The Second Kingdom (I)
"Welcome to the Survival Game! The Second Kingdom dungeon has been opened, and the dungeon progress is 1/5! There are currently 300 players online! The Second Kingdom was once a friendly neighbor living outside of human sight, sharing Earth's air, food, and water with us. Unknown to us, this peaceful balance was disrupted. Now, the Second Kingdom has rebuilt its habitat, and here, humans have completely reversed their roles. Your mission in this level is still survival, survival, survival! Survival is, and only is, the highest moral standard! We wish you a pleasant gaming experience!"
"Attention! Due to the irreversible pollution of water and soil worldwide caused by several large-scale wars, all players in this round of dungeons cannot obtain drinking water or food from the dungeon world! All food supplies must be distributed according to the system quota! The system distribution logic is roughly based on the player's current needs!"
"Warning! Do not consume surface water directly!"
"I wish you a pleasant journey and a speedy arrival at the other side of victory!"
After the system's sweet voice, the surroundings fell silent. Liang Qing opened her eyes abruptly, and the first thing she did was to check in the dark to see if Bao Bao was by her side.
Fortunately, Bao Bao was curled up beside him, asleep. However, due to the poor air, he slept restlessly, his head moving slightly in anxiety. Liang Qing reached out and wiped the back of his neck, revealing a layer of sweat.
She was on the lower bunk bed of an old-fashioned bunk bed. The mattress hadn't been changed in who knows how long, and the strong musty smell was giving her a headache. There were a few empty cans lying on the wet sheets.
Liang Qing picked up the child and took off his coat, leaving him in a long-sleeved shirt. She stood up and looked around. There was another bunk bed in the small room. Shi Xiaofeng and Allen rubbed their eyes and climbed up.
Behind him, Nie Yun looked down from the upper bunk: "Are we in the basement?"
"That should be it. Go to the points mall right now and buy a distiller, a water dispenser, a wok, and as many water and food stoves as you can get."
The three of them immediately understood. Liang Qing also opened his points mall and bought a bunch of daily necessities and baby products.
She breathed a sigh of relief only when the things arrived in front of her one after another.
"We grabbed three boxes of water, and that's it." Shi Xiaofeng said while holding the phone.
"I grabbed a box of compressed biscuits, and it sold out immediately!" Alan said.
"The other things we just bought are also being sold out one after another," Nie Yun added.
"It's not surprising. What we have now is enough to last for a while." Liang Qing thought about it and bought a few powerful flashlights and portable torch handles.
In the points mall, some water and food were originally sold under the [Survival Equipment] and [Other] sections respectively. Because players could obtain these things directly from the dungeon environment before, they had never been paid attention to before.
The Second Kingdom was different. Even without being specifically mentioned, players knew the system wouldn't distribute food in sufficient quantities or on time. Since food from the outside world couldn't be eaten directly, the limited food and water in the points mall quickly became a target of scramble.
Most players think of going directly to get water and food.
"It's easy for us, but what about Bao Bao?"
After a brief silence, Liang Qing broke off two pieces of compressed biscuits that Allen had snatched, and took out the small spoon and bowl that he had just exchanged from the points mall, and mixed the milk powder with the only bottle of purified water he had.
A bowl of compacted rice porridge was placed in front of Liang Baobao.
"Baobao, this is food. Do you want to try it?" Liang Qing said without confidence.
Then she underestimated Liang Baobao. The kid didn't even glance at the spoon; when the bowl was brought to him, he immediately buried his face in it and gobbled it up.
Liang Qing didn't even have time to poop. When Liang Baobao looked up, the bowl was empty. His face was covered in mush, and he smiled and licked it with his tongue, obviously not having eaten enough.
Alan's jaw dropped. He had read the instructions for the compressed biscuits: one biscuit could provide the calories of an entire meal for an adult.
Liang Baobao grabbed the bowl and knocked it loudly on the table, revealing four beautiful teeth.
This means you need a refill.
Nie Yun smiled and picked him up. "To be honest, generally, children should start eating solid food at six months old. We've been overcoming this problem step by step. And Baobao's growth rate is so rapid that I guess Huhu can no longer satisfy him."
Liang Qing and everyone present felt the heavy pressure of raising a child.
Alan was the youngest child in the group besides Liang Baobao. He felt especially sorry for his little brother. He put away Liang Baobao's small bowl and spoon and said solemnly, "I'd rather starve than let him."
Liang Qing patted his shoulder and said, "I promise neither of you will go hungry."
After temporarily fooling Liang Baobao, the four of them searched the surrounding environment.
This was an underground air-raid shelter, consisting of an open-plan bedroom and living room. It had been in disrepair for a long time, littered with smelly empty cans and bottles and tattered bedding. Blood stained the sandbags within the shelter. Radical slogans were scrawled on the walls.
They couldn't tell whether it was day or night. The filament of the only electric light in the basement was almost at the end of its life, flickering and making people feel very depressed, not to mention the increasingly thin oxygen in the turbid air.
This is a place that can drive people crazy if they stay there for too long.
They lost their sense of space and time inside, and in just a moment, Liang Qing clearly felt everyone's anxiety and irritability.
She turned on her flashlight, her gaze finally settling on the single vent. Its rusty iron bars were about to fall off, and a faint trace of cool air seeped out of the vent, which was covered in a thick layer of dust.
The vent is barely big enough for an adult woman to crawl through.
Liang Qing stepped back, stepped on a sandbag, did a pull-up, and used his head to push open the fence of the ventilation duct.
The echo of the falling iron fence spread far away, and the space inside was frighteningly large.
Liang Qing just hung in the air, holding the flashlight in his mouth and looking inside.
"What's up there?" Shi Xiaofeng and Allen piled up, trying to give Liang Qing a foothold. However, Liang Qing arched his body upwards and went straight in.
The three people looked up and waited for her below.
"It's empty here, with only some footprints on the ground..."
Liang Qing bent down and looked carefully at the direction of the footprints. She walked forward a little bit and finally stopped in front of a thick iron plate.
The footprints stopped here, but several suspicious drag marks began here, and the first few meters were dark, the color of blood.
Liang Qing quickly retreated and pushed the iron fence up again.
"What did you see? The vent should be able to go out, right?"
"Okay, but we can't go there." Liang Qing briefly described what he saw.
"You mean, someone wanted to leave, but something behind the iron plate attacked them?" Nie Yun said.
"Yes, and someone must have died on the spot, and the mutilated body was dragged back."
Nie Yun covered her mouth, her face pale. She subconsciously looked around, fearing that there was a corpse lying somewhere.
"Think of another way. Rushing to die is not the best idea."
The others nodded silently.
"Ding! It's food delivery time! Thank you all for your hard work, players! Please check the free food sent by the system. Enjoy your meal!"
Suddenly, the system's voice came out. A large portion of something wrapped in tinfoil appeared in front of the group. It looked quite large.
Shi Xiaofeng's brows relaxed, and he patted his stomach: "It feels like not much time has passed. The food has been delivered so quickly. Maybe we don't have to worry about going hungry during this stage."
Liang Qing remained silent. Allen stepped forward and peeled back the tinfoil. Everyone was stunned—the tinfoil contained a whole bowl of bean soup.
The chickpeas sank to the bottom and the broth was watery with just some onion shavings and parsley, that was it.
"Is this the food distributed by the system? Can four adults and a child survive eating this?"
Shi Xiaofeng's face was hit so hard that it hurt.
Liang Qing stirred the food with a spoon. "Now that we're here, let's make the best of it. It wouldn't be a survival game if we could just keep you well fed and well-watered. Let's save on the compressed biscuits and water, and try not to use up our inventory when the system dispatches meals."
The other three agreed.
They still remembered how the previous level system had used Yinquan Town as a breeding ground for Gu, sending players there time and time again. They had no control over how much food was replenished this round, or when.
Liang Qing separated most of the broth and used a small distiller he'd bought at the mall to extract 300 milliliters of water. He then used a combination of compressed biscuits and stored milk powder to prepare a lunch for Liang Baobao. The adults also shared the remaining beans and chopped vegetables without hesitation.
After eating, the tableware and tin foil disappeared cleanly.
Shi Xiaofeng shook his head, muttering, "It's better not to eat this meal," while looking for a place to relieve himself.
After a while, the three heard Shi Xiaofeng lower his voice and say, "Come here."
Liang Qing and the others came to the innermost part of the bedroom and saw Shi Xiaofeng smelling something through the crack in the wall.
"Shi Xiaofeng, why are you like a dog, sniffing everywhere to mark your pee and poop?" Nie Yun said with disgust.
Shi Xiaofeng didn't argue with her and made a "hush" gesture. Liang Qing also approached: "What chemical do you smell?"
"It's like a detergent or an insecticide. I'm not sure, but the airflow is moving along the wall. If I'm not mistaken, there's a big pipe behind the wall transporting the gas."
After being silent for a long time, Allen suddenly spoke: "What kind of enemy are we going to face in this level?"
Several people thought about this question carefully, but since there were really no clues at this stage, they didn't dare to think too deeply about it.
There was a strange rustling sound coming from the direction of the restaurant. Liang Qing looked at Nie Yun. She was not holding Liang Baobao.
Nie Yun's face darkened as he explained, "I used sandbags to create a small castle for him and let him crawl around in it for a while..."
As he spoke, Liang Qing had already rushed out.
Liang Baobao was completely unaware that the noise he made was making everyone in the room nervous. When Liang Qing arrived, he found him crumpling something that looked like waste newspaper, and the rustling sound made him giggle.
Liang Qing took it and unfolded it, and found that the translucent object was not a newspaper, but an astonishingly large insect wing.
They hadn't noticed it before because the light in the room was too dim, and its translucent wings were lost in the corner. Liang Baobao was different. He crawled fast and was a living "sweeping monk."
"With wings this big, the insect's eyes must be as big as basketballs?" Nie Yun silently wiped away the goose bumps on his arms.
"What kind of insect is this?" Shi Xiaofeng spread out his broken wings, revealing the curved patterns in front of everyone.
"...A bit like a mantis's wings," Alan said.
Everyone fell silent again. If these wings were enlarged to the same proportion as the entire body, wouldn't the mantis's sickle-like forelimbs be similar to a tiger-head guillotine?
Shi Xiaofeng: "I think it would be nice for us to stay here forever."
Others: ...
Liang Qing bought four military pickaxes from the mall with 101 points each and distributed them: "Instead of just sitting there and waiting for death, it's better to take the initiative. Let's go and give it a try."
She took the lead and walked towards the wall, using a pickaxe to scrape down the wall plaster along with the red bricks. The others immediately understood and followed suit.
Because there was potentially explosive gas behind the wall, Liang Qing chose the safest method of manual excavation. They split into two groups, moving from both sides toward the center, trying to dig a hole large enough for one person.
The cramped space lacked air circulation, and physical exertion consumed exponentially more oxygen. Soon, Nie Yun began to feel dizzy and her ears tinnitus were a problem. Liang Qing held her shoulders and ordered her to rest while he and Shi Xiaofeng and Allen continued.
About an hour later, when the outline of the cave entrance appeared, Alan and Shi Xiaofeng turned pale and could no longer move.
Liang Qing continued digging, like a tireless machine. Finally, the last layer of bricks was cleared away. She kicked the bricks, breaking them apart, and a sudden burst of crisp air rushed in from the other side of the wall.
Opposite Liang Qing, less than five meters away, was another wall. In the gap between the two walls, there was a thick pipe extending upward, reaching the sky with no end in sight.
It took only a second for the three people who were exhausted and short of oxygen to wake up on the spot, and even Liang Baobao, who was in a coma, showed a sweet smile.
The foul odor in the room was swept away, and they breathed in the air greedily. Shi Xiaofeng pointed at the pipe with more certainty and said, "Chemicals are being transported in here."
Liang Qing nodded. She looked up and saw that the wind was blowing from above. She reached out and touched the pipe and found that the temperature was normal.
"Let's crawl out."
Ten minutes later, after a quick meal, the four people stood in a row. Liang Qing ordered the necessary climbing equipment from the mall and checked that everyone's safety belt and hiking shoes were properly worn.
The other three people could see that Liang Qing was not so confident about this escape plan.
The reason was simple: except for Liang Qing, none of the other three were physically strong. Liang Qing was not only the leader, but also had to carry Liang Baobao, who weighed nearly 20 kilograms.
After the inspection, Liang Qing breathed a sigh of relief and patted their shoulders: "Everyone, remember the location of the safety buckle. Saving your own life is the most important thing."
When she said this, the other three people's expressions became serious.
The safety buckle Liang Qing refers to is the red buckle on each person's shoulder. It can be unfastened with one hand during climbing. Once unfastened, the harness disconnects from the person upwind. If the person upwind suddenly falls, the following people can disconnect in turn, preventing them from falling along with the person.
The order of the team from top to bottom is Liang Qing, Shi Xiaofeng, Nie Yun, and Allen.
Except for Liang Qing, everyone else could choose to give up the others and live alone. But Liang Qing was at the top, which meant she was destined to bear the weight of the other three people at the same time.
Physical strength is indeed their team's biggest weakness at this stage.
"Hey, do you think these points are set up by unscrupulous capitalists? I bought some hiking boots before, and they were only 50 yuan a pair. Now the price has increased to 5,000 yuan. Luckily we are well-off, otherwise we would not be able to afford it."
Shi Xiaofeng swallowed nervously and began to mutter to ease the atmosphere.
He was telling the truth. The four of them had accumulated nearly 200,000 points in the first two dungeons. After entering this round, many commonplace pieces of equipment suddenly became essential for survival, with prices in the store refreshing accordingly. These climbing tools, along with the food and equipment they'd previously purchased, had cost them nearly half their savings.
This level is really expensive.
As soon as Shi Xiaofeng finished speaking, Nie Yun Allen smiled knowingly.
Liang Qing also smiled: "Let's go."
She used the wooden planks in the room to build a short platform for everyone to climb onto the pipe. She was the first to leap out and hug the pipe tightly.
Behind her, Shi Xiaofeng, Nie Yun and Allen all held the tube tightly.
They were like four grasshoppers resting on a tube.
"Listen to my instructions, first the right hand and then the right leg, follow the rhythm of one, two, one, two." Liang Qing calmed down.
In addition to demonstrating safe climbing procedures to everyone, she also needs to use strong glue to stick acrylic boards along the way to support her teammates.
Every second seemed to stretch longer and longer. Liang Qing silently counted the acrylic steps along the way. Calculating at 50 centimeters per step, they had already climbed nearly two kilometers.
This is the absolute limit of physical strength for two adults and a minor who have no rock climbing experience.
She lowered her eyes and looked down. Shi Xiaofeng, who was closest to her, was pale, and Nie Yun, who was below her, had bitten his lip until it bled. As for Allen, who was at the bottom, Liang Qing couldn't see his face clearly, but she noticed that his arms were shaking uncontrollably.
If this goes on, you will die sooner or later.
She looked up and carefully caught a glimpse of an unusual place in the limited light.
"Flashlight!" Shi Xiaofeng also noticed something unusual, so he quickly grabbed himself and handed the flashlight to Liang Qing. Liang Qing held the flashlight in his mouth and pointed it at that place -
The good news was that there was a dark hole about 20 meters away from them.
The bad news was that the black hole was at least three meters away from them, and the hole was not spacious, so how to get out of the tube was a problem.
"Let's leave from there." Liang Qing gestured.
The brief joy quickly fueled their fighting spirit. The final distance was faster than they had ever climbed before.
When they were parallel to the black hole, everyone was stunned again.
"How do I get through..." Nie Yun was about to cry. She could hardly hold on any longer, but when she thought about the person below her who was still an underage Allen, she gritted her teeth and didn't let herself collapse.
"I have a way. All you have to do is believe in me and believe in yourself."
An uneasy silence spread. They didn't know what Liang Qing was going to do, but their bad premonitions always preceded their rationality.
"Alan, grab the rope." Liang Qing tried his best to make his voice sound calm.
A rope started from Liang Qing's waist and the other end hung at Alan's side.
Alan looked up. He couldn't see Liang Qing's face, but he knew she was waiting for his reply.
"Do you have the confidence to grab the rope with both hands and wrap it tightly around your wrists?"
Alan breathed a sigh of relief: "Yes."
"If I tell you to jump, just step on the pipe and rush towards the black hole. Remember, don't think about anything else except the hole." Liang Qing paused, "Imagine yourself as a bird."
"good."
"Three, two, one!" Liang Qing exerted his strength, like a gravity ball, and flung Allen toward the hole. He was at the lowest position, and as he swung, his entire body, hanging on the rope, drew a short and beautiful arc. Finally, Allen firmly grasped the hole of the black hole and slipped into the hole.
When he heard Liang Qing's words, he almost immediately took out his pistol.
No attacking objects appeared. Alan looked inside and saw that the entrance to the cave was also dug out, extending crookedly into the distance, with fresh air pouring in continuously.
"I think we can get out!" For the first time, the boy's eyes curved with a smile.
He turned around and saw that Nie Yun had been thrown out by Liang Qing. Nie Yun's hand slipped and she almost fell down. Fortunately, Allen caught her and Nie Yun was able to climb up.
She lay on the ground gasping for breath, her face showing a look of exhaustion and confusion after extreme joy and sorrow.
Shi Xiaofeng was next. Because he was too close to Liang Qing, he slid down two meters before being thrown out, allowing Liang Qing to create more inertia.
Shi Xiaofeng was also thrown over. As he turned around, a black bundle flew over. Three people reached out and caught Liang Baobao steadily.
A crisp "snap" sound came from behind. The three turned their heads and saw Liang Qing hanging on a pedal with one hand, her body shaking violently - she had slid at least five meters from her original position, barely grabbing a pedal to keep herself hanging.
What is even more terrifying is that her arm was cut by the broken acrylic plate, leaving a 20-centimeter wound, and blood was gushing out uncontrollably.
"Boss!" Nie Yun staggered and almost rushed out, but was quickly grabbed by Shi Xiaofeng.
Liang Qing felt dizzy. She looked up and saw three nervous faces sticking out of the cave. She forced a smile and said, "Not dead yet."
Allen quickly looped the rope around the waists of the three men and threw the other end toward Liang Qing. But the target was too small, and the airflow near the pipe was severely disturbed. Once, twice, and three times, common sense failed. They took turns, but couldn't reach Liang Qing.
Liang Qing reached for the pipe several times, only to find the blood flowing faster from the wound on her arm. She quickly glued a new board to herself and tied a noose around the pipe with the rope, barely managing to hang onto it. Her lips were already turning pale, and blood soaked half of her body, snaking down her T-shirt and jeans and flowing down the pipe...
"You two, save your energy." She said reluctantly, "I need to rest too."
"Boss, we will definitely pull you up!" Shi Xiaofeng's eyes were red and he clenched his fists.
"Don't talk like we're parting forever..." Liang Qing's smile and voice stopped abruptly.
All four of them detected a strange sound. It was a humming sound coming from the center of the Earth. The humming sound was very low at first, but gradually became clearer and closer.
Liang Qing suddenly looked down and saw that the wound on his arm was still dripping blood, and the bright red blood fell into the abyss below. In the bottomless darkness, something was resurrecting and moving upwards, following the smell of blood...
Liang Qing's expression changed, and he shouted at the three of them, "Run! Don't worry about me, run now!"
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