Chapter 83 Happy Home Oh, my baby

The wind picked up again in the mountains.

The whistling air currents, carrying with them fallen branches and leaves, rustled past, drowning out most of her words.

Seemingly realizing that the other person hadn't heard her clearly, the little girl kindly emphasized it again.

"Sister, my plush doll is missing. Can you help me find it?"

The little girl stubbornly pointed at the two wolves behind her. Liang Jun did not immediately grant her request, but slowly raised her eyes, glancing past the short little girl, and looked directly at the guardian spirit.

The white wolf howled in anxiety—

"Liang Jun, you know who we are. How could we possibly be her plush toys!"

Zhu Bieming, in wolf form, was unable to control his airflow to vent his emotions, and could only paw at the ground with his front paws. "We don't know this little girl, we really don't know her at all!"

In contrast, Zhu Shengqing was always the calmest and most composed one.

Unlike the white wolf, he wasn't in a hurry to draw a clear line. Instead, he kept an eye on his surroundings while trying to offer her another perspective.

"You should deal with the urgent matters first. You can temporarily exclude us and pretend we don't exist."

Of course, only Liang Jun could hear these things.

To everyone else, it simply sounded like the two enormous creatures howling at Liang Jun. What they actually said remained a mystery to everyone.

"Sister, mine..."

Seeing that the little girl was about to speak for the third time, seemingly to repeat the same question, Jiang Zhiling patted Shao Feng on the shoulder behind her, reassured him, and then walked forward alone.

She interrupted the other person and changed the question, "Little friend, can you tell us more details about the doll? Only then can we help you find the plush doll."

The little girl pursed her lips, seemingly pondering the meaning behind Jiang Zhiling's words.

Her extremely limited language skills prevented her from making a comprehensive summary. The little girl's chubby hand was still poking at the wolf fur. "My doll has a lot of long, soft fur, and I hug it to sleep every night. But now I can't find it. I forgot where I lost it..."

"It's gone..."

"Nothing at all..."

The little girl's voice grew softer and softer until it was finally lost in the wind that blew up as night fell.

Qi Zhixia gave Wang Jianping behind her a look, and he immediately understood and pushed her forward from the back of the crowd.

"Your system probably didn't give any notification either, right?" Qi Zhixia lowered her voice and told everyone in a deep voice, "At first I thought this would be an extra side quest triggered in the game; but we've been in contact with each other for so long, and the system hasn't given any notification."

Qi Zhixia slightly raised her eyelids and carefully watched the little girl's spinning movements.

"Based on the current situation, this is very likely just an unrelated part of the story in the instance."

"Like a cutscene in a game?" Shao Feng, who had been hiding behind Jiang Zhiling, suddenly became interested and chimed in.

But to his surprise, everyone's eyes turned to him. Shao Feng scratched his head awkwardly, "I just like playing games..."

Even if it's unrelated to the game's storyline, it shouldn't be triggered so suddenly...

Luo Chuange frowned. He still had some doubts that he hadn't been able to resolve. He felt that this matter shouldn't be so simple.

But when he moved slightly away from the crowd and prepared to approach the little girl to observe her again, she suddenly stopped circling around.

The little girl stood there, stunned. Behind her pink floral dress, as if there was an invisible spring, she mechanically moved back to her original position after a few seconds of waiting for the spring to wind up.

Zhu Shengqing had already left that place.

The little girl stood forlornly by the fence, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her floral dress, her head bowed, her hair tied with colorful hair ties. She didn't seem very cheerful, as if she was sullen because she had lost her most cherished plush toy.

After repeating a few simple movements several times, the little girl slowly raised her head and stared straight at the nothingness in front of her.

"Sister, my plush doll is missing. Can you help me find it?"

Luo Chuange stood there, stunned for a moment.

There were no objects in front of the little girl, and no one else spoke to her, yet she remained completely absorbed in her own world. The silences and pauses after her words seemed to be giving the other person ample time to ask questions.

Luo Chuange silently counted down the seconds. Exactly ten seconds later, the childish voice rang out again, precisely on cue.

“My doll has lots of long, soft fur, and I hug it to sleep every night. But now I can’t find it, and I’ve forgotten where I lost it…”

"It's gone..."

"Nothing at all..."

He had completely let go of his previous doubts.

Luo Chuange breathed a sigh of relief and retreated back to everyone's side. "We probably overthought it. It seems like he's just a random NPC."

His main job is as a game programmer, so he is extremely familiar with this kind of template-based game design.

Luo Chuange summarized all the characteristics of the random NPCs he considered in just a few words.

She's no different from a little girl.

"So, given that this has no positive effect on our actual progress, what are we doing wasting our time here?"

Tang Cailei brushed the dust off his clothes, turned around and headed up the mountain path. "If we don't hurry, it will be completely dark soon."

Liang Jun followed at the very back of the group, glancing at the little girl who had repeated the conversation countless times, before shifting her gaze to the black and white wolves.

"let's go."

This mountain road is particularly steep, and the altitude is rising rapidly.

For every 100 meters increase in altitude, the temperature drops by an average of about 0.6 degrees Celsius.

Embraced by the biting wind that brought a sudden drop in temperature, Liang Xuan finally grasped the meaning of that sentence in her geography textbook.

"It's so cold..."

Wearing only a thin shirt, half of which was torn off, Jiang Zhiling shivered, "Why did the temperature drop so quickly..."

Without saying a word, Shao Feng deftly took off his coat and casually draped it over Jiang Zhiling's back.

Just when everyone thought he had finally stood up for himself, Shao Feng's teeth started chattering uncontrollably the moment his coat came off his back.

Fearing that Shao Feng would freeze to death before her, Jiang Zhiling could only calmly return the coat to him.

Although they generated a lot of heat during the climb, in the near-extreme weather, this negligible amount of heat was completely insufficient to keep them warm.

Liang Jun was also cold.

But she is very patient.

She clasped her hands tightly across her chest, maximizing the contact area between her limbs, and used the principle of friction to generate heat, rubbing her body again and again.

The repetitive movements caused Leung Yung to feel a slight muscle soreness.

Just as she was about to shake her somewhat numb limbs, a breath suddenly sprayed onto her neck.

Following the warm breath was the soft, fluffy touch of the fur.

"Are you cold?" The little black hair between the white wolf's eyebrows rubbed back and forth against his shoulder and neck, causing a slight itch. "Are you feeling better now?"

The heat source was only on a corner of the shoulder; although it couldn't reach the whole body, it was better than nothing.

Liang Xun steadied her slightly trembling breath, "Much better..."

As soon as she finished speaking, she couldn't help but shiver.

Zhu Bieming seemed to scoff behind her.

Liang Xun couldn't hear clearly, only knowing that in the next second, that huge head was pressed tightly against her back. Almost half of her upper body was covered by that snow-white, fine hair.

"Just say you're cold, don't make yourself sick from the cold."

This near-intimate proximity made every word Zhu Bieming utter sound like a whispered secret in her ear, so alluring: "If something happens to your health, we'll suffer too..."

It seems to have suddenly become a bit too hot.

Perhaps it was the sudden warmth that made Liang Jun's breathing quicken.

The darkness perfectly concealed her reddened ear. Liang Xun slightly turned her head away and pushed away the white wolf's head that was trying to get closer.

"This is not good."

As the heat dissipated, the bright red half of the ear gradually returned to normal. "Everyone is cold, I can't be the only one who gets special treatment."

She still generates some heat from her movements, but someone like Qi Zhixia, who sits motionless in a wheelchair, is truly about to freeze into an ice sculpture.

Qi Zhixia's face was deathly pale from the cold. Although she bit her lower lip tightly to try and reduce her shivering, it remained completely bloodless.

Liang Jun opened her mouth, but the cold wind rushed into her throat, making her choke and feel a sharp pain.

"Zhu Bieming, come here." She coughed lightly, suppressing the discomfort in her throat. "Aren't you cold?"

Why am I cold?

The wolf's head, which had obediently rubbed against her, hung above Liang Xun's field of vision, its light blue pupils reflecting the green of the wilderness.

"Our true form is mist, so we have no sense of temperature. And since we've been in wolf form these past few days, this fur also helps to keep us warm..."

Zhu Bieming stopped talking midway through his speech.

He looked down at Liang Jun, "You... want everyone to come in and take shelter from the wind?"

Knowing that he could hear what she was thinking, Liang Jun decided to stop beating around the bush.

"May I?"

Her gaze lingered on the four wolf legs, which resembled reinforced concrete pillars. Walking within the space enclosed by the wolf legs would not only protect one from most of the cold night winds but also provide excellent warmth.

With such high-quality, readily available resources, it would be a waste not to make use of them.

Zhu Bieming nodded indifferently, "I'm fine, it's up to my brother—"

He was about to turn around and ask Zhu Shengqing for his opinion when he found that Zhu Shengqing, who had been standing at the very back, was walking forward.

"I have no objection."

Zhu Bieming watched him approach step by step, blinking her questioning eyes a few times.

"Brother, how did you hear that from so far away...?"

Zhu Shengqing ignored his younger brother and went straight to Liang Jun's side, where he and Bai Lang surrounded her.

Black Wolf turned slightly to the side. "I'll leave everything to you."

After a brief adjustment, Liang Jun divided the players into two teams of five.

Jiang Chunhua and his group originally consisted of four people, plus Luo Chuange, who were escorted by Zhu Shengqing; while the remaining five people, led by Liang Jun, followed Zhu Bieming's side.

The three sides of the wolf fur tightly blocked out the biting night wind, and as soon as you entered the space under the wolf's belly, that long-lost warmth came rushing towards you again.

It would be a bit crowded to accommodate five people at the same time. Everyone thought that if it weren't for this reason, this would probably be the most suitable place to spend the night.

The black wolf led the charge at the front, with the white wolf close behind.

The mountain path ahead became even steeper, and in some places, one had to use both hands and feet to climb it.

Several times, as she was panting for breath, Liang Jun felt incredibly grateful that she had taken to exercising after the beginner level. Otherwise, with her previous frail physique, she probably wouldn't have even been able to get over the first hurdle.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the white wolf overhead suddenly stopped moving.

"What's wrong?"

Liang Xun yawned widely and casually reached out to stroke the white wolf's belly fur. "What happened?"

Zhu Bieming did not answer directly, but remained silent for a moment before speaking hesitantly.

"Don't touch my stomach..."

There is a large open space in front.

Zhu Shengqing's voice seemed to come from a great distance, and Liang Xun couldn't hear it very clearly. So she didn't have time to pay attention to what Zhu Bieming was muttering. She parted the white wolf fur between his legs, leaned out, and went out.

Having grown accustomed to the warmth, the chill of the outside made Liang Xun instantly uncomfortable. She sneezed two or three times in a row as soon as she stepped outside, and had to curl up again. "What?"

“This open space might be a good place for you to spend the night.”

Zhu Shengqing wasn't too far away, but the wolf fur was too good at blocking sound, so now that Liang Jun had come out, she could hear everything clearly.

She glanced in the direction Zhu Shengqing was looking and saw a very spacious, flat area.

There were no massive, immovable rocks on the ground, nor were there any towering, sun-blocking trees nearby. The moonlight poured down slowly, creating a sense of peace and tranquility.

What struck Liang Jun as somewhat jarring was that several fluorescent tents were right there in this open space. Although there weren't many, their random distribution had taken up almost every available space.

These tents rose up like isolated peaks, and Liang Jun, filled with suspicion, dared not approach them.

"What's wrong?"

The sound, muffled by the wolf fur, was barely audible. Luo Chuange, beneath the black wolf, called out loudly, "Captain, is something the matter?"

They couldn't understand the conversation between Liang Xun and the guardian spirit, and without Liang Xun's instructions, they dared not touch the two giant beasts.

After Liang Jun thought about these things, she also felt that it was time to discuss countermeasures with everyone.

"We found an open space here, but there are a few tents on it that we don't know who owns—you can come out and take a look together."

Hearing some rustling sounds coming from under the black and white wolves, Liang Jun kindly reminded them, "It's quite cold outside, remember to keep warm when you come out."

In response, Luo Chuange and Shao Feng sneezed one after another.

Liang Jun coughed a few times, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Seeing that the players were coming out one after another, Zhu Shengqing and Zhu Bieming tactfully retreated behind everyone.

They didn't utter a word; just sitting there in place created a strong sense of oppression, making them look somewhat like guardian spirits.

Tang Cailei pushed his way to the front of the crowd, said nothing, and walked toward the nearest tent.

When he reached out and touched the tent flap, everyone realized what he was about to do.

"Tom! No—"

Jiang Zhiling tried to speak up to stop them, but it was too late.

Tang Cailei had already picked up one side of the tent flap, but just as he was about to lift it, it felt as if a tight electric current ran through his fingers and through his whole body, and he suddenly threw the flap away.

After turning around, Tang Cailei's expression was not good. "I can't open it. The system says I don't have permission to use it."

Usage permissions?

If the item already exists in the instance, why would there be a "usage permission" requirement?

Liang Jun had a somewhat ambiguous answer in her mind. To verify this conjecture, she decided to try it herself.

The edge of the tent flap still glowed with a ring of fluorescence. For safety, Liang Jun only held onto a small piece of it.

The expected electric current sent a tingling sensation through her fingertips, like some kind of preventative mechanism. Apart from a racing heartbeat, Liang Jun felt nothing unusual.

Along with the instantaneous electrical current, there was also a prompt from the system deep within the brain.

[The player currently does not have permission to use the "Unlimited Tent" feature...]

[Please apply for access before using this service!]

Her guess was correct.

“This isn’t a structure that players can freely pass through in the instance,” Liang Jun told everyone what she had sensed. “It’s an item called ‘Infinite Expansion Tent.’ I don’t know which player put it here…”

Before the words were even finished, the sound of fabric rubbing together came from the tent furthest away from them.

Everyone instantly became highly alert, and they huddled together in perfect unison, carefully watching the movements of the other side.

What first caught everyone's eye was a striking head of vibrant blue fur.

Beneath his saturated hair, a young man who looked no more than seventeen or eighteen years old hummed a tune and leisurely walked towards the crowd, fanning himself with a wooden board that resembled an account book.

His current state is far too relaxed for a dungeon.

The ten people opposite them were at a loss for what to do and could only watch helplessly as the other side took leaping steps and slowly approached them.

The boy seemed to be in a good mood; he kept kicking small pebbles at his feet until he was almost in front of everyone, at which point he finally looked up.

But the moment he saw the situation clearly by the moonlight, the happy smile on his face vanished.

Ten people were gathered together opposite him; removing their glasses, there were a total of twenty eyes staring intently at him.

But he was all alone!

Thinking the disparity was already significant enough, Ge Lin's fearful gaze drifted further back—

Why are there two pairs of chilling green eyes staring at him?!

Ge Lin's facial muscles twitched incessantly.

Liang Jun was unaware of his inner turmoil and assumed that he was not prepared to meet so many people at once and was somewhat socially anxious and apprehensive.

Out of politeness, she cleared her throat, preparing to greet them.

"you……"

Before the word "good" could even be uttered, the blue-haired man in front of him screamed as if he had seen a ghost, then jumped up on the spot and ran towards the farthest tent in a panic.

His panicked scream pierced the sky—

"Sister Xin! There are so many people—and two huge monsters too!"

Except for Liang Jun, the other nine people all turned around and looked at the two huge objects.

The two brothers, who were called "monsters," were peacefully resting with their eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to what was happening.

Not long after, the curtain of the tent in the distance was lifted again.

About five or six people came out of the tent. If Liang Jun was not mistaken, these were probably the people that Blue Hair had brought.

Leading the group was a red-haired woman with a flamboyant perm. Ge Lin stood behind her, asserting confidently, "Sister Xin, it's them!"

Liang Jun's right eyelid twitched unexpectedly.

What are you doing?

Want to fight?

Seeing that the situation was not good, Tang Cailei, Luo Chuange, and Lao Ren stepped forward and shielded the others behind them.

Liang Jun, Jiang Zhiling, and Gu Keke also squeezed out from their defensive line, like arrows ready to be released from a bow, staring intently at the approaching crowd.

Upon seeing this situation, the woman called "Sister Xin" chuckled softly.

"What's going on here? We've only just met, is there any need to be so tense?"

She walked gracefully to the crowd, her long, fiery red hair carrying a refreshing coconut scent.

A perfectly placed beauty mark on the tip of her nose made her less alluring and more playful.

"Hello, my name is Xin Sang."

She introduced herself and shook hands with everyone, saying, "You've all arrived so late; are you planning to stay overnight?"

Xin Sang was very polite and extremely friendly.

"To be honest, I'm the person in charge of this tent park." Her eyes crinkled as she spoke, shaking Liang Jun's hand. "If you're thinking of staying overnight, you might consider my place; the prices are very reasonable!"

Are you a staff member?

Liang Jun's sharp gaze swept quickly across her chest, and the strength in her grip unconsciously increased. "Still a player?"

"My dear, of course I'm a player!"

Xin Sang called Liang Xuan sweetly, which made Liang Xuan feel a little uncomfortable.

"You just triggered my tent, didn't you?"

A breeze blew through Xin Sang's hair, and the sweet scent of coconut wafted into Liang Xun's nostrils. "That's my personal item. If I were a staff member, how could I buy items from the system shop? Baby, you agree, right?"

Perhaps because each baby is high in sugar, Liang Jun's tone unconsciously softened.

"So what are you doing...?"

"I've been here for a long time!"

Xin Sang had the air of a mature older sister. She pulled her hand out and patted Liang Xun's head. "I'm in charge of receiving players who want to stay overnight here. That's part of my job!"

not understand.

Qi Zhixia had a million questions in her mind.

Before Liang Xun could speak, she turned to Xin Sang and asked, "Since you're a player, why don't you seize every opportunity to leave the instance? Instead, you're staying here to do business?"

Upon hearing the voice, Xin Sang shifted her gaze, only to be met with Wang Jianping, who was somewhat bald.

Her gaze shifted slightly downwards, and she noticed Qi Zhixia sitting in a wheelchair.

"Oh my baby, what's wrong with you?"

Xin Sang's face was filled with heartache. She squatted down and gently placed her hands on Qi Zhixia's knees.

"I'm staying here, of course, to earn more points."

"The only requirement for clearing this instance is to complete the activities, not the number of days you survive. If I, like you, just rush through this instance, I will only get the minimum score calculated by the system."

"Now, with only the last Ferris wheel I haven't experienced yet, staying here to rent out tents will not only make me a fortune, but I can also earn another considerable amount of points by relying on my super long survival time after I successfully leave the instance."

Xin Sang stood up and brushed the red curly hair that had drifted down to her head back.

"This is a sure-fire way to make money. As a businessman, why wouldn't I do it?"

Everyone was so shocked that they were speechless for a long time.

Although it's a bit of an unconventional approach...

but……

That is indeed one line of thinking...

Xin Sang's bright eyes darted around shrewdly as she kept a close eye on everyone's facial expressions.

Once he realized that everyone seemed to have accepted it, Xin Sang pressed his advantage.

"It's already quite late, and it's not a good time to go up the mountain. Why don't you stay here with me?"

Xin Sang grabbed Jiang Zhiling's shoulder and half-pushed her, leading the group to the nearest tent.

“We are having a big promotion now. Each person only needs to pay a rental fee of 250,000 points to stay in our unlimited exhibition tent.”

She pulled open the tent flap, and warm-toned light poured out.

Liang Xun was somewhat shocked. She never expected that a tent that looked so ordinary on the outside would have such a large interior space that she could hardly imagine.

It has all the necessary infrastructure, and even a separate shower room for wet and dry areas.

The entire tent resembled a lively, large dormitory, and everyone's eyes lit up instantly.

"How is it? Not bad, right?"

Xin Sang felt a little smug. She lowered the curtain, temporarily blocking any further prying eyes. "Boys and girls will stay separately, and there are golden locks at the doors to ensure absolute safety—"

"Don't hesitate, take action now! Pay now and move in immediately!"

The crowd erupted in uproar—

Only 250,000! That's such a great deal!

Despite the harsh dungeon environment, everyone still bowed their heads to this small area brimming with happiness.

Seeing everyone lining up and handing over clay of equal value, Liang Jun felt a little tempted and reached into her system shop—

Your current points total is 163,662.

[Insufficient points to purchase this item.]

Liang Jun struggled for a moment before realizing that she was powerless to resist.

Noticing something was wrong, Jiang Zhiling peeked over and asked, "Sister Jun, what's wrong?"

"I don't have enough points."

Liang Xun smiled nonchalantly, "It's alright, you guys go and stay in the tent first, I'll make do with the two of them for the night."

She raised her hand and casually pointed to Zhu Shengqing and Zhu Bieming, who were hidden in the darkness.

The sharp-eyed Xin Sang noticed all this and moved closer to him very intimately.

"It's okay if you don't have enough points, I can let you stay for free!"

Her thick red hair enveloped Liang Jun, and the faint coconut scent made it hard for her to breathe.

Xin Sang leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Just tell me in detail where you got those two wolves."

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Author's Note: The missed update is complete! Regular daily updates will resume from now on!

Randomly dropped small red envelopes~