Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Snow Mountain Town 5

“Excuse me, miss? Do you have a moment?”

Jiang Qibai, baseball bat in hand, stepped into the employee breakroom. Her eyes lit up.

What thrilled her wasn’t the neatly arranged instant noodles and biscuits on the table, but the single bed in the room.

She immediately went over, struggled to roll up the mattress, and stashed it into her Spatial Bracelet.

I still need a thick blanket, she thought, standing by the bed.

She had taken a small fleece throw from the nail salon in the barbershop, and she’d barely managed to sleep wrapped in that thin blanket last night. Sleeping in her clothes, the throw was just enough, but the weather was getting colder. She would catch a chill sooner or later. She’d have to find some blankets and other supplies in the next few days.

Besides clearing out the mattress and the six boxes of instant noodles and two boxes of biscuits on the table, Jiang Qibai also found a thermos and a small single-person electric cooker in the employee breakroom. Finally, she could have a hot meal.

On Jiang Qibai’s third trip back to the bar, she planned to move a set of tables and chairs back to the Safehouse. She noticed the furniture here was of excellent quality—heavy and sturdy—but even the smallest table wouldn’t fit into her Spatial Bracelet. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Jiang Qibai roughly measured the table’s width again, suspecting it wouldn’t even fit through the safehouse’s narrow door. Now, even manually hauling it was out of the question.

The cafe’s small round tables really are the best fit for my current safehouse, she thought. Checking the time, she saw she still had enough daylight. She decided to make one last trip to the cafe before heading back to rest and recharge for tonight’s monster-hunting grind.

With her goal set, Jiang Qibai headed straight for the cafe she’d visited before. She picked out a table and stored it in her Spatial Bracelet. As expected, it fit perfectly.

Just as she was carrying a chair out of the cafe, she heard footsteps approaching from behind. Jiang Qibai spun around instantly.

A young man wearing glasses was panting as he ran across the street toward her, looking as if he’d just spotted a lifeline.

“Hello… Miss, do you have a moment?”

“Are you going to tell me about your Heavenly Father and Savior, Cthulhu?” Jiang Qibai asked, her voice dripping with a dark, mocking undertone.

Though her words were casual, she had already set the wicker chair down. One hand gripped her baseball bat, while the other reached for the Shadow Ghost Employee Badge in her pocket. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

“Huh?” The young man looked completely bewildered. “No, I just wanted to…”

[ You have unlocked the achievement: [Anti-Cthulhu Main]. Reward: +2 Spirit ]

Her attributes had increased in an unexpected way.

“Um, are you listening?” the young man asked, raising his voice.

Jiang Qibai snapped back to attention.

The young man repeated himself. “I can tell you’re a rookie. I’m a new player too. How about we exchange the dungeon info we’ve gathered? This game is too hard—we’ll survive better if we help each other out.”

“Do I really look like a rookie?” Jiang Qibai retorted.

The young man’s gaze lingered subtly on her unique outfit. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Jiang Qibai fell silent, unable to argue.

“If you don’t believe me, I can share the information I have first,” the young man continued, trying harder.

His words sounded reasonable, but Jiang Qibai didn’t believe for a second that someone this eager didn’t have an ulterior motive.

“I have things to do. I’m leaving,” she said coldly.

However, she didn’t turn around immediately, unwilling to expose her back to a stranger.

Shifting her gaze upward, Jiang Qibai saw the young man’s status bar.

[ Player: Luan Qi Ba Jiao Status: Interviewing ]

Interviewing? And here he was, talking about “exchanging information.” Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Jiang Qibai’s expression turned profoundly meaningful.

Luan Qi Ba Jiao saw where Jiang Qibai’s gaze was fixed and knew his flimsy excuse had failed. He decided to come clean.

“I really mean no harm,” he said, throwing up his hands. “This is my Talent. If I talk to enough Players each day, the System gives me information about the Dungeon. I’m just one person short today. Please, just play along with me, and I’ll share whatever info I get with you for free. How’s that sound?”

Luan Qi Ba Jiao wasn’t very satisfied with his Talent. Not only was it useless for combat and survival, but he also had to complete a quest to get any information. The number of required Players was randomized—it could be one, or it could be twenty. With Players constantly on guard against each other, very few were willing to cooperate with him. He had been in the Dungeon for five days and had only successfully completed the Street Interview Quest once.

Today, he had finally been assigned a quest to interview three people, and he had already finished two. He had to secure this last target before nightfall, or all his efforts would go to waste.

Luan Qi Ba Jiao explained his Talent, and Jiang Qibai found herself genuinely interested in the Dungeon’s lore. Sometimes, a single piece of intel could be the difference between life and death for a Player in a crisis.

“What do you need me to do?” Jiang Qibai asked, finally relenting. Of course, she would still keep a close eye on Luan Qi Ba Jiao’s every move to ensure he had no ulterior motives. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Luan Qi Ba Jiao beamed. “It’s simple! We just need to have a back-and-forth conversation. The System will notify me once I’ve met the requirement.”

He kicked things off with a topic. “So, you know why the town’s residents disappeared, right?”

“They turned into Shadow Ghosts?” Jiang Qibai replied.

“What kind of power could turn an entire town into monsters?” Luan Qi Ba Jiao said, his voice dropping to a mysterious whisper. “Some say it was radiation mutation caused by a nuclear leak.”

“Is that Dungeon info you got from the System?”

Luan Qi Ba Jiao shook his head. “Nope, another Player told me.”

“From what I’ve observed,” Jiang Qibai said, “the townspeople became Shadow Ghosts less than a year ago. If it really was nuclear radiation, it wouldn’t have decayed enough in such a short time. That means we’re all exposed to it right now.”

Goosebumps erupted all over Luan Qi Ba Jiao’s skin, and he suddenly felt an itch all over his body. Only when he saw Jiang Qibai’s calm, steady gaze did he realize she was just messing with him. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

“I don’t believe that kind of talk, you know. Throwing us into a nuclear-contaminated zone for a Novice Dungeon? There’s no way they’d leave us with zero chance of survival. No way, no way.”

“Huh?” Luan Qi Ba Jiao suddenly blurted out. “The interview’s done.”

[ Today’s Street Interview Quest has been completed. Roadside Gossip reports: Stay away from the mines… crackle… Everything… will begin… unthinkable… crackle ]

Hmm? Luan Qi Ba Jiao hadn’t expected to pull such a weird piece of information. After a moment’s hesitation, he shared the intel he’d earned from the quest with Jiang Qibai.

“When a Player dies, their Safehouse disappears,” Luan Qi Ba Jiao said, his gaze fixed on Jiang Qibai’s eyes. “But if a Safehouse is breached, the Player won’t die. These Players who lose their Safehouses are very dangerous.”

Jiang Qibai pondered this, repeating a few words. “Very dangerous? What kind of dangerous?”

Are the Players who lose their Safehouses in a dangerous situation, or are they dangerous to other Players?

Luan Qi Ba Jiao shrugged. “That’s all the System said. I don’t know the specifics.” Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

“Let’s add each other,” Jiang Qibai said suddenly. With a Talent like that, Luan Qi Ba Jiao was a budding information broker. Information could sometimes be as valuable as Skills and Items.

Of course, that was only if he managed to survive.

[ Player [Bai Qi] has sent you a friend request. Accept? ]

Luan Qi Ba Jiao accepted without hesitation. “Can I still interview you tomorrow?” he asked.

“Uh…” Jiang Qibai pondered. “The Central Square is where players gather to trade supplies and form parties for monster hunts. If you camp out there, completing your quest will be much easier.”

A crowded place like the Central Square would save him a lot of time searching for players. Luan Qi Ba Jiao beamed as if he’d just been given a treasure. He immediately dropped the idea of interviewing Jiang Qibai. He also understood why she’d added him. “When you need to buy info from me in the future, I’ll give you the friend discount!” he offered eagerly.

Free? Not a chance. He was relying on his Talent to survive, after all.

Looking at it this way, his Talent actually had a lot of potential. Luan Qi Ba Jiao left, feeling utterly pleased with himself. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

That day, Jiang Qibai didn’t step foot outside after returning to her safehouse from the cafe.

The small space was already packed with the supplies she’d hauled back from the bar. As she organized them, she checked the production dates to see which items had already expired.

Wait, what time is it?

Jiang Qibai realized she had no idea what the current date was in Snow Mountain Town. The calendar provided by the System was completely useless—it didn’t even show the year, month, or day.

With no other choice, she messaged her only friend, Luan Qi Ba Jiao. To her surprise, he actually knew. He quickly replied with the date.

The bar’s drinks were consumed in high volumes, so the production dates on the bottles were likely close to when the disaster struck. Based on this information, Jiang Qibai estimated that the catastrophe in Snow Mountain Town had occurred roughly six months ago.

This also meant that twenty-four bottles of juice and thirty-seven bottles of beer had expired.

The liquid inside the bottles still looked clear and showed no signs of spoilage. But Jiang Qibai couldn’t risk food poisoning, and she didn’t lack water. There was no need to force herself to drink expired alcohol. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

I’ll save these for when I go to the Central Square, she thought. Maybe someone will be willing to trade for supplies that just expired.

What she considered a risk, others might see differently.

Jiang Qibai separated the expired food from the rest of the supplies. She organized the items still within their shelf life by production date, ensuring the ones closest to expiration would be used first.

Once she finished, she took out the packet of nails she’d found in the bar’s storage room and began modifying her baseball bat.

The wooden bat felt heavy in her hand, but with her current Strength stat, she would have to strike a Shadow Ghost multiple times to kill it. Not only would that drain her stamina, but it also left her vulnerable.

Jiang Qibai took a nail and used a stone she’d picked up from the street to hammer it about two centimeters into the bat. She then tugged on it hard, satisfied to find the long nail held firm. Only then did she repeat the process. Soon, one end of the bat was densely studded with over twenty nails, transforming it into a makeshift mace.

Under the light, the bat gleamed with a cold, metallic sheen, far more intimidating than its previous bare state.

That night, Jiang Qibai worked late into the hours. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

[ Novice Quest (2): Please submit 100 Points as a Safehouse purchase fee. Current Progress: 102/100. Confirm submission of Points? ]

Without a moment’s hesitation, Jiang Qibai pressed the confirm button.