Chapter 181: Preparations Before the Dungeon – System Evaluation!
“The system is finally back online?”
Su Ning was slightly surprised. After everything she’d experienced over the past few days, she had come to deeply realize that she preferred the sense of security she found within the survival dungeons.
Only when her scavenger backpack and planting space were full of resources did Su Ning truly feel at ease.
“But… it seems the upcoming survival dungeon will be different? An upgraded dungeon?”
Su Ning wasn’t sure what changes to expect.
Of course, she wasn’t the only one excited by the system’s return and the reopening of the survival dungeons.
Soon, the chat channel became active as players started talking excitedly.
[Finally! I’ve been waiting for the dungeon to reopen. If it didn’t come back soon, I’d be stuck living off shelter rations.]
[But this dungeon upgrade feels different. What does the system mean by “different options”? It’s confusing—and I can’t shake the feeling that there’s some trap waiting for us.]
[Trap or not, as long as I get to join the survival dungeon, I have a chance to live better. I just hope I can finally get some spatial equipment so I can bring resources back to the real world. Please, let the dungeon grant me some!]
[Who doesn’t want spatial equipment? With it, we could bring back way more supplies. But those missions are ridiculously hard. I remember the [Planting Space] was a reward for killing 100,000 zombies—the difficulty was off the charts.]
[Killing zombies might be tough, but killing players is a different story. I managed to kill a player who had a Planting Space and took it for myself—resources included.]
[Enough talk. We should focus on how to survive the next dungeon.]
Su Ning searched the chat channel to see if the Prophet had shared any predictions about the next dungeon, but nothing appeared.
This confirmed her suspicion: not all players would be entering the same dungeon this time.
Meanwhile, Pei Xuan’an also informed his teammates and superiors about this development.
He turned to Ji Fengyan and Mu Yunfei, saying:
“My foresight ability is clearly being blocked for this upgraded dungeon. And unlike the previous [Endless Sea], this time not all players will enter the same world. So I won’t be able to give you much useful information. Each player might get assigned a completely different dungeon.”
Ji Fengyan was silent for a moment, then said:
“Then be careful once you enter.”
Ji Fengyan and Mu Yunfei were confident in their own strength. Their only concern was Pei Xuan’an’s safety.
In another shelter, Zheng Yaxian heard the system announcement and smiled.
“So it’s starting? A new challenge. The upgraded dungeons are finally here. These dungeon worlds will be far more dangerous—but the rewards will be far greater, too.”
Zheng Yaxian had lived through a past life. Because of the Dragon of Rule Destruction, many dungeon worlds had been directly destroyed. But the system had now upgraded the dungeon framework, making the survival challenges even more difficult for players.
What’s more, the upcoming dungeons wouldn’t be limited to players from their own world—players from other parallel worlds would be joining as well.
Zheng Yaxian was fully aware that there were countless kinds of parallel worlds out there.
“This time, I absolutely must get that one item—the one that can hide my rebirth ability. If not, this unique trait will definitely attract the attention of the administrators.”
What others were thinking was unknown to Su Ning. The new survival dungeon would begin in just three hours.
Su Ning returned to her room.
Zhang Li and Zhao Fuqing lived quite far from her. They had also rented a small room to stay in.
After meeting up briefly, they exchanged a few words.
Zhang Li’s voice trembled slightly:
“Su Ning, what do you think this survival dungeon will be like? What are these so-called ‘options’? What do they mean?”
Zhang Li wasn’t very strong. If the difficulty increased, it would be even harder for her to survive.
Su Ning gently reassured her:
“I don’t know either. But there’s no need to worry too much. Here—these are for you.”
Su Ning took out some fresh vegetables she had carefully grown in her planting space.
Zhang Li looked suspicious.
“What’s this for?”
She stared at Su Ning.
Of course, Su Ning wasn’t being charitable out of kindness. It wasn’t some selfless act because she pitied Zhang Li.
Su Ning had a plan.
Thanks to her [Gene Extraction] skill, Su Ning could extract blood to temporarily acquire another person’s talent. She wanted to test what Zhang Li and Zhao Fuqing’s abilities were.
But she couldn’t outright ask them for blood—especially after the incident with Yang Wei. Zhang Li knew all about that situation, so Su Ning couldn’t risk raising suspicions.
If anyone figured out the truth behind what she was doing, things could get very messy.
So, Su Ning discreetly activated her [Mind Control] skill to put both Zhang Li and Zhao Fuqing into a dazed state.
While they were under her spell, Su Ning quickly pulled out a syringe and drew a few small vials of blood from each of them.
To avoid raising any suspicion, she also injected both of them with a healing potion, instantly replenishing the lost blood. When she pulled the needle out, even the puncture wounds healed immediately.
There was no evidence left behind.
Satisfied, Su Ning quietly left.
Not long after, Zhang Li and Zhao Fuqing came to their senses. But because they were still under Su Ning’s lingering mental influence, they assumed Su Ning had brought them food because of the [Stamina Beans] they had given her earlier.
“If Su Ning values Stamina Beans so much, they must be really important. And since she has a planting space, she’s probably growing them herself,” Zhang Li thought.
She glanced at her cramped little room and figured it wasn’t realistic to grow anything here—but maybe not impossible either.
She had learned from the chat channel that some people were growing vegetables in flower pots. Maybe she could try the same?
Ironically, this small encounter would inspire Zhang Li to start planting Stamina Beans—a move that would significantly improve her future survival.
Back in her own room, Su Ning was actually more interested in obtaining Jiang Nana’s blood. Jiang’s ability to control weight was extremely powerful—almost comparable to Ji Fengyan’s gravity manipulation.
“Still, getting Jiang Nana’s blood isn’t feasible right now,” Su Ning thought.
The Kou family moved as a unit, and Su Ning had no chance to get close to Jiang. With so many people together, her [Mind Control] wouldn’t be effective on them all.
She’d have to wait for another opportunity later.
For now, Su Ning could only wait for the survival dungeon to begin.
DING! Survival dungeon has been activated!
DING! Evaluating player strength… matching with appropriate dungeon world…
The system announcement came through.
Su Ning had assumed she’d be immediately transported to a dungeon world.
But to her surprise, that didn’t happen at all.
“System evaluation?”
This new feature caught Su Ning off guard.
She was curious to see exactly what kind of dungeon world she’d be assigned.
