While a superficial peace was maintained within the Instance, the scene was being broadcast to another space, unbeknownst to Ren Yi.
"Is this what it's like inside an Instance? The architectural style looks like the Eastlands before the apocalypse."
"Don't talk nonsense, upstairs. Those wooden houses look flimsy at a glance. It looks more like a jungle style to me."
"You can even choose your perspective in this livestream. Let me see... the Participant we're watching now is named 'Mo Ming'?"
"I checked; this Participant is from the Holy City."
"A Holy City dog? I'm out. Hope he dies soon."
As the livestream chat began to spiral into chaos, A-mu continued her actions within the Instance.
Her expression was no longer the kind and gentle one seen before; facing the group of Participants, her face was filled with extreme disgust and impatience.
"The quality of this batch of servants is truly poor," she muttered. However, with her loud voice, this remark reached the ears of every Participant with precision.
She immediately began calling names: "One through forty, your job is to go to the Watermelon Patch to weed and water. Forty through sixty, you come to the kitchen to help. Sixty through eighty, you clean the front yard and the first and second floors—remember, if you run into the Masters, mind your manners. Eighty through ninety, you go to the second-floor library to organize books. Ninety through a hundred, you go to the Herb Garden in the backyard."
After finishing, she turned and headed back into the wooden building without giving the Participants another glance.
Ren Yi's number was seventeen, so his assigned workplace was the Watermelon Patch.
The other Participants looked at each other, and the faces of some small teams who knew each other but were split up didn't look very good.
Ren Yi tried to shift his mindset to that of a Participant.
For a Participant, the most dangerous tasks were undoubtedly cleaning the wooden building and the library. These were the jobs most likely to bring one face-to-face with Anomalies like the "Masters." Regardless, Ren Yi didn't believe for a second that Lu Zihan could resist coming out to play.
Next was the kitchen, where one would likely have to deal with A-mu and other "Attendants."
As for the remaining Watermelon Patch and Herb Garden, there were too few clues, and he hadn't seen the Anomalies in those places yesterday, so he didn't know much about them.
Ren Yi glanced at the still-hesitating Participants, then turned and walked toward the yard's exit.
This time, his target wasn't these Participants. Aside from the mandatory goal of killing one person, he didn't even plan to have contact with them.
His goal lay outside the Instance.
As for how to collect "happiness" from outside the Instance, what could be more pleasing to these viewers than seeing a Participant representing their side crush the competition?
Children, let me show you what a speedrun looks like.
Ren Yi was the first to step out of the courtyard gate. At this moment, the first light of dawn was just beginning to touch the horizon.
The faint morning light fell upon the Watermelon Patch, illuminating blurry, black spherical shapes huddled among the vines, which looked inexplicably eerie.
The Watermelon Patch was divided into relatively independent square areas by neat ridges. A crude wooden sign stood in front of each plot, with numbers written in rough ink.
Ren Yi looked around. Based on the vision of a normal adult human male, if all Participants stood in the middle of their own plots, they would basically only see a shadow of the person in the adjacent plot.
Ren Yi quickly found his plot, number seventeen. Beside the sign sat a bucket, a short sickle, and a pitchfork.
The first two were easy to understand: the bucket was for drawing water from the nearby irrigation canal, and the sickle was for clearing weeds. But what was this pitchfork for?
Ren Yi recalled the work A-mu had assigned and confirmed that no scenario requiring a pitchfork had been mentioned.
It was unlikely for there to be completely useless items within an Instance. So, was it "temporarily" unnecessary?
He looked down at the watermelons in the field. They were green and round, with clear dark stripes, each about the size of a basketball.
Speaking of which, the Alliance was currently on summer break, which was the season for eating watermelons. These watermelons looked like a specialty of the Instance; perhaps he should ask Auntie Lu Qing if he could take a couple back when the Instance ended? His brother would probably like them too.
While Ren Yi's thoughts were wandering, he moved to the other side of a watermelon.
At that moment, the watermelon, which had been sitting quietly, suddenly rolled without warning, adjusting its direction.
Immediately after, a crude yet vivid outline of facial features slowly emerged on the smooth green rind.
Caught off guard, Ren Yi found himself making eye contact with the watermelon.
The "watermelon" rolled slightly and gave Ren Yi a fawning smile.
Ren Yi: "..."
Never mind.
...
On the other side, Participant No. 22 also arrived at his plot, trembling.
Participant No. 22 came from Xin City, one of the three cities. He hadn't awakened any Esper abilities, hadn't received any formal training, and certainly didn't own any firearms.
In his first Instance, he had survived purely by luckily clinging to the coattails of a capable teammate.
Participant No. 22 had a very clear self-awareness. He knew he couldn't survive the next Instance on his own; if he wanted to live, he had to keep leeching off others.
Therefore, he had been observing from the crowd. After seeing Ren Yi take the lead and walk out of the yard, he felt he was saved.
That's the one! That aura, that decisiveness in taking action—he definitely has the strength to back it up!
He hurried to catch up, only to see Ren Yi enter his own plot without sparing a single glance for those behind him.
Soon, Participant No. 22 also noticed the numbered signs in front of the plots.
Damn it, does this job require working independently?
Participant No. 22, having successfully clung to a teammate to survive his first Instance, was clearly not a complete fool.
He had also read the rules after entering the Instance. He didn't dare violate the rule stating "Your range of activity is limited to the Lu Family Courtyard and designated work locations," so he could only beat his chest in frustration before slinking into his own plot.
Once in the field, Participant No. 22 fell into a deep panic. He immediately saw the most intimidating tool, the pitchfork, and hurriedly clutched it to his chest.
He walked into the field trembling, jumping at every shadow. The sound of the waterwheel churning the river in the distance made his heart seize with terror, and the rustling of the watermelon vines in the wind sounded like they were mocking him.
"Hehe."
Wait, where did that sound come from?
Participant No. 22 turned around in horror and saw a watermelon behind him moving on its own. It rolled slowly until it revealed human-like facial features, facing him with a brilliant, wide grin.
Rate on N.U.
