Magic Farm 180

Chapter 180: An Unexpected Turn, Resource Zone Opens

IAmVeryBossy received a friend request. He had already deleted everyone from the former Pantheon, and LittleOldMe was no exception.

Normally, he would have ignored such a request without hesitation, maybe even blocked the sender.

But tonight was different.

He guessed that LittleOldMe was adding him for much the same reason.

He accepted the friend request.

[LittleOldMe: Let’s skip the pleasantries.]

[LittleOldMe: Bossy, tell me, right now, who does IMake hate the most?]

[IAmVeryBossy: ILoveSurvivalGames, you, and me.]

They both knew the score.

[IAmVeryBossy: But he can’t do anything about ILoveSurvivalGames. You and I, though, might not be able to handle him.]

After all, with his early-game advantage and last month’s ranking rewards, who knew what good stuff IMake had by now.

[LittleOldMe: Exactly. He can’t touch the game pro, and even has to worry about the pro coming after him. But dealing with the two of us? That’s entirely within his reach.]

Reading these words, IAmVeryBossy felt goosebumps rise and couldn’t help but say:

[IAmVeryBossy: Can you not be so disgusting? Even here, you keep calling him the game pro?]

[LittleOldMe: What’s wrong with that? He really is the best player in District 01 right now.]

[LittleOldMe: And he’s got a good temperament. Unlike IMake, he doesn’t make enemies everywhere, and he wouldn’t bother with us.]

IAmVeryBossy just couldn’t bring himself to act humble. He’d mocked the guy to his face early on. Now, to pretend nothing happened and suck up—he just couldn’t do it.

[IAmVeryBossy: Enough with the small talk. What’s your plan?]

[LittleOldMe: IMake will definitely come after us. Maybe not in the next few days, but eventually, he won’t let us go.]

Especially if he ever got the upper hand—he’d never let them off.

[LittleOldMe: My suggestion is, strike first.]

IAmVeryBossy was thinking the same thing.

But he wouldn’t agree so easily. Since LittleOldMe had come to him, that made him the initiator.

[IAmVeryBossy: Just the two of us? How can you be sure we can take him out?]

[LittleOldMe: I can bring in two more, both former Pantheon members.]

After IMake’s downfall, more than a couple players had “backstabbed” him and left the Pantheon.

Some of the nastier ones were also afraid of making enemies; LittleOldMe was confident he could rally them.

[LittleOldMe: Bossy, are you in?]

Of course IAmVeryBossy was willing—he still remembered the death of Xiao Shuai.

But he said:

[IAmVeryBossy: Come up with a concrete plan first.]

[IAmVeryBossy: That bastard IMake, after all the people he got killed in District 01, maybe someone else will take him out before we even act.]

[LittleOldMe: Let’s hope so.]

In truth, he was pinning his hopes on Qi Yu.

But in his mind, the top player was a bit too merciful—who knew how long it would take before he acted.

He didn’t know that Qi Yu hadn’t forgotten about IMakeMyOwnFate at all.

But right now, with the Icebound Boss event underway, collecting Ice Gemstones was the priority. He couldn’t let some scumbag make him miss out on limited rewards.

He planned to wait until the event ended, then buy a few locator cards from Jin Qian and take care of IMake.

But plans can’t keep up with changes.

On the fourth day of the Icebound Boss event, just after dawn,

A system announcement rang out in everyone’s ears:

[Resource Zone Opening Announcement: From now on, players holding Resource Zone cards may use them to enter the Resource Zone.]

Resource Zone open?

Qi Yu tapped his forehead lightly—he’d forgotten about this.

It opened once a month, at a random time.

Why did it have to be during the end-of-month event?

Almost at the same moment, the teleportation portal lit up.

He guessed why Shenben Wuxiang was coming and quickly agreed.

Sure enough, as soon as Shan Xingyu arrived, he asked, “Resource Zone—are you going?”

Qi Yu asked, “How’s your event token collection going?”

Shan Xingyu: “Pretty well. Ever since the little gold dragon woke up two days ago, my efficiency has soared.”

The little gold dragon could not only fly, but was highly intelligent and powerful in battle.

And because of their contract, its kills counted toward Shan Xingyu’s rewards.

Though he’d started slower than Qi Yu, by yesterday, Shan Xingyu’s progress was nearly caught up.

Over the past two days, Qi Yu had collected 500 Ice Gemstones.

His pace was slightly slower than the first day, mainly because after several rounds of searching near his territory, the Icebound Bosses spawned less frequently, so he had to take the Magic Sleigh farther afield.

He’d collected 268 on the first day, spent 100 on the Magic Sleigh, and 50 on the event-exclusive Ice Knight set.

Now he had 618 Ice Gemstones left in his backpack.

That was enough to buy the most expensive territory appearance from the event.

Qi Yu hadn’t exchanged it yet—he figured he’d save up a bit more and exchange for everything in the shop at once.

Now, with the Resource Zone event appearing…

He thought it over. “There are four days left in the Icebound Boss event. If I spend one or two days in the Resource Zone, it shouldn’t affect things much.”

He said “one or two days,” but in fact, he hadn’t gotten a Resource Zone card at all this month—otherwise, he wouldn’t have forgotten about it.

He asked Shan Xingyu, “Do you still have a card?”

Shan Xingyu opened his palm, revealing a pitch-black card.

Qi Yu was delighted. “What a coincidence, I have a black one too.”

He’d drawn two Resource Zone cards in total—one black, one green.

Last time, he’d used the green one; now he still had the black one left.

Shan Xingyu was surprised. “I thought someone as lucky as you wouldn’t get a black Resource Zone card?”

Having been to the Resource Zone before, he knew how the colors worked.

Green was a safe zone, red was moderately dangerous, black was an uncontrollable high-danger zone.

Qi Yu was curious. “How was the red Resource Zone last time?”

Shan Xingyu: “Not bad, as long as you’re careful.”

They both had teleport scrolls—if things got bad, they could always use them to escape.

Then he remembered, “Since we both have black Resource Zone cards, can we team up and go together?”

“Yes,” Qi Yu confirmed. “Last time I met a brother and sister in the Resource Zone—they went in as a team.”

While they talked, the survival panel was counting down.

There were ten minutes to confirm entry.

Qi Yu asked, “Are you ready?”

Shan Xingyu: “I’ve got my backpack—it’s easy.”

All the important items were in the backpack; they could leave at a moment’s notice.

With a few minutes left, Qi Yu checked the regional channel. Sure enough, everyone was caught off guard by the announcement.

[ReachForTheMoon: Why now? If we go to the Resource Zone, there won’t be enough time for the event.]

[GrindKing: Right. The Icebound Boss is a limited event, but Resource Zone cards can be used next month. I’m not going.]

Most players felt the same.

The limited event was underway, and the rewards were tangible—so the regional event took priority.

Besides, last time, not many players got good stuff from the Resource Zone. The premium zone even cost an extra 5,000 gold coins.

It just didn’t seem worth it.

There was another reason: not many players had drawn Resource Zone cards this month.

Most people didn’t even have a choice.

The District 01 Survival Team was talking about it too:

[Serenity: I’m skipping it this time—regional event first.]

[OldBrotherCivil: +1.]

[AfraidToOpenMyEyes: No choice for me, lol. Didn’t get a card at all.]

[NeedSomeCash: I’ll skip too. After seven days, I doubt I’ll get all the Icebound event rewards.]

[ILoveSurvivalGames: .]

[ILoveSurvivalGames: I’ll go with Shenben Wuxiang.]

[OldBrotherCivil: Pro, your progress is fine.]

[Serenity: The rewards from the last racing event were great. This way, wherever you go, you can look out for each other.]

Qi Yu agreed.

Thank you, Survival Game, for putting him and Shan Xingyu in the same arena.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have seen the beautiful Golden Sand Desert, or been able to see his good friend every day.

He was just about to choose “Enter Resource Zone” when he remembered something.

“Shan Xingyu, wait a second.”

He quickly pulled out a stack of magic scrolls from his backpack and handed them over.

“Take more of these. If anything happens, just throw them.”

Shan Xingyu: “You already gave me a bunch before—I haven’t even used them yet.”

Qi Yu’s reaction was just as he expected. “You haven’t used any? That’s impressive—you handled all the dangers by yourself.”

Shan Xingyu couldn’t help but laugh, shaking his head as he carefully put the scrolls away.

He said, “Qi Yu, you should praise me less.”

Qi Yu, puzzled: “Why?”

“You’ll spoil me.” Shan Xingyu looked deeply at him. “Qi Yu, people are greedy. The more you get, the more you want.”

I’m afraid I’ll never be satisfied. No, I’m afraid I’ll become insatiable.

Qi Yu didn’t understand.

But he knew one thing: “What’s greedy about it? If you want to hear it, I can praise you every day.”

Shan Xingyu’s tone was strange: “But what about later?”

Qi Yu: “What do you mean, later?”

“I mean your future,” Shan Xingyu said. “Will we always be together like this? Haven’t you thought about your life ahead?”

He asked with a certain hidden feeling, only to meet a blank face.

Qi Yu really hadn’t thought about the future.

Life in the apocalypse taught everyone to live one day at a time.

The future was too distant, too uncertain.

You could make all the plans you wanted, but who knew if you’d even see tomorrow’s sunset.

Qi Yu felt that life in the Survival Game was already very, very good.

Spending a lifetime like this would be wonderful.

“The future—just like now—wouldn’t that be good?”

If it could really be like this, he would be grateful and happy every single day.

He looked seriously at Shan Xingyu. “You’re strange, Shan Xingyu.”

“How am I strange?”

Qi Yu analyzed earnestly: “I can tell you really like me, and I really like you too. Since that’s the case, as long as we don’t die, we’ll definitely be together for a long, long time.”

“So what are you worrying about?”

“……”

No answer for a long while.

Qi Yu looked up and saw that a certain little black-faced desert dweller was blushing bright red.

[Author’s Note]

The Resource Zone cards were one green and one black. Earlier, I mistakenly wrote two green ones in the inventory recap; the previous text has been corrected.