Famine 110: Old Grudges, New Enmities

Wang Jinyu pulled out a jar.

It looked like an ordinary glass jar of canned mandarins—round-bodied with a small mouth—but it shimmered with iridescent, multicolored light.

It was obvious to all: this was an S-class—or higher—artifact. Its very presence radiated intimidation.

With a flick of Wang Jinyu’s finger, the jar’s lid slowly began to unscrew.

Creeeaak.

It was about to open!

The hot, stifling cavern was filled with people quietly fanning themselves. The crowd’s expressions varied: some showed traces of pity, others (barely concealed) satisfaction.

“We’re about to smell that reeking stench of blood. Hard to imagine what hell it must be like in there…” one person murmured, shaking his head.

“To think that after struggling to last thirty days, they just get slaughtered at the end—you have to feel a little sorry for them.”

Another was less charitable: “Why did they have to go against the big guilds? The world punishes those who don’t know their place. If you can’t read the signs, then dying is what you deserve.”

BOOM BOOM BOOM—

A deep rumble shook the earth; dirt crumbled, collapsed walls crashed down—the passageway burst open!

Everyone held their breath, craning their necks…

Whoosh!!!

A rush of cool, moist air blasted into their faces. Thunderous water, brilliant light—accompanied by a chorus of joyous screams and laughter—erupted before everyone’s eyes.

“Cough—what is this, a death hallucination…?”

The light was so dazzling, like natural sunlight. Wang Jinyu, used to the gloom of the cave, was blinded. For a moment, his eyes watered uncontrollably. He clumsily wiped his tears, blinking as he tried to see—then went speechless.

Suddenly, the sealed space opened wide—nothing but vivid, sparkling blue everywhere.

Before him yawned a vast chamber, the ceiling tens of meters overhead, layered with pools and twisting slides at different heights. Water sprayed and scattered in crystal arcs, cool air rushing in to fill the cavern.

Nearest of all lay the source of a lazy river or a surfing pool. The water was perfectly clear; the waves at one end reached twice the height of a grown man. In the center, a mixed group of adults and over a dozen children balanced on surfboards or clung to inflatable dolphins, dashing back and forth.

A red-headed female player clung to her rubber dolphin, shouting at the top of her lungs, “Hold on, everyone!! Hang in there! We’ve gone thirty minutes now without anyone getting washed away!!”
“Woohoo!!” the crowd roared back, spirits soaring.

Among the surfers, Wang Jinyu spotted that buzz-cut kid who’d “nearly been killed by his own hand”—but now in a swimsuit, riding high on a dolphin, shouting orders with wild confidence.
He was out in front! Even pointing out the safest spots in the waves for others to follow!

“Waaaaa!!!”
The drifting slide swept right past them—transparent all the way through. Another group, bundled together in a swimming ring, shrieked as they shot past, vanishing into the distance, voices fading.

They looked perfectly cool and refreshed.

—To make it easier for everyone to gather, Si Zhiyan had placed the water park at the very edge of the lockdown zone.
He’d expanded the space outward as far as it would go.
So… when the seal broke, the first thing outsiders saw was…

The second level of the Water Park.

—

The cavern fell utterly silent.

For a full minute, Wang Jinyu’s mind went blank.

Thoughts stalled; standing at the front, jar in hand, Wang Jinyu’s face was a mask of shock.

It wasn’t just him—no one reacted.

Eh?
What?

What was this…?

It was as if no one could comprehend what they were seeing. Players inside the caves gaped, wide-eyed, eyeballs nearly falling from their sockets.

Those in the front row were splattered by stray water droplets. One player, lips chapped and cracked, instinctively flicked out his tongue to lick the water.

The instant the droplet melted on his tongue, his eyes filled with sudden tears, and he cried out, “It’s really water!”

“Really… it’s real water, not a trace of impurity… so much… so much water!!”
Cool, clean… water!

That shout finally drew the attention of those inside.

“Huh?!” A player in swimming goggles by the river turned in surprise. “What’s happening?!” He looked at his watch, then smacked his forehead in realization: “Holy crap! Right! Thirty days are up!!”

At this, the players in the water park all jumped, startled. Those fighting the waves in the surf pool were still too busy to notice, but everywhere else people stood, alarmed.

“Oh, yeah! Makes sense!”
“Man, I totally forgot.”
“Right, right… on the first day, wasn’t there a girl who said, ‘thirty days max’?”
“But it’s over already?” moaned someone.
“It’s ending already?!!”

The goggle-wearing player, exasperated, stomped his foot and pointed at Wang Jinyu, scolding, “Why are you so early!? Couldn’t you wait two more days before coming?!”
“We could have gotten two more days of rest!”

Wang Jinyu: “……no…”

Huh?
They came early? That was wrong, too?

A teammate yanked the goggle-wearer down, choked with tears: “Forget it, forget it, I need to go grind quests and save some points—my savings are nearly out…”
There was real pain and regret in his tone, full of loss and bitterness.
Like an office worker, vacation just ended, and the first morning alarm goes off—however miserable, you have to drag yourself up and get back to life…

The whole thing was so surreal that Wang Jinyu couldn’t even get angry: “You…”

[Ding dong~ Ding dong~]

Just as he was about to speak, a voice broadcast rang through the air, cutting him off.

Anderson’s courteous tones floated down: [Dear Carnival guests, good afternoon. It is now exactly 11:00 am. The mezzanine dining area on the first floor is now open for lunch service. You may begin lining up at the food stalls.]

[Today’s carnival lunch is: honey-glazed crispy roast suckling pig (personal portion), served with a set of juicy pan-seared mushrooms. The main course is slices of butter-toasted crispy French bread, and dessert includes lemon yogurt and mango fruit bowls.]

[Additionally, the popular iced sweet watermelon drinks from earlier are now restocked.]

[Quantities limited, first come first served. Interested guests please proceed to the first-floor mezzanine to dine.]

“Holy crap! Honey-glazed roast suckling pig!”

Instantly, the players in front burst apart in delight, scrambling off the equipment, racing for the first floor.

In the wake of the splashes, only a few scattered comments wafted back—

“Hurry, hurry! Yesterday we missed the hazel mushroom braised wild rabbit!”
“Whatever, it’s meal time now! Finally, they have iced watermelon again!”
“Impossible to resist!”

The second level of the water park was suddenly empty—except for those still battling the waves, not a soul remained.

“Hold on, everyone, just a little longer! Victory is at hand!” The red-haired woman in the surf pool kept shouting.
She hadn’t noticed the newcomers at all.

Only Wang Jinyu was left, mouth agape, words choking in his throat, stunned: “……”

Thousands crammed into narrow tunnels; despite the air conditioning, everyone was sweating in the heat, surrounded by the odor of so many bodies. Mud oozed underfoot.
With the crumbled remains of the seal as boundary, ahead lay pristine white and blue-glazed tiles of the water park; behind, the stifling, scorched hollows of the caves.

The contrast was so stark, it left people dizzy.

“…Did I… did I hear that right…?”
A cave player muttered, his voice floating in the air.

“Iced watermelon… watermelon drinks… what does that even mean…? Do we really get some? Eh?”

“I’m so thirsty… I’ve been drinking limewater for half a month now…”

“Water Carnival… what a foreign phrase…”

“Honey-glazed crispy roast—roast suckling pig… truly impossible to resist…”

While you scrimped and hoarded water, struggling to survive…
Those you hated most were sipping frozen fruit drinks, eating gourmet feasts, and surfing on waves in a water park.

What could possibly be more cruel in this world?

One player, too dazed by the shocks, blurted out, “So the price for offending the Silver Ring Alliance… was a thirty-day vacation at a water park?!”

“If I could be sent to the water park, I’d gladly eat honey-glazed roast suckling pig and drink watermelon slushes every day—”

He hadn’t finished, when suddenly he let out a hideous scream, falling heavily to the ground with a thud.

Those who turned to look saw his face gone blue, breathless—already dead.

Behind him, Qi Zhi’s face was cold as ice. She stepped over the corpse, walking steadily forward.

Everyone nearby shrank back three full paces, parting in silence, making way for her. All at once, no one dared speak, their faces showing only fear.

With the sudden hush on this side, the distant sounds of shouting and laughter from the water park grew even clearer.

Suddenly, a commotion exploded from the surf pool—

“Five—four—three—two—one!”

“Time’s up! Go!!”

With a cheer, the players in the surf pool unleashed all their skills, surging forward against the towering waves to the dazzling edge.

WHOOSH!!!

The ceiling split open, a vast and magnificent waterfall crashed down, pouring into the pool like a Milky Way from above, launching all the swimmers skyward.

Then, a handful of phoenix-like creatures, tails blazing like fire, soared overhead.

Sprays of water and streams of fiery feather turned to mist, forming a radiant rainbow arched like a bridge.

The water rose rapidly, carrying everyone upward.

“We did it!!”
Qiu Youqing—high in the air—shouted joyfully.
“Sis Qiu Hong, you were right!!”

“As long as more than ten people in the highest wave pool hold out for thirty-five minutes, defeating three triple waves, then push the edge buttons in the correct order, you unlock the entrance to the third level!”

“Right? I figured as much. It’s the only pool here with a glowing edge that responds when you press it; plus, hints about the button order are scattered in every corner… We’ve got over thirty detectives in our clue-solving squad!”

The red-haired Akio Hong tossed her hair with a fearless smile:

“Haha, and thanks to the surf team! We did it!”

“Oh yeah!!”
“We won!! The third level!!”
“That puzzle was genius—Mr. Farm, you’re a god.”
“The new zone is open! The mystery prizes can’t be far!”
“Damn it, why am I tearing up at this…?”
“So hype! It feels just like landing the world-first kill in a top MMO raid again…!”

The guy in the baseball cap, Lü Buqing, laughed: “Gotta thank Xiao Qiu for breaking the way—she did great!”

“Heh, it was nothing…” Qiu Youqing scratched her cheek in embarrassment. “Sis Qiu Hong is amazing, and so is everyone on the clue-solving team…”

Just as the group celebrated, a shadow fell over Qiu Youqing.

“Eh? So dark?” She was still caught up in joy, not yet comprehending. She turned, “Is there a special mecha…”

No.

It was, like a gigantic beast, a gaping maw—the Silver Ring Python, mouth wide as a cliff.

Before Qiu Youqing could react, the massive jaws closed!!

TING!!

Water burst in all directions, a clang of metal echoed.

Akio Hong’s face contorted with rage, still in swimsuit, both forearms transformed into razor-sharp blades, each more than two meters long, crossed behind Xiao Qiu, blocking the fangs of the python!

Her eyes were shot with blood, features twisted with fury. Through bared teeth, she forced out four guttural words: “Silver… Ring… All… iance…!”

Perhaps it was the blinding resurgence of old and new hates combined—though the enemy’s power was overwhelming, even as cracks radiated along her transformed arms, Akio Hong shook and trembled, gritting her teeth and—miraculously—held those venomous fangs at bay.

Qi Zhi’s onslaught was slowed, if only for a moment.

But a moment was all.

“Remnants of the Siji Guild… rats do love to nest together.”
The Silver Ring Python’s vertical pupils glinted with frigid killing intent.

The next instant, the snake’s jaws pressed down, crushing Akio Hong’s arms to splinters!

“Gah!!” Akio Hong coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The gigantic jaws slammed down, and the sweeping snake tail smashed into slide after slide, porcelain tiles shattering everywhere—dozens of water slides came crashing down in chaos.

Through the churning waters, only that chilling, venomous voice could be heard—

“Then let me send you all on your way!”