Chapter 336: The Only Map
The first page of the leather notebook had a map clipped to it.
【Congratulations, player! You actually found the only complete town map in the instance! However, you need to explore the usage method yourself.】
Yu Jiang opened the map along the folds. It was drawn quite abstractly. The system said there was a usage method, so it definitely wasn’t just for looking at directly.
She opened the instance map and placed the abstract drawing over it.
Well damn, she was just trying it out, but it actually worked. The surface buildings fused with the ghost wall small paths in those alleys, forming a pattern very similar to the one on the ‘key’.
On the map, only the hotel and hospital were lit up. The pattern’s center was the park opposite the hotel, and the town’s original exit showed as impassable.
With this map, she didn’t have to worry about entering hidden small paths and not being able to get out. It was not only a clue but also a guiding item for this instance.
Yu Jiang opened the log.
June 18th, supplies inventory: food is sufficient, but we have no medicine left.
June 22nd, painkillers critical, anti-inflammatory drugs critical, even bandages critical. Everyone is crying out in pain; they say they want to live.
July 10th, a rotten smell permeates people’s bodies. Their skin has stuck to the bandages. They ask me if they can still be healed.
I don’t know. Although I can still stand and distribute supplies to everyone, I know my body is also rotting. But I can’t fall.
July 15th, the doctor couldn’t hold on either. He said our intestines and organs are bleeding. The damage from severe nuclear radiation to the body cannot be healed.
No anesthetics, no painkillers—anyone would collapse.
July 20th, the situation is getting worse. The town is filled with that damn rotten smell. Corpses are unburied, and the living people look in fear at the changes on their bodies.
We planted food and dug our own wells, thinking we could survive. Historically, this town has suffered disasters before, but we persisted.
I no longer have the strength to manage my town. The survivors are too scared. People do irrational things when in fear. They found a method to communicate with the evil god in the library.
They made a wish: to live.
The writing at the end is crooked, the content somewhat chaotic. It’s clear they were enduring intense pain. Yellowish tissue fluid stains can be seen dried on the paper.
【Player has unlocked the town chief’s log. Exploration progress +10. Side mission unlocked: Fulfill the town chief’s wish to obtain a truck of supplies and a weapon upgrade opportunity.】
The town chief’s wish could only be to free the townsfolk. They can’t die now, but they suffer pain every moment.
Yu Jiang hadn’t expected there to really be an evil god, and wishing like that.
No need to dwell on it. This thing probably requires some summoning ritual, paying a price to complete transaction.
But the evil god doesn’t play by reason. Others say their feet hurt, and it amputates heads.
The most unfortunate are the original residents trapped in the town.
A truck of supplies, plus weapon upgrade—do it, must do it!
【Congratulations, player! Exploration progress has reached 40%. Team function unlocked.】
Finally! The team channel is open.
Team clues can be shared, but this instance requires individual player exploration to reach 40% to use this function.
Yu Jiang hadn’t rested for several hours, dismantling everything along the way in a raid-style search to reach 40%.
The team channel currently only allows her to speak, but that’s enough. Once the message is sent, teammates will see it sooner or later.
“Avoid fighting monsters if possible. Their resentment grows heavier each time they revive.”
“I’ve already searched the hotel. Next clue point: library.”
Suddenly, with a sizzle, the warm yellow wall lamp went out completely, plunging the room into darkness.
The room she had just searched became different in this moment. At the very back, it seemed a gap had cracked open, with something crawling out from the darkness.
It was the town chief who left clean bandages for the townsfolk, wrapping his wounds only with cloth strips cut from clothing.
This was at least an elite monster. Its body was covered in face after face, all shouting,
“It hurts so much! It hurts! Kill her!”
Yu Jiang had no time to send messages. She turned and ran. With the complete map, escaping wouldn’t be hard.
She only glanced back in the gap while opening the map to confirm, her pupils contracting instantly.
They were coming. Rotten flesh spread along the walls, ceiling, and floor, as if to devour everything.
Yu Jiang braced her hands on the stair railing and vaulted down to the next floor. Hardcore chase—taking stairs was a dead end.
Her front foot hit the next floor, and the railing she had just grabbed was swallowed by darkness.
She ran down 11 floors straight, flying out the hotel entrance. The terrifying force behind her didn’t pursue.
Her escape pose was a bit awkward, making the person hiding in the dark think they had a chance again.
【Player ‘Ye Wuyou’ used skill ‘Formless Blade’ on you】
Two crossed white blades blocked the exit—crashing into them would cost at least half your life.
The monsters behind were closing in tight. Yu Jiang could only use the crowbar to smash open another glass door nearby and jump out.
The poison vine whip then lashed toward Ye Wuyou. He was Sicily’s teammate, a high-attack, high-defense warrior—the main output. It would take a while to kill him.
Ye Wuyou’s attacks were unpredictable. As long as the distance was right, he could appear in any direction—hard to defend against.
But Yu Jiang had high agility and quick reactions. After fighting for so long, with skill weapons on cooldown, he still hadn’t hit her.
“Little Orange Cat was killed by you. You’re alone? Then you better be careful.”
Ye Wuyou masked his unwillingness with a smile.
Plenty of people in this instance want her dead. Their team was just assisting, picking up scraps after the main force struck. Her bad luck would come.
“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that? With Sicily gone, how dare you act.” Yu Jiang saw it from his expression.
Not only Sicily, but others were nearby too.
“You’re right.” A voice sounded from the left. Evening Rain emerged with two teammates.
“We’re here. Guess where the captain is? In your team, except you and X, no one can stop our captain.”
Yu Jiang looked at Evening Rain’s determined expression and felt something off inside. Their progress was suspiciously fast.
But she didn’t show it on her face and smiled too,
“Good idea: hold me back first so the main force can deal with my companions. Then guess where my teammate X is?”
As soon as she spoke, a black shadow leaped out, blade light slashing toward Ye Wuyou.
Yu Jiang struck at the same time. While Shi Xu forced Ye Wuyou to retreat repeatedly, she seized the opportunity, using poison vine whip to block the road.
Either get one-shotted by Shi Xu’s blade or crash into her long whip—Ye Wuyou naturally chose the latter, then took weakness and bleeding buffs.
Even without debuffs, he could only retreat and defend. With negative status, how could he withstand Shi Xu’s attacks.
Sicily, hiding in the rear, finally acted, so Shi Xu no longer held back.
Yu Jiang locked onto the skinny young man with the sharp face in the back. “Sicily? Hello.”
Sicily’s scalp went numb. He wanted to say he wasn’t, but facing Yu Jiang’s icy gaze, he couldn’t utter a word.
He couldn’t heal anymore. Shi Xu’s output over there was too terrifying. He mainly took the purification route; his healing skill wasn’t as good as A Thousand Lamps Exhaust Snow’s.
Even if he helped Ye Wuyou purify the weakness status, he’d be wasted.
“What are you standing around for! Block her! Without me, you can’t win either!” Sicily shouted at Evening Rain.
