Chapter 136: New Hint

Chapter 136: Chapter 136: New Hint

’He already knew about the energy I just got last night. Doesn’t that prove he’s always keeping track of my movements?’

’He’s monitoring me!’

Shi Zhile lowered her gaze, looking utterly dejected.

Jiang Yuxing changed the subject. "There’s no all-seeing water mirror, but once the Planting Space reaches 200 square meters, you’ll be able to observe the outside world from within."

Shi Zhile pursed her lips. ’What’s the difference between this and dangling a carrot in front of a donkey?’

’He’s just using all sorts of rewards to keep me on the hook, forcing me to keep upgrading the space.’

The axe in her hand was still dripping with blood. Shi Zhile pulled Jiang Yuxing along and stepped out of the space once more.

The foul stench of snake blood hung in the air at their feet. The severed half of the tail lay limp on the ground, having finally stopped twitching, but the upper half of the snake was gone.

’I didn’t hit its vital point, so the giant python won’t die that easily. Knowing how vengeful these creatures are, it’s bound to come after me for revenge. If we let it recover and its wound heals, we’ll be in deep trouble.’

Shi Zhile tightened her grip on her axe and stored the severed snake tail in her inventory.

Jiang Yuxing carefully scanned the area, his gaze settling on the west. "We finish it off while it’s wounded. The blood trail leads west. Let’s follow it and kill that thing."

The two of them set off, one following the other. The farther they went, the heavier the blood trail became.

After walking for over an hour, they finally reached the ruins of a tribal settlement.

Scattered twigs and shattered earthenware littered the ground. Bloodstains were everywhere, turned black and fetid with time. It was clearly not from the giant python.

Considering the giant python was often sighted on the west side of the island, it wasn’t hard to guess this was the Beast-eating Clan’s village. The only question was when the python had wiped them out.

Amidst the old, blackened bloodstains, Shi Zhile spotted a fresh trail dragged toward the cliff’s edge. She immediately followed it.

The cliff was high, and the sound of crashing waves rose from below. Looking down, one could see the endless expanse of the ocean.

"If the giant python escaped into the sea, killing it will be much harder," Shi Zhile mused aloud. "The survival hint only showed up once. Could it be that the ’disaster’ it mentioned was the python?"

Jiang Yuxing remained silent, not that Shi Zhile expected him to help anyway.

She retraced her steps back to the ruined village of the Beast-eating Clan and crouched down, rummaging through the broken pottery.

Mo Ya had mentioned that the Beast-eating Clan had also found a stone with writing on it. She said stones with survival hints were exceptionally durable; they couldn’t be broken by force, nor would the text fade from extreme heat.

’So the stone with the survival hint must still be somewhere in the village.’

She searched tirelessly. Time ticked by, and soon it was afternoon.

The Beast-eating Clan’s village was truly destitute. Despite having "Beast" in their name, there wasn’t a single scrap of animal fur to be seen.

As she was searching the last cave, she finally found the stone among the ashes of a fire pit.

[Survival Hint: The giant python on the island will attack players. Do not let the giant python return to the ocean within the first half of the month. Players are advised to stockpile supplies immediately in preparation for the coming tsunami and heavenly fire.

Instance-wide Group Mission: Save the island’s clan members.]

Shi Zhile took a photo, then switched to her Level Two Axe and struck the stone with all her might. The stone didn’t even crack, and the writing remained perfectly intact. It seemed the survival hint was real.

The hint spelled out the impending crisis. If the Teleportation Gate hadn’t been activated, she might have worried about the mission. But now that it was, if things truly became a matter of life and death, she could just teleport the clan members to Stone Island as a last resort.

She posted a picture of the survival hint in the chat group.

The chat channel instantly erupted.

[Fei Wuyou: @Contentment Brings Happiness, you found the last survival hint, and now you’ve found this one too. What a coincidence. You’re not faking these, are you?]

[Cui Yongning: I think it’s fake too. The last hint said a crisis was coming, but it’s been half a month. Forget a crisis, it hasn’t even rained.

You’ll really stop at nothing to get us all to join your clan, will you?]

[Qiao Yiyi: You people are way too full of yourselves. What have you contributed to the clan? You enjoy the safety of the clan’s shelter but haven’t lifted a finger to help, and you have the nerve to think someone’s taking advantage of you?

If I were Shi Zhile, I’d be doing everything in my power to make sure you all die. If you don’t believe her, then get out of the clan. Stop being so disgusting, you’re like a pile of shit.]

[Ye Xun: Well said, Sister Jiao! Shi Zhile has no reason to fake a survival hint.]

[Wei Zhan: I believe in Comrade Shi Zhile!]

[Zhang Haoran: Better to be safe than sorry. Good thing we’ve been avoiding the giant python. Today is day 17 of the instance. Since the hint mentions a timeframe, it must be significant. Has anyone seen the giant python?]

[Shi Zhiyi: We saw it. It jumped into the sea from the western cliffs at noon.]

Shi Zhiyi stroked her chin, standing on the beach with Wen Bai and a few others.

Most players preferred to fish on the south side of the island. With land-based prey becoming scarce lately, many had turned their attention to the sea.

Her group had intentionally avoided the other players, so they were shocked when they witnessed the giant python plunging from the cliffs.

She had seen it clearly: the giant python was injured when it fell. Worried that Shi Zhile might have been involved, she had deliberately left that part out of her message.

With that thought, she placed a video call to Shi Zhile.

The call connected quickly. A blood-spattered face appeared on the screen, and Shi Zhiyi’s heart leaped into her throat. She nearly had a heart attack on the spot.

"Lele!"

"It’s not my blood. It’s the python’s."

Shi Zhiyi’s heart, which had just been in her throat, dropped back into her chest. But her pulse was still racing. The thought of a giant python attack made it impossible for her to calm down.

’Did she run into the python by accident, or did she go looking for it? If it was an accident, I can’t get mad. But if she went looking for it, I’m going to give her a piece of my mind.’

"Are you hurt? Where did you run into the python?"

"I’m not hurt. I... ran into it on the east side."

Shi Zhiyi laughed instantly. "Oh? You ran into the python on the east side? I guess that python isn’t very bright, running all the way from the east side to the west just to jump off a cliff. Don’t tell me you chased it across the entire island?"

Jiang Yuxing pulled up Shi Zhiyi’s message in the chat channel, raising an eyebrow with a hint of schadenfreude.

"Sis, actually, Jiang Yuxing was the one who took me to kill the python. He said Python Scale is a great material, perfect for making soft armor."

’The scales from the tail are just enough for one set of soft armor,’ she thought. ’I’ll work on it tonight.’

Both Shi Zhiyi and Jiang Yuxing fell silent at the same time. Then, they both sneered.

Shi Zhile opened the chat channel to check the messages.

Most of the players were being reasonable. Aside from a few who were still shouting that Shi Zhile was a fraud, the rest were discussing how to defend against the tsunami and heavenly fire.

"Sis, come back to the village. We should all get together and talk this over. We need to at least figure out a plan for what to do next."

She could protect most of her own clan members with her Planting Space or the Teleportation Gate. Her people were simple-minded; they cared about food and drink, but didn’t covet much else.

But the players were a different story. Having faced life and death, many of them had little humanity left to speak of.