Chapter 199: The Barrier of the Communication Channel Breaks, Ice Scorpions!
Su Ning leisurely sat in front of the hot pot.
Vegetables, meat, and seafood danced happily in the boiling broth, producing a bubbling sound that was music to the ears.
“The Witch Hunt instance really had me on edge. This kind of instance suits me far better.”
On the other side, little Orleney was smacking his lips, nearly drooling a river.
Of course, Su Ning wouldn’t let him touch the spicy hot pot made with Spirit Fire Peppers. She claimed it was because “children shouldn’t eat spicy food.”
Little Orleney pouted, looking like he was about to cry loudly at any second.
Su Ning was already prepared. She fished out a milk bottle from who-knows-where, warmed up some milk, added emerald honey, and fed it to him.
The little guy immediately forgot about the hot pot and drank contentedly, totally satisfied.
As for Su Ning, she began to indulge in her hot pot feast.
Among the ingredients, she added some green algae from the turtle shells raised in her planting space’s Area No. 2.
“Hey, not gonna lie, this green algae’s surprisingly chewy.”
Chewing happily, Su Ning shifted her attention to the communication channel.
Since entering the instance, quite some time had passed. She wondered how everyone was doing in their respective communication channels.
One glance—and she noticed something unusual.
“Huh? Why does everyone have a tag next to their message now?”
Previously, players’ messages came without any identifiers—no names, nothing. No one knew who was talking.
That anonymity allowed everyone to speak freely. But now, even though personal details were still hidden, each message had something new before it:
A special number.
250: “Hey everyone, does anyone know what the number before our messages means? I swear I’m not actually a 250 [idiot]!”
1314: “I really wanna know too—what do these numbers mean?”
99: “I can tell you. That number represents your world’s ID!”
1314: “What?! A world ID? Are you saying there are that many different worlds?”
250: “Phew, I thought the system really branded me as a 250, scared me for no reason.”
123: “You all sure have the time to chat. Surviving in this instance is no joke. Can anyone help me out? I desperately need some food—any kind soul willing to spare some?”
123: “You’re from the same world as me—how are you doing so badly? Haven’t found any food yet in the instance?”
123: “I have found some, but I just can’t bring myself to eat it! They’re all fat, juicy worms full of protein. Ughhh—I seriously can’t do it. I landed in an instance full of weird insects. Someone please save me!”
Su Ning stared at the chat, surprised to discover that the communication channel wasn’t restricted to players from just one world anymore.
It was as if a barrier had been shattered—now, players from multiple worlds could talk to each other.
There were advantages to this—but also plenty of downsides.
Su Ning quickly noticed many messages filled with hostility and negativity.
After all, not every player was as lucky as Su Ning, blessed with special talents or skills.
Most players were still desperately struggling to survive in their instances.
Su Ning closed the channel after a quick browse.
Having rested enough, it was time to resume her kill-quest.
She was likely in the zone where Ice Giants roamed, and aside from them, there were no other monsters.
The other two monsters on her quest list still hadn’t appeared.
“Going solo is really slow… and the monsters are hard to kill, too.”
So Su Ning released all her numbered zombies—except No. 6.
She didn’t release Zombie No. 6 because he could only control mice, and in the Absolute Zero instance, any normal rat would be frozen into an ice sculpture instantly. Not much to control there.
But Zombies No. 1 through 5 were different. Being undead, they weren’t affected by the cold.
With the five zombies moving independently, the kill-count started to rise, albeit slowly. Still, it eased Su Ning’s workload.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the mountain range, a three-person team was fleeing for their lives.
Behind them, a swarm of terrifying scorpions was in hot pursuit. These scorpions were completely unfazed by the extreme cold, darting across the icy terrain at incredible speed.
One member of the group hurled a fireball toward the pursuing scorpions.
It blazed like a meteor as it raced toward them—but just as it was about to hit, the fireball began to dim, shrinking until it was barely the size of a ping-pong ball by the time it made contact.
It landed harmlessly—doing absolutely no damage.
“Damn it! These Ice Scorpions are insanely hard to kill! Boss Xiao, what do we do?!”
The speaker was the only woman in the group.
Despite the fireball’s apparent failure, she was quite skilled with fire magic. Unfortunately, this instance was clearly not her home turf.
“Wan Ting, this isn’t your fault. The monsters in this instance are just absurdly powerful.”
Xiao Heng comforted Sun Wan Ting while trying to think of a way to deal with the monsters behind them.
His ability involved plant control—more suited for poison and immobilization. In terms of attack, he was actually weaker than Sun Wan Ting.
At first, he had thought he could use toxins to defeat the monsters. But poison was completely frozen solid in this instance—it couldn’t even spread.
And even if it could, it wouldn’t affect the Ice Scorpions at all—their venom was far more deadly than his.
As they ran and talked, neither of them noticed that an Ice Scorpion had silently emerged from the snow above them.
It sprang out suddenly, tail flashing with deadly, frosty light.
“Watch out!”
The third team member reacted instantly, transforming into a fierce tiger and leaping at the scorpion.
“Sun Hao!”
Sun Wan Ting looked worried as her younger brother charged the Ice Scorpion.
But compared to the swarm behind them, a single Ice Scorpion wasn’t that dangerous.
Sun Hao tore it apart easily—though he suffered some frostbite on his hands.
Clearly, the Ice Scorpion’s body carried a chilling frost effect.
Xiao Heng looked back at the oncoming swarm, feeling frustrated at overestimating his own power.
He scattered a handful of tree seeds and activated his ability, causing them to sprout and grow rapidly. While not powerful offensively, the plants could at least slow the monsters down.
The seeds germinated and grew fast—but the extreme cold, coupled with the scorpions’ freezing aura, caused the plants to freeze solid in moments.
They managed to entangle the scorpions briefly—but it didn’t last.
The plants were quickly shattered.
