Chapter 38

Mu Ling drifted through the supermarket on the basement level. Shelves had toppled over, and goods lay scattered haphazardly across the floor.

Although the supermarket was a mess, it had not been looted clean.

"You could come here for supplies..." Mu Ling looked at a shopping basket. "Should I bring some back for you now?"

Su Cheng shook her head. "No. You can turn invisible, but the shopping basket can't."

Setting aside how eerie a shopping basket floating through the air would look, any noise made by the goods inside as it moved would bring danger to the restaurant where Su Cheng was staying.

Mu Ling nodded. "All right."

Su Cheng looked toward a shelf. "There seems to be someone over there."

"Someone?"

Mu Ling immediately drifted over. Behind the shelf sat a girl, nervously looking around.

It was autumn in this instance, yet the girl wore short sleeves. Around her fair wrist was a black bracelet familiar to Su Cheng.

Su Cheng understood at once. She was an apartment resident who had just entered the instance.

"I need to go back into the bracelet..."

Mu Ling looked at her fading hands and sighed softly. "I'm still too weak."

This instance, where "qi" was especially sparse, made her uncomfortable even faster than the previous one.

"All right, hurry back."

Su Cheng and Mu Ling shared a binding connection that allowed them to sense each other's location. So even with the thick fog, she was not worried about Mu Ling being unable to find her way back.

After disconnecting Shared Senses, Su Cheng took out a notebook and recalled what she had just seen, drawing a map of the restaurant's surroundings on the paper.

She also marked the places to watch out for on the way from the restaurant to the small shopping center.

She planned to replenish her supplies at the small shopping center before heading to the island in the middle of the lake.

Her Smart Bag had ample capacity, making the supermarket's comprehensive range of supplies particularly tempting.

The supermarket was about ten minutes from the restaurant, which was not far.

If she could stock up heavily at the supermarket in this instance, she would not need to trade supplies with anyone for a long time to come.

The same point still stood: not every instance offered a chance to stockpile supplies, so she had to seize the opportunity.

Su Cheng took out her bow, arrows, and alcohol-soaked gauze. She used small rubber bands to secure the gauze to the fletching, while soaking the fletching of some other arrows in hallucinogenic drugs.

The arrows with the two different effects were stored in separate storage slots.

She also poured hallucinogenic liquid onto each of her darts.

Su Cheng was not planning to fight a major battle with the monsters, but if something unexpected happened, she could try ranged attacks and repositioning against fast, large monsters.

Author's note:

None.

Chapter 38

By the time Su Cheng finished preparing her weapons, it was nearly five in the afternoon inside the instance.

At dusk, brilliant crimson clouds colored the sky, which no longer blended into the white fog.

Su Cheng returned to the window.

The thick fog seemed to have thinned a little.

Would the thick fog grow thinner at night?

Su Cheng decided to stay by the window tonight to observe the changes in the fog.

As the sky gradually darkened, things became even quieter than during the day.

The thick fog slowly dispersed until only half as much remained as during the day. Although it had not cleared completely, figures moving through it were now visible.

Su Cheng carefully tore open a chocolate wrapper, putting little pieces into her mouth and chewing.

No one came to disturb her. Perhaps they had wanted to come but given up because knocking would make noise.

Su Cheng watched the window from night until dawn, witnessing the fog thicken again and cover everything outside.

Su Cheng stayed up all night, but she did not feel mentally exhausted, and her thoughts remained clear. Both her physical fitness and mental strength had undergone a qualitative leap compared with when she first entered the instance.

After a night of observation, Su Cheng worked out the pattern of the fog's changes.

The thick fog began slowly thinning after five in the evening, reaching its lowest point at one in the morning.

After bottoming out, the fog slowly thickened again.

At five in the morning, as daylight began to appear, the fog reached its maximum density again. It would remain that way throughout the day until dusk.

Su Cheng stretched and lay down on the bed.

Although she still felt mentally all right, she had something to do today that required her full attention.

Since she had nothing to do right now anyway, resting for a while would put her in peak condition...

Su Cheng closed her eyes and slept until nearly five in the afternoon.

She did not sleep deeply and would wake immediately if anything unexpected happened, but this amount of sleep was enough to restore her energy fully.

After stretching, Su Cheng drank some water, got up, and left the room.

When she reached the stairs, the aroma of instant noodles wafted toward her.

All five people downstairs were eating instant noodles.

Seeing Su Cheng, the proprietress pointed at the noodles in her hand, then at the cupboard, asking whether Su Cheng wanted a bowl too.

Su Cheng shook her head, politely thanking her and declining without a sound.

Wang Yang rolled his eyes when he saw Su Cheng, clearly still holding a grudge over her refusal to give him face.

Li Mu handed Wang Yang a freshly prepared bowl of instant noodles with a somewhat fawning smile, casting a disapproving glance at Su Cheng in agreement. He was the very picture of a bootlicker.

Su Cheng could not be bothered with these two insignificant characters.

She walked over to the proprietress and typed on her phone: Have you confirmed the route to the island in the middle of the lake?

The proprietress nodded and brought up the navigation map on her phone.

Because the signal came and went, the phone's navigation could not plan a route. The proprietress could only enlarge the map, tracing it with her fingertip while using a notebook to communicate.

Once again, Su Cheng experienced the inconvenience of being unable to communicate directly through speech.

[This route is the shortest. We can reach the lakeshore after passing two intersections with traffic lights. There are boats moored by the lake.]

Su Cheng nodded and enlarged the route. With the proprietress's gestures, she gained a rough understanding of which direction to take.

She then typed into the notes app: I'm going out for a while.

The proprietress's eyes widened in surprise, and she hurriedly replied: There are monsters outside!

Su Cheng: I know. I'll be back in about an hour. Sorry for the trouble, but I'll need you to open the door for me then.

Su Cheng handed the phone back to the proprietress, then turned toward the main entrance.

Seeing how firm she was, the proprietress looked anxious but could do nothing.

When the other four saw that Su Cheng was going outside, they exchanged incredulous looks, seemingly wondering whether something was wrong with her head.

Wang Yang silently clicked his tongue in disdain, clearly thinking Su Cheng was courting death.

He took out the notebook he carried and began lecturing Li Mu:

You can tell at a glance that she's a newbie who thinks too highly of herself. Reckless people are doomed to die young. As a newbie yourself, you must never follow her example!

Li Mu nodded repeatedly. His respectful, trusting gaze pleased Wang Yang greatly.

After the proprietress gently opened the main door for Su Cheng, Su Cheng slipped sideways through the gap.

She had attached two sanitary pads to her shoes, making every step feel like treading on cotton. Even quickening her pace would not produce any footsteps.

Su Cheng headed in the direction she had planned beforehand.

At the same time, she summoned Mu Ling from the bracelet.

"I need you to scout around ahead of me."

"All right."

With Mu Ling scouting nearby, Su Cheng had two perspectives and could spot danger in advance.

Mu Ling scouted within five square meters of Su Cheng. Through Mu Ling's perspective, she spotted a motionless monster that seemed to be dormant.

Su Cheng skirted around the monster's location, avoiding trash cans and anything else that might make noise on contact as she rounded corners.

Mu Ling had previously gone straight through walls, but Su Cheng had a solid flesh-and-blood body and could only carefully find her way through the fog.

Through Mu Ling's perspective up ahead, she found the shopping center's main entrance, but also saw a "new monster."

It looked like a mutated rat, but it had no fur. Bright red blood vessels spread beneath its pinkish-white flesh.

Sharp fangs protruded from its mouth, its ears stood upright like a rabbit's, and its long, pointed tail was barbed.

At that moment, three human thighs were skewered on that long tail...

It looked from side to side, its bean-sized red eyes swiveling. Without making any sound, it darted into the shopping center at tremendous speed.

Mu Ling frowned deeply in disgust. "The monsters in this instance are so revolting."

Su Cheng felt the same way. Unfortunately, these monsters were not only bizarrely shaped but also not to be underestimated.

"Follow it and see where it goes."

The monster had skewered its "food" on its tail and brought it back to the shopping center. Judging by how practiced its movements were, this could only mean it had a nest inside and was storing food.

Mu Ling drifted into the shopping center, sounding somewhat aggrieved. "I hate rats more than anything."

Su Cheng did not know whether to laugh or cry and could only comfort her. "Maybe the next instance won't have giant rats like this."

Mu Ling followed the rat away.

After entering the shopping center, Su Cheng headed toward the long staircase leading down to the basement level.

The escalator beside the stairs had stopped, possibly because a foreign object had become lodged in it. Its indicator light flashed red.

The entire space was utterly quiet, and blood stained the floor... It was easy to imagine the bloody panic that had unfolded when monsters burst into the bustling supermarket.

As Su Cheng made her way into the supermarket, she did not divide her attention to watch Mu Ling's perspective.

Mu Ling would naturally tell her if she discovered anything unusual. Right now, Su Cheng needed to concentrate on taking the supplies and withdrawing as quickly as possible.

Su Cheng moved very slowly. After descending the stairs into the shopping center, she passed the checkout counters and entered the devastated shopping area.

The household goods section was the first one in front of her. With the shelves toppled, all sorts of items lay scattered across the floor.

Su Cheng was not picky. She crouched down, and the moment her fingertips touched a large bottle of laundry detergent, she stored it in her Smart Bag.

Keeping low, she moved slowly and collected every item scattered across the floor.

The entire process made not the slightest sound.

She took especially large quantities of consumables such as toilet paper, sanitary pads, toothpaste, and shower gel.

However, Su Cheng did not take everything indiscriminately. She limited the quantities of things like pots, bowls, ladles, and basins.

Items like these were fairly durable and not used very frequently.

After turning right, Su Cheng saw drinks on the floor.

She had reached the snack section.

Su Cheng was not picky about snacks. Snacks were good for relaxing the body and mind, so she could take a little extra.

As she thought this, she took whole boxes of imported chocolate she had once been reluctant to buy too much of, along with all sorts of dried fruit, potato chips, and sparkling water...