Chapter 37: Instance: The Insect Frenzy

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Instance: The Insect Frenzy

Miss Webb meant well, but Seraphina Sullivan didn’t actually need to go shopping.

After accumulating supplies over two dungeons, her personal Space was stocked well enough to last a very long time.

But Seraphina knew that in times like these, staying cooped up indefinitely would only attract suspicion.

"Miss Webb, just a moment. I’ll change and be right out," Seraphina replied with a smile, turning back into her room to get ready.

She slipped on a waterproof raincoat and, before heading out, deliberately stuffed a few empty bags into her backpack to look like she was going on a major grocery run.

When they reached the supermarket, however, the scene that greeted them still took Seraphina by surprise.

The line was several times longer than the last time she’d been here. A dense, dark mass of people snaked for dozens of meters in the rain.

Anxiety was etched on everyone’s faces, and the sounds of pushing, shoving, and arguing were incessant.

"Why are there so many people..." Miss Webb said, clutching her shopping bag worriedly.

The sky was terrifyingly gloomy. Though the rain wasn’t too heavy, the relentless downpour had already caused significant flooding in the city’s low-lying areas.

Seraphina mentally cursed the city’s drainage system. ’It’s a total disaster. Every year they tear up the same roads to "fix" them, then tear them up again. Who knows what they’re even doing.’

Seraphina was secretly grateful her neighborhood was on higher ground and hadn’t flooded yet. But watching the water levels rise on the street, she knew that wouldn’t last long.

During the two-hour wait in line, Seraphina noticed a few anomalies.

The supermarket now had fully-armed guards at the entrance.

And everyone’s purchases were being much more strictly limited.

"The world really has changed..." Seraphina murmured, deliberately buying only some daily necessities and snacks to play the part of an ordinary, unprepared citizen.

As she was checking out, the hairs on the back of Seraphina’s neck suddenly stood on end. A chill, like she was being watched by a predator, crept up her spine.

She fought the urge to turn around immediately, instead using the moment she was speaking with Miss Webb to feign a casual glance around.

Her [Eye of Resume] instantly locked onto a tall man standing in a corner of the supermarket.

The man wore a baseball cap, and beneath its brim, his eyes glinted with an eerie green light in the dim store.

[Name: Sean Chandler]

[Gender: Male]

[Professional Skills: Talent·Beastification: Can switch between Werewolf and Wolf Form. Possesses extremely high Recovery Power and Power.]

[Weaknesses: Extreme aversion to spiciness.]

’A Player?’ Seraphina’s heart clenched, and her fingers tightened unconsciously around her shopping bag.

’I’m sure I don’t know him, and I’ve never exposed my status as a Player. So why... why is he targeting me?’

In a flash, she thought of the only person she’d made an enemy of: Corinne Joyce.

’This must be the "helper" Corinne Joyce found to deal with me!’

’She just won’t give up...’ Seraphina sneered inwardly, but her expression remained neutral.

She noticed Sean Chandler was just watching from a distance, showing no intention of making a move just yet.

’Looks like he’s waiting for the right opportunity to take me down.’

Seraphina had no intention of giving him one. The supermarket wasn’t far from her home, and she left with Miss Webb and a crowd of other people.

And Sean Chandler didn’t dare make a move in front of such a large crowd.

Seraphina made it home safely.

’This won’t do. I can’t be on guard against his attack forever. A thief can try for a thousand days, but a defender can’t stand guard for a thousand days.’

Seraphina considered how she might get rid of him.

’But there’s no time now.’

She glanced at the countdown timer for the next dungeon.

’I’ll deal with Sean Chandler and Corinne Joyce after I get back,’ Seraphina decided.

She changed her clothes.

Suddenly, the familiar, mechanical voice rang out in her mind:

[Ding! The seven-day preparation period has ended.]

[Ding! The Disaster Game will now begin.]

[Ding! New Players have been randomly selected!]

[Ding! Transportation countdown: 10... 9... 8...]

With every number the cold, electronic voice announced, Seraphina’s heart gave a heavy thud.

She took a deep breath.

This was her third time entering the game, yet she still couldn’t get used to the feeling of being forcibly dragged into a Subspace.

As the countdown hit zero, a bone-chilling cold shot up from the soles of her feet to her spine.

[Ding! Transportation to The Insect Frenzy Dungeon initiated!]

The world before her seemed to freeze as if someone had hit a pause button, and all color drained away in an instant.

Seraphina’s vision went black, and the dizzying sensation of her consciousness being ripped away made her stomach churn.

By the time she came to her senses, she was standing inside a dilapidated wooden house.

A damp, musty smell assaulted her senses, mixed with a cloyingly sweet stench of decay.

Before Seraphina’s eyes could adjust to the dim light, an ecstatic shout erupted beside her.

"I’m a Player! The Disaster Game is real! Those people online weren’t lying!" a skinny man shouted, jumping up and down and flailing his limbs so wildly he knocked over a wooden chair.

His face was feverishly flushed, and his fingers twitched erratically. "Haha, I’m going to get an Extraordinary Ability and become one of the elite!"

Seraphina ignored the man’s excited outburst. ’He clearly has no idea how brutal the Disaster Game really is.’

She quickly scanned her surroundings.

There were seven people in the room. Besides the ecstatic skinny man,

a teenage girl in a school uniform was huddled in a corner, trembling.

A middle-aged man in a suit looked ashen-faced as he checked his phone.

A young couple who looked like college students were holding each other tightly.

The most conspicuous of the group was a man in black standing by the window. A hand clad in a tactical glove was slowly caressing a bulge at his waist—obviously a gun.

’This is my third game, but it’s the first time I’ve started with so many other Players.’

Seraphina’s nerves instantly tightened. She took a subtle step back, pulled a surgical mask from a side pocket of her backpack, and put it on.

’Exposing my face is too dangerous.’

"Everyone calm down," the man in black said suddenly.

The man in black hadn’t expected to encounter so many people at the start of this Disaster Game, either.

Seraphina paid the man in black no mind, instead turning her attention to the tasks for this dungeon.

[Main Quest: Survive for three days in The Insect Frenzy Dungeon.]

[Reward: Return to the real world upon quest completion.]

[Quest Two: Collect 100 corpses of each type of special insect.]

[Reward: Grade Treasure Box] (The more types of insects collected, the higher the Grade of the Treasure Chest, and the better the loot.)

[Note: The system’s auto-collection function will be enabled for Quest Two.]

Others were also reading over the quests, just as Seraphina was.

"Survive for three days? Doesn’t sound too hard!" the skinny man grinned, revealing a set of crooked, yellow teeth.

"But first, let me see what my Talent is!"

"Holy crap! I got Telekinesis! That’s the most versatile Ability in the world of the extraordinary."

Seraphina was a little surprised to hear that Blondie’s Talent was Telekinesis.

"Quiet, if you don’t want to die!" the man in black cut in coldly. "Take a good look outside the window."

Seraphina followed his gaze, and her blood ran cold.

Through the cracked windowpane, she saw the sky outside had turned an eerie orange-red, as if it were stained with diluted blood.