Chapter 2: The Search for Fire

Chapter 2: The Search for Fire

A celestial body as immense as the sun evokes a fear that transcends everything, bordering on bewildering terror. Even knowing its abnormality—what could they do? They couldn't even investigate.

In this seemingly normal world, the sun itself was an absurd spectacle hanging in the sky.

“A Xi, are you coming?” Song Ziming called out in the distance.

“Coming!” A Xi responded, then turned to Xie Yunzhu. “Thank you for the warning. There’s definitely something wrong with the sun here. Please keep observing; I’ll figure out the sunglasses situation.”

“Sure.” Xie Yunzhu nodded, stopped gazing upward, and turned to walk in another direction.

The ruins were vast, filled with dilapidated buildings and the occasional withered tree. Unlike the ancient setting of the NPCs, the facilities here were quite modern—electrical appliances and vehicles were everywhere, and most buildings were two- or three-story self-built village-style houses.

But there were no humans—not even any living creatures. It was as if the world had been plunged into some corrosive solution, all organic life dissolving in an instant, leaving only these inorganic objects to endure eternal exposure.

After everyone scattered, the place grew even quieter, with only hot winds occasionally stirring up dust from the ground. Shadowy figures flitted stealthily, and every door was slightly ajar, as if hiding pairs of watching eyes.

Were these the "heretics" the High Priest had mentioned? Xie Yunzhu touched the warm Divine Light on his forehead. He noticed that wherever he went, the heretics quickly hid, as if afraid of him. Was the Divine Light working?

Xie Yunzhu thought for a moment, picked up a stainless steel chair from the roadside, and casually pushed open the door of a house, stepping inside.

Inside was an ordinary-looking home, just as eerily quiet, with only the sound of a creaking electric fan spinning overhead.

An electric fan… overhead… creaking…

Xie Yunzhu froze, quickly looked up, and saw a horrifying scene: three children were perched on the fan blades, swaying as if playing to make the fan wobble as it turned. Their skin was purplish and swollen, their rotting, maggot-filled eyes all staring down at him while giggling. No wonder the fan was straining—they were ghosts.

Fuck—!

Without a second thought, Xie Yunzhu threw the stainless steel chair in his hand.

With a loud thud, the chair hit the fan, making it spin faster. The three children shrieked, and the maggots on their bodies scattered like grotesque blossoms.

Xie Yunzhu only avoided the shower because he ran fast, but he still felt his stomach churn. Just then, the smallest child lost its balance and fell, its brain splattering on the floor. It crawled toward him, babbling as it scrambled swiftly on its hands and feet!

Xie Yunzhu didn’t retreat. Instead, he stepped forward; he had to confirm a suspicion.

Sure enough, as he advanced, the rotting child flinched back, halting three steps away, too afraid to approach.

The monsters here really are afraid of me. Xie Yunzhu confirmed his theory. Was it because of the Divine Light given by the High Priest? She had said it would protect him from the heretics.

But if that’s the case, wasn't this dungeon too easy?

Is the dungeon itself simple, or is there a beginner’s protection period at the start?

“Fire… fire…” The small child lying three steps away was trying to speak, waving a small, rotting hand with exposed bone toward Xie Yunzhu. “Fire…”

Xie Yunzhu looked closely and saw it was holding a matchstick!

If he could get that match, he would complete the first day’s collection task!

It was all too easy, which felt unsettling. Xie Yunzhu crouched down, smirking at the child with what he thought was a friendly smile. “Listen, you little brat, if you really want to give it to me, leave the match and crawl away.”

The little brat actually understood, shook its head and pointed to its hollow eye socket. “Eyeball… fire…”

Xie Yunzhu’s smile turned even more “friendly.” “You want me to trade one of my eyeballs for your matchstick?”

The little brat nodded, then shook its head again, stubbornly holding up two bony fingers. “Two eyeballs… one match…”

“…” Xie Yunzhu jumped up and scanned the area. Where’s my stainless steel battle chair?

Seeing he was about to attack, the little brat started wailing, crawling away while crying. The two ghost children on the fan continued to play obliviously, giggling.

The fan continued to creak, still spinning. Xie Yunzhu looked up and saw a painting of a Skeletal Bodhisattva hanging on the living room wall. It was garishly colored like a New Year’s painting, covered in dense, sinister-looking inscriptions—clearly a product of some cult.

Next to it hung a family photo of five: a happily smiling father and mother, with their three children. The youngest, cradled in its mother’s arms, sucked its thumb, its large, dark eyes curiously observing the world.

According to the High Priest, they had likely abandoned the Sun God and turned to some malevolent deity, which was why they ended up like this.

After searching the living room, Xie Yunzhu made a beeline for the kitchen.

The house was old, still equipped with a traditional earthen stove, along with a refrigerator, cupboards, and a square table. He searched carefully but found not a single match.

While passing the stove, he tripped over something. Looking down, he saw a thin, hairy leg sticking out of the piled-up ashes!

Xie Yunzhu’s heart lurched. He stepped back three steps to examine the leg, then grew suspicious. He grabbed a broom and dustpan, swept away the ashes, revealing a hoof—it was obviously a deer’s leg!

But why was a deer’s leg sticking out of the stove?

Xie Yunzhu kicked the leg, and it twitched. A scuffling sound came from inside, as if the deer was trying to climb out.

But its body was too large, hopelessly stuck. After much effort, only its rear end emerged, and a red-and-green card drifted out.

Xie Yunzhu picked it up and saw it was a Christmas card with a message: “Dear little friend, write to Santa Claus quickly! Santa will grant all your wishes!”

So you're one of Santa’s reindeer, huh? You tried to come down the chimney but got stuck in the stove, right?!

Just write a wish, and Santa will deliver fire-making tools, along with taking both my kidneys, right?!

Who knew this dungeon’s worldview would be such a mix, with Santa Claus counting as one of the evil gods.

Xie Yunzhu picked up the dustpan, poured the ashes back over the deer’s leg, burying it completely, then left the kitchen without looking back.

He searched the first floor, second floor, and even the attic but found no fire-making tools. He noticed the man of the house smoked—cigarette packs were scattered everywhere—but not a single lighter could be found.

This must be the dungeon’s difficulty: task items that seem common but are nearly impossible to find, heretics everywhere, and the dire consequences of making deals with them in desperation.

Before leaving the house, Xie Yunzhu stuffed a few packs of cigarettes into his pocket, along with a dozen batteries in another. He took a piece of broken glass from a window, ink from a child’s room, a clean blanket and a small pillow from the sofa, and even carried away a folding lounge chair.

The two ghost children on the fan were furious, spinning wildly and raining maggots on him, calling him a “thief!”

Protected by the Divine Light, Xie Yunzhu glared up and cursed back even fiercer, reducing the children to tears.

Counting from the previous dungeon, he hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in about ten days. His nerves were frayed, and his body was exhausted to the limit. Anyone who provoked him now would pay dearly.

Around 10 p.m., when the exploration team returned, they saw a bizarre scene: a sunshade umbrella stood on the altar, and that strange guy had set up a lounge chair under it, a book covering his face, sleeping openly!

“Tch, why is there always a black sheep like this? If he wants to die, he should say so,” grumbled an old player named Xin Lei. “Don’t let him ruin the main quest for us.”

“Relax, it won’t. This probably isn’t a group task,” the pretty boy Fu You patted his shoulder. “The dungeon likely doesn’t expect everyone to find the items, haha.”

His words did little to comfort the group, instead making them grimace. They had no idea how far they’d walked or how many terrifying monsters they’d encountered, barely managing to gather the fire-making tools.

And this was only the first day.

A Xi walked up to Xie Yunzhu and removed the book from his face, only to find his eyes wide open, startling her. “Ha, you’re awake! Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Listening to you talk about me,” Xie Yunzhu yawned, sitting up and rubbing his lower back. “What time is it now?”

"It's almost midnight, and they plan to turn in the task early." A Xi poked his face with old-fashioned sunglasses. "How's the sun doing?"

"Moving." Xie Yunzhu took the sunglasses and tried them on, finding the effect much better, so he tossed away the glass tinted with ink he had been using.

"How is it moving?"

"Moving wildly, chaotically, like monkeys scrambling on a mountain." Xie Yunzhu pulled out a piece of paper. "I roughly recorded the sun's movement throughout the day. It's completely unpredictable. The only thing certain is that it only moves closer, never retreats."

A Xi craned her neck for a look, but Xie Yunzhu pressed the paper into his palm and glanced at her. "No rush. Tell me what you found first."

Intel for intel—smart folks get the drill.

"What I found? Plenty, but there's no time now. I'll tell you later." A Xi extended a friendly hand. "Need help getting up? It's time to turn in the task."

So his condition was that obvious... Xie Yunzhu declined her offer and slowly hauled himself up. He saw the others already gathered around the High Priest.

Everyone showed their stuff. Some had successfully found lighters, matches, or igniters and easily started a fire. Others had found magnifying glasses and used the sun that never clocks out to ignite a pile of dry grass.

When it was Fu You's turn, he pulled a metal rod and a small knife from his pocket, placed them on a napkin, and slowly scraped off some magnesium powder. Then he swiftly struck the metal rod, sending sparks flying and igniting the napkin.

Almost everyone had completed the task, except for the tall, sturdy man named Xin Lei, who was still struggling with drilling wood to make fire. His face was flushed red, his hands moving so fast they became blurs, yet he couldn't produce a single spark.

"How is this possible? It worked perfectly fine during the day! Damn it, damn it, come on!" he cursed anxiously, puffing his cheeks to blow onto the wood. Soon, his palms were already raw and bleeding.

Some around him offered advice, some cheered him on, while others were coldly observing. Everyone was wondering the same thing—what would happen if he couldn't complete the task?

Perhaps they would soon find out.

Suddenly, a listless voice came from above Xin Lei: "Try this."

Xin Lei looked up in surprise and saw Xie Yunzhu's expressionless face, along with a rough, dry piece of wood he was handing over. The wood had a crack in the middle, stuffed with cotton he'd pulled from a pillow.

With only about ten minutes left, he had no time to hesitate. He took the wood and frantically resumed drilling. This time, ample oxygen flowed through the crack, and soon smoke began rising from the cotton!

"It's lit! Look, fire!" Xin Lei immediately leaned down and blew furiously. A flame burst forth, singeing his bangs, but he laughed heartily, excited like a primitive human who had just discovered fire.

Then he realized something and looked up at Xie Yunzhu, genuinely worried for him. "Thank you so much, bro—but what about you?!"

In the final few minutes, Xie Yunzhu was the only one who hadn't produced his flame.

Even the High Priest lifted her heavy head, her icy stare piercing through the bulging eyes of the bronze mask directed at him.

Xie Yunzhu pulled a cigarette box from his pocket, shook out strips of torn aluminum foil, and then took a battery from another pocket.

"What's he doing? Is he nuts?" someone muttered in confusion.

Before the words fully left their mouth, Xie Yunzhu pressed the aluminum foil strips against the battery's positive and negative terminals. In the next instant, a spark shot out from the thinnest part of the foil!

His fingers were long and nimble. With a slight flick, he used the spark to ignite a napkin, which then lit the wooden sticks he had gathered earlier.

"Genius!" Song Ziming slapped his thigh. "Using the thermal effect of electric current to start a fire. Too bad I didn't think of it sooner..."

If they had thought of it earlier, batteries and aluminum foil were everywhere—they wouldn't have needed to go through all the trouble of searching for ignition tools!

"No worries, everyone did well," Xie Yunzhu said in a praising tone, pulling out both pockets. Dozens of pre-cut aluminum foil strips and batteries clattered to the ground. "Looks like these won't be needed after all."

Under the bewildered gazes of everyone, he calmly added, "Keep up the good work tomorrow."

This guy... The expressions on everyone's faces were a mix of awe and annoyance—how could someone who had been resting there all along, barely moving, have silently prepared a backup plan for everyone? It was such a team-carrying move, so why did it sound so damn irritating coming from him?!