Volume 1, Chapter 38: A Swarm of Mosquitoes?

Although Jin Yifen had guessed that heavy rain might be coming—and might even trigger a natural disaster—he truly had not expected it to arrive so soon.

He was now confident in his ability to safely weather the mosquito swarm crisis thanks to his Level 3 shelter. But a flood caused by heavy rain was a different matter entirely; if his location was poorly chosen, his shelter could very well be submerged. At that point, he would truly be out of options.

Furthermore, Jin Yifen had previously observed that his shelter was situated in the middle of a valley, flanked by dense forests that were, in reality, mountain ranges. Though he had not yet explored the areas directly in front of or behind him, it was visible to the naked eye that they, too, were blocked by mountains. This meant his shelter was tucked into a hollow between several massive mountains; once the heavy rain brought flooding, the level of danger here would be extremely high.

It seemed that after daybreak, he would have to head out to scout the surrounding area for any rivers or lakes. If such features existed, he would have to consider either moving or diverting the water flow. However, Jin Yifen had no idea how one would go about relocating a shelter. If the shelter could not be moved, relocating to another spot would be pointless. Staying inside the shelter at night was the only way to ensure absolute safety; otherwise, the danger of remaining in the wilderness alone was far too high. Therefore, the best approach remained finding a way to drain the water or moving the shelter to higher, safer ground.

While the safety issue was a headache for Jin Yifen, what troubled him even more was whether or not to make the information public. A flood was not like a mosquito swarm; there were ways to prevent or mitigate the latter, but if a flood were to occur, one could only leave it to fate. With the mosquito swarm crisis still unresolved, he doubted anyone would believe him if he warned them about an impending flood.

Jin Yifen hesitated, but ultimately decided against revealing the news until the mosquito swarm crisis had passed, so as not to drive everyone to despair. It was a pity, as he would miss out on the treasure chest rewards for such an announcement, but he wasn't currently lacking in supplies, so he didn't feel particularly disappointed.

He noticed, however, that the private chat channel was blowing up again.

He ignored it, but when he saw his friends' channel flashing, he opened the chat box. The people reaching out were Ruan Qintan and Hong Shaoqiang. Their purpose was the same: to congratulate him on becoming a famous name on the global leaderboard.

After exchanging polite pleasantries with them, Jin Yifen turned his attention to the window. He had a fire burning inside, and to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning, he had left all the windows open last night. Since he had screens installed, he knew that even if a few mosquitoes managed to track him down, they wouldn't be able to get in, allowing him to sleep soundly.

However, he now noticed a few mosquitoes on the screen, their legs caught in the fine mesh. They were identical to the vast swarm he had burned to death the day before while trying to secure the blue treasure chest. Had the mosquitoes tracked him down? Or had the swarm surge started early? Jin Yifen frowned, unable to figure it out. Regardless, he was grateful he had installed those screens; otherwise, these mosquitoes would have certainly gotten inside.

He wondered if he was the only one facing this, or if everyone was. If it was a widespread issue, many would likely suffer. His mind drifted to the person he knew had been bitten to death by mosquitoes the day before. He quickly opened the chat channel and saw, to his alarm, that the number of people in the region had dropped by nearly 4,000 in just one night. The population had fallen from over 95,000 to just 91,000.

Losing so many people overnight meant something terrible had happened. As expected, when he looked at the chat channel, it was filled with wailing and misery.

"Last night was terrifying! So many mosquitoes appeared out of nowhere. If I hadn't just upgraded my shelter to Level 2, I would have been bitten to death."

"I had a ton of mosquitoes here too. My shelter is only Level 1, but luckily, I couldn't find the materials to upgrade it, so I bought some [Potent Mosquito Repellent] instead. I barely made it through the night!"

"4,000 people died in one night! I had four or five hundred friends, and forty or fifty of them have already gone offline. This is horrific!"

"Thank goodness, I didn't have any mosquito attacks last night. If I had, and without a Level 2 shelter or [Potent Mosquito Repellent], I definitely would have died!"

"But what is going on? Didn't the big shot Ye Yifan say the swarm would peak in three days? This is only the second day, why are they already attacking?"

"It must be the vanguard! I was attacked last night too, though the numbers weren't huge. I went to the nearby woods yesterday to check, and it was swarming with them, countless masses. So last night was definitely just the vanguard."

"If just the vanguard caused 4,000 people to go offline, we have to upgrade our shelters or buy enough [Potent Mosquito Repellent] immediately."

It was only then that Jin Yifen realized the batch of [Potent Mosquito Repellent] he had crafted the night before had completely sold out. The "vanguard" theory sounded reasonable, but the lethality was shocking. This was merely the precursor to a three-star disaster. With the flood coming in five days—a four-star disaster—he wondered how many would actually survive.

Just then, he noticed his name being tagged repeatedly in the chat.

"Big shot, do you have any more [Potent Mosquito Repellent]? I want to buy some!"

"I want some too! Can you make more and list them so we can all stock up?"

"If you ask me, with great power comes great responsibility. A top-tier player like Ye Yifan should share supplies with everyone. Otherwise, it’s just selfish."

"Exactly. We're all fellow humans. Since you have the means to repel mosquitoes, you should share them. How else are we supposed to look at you?"

Jin Yifen watched these idiots crawl out of the woodwork and couldn't help but roll his eyes. He smirked and typed a message:

"I don't care how you look at me. If you want a handout, get lost. I’m easy-going, but that doesn't mean I don't have a temper."

"Your moral grandstanding is useless on me because I have no morals. If you insist on pushing me, you’ll see exactly what my 'lack of morals' looks like."

"You’d better pray I don’t find you. Otherwise, for both new grudges and old, I’ll be sure to collect with interest."