Chapter 153

Chapter 153

The first day of July, the season when fresh fish hit the market.

This was the first time large ships had gone out to sea for fishing after the Great Pollution. After releasing undersized and prohibited seafood as per regulations, several boats still managed to reach the shore, eliciting waves of cheers from the people who had been waiting for a long time.

These fish needed to be quickly stored in ice warehouses and then sent to all parts of JiuZhou.

Everyone had been waiting for this meal for nine years.

"In two hours, Brother Hai will enter the new instance. I wonder what it will be like this time." The ship workers murmured while unloading, their minds on the live stream. The captain smoked silently; if not for catching the live stream, they wouldn't have hurried back, considering how expensive the new energy sources were.

The good life they enjoyed now was all thanks to that man. Though they didn't say it aloud, everyone remembered his contributions.

I wonder if he likes seafood.

"We sailed far this time and saw other countries at the border. They watched us from the shore, their eyes red with envy. It's amazing; just fifty or sixty meters away, the water quality, air, even the sunlight were different. I could see how envious they were, but they couldn't cross over."

"Indeed. I have relatives who immigrated during the first disaster; they must be regretting it now."

"Why isn't it ready yet? Don't miss the live stream."

It had only been a little over ten days, and many people from JiuZhou were still on their way to the resettlement points. But whether they had already arrived home and started cleaning or were still on the road, everyone tuned into the live stream, leaving it on even if the screen was black, just waiting for it to light up.

If the comments in the live stream could be seen by the participants, they had so much they wanted to say to them.

Invite him to your home, treat him to your specialty dishes, show him around the best places in your hometown.

They were mature students, but still children. Children should enjoy eating, drinking, and playing around.

After waiting, the official start time of the game arrived, and the participants had already been inside the instance for half an hour.

"Will it be another joint exam like last time?"

"Hard to say, let's wait and see."

"Ji! Ahhhhh, Ji is out."

Inside the instance.

Impressive, Old Ji, managing to get twelve colleges to participate in a joint exam. If the previous joint exam was district-level, this one with thirteen colleges was city-level.

Ji Xinghai was curious: how many such colleges existed? Winning consecutively wasn't easy, but there must be talented individuals among the participants who had done so before, indicating that many more were not eligible for the joint exams.

In a makeshift snow hut, flames burned brightly. He leaned against the fire, flipping a skewered animal on a wooden stick. It looked like a rat with long fur and ears, but with a flat face. If it were a rabbit, it had a long tail and made squeaking sounds.

He had hunted it just minutes ago. Its white fur blended perfectly with the snowy ground, but Ji Xinghai's keen ears caught it, and he pinned it down by its tail.

Beside him was a small box containing a burning black mineral the size of a duck egg, known as the "fireseed," which was the target of the participants' task.

Exam Start Time: July 1, 6 AM.

Number of Participants: 279/279

Pass Criteria: Preserve the fireseed until the end of the exam (60 points).

Excellence Criteria: Bring the fireseed to the Human Holy City and ignite it.

Bonus Points: Not triggered.

This exam was a joint unified test involving thirteen colleges, allowing each participant to carry one piece of equipment.

The task seemed simple, but the information provided was scarce. The only thing he was sure about was that the burning mineral in the box was the fireseed, and the box was specially designed for it.

When he woke up, he found himself holding this object, with nothing else.

Dressed in thin autumn clothes, he stood in the snow-covered environment, at least twenty degrees below zero, feeling as cold as the snow.

Thinking about the task information, Ji Xinghai flipped the roasted long-tailed rabbit again. There was no salt or oil, just dry roasting, making it visibly unappetizing.

Bored, he opened the box, took out the mineral, tossed it a couple of times, and put it back. This thing had a catnip effect on the natives of this world; opening it attracted many creatures. Only when placed in the box did it remain silent.

He would take it out when hunting.

This was an abandoned village. From the entrance to the end, most buildings were single-story wooden or earthen structures, with only two stone buildings.

He found no electrical appliances, plastic products, or cement, not even bricks. The most luxurious buildings were the two two-story stone houses. Most things inside had been moved out, and the doors and windows had been taken away. However, it was clear that one of these highest buildings was a religious site, and the other was the village chief's residence.

In all the games he had played, this was the first instance with such an ancient setting, with Western-style architecture.

Now, this ancient village lay buried under the snow, with drifts reaching halfway up a person. Moving was difficult, let alone gathering the few remaining resources.

Ji Xinghai built a snow hut first, preparing for a long battle.

Unexpectedly, he caught prey while collecting snow, so he summoned the vampire from the handbook to create a sturdy snow hut using magic. He then took wood from some less stable houses to make a fire and process the prey, spending the next half-hour doing so.

This instance wouldn't end soon. Over the next few days, he planned to clear the surrounding abandoned houses for supplies, hunt, and use smoking techniques to store food. Once prepared, he would search for the "Human Holy City."

He was sensitive to the phrase "Human Holy City." Why emphasize "human"?

If possible, he wanted to build a sled and find two long-haired dogs to make travel easier in the snow.

Although werewolves could transform, they could only exist for thirty minutes, insufficient for Ji Xinghai's needs.

Of course, if necessary, he could adapt.

The long-tailed rabbit was almost done. Originally, it had long fur and little meat. After removing the skin and blood, it weighed barely over a pound, barely enough to satisfy hunger, only to whet the appetite.

Ji Xinghai finished eating, gathered the bones, and extinguished the fire.

He was about to start working.

In the vast ancient village, it was so quiet that only the sound of snowflakes falling could be heard. Ji Xinghai didn't dare to guarantee that he was the only student here, but he was certainly the only one out collecting supplies.

So, he wouldn't hold back.

The people in this village hadn't evacuated in a panic; they had taken everything they could when they left. Every house Ji Xinghai entered was empty.

But it didn't matter; the entire wooden houses were resources too.

He pushed down these already unstable wooden houses one by one, sorting out usable wood, dry grass piles, and stones.

Dry grass piles served as beds in each household, and shaking them would reveal many dried insect corpses. The stones were used for building fireplaces and chimneys.

Wood could be stacked and stored in a dowry box, just like dry grass piles and stones each occupied their own dowry box.

As long as they were of the same type, the number that could be stacked was infinite.

Those five hundred points spent weren't wasted; they were much more practical than game space slots. With one kick, Ji Xinghai brought down a wooden house, sorting the wood, grass piles, and stones into categories.

Watching him meticulously collect every usable resource and systematically destroy these houses, leaving empty foundations each time, the audience from all nationalities and races felt an unprecedented satisfaction of their OCD and collecting tendencies.

Thus, even though the process of gathering resources was boring and mechanical, few viewers left.

During the resource collection, Ji Xinghai found some unusual stones.

"Obsidian?"

There was indeed a snowy mountain near the village. Could it have been a volcano?

Holding the black stones kicked out by the dowry box, he weighed them and smiled as if he had found treasure.

It wasn't until evening that the audience understood why he was smiling.

Turned out he was going to use these obsidian stones to make knives. Previously, Ji Xinghai had demonstrated making a small knife with thin glass, and now with better materials, making knives was even easier.

"The ropes are made from the most flexible parts of the dry grass, the sticks are taken from the houses, the blades are made from stones, and the kitchen knives, spears, and axes are all crafted at night."

On the first day, he had gathered enough fuel and handy weapons, still being the fastest among hundreds of students.

"Even with increased cold resistance, staying in such simple houses is still quite chilly. Those who built igloos were smart."

"It's different. Those who built igloos planned to stay for a while. But many students intended to leave and find populated areas; they didn't want to waste time building igloos."

This scenario provided too little information, leading to different considerations among the students.

Those aiming only to pass and those planning to stockpile more resources built temporary shelters. Those without nearby resources or seeking the Holy City found windproof corners to spend the night by the campfire.

The first day passed uneventfully.

This slow pace, unlike the previous scenario, made many students uncomfortable. Instinctively, they collected more things and traveled further on the second day.

Thanks to the gifts from the previous scenario in the snowy mountains, among the three hundred students, only fifty or sixty fell ill due to the harsh environment.

The rest either endured or had special abilities and items.

This time, they could bring one piece of equipment, and many chose tools suitable for extreme cold.

Ji Xinghai also collected resources on the second day. However, he no longer focused on the wooden houses; he had enough wood and stones. His target was the two stone buildings.

Within less than an hour, he dug out the 'private storerooms' of these two buildings. In what seemed to be a religious building, he found a small chest containing a set of black-and-white robes, a sheepskin scroll, several candles, and a bag of coarse salt. In the highest administrative official's house, he found a small bag of unhusked wheat and a large bag of beans.

With this, food was secured, but the biggest gain was the sheepskin scroll. The geometric text on it automatically translated for Ji Xinghai.

The gist was an invitation for someone to leave the bustling city and go to a remote village to serve as a priest, interpreting divine will for the ignorant villagers.

It looked like a hiring letter, complete with a seal.

Ji Xinghai wasn't interested in the content; he was interested in the simple map on the back.

Knowing the name of this village, traveling in the opposite direction would lead to the bustling city.

No matter what, even if it had become ruins, the city would contain more clues.

Ji Xinghai was ambitious; he wanted not just high scores but another perfect score.

Having made his decision, the next step was to store enough food; those few beans and grains wouldn't last long.

What Ji Xinghai really wanted was a sled and hunting dogs, but there were no conditions for that.

So, he took out the fire starter, which was highly attractive to the local animals, and exposed it to the air. As soon as the fire starter left the box, the quiet village became restless.

He saw a crow land on a nearby dead tree, its eyes fixed on him. He also heard rustling sounds around him, indicating something surrounding the area.

Scanning his surroundings, Ji Xinghai picked up the fire starter and started running.

As he ran, the animals lying in wait instinctively followed—those flying, walking, and even swimming under the ice all chased after him, jumping over obstacles in their way.

Ji Xinghai sped up and slowed down, like walking dogs, leading these future meals.

Finally, after the constant changes in speed, the animals chasing behind him were panting heavily, their legs trembling. At this point, he took out a simple spear from the box and began sharpening it.

Four long-tailed rabbits, three sharp-nosed white pigs, and one bird—all eight lives ended there forever.

"Good treasure." He gently stroked the fire starter used as bait.

The dowry box had no preservation function, so Ji Xinghai quickly processed these delivered prey, skewering them on sticks and placing them over the campfire to smoke.

Throughout this period, the fire starter remained outside the box.

"Hmm." Ji Xinghai only noticed the anomaly with the fireseed after he had finished dealing with all the prey. One side of the originally evenly burning ore had become particularly bright, as if trying to hint at something.

Ji Xinghai took the ore out and kept walking in the direction the light was pointing. Unconsciously, he found himself on the main road outside the village from the small path.

But what was out there?

Just as he was wondering if the ore was faulty, a sound different from that of branches falling came from this road, and it grew closer and closer.

A minute later, several tall, long-haired dogs dragged a swaying cart loaded with goods, galloping into view.

"Stop!" The large dogs skidded to a halt, sending powdery snow flying like dust, covering the roof of the cart behind them.

"Cough, cough." The driver coughed a few times, its eyes fixed on the fireseed in Ji Xinghai's hand, exhaling two puffs of steam through its nose.

Ji Xinghai’s eyes were also fixed, staring at the cart and the dogs.

His sled.

His sled dogs.