Chapter 936: Bound to the Birth System and Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 937 Survival Instance Loading (27)

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

Canglan Commandery City

Located in the bitterly cold west, covered in yellow sand year-round, with a harsh living environment where commoners often go hungry one meal and full the next, it is one of the most chaotic commandery cities within Qian Kingdom.

Qian Kingdom

A country that does not exist in Huo Xunqi's memories and has no related instance data, coupled with such harsh survival conditions, Huo Xunqi's bad ideas grew more and more—where exactly did that door bring them?

Also, does Jincheng really exist in this world? The entire city, including the residents living inside, had all disappeared. Huo Xunqi's head was in chaos; as he staggered forward, he was steadied by the hand of the elder beside him.

"Young man, young man."

The old elder looked weathered with a stooped figure, but his age was far from what one would imagine, related to living conditions. Commoners rack their brains every day just for three meals, and no matter what, they cannot stop their bodies from declining precipitously.

"Don't be anxious. With your appearance, if you go to the commandery city, you might be caught before even seeing a doctor." The old elder sized up Huo Xunqi from head to toe, finally touching his sparse beard and saying, "This way, you first return home with this old man, change your clothes, then go out."

The old elder still wanted to say something else to demonstrate methods, but he was a commoner with limited knowledge, and what he knew might not be useful.

Besides, one cannot be without caution in guarding against others. Although the old elder sympathized with this young man being caught and losing his life, if forced to choose between his family and a stranger, his family's safety would definitely be more important.

After thinking for a moment, the old elder continued to mention that recently many notices had been posted at the gate of Canglan Commandery City, including wanted notices for certain people.

"Although this old man hasn't seen those officials catching people, young man, you are different from the commoners of Canglan Commandery City; those officials won't let you go."

Even if they can't catch you, they will deliberately extort you. Canglan Commandery City is far from the capital; there is no royal law here, no statutes, only those greedy and deceitful scum who wish to squeeze the last drop of blood from the commoners.

Huo Xunqi currently could not contact the others who came in, nor did he know the location of Jincheng. Although the old man before him seemed somewhat coincidental, associating it with the fact that he had entered an instance, he could understand the role of NPCs existing within it.

Nodding obediently, Huo Xunqi accepted the old elder's kindness. His body had mostly recovered by now; he raised a hand and easily took down the back basket from the old elder's shoulder, carrying it.

"Aiyo, how can I be embarrassed?" The old elder rubbed his fingers, squeezing out wrinkle-like smiles on his face full of creases.

"It's nothing, and I must thank Old Uncle for the reminder," Huo Xunqi explained that he had bumped his head and indeed had some missing memories, including how he came to Canglan Commandery City and the people who had been traveling with him had all disappeared.

Putting his freed hand into his clothes pocket, he actually took out a silver ingot prepared long ago from his spatial storage. Following the circulation principles of ancient times, Huo Xunqi secretly broke the silver ingot into pieces, rubbed and kneaded it with his fingers to grind away the marks on it, then took it out and handed it to the old elder.

"This"

The old elder's face showed surprise, his expression filled with love and excitement for the silver, but he did not reach out to take it. Instead, he guessed in his heart that this young man must come from the distant capital, one of those high and mighty Imperial Concubines.

Commoners rarely get to touch gold or silver; most use barter or more common copper coins, and some never see them in their entire lives.

This old elder before him obviously had some knowledge, as could be seen from his opening reminder. So Huo Xunqi directly handed over the silver ingot he had kneaded into a round shape in his hand, only saying it was a gift he gave.

Old elder:...

Look, the Imperial Concubines from the capital are indeed generous; silver is given just like that. Such a small piece is enough for a family's food and drink for several months.

After accepting the silver ingot, the old elder's gaze toward Huo Xunqi carried a touch of respect and reverence, and even his body seemed awkward as he moved.

Huo Xunqi pretended not to see, instead chatting with the old elder about matters of Canglan Commandery City.

He talked about everything, starting from local customs and habits, then to daily eating, drinking, and excretion, finally mentioning the origins of Canglan Commandery City. Anyway, whether it could be asked or not, Huo Xunqi asked euphemistically or directly. The old elder, perhaps seeing the silver ingot handed over, told everything he knew, and did not speak nonsense about what he didn't know.

Huo Xunqi:...

"Oh, speaking of which, Qian Kingdom and Kang Kingdom have been fighting for several years. Has the border always been peaceful?" That couldn't be called fighting.

"Not always peaceful. Both sides fight back and forth, and only the commoners suffer," the old elder said with a worried expression. Because the place where these two countries fought was only a hundred li from Canglan Commandery City, trained soldiers could attack in just a few days' journey.

The old elder said that their Canglan Commandery City had been attacked by Kang Kingdom's soldiers a year ago, and who knew how many people died then.

Finally, finally... a vast white mist filled the sky, a pitch-black hole-like monster appeared in the sky, it... they died, they died, they died!

The old elder obviously began to rave incoherently afterward. Huo Xunqi listened carefully but heard nothing useful. Perhaps this matter from a year ago should be inquired about with others.

The two walked along a path away from Canglan Commandery City. Not surprisingly, they met many commoners either going to or coming out of Canglan Commandery City.

Huo Xunqi's attire was very novel, but the people here seemed to have seen it before; they looked a few times and withdrew their gaze, not staring too much.

The old elder laughed heartily, "Young man, don't be afraid. We commoners are not those black-hearted officials; we won't report your matters to the prefecture."

When saying these words, the old elder was especially confident, his serious and certain appearance not at all like someone lying.

Huo Xunqi asked back why, and the old elder laughed heartily in reply, "What reason is there? It's just each sweeping the snow in front of their own door. We don't want to cause trouble."

Blame it on the prefecture not acting like humans for too long. Even if the commoners reported it, there would be no benefit, and there were even unlucky ones who were framed by the officials and lost both wife and soldiers. Over time, no one would meddle in others' affairs.

The old elder mentioned his kindness again, not to demand repayment, but after Huo Xunqi left, he must not mention his name to outsiders. Even if mentioned, he would not admit it.

Huo Xunqi:...

"Please rest assured, Old Uncle," he said. No matter how shameless he was, he could not betray those who helped him. Looking at the old elder's hearty smile, Huo Xunqi felt relieved about his temporary teammates who had lost contact after entering.

Since a guiding NPC had appeared on his side, then others' sides must also have help provided by the instance. As long as they didn't actively seek death, he believed they would survive in this large-scale ancient instance for a short time.

"This is a survival instance; the purpose is to live. You acted decisively before, but if you make a mistake now, I can't let you go either."

Only a few hours remained until clearing the instance. Shen Yao stood at the doorway of her home. Beside her was a young man half-kneeling on the ground, with red hair and brown eyes, obviously not a player from the same world as her.

"Spare me, spare me. I didn't know it was you," the young man explained that his attack just now was unintentional. His original target was the monster that ran away.

Shen Yao:...

"Am I stupid? Would I believe what you say?" Shen Yao felt some people were just too confident, thinking their strength could crush others and thus arrogantly offend them, only to capsize now. Hmph!

The young man touched his chest with one hand; bright red bloodstains were still flowing out from between his fingers. His attack just now was a life-for-life exchange—if he could injure the other party, he could take the opportunity to take their life.

But Shen Yao was not without preparation. Her mental power interference made the man unable to discern her position. Relying on the strong effect of the Spiritual World, their situations were now reversed. The tricks the man used on her were all turned back on himself.

"Better save some time and talk less. That way you can last a bit longer."

Shen Yao would not actively kill, but she could watch the man breathe his last. Moreover, by now in the instance, only two or three lucky cats had survived. What was most important now was not killing, but hiding well so as not to be found by those monsters.

Actively killing would attract the monsters' attention; even mutual slaughter was not allowed. So Shen Yao only imprisoned the man's body, leaving him to walk toward death.

The young man's unwilling face was reflected, his eyes wide open. Unfortunately, this posed no threat to Shen Yao at all.

The corpse lay on the ground with no one to care for it. Shen Yao successfully took over the items from the young man. Since there had been malfunctions and damage when the two fought, the number of items Shen Yao could obtain was not many. Among them, the most useful was undoubtedly that life-for-life exchange.

Life-for-Life Exchange (Special): By exchanging through a minor wound, you can take the other person's life — isn't this deal especially cost-effective? Don't get too happy too soon, because it could also harvest your life. It's originally a gambler's game, depending on whose luck value is higher.

Putting Life-for-Life Exchange back into the item bar, Shen Yao did not return to the room she lived in, but instead chose to leave the fifth floor she was on, heading for the unoccupied fourth floor.

At this moment the system was watching the show; the few remaining people were being disturbed by Changbai Apartment into killing each other, and occasionally they would also be ambushed by the hiding Changbai Apartment and eaten as offerings.

The system said with drawn-out sighs, "Host, aren't you going to save her? Tian Ying's situation is very dangerous."

Feng Jingjing, who had been acting together with Tian Ying, fell on the road to clearance, and the dagger she herself used fell into Tian Ying's hands.

The two had obtained quite a bit of material from Shen Yao, originally still planning to keep hiding, but unexpectedly greed took hold, occupied by surging thoughts, and they actually went all out with real weapons against those monsters.

The result was naturally as everyone saw: the two, completely no match for their opponents, one lost her life and the other was about to lose hers — tsk, truly pitiful.

Shen Yao continued rushing to the fourth floor, having absolutely no thought of saving Tian Ying; after all, the path was chosen by herself. If it was on the way she could still help, but right now they were on different floors, so she could only regretfully say they had to rely on themselves.

System:...

Although but, fine, Tian Ying appeared on the eighth floor; there were large numbers of monsters both upstairs and downstairs, so it really wasn't easy for the host to save people.

It's not that it was making excuses for the host; it was really that Tian Ying and Feng Jingjing were too impulsive, their senses blinded by rich rewards before they had fully investigated clearly, finally causing an irreversible situation.

Feng Jingjing was already dead beyond resurrection; hope Tian Ying could hold on a little longer. Once the instance was cleared, they could leave Changbai Apartment.

Thump thump thump

Footsteps came down the stairs; Shen Yao absolutely did not look at the monster flashing onto her face, only moving forward wholeheartedly. Her target was clearly several locked rooms on the fourth floor.

The fourth-floor rooms the dormitory manager had opened had nothing to do with the ones she was going to, but because they were all on the same floor, plus Changbai Apartment's deliberate guidance, if not for mental power helping with positioning, Shen Yao might not necessarily be able to find the rooms she wanted to go to.

Click—

The room door was twisted open; Shen Yao easily pushed open the door before her, and in the next second she appeared inside.

Unlike other rooms in Changbai Apartment, the rooms here were decorated warmly, with not a bit of an old atmosphere. The furnishings and furniture beside them were more like someone's home, rather than a cold dormitory.

"Host, what's here?" the system asked curiously.

"Of course it's Changbai Apartment's secret — a pitiful girl locked up here, used from life to death. What I have to do is to let her out." Shen Yao walked to the desk glowing with wind, letting the notebook flip open a photo on its own without wind.

On the photo was a girl; to be precise, she was not particularly beautiful or gentle, but possessed a pair of eyes enough to make killing intent take form. Her whole body was dry and without a bit of flesh, like skin wrapped around a body.

Shen Yao took out the photo and placed it on the desktop, muttering in her heart to the system that the Mo Hou Hei Shou was truly despicable, using people thoroughly, more terrifying than evil cultivators.

System:...

"Host, but she has already merged with the entire Changbai Apartment. How do you let people out?"

The monsters of Changbai Apartment were those who had died inside, transformed; and the core driving these monsters to form was the girl buried underground.

If telling this story, it was that ill-intentioned people went down the evil path, from then on believing in devils, sacrificing an innocent little girl.

The little girl was controlled into killing many people; she herself was also covered in blood debts. The most terrifying thing was that she clearly knew what she was doing, yet had no way to stop it.

Changbai Apartment had continued for several decades; the little girl had been trapped here for several decades. Constantly, people were sent into Changbai Apartment as offerings. The little girl had already become numb here. She naturally wanted to go out, but who could help her?

"Didn't I come?" Shen Yao groped at her item bar, finally taking out the Phantom Ring and the substitute doll Shen Xi gave her.

Substitute Doll (B): It is not a substitute doll in the traditional sense; it is a substitute doll possessing special abilities. Have you discovered its special ability?

Putting the Phantom Ring on the substitute doll's finger, Shen Yao placed it beside the photo, then took out the Sharp Long Blade and began crazily demolishing the entire room.

As the sounds beside her ears constantly expanded, the scene before Shen Yao's eyes appeared flawed, like a snowy screen with lag. She saw the object she wanted to cooperate with.