Completing the Dungeon

There was no need to hesitate.

Cheng Shuili simply bypassed the eerie bathtub and the person inside it, walking lightly to the side of the second door, and raised her hand to insert the Skeleton Key.

With a gentle twist.

The second door swung open.

The system in charge of this dungeon: "......"

It had gone to such lengths to try and scare this most excellent human, specifically choosing this dungeon, yet it never expected to lose to a single item!

The rest of the path was problem-free. Cheng Shuili encountered all sorts of bizarre-looking creatures along the way.

Most of them just stood in place, remaining motionless even when they saw Cheng Shuili approaching. The most active one was an octopus monster that reached out with a tentacle to grab her ankle the moment it saw her. After Cheng Shuili confirmed that this thing had no other attacks, she stared at its tentacles, a bold idea forming in her mind.

Cheng Shuili wondered if, were she to chop off one of the monster's legs, it could be made into teppanyaki octopus.

She stood in place and observed it carefully for a moment. This thing really did look quite like an octopus, but it had vibrant patterns on its body, meaning it was highly likely to be poisonous.

Cheng Shuili felt a bit disappointed and had to abandon the thought.

This room was the final door.

Cheng Shuili inserted the Skeleton Key with practiced ease and gave it a gentle twist.

【Congratulations to player Cheng Shuili for clearing the dungeon Lost Door! Unified settlement will occur after this dungeon ends; please wait patiently!】

Cheng Shuili’s vision blurred, and the next second she appeared back in her vehicle. Su Rui was in the driver's seat, completely unaware that she had returned.

Come to think of it, why did the system’s congratulatory voice sound so reluctant?

Cheng Shuili checked the time. It was 8:37 AM. From entering the dungeon to exiting, it had taken exactly seven minutes.

At this speed, she was definitely the fastest in the entire server again!

Cheng Shuili stood up, stretched, and tapped lightly on the driver's cabin door. Su Rui turned around abruptly, only relaxing once she saw who it was.

She had also heard the system announcement and, of course, knew that Cheng Shuili must have entered a Hell-level dungeon.

But...

Why was it so fast!

Su Rui almost stood up. If she hadn't been driving, she definitely would have grabbed Cheng Shuili to take a close look at exactly what made this person so special.

She had participated in that previous racing dungeon as well, and that person had also come out very quickly. Was last time a coincidence, and what was this?

Cheng Shuili was simply a monster.

Su Rui swallowed hard before finding her voice. She felt the hands gripping the steering wheel were still trembling. "You finished the dungeon?"

Although the fact was right before her eyes, she couldn't help but ask.

Cheng Shuili nodded and pulled the Trading Post teleportation card from the Abyss Ring; this was the reason she had knocked on the door. "I’m using this card. Remember to pull over if you see a Trading Post on the road later."

Su Rui nodded solemnly.

She was quite reliable when it came to serious matters, which satisfied Cheng Shuili.

She retreated into the cabin, sat cross-legged on the floor, and opened the Regional Channel. Everyone was in dungeons, so there wasn't a single new message in the channel. This feeling was truly novel.

Cheng Shuili scrolled up a few times and actually found an interesting message.

【Flower Similarity】: We should buy more food recently. This time it’s water shortages; the next disaster might be a grain shortage.

Cheng Shuili didn't know if he knew something and was offering a cryptic warning, or if it was just a random musing. Regardless, the message hadn't made any waves, and the occasional one or two replies were just mocking him for being an alarmist.

Cheng Shuili shook her head, completely dismissing the thought of issuing a warning.

She had never considered herself a good person, just someone who occasionally felt a moment of hesitation when seeing others die.

But that was merely hesitation.

Cheng Shuili sighed and leaned against the window, watching the scenery flow by outside.

In this godforsaken place, this was a rare form of entertainment for her.

The Trading Post teleportation card took effect quickly. When Su Rui came to remind Cheng Shuili, it was just nine o'clock, and the car pulled up right in front of the Trading Post entrance.

Cheng Shuili stood up, left behind what shouldn't be brought, and pushed the door open to step out with Su Rui.

She should be able to enter here as well.

Cheng Shuili led Su Rui past the cat-race beastman guarding the entrance. The beastman didn't even shift its eyes, clearly giving its tacit permission.

The inside of the Trading Post was very quiet. Unlike the lively scene from before, there were no humans in the Trading Post besides Cheng Shuili. And for some reason, the hawking voices of the beastmen were gone, too.

These beastmen sat in front of their stalls, looking dejected and sighing.

Cheng Shuili had originally intended to go straight to the Ten Thousand Beasts Merchant House to buy supplies, but seeing this strange sight, she turned and stood in front of a rabbit-race beastman, pretending to pick up a carrot that didn't look very fresh and asking for the price.

The rabbit-race beastman lazily lifted its eyelids to look at her and replied casually: "Eight game coins. That's the lowest price already; don't haggle."

Cheng Shuili nodded. This price was a bit cheaper than what she had asked before; fresh carrots were 10 game coins, so 8 for non-fresh ones was reasonable.

She agreed internally, but on the surface, she frowned slightly and nitpicked: "These carrots of yours aren't even fresh anymore. Do you have any fresh ones? I don't mind paying a bit more."

There was nothing wrong with this statement; it was just a normal customer request. Who knew the rabbit-race beastman would react as if its tail had been stepped on? It suddenly jumped up, snatched the carrot from Cheng Shuili's hand, patted it gently as if protecting it, and frowned. "You're looking down on my carrots? Wait until today passes! You won't even have carrots as non-fresh as these!"

She had hit the nail on the head!

Cheng Shuili asked immediately: "Why?"

The rabbit-race beastman rolled its eyes at her. "Cunning human, trying to get information out of me? Not a chance!"

Cheng Shuili: "......"

How come this topic was forbidden?

But the warning was clear enough.

When Cheng Shuili first entered the beastman town, it was during the Extreme Cold disaster; the temperature in the beastman town was also very low, and the weather conditions were the same as on the highway—it was snowing.

The second time she entered the beastman town was during the extreme heat; by then, the NPCs in the beastman town had switched to short sleeves.

So it was obvious that the weather in the beastman town was synchronized with the highway.

And the next disaster was Famine, so if that was the case...

Would the beastman town also face a famine for the next seven days? And these beastman NPCs all knew about it! They just weren't allowed to tell the players.

Cheng Shuili felt she had figured it out. The vegetables at the Trading Post were definitely produced inside the beastman town. If there was going to be a famine there, the goods here would definitely become scarce, or simply go out of stock.

Once the famine reached its later stages, even if one had game coins in hand, it might be impossible to buy any food at all.