In the afternoon, Xia Ning's monster-hunting adventure didn't go smoothly, because she encountered the worst situation in the desert—a sandstorm.
The wind whipped up the yellow sand from the ground, turning everything into a hazy yellow as far as the eye could see, more intense than ever before.
Even sitting in the car, Xia Ning could hear the wind whistling.
She had experienced typhoons before. The worst one was when she stayed at home with the doors and windows tightly closed, watching the torrential rain pouring down outside. It felt like there was a hole in the sky, and the wind was making the buildings sway.
Overnight, all the trees in the neighborhood fell down.
At this moment, Xia Ning felt something similar.
With no buildings to shelter her in, the only place she could hide was in her car.
Xia Ning's first reaction was to put heavy objects in the car to increase its weight and prevent it from being blown away by the wind.
The wind grew stronger, and sand and gravel pelted the car body and windows like hail, making a sound.
Xia Ning applied cross-shaped stickers to all five glass surfaces, supposedly to prevent the glass from shattering.
The sky was dark and heavy overhead, creating a suffocating feeling.
Xia Ning once again felt how insignificant human beings are in the face of nature.
She figured the desert animals must have sensed something, and their unusual behavior was a warning. Unfortunately, Xia Ning encountered too few animals, and she was focused on the time-limited mission.
No wonder they gave her an unprecedented 12 hours for this mission; they were waiting for her here.
At the same time, Xia Ning also began to despise the game's weather forecast.
It's supposed to be a weather forecast, but it's a complete sham. It only reports day and night, and has nothing to do with the actual weather!
When a real weather warning is needed, they don't utter a single word of nonsense.
The system maintenance didn't seem to fix this bug, which shows it's the developers' twisted sense of humor.
Faced with the powerful weather, Xia Ning could do little more than reinforce the vehicle and wait for the storm to pass.
The orange-red sand wall blocked out the sky, and Xia Ning's car was instantly swallowed up by it.
She felt the car shaking, and a layer of sand instantly covered the windshield, making her vision even more blurred.
Xia Ning has done all she can; the rest is up to fate.
However, she had survival points in her hand, and her skills could also increase her stamina, so she wasn't too panicked, only feeling suffocated at first.
With the sandstorm hitting my face, I wasn't so scared anymore.
What's terrifying is always the unknown.
Xia Ning opened the group chat to see how the other players were reacting.
[Regional Chat]
...99+ historical messages
Walter: "Sandstorm! Have you guys encountered a sandstorm?!"
Esther: "Could we go behind the dunes to take shelter from the wind?"
Magical Girl Fang: "Don't go! I've seen documentaries. Sand dunes can't stop sandstorms at all. The strong winds will blow the dunes apart, and then the sand from the dunes will press down on you."
Who cares: "Damn it! This is practically burying someone alive!"
Hai Mei: "Waaaaah, I want to go home, I don't want to die."
Esther: "What should I do then? @MagicalGirlFang, what else did your documentary say?!"
Magical Girl Fang: "Don't run, staying in the car is the best way."
Su Leyue: "I understand. Life and death are predestined, and wealth and honor are determined by fate."
Water: "Damn it, today it's a sandstorm, tomorrow it's going to be a sand tornado, isn't it?"
Flowers bloom and fade: "Pah, pah, pah, you jinx!"
Whoever: "Where's Donkey Brother? He hasn't said a word for two days. Are you alright?"
Li Le: "Brother Donkey really can only rely on Brother Donkey now. I'm hiding behind my Iron-Eating Beast, trembling with fear."
Si Kou Hongxuan: "My car was almost overturned, it scared me to death."
Xu Leyi: "Despair. I've already run out of water, food, and gasoline. Now even opening the box is out of the question."
Duo Yuxuan: "I'm out of gas too. I was almost ready to get out of the car and walk to open the box to try my luck. Luckily, I have decision-making anxiety. I don't even want to think about it if I were still outside the car."
...
You don't need to think about it; just look at the steadily declining number of online users and you'll know what's going to happen.
Xia Ning watched and realized that the gap between the players had begun to widen.
Skill, luck, strategy... even a slight deviation can widen the gap between players.
Xia Ning has been thinking about the ranking competition for the past few days, and now she has made up her mind that she will participate as soon as the ranking competition begins.
Early participation means that the gap between people is not so large that it is difficult to overcome.
For example, Xia Ning initially had no attack skills, but she could still kill monsters by using a dirty trick, taking an unconventional approach.
Most importantly, early players largely maintained a moral compass.
This is the mark left by a peaceful, safe, and law-abiding society, and it is not so easy to erase unless one is born with an antisocial personality.
People may be wary of each other, or indifferent, turning a blind eye to the suffering of others, or even gloating over their misfortunes, but at least they haven't reached the point of harming each other or killing indiscriminately.
Therefore, in the early stages of the competition, the chances of killing and robbing other players are not very high.
In the later stages, it's hard to say.
When granaries are full, people know etiquette; living under constant pressure will only make people more and more numb and indifferent.
The storm continued, showing no signs of abating anytime soon.
To Xia Ning's surprise, some small animals actually used the space under her car as a shelter, and climbed up to the underside of her vehicle.
The hazard sensors in the car didn't react, indicating it wasn't a high-level monster.
Xia Ning suddenly felt that there was hope for her time-limited mission again.
Because she started receiving notification sounds for no apparent reason, it seemed that as long as those dried animal carcasses were blown by the sandstorm and hit Xia Ning's car, they would also be considered her property.
—Princess Phantom has obtained [Inferior Lizard Skin x1]
—Phantom Princess obtained [Inferior Scorpion Tail x1]
—Princess Phantom obtained [Inferior Gerbil Peel x1]
...
Xia Ning: Σ(⊙▽⊙"a
It really does happen that pie falls from the sky!
Three hours later, the storm hadn't ended, and Xia Ning's mission was over.
Along with the items already in the backpack—[Tangled Feathers x1], [Sharp Eagle Claws x1], and [Rattlesnake Skin x1]—they all disappeared.
Xia Ning received: +10 survival points and a random blueprint.
Blueprints, preferably vehicle upgrade blueprints.
Then, Xia Ning obtained the [Tier 3 Vehicle Improvement Blueprint].
Xia Ning: !!!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
