Chapter 23: Encountering a Chatterbox

After closing the mall, Chu Xihen saw the countdown timer for the instance appear in the sky, along with the task they had to complete.

The countdown was forty-eight hours, or two days, and the task was to help the people of Qinghe Village kill the poisonous Devil’s Tongue Arum that was disrupting their lives.

Chu Xihen laid listlessly on a rock by the river, wanting nothing more than to slack off until the countdown ended.

He didn’t understand. He was retired and wanted to live a peaceful life, so why did this damned infinite world have to drag him back in to relive the path he had already walked!

The outside world was already in a doomsday state, yet they still wanted people to enter instances. Were they sick? Was this world sick?!

Moreover, in his nightmare, the two male protagonists hadn’t entered any infinite world instances!

Could all of this be a chain reaction caused by him, the cannon fodder, not dying?

But was it wrong for a person to want to live? Even if he was cannon fodder, he had the right to survive, right?

The more Chu Xihen thought about it, the more frustrated he became.

“Hey? There seems to be someone lying up ahead. Let’s go ask if they’re from the real world!” Someone suddenly spoke in the distance.

Chu Xihen took out a red and black patterned fox mask from his personal mall, not wanting anyone to see his face.

Furthermore, based on how he and Lou Su were forcibly separated when entering the instance, they most likely hadn’t entered the same instance.

Without Lou Su in front to take the hits for him, it would be impossible for him to coast through.

“Hello, are you awake?” The female voice from earlier sounded again.

Chu Xihen flipped over and sat up, looking at two girls huddled together not far away. They both looked young, probably college students.

“I’m from the real world,” Chu Xihen said directly, not waiting for them to ask.

The two girls smiled happily upon hearing this.

The girl who had spoken earlier bravely stepped forward and extended her hand towards Chu Xihen, “Hello, my name is He Jia, and this is my good friend, Meng Xinyi.”

He Jia had long hair, a sweet face, and a petite figure, and she spoke politely. Meng Xinyi, who stood still behind her, had short hair and was taller than He Jia by a head, probably around 1.75 meters. She simply nodded at Chu Xihen without stepping forward.

But Chu Xihen saw that she had slightly shifted her stance forward, indicating that she would rush over immediately if he made any dangerous moves towards He Jia.

“Hello,” Chu Xihen said, not shaking He Jia’s hand or giving his own name.

Seeing him so aloof, He Jia was a little embarrassed. She smiled and retreated without asking Chu Xihen anything else.

Then, two men walked over from the other side.

One was tall and muscular, holding a rock in his hand. The other, a thin and scholarly-looking man, was clearly being held hostage by the tall one. He had his hands raised above his head in a gesture of surrender.

The tall man wore camouflage clothing, had a scar on his face, and dark skin, making him look somewhat intimidating.

The man he held hostage was half a head shorter. Although he was being held hostage and making a gesture of surrender, there was no fear on his face.

“You guys are from the real world too, right?” the scarred man said, his gaze landing on He Jia and Meng Xinyi, the naked desire in his eyes making one want to gouge them out.

His rude question was ignored by all three of them.

This angered him, and he kicked the scholarly man, sending him sprawling to the side, before striding towards the two girls.

“I’m asking you a question, are you deaf? Or do you think I won’t give you some pain…” The scarred man’s words were cut short as Meng Xinyi kicked him in the stomach.

The scarred man staggered, unable to maintain his balance on the stones that had been eroded by the river. He fell backward, landing hard on his backside.

The way he fell was so comical that He Jia couldn’t help but giggle.

Meng Xinyi, however, maintained a cold expression, standing defensively in front of He Jia.

“You bitch, you dare hit me!” the scarred man roared as he stood up, raising his fist to strike at Meng Jia.

The scholarly man, who had gotten up from the ground, spoke up at this moment, “The instance countdown is only two days. We don’t know anything yet. Are you sure you want to attack your teammates first?”

The scarred man had already charged up to Meng Xinyi, but he stopped at the scholarly man’s words.

But Meng Xinyi didn’t listen. She grabbed his arm and performed an over-the-shoulder throw on him.

The scarred man landed hard, lying on the ground and screaming for a long time, unable to get up.

“I won’t be teammates with someone like this. We’re leaving,” Meng Xinyi said, pulling He Jia along the only small path beside the river.

“Don’t you dare leave! Wait until I recover, and I’ll fuck you two bitches to death…” The scarred man’s words were cut short as Chu Xihen, who had stood up, kicked him unconscious.

Chu Xihen stepped over him and followed the two girls onto the small path.

The scholarly man looked at the unconscious scarred man, then at Chu Xihen’s cool back, before quickly following.

“Sir, please wait,” the scholarly man said as he chased after him. “My name is Ling Ji. Before entering the instance, I was escaping with my companions in Xia City. What about you?”

Chu Xihen stopped and looked at him. “Then how did only you get in here?”

Having companions and being pulled into an instance alone meant he was an unlucky bastard like him?

“After reading the rules, I wanted to try entering the instance alone to see if I could meet people from other regions.” He had just opened his eyes and hadn’t even had time to familiarize himself with his surroundings when he met the scarred man. At first, he was quite excited, thinking he had met someone like him and wanting to ask where the other person was from.

Who knew that the scarred man would be so unreasonable, demanding that he hand over his skill cards right away? When he said he didn’t have any, he was taken hostage.

“I entered the instance in Chuan City,” Chu Xihen answered Ling Ji’s question.

Being able to think of this in such an emergency meant this Ling Ji’s brain should be quite sharp.

“So that’s how it is. Then in the future, when entering instances, people from different regions can share information,” Ling Ji said before asking Chu Xihen, “How is the situation in Chuan City? Have any rescue teams gone over there? What kind of mutated creatures have appeared there?”

He originally wanted to ask if anyone had obtained skill cards, but skill cards were too sensitive for everyone right now. It was best not to ask if you weren’t familiar with them, to avoid the same treatment as the scarred man.

“Not good. There are no rescue teams yet. The mutated creatures are only green-haired wolves and blue beetles.” There was no need to hide this information, so Chu Xihen told him everything.

Ling Ji nodded. “Same as Xia City. What about the weather? Is the temperature difference between day and night particularly large? Is the sun during the day capable of killing people directly, and the extreme cold at night capable of freezing people to death?”

“Yeah,” Chu Xihen’s response was concise.

But Ling Ji’s words were endless. He seemed like a refined and cultured person, but who knew he was such a chatterbox!

What Chu Xihen didn’t expect was that Ling Ji would immediately reveal some information that surprised him greatly.

“Have you guys obtained a card called A Paper Umbrella]? I heard that the paper umbrella summoned by this card can block the scorching sun during the day, preventing you from getting sunburned under it!”