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Chapter 142: Desert Survival X

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"Two rooms."
"One room."
Two voices spoke at the same time.
Su Bai instantly put on a coy tone. "Zhuzhu, I'm so frail, and this desert is so dangerous. What if something happens to me… what would I do?"
The old man's mouth twitched.
Little Ala, do you even hear what you're saying?!
If you're frail, then no one’s strong. Unbelievable you can say that out loud. Was beating those burly men bloody earlier just his hallucination?
"One room,"
Ye Zhu couldn’t withstand Su Bai’s cloying act and finally relented.
The two also gleaned more about Qiangwu City from the old man: for instance, this was the busiest hour for the streets. Caravans would stream in the next few days to trade, and the market would be packed with dried meats…
Ye Zhu had long grown weary of a vegetarian diet.
She’d survived so far by gnawing on raw cacti. Tribal desert storms left small settlements with such scant food that they’d sooner die than trade grain. Her stash was meager, and the craving for meat now gnawed at her.
The street stalls overflowed with all sorts of food—cactus tubers, fruits, and, most of all, dried meat.
Cactus and other wild desert produce didn’t even tempt her.
After days like this, she was sick of the sight.
Her first pick: dried meat, easily stored.
There was some fresh meat, but she had to be vigilant—vendors often passed off bad cuts as new. One wrong choice and you’d get putrid stuff.
She visited several stalls; most offered horse and beef, as well as fresh gulou beast from the planet R—a meat lauded for its tenderness and, rightly, its steep price.
A few slabs of fresh meat cost a gold bean apiece.
Outrageous.
Fortunately, Ye Zhu bartered water for a good portion of the prized gulou beast’s meat.
She glanced at a stall not far away where Su Bai haggled aggressively.
Ever since they met, Su Bai wasn’t the least surprised by her gifts, acting as though it was only natural.
Still, that wasn’t enough to lower Ye Zhu’s guard.
She purchased a few more portions of meat.
As the sunset pooled gold across the horizon, Ye Zhu studied this city built upon sand: stands of stunted trees dotted the landscape, pitiful patches of shrubbery clung to life. In the distance, a lake sat behind high walls, ringed by sentries. Anyone fetching water had to pay a gold bean toll.
Just a few yards away, Qiangwu locals muttered complaints.
"Water fees are up another half a gold bean."
"Soon, I won’t be able to afford drinking water at all."
"The hot season—Qiangwu always runs dry then."
"If only I could reach Gumo City. Biggest city in the desert! They’ve never run out of water."
From the tone of the locals, even oases could run dry.
And there was the hot season still ahead…
It wasn’t even the deadliest heat—and already the hardship was dire.
Su Bai, delighted, traded his ill-gotten gold beans for a hefty stash of dried meat, and, in a display of chivalry, split half with Ye Zhu.
…………
Midnight.
A mechanical chime pierced the stillness.
[Ding dong! The Last Stand Survival System is now live!]
[A storm is descending upon the desert! The slumbering monsters below shall awaken. My dear players, you have one minute to check your map and confirm your position. Countdown: 59… 58…]
At the same moment across planet R, nearly every player was startled awake, frantically flicking on their holographic maps.
The new overlay mapped out the tightening storm front with chilling clarity.
The outskirts of Qiangwu, where Ye Zhu and the others dwelled, was already ringed by the howling squall.
[So the storm front was scattered after all!]
[No one mentioned it earlier—I ran the wrong way!]
[I’m right in the heart of the storm. We’re all doomed… I just saw giant monsters crawling out from underground—scorpions bigger than a house!]
[This is too much—I thought leaving the desert would spare me the storm, but turns out I was wrong.]
Players wailed in dismay.
As the map’s truth sunk in, Ye Zhu’s composure suddenly froze.
Though they’d put distance between themselves and the desert’s heart, they were still dead center in the storm’s eye—every other marked danger sat on the periphery.
Ye Zhu felt as if the survival game itself had singled her out.
There was no other explanation for this twisted fate.
"Zhuzhu, we’re in the storm’s center…"
Su Bai’s face crumpled, disbelief and bitter understanding flickering in his eyes.
"Mhm," Ye Zhu replied, leaping from the bed, seizing her wooden sword and striding outside.
The system was explicit: where there was storm, monsters would come. Sitting back and waiting to die was never her style; the only path forward was to strike first.
Outside, she found a host of figures huddled together in the darkness.
The pale desert wraps they wore stood out against the gloom.
"This isn’t even the wind season—why such a tempest?"
"Could it be… the prophecy come true?"
"Everyone back inside! Lock the doors and shut the windows—don’t come out!"
The locals, deaf to the system prompt, could only scurry into their homes. Yet soon after, scorpions began to erupt from the floors.
"Aaaah! Scorpions—why are they so huge?!"
"Monsters! Run for your lives!"
Beneath two silver moons, a monstrous black scorpion emerged from the sand, its carapace writhing with swarms of its young.
Ye Zhu dashed forward without hesitation.
She swung her wooden sword at the armored beast.
Su Bai followed close behind.
"Tching—"
The sword scraped against the scorpion’s shell with a sharp screech. The sacred peachwood blade failed, for the first time, to cut through.
"Sss Sss Sss…"
The scorpion’s tail lashed toward Ye Zhu.
She dodged easily and followed with another strike at its legs, leaving only a shallow scratch.
Blow after blow.
Ye Zhu doggedly hacked at the same spot.
[Ding! S-class Peachwood Sword durability decreased to 70%… 20%.]
[Optimized!]
[Durability now at 10%.]
[Optimize again.]
The giant scorpion’s armor was formidable, but its bulk made it slow and dim-witted. Feints and maneuvers worked wonders—Ye Zhu exploited them again and again.
On her thirty-eighth blow, the leg finally snapped.
The scorpion, enraged, moved with newfound quickness, ignoring Su Bai entirely—its gaze fixed on Ye Zhu.
"Boom! Boom!"
The tail plunged into the ground, the monstrous body vanishing beneath the sand.
Ye Zhu vaulted onto the second floor beam, eyes locked on the dirt below.
Scorpions are vengeful creatures; this one surely hadn’t given up. It was merely lurking, biding its time.
The wind howled louder still.
A sand-laden gale swept the city, visibility dropping to ten meters at best.
There was no time to waste—if the storm struck before she acted, she’d die for sure. That beast was cunning, even stalling for time.
"Zhuzhu, I took care of the little scorpions."
Su Bai, with his fire abilities, had honed his skills battling monsters alongside Ye Zhu these last days. Casting fireballs was now second nature.
Scorpions, after all, loathed fire—he simply torched the lot.
That way the giant’s only target… wouldn’t be him.