Chapter 206: Rest Day

Cheng Shuili shook her head, tsked lightly, and kept reading down.

"I really give up, this Instance must be the hardest among all Instances, right? It tests not the usual things needed for Instances! Though I don't want to admit it, this Instance truly requires the one thing I'm most lacking—eloquence!"

Cheng Shuili frowned as she finished reading that passage, double‑checked his meaning, then read it again.

Isn't that eloquence pretty good?

"Brother Lao, you're already there; you've never even seen what a truly ineloquent person looks like."

"No, why are we even talking about this? I think this Instance has nothing to do with eloquence, right? If it tests anything, it's definitely combat power! After killing one beastman, the remaining two instantly become like quails! Not even a fart!"

Ah...

Cheng Shuili nodded; indeed that was correct.

In other words, this Instance has two ways to clear: persuade the beastmen, or kill the beastmen.

Of course, that's the obvious one.

The method Cheng Shuili told Chen Qing Shan is the off‑the‑record bribery type.

Cheng Shuili glanced at the timer: there was half an hour left before the Instance ended, and the number of survivors was… 2,963.

It was actually higher than two thousand.

Cheng Shuili was indeed a bit surprised—not because she darkly thought that so many should have died, but because she believed the system's pacing should be well‑controlled.

The last merge happened after two Instances; now two more Instances have also passed…

But on such a trivial matter, guessing wrong is fine.

Sooner or later, a merge is inevitable.

As long as there's a merge, Cheng Shuili can make money; she's in a good mood, and although those Game Coins haven't officially entered her pocket yet, rounding them up counts as her money anyway.

Cheng Shuili didn't know that, in fact, her guess was spot‑on.

The system's original plan was to control the merge timing by raising the Instance's difficulty, worsening the environment, increasing monster spawn rates, and boosting monster strength—a series of measures.

But now there are still so many survivors, not because the system didn't act, but because after it acted it turned out to be useless.

It now realizes a problem it never considered at design time.

Humans have strong stress tolerance, strong adaptability, and their ability to reshape the environment is not to be underestimated.

After realizing this, the system oddly felt a hint of excitement after a long absence.

Such a great creature—there aren't many in the whole universe, are there?

Cheng Shuili ignored the boring chatter on the region channel, got up, walked to the workbench; the rain‑cover improvement finally fulfilled a long‑standing wish, but it also raised a new question: what should be improved next?

All blueprints whose names contain "Beginner" or "Simple" have already been improved.

The remaining ones now require Energy Stones to improve; the success rate…

Cheng Shuili raised her hand to shield her eyes—without thinking she knew the number must be outrageously low.

She couldn't help sighing, feeling that improving now might just waste Energy Stones, yet not improving would waste her once‑daily improvement attempt.

Truly a dilemma.

Cheng Shuili categorized the blueprints based on what she knew: the lowest tier are those with "Beginner" or "Simple" in the name, the mid‑tier are the ones that need Energy Stones to craft!

As for the high tier…

Of course it's above the mid‑tier, but Cheng Shuili has never seen such blueprints and can't yet define the criteria.

Cheng Shuili hesitated, remembering she still had over a hundred Energy Stones, and finally steeled herself to waste them anyway!

What if it succeeded?

If she could produce a high‑tier blueprint, regardless of its usefulness, it would at least broaden her horizons.

Cheng Shuili selected a circle of her own blueprints and finally chose the Simple Sunroom blueprint.

The reason was the "Simple" in its name.

Cheng Shuili couldn't figure out where this item belongs, so using it for improvement was just perfect.

She sprang up excitedly, took out an Energy Stone, pressed it onto the table, rubbed her hands, then clasped both palms and whispered a few prayers before finally pressing the button.

Su Rui saw her like that and knew what she was doing.

As expected by both, it failed.

Apart from the first blueprint improvement, Cheng Shuili has never had another success.

She previously thought it was luck, but now she recalled the golden rice bowl's first use also gave a bit of stamina right away.

Oh.

So it wasn't a matter of luck, but a little guarantee for newcomers?

Cheng Shuili gave up.

Su Rui hadn't given up yet: "How about I try tomorrow?"

Cheng Shuili gave a surprised look, like someone who walks the street without pants, glanced at Su Rui, then raised an eyebrow and asked, "What if you also fail?"

What does that mean?

Success would be good for everyone.

Su Rui thought to herself that Cheng Shuili was being childish, but replied, "What if I succeed?"

Cheng Shuili was not timid at all: "If you succeed, you'll be boss for a day."

Su Rui stayed silent, squinted at Cheng Shuili for a while, then asked, "What can I do as boss?"

Cheng Shuili shrugged, in a teasing tone said, "You can't do anything, isn't a day's title enough?"

She shook her head, sighed, and added, "Too greedy~"

This is all nonsense, illogical, yet somehow makes sense on Cheng Shuili's end.

Su Rui thought she was being a bit cheeky, but still nodded in agreement.

A day as boss.

I won't do it for free.

Just as the two finished talking, the system's announcement voice rang out.

Hello everyone! Let's welcome our great announcement system! That's me! Making a dazzling entrance!

Cheng Shuili frowned. To be honest, she didn't need to look to know what the regional channel was saying.

But out of habit, she still clicked it open to take a look.

Do you have any shame?! Can anyone deal with it?

You skinless, faceless thing, may you be destroyed soon.

What a thing the system gave birth to but never raised!

Cheng Shuili yawned; it's always just a few lines each time, she's gotten used to it.

This Instance has successfully concluded! Congratulations to all survivors; you have successfully made it through the first stage! Tomorrow… ah, this wasn't originally my job, but my colleague is on leave, so I'll make the announcement!

Tomorrow is the last day of this month! It's also the first day off for all players! Looking forward to it?