Chapter 921: Bound to the Child-Bearing System, Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 922: Survival Instance Loading (12)

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

"Shen Xi, I'm your mother, what's wrong? You child, come over quickly."

'Shen Yao', wearing a simple fitted casual outfit, waved at Shen Xi with a face full of heartache.

Shen Xi:...

Shen Xi stood still in place, refusing to step forward no matter how 'Shen Yao' called out, because she clearly knew she had not yet left the instance, and her mother would not appear in her field of vision.

Perhaps because Shen Xi was not cooperating, 'Shen Yao' grew increasingly urgent after calling several times; the constructed space was like a fragile membrane, shattering at a touch, and blood-red leafless bellflowers sprouted from the ground one after another.

"You child, why won't you listen?" 'Shen Yao's gaze turned cold and eerie, and cracked ground stretched out toward Shen Xi.

The cracks slowly expanded, with things on the ground constantly falling through; others would have long since dodged left and right in fright, but Shen Xi remained indifferent, standing still as before, and this nonchalant posture greatly provoked the thing opposite.

It could no longer maintain 'Shen Yao's skin—crack, like a body splitting in two from the middle; as more cracks appeared, fragments fell away, and soon 'Shen Yao' vanished, replaced by a flower person made of various flowers.

Its organs were composed of the flowers on the first floor, its limbs replaced by grass and trees, and even its hair had specialized stems and leaves.

The blood-red bellflowers on the ground swayed, emitting a faint sweet and fishy scent.

Shen Xi's eyes flickered with a momentary loss of control, and her originally steady legs began to move forward sluggishly.

One step, two steps, three steps... until the distance between them grew ever closer, and the flower person extended its arms, longing to hug Shen Xi into its embrace and merge as one.

This truly was a perfect body—not only perfect in appearance, but perfect in memory; if it could replace her and become her, it could leave this place and go out to the outside world.

"Come quickly, come quickly, come quickly..."

The flower person's urgency made it overlook many subtle details around it, until Shen Xi was about to press against it face-to-face, when a flash of silver light suddenly streaked by, and its arms, built from grass and trees, were severed at the shoulders.

Flower person:?!?!

A sharp cry of sorrow followed immediately; Shen Xi had already sidestepped to dodge the flower person's attack, and with a wrench she had found at the hardware store, she slammed it hard into the flower person's head.

The dagger previously used to sever the flower person's arms had already been put away; that weapon required a certain activation distance, which was also the main reason Shen Xi was willing to let the flower person control her, and taking advantage of the other's impatience, she struck with the speed of thunder too fast to cover one's ears to inflict damage.

The wrench was heavy, its silver-white surface covered in mysterious patterns; though only forearm-length, it could strike across space onto the enraged flower person.

Such a weapon surely had its limitations when used, and Shen Xi could only utilize it as much as possible within those limits for defensive counterattacks.

The flower person's severed arms did not grow back, and other flowers on its body suffered varying degrees of damage from the wrench; Shen Xi dodged left and right, using the space on the second floor to keep running and jumping with the flower person, until the distance closed again, and she drew her dagger, stabbing and twisting along the flower person's neck—click, the head fell off.

Shen Xi was thrown back by the violent impact, her body slamming hard into the surrounding flowerpots, accompanied by the crackling noise of shattering everywhere, and it was a good while before she climbed back up.

Outside the flower room, time was peaceful and calm; inside the flower room, wind and rain raged, a fight to the death.

At some point, the originally clean and tidy Happy Street had some stains appear.

"Hey, come look, that signboard over there—doesn't it look a bit old?"

"No, it's the same as before, didn't you see wrong?"

"Go away, go away, my eyes are sharp; that 'wash' character, the three-dot water position has turned black, as if stained with something filthy."

"Really? Hey, hearing you say that, indeed, the upper part of that 'clothes' character also has it."

"But what does it matter? There's no one here, it's normal for a signboard to be a bit dirty; let's hurry up and leave, the little red flower still hasn't been found, be careful we can't get out..."

The several people speaking turned and left, not noticing at all that the two places they pointed out had darkened, the filth like something alive, slowly devouring the characters on the signboard.

If one could leave Happy Street at this moment and look over from afar, they would discover that the depth of the entire area had increased significantly compared to before.

Besides this, strands of mist appeared; they seemed to have no pattern, but were slowly devouring everything on Happy Street; many people had a layer of mist floating on their bodies, entering their bodies with each inhale and exhale, with only a few relatively clean ones preventing the mist from invading.

As the hand of the Time Tower at the plaza left eight o'clock, the bright sky instantly turned dark.

One second before the sky turned dark, Shen Xi rushed out of the flower room hugging a flowerpot, and fell to the ground again, but this time she knew how to dissipate the force and was not injured like when she was on the second floor.

The flowerpot was still held steadily in her arms; her clothes had varying degrees of wear; Shen Xi raised her hand and patted her sleeve, turned to glance at the quiet flower room, and quickly moved toward the direction of the plaza.

Gao Zhihui curled herself up, leaning against the plaza stairs behind her, her eyes fixed on the north street position.

She couldn't say what she was looking forward to, but when Shen Xi appeared again, Gao Zhihui paused for a moment, then silently withdrew her gaze.

The night of Happy Street was a taboo time; people could not enter stores and could only choose to rest on the plaza or the street, until time reached eight o'clock again, and with daylight they could move about again.

Thump thump thump

Shen Xi walked to the edge of the plaza; with just a casual glance, she discovered there were many fewer people here than when they left in the morning.

She did not go to find Gao Zhihui; Shen Xi walked over to a crowd of people in uniforms—this was the Special Investigation Bureau team, and Huo Xunqi was among them.

"Uncle Huo"

"Sit."

Huo Xunqi still looked immaculate; even with a hole torn in his sleeve, it did not affect his dignity. The others in the Special Investigation Bureau knew the relationship between the two and silently handed Shen Xi the biscuits they had brought in.

"Thank you."

Shen Xi thanked her obediently, then placed the flowerpot she was holding beside her; the empty flowerpot had nothing but soil in it, yet it unexpectedly attracted attention.

Huo Xunqi furrowed his brow and then relaxed it, "Well done."

Shen Xi smiled, "Good luck," not mentioning at all that she had been beaten half to death by the monster in the flower room to get the item.

The others in the Special Investigation Bureau listened to the brief exchange between Huo Xunqi and Shen Xi, exchanging glances with each other; those with more lively personalities were practically bursting with the urge to complain—no wonder Eldest Brother divorced her; who could put up with such a dry, cold personality?

Just as they were gleefully complaining in their hearts, Huo Xunqi's eyes coldly warned the team members, successfully making the already desolate environment even more freezing.

'The instance time is not fixed; based on data analysis of instances that have appeared within Hua Guo, the longest-lasting one is the North Death Mountain instance in the suburbs of the capital, lasting a full month; the shortest is the Flower Market instance in Yun Province, lasting only one hour.'

Other instances last anywhere from one day, three days, to seven days.

Instances lasting less than one day or more than seven days are uncommon; whether there is a time-flow difference between inside and outside the Jinghua University instance this time is unknown—'if there is, then this instance won't be easy to get through.'

After waking up from a sleep, Shen Yao felt refreshed, with no trace of yesterday's fatigue.

She sat by the window, eating the food delivered by the hotel staff, and could see the situation inside Jinghua University just by looking up.

The clamor online had been suppressed, and Shen Yao suspected the earlier chaos was more like the Officials fishing for trouble; now that they were sweeping in and clearing out, it was suddenly much quieter.

"Host, the inference given by the Special Investigation Bureau is that the Jinghua University Instance time may be around three to five days, and the fastest clearing players could appear this afternoon," the flow rate here probably cannot compare to the Slaughterhouse Instance Dai Lun participated in.

"Oh, the Special Investigation Bureau is experienced; their inferences are correct eight or nine times out of ten."

Sending the last piece of beef into her mouth to chew, Shen Yao raised her hand and pressed the front desk bell to signal for the tableware to be collected.

Soon, hotel staff arrived, and Shen Yao took the opportunity to ask about the arrangements for those in the Da Tang downstairs.

"They have been leaving in succession, with a few also arranged to stay," the magical changes of these past few days had opened the hotel staff's eyes, and if not for having to abide by hotel regulations, they could have said more.

As the room was once again left with only her, Shen Yao lightly spread out her mental power, bypassing the Special Investigation Bureau players who might be carrying items, and pulled the entire hotel into her Spiritual World.

With both arms wrapped around her elbows, Shen Yao bent her fingers and tapped, watching from afar these people who were completely unaware, each busy with their own affairs.

After all, it was just a random Instance; even if Shen Yao's mental power was strong, it could not reach the usage intensity of the previous Task World.

In a short while, these mental powers were like a receding tide, arriving silently when they came, and leaving without anyone noticing.

Raising her hand to rub her somewhat sore and swollen temples, a faint weariness appeared on Shen Yao's expression; it seemed this ability still needed constant training to improve, but fortunately, after obtaining the Apprentice Player status, she no longer needed to spend time looking for random Instances, but could directly choose fixed Instances.

Originally at the very bottom layer of the player interface, after a twelve-hour cooldown, a choice regarding Instances suddenly jumped out.

Changbai Apartment, Clown Circus, Rose Castle, Card Aquarium, Animal Arena.

Five fixed Instances? It seemed several fixed Instances would appear linked to ratings.

Instances had no level divisions; the difficulty size was related to the players entering, and even players of different levels entering the same Instance would have completely different clearing conditions required of them.

Shen Yao pondered for a moment on it, deciding to enter according to the order of the Instances, but she still had to wait for Shen Xi to come out; although this accidental Instance incident had changed the original plan of the mother and daughter, they were not the kind of people without clues or ideas, turning passive into active, not dwelling on the past, and keeping the rhythm in their own hands was what they had to do.

Time moved forward bit by bit, an invisible smoke of war permeated around Jinghua University, whether domestic or foreign, all eyes were on Jinghua University, some expecting, some cursing.

When the sun in the sky slowly set westward, leaving only a sliver of its outline, outside the completely sealed Jinghua University Experimental Building, several people who could barely stand suddenly appeared.

The Officials responsible for patrolling quickly approached, and in the moment of resolving the crisis, they took these people away.

As a system that had always been watching Jinghua University, it naturally discovered the clearing players at the first moment, "Host, Shen Xi has come out!"

Others didn't matter; only Shen Xi must not have an accident.

The system's excited voice stimulated Shen Yao's temples to throb one after another; she raised her hand and pressed them, "Wait a bit longer, Shen Xi will contact us on her own."

Previously, upon entering the Instance, she couldn't contact anyone even if she wanted to; now that she had returned to Modern Society, Shen Xi would definitely tell Shen Yao her situation at the first opportunity, so Shen Yao wouldn't worry and fall into danger.

"Student Shen Xi, please cooperate with the Official investigation first," Official personnel smiled and pointed to the surroundings; since the number of people coming out had increased, they needed to handle this matter within a short time.

Shen Xi nodded, holding the flowerpot she had brought back from the Instance in her arms; the electronic products she hadn't been able to bring in earlier were back in her hands.

"I don't know much; at that time, fog arose, we couldn't contact the outside world, I suspected..."

Shen Xi told the Official personnel everything that happened before and after entering the Instance, because Hua Guo had long stipulated that items brought out from Instances belonged to individuals, and after the Officials ruled out danger, they must be returned.

After a whole night of fuss, Shen Xi finally came out under the escort of Official personnel.

Taking out her phone and ignoring the numerous messages on it, Shen Xi first called Shen Yao, then reported her safety to her mentor and other classmates and friends; just as she was about to step outside, she was called by Huo Xunqi.

"Uncle Huo."

"I'll see you out; your mother is outside."

Huo Xunqi's clothes had long been changed into a different set, and his spirit looked much better than during the Instance; neither party mentioned the gains from inside the Instance, until Huo Xunqi stood at the doorway of Jinghua University, "Xiao Xi, you can consider whether to choose to join the Officials."

Shen Xi looked up at Huo Xunqi, "Uncle Huo, what are the benefits of joining the Officials?"

Huo Xunqi smiled upon hearing this, "Naturally there are, but it's not convenient to say here; wait until I'm done."

Shen Xi nodded with an "en" upon hearing this, "Uncle Huo, I'm leaving first."

Huo Xunqi watched Shen Xi leave, then waved his hand toward Shen Yao ahead.

As ex-husband and ex-wife, the two had great tacit understanding, knowing both sides were busy at the moment, they didn't continue exchanging pleasantries, but simply greeted each other and then went their separate ways.

"You look fine, get in the car, let's go home," compared to staying in a hotel, home was still safer.

Shen Xi had stayed in the Instance for several days; even after coming out, she would still be somewhat mentally tense, and Shen Yao, seeing this, didn't say much, only talked about some situations outside, including the notifications released by the Officials in succession.

"Mom, I'm a bit tired," Shen Xi pinched her brow; the two people she had cooperated with in the Instance hadn't made it out, Li Yuan died at the Watch Shop at the very beginning, and Gao Zhihui died at the Plaza right before they were to leave.

Shen Xi had once tried to save people, but unfortunately Gao Zhihui had been contaminated from the very beginning, and later because she couldn't obtain a Little Red Flower to offset it, she could only stay in the Instance forever.