Chapter 54 Frost Necklace, Goal
That entire day, the silent forest was no longer as quiet as before. From morning to night, the attacks of the ice monsters continued. At worst, Zhou Chen encountered more than ten monsters in an hour, and even at best, he encountered three to four in an hour.
He was entangled by the monsters and kept fighting. It was not until night fell that he felt that the frequency of the monsters' attacks had decreased, allowing him to rest a little.
After spending some effort to gather the shrubs and sticks that were already wet by the fog, Zhou Chen used the lighter to heat them for a while before starting the fire.
The water in the coke bottle that had frozen into ice cubes melted slowly. After drinking a mouthful, he felt his body become cold again.
"This water should last me for the next few days. I don't have to worry about getting water."
Zhou Chen determined that the water was not a problem. He opened his inventory and took out a steamed bun to eat.
This steamed bun was one of the spoils of war from killing the ice monsters in the day. It was specially kept for supper.
"The system is really lousy. I killed so many monsters in the day, and other than some food, only a candle and a necklace dropped."
Zhou Chen complained in his heart as he looked at his inventory.
The necklace he had obtained was called the Frost Necklace. It looked like a simple sapphire silver necklace. Zhou Chen was already wearing it and was using his tattered clothes to hide it.
[Frost Necklace
Type: Low Bronze item.
After wearing this necklace, you will obtain the blessing effect, Heart of Frost.
Heart of Frost: Immunity to low bronze spiritual attacks. Increases resistance to mid bronze and high bronze spiritual attacks.]
The attribute of this necklace was passable. After Zhou Chen obtained it, he had never been deceived by the hallucinations created by monsters, but that was all. He did not feel this single attribute of this necklace was worth the many monsters he had killed in the day.
After warming himself by the fire for a while and stabbing an ice monster with his spear to death, Zhou Chen lay on the ground near the fire and planned to take a nap.
However, just as he lay down, he heard footsteps in the distance. The sound and rhythm sounded like human footsteps, and there were more than one.
"Those monsters that are pretending to be humans are acting again?"
Zhou Chen guessed impatiently.
He stood up and clenched the spear in his hand, preparing to attack.
Soon, in the light of the fire, he saw three figures in the distance: a girl with a ponytail, a young man in a tattered military uniform, and a man wearing a smiley mask.
"Looking at their appearance… they should be real."
Because he was already wearing the Frost Necklace, Zhou Chen was not fooled by the monsters from before. If those monsters came to him, they would only expose their true appearance.
"Aiya, we finally found you!"
The girl's expression tightened when she saw Zhou Chen beside the fire. However, after staring at him for a few seconds, she seemed to have determined that this Zhou Chen was the real deal, so she happily waved.
"Come and warm yourselves."
Zhou Chen quickly replied.
Before long, in the foggy forest, the four of them sat around the fire and chatted.
The ponytail girl was still the one who spoke the most.
"It was too dangerous today! Two monsters pretended to be you and him, and almost deceived me."
She looked at Zhou Chen and the young man in the military uniform.
"Me too. At that time, the two monsters led me for a while before I reacted. I almost fell into the encirclement of a large number of monsters. Fortunately, I encountered him and was saved."
The young man looked at the masked man.
"I also encountered the situation you mentioned, but only that naked fool came. I couldn't be bothered with him, so he attacked me and was killed by me."
The masked man slowly explained.
"Now that I think of it, I was a little careless. If I followed him, I could directly harvest a large group of monsters."
The masked man's confident voice seemed to carry a trace of regret.
However, when Zhou Chen saw the tragic state of his clothes and the blood stains inside, he felt that he might be bragging. He looked like he had been having a hard time in this forest, and his strength should not be particularly strong.
"Let's work together for the next three days. We'll take turns finding firewood and killing the monsters that come here. This Survival mission will be over after a while."
The girl suggested.
"I agree."
The young man in the military uniform was the first to respond.
"Although those monsters are not difficult to kill, the drop rate is too low. It doesn't feel worth it to continue wandering outside. If I'm unlucky, I might even fail."
"I have no objections."
Zhou Chen thought for a moment and nodded.
"If we stay together, those monsters will probably attack us together which is better than having to search for those monsters one by one."
"Let's see…"
The masked man did not agree immediately.
"I didn't gain much from this Survival mission. I have to kill more monsters to see if I can obtain some good items. I'll have to sell my equipment to earn the money to buy a house."
"It's already like this, why are you concerned about buying a house?"
The ponytail girl was speechless.
"I have no choice. I have to take care of my siblings. I have to quickly make arrangements for them; otherwise, if I die in a Survival mission, they will have to sleep on the streets."
The smiley masked man said softly.
"You are quite responsible."
The girl couldn't help but praise him.
"It's not entirely a sense of responsibility. I have to give myself a a goal to not give up on myself amidst the system's tortures."
The smiley masked man continued.
"Makes sense. I've actually set a goal for myself. That is to survive ten Survival missions. When I succeed ten times, I'll think of a new one."
The girl nodded and replied.
"What about the two of you? Do you have any goals?"
She then looked at the young man in the military uniform and Zhou Chen.
"I don't have a clear goal for now. Maybe joining the Administration can be considered one."
The young man in the military uniform thought for a moment and said.
"My goal is to explore the secret of this system."
Zhou Chen replied without much thought.
"Don't you think this system is very magical and mysterious?"
"Your goal is really big…"
The young man in the military uniform smiled.
"I suggest you join the Administration. The goal set by the higher-ups for the Administration is to explore the secrets of the system. You will definitely encounter some like-minded people after entering the Administration."
"I'll think about it."
Zhou Chen immediately replied, but he did not think that way. In fact, the goal of exploring the system's secrets was only half-truth. He did have an interest in the system, but his real goal was actually not that grand.. His real goal was to survive for a long time, preferably until the system was finished.
