CH 5.1

They passed by a large tree, and Xia Chi easily broke off a three-finger thick branch. He cleaned off the leaves and branches on it in three strokes before giving it to Bai Lixin.

Bai Lixin looked at Xia Chi in confusion.

Xia Chi, “Brother, your force value is too low. Leaning on this can reduce physical exertion so you don’t get tired.”

Bai Lixin who took the cane: “….”

For a moment, he didn’t know whether to say “thank you” or “I **truly thank you”.

They walked for about ten more minutes before stopping in front of a wooden house with a wooden sign outside, which had the word “Doctor” written in red.

Xia Chi skillfully pushed the door open and entered. There were several shelves in the small front yard, each with some round dustpans on which some herbs were drying.

Xia Chi led Bai Lixin to the side room next to the courtyard and knocked on the door.

It was three long and two short knocks, and it sounded very rhythmic.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, Xia Chi.”

The door to the room quickly opened from the inside. The person who opened the door saw Bai Lixin behind Xia Chi, and his eyes brightened, “Bai Lixin, great, you’re alright!”

“It’s been a long time, Dr. Liang.”

Bai Lixin looked at Liang Xi up and down. He had a white square scarf wrapped around his head and a white medical apron over his indigo blue clothes. He looked quite presentable.

Liang Xi’s eyes swept over Bai Lixin’s body, and his expression froze slightly when he saw the buff on top of his head.

The other man opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but then suddenly closed it as if realizing something.

He paused for a moment before silently saying to Bai Lixin, “Be careful.”

Bai Lixin understood why Liang Xi had asked him to be careful as soon as he stepped into the room.

This room was a simple ward, with a few wooden beds having been placed in the modest room.

At the moment, the room was crammed with more than a dozen people, but it was obvious that they were in groups of three or five. Each small group occupied a wooden bed, and the room was divided into three distinct groups.

They were all male, and the female players who had fallen ill were not there.

Rather than saying that the atmosphere was somewhat gloomy, it was better to say “Swords were drawn”.

Bai Lixin looked around and found Zhou Guang sitting alone on a wooden bed, looking at them with bated breath.

Without saying a word, Xia Chi hurriedly pulled Bai Lixin and sat down next to Zhou Guang.

Everyone was momentarily distracted when they saw Bai Lixin’s face, and then suddenly froze when they saw the buff on top of his head.

A man spoke disdainfully, ”Ha, so it’s a wasted beauty, even using a crutch? Little Beauty, how did you survive last night? Do monsters look at faces too?”

Xia Chi glared at the man, “Shut up, Brother Xin is very good, okay? He just had bad luck this time.”

Bai Lixin looked at the top of the man’s head: [300% force value]

Immediately after that, a system beep sounded in his head.

The [Friends] bar in the bottom right corner of his vision began to jump up.

Bai Lixin clicked on [Friends] and found that it was a friend request from Xia Chi. With the confirmation, the [Friends] bar changed a little.

[Friends 1/1 (Only one friend, hurry up and shake out people to overcome social anxiety!)]

Xia Chi: [Brother, that 300% is called Li Kai. He drew Blacksmith and is the captain of their group. Don’t be angry at him; he’s just like a bear].

Bai Lixin: [I’m not angry.]

He swept his gaze around the room.

Xia Chi’s buff was the highest at 500% force value.

The remaining high force values were in the blacksmith’s group. They were a total of five, each with a minimum of 200% force value over their heads.

It could be said that their strength was even and no one would hold the others back.

The other group was comprised of some weak students hugging each other for warmth.

There was neither a high force value like Xia Chi nor a special healer like Liang Xi, but there was also no team member who dropped the ball like him, so it could be said that they were average.

Their group, on the other hand, was quite exciting at first glance.

500% Force, -95% Force value, a healer.

Zhou Guang was even more unique. There was nothing above his head; he had a completely plain appearance.

Xia Chi: [He invited me to join them yesterday, and I declined].

The blacksmith changed the conversation, “As is customary, let’s exchange information. How did you survive the 20 hours? The system indicated that 10 people died, but we counted players for a while yesterday and there was always one less. That means it was you who survived.”

Bai Lixin talked about his night in the cave.

On hearing that Bai Lixin found some herbs in the cave, Liang Xi’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he pulled out a yellowed piece of paper from his arms and brought it to Bai Lixin, “Have you seen this herb in there?! This is the diagram that an old woman gave me, saying that this herb could save them.”

Bai Lixin glanced at it. The leaves were round and full, and he had even played with them between his fingers after waking up.

“….” Bai Lixin said, “I’ve seen it. It’s in that cave.”

Liang Xi spoke excitedly, “Great, it’s this herb that can save them!”

“According to you, the back of the mountain is safe during the day and those monsters only appear at night,” the blacksmith from earlier spoke, “I can see that the waste beauty is still of some use. Then we’ll go pick the herbs tomorrow during the day.”

Liang Xi spoke nervously, “We can’t wait for tomorrow. The fever has reached over 40 degrees. They won’t survive the night if it doesn’t go down in a few hours. We have to go now!”

With Liang Xi’s words, the atmosphere immediately became a little delicate. Even the blacksmith, who was ill-intentioned a moment ago, kept quiet.

The sun was going to set in less than three hours. If they went to the back of the mountain now, they might not be able to get back down before it gets dark.

Not going to the back of the mountain meant giving up on the lives of those female players.

Just when the atmosphere was once again sinking into anxiety, the blacksmith spoke up, “Let’s give up on saving the people.”

“24 hours is one day, and the sun had just set when we came. This means that the sun would not yet have set by the time the 72-hour deadline is up and the monsters won’t come out. So the mountain will be safe.”

“The game is 72 hours long, and the River God’s curse will be triggered at the 71st hour. The flood will engulf this village and there will be a time difference of an hour to pass this round. That means surviving the last one hour is the key to passing the level.”

“The flood is actually not that scary. All we have to do is stand on high enough ground so that the flood can’t catch up with us. We can just climb up the mountain during the daytime on the last day.”

“The village is also safe. The monsters didn’t even chase us down yesterday; they only moved around the back of the hill.” The blacksmith thought for a moment before adding, “From the way it looks, instead of killing people, these monsters are just a means of forbidding us from going up the mountain late at night.”

He then slapped the table, “Of course, we want to save people, but who let the waste beauty come down this late? The copy alludes that we can’t go up the mountain at night, and now we’re still being headstrong about going up the mountain. Aren’t we courting death?”

“I don’t think so.” Zhou Guang suddenly spoke, “I don’t think the trial task will be so simple. Besides, the sick players are all female, don’t you think it’s strange? It might have something to do with the River God’s curse.”

The blacksmith didn’t care, “Since you want to save people so much, you can just go by yourself. In the end, it’s this little beauty who is to blame.”

The blacksmith pointed at Bai Lixin, “If he hadn’t come down from the mountain too late, we would still have had the chance to save people.”

Zhou Guang gritted his teeth and wanted to say something, but was held back by Liang Xi’s discouragement.

The blacksmith’s team had a female player, and seeing them give up on her, the captain of the other team spoke up awkwardly, “Actually, we are not that familiar with that other girl. We’ve spent a few hours together in the warm-up game at most.”

“So, I’m sorry, we’re not going to go to the back of the mountain either. He’s right; this isn’t the time to look for danger, it’s how you should survive the 72 hours safely. I’m sorry, too many people died yesterday.”

“Since no one wants to go, I’ll go to the back of the mountain once again.”

A lazy voice suddenly rang out. Everyone looked over in unison, and they found that Bai Lixin had stood up at some point and was leaning against the wall.

A few rays of sunlight cast in, wrapping the dust floating in mid-air with a milky golden glow and also gilding Bai Lixin’s hair with a faint golden light.

The crowd looked a little stunned for a moment.

Liang Xi frowned and said, “No, you’ve just come down from the mountain and you haven’t had a rest yet. It’s too dangerous.”

Xia Chi nodded hard.

Yes, brother, you only have 5% life force value left now and can hardly walk. Don’t make it hard on yourself.

Bai Lixin, “Don’t worry, Xia Chi said he’d accompany me.”

Xia Chi’s nodding stopped abruptly, and he looked at Bai Lixin with a horrified expression.

Brother, what did you just say?!

Say it again?

Who will accompany you?!

……

“Brother, be careful with your feet.”

The sun in the distance had already begun to move westward, and the dense branch-covered woods were gradually becoming darker.

Xia Chi carried a loop of rope, a satchel on his shoulder, and a hammer in his hand.

In contrast, Bai Lixin had it much easier. He only had a cane in his hand.

The sun was setting as fast as the eye could see, and Bai Lixin looked through the overlapping foliage to the horizon, where a heavy scarlet color filled the sky.

Bai Lixin, “Xia Chi, do you know what time it is?”

Xia Chi, “I don’t know. I looked around but couldn’t find any clocks or watches. This village is quite backward and relies on the crowing roosters to determine the time. But looking at the sky, I guess it must be four or five in the evening.”