Chapter Eighteen: Announcing the Rules of Survival

On the road, Mu Jiu’er, pushing the wheelchair, was silent. Although Yang Zhiying’s actions clearly signaled a desire to part ways, to Mu Jiu’er, these matters were no longer important. She cared only about her brother’s current condition.

Their vision was shrouded in red mist; perhaps in the next moment, something startling would appear at their side. “Brother… Did you really mean no harm by letting them come?” Mu Jiu’er finally couldn’t hold back; she stopped walking, and Sade and Lilian halted as well.

It was only then they noticed Mu Chen was sitting upright in the wheelchair, fast asleep.

Nearly an hour later—

“Hoo~!” Suddenly, a weak and painful gasp broke the silence.

“Jiu’er, check the map and see how far we still have to go.”

At that moment, Mu Chen’s face was pale, his bloodshot eyes warily scanning their surroundings.

“Brother, you’re awake? It feels like we’re back in the days at the orphanage.”

“Just now?” Mu Chen paused, then answered. “I’m not sure what happened. It’s been three years since it last occurred. I only remember gaining something in the Tumor Flesh Mountain cluster, but my sanity dropped to one point. After finally finding a way out, I realized I was here again.”

As he finished speaking, Mu Chen vaguely understood something.

Sanity…

He opened his personal information.

Name: Mu Chen (Disabled)
Race: Human
Title: None
Contained Item: ???’s Eyeball (Click to view)

Level: Lv4
Skill: Expulsion
Constitution: 2
Mind: 8 (3)
Defense: 1

His mind value was now just three points, and his sanity, if nothing unexpected happened, should be two points. He’d need to be more careful next time—not to take risks so lightly, not to linger in dangerous places, Mu Chen thought.

“Jiu’er, how far are we from the food storage base?” Weakly twisting open a bottle of mineral water, Mu Chen gulped it down.

“Less than a kilometer. Since you fell asleep, we found a temporary shelter nearby,” Mu Jiu’er replied, her face full of worry. “Brother, how’s your health? If you’re still exhausted, we can rest here.”

“No need. Let’s get to the food storage base first.”

The map was clear—they were less than a kilometer away. Yet the red mist made it feel much farther.

At Mu Chen’s insistence, they finally reached their long-awaited destination half an hour later.

At that moment, the base’s main gate was tightly locked with iron chains.

They circled around, finding both the main and back doors in the same condition.

Could someone have beaten them to it? Most likely, after the red mist broke out, staff inside took advantage of their proximity—the base already had an owner.

As he pondered this, a message interrupted his thoughts.

You discover a creature you desire within the food storage base, but you are currently powerless to confront it. Of course, your eyes can protect you from its influence, but you cannot deal with it either.

Well then, he reconsidered—there couldn’t possibly be any living people inside.

They began to rest in place.

This time, he intended to share all his survival rules and methods for surviving within the red mist.

The world channel was still lively.

But as a new message appeared, the speed of updates visibly slowed.

Survival methods for the early stage of the red mist:

Killing “juvenile aberrant forms” completes the novice task. It’s not difficult; the only thing to watch out for is not getting injured. Prolonged infection will turn people into new aberrant forms.

After completing the novice task, you unlock your backpack and workbench. Monster corpses can be disassembled at the workbench for many materials. Among them, a substance called the Source of Turbidity may appear; consuming it increases mind value by three points and decreases sanity by one.

Note: Always maintain your sanity. It’s a hidden attribute.

Adult humans have an average mind value of five points, and the number of sanity points synchronizes with the mind value maximum. When sanity drops to half, confusion, dizziness, and derangement will appear. When sanity reaches zero, you become an abyssal fallen creature!

As the first ten hours have passed, we have lost too many comrades. For the sake of survivors, I share my insights from the red mist.

“Also, if you’re willing, please forward this message to everyone.”

“No need to thank me—I am no saint, nor do I wish to be.”

“Lastly, may all survivors overcome hardship, bravely face their fears, and fight for dawn and the future.”

This lengthy message occupied everyone’s screen.

Almost instantly, everyone who saw it believed every word.

It was pinned to the world channel, taking up nearly half the page, so all could see.

Aside from those still exploring and unable to view it, nearly everyone saw this message.

PS: As always, post first, edit later.