Salted Fish Zombie

Chapter 52.2: Game Base (3)

July 05, 2023 by Wyrd

This player bit off Shi Tianzhu’s ankle using that human pupa container, pushing the Yongming Guild to the first position.

She was gazing at Gui Sheng and Manman, extending her crimson, moist tongue to lick her lips.

The little girl gathered her hair to the right side and spoke softly.

“Gui Sheng little brother.”

“Hmm?”

“It seems like some clueless woman has taken an interest in our bodies.”

“No way!”

Ning Su: “...”

As he turned his head, he realized that the salesperson was nowhere to be found. He quickly grabbed the two little children and ran ahead.

“Hey, mister! You still have to sell the house to me!”

In the end, Ning Su naturally caught up to the frightened salesperson and, afraid that he might change his mind, quickly purchased the house.

Just as Ning Su had thought, the house was really nice.

Located by the river, a three-story building, with each of them having their own room to choose from.

There was a spacious courtyard, enough for them to grow flowers and vegetables and even set up a small garden.

One of the two downsides was that it was a haunted house, but Ning Su didn’t mind.

The other was its slightly remote location, but it happened to be by the river, and Ning Su had just moved away from a bridge over the river.

In the game, the closer to the game hall, the higher the house prices, and this place was indeed far away. However, Ning Su loved being by the river, enjoying the river view, so the drawback turned to an advantage.

He bought it for 300,000 points, leaving him with 20,000 points to purchase household items.

Ning Su borrowed a small tricycle from the mutual aid society and happily set off with the two kids.

He strolled slowly, deliberately allowing the two children to experience the hustle and bustle of the game base.

Although at the game base, it felt strange to be surrounded by a group of peculiar-looking players.

It was enough for the two children.

Especially for Manman.

She had only grown to the age of four in the human world and had rarely left home. The only humans she had interacted with were her parents.

The exceptionally beautiful little girl quietly observed her surroundings. The bright sunlight in the base reflected in her large eyes, where the blood-like color seemed to fade away, making her eyes sparkle like black gemstones.

There were many things in the human world that she still didn’t understand, so she simply looked around.

At that moment, she was watching two young female players standing in front of a flower stall.

The girl with short hair said, “Would you like to buy some flowers?”

The girl with long hair replied, “Of course, how can a girl be without flowers?”

The little girl blinked her eyes and watched as the two female players each took a beautiful, small bouquet and left.

After Ning Su noticed this, he walked up to the flower stall.

The vendor looked up and asked, “Are you buying flowers?”

“Yes,” Ning Su said, “I want to buy a bouquet for my daughter.”

The little girl grabbed onto his pants and stood behind him, just reaching the height of his knee. She peered out and looked at the buckets of flowers.

The vendor asked her, “What’s the little girl’s name?”

The little girl’s voice was cool but very pleasant, “Ah Fei, my me is Ah Fei.”

Ning Su ruffled her head and smiled.

He looked at the two very lovely bouquets and asked, “Boss, are these chamomile flowers?”

“Yes, the single-petaled ones are chamomile, and the double-petaled ones are asters.”

Ning Su looked at the double-petaled ones and asked, “How much are they?”

Boss: “200 points.”

Ning Su immediately responded, “100 buns!”

Boss: “...”

Ning Su looked at the remaining balance of 210 points and turns to the little girl, saying, “Ah Fei, the instance has everything.”

“...”

In the end, after dawdling for a while, Ning Su still bought it for the little girl. He asked Gui Sheng with a pained expression, “Gui Sheng, which one do you want?”

Gui Sheng shook his head, “For sister.”

Ning Su was deeply moved and ruffled Gui Sheng’s head.

Gui Sheng looked up with a smile and asked, “Cute?”

“The cutest in Huaiyang Village!”

In the end, they only buy a bunch of flowers for the little girl. Seeing their pitiful situation, the boss gave them a sunflower that was difficult to sell due to its small size. Gui Sheng happily held it.

Ning Su drove the tricycle while chattering, “It’s too expensive, too expensive. 100 buns, it’s so expensive. Can’t I grow them in our backyard? Can’t we gather them in the instance?”

“Ah, with the remaining 10 points, we can’t even afford milk for the buns.”

He turned his head and saw two children hugging cute little flowers in the corner of the cart.

The children’s eyes shone brightly as they cautiously smelled the fragrance of the densely petaled white flower.

Both little hands held the small sunflower, comparing it to the sun.

Sunlight seeped through the warm yellow petals and fell mottled on their pale faces.

Ning Su turned his head, a smile forming on his lips, and his frozen face greeted the orange sunlight, revealing a lively complexion.

He found two small vases, placed the aster and the sunflower separately, put the aster on the wooden table in the living room, and placed the single sunflower on the windowsill. Suddenly, the house was filled with warm vitality.

Ah Fei looked up at Ning Su and said, “Mom, they said girls like flowers, and I like them too. I’ll also like fairy tales in the future.”

Ning Su replied, “You already like fairy tales, and Little Skeleton is also from a fairy tale.”

Gui Sheng chimed in, “Hmm! Cute!”

Of course, they were cute. Right now, the skeleton was busy cleaning the house for them, allowing them to lazily lie on the newly bought sofa.

“What should we have for lunch?”

We’re out of money.

Ah Fei said, “In the dungeon, we can have everything.”

Ning Su said, “...You’re right. Let’s go choose a good dungeon instance, then.”

Just then, Ning Su received a message from Zhu Shuangshuang.

Zhu Shuangshuang: [We’re planning to have a meal together. Come quickly.]

Zhu Shuangshuang: [We’ve ordered the dishes, consider it a free meal for you.]

Ning Su replied, [Alright!]

Quickly, he brought the two children with him.

It’s a good thing since they had already run out of money for food.

The dinner gathering included Zhu Shuangshuang, Su Wangsheng, and Ji Mingrui—the people from the same bus.

When Ning Su arrived, they were discussing the only person who hadn’t arrived yet: Fang Qi.

Ning Su sat down, ate, and listened to their conversation.

Su Wangsheng said, “When I went to find you guys, I discovered that you had started an instance. I found the base boring, so I went to the game hall for a stroll.”

“I happened to run into Fang Qi, someone I know, so I joined him for the instance.”

Su Wangsheng and Fang Qi entered a typical Chinese-style horror instance, which was too scary for a ghost-fearing Taoist priest like him.

“Fang Qi is like a wolf cub, fearless and reckless.”

Su Wangsheng said, “He’s really powerful. He has his own skill weapon. The Yongming Guild even invited him to join their team in that instance.”

Zhu Shuangshuang asked, “Who is he looking for, anyway?”

Su Wangsheng couldn’t answer that question.

Ning Su was eating throughout the conversation, occasionally responding with a sound.

Zhu Shuangshuang asked him, “Su Su, what are your plans? Will you join us in the next instance?”

Ning Su finally spoke. “I’ll join after I finish eating.”

“...”

The three hesitated, especially Ji Mingrui. He knew that Ning Su’s criteria for selecting instances were quite random and didn’t consider the difficulty.

He didn’t even have a single skill weapon yet, so following them would be irresponsible to both himself and them.

Ji Mingrui said, “I won’t go with you. I’ll go to a second-level instance to improve myself first.”

Ning Su made a sound of acknowledgement.

Zhu Shuangshuang and Su Wangsheng weren’t entirely sure either. They wanted to see the level of the instance Ning Su had chosen before deciding.

Currently, Zhu Shuangshuang had a defensive weapon, the Red Veil, and she could ask Shi Tianzhu for help by summoning Zhi Zhi in critical moments.

Su Wangsheng had a defensive weapon, the Yin and Yang Room, and an offensive weapon, the Groom’s Seal, obtained in the instance he just went to.

However, they still needed to consider the level. If it was too high, they would need to think twice.

The game hall was as crowded as ever.

Ning Su glanced at the leaderboard by the entrance and started looking for an ideal instance.

His criteria for selecting instances remained the same. He wanted a beautiful house, abundant food, and preferably a survival-oriented instance where he didn’t have to use his brain.

However, when Ah Fei brought him to a game login screen and he saw the preview video of that instance, all those criteria seemed to be pushed aside.

In the 10-second video, there was no house, no food, only the blossoming of flowers.

One after another, the blood-colored flowers spread, obscuring the sky, creating a strangely beautiful yet eerie world of flowers.

Ning Su asked, “Should we choose this?”

Ah Fei nodded, “Mom, this is the instance destined for you, and it can only be opened today; tomorrow won’t work.”

The system said luck was a toy in Manman’s hands.

They were able to buy their new house because she made them wait.

Moreover, Ning Su also liked flowers.

Besides, the little girl had also started liking flowers, but the flowers in the base were too expensive, so it was better to enjoy them in the instance.

Ning Su looked at the instance code, 5-9107.

This was a level five instance.

The first instance he entered was a level two instance, and the second one was a level three instance.

In the level three instance, she saw the level five instance monsters summoned by Shi Tianzhu, which were no longer simple small demons.

Ning Su didn’t know what kind of difficulty it would pose for Zhu Shuangshuang and Su Wangsheng, so he didn’t immediately inform them; instead, he chose first.

However, even after spending a long time choosing, the instance still didn’t open.

Ning Su looked up and saw that the number of needed participants in the instance was 100.

Ning Su: “...”

Even if he didn’t have a concept of difficulty, he knew that a level five instance wasn’t something players would casually choose.

Ning Su scratched his itchy arm and, at the entrance, unexpectedly saw Ning Changfeng.

Today, Ning Changfeng wore a pink shirt, his hands in the pockets of his gray trousers, completely ignoring the gazes of everyone in the game hall as he aimlessly wandered around.

Ning Su’s eyes lit up. “Brother!”

Ning Changfeng seemed to have just noticed him and walked over in big strides, surprised, “What a coincidence. You’re here too?”

Ning Su pointed at the instance in front of them. “Want to do this instance together?”

The previous instance filled up instantly because of Shi Tianzhu’s selection, so there should be a lot of people following Ning Changfeng for this one too, right?

Ning Changfeng thought for a moment. “I think it’s been six days since I last did an instance. It’s time to do another one.”

The two scheming individuals immediately agreed.

Sure enough, as soon as Ning Changfeng arrived, everyone in the game lobby turned their attention to him, and the number of players increased dramatically.

Zhu Shuangshuang and Su Wangsheng clenched their teeth and quickly occupied two spots.

Fang Qi, who had just entered the game lobby, as usual, chose the instance with the most players and the one that would open soon.

When Shi Tianzhu received the message and came down in the elevator, a hundred people had already disappeared.

T/N: New dungeon world next chapter! ^^