Chapter 34: Entering the Instance

Xia Wulei was pleasantly surprised to receive such high praise from Ashui.

"I have an idea, but I'm not sure what you think of it..."

When Xia Wulei shared her plan to open a restaurant, Ashui’s eyes widened in astonishment.

"You want to open a restaurant?! But people here don't even need to eat..."

As she spoke, Ashui suddenly remembered that she didn't need to eat either, yet Xia Wulei’s food had given her a craving to keep eating.

"Hey, come to think of it, maybe it could actually work."

Xia Wulei nodded excitedly. "I just need to rent a plot of land. Even though the points are a bit expensive, it’s not impossible if I put in the effort. The difficult part is that we have to build the house ourselves..."

Wait, a house?

Xia Wulei: "System, System, can the houses from the housing system be deployed?"

The system took a minute to process her question before responding.

[Houses within the inventory can be retrieved and placed into the real world. This applies to both instances and the Trans-Frontier.]

Xia Wulei was instantly thrilled. Everything was ready; she just needed the points!

"Quick, quick, get ready! We're entering an instance tomorrow!"

Ashui: "?"

"So soon? You only just got out a day ago, right?"

Ashui couldn't understand. She had only seen people enter instances out of necessity, never someone so eager to rush in.

Xia Wulei was full of ambition. "A big villa is waiting for me!"

Although she currently had seven hundred points, that was only enough to build a thatched hut. She couldn't very well pull out a thatched hut to use as a restaurant! Upgrading a house cost thousands of points, and relying on the daily recovery of one hundred points was far too slow.

Therefore, the best method was to run instances, upgrade her land, and earn points!

Moreover, as long as she kept items on her person, she could bring them out when leaving an instance. Unlike other players, she possessed an inventory space—couldn't she just empty out entire instances?

Xia Wulei mapped out her point-earning route at lightning speed, her motivation for opening the restaurant hitting its peak.

"You don't know how hard it is to open a restaurant in the real world. Here, you only need points, and I can even produce the raw materials myself."

Xia Wulei chatted enthusiastically with Ashui, feeling for the first time that being dead was actually quite nice.

Ashui: ...Could there be something wrong with her brain?

Xia Wulei stayed in her room for another day, and by the next morning, she was energetic and ready to enter an instance.

"You do not need to check out; this room will be reserved until your next return, and you may continue to use the remaining time. Should you perish within the instance, we will automatically reclaim the room."

Xia Wulei: ...Quite intelligent, that.

It seemed the points she had already spent were gone for good, but she didn't mind. She tossed her belongings into her inventory and prepared to enter. Under the guidance of a staff member, she arrived at the center of this Trans-Frontier sector.

There was an administrative hall here, and everyone had to enter their instances through it. It was a grey, unremarkable building with a constant flow of people. When Xia Wulei walked inside, she saw that although there were many people, there were no staff members—only two doors. To enter an instance, one simply had to push the door open.

Detailed rules were posted on the doors. Xia Wulei walked over to examine them closely.

One door was for single-player instances, and the other was for team entries, with a maximum of three players per team.

Instance difficulty was divided based on the number of times a player had entered. Players within their first five runs would enter lower-difficulty instances at random, where most newcomer instances were concentrated. After five runs, the difficulty was randomized, and players typically inferred the difficulty based on the final boss. Like the Jiuying that Xia Wulei had encountered—the full-form Jiuying was an ancient beast and carried an S-rank difficulty.

In team entries, the system prioritized the lower-level players when selecting the instance.

Xia Wulei looked thoughtful, her gaze shifting to the display screen between the two doors. It showed a leaderboard of the top 20 players. The player in first place, named Yun Xiao, already had nearly nine thousand points.

"Lord Yun is almost ready to revive, right? I heard he's been crazily grinding points in instances lately."

"Sigh, it's a pity Lord Yun's level is too high. People like us can never team up with him. I’d love to enjoy the chance to be carried to victory."

Listening to the players around her, Xia Wulei gathered some information about this Yun Xiao. He was a powerhouse with high combat ability and intelligence, capable of piecing together clues at lightning speed to ensure a perfect clear. Players who ended up in the same instance as him basically coasted to victory.

Xia Wulei shook her head. Not having to use one's brain to clear an instance was nice, but the points would all end up in someone else's pocket. Still, the base points for clearing an instance were usually in the dozens, which was satisfactory enough for ordinary players.

"Hey, miss, are you alone? Want to team up?"

A middle-aged man approached, carrying a bulky hiking backpack, and greeted her with a smile.

"I can tell you're a newcomer; you didn't even bring a pack. Before we enter, we need to have supplies ready. But don't worry, I have enough in my bag for you. Don't worry, I won't charge you any points."

The man was burning with enthusiasm, clearly wanting to drag Xia Wulei through the door immediately. It was normal for this to happen; as Xia Wulei had noted in the rules, teams were based on the lower-level player.

In other words, if you were a newcomer with fewer than five runs, you were a hot commodity in the eyes of veteran players. Low-level instances meant easier bosses, more chances to find clues, and a large haul of points. That was why veteran players often loitered at the entrance, scouting for newcomers to invite into their teams. Most newcomers were inexperienced and would subconsciously rely on these veterans—it was a form of mutual benefit.

But Xia Wulei didn't need that. Her goal was to earn points, and she certainly wouldn't hand over the clues to anyone else.

"No thanks, goodbye."

Xia Wulei rejected him three times, which made the man slightly unhappy. He muttered something about her being "ungrateful" but didn't press the issue further.

However, his words served as a reminder. Xia Wulei went to a convenience store outside and bought a backpack, slinging it over her shoulder to look the part.

It was better to keep a low profile. You never knew what people were truly like; she had been lucky that her first teammates were decent, but there was no guarantee for the next time.

Once prepared, Xia Wulei pushed open the door to the single-player instance, and a flash of white light swallowed her instantly.

When she opened her eyes again, she felt a bit disoriented.

She was surrounded by familiar dense buildings, old structures, and uneven ground, with the faint, unpleasant scent of slop in the air. It was evening, and a few people passed by at the intersection ahead, their expressions numb—clearly NPCs within the instance.

Xia Wulei had landed in a small alleyway with a dead end behind her. She adjusted her backpack and walked toward the exit.

Just as she stepped out of the alley, her brow twitched.

Oh my, she had run into an old acquaintance.