Chapter 22: The Outsider
【Dry period】
Before he opened his eyes, the scorching air waves oppressively trapped Li Ziyue's eyelids. The rough sand blown by the wind and the moment it hit his face, he felt an itch mixed with a sharp pain.
I could vaguely hear some biting sounds coming from the front, but my sense of smell suddenly became dull and I couldn't smell any strange smells.
There was only the overwhelming heat wave hitting my nasal cavity.
Li Ziyue paused for two seconds, stroked his wrinkled brows with one hand, and forced his eyes open.
When his eyes swept to the direction of the strange sound, he stepped back unconsciously, and a heart-shaking scene was reflected in his dark pupils.
In front of him, only three meters away, stood a skinny but unusually tall vicious dog. The dog's eyes were bloodshot, and its front paws were sharp. It tightly grasped the object under it, and its dense fangs suddenly pierced into the dry skin.
That's a skinny dog swallowing dead human flesh.
There was no smell because there was not even a hint of bright red on the dead man's body. He looked like a dried corpse that had been buried in the yellow sand for a long time, with only broken bones but no flesh and blood.
Li Ziyue bent his knees, slowed down his movements, and stared at the dog.
His stomach was churning and he frowned, trying not to make any sound as he moved.
This copy prohibits players from using their own weapons. Now that the scimitar is no longer in his hand, to be honest, Li Ziyue doesn't think he can go head-on with such a vicious dog.
His fingertips were about to touch the tree trunk, and the dog didn't seem to notice him. Li Ziyue's heart had already calmed down, but in the next blink of an eye -
The dog seemed to smile.
Its dark, round eyes rolled around, and without moving its head, its eyeballs bent towards Li Ziyue at a completely unreasonable angle, and thick, sour mucus overflowed from between its fangs.
The dog's hind rump is raised, its front body is leaning down, and its four paws are gathering strength.
Li Ziyue had already run to the other side.
Apart from anything else, after spending a long time in a dungeon, players’ short-distance and long-distance running abilities will not be too bad - the poor ones will be eliminated by “survival of the fittest”.
When he ran to a wall made of yellow mud, the dog stopped chasing him and just bared its teeth and howled viciously at Li Ziyue.
Li Ziyue raised the corners of his lips with a slight smile on his face, but he was doubtful in his heart.
The man-eating ferocious dog dares not enter the village?
What are you afraid of?
"Hey, you..." A hoarse and trembling voice came from the side, interrupting his thoughts.
Li Ziyue moved his gaze over there and suddenly stopped.
The man's cheeks were sunken, his eyes were horrifying, the pupils were shrunken to an abnormally small proportion, and his lips were chapped with clotted blood.
With an ugly smile on his face, he waved his hand at Li Ziyue: "I... my name is Liu Fengfeng... I'm a player."
Li Ziyue glanced him up and down.
The sides of his face were sunken, his reactions were slow, his back was abnormally hunched, and his breathing was slow and weak - this player had obviously been hungry for a long time.
Following the trend, he probably failed to pay enough points to maintain the normal order of his world for a long time, and then famine, epidemics, and natural disasters followed one after another, turning him into this state.
Liu Fengfeng finished introducing himself without saying anything. He just stared at Li Ziyue and licked his lips and smiled.
His eyes were so dull that it was scary.
Li Ziyue was about to open his mouth when he heard someone wailing in front of him.
"Fire! Fire!" The voice was hoarse, like a rusty axe cutting damp wood. The old woman staggered over, raising her arms and waving them.
Li Ziyue narrowed his eyes. A thick black and gray smoke rose from the pile of dry grass next to the house in front. Under the smoke, a faint orange-yellow flame could be seen climbing upwards.
The system prompt sounded.
[Congratulations to the player for triggering the main quest "Everything Reduced to Ashes"]
[Mission Difficulty: One Star (Old Man Zhao, who lives by the sea, was dismissive: Just water it, there's nothing to be afraid of when there's a fire)]
[Task requirements: Fire extinguishing (This task is mandatory. If no player completes it, the entire village will be burned down, the dungeon will be declared over, and all players will die)]
[Task Reward: 5000 Points]
Mandatory missions... the points rewards are also generous...
Li Ziyue looked around without leaving a trace. Some players had already started to take action, but he still stood there calmly, as if thinking about something.
Extinguish? How?
The fire was not small, and it almost burned half of the house. Sand could be used to put out the fire, but -
Li Ziyue bent down and touched the ground.
The sand floating on the surface is loose, and the soil underneath is dry and hard. Once enough sand is collected to put out the fire, everyone present can line up to enter the grave.
Only water can be used.
However, if the water is not poured enough at one time and the temperature cannot be lowered, water will decompose into hydrogen and oxygen under high temperature, which can easily cause the opposite effect of "adding fuel to the fire".
He squinted his eyes. The fire in front of him was gradually rising. Even if a "rich man" poured 20L of water on it in one breath, it was hard to say whether the fire could be extinguished.
Li Ziyue stood there and thought for a while, then took out the asbestos blanket he had bought earlier from his backpack.
Blanket conforms to the copy and adds relevant information.
[A huge asbestos blanket, with enhanced water absorption, 0.5L of water can soak the entire blanket]
Fires are very likely to occur in dry and hot places, and the rich have allocated too much water resources. It can be guessed that there is a high probability that water consumption will occur after entering the copy.
Fire consumes more water, but asbestos blankets are fireproof and high temperature resistant, and they also have good water absorption. Li Ziyue used his points to buy it just for this moment.
He was not the only one who thought of this. Players around him took out blanket props one after another. Li Ziyue was still rummaging through his backpack for water when his wrist was suddenly grabbed by someone.
Li Ziyue paused and closed his backpack.
"Give it to me." Liu Fengfeng's previous smile disappeared, and his bloodshot eyes stared at Li Ziyue and the blanket prop in his hand, "Give it to me!"
Liu Fengfeng added viciously: "Otherwise...otherwise I will kill you..."
Li Ziyue looked at Liu Fengfeng expressionlessly for two seconds. Hearing Liu Fengfeng's threat, he suddenly smiled: "Okay."
"But there is a condition." He waved his hand, "I don't do business at a loss. I bought it for 1,000 points, so selling it to you for 1,500 points is not too much, right?"
As if he had noticed Liu Fengfeng's embarrassment, Li Ziyue added considerately: "It won't be too late to give it to me after the game is over."
"You..." Liu Fengfeng's brain was slow to react and his eyes were dull due to the long period of hunger. Despite this, the caution of an old player still made him realize that something was wrong with Li Ziyue's straightforwardness. "Why did you..."
"Actually, I was hesitant," Li Ziyue lied calmly, "I drew the 'poor man' water amount, and that 0.5L of water is all I have."
Liu Fengfeng grinned and laughed triumphantly.
He was extremely lucky this time and drew the "rich man" water amount.
0.5L of water is everything to a poor person, but nothing to a rich person.
It seems that he has secured this point...
"Hello, my name is Ji Mingyun," someone called out to Li Ziyue, "I'll pay 2,000 points, can you sell me the blanket?"
Li Ziyue stopped moving.
This sound.
As expected, the pale face, dark eye sockets, and weak body seemed vulnerable.
It was the young man who had pinned the strong man against the wall and beat him in front of Li Ziyue.
Liu Fengfeng panicked: "Just tell me first..."
Li Ziyue raised the most innocent smile on his face, turned towards the young man, and spoke in a very low voice.
"I'd be willing to sell it to you. Do you really want it?"
Ji Mingyun raised his head slightly and raised an eyebrow at Li Ziyue.
His pale lips were tightly closed, but he didn't speak.
Liu Fengfeng hurriedly snatched the blanket from Li Ziyue's hand. Seeing that people around were preparing to pour water on the blanket, the more panicked Liu Fengfeng became, the more anxious his brain became, and the more he could not think.
He roughly opened the bottle containing water, and in the chaos, he used more than 2L instead of 0.5L originally needed to soak the blanket.
It’s okay…it’s okay…
The scorching and dazzling sunlight was reflected on the yellow earth ground. Sweat was pouring out of his skinny body. The strands of hair on his forehead had been wet with sweat and condensed into short strips.
I had water... I was the first... the first to put out the fire... I...
He dragged the heavy blanket and staggered towards the burning house.
If Liu Fengfeng still had a bit of rationality left.
If Liu Fengfeng could still open his eyes and look at the actions of the people around him.
He will find that everyone's action of pouring water only stops at the moment of opening the bottle cap.
No one poured water into the quilt. Those people tacitly made a fake move, making Liu Fengfeng mistakenly believe that this was a good task, a task in which everyone was scrambling to exchange water for points.
Wrong.
Everyone is trying to seduce Liu Fengfeng.
Go and offer a sacrifice.
Liu Fengfeng fell to the ground weakly, and the pale blanket was hanging in the middle of the house a few steps away from him.
As the heat wave passed, the blanket trembled in the air, like layers of white round paper money hung in front of a tomb.
The system reminds you that points have been credited.
[Congratulations to player Liu Fengfeng for getting 5000 points. I wish you a smooth game~]
Liu Fengfeng smiled happily.
However, none of the players around seemed to be relaxed.
The atmosphere was filled with weirdness.
Liu Fengfeng had no idea what kind of plot was going on in the hearts of the villagers around him, who were extremely eager for water because of the drought, when they saw him casually pouring water into the quilt.
That was the joy, madness and greed of a starving ghost when he saw a sumptuous feast.
Their eye sockets were hollow and oozing with foul-smelling saliva, like the vicious dogs that had eaten people at the entrance of the village before.
It is common sense that when you are alone outside, it is best not to show your money. In places where the rule of law is not sound, murder for money is the most common.
In this village that is dry and hot all year round, 1L of water can buy a life.
Fair trade.
Liu Fengfeng was gently helped up. He opened his eyes in the chaos and saw the gratitude of all the villagers.
The old woman was even more excited and hugged Liu Fengfeng, calling him her benefactor.
"Thank you! Thank you!"
"If it weren't for you putting out the fire, our village would have burned down... You are truly a hero!"
"Yes! He's our hero!"
The villagers were so moved that they laughed together and surrounded Liu Fengfeng. Someone excitedly pulled him and said, "Hero! Come to my house for dinner! Let me treat you well..."
"Go away, your family only eats leftovers, hero, come to my house!"
Crowds of people were pushing and shoving each other, and Liu Fengfeng became hesitant due to the overwhelming kindness.
The player's instinct is that it is best not to leave the player team and interact with NPCs alone, but in this situation... it may also be a personal benefit.
I am a hero after all.
Liu Fengfeng smiled elatedly.
"I'm so envious." Ji Mingyun said suddenly, "If I had bought a blanket just now, I would be the one being treated to dinner now."
"I'm so jealous," he said in a cold tone, staring at Liu Fengfeng and licking his lips that were beginning to dry up. "I've been busy for a long time, and I'm hungry."
Li Ziyue watched all this with an expressionless face. He neither spoke to the boy nor reminded Liu Fengfeng.
He just watched Liu Fengfeng being surrounded by the villagers and walked happily towards the grave of death step by step.
He was indifferent, like an outsider.
Ji Mingyun suddenly called him, "Li Ziyue."
Li Ziyue didn't remember telling Ji Mingyun his name.
Ji Mingyun looked at him straight in the face, his tone mocking: "If you don't sell him the blanket, he won't go to put out the fire, and naturally he won't be targeted by the villagers and players who are short of water."
He changed the subject and brought up another topic: "You know better than me how your seniors died six years ago."
"And how did you survive these six years alone? You must have used a lot of dirty tricks behind the scenes. How many people died directly or indirectly at your hands?"
His face was cold: "Don't you feel guilty, Li Ziyue?"
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