It was already late morning by the time the Watermelon Patch task was finished, so Ren Yi's stint as a study attendant didn't last very long.
On the surface, he followed the Young Master, Lu Zihan, and read 《Anomaly Tongue》 for a while, but in reality, he spent the entire time chatting and messing around on the Anomaly Web. Shortly after, the voice of A-mu calling for the Young Master to eat lunch drifted up from below.
As for his breakfast—how could a servant possibly get breakfast?
Since Ren Yi was a servant, at least on the surface, he naturally couldn't eat with the master's family. He could only head out of the wooden building and crouch in the courtyard to eat.
A servant's lunch was simple: a bowl of white porridge and a small dish of pickles. Thankfully, there was nothing disgusting about the food, nor were there any hidden traps in the meal. It was a rare moment of peace.
However, Ren Yi noticed that even after all the Participants had collected their meals, the wooden bucket was still half-full of white porridge.
He glanced at the sparse crowd crouching on the ground sipping porridge and gained a rough understanding of the lethality of Auntie Lu Qing's Instance.
Of the Participants who went to the Watermelon Patch, thirty remained. Ten were left among the kitchen helpers, and only five remained of those in the library group. The cleaning group had the best ratio with sixteen remaining, though everyone looked pale and dazed, their eyes filled with exhaustion.
As for those who went to the Herb Garden... not a single one returned.
In just one morning, the number of Participants had decreased by nearly a third.
But considering the number of Anomalies within the Instance, with each Anomaly taking a few, this number wasn't actually that exaggerated.
Ren Yi naturally didn't miss this prime opportunity to expend ammo. During the gaps while collecting and eating porridge, he quietly used his ability several times on the Participants around him.
Unfortunately, it had been too long since his previous highlight-reel performance, and the positive emotions from the livestream had mostly dissipated. He absorbed very little energy this time.
He finished his lunch quickly after a few gulps of porridge and set down his bowl.
The afternoon work was uneventful. After the morning's Anomaly baptism, the remaining Participants had either figured out the rules or possessed exceptional abilities; there were almost no further casualties.
The only thing worth mentioning was the cleaning group. During dinner, Ren Yi scanned the crowd collecting food in the corner and found that only eight of them remained.
The members who had been dazed and lethargic at noon had vanished without a trace, clearly failing to survive the afternoon's work.
In that case, the Watermelon Patch group—which had started with forty people and still had twenty-eight remaining—seemed a bit too "friendly," didn't it?
The Watermelon Patch only used spirit attacks in the form of screams. The execution rule was only triggered if a Participant actively damaged a watermelon. For a Participant with even a slightly firm will, it didn't seem particularly dangerous.
Ren Yi suddenly remembered the steel fork of unknown purpose by the edge of the field. He hadn't known what it was for earlier, but thinking about it now, it likely wasn't that simple.
Sure enough, after dinner, A-mu coldly stopped the remaining servants of the Watermelon Patch group.
"You will also be keeping watch in the Watermelon Patch tonight. Remember, do not allow any damage to the Master's property."
Ren Yi watched with interest as the expressions of several Participants, who had finally begun to relax, suddenly tightened. He couldn't be bothered with the commotion and simply went his own way, heading straight for his own Plot 17.
Beside the signpost at the edge of the field, the steel fork was still leaning there quietly.
Ren Yi leaned down to pick it up and weighed it in his hand. It was very light, about three feet long, and simple in design, looking almost like a toy for a child.
But regardless, it was the only thing Ren Yi had found in the entire Instance whose inherent purpose was to be a "weapon."
So, would "hostile units" appear in the Watermelon Patch at night?
Constrained by the rules of both worlds, the strength of these hostile units wouldn't be too great. This seemingly unremarkable steel fork was likely a specialized weapon against them.
Ren Yi found a flat rock by the edge of the field and sat down, waiting boredly for the night to deepen amidst the rising and falling "screaming chorus" of the surrounding watermelons.
The night wind grew colder as he waited. A golden full moon slowly rose into the sky, its light illuminating the Watermelon Patch with eerie clarity.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Several gunshots suddenly pierced the night sky.
Ren Yi instantly focused his mind, spreading his perception toward the direction of the gunshots.
The field where the incident occurred was quite far, making it difficult to see with the naked eye, but his Anomaly perception was unimpeded, projecting a clear 3D image of the area in his mind.
In his perception, a Participant's lower half was already swallowed by the thick soil of the field. Only his upper body remained, struggling in vain as he let out heart-wrenching screams of terror.
His steel fork and a light machine gun had been tossed aside, the barrel still emitting a faint trail of blue smoke. Not far away, a watermelon had burst open, its bright red pulp and juice spilling all over the ground.
It had clearly been blown apart by bullets.
Aside from that, there was nothing unusual about the field.
Had he lost his mind?
Ren Yi quickly dismissed the thought.
A Participant who could survive the day and live until now would never make such a rookie mistake as actively damaging a watermelon.
Something new must have entered.
In that case, either this Anomaly was fast enough to have already left the field, or its attack didn't require proximity and could induce a misjudgment from a distance. Or, perhaps it possessed the ability to mask its presence, hiding itself from the perception of a small E-rank Anomaly like Ren Yi.
At this thought, a glint of interest flashed in Ren Yi's eyes. Regardless of the possibility, the ability of this senior Anomaly was quite intriguing.
"Ah!"
Another scream rang out. Not far from the field where the incident had occurred, another Participant suddenly jumped up as if he had caught a glimpse of something terrifying.
His gaze immediately fixed on the ground, seemingly following something moving across it.
He rushed forward, seemingly trying to stab at something with the steel fork in his hand.
However, the watermelons and vines on the ground were too dense. Moreover, the Participant was worried that falling would damage the melons, leaving him hampered and in a pathetic state.
Just ten meters in front of him, a watermelon suddenly shook, causing it to let out an even sharper scream.
Rate on N.U.
