Famine 106: During the Lockdown

By now, chaos had erupted outside the ice drink shop.

“What the hell is going on?!”

“What happened? Did we trigger some kind of dungeon?”

Amid countless cries of confusion and panic, one group gritted their teeth.

“This is the doing of the Silver Ring Alliance!”

Qiu Hong, a tall woman with red hair, spat on the ground and clenched the taro milk tea in her hand.

Beside her stood Lü Buqing, a man in a baseball cap who somewhat resembled a marmot. He too gritted his teeth. “I just knew it. In a place as nice as this, those bastards are bound to stir up trouble again!”

It was the same team who had first discovered the ice drink shop.

They did nothing to lower their voices, attracting the curious eyes of those around.

Qiu Hong explained, “This is a classic tactic of the Silver Ring Alliance. They have a certain spell that allows them to seal off a completely enclosed space by using the terrain as an anchor.”

“Any region they target falls under this lockdown. The air remains plentiful, but no other player can enter.”

“The seal can last up to thirty days. No one can get in, so there’s no way to complete quests. With no food or water… In a game like Famine, who could possibly stock up thirty days’ worth of supplies? Every player trapped inside will be stuck—forced slowly to death.”

“Half a month ago, they used this very method to seize our Siji Guild’s base—a spacious hall…”

Qiu Hong exhaled deeply, her eyes reddening.

“We, the Siji Guild, once controlled a hidden stone pillar that produced water. Not much, and not very clean, but enough to keep our brothers from dying of thirst. A traitor leaked the news to Silver Ring Alliance, and they set their sights on our water source. Our guild was strong enough to put up a fight, so the Alliance, afraid we’d resist, used the spell immediately…”

“Everyone died. Every last one of them… Only our little squad survived because we’d been outside on a mission. We’re all that’s left of the guild.”

Lü Buqing muttered in a low voice, “Never thought, in the end, we’d fail to escape after all…”

At those words, despair deepened among the crowd.

“Argh…”

“You mean those people have now set their sights on the ice drink shop?”

“Siji Guild… I’ve heard of you. Over seventy people, and a Chosen One to lead you. Such a group… just disappeared in a single night… quietly, without a sound.”

“So many people, with a water source… If even you couldn’t make it, what chance do we have?”

“Thirty days? How could we possibly last that long here?”

“But we haven’t done anything?!” someone wailed, on the verge of a complete breakdown. “Whether right or wrong, the grudges between organizations have nothing to do with us, do they?”

“The Silver Ring Alliance has gone too far!”

Some players, faces drawn, had already collapsed to the ground. “What’s the point of talking about any of this? We’re all going to die here…”

Qiu Hong fell silent, gazing at the crowd, her brows furrowed, eyes roaming over each face in turn.

“Captain, what are you looking at?”

Qiu Hong replied, “If we have water from the shop, and start eating human flesh… how long could we survive?”

She had seen it all before, and held no illusions. No one knew better than she what a sealed region would look like ten days in.

She was just an ordinary player, never having done a truly unforgivable thing in her life, but she was no saint or paragon either. If not for these special circumstances, perhaps she would never have had to make such a decision. But with things as they were, she had only one thought left—to survive!

To stay alive, for herself, and to one day avenge her brothers.

To die here—she could not accept that!

A faint, almost weeping voice echoed from the corner of her heart, but in an instant, she silenced it: Ah, at long last I got to drink taro milk tea, hoping for just a little peace and normalcy in life…
And now, stained with blood—even if there is a next time, that flavor will haunt me forever, a lifelong shadow, never to cross my lips again.

“…” Lü Buqing shuddered, a chill creeping through him. Gradually, a wild look flashed in his eyes…

Just then, a quiet voice cut through their thoughts:

“If I were you, I wouldn’t do that.”

Qiu Hong jolted from head to toe, whipping her head up.

A commotion rose from the crowd in the distance.

“It’s the shopkeeper!”

“Make way, everyone! The shopkeeper is coming!”

Slowly, the uproar faded.

As if by some unspoken pact, the crowd parted to either side, opening a path down the middle.

Drifting through the lingering mist, a slender figure in a black trench coat approached, face half-hidden. He came to stand before Qiu Hong and the others.

It was Si Zhiyan.

Si Zhiyan spoke, “My friend, a moment ago you said the maximum duration of this spell is thirty days. Are you certain?”

Qiu Hong drew a steadying breath. “Of course. This is a fact, from our Siji Guild.”

“Very well,” Si Zhiyan nodded. “Then allow me to give you my word—within thirty days, I can guar—”

His voice was calm and cool as ever, as if stating “tonight we’ll be eating nutrient paste”—so matter-of-fact, yet it fell among the crowd like a bomb.

In an instant, the entire—

“Boss?! Do you know how many people are here?!”

“A third of the people from the Lava Region are trapped here! There must be three to five thousand at least…”

“How big is your shop? Fifty square meters? Sixty at most? Even if you packed every inch with the highest-grade nutrient paste, it wouldn’t feed all these people for this long… Boss, it’s pointless. You can’t possibly supply enough.”

“Forget it, forget it… The boss just wants to keep people calm, and that’s a kindness…” someone said with tears in their eyes.

Shen Dongming, standing with his children in the farthest corner of the crowd, wore a bitter expression, holding his wounded wife and children close.
When chaos broke out, his collection of half-grown children and the injured… they would likely be the first to be sacrificed.

The sealed cave was packed with people, emotions running high. Even the ice drink shop’s air-conditioning was insufficient; the air was muggy, sweat streaming from everyone. Some had already drained their drinks, feeling the thirst return… but none dared take another sip.

Qiu Hong, meanwhile, said nothing more. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she watched Si Zhiyan in silence.

Wang Jianguo planted himself in front of Si Zhiyan, claws raised, glaring at Qiu Hong. “What’s with that look on your face?”

Wang Jianguo’s rich combat experience left him outwardly mild, but inwardly, he was highly sensitive to malice and killing intent.

Si Zhiyan: “…”

It seemed not a single person believed him.

With a soft sigh, he blocked Wang Jianguo with his arm and straightened his collar.

“It’s all right,” Si Zhiyan said. “I don’t blame them.”

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, please step back two paces—make a little space here.”

He extended his hand, snapping his fingers lightly.

At Anderson’s waist, the Holy Grail shimmered.

Qiu Hong sighed, “I know some high-level players have storage spaces, sir. No need to be mysterious— even if you could conjure five thousand cups of lemonade right now, that would only last us a day…”

Crash!

Suddenly, a torrent of water burst from mid-air, cutting Qiu Hong off mid-sentence.

It was not five thousand cups of lemonade, nor even a faucet’s worth—it was…

A river.

A vast river, crystal-clear and sparkling, full of countless tiny droplets, surged forth from the magic array before Si Zhiyan with unstoppable force, roaring ahead.

The water shimmered transparent as mountain spring, plunging into the stifling, dry air of the cave. A few fish could even be spotted darting in the current. The river swept through the air high above the crowd, winding its way as if it were truly a stream in flight.

Crash!

The current thundered on, most of it suspended above as a glistening river, yet stray drops still spat down, splashing onto the faces below.

Qiu Hong, closest of all, couldn’t dodge in time; her face and half her body were soaked.

Back at the farm, Si Zhiyan’s true body lounged in an easy chair, ankles crossed, fingertips pressed to his temple, a faint smile playing on his lips.

—Before him, the farm’s terrain editing interface glowed dimly red. Under his command, a river was drawn from the Imaginary Pond, flowing into the cave above.

That’s right, five thousand cups of lemonade would be drained in no time, but—how many people would it take to drink dry the entire endless, otherworldly pond, large enough to fit a blue whale?

Three, five thousand people? Is that a lot?

These days, the farm received new arrivals every day, and the Imaginary Town had already doubled in size twice. Just the farm’s residents would probably double that number all over again!

Not enough supplies? Who, me?
Si Zhiyan grinned and shook his head.

The farm editing system directed water from the Imaginary Pond into the cave, and Anderson, ready and waiting, waved his cane, shaping the water into a single, streaming river that flowed overhead, passing over everyone’s heads toward a channel prepared in advance by Si Zhiyan.

For a moment, the entire cave fell silent. Not a whisper.

Hundreds of eyes stared, wide and unblinking, as if those eyes might burst from their sockets.

Those who had spoken before stood dumbstruck, lips quivering.

Qiu Hong, drenched from head to toe, water dripping from her hair, stared upward in a daze at the river arcing above.

It was as though she hadn’t yet processed what she was seeing.

Si Zhiyan gave her two seconds, and when she did not respond, he called softly, “Miss.”

Swish!

Instantly, every eye in the room snapped to attention.

The speed at which those heads turned—it was as if they might wrench their own necks.

Without a single comment, Si Zhiyan continued calmly:

“I arrived a bit late, but I’ve already surveyed the area under lockdown. The Silver Ring Alliance sealed off the entire zone, leaving us twenty caves.”

“My companions have just done a rough count. There should be about four thousand people here. We’re at the far end of the cave network, and the ice drink shop was chosen for this spot because it provides refreshments. The closest cave is our friends’ residence; I ask that you please not disturb them. Of the two remaining smaller caves, I’ll set up a low-cost canteen window in one, and a slightly more luxurious restaurant in the other, each serving daily meals at set times for people to choose as they wish.”

“As for the other fifteen caves, please avoid conflict, and divide them up peacefully. Each cave is large—twelve or thirteen of them will be plenty for everyone to rest in overnight.”

“As for the final caves…”

Si Zhiyan tilted his head.

“—It’s hot in here, and there’s not much to do. Why don’t we fix it up a bit and build a water park? How about it?”