Chapter 33: Tempering Deadly Poison, The Instance Begins
Liu Wenxin smiled and said to Su Ning, “Su Ning, if it’s convenient, you can come visit our home sometime. We don’t live far.”
Su Ning smiled in return and expressed her gratitude, but she didn’t immediately agree.
The conversation quickly came to an end, and Su Ning also felt it wasn’t appropriate to linger outside too long.
So, she planned to exchange some items she had picked up from the instance—items she didn’t often use—for things she actually needed.
Since she had her own private planting area, she hoped to find all kinds of seeds.
Luckily, she really did manage to find several types of flower seeds. Su Ning completed the transaction quickly and left.
After Su Ning departed, Liu Wenxin couldn’t help but sigh, “No wonder Father always praises this child. She’s truly strong and capable. My little sister can’t compare.”
Yan Wentao chuckled and said, “With Father and you taking care of things at home, of course your little sister can live freely and do whatever she wants. That’s something others could only envy.”
However, Yan Wentao’s words didn’t make Liu Wenxin happy. Instead, they made her frown even more deeply.
She tightly grasped her daughter’s hand. “In this world, we can’t let her stay naïve any longer. Father wants her to give up her player qualifications and live peacefully in the shelter, but she just won’t listen. It’s really a headache. What’s so great about those instances anyway?”
Yan Wentao didn’t argue. His wife had tried to persuade her younger sister and him to give up their player status more than once. But how could he give up something so mysterious, from which one could even obtain valuable resources?
This time, he chose to support his sister-in-law.
Su Ning returned to her small planting field. After locking the door, she pulled down the curtain and stepped inside.
To prevent others from seeing what she was growing, she had hung a curtain at the entrance. This way, even if someone opened the door, they wouldn’t easily discover her secret.
Her small field was flourishing with life, brimming with vitality.
Thanks to the nourishment from super fertilizer and the bonus from her [Breeder] title, her crops had already grown strong and healthy, forming a dense sea of green.
Every plant exuded vitality and emitted a fresh, pleasant fragrance.
Take the potatoes, for example—not freakishly large, but still two to three times bigger than normal ones.
The Corrosive Giant-Eater Flower idly tried to nibble at the emerald bees flying through the air.
Su Ning had released dozens of emerald bees to breed and grow in the area so she could harvest honey from them later.
She would also release meaty chickens to feed them—but only when she was present. With her around, the chickens wouldn’t make too much noise, and they were growing quickly.
Su Ning planted the newly acquired flower seeds and dug up the potatoes. She saved some as seeds to replant, and stored the rest in her backpack.
Once everything was tidied up, she took out a lounge chair from her backpack, laid down, and began refining emerald bees using her insect-refining pot.
She didn’t let the already-refined ones idle either. With Su Ning’s new [Scavenger] ability—Scavenged Venom—she could absorb toxins to enhance her venomous creatures, so of course she wouldn’t let that go to waste.
Even in her spare time, she didn’t relax. She inquired about the other instances.
She soon realized that there were many types of instances.
Some were pure survival types, like [Virus Town] or [Wild Jungle]. As long as players survived for the required time, they could return.
Others were mission-based, which raised the difficulty. Players had to both complete tasks given in the instance and survive, making them much harder than the pure survival types.
[Breeding Farm] was one such mission-based instance.
Even more difficult were the combat-kill types, where players had to kill a certain number of targets to return.
These were like a combination of survival and mission instances.
To survive in these instances, getting stronger was the foundation. Since Su Ning had taken an enhancement pill to upgrade her talents and gain attack effects, she definitely wouldn’t waste that.
Plus, the Starfruit she ate had awakened her self-healing ability, greatly increasing her survival chances.
So she couldn’t afford to slack off.
Using the paralyzing venom of the emerald bees, Su Ning extracted Paralyzing Poison. Added to her already highly toxic venom, she now possessed a Paralyzing-Venom combo.
It could both paralyze and fatally poison enemies—a deadly skill perfect for catching people off guard.
After training, Su Ning returned to her dormitory.
Perhaps due to her enhanced [Scavenger’s Eye], she always had the feeling someone was watching her.
“A thief? Or a robber?”
The shelter was still in a state of chaos, so Su Ning had to stay alert.
Fortunately, her dorm was in the staff area. Anyone thinking of targeting her couldn’t get in and would have to give up.
But another family wasn’t so lucky.
Su Keke cowered in fear behind her parents.
Su Zonggang stared at the group of fierce men blocking their way, realizing these people were not to be messed with.
“Gentlemen, what do you want? We don’t have any food or supplies. We truly have nothing.”
As he spoke, Su Zonggang took out some bug biscuits he had just exchanged from the shelter.
“Look, this is what we’ve been eating lately—just these new bug biscuits. There’s really nothing here to rob.”
But the masked men surrounding them chuckled coldly.
“No supplies? Doesn’t mean the people are useless.”
One of them looked Su Keke up and down. “This little girl isn’t bad. I’m sure our boss will be very pleased.”
Su Keke panicked.
She tried to hide behind her older brother, but Su Xin was so frightened he couldn’t even move. His legs were shaking—clearly not someone who could protect her.
Li Yun was scared too, but as a mother, she couldn’t watch her daughter be humiliated. She tugged on Su Zonggang’s arm, urging him to come up with something.
Su Zonggang immediately forced a flattering smile. “Gentlemen, you’re looking for a beautiful girl, right? My daughter isn’t that great, but I know someone even better. I have a niece—she’s stunning. If you let my daughter go, I promise I’ll deliver my niece to you.”
The man laughed and said, “What a good uncle you are. But whether or not we get your niece, that’s not our concern. If you lie to us…”
As he spoke, he crushed a rock in his hand.
“Crushing your skulls would be even easier. Surely your heads aren’t harder than this rock?”
Su Zonggang broke out in a cold sweat. “Absolutely, I promise. You can count on me.”
Once the men left, Su Keke finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Dad, what should I do?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll find a chance to lure that girl Su Ning out. Once those men take her, you’ll be safe. And since we’re her only relatives, her dorm will be ours too. Two birds with one stone—we should be happy.”
“Really?” Su Keke’s eyes lit up.
Su Ning had no idea she was being targeted.
Of course, she wasn’t the only one being watched.
Just as the disappearance cases in the shelter were growing worse, all players suddenly heard the system voice again.
[Ding! The survival game is about to begin. All players, please prepare!]
Two weeks later, the survival instance returned.
(End of Chapter)
wow, these relatives are really cutthroat