Famine 51: Terrain Bait

Si Zhiyan immediately summoned the rewards for Main Quest (3): the Perimeter Wall and Turret System.

[Current Wall Level: 1 (Wooden Stakes)]
[Current Wall Material: Ordinary Timber]
[Current Wall Man-Made Structures: None]
[Current Wall Climbing Plants: None]
[Farm Weeder Energy: 80%]

[Evaluation: Your farm’s defenses are as unbreakable as a sheet of A4 paper.]

Si Zhiyan: “……”
He had no time to argue with this lousy system.

What was a farm weeder? That was the key question Si Zhiyan asked first.

[Ding! The farm’s ultimate defensive line. Absolutely indestructible. Consumes core energy supply.]
[Restores 10% weeder energy every 30 days.]
[When weeder energy is depleted, the farm will lose its defensive capacity. Please seek shelter at your own risk.]

A one-time, ultimate line of defense!

Rustle… rustle…
The sound continued.

“Ah… ah!! What’s that noise? Is something coming?”
In the settlement, a service player trembled, clutching their head.

“Am I imagining things? Who’s touching me?”

Suddenly, someone screamed, “It hurts!! It hurts so much!!”
Everyone looked over—the person’s face was covered in blood. Panic erupted, and shrill cries filled the air.

Fortunately, the weeder activated in time, so the chaos did not escalate.

“Why can’t I see anything?!” Wu Jing was on the verge of tears.

“What’s attacking us? Just what sort of dangerous thing is out there?”
Wang Wen, drenched in cold sweat, anxiously bit his nails:
“Let’s not go out. We have to protect ourselves… Let’s reinforce the wall, reinforce it again, shall we?”

Relying on the weeder’s energy was by no means a long-term solution.

Si Zhiyan raised his head and looked toward the dense, mist-shrouded forest.
His social anxiety wasn’t exactly a fear of people, but rather a complete absence of social conventions. Now, standing on the knife’s edge between life and death, with an uncertain path ahead, Si Zhiyan showed no trace of fear. From an angle unseen by others, his expression was eerily calm, his eyes fixed on the foreboding forest, and he thought quietly—

What would others do in this situation?

The shrieks in the settlement went on, but at this moment, the image of Nie Du, with the Eye of the Main God, brandishing the scythe, flashed before his eyes.
In Si Zhiyan’s jet-black pupils, a glint of crimson flickered.

In the blink of an eye, his spectral form rose from atop the wall, straightening his collar.

“Don’t panic,” Si Zhiyan turned his head and said, “I’ll be right back.”

The chaotic cries and chatter ceased abruptly. All eyes looked up, dazed, watching the silhouette of the farm owner against the swirling clouds and mist.

Without another glance at them, Si Zhiyan stepped forward without hesitation, leaping from the wall—out of the farm!

If he wanted to get to the bottom of this, he couldn’t just hide within the farm’s protective range.

Crunch. Landing among brittle branches and black trees on barren ground, Si Zhiyan absorbed the impact in a crouch.
From this close, the farm quickly identified the name of this forest’s black wood: [Dead Thorned Wood].

The fog was so dense that drops of dew formed on every branch.
…A professional habit—amidst the chaos, Si Zhiyan found himself wondering how sturdy this Dead Thorned Wood was. Could it be used in farm construction?

Behind him—the farm. Beyond, the Dead Thorned Wood stretched endlessly.
The thick fog wound through the branches, obscuring all but the nearest shapes.

To battle the uncanny effectively, one must first clarify—just what is it?

Immersed in the humid mist for only a few seconds, the tips of Si Zhiyan’s shoes were already wet, his messy fringe and eyelashes damp. Yet he remained unfazed, inhaled deeply, raised his gaze, crouched, and focused on the strange sound…

Rustle… rustle…

Ding! A stab of pain lanced his cheek.

It’s here!
Si Zhiyan suddenly dropped low, drove off with his legs, dived to the left with a quick roll—dodging out of the area.
Controlling his spectral form, his movement was unexpectedly agile.

After dodging, he instantly rose and looked back at where he’d crouched earlier.

…

It was unchanged; nothing there. The thick mist pressed down, moisture flowing heavily.

Si Zhiyan was unhurried, calmly wiping blood from his cheekbone.

As the attack had first struck his face, the enemy clearly wasn’t coming from below. He observed more carefully this time: there were absolutely no overlooked creatures nearby.
Was it an invisible enemy, then?

In just a few short moments, his neck endured a familiar stabbing pain.
It was back!

With a flick, Si Zhiyan summoned the shop.
These days, he’d saved up a lot of credits and explored all the items he could purchase, just in case. In this crisis, with a sweep of his finger, he quickly selected the most suitable tool—

[Grade-C Artificial Device]
A billionaire’s Smith boss, vast selection, defeats unwanted visitors.
Here’s a million for you,
Supremely powerful, effective over a wide area (because nothing can resist money).
No need to control it—it locks onto targets by itself (or perhaps the targets come looking for it), because everyone is drawn to money.
There’s no problem in this world money can’t solve.
The question is—do you have enough?

Each shot costs: 10,000 credits.

This was the only store item that could deal fully with previously unseen invisible creatures!

A red cash-gun materialized in Si Zhiyan’s hand.
He caught it and immediately aimed at the mist, pulling the trigger without hesitation.

[Ding! [Grade-C Artificial Facility—Spendthrift’s Sugar-Coated Artillery] is now active]
[Ding! You have spent 10,000 credits.]

…Even knowing it was necessary, as the prompt sounded, Si Zhiyan’s heart twinged painfully.

Beams of shining banknotes shot from the gun in shimmering red, homing in on their target.

As long as he tracked the direction of the flying bills, he’d find the invisible enemy!

Ready, Si Zhiyan fixed his gaze on the bills—only to see them curve around and fly straight towards…
Himself.

Crash! Crash, crash, crash, crash!

Ribbons of red light erupted before his eyes, encircling him from every side.

The rustling sound vanished.

In that instant, Si Zhiyan understood.

“It’s not some creature hidden in the depths of the fog.”
Si Zhiyan said slowly,
“It’s the mist and the moisture itself.”

[“Get away!” Zhong Manwen shouted sternly. “All of you, get out of this mist! It…”]

It was… alive!

Since they’d first entered this world, the uncanny lurked everywhere, a constant shadow, filling every corner around them.
Every minute in the clammy mist brought more contamination.

It’s just that its hunting organs were perhaps only a small part, so not everyone in the mist felt pain.

The fog drifted aimlessly, indifferent to whether Si Zhiyan understood.

How does one fight against mist?

Si Zhiyan hesitated no more. His spectral form dispersed and floated back, reappearing on the farm’s wall top.

He opened the shop, choosing a mill’s accessory—

[Level-1 Enchantment Upgrade Available – Self-Driving Windmill (flour output +50%)]

Boom! A massive windmill, faintly glowing gold, materialized atop the mill.
Unlike other windmills waiting for natural wind, this one summoned its own gale. As soon as it landed, a fresh current swept in, the vanes spinning at full speed—

Whoosh—
The wind tore through, instantly blowing away a wide swath of mist.

“Wow!!” The service players wobbled, nearly toppled by the blast.

Li Cuilan instinctively shielded her daughter Li Yutong, then looked up in delight. “The mist’s thinning!”

Yet, this single windmill couldn’t protect the whole farm; it only thinned the mist a bit.

Si Zhiyan hadn’t brought out the windmill for nothing. Hovering in the air, he quickly gauged the fan-shaped area it cleared and, circling the farm at measured intervals, precisely dropped a ring of windmills just outside the walls.

Whoosh!

This time, five windmills spun in unison, blowing the fog outward all at once.

The magically enhanced wind filled the void, forcing the mist further away.
The thick fog retreated, unable to approach again.

Light and color returned to the meadows within the farm.

Wang Wen exclaimed in joy, full of admiration. “Yes, yes, it makes perfect sense to have windmills atop the mill! But I never imagined they’d have this use… Every facility in this farm has its reason—Sir’s wisdom is truly unfathomable.”

“That strange noise is gone!” Wu Jing said happily.

Someone’s knees buckled, nearly collapsing to the ground. “Thank you, Master Farmer! Thank you, Master Farmer!”

Lin Qiushui sighed. “To think this world was this dangerous from the start. If the farm hadn’t sheltered us, many would’ve died.”

Another fit player cursed, “Damn, is this Hunger Games for humans or not?! So many people die every day, and instead of balancing difficulty it just keeps getting harder! Thank god the farm owner’s here…”

Relieved cheers broke out everywhere.

The farm stood amid the mist like a glass-domed ecological oasis in a foggy wasteland apocalypse.
Lush grass, clear ponds, the central windmill slowed its spin while jubilant people celebrated below.

Even the mist-shrouded forest outside the farm was cleared into a small oasis.

Hovering above, Si Zhiyan nodded in satisfaction.

Suddenly, something caught his eye.

In the heart of the endless, withered forest beyond the farm—on barren, wasted earth—a single pale pink flower had sprouted.
Nestled among the hard, dead black thorned trees, the delicate blossom looked fragile yet vibrant, its beauty incongruous here, swaying and casting a faint glow in the wind.

It was tiny, seemingly appearing only after this patch of mist had been dispersed. If not for his aerial vantage, he’d never have seen it.

Si Zhiyan landed gently before the flower, cautiously reaching out.

Buzz…

The moment Si Zhiyan touched the little flower, it curled around his fingertip, seeming to melt away, dissolving into water that soaked into his palm.

[Ding! [Terrain Bait – Forest] acquired.]

Si Zhiyan looked down at his spectral right hand. Around the pale, elegant fingers, a living ribbon coiled and a small, vivid blossom bloomed at his knuckles.
It had merged with him.

He waited two seconds, but nothing happened—nor did he feel any discomfort. It simply existed, united with him.

Shaking his head, Si Zhiyan returned to the farm and extended his right hand toward the loading forest.

[Ding! Detected [Terrain Bait – Forest]!]
[Terrain bait loading… LOADING…]

A cheerful tune played.

[Ding! Legendary Terrain – Dense Forest loading complete!]
[Forest terrain is now accessible!]

[Fishing Game is now unlocked!]

[Your farm has been fully restored! Rift permissions reopened!]

[LOADING…]
[Your farm core has awakened.]