The other side of the dungeon map…
A place far from Nuo Ai’er’s Abandoned Shipyard.
A crystal-clear stream meandered through the dense forest.
And here, a petite pink-haired loli stood alone on the bluestone ground by the stream.
“Ah, what a boring game,” Hui Mei rested her chin on her hands, sighing.
At the start, all players were randomly scattered, and her landing point happened to be this quiet forest stream area.
As soon as she landed, Hui Mei’s only thought was to find Nuo Ai’er as quickly as possible and regroup with her elder sister.
So she followed the winding bank of the stream, traveling nonstop, earnestly searching for any trace of her teammates.
But Hui Mei walked honestly for a very, very long time.
Not even a shadow of Nuo Ai’er or the other two elder sisters appeared.
There wasn’t a single trace of people in this place.
Actually, Hui Mei’s physical fitness wasn’t very good either; the reason she could overpower Nuo Ai’er earlier was simply because Nuo Ai’er was too weak.
After walking for half an hour, she was already exhausted. Having consumed a lot of stamina, Hui Mei could no longer walk.
She had no choice but to sit on a smooth boulder by the stream to rest.
Soon, Hui Mei’s tummy also rumbled…
A feeling of hunger enveloped her.
And it was at this moment that she recalled the hidden details of the dungeon rules.
The system had announced rules not just for battle elimination; this team PVP instance had no fixed end time and would be a prolonged battle.
Starving, dying of thirst, or exhaustion would also result in a player being eliminated.
After realizing this, Hui Mei understood that wilderness survival was also a core part of this battle instance.
Luckily, her luck was good—she landed by a stream with plenty of water, so she didn’t have to worry about dehydration.
Next was food.
Hui Mei: Hehe
This naturally led to Hui Mei’s development of the [Mysterious Red String] technique.
During this period of familiarization, Hui Mei discovered another amazing feature of the mysterious red string—its thickness could be adjusted at will!
It could be used as dental floss or as a hemp rope.
And so, Hui Mei’s carefree retirement life began.
The red strings intertwined into a large fishing net with fine meshes and strong toughness, spread steadily in the stream’s flow.
In the clear stream water, many live small fish and shrimp were slowly swimming along with the current.
Before long, as the water washed through, several plump stream fish were caught in the net, jumping lively in the red string net.
With a full harvest, Hui Mei was full of energy. She continued to manipulate the red strings to weave, and soon she made a small, exquisite red string basket, storing the caught fish one by one.
Having solved the ingredient problem, the next step was to make a fire and roast the fish.
Yes, her magical red string possessed an energy nature of its own.
Hui Mei extracted a little red string magic, condensed it into a fine fire thread, and gently touched it. The dry branches instantly ignited into a warm open flame.
As for what followed… The mysterious red string could be used directly as fuel.
No need to search for tinder, no need to laboriously start a fire—the entire process was easy and convenient.
The aroma of grilled fish soon permeated the forest.
And so it became like this.
“Delicious delicious”
Perhaps there was fighting elsewhere, but Hui Mei was here enjoying grilled fish.
Of course, after eating her fill, Hui Mei didn’t just enjoy herself alone.
She deliberately caught a full basket of live stream fish and obediently placed them by the stone for storage.
“Big Sister Nuo Ai’er and the others must be hungry too,” Hui Mei thought so. Once she found everyone and successfully regrouped, she would roast many, many fish for her elder sisters to eat.
“It’s getting late… Let’s leave here first.”
Hui Mei prepared to set off.
But just as she raised her foot and was about to take a step—
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several sharp flashes of cold light suddenly shot out from the dense forest on the side!
“?!?”
There are hidden weapons!
At the critical moment, Hui Mei’s instinctual reaction went full throttle. She suddenly turned sideways and bent down, her petite body dodging extremely, avoiding all the hidden weapons aimed at her vitals.
Several hidden weapons slammed into the tree trunk behind her. Hui Mei saw clearly that they were shurikens.
“Ugh—”
Although she avoided the fatal attack, one shuriken still grazed Hui Mei’s slender calf.
“Who? Come out!”
Tug.
Hui Mei stumbled half a step, then stood steady, immediately raising her head to stare intently at the direction of the dark forest.
The shadows in the forest slowly stirred, and a sleek black figure walked out slowly.
The newcomer was shrouded in a tight-fitting night-black outfit, a black mask covering her face, only revealing a pair of cold and sharp eyes. Her posture was light and straight—it was a typical ninja attire.
“Couldn’t finish it in one strike…” a crisp and pleasant, yet slightly cold, girl’s voice slowly rang out, carrying a hint of regret.
“Decent reflexes,” said the ninja girl.
Clearly, this masked ninja girl was the opponent from the Falcon Guild.
Hui Mei tensed her small face, her light red eyes full of wariness, staring intently at the opponent.
The masked ninja girl wasted no more words. Her eyes turned cold as she raised her hand and flung out several shurikens again, launching an offensive that gave Hui Mei no chance to breathe.
Hui Mei, who was already on guard, immediately activated her talent. The red light at her fingertips surged, and countless thin mysterious red strings burst forth instantly.
The red strings quickly interlaced, layering on top of each other, weaving a dense red string net in front of her.
It blocked all the shurikens.
But many of the red strings also broke.
“Your techniques are stiff, your control clumsy. You just awakened not long ago, didn’t you?” the ninja girl said slowly.
She could tell Hui Mei was a beginner.
“Looks like I’m lucky, picked up the easiest opponent to handle,” the ninja girl added.
“Hmph.”
Having her weakness seen through at a glance by her opponent, Hui Mei, instead of being afraid or retreating, lifted her small face and said with full confidence:
“Don’t get too cocky! Even though I’m not strong enough yet, our Glaze Guild has plenty of powerful members!”
Hui Mei added: “Especially my Big Sister Nuo Ai’er—she’s super strong! Right now, she’s probably brutally tormenting your teammates!”
In Hui Mei’s heart, Nuo Ai’er was always the invincible, strongest elder sister.
As long as her elder sister arrived, everything would be fine.
At the same time Hui Mei encountered the enemy in the forest.
***
Meanwhile, on the other side…
A remote and quiet abandoned log cabin in the woods.
Crack! Crack!
“Mmm ahh ohh hoh ohh…”
In the center of the cabin, Nuo Ai’er was tied up high with ropes.
Her slender arms were firmly bound with rope, suspended high above her head, her wrists showing faint red marks. She was on tiptoe, half-hanging in the air.
This loli couldn’t touch the ground at all, couldn’t struggle. Her petite body could only writhe with each whip, completely unable to break free.
The red twin-tailed eyepatch girl who had captured her earlier was now holding a black whip, standing behind her.
Sharp and loud whip cracks rang out one after another in the enclosed cabin, echoing.
“Alright, things have come to this. Aren’t you going to talk?” the red twin-tailed girl asked.
“Ugh… kill me”
Nuo Ai’er was too despairing to cry.
She just wanted to reload a save, that’s all.