the arid surface and rationing his water until he had nearly developed a psychological shadow, he had to calculate everything carefully whenever he unscrewed the waterskin. After a few sips, he had to force himself to stop. It felt like he was a contestant on a wilderness survival show.

Now that he suddenly had running water, the happiness was something only people who had experienced a lack of water could understand.

The water problem was solved.

Lin En shouldered his backpack again and patted the bulging waterskin, feeling much more at ease.

Now all he had to do was find a safe place to hole up and wait for the nun and Iron Hammer to return for him after finding reinforcements.

It sounded simple enough.

But finding a safe place was actually a technical challenge on this planet.

The surface was too exposed, with no cover at all. The temperature difference between day and night was extreme, and the place was severely arid.

If Lin En wanted to survive outside, he would have to find shelter, while constantly traveling back and forth to the underground caves for water.

Anything Lin En could think of, the Cultists could think of as well. If they were determined to search for him, they only needed to search the various caves or guard the entrances to the underground caves.

The hidden dangers were considerable.

He needed to find a relatively concealed and safe corner near the underground river, somewhere the Cultists wouldn't often pass through.

This place was actually quite good. It was semi-enclosed, the crack was inconspicuous, and it backed onto the underground river. There was also a tributary here, so he didn't need to go to the main channel for water.

The main channel of the underground river was also where the Cultists collected water. He had run into them when he passed by the underground river before.

Yeah, not bad.

He got to work immediately.

Lin En found a stone of roughly the right size and used it to block the crack he had crawled through.

This long, narrow crack was a natural barrier. Unless someone crawled inside to inspect it, they would never discover that there was another world beyond the crack, which took more than twenty minutes to traverse.

The Cultists used torches for illumination. Not to mention whether their torches would run out of oxygen while they were crawling through the crack—

Even if they made it inside and saw that the path ahead was blocked by a stone, they probably wouldn't risk pressing onward. They would retreat instead.

Perfect! This is the place!

The large cave inside had a supply of running water, while the smaller cave outside was relatively dry, with decent airflow. The crack also provided ventilation. He could go to the outer cave for water without feeling damp.

With these amenities, this cave could already be considered a fully furnished one-bedroom apartment.

Lin En took off his backpack and placed it in the corner. Then he dropped onto the ground, leaned against the rock wall, and let out a long breath.

"Settled."

Lin En counted on his fingers.

Danger Sense and Thirty Days could take effect at any time. He had enough food and water, and this hiding place was concealed.

He could draw once every fifteen days.

Thirty Days was the maximum time he could hole up during battle, not the maximum time he could hole up while safe.

For the time being, he only needed to stay put, avoid doing anything reckless, and not run around. Holing up for sixty days would be no problem.

Even if the nun and Iron Hammer didn't return in the end, sixty days would be enough for him to draw four times. Maybe he could draw something useful. Staying alive was victory.

If the nun and Iron Hammer really could return with reinforcements within thirty days, that would be even better. He wouldn't need to worry about anything—he would only need to let them carry him.

Yeah. Thinking about it this way, as long as I can hole up, my future is bright.

Lin En lowered the glowing orb to its lowest brightness and let it hover not far above his head like a small night-light, its gentle glow illuminating the tiny space.

The sound of the underground river drifted in from outside. It was very regular, like white noise, and especially conducive to sleep.

Lin En yawned.

He hugged his backpack to his chest, leaned against the rock wall, and adjusted himself into the most comfortable position he could manage.

Then he closed his eyes.

The nun and Iron Hammer were in his dreams again that night.

I wonder what kind of reinforcements they'll bring back. Zzzzz...

Surrounded by the security of having found shelter, Lin En fell into a deep sleep.

********

Hiding wasn't actually as difficult as it sounded.

After that, Lin En holed up alone amid the Cultists' encirclement for twenty-eight days.

He had experience now, so avoiding the Cultists was a minor issue.

The days Lin En spent holed up in the cave were a little easier than he had imagined.

Humans were truly remarkable creatures when it came to adaptability.

Human potential was limitless. Especially when there was no choice, no one knew how far a person's potential could be pushed.

During the first two days after entering, he still found the rock wall uncomfortable. He would wake up with every bone in his body aching. Later, he learned exactly which angle was most comfortable to lean against, which rock made a suitable pillow, and which patch of ground was flat enough to lie on.

Sniff, sniff. I was forced to develop a new skill.

These days, he basically stayed inside the cave. Apart from taking care of necessary bodily functions, he absolutely never went farther outside than necessary.

Lin En leaned against the small cave beside the crack and occasionally heard the footsteps of Cultists patrolling outside.

By the fourth day, he had basically figured out the Cultists' activity patterns outside.

The Cultists were most active in the afternoon and at night. The other time periods were relatively quiet.

Once he understood this pattern, going in and out became fairly safe.

He avoided the Cultists who patrolled according to their usual daily routes, took care of his business, and immediately returned to the cave, not staying outside for even a minute longer.

Sometimes he heard commotion outside.

However, he suppressed his curiosity and absolutely refused to crawl out.

Lin En had originally wanted to record how many days had passed by carving tally marks into the stone wall, but when he prepared to carve them, he awkwardly realized that he didn't know the current time either.

There was no sun or moon in the cave, and he didn't have a watch.

But it didn't matter. Fortunately, he could roughly estimate the time by counting how many times he took a dump.

The digestive system didn't lie.

It was crude, but effective.

He had drawn another card earlier.

After Lin En went outside and took a dump more than a dozen times, another system notification suddenly popped up in his mind.

The system lazily emerged again:

[Detected that the host has survived another 15 days. Obtained 1 card-draw opportunity.]

[Draw now?]

Fantastic!!!

Lin En stuffed a compressed biscuit into his mouth, freed both hands, patted the crumbs off his face, and sat up straight.

"It's here, it's here, it's here."

Blind box, here I come.

He already had [Flashlight], [Thirty Days], [Danger Sense], [Stamina Enhancement], and [Temporary Shield]. This was his sixth card draw.

Lin En clasped his hands together and begged every god he could think of for a combat skill.

Combat skill, combat skill, combat skill, combat skill—

Please, a combat skill—!!!!!!!!