Chapter 41: Silent Forest

Zhou Chen woke up from his sleep in the morning.

He quickly put on the desert camouflage suit he had obtained from the previous Survival mission and changed into the short combat boots he had bought yesterday. After washing up and eating some bread and milk, he put on his black mask and sat on the sofa in the living room of the new rented room.

He was waiting for the start of the Survival mission.

He opened the system and took a casual look. Soon, he realized that he had more Dragon Country bills in his inventory.

“The cactus cudgel has been sold. My savings have reached 180,000, and I’m much closer to paying the fee.”

While he was thinking, the time for the Survival mission arrived.

[Survival mission is about to begin. Please be prepared.]

[Teleportation begins…]

[Silent Forest

Difficulty: Low Bronze

Mission: Survive for seven days in this forest.

Prompt: Killing monsters here will result in special drops.]

After a short moment of daze, Zhou Chen found himself in a dense forest. He was leaning on a tree trunk that was thicker than a person, and its tree branches and leaves were large and black.

The lighting was dim. Beside a few large trees nearby, he could see five other people, four men and one woman.

The person closest to him was a man about 25 years old. He was wearing a light green military uniform and was seriously observing his surroundings and other Survivors.

The second closest had the figure of a man. He was wearing a smiley face mask with white background and black patterns. From the two eyes on the mask, one could tell that his eyes were very calm.

The third was a girl in her twenties with long hair tied in a ponytail. She was wearing black leather clothes and had a strong, athletic body. When Zhou Chen looked at her, she immediately glared at him.

The remaining two men were the most unique. They were also young people. One of them was wearing a white long coat and looked like a doctor or a scientist. The other only had boxer shorts on. He was basically standing naked beside a tree and shivering.

“Cough cough…”

This weirdo underwear man was the first to break the silence.

“Can someone lend me some clothes to cover my body? Or other cloth-type things will do too.”

He looked at the other five Survivors and said embarrassingly.

“Resolve your problem yourself. No one needs to pay for your stupidity.”

The moment he asked, the person with the smiley mask rebuked him bluntly. From his voice, he was indeed a man and did not seem to be over 30.

“Sigh… Alright, I was really stupid this time. I modified my clothes and shoes to fool the system, but it ended up like this…”

Faced with the masked man’s criticism, the underwear man sighed in self-mockery and explained the reason for his current state with an awkward smile.

“Did you become like this to test the system? Good spirit.”

The young man in the white coat who was closest to the underwear man smiled at him.

“I suggest you use the materials here like the leaves and make some simple clothes.”

“Good suggestion! Thank you!”

A saber quickly appeared in the hands of the embarrassed underwear man. He turned and walked deep into the forest, muttering as he walked, “Why is this place so cold? F*ck, there seem to be thorns on the ground.”

Just as the underwear man left, the smiley masked man spoke again.

“The fool has already left. The rest of you look reliable. Let’s think about how to survive these seven days.”

“We need to check our surroundings first and find a suitable water source. Then, we can build a shelter near the water source and make a fire. Otherwise, our bodies will easily dehydrate or suffer hypothermia.”

The young man in the white coat was the first to respond to the masked man.

“I know how to start a fire by drilling wood, but it might take a lot of time in this environment.”

The young man in his twenties wearing a light green military uniform said.

“I have a lighter.”

A small lighter appeared in Zhou Chen’s hand and he showed it to the others.

For this Survival mission, he planned to cooperate with these people and try to survive these long seven days.

“There’s a lighter? Not bad.”

“Alright, fire won’t be a problem now.”

The others’ eyes lit up when they saw the lighter. This thing was very useful in this environment.

“Then should we check the surroundings now? Should we split up or go together?”

The girl with the ponytail and leather clothing who had been silent all this while spoke. She took out a glaive that looked like Guan Yu’s Green Dragon Crescent Blade and casually stabbed it into the ground, sweeping her sharp eyes across the other four.

“You guys go in groups of two. I’ll move alone. Each group will explore a direction, and count the direction that fool went to.”

The smiley masked man replied.

“Everyone will gather here in about an hour? Are you okay with this?”

The eyes revealed on his mask looked at the other four.

“An hour is too short. Let’s gather in two hours. We can only explore a few directions in a group, so we can each take a direction.”

Zhou Chen felt that they had to be more efficient, so he suggested.

“It will be more dangerous if we encounter monsters when we are alone. However, according to the system’s usual style, we should be relatively safe on this first day.”

The young man in the white coat questioned Zhou Chen’s suggestion, but accepted the idea.

“Two hours it is then. As for teaming up or doing it alone, your choice. Let’s explore fast and determine the area to build shelter.”

The smiley masked man turned and left. A dagger appeared in his hand. Every few steps, he would leave marks on the tree trunks.

Zhou Chen also turned and left. He planned to do it alone because he was used to it.

However, he had only taken a few steps when he realized that his plan had been ruined. The girl with a ponytail was holding the glaive and following him.

“Why are you following me?”

Zhou Chen turned around and asked curiously.

“Who said I am following you? I just happened to choose the same direction as you.”

The girl stared at him with bright eyes without any fear.

“Alright…”

Zhou Chen could not be bothered with this trivial matter and walked with the girl to the front.

The forest was as silent as the name given by the system. There were no sounds of birds or worms. Moreover, the temperature was low. It should be below zero degrees Celsius, but there was no ice or snow around.

“My perception tells me that there is no danger nearby for the time being. Are the monsters in the forest hiding?”