Chapter 64: Grandpa in the Survival World

Petting cats? You can get your fill of that just by finding a cat café on Earth. Of course, raising one of your own is also an option, but Yun Zhi is constantly on the move, making it currently unsuitable for her to keep a small pet.

However, cat-eared girls? Those truly only exist in the interstellar beastman world!

Yet, the moment those words left her mouth, once her brain caught up, Yun Zhi realized it might not be entirely appropriate.

Bai Miao could be considered her friend; when the other was in her feline form, hugging and petting her was completely normal. But once she transformed into her human form, if Yun Zhi were still to go hands-on, it would verge slightly on being a weirdo...

Later, Yun Zhi had carefully asked Bai Miao about it. With her current E-rank spiritual power, maintaining a human form was restricted to just one hour a day. However, in her demi-human form—showing off cat ears and a tail—she could sustain it for two hours.

To prolong her time looking human, she maintained her demi-human form most of the time.

At Yun Zhi's repeated requests, Bai Miao had sent her a few photos and short videos of herself sporting cat ears and a tail.

She had to admit, a cat-eared maiden was truly deeply adorable and cute!

Coupled with Bai Miao's sweet and lively little face, the cuteness factor was simply off the charts!

Especially the pair of white cat ears atop her head; they could twitch, drooping or pricking up according to their owner's mood, and would flatten into airplane ears when startled!

Yun Zhi's thought at the time was—ah, ah, ah, I want to pet her so badly!

Consequently, when the system asked just now, her mouth had acted faster than her brain, leading to that reply.

For some unknown reason, Yun Zhi felt a slight pang of guilt. Thankfully, Ziji wasn't by her side.

Otherwise, he would undoubtedly get jealous again, feeling that she didn't consider him her best friend, especially since she wanted to go across realms and her top choice wasn't even his blissful hometown of the immortal cultivation world.

Once her rationality returned, Yun Zhi gave a light cough and said, "It doesn't strictly have to be the interstellar world; it mostly depends on the circumstances. For instance, how many points does a cross-realm trip cost? And whether the chat group members in the other world are willing to host me, and so on."

If she went to the interstellar world, she couldn't possibly just pet a cat or a cat-eared girl and immediately return, right? She would have to experience the local customs and enjoy some sightseeing to make the ticket price worth it.

Based on her understanding of the chat group system, cross-realm travel certainly wouldn't be free; it would cost quite a few points.

Yun Zhi didn't harbor any mistrust toward Bai Miao, but Bai Miao herself was currently being supported by her Major General guardian.

Going over right now was indeed inappropriate; she had to wait until Bai Miao became independent and capable of hosting her.

Cross-realm travel required a time-traveler group member from that world to act as her guide before Yun Zhi could enter.

Yun Zhi asked, "Why are you asking me this? Didn't I just reach 8,200 points, leaving me a long way from Level 3? Besides, even if I upgrade to Level 3, I still need to save up points to even afford the cross-realm travel feature, right?"

Lately, she had grown quite familiar with the chat group system, bantering about anything and everything during idle moments.

Yet when it came to tasks and points, the system had never casually brought them up.

Chat Group System: "Here is the situation: there is a difficult task I would like to entrust to you..."

Yun Zhi: "Forget it. How about you just give me a regular task worth 500 points instead?"

The system had never once used the word "difficult" when she previously went to the Pastry Nation, entered a minor eerie domain, or faced sixth and seventh-rank bigwigs!

This alone showed just how formidable this task truly was.

System: "It concerns you directly. Are you certain you don't want to hear the rest before making a decision?"

Yun Zhi: ......

A sudden sense of foreboding washed over her.

"Fine, let's hear it. Go ahead."

"Well, in short, your maternal grandfather's sudden disappearance back then was actually because he accidentally stumbled into a spacetime channel, undergoing a physical traversal into a world of survival for all.

Anyway, this is the 100th month since your grandfather transmigrated into the all-people survival world. Three days from now, he must participate in the monthly challenge tournament. Prior to this, he has already won 99 championships. As long as he claims first place in the 100th survival challenge tournament, he will earn the qualification to return to the real world."

Yun Zhi: ......???

There was too much information to process, leaving her momentarily unsure of how to react.

Yun Zhi had a multitude of questions. Why was it a physical traversal for her grandfather? Why, after he had been missing for over forty years, had only 100 months—roughly eight-plus years—passed in his world?

However, none of those details were the focal point right now.

"What is this difficult task you mentioned?"

This was the first time the chat group had briefed her on a traveler's personal circumstances and the assistance required of her before pulling that traveler into the chat.

It was likely connected to a few days ago, when her grandmother and mother had recognized each other as mother and daughter and brought up her grandfather who had been missing for many years. Back then, she had boasted that as long as her grandfather was still alive, she would find him sooner or later.

Yun Zhi had originally intended to wait until her dossier was transferred to the Dragon Directorate as an external staff member, then post a task within the General Administration to see if any metaphysics masters skilled in divination would be willing to help track down her grandfather's whereabouts.

She hadn't expected the chat group to find him for her first!

This was probably one of the hidden perks brought by maxing out the chat group's favorability.

The chat group system explained, "Actually, the notion that winning 100 consecutive survival challenge tournaments allows one to return to reality is a scam! The rules of that survival world dictate that it requires a steady stream of people entering to struggle for survival, relying on the players' will to survive to generate energy to keep running. How could it ever easily release people? If someone manages to win 100 consecutive championships, such a rare talent only appears once in an epoch; letting them go so easily is even more impossible.

Even if someone genuinely achieves a hundred-win streak, that person will only have their memories of the survival world wiped away. Both their physical body and memories will be rolled back to their initial state upon entering the game, and then they will restart their survival journey afresh as a newcomer.

Anyone else who interacted with them will also have their memories of past interactions blurred as the person 'wipes their character and starts over.' They will know such a person existed, but their name and appearance will become unrecallable.

Only through this mechanism do high-level players frequently achieve scores of dozens or even a hundred consecutive wins, broadcasted by the system. It creates the illusion that the chance to return to reality isn't entirely out of reach, inciting middle- and lower-tier players to unleash an even stronger will to survive, thereby supplying a continuous stream of energy to the survival world.

To completely escape the survival world, there is actually a nearly impossible hidden condition—that is, in the 100th match of the hundred-win survival challenge streak, one must form a party, and the teammate must be an absolute newcomer who has just entered the survival world!

In the survival world, challenge tournament rules permit participating solo or in parties of two to four.

Veterans who have already secured 99 consecutive wins are either formidable solo wolves or members of well-coordinated fixed teams; how could they possibly suddenly seek out a newcomer who has just entered the game to form a team?

Moreover, a newcomer in this survival world isn't necessarily a true novice. More often, they are pseudo-novices whose win counts reached over 30 but failed to survive, leading the world consciousness to roll them back to their initial state and wipe their characters for a fresh start.

Therefore, I asked you in advance whether you wish to take on this task, because the content of the commissioned task is something even the traveler himself—your grandfather—does not know he needs to issue.

He cannot promise you any rewards in advance either. Once you accompany him to secure victory in the 100th survival challenge tournament, allowing him to achieve the true clearance achievement and obtain the qualification to open the door back to the real world, he can bring back whatever family fortune he has accumulated over the years in the survival world that is portable. The system inventory definitely won't work, so he can take back whatever he can physically carry.

At that time, you can use a storage pouch or spatial button to help him bring those items back.

If you do not plan on taking this task, there is no need for me to pull him into the group right now.

Furthermore, the reward points the system will give you for this task are only the baseline 500. You will need to additionally provide non-elemental energy stones as the energy source for me to take you in advance to experience spacetime traversal and cross-realm travel. The round-trip energy fee is 50,000 energy stones; for a duo, it's 90,000!

After all, you promised Ziji before that you would bring him along on your next mission... But this mission is special. Whether you take it is up to you, and whether you bring Ziji along is also up to you!"

Yun Zhi never imagined that after her grandfather had been missing for over forty years, his experiences during that time would turn out to be so bizarre!

Previously, when her grandmother mentioned her grandfather with a look of lingering nostalgia and worry, Yun Zhi had fretted that it might turn out like many cliché melodramas—that her grandfather had actually lost his memory, failed to recall his true identity over the decades, and likely married and started a new family over there...

That possibility was still quite high, considering Ran Yao had lost her memories prior to age five, wasn't that so?

Yun Zhi pondered for a moment before calmly asking, "I want to know what the difficulty level of this survival challenge tournament is like? How does it scale for Ziji and me? Also, upon entering the survival world, can my personal space and spatial safehouse still be used?"

She naturally wanted to rescue her grandfather as soon as possible.

As long as her grandfather could truly be rescued, a meager reward in points wasn't an issue at all; she wouldn't even mind subsidizing points out of her own pocket.

The same went for energy stones. She knew the system was bound to profit a portion of energy stones from this, but as long as she had them, she was willing to shell out however many energy stones were required.

If it weren't for the persistent yearning for her family in reality and a fervent desire to return, how could anyone manage a 99-game win streak in a challenge tournament?

And this was likely not the first time her grandfather had racked up such a high consecutive win count.

Yun Zhi was well aware of her own strength; she was merely a Level-2 esper, still a complete rookie on Earth. Being able to take down those heretical criminals previously relied primarily on the spatial safehouse cheat.

Therefore, any information she needed to understand had to be clarified in advance rather than making blind decisions.

The chat group system replied, "No, once you arrive in the survival world, the survival world's consciousness takes dominance, and neither your personal space nor the spatial safehouse will function. You can store the supplies you need beforehand inside storage pouches and spatial buttons; those two items will still work.

As for the difficulty of the survival challenge tournament, how should I put it? During the matches, your team will encounter monsters ranging from Level 1 to Level 9... The stronger your team's overall strength, the stronger the monsters will become.

With a rookie like you on the team whose strength is only Level 2, truthfully speaking, for your grandfather who is already at Level 9, the match difficulty will actually decrease slightly—the number of Level 1 and Level 2 monsters will increase significantly, while the number of high-level monsters will decrease appropriately.

To say it isn't dangerous would be false, but to call it overwhelmingly dangerous isn't quite accurate either—it all depends on how you and your grandfather coordinate your teamwork. If you court death by deliberately provoking a Level 9 monster, you certainly won't be coming back!

The same applies to Ziji. Because of his addition, Level 2 and Level 6 monsters will increase, while Level 7 through 9 monsters will decrease by another portion.

The challenge tournament begins in three days. If you decide to go, you must head over at least a day in advance. Therefore, the time left for you to consider and prepare is a day and a half.

If not for the appreciative reward equivalent to 30,000 primary energy stones you unexpectedly acquired from Bai Miao during your last mission, I wouldn't be recommending this task to you right now. The energy I've accumulated myself isn't enough to support taking you through spacetime, let alone bringing Ziji along.

However, if we miss this opportunity and you want to wait for your grandfather to accumulate another 99-win streak to charge the 100th win, there's no telling how many years from now that would be—even if he fails zero times, it would still take over eight more years.

When he returns to Earth, he will maintain his age from when he went missing plus 8.33 years.

But your grandmother... who knows how many more eights years she can afford to wait."

Even though Dou Wanqin looked a dozen or so years younger on the outside, she was undeniably a 67-year-old elderly woman.

Meanwhile, her grandfather Yao Qingshan had been 25 when he went missing; if he returned to Earth, he would only be 33.

Yun Zhi: ......

Good heavens, he would be a dozen or so years younger than her parents!

He would only be one Chinese zodiac cycle older than her. Yun Zhi would feel rather embarrassed calling him Grandfather!

She had no idea how her grandfather and grandmother would manage their relationship with an age gap of over thirty years once he returned.

Regardless of all that, rescuing the person first took precedence.

Even if the two elders might not necessarily have a happily-ever-after in the future... Yun Zhi couldn't choose not to rescue Yao Qingshan because of that.

Presumably, her grandmother would feel the exact same way.

The system had explained everything quite clearly: dangers existed, but as long as she hugged Yao Qingshan's thighs tightly in the survival challenge tournament, letting him handle advanced monsters and Ziji handle intermediate ones, Yun Zhi's survival rate would still be quite high.

Although her level was only 2, her defensive capabilities and combat power extended far beyond Level 2!

She still had 90 offensive thunder-lightning talismans, 100 fireball talismans, and 100 freezing talismans left. For auxiliary defense, she had 95 invisibility talismans, 100 diamond-body talismans, and 50 peace talismans.

There was one inquiring-heart illusion formation, alongside the maze array and trap array that Ziji had fixed for her over the past few days.

Various recovery and healing pills and potions, plus a large bottle of soul-bewitching powder.

One eerie-dream bracelet and one scapegoat doll.

Two space bombs with the destructive power of a Level 7 given by Sister Mingsu.

And plenty of firearms, including a laser gun and a laser sword.

Yun Zhi had also practiced several forms of qinggong and martial arts, granting her exceptional footwork! Even without utilizing her esper abilities, her combat prowess against enemies was not weak.

Furthermore, the eerie-dream bracelet possessed a feature that would automatically teleport her to Ziji's side—or vice versa—if either encountered a life-or-death crisis!

All in all, Yun Zhi deemed this mission to rescue her maternal grandfather worth taking!

Even if Ziji refused to accompany her, she would still make this trip.

Yun Zhi first went to the Lu Manor to retrieve the repaired array disks from Ziji and incidentally mentioned this mission to him.

Ziji's reaction met Yun Zhi's expectations: "Take me, take me! A survival world challenge tournament sounds like tremendous fun just hearing about it!"

Yun Zhi drew a blank: "This isn't going out for play, you know. Besides, this mission won't yield many merits, and it carries considerable danger for you. Think it over carefully..."

No matter how much the number of Level 7 through 9 monsters decreased, they were still present.

Did Ziji care about merits? In truth, he merely wanted to stay close to Yun Zhi.

If he genuinely wanted merits so badly, going to the Esper Administration to take on consecutive assignments would be much faster.

Yet he didn't quite understand his own state of mind, simply figuring he enjoyed the feeling of completing missions alongside Yun Zhi.

"I don't care, I'm going! If you don't take me, I'm going to throw a tantrum."

This fellow used to just act like a chuunibyou youth, but after spending over two months in the modern era, not only had he failed to mature, but he was also showing an increasing tendency toward behaving like a primary schooler.

Yun Zhi said helplessly, "Fine, fine, I'll take you, I'll take you!"

"This afternoon and tomorrow daytime, we will first handle our material preparations. Tomorrow night we'll rendezvous and officially set off."

Ziji: "Good!"

......

Returning to the private restaurant, once Yun Xinbo and Ran Yao finished their busy work, Yun Zhi informed them that she would be stepping out for about a week starting tomorrow night.

Ran Yao asked, "Going off on another mission?"

Yun Zhi: "Yes..."

After hesitating repeatedly, Yun Zhi ultimately chose not to disclose the matter regarding Yao Qingshan to Ran Yao in advance. In case she failed to bring him back, wouldn't that just give her false hope and empty joy?

She hadn't mentioned it to her grandmother either.

Yun Xinbo asked, "How does the level of danger compare to that operation of yours in City X?"

In truth, Yun Xinbo didn't have a clear grasp of the actual danger level of Yun Zhi's mission in City X either, but since Yun Zhi had returned safely that time, he used it as a benchmark.

Yun Zhi thought to herself that the enemies this time were naturally much harder to deal with than those heretical bosses who possessed obvious weaknesses.

At least that previous incident took place on Earth, a macro-environment she was familiar with.

This time, she was heading to an entirely unfamiliar minor world to carry out a mission.

The opposing side's highest combat power reached Level 9, and there was a high probability there wasn't just one.

The good news was that their side also possessed a formidable Level-9 combatant.

Ran Yao also cast a worried look over. If Yun Zhi stated that this mission was even more dangerous than the one in City X, she would definitely attempt to persuade her daughter not to take unnecessary risks.

Yun Zhi said, "It's not dangerous; Ziji is coming with me too. I'll be back in a few days and bring you back some... um, local specialties!"

Yun Zhi had originally intended to say "a surprise," but since the matter wasn't set in stone yet, she changed her words.

Moreover, Yao Qingshan had gone missing before Ran Yao was born; she held absolutely no impression of this father.

Besides, meeting a "dad" who was a decade younger than herself... that wouldn't be a surprise; it would be a fright!

Ran Yao reproached huffily, "Who wants local specialties? As long as you return safe and sound, sooner rather than later, that beats everything else. You hear me?"

"Got it, I promise I'll return in one piece!"

......

The next evening at eight o'clock, Yun Zhi and Ziji gathered at the Riverside Villa and entered the spatial safehouse.

Indeed, the vehicle the chat group system used to traverse spacetime was none other than the spatial safehouse!

However, this time it wasn't Yun Zhi piloting the spatial safehouse, but the chat group system itself.

Looking out through the floor-to-ceiling windows revealed a kaleidoscopic, bizarre vista that induced dizziness if gazed upon for too long.

Yun Zhi had spent the past two days frantically preparing whatever items might prove useful for this mission.

Since her personal space couldn't be utilized upon arrival over there, and the capacities of storage pouches and spatial buttons were limited, the items she brought needed to be meticulously calculated while leaving some spare room.

Suddenly, Yun Zhi recalled a question...

"System, why haven't you pulled my maternal grandfather into the group chat yet? Could it be he still doesn't know we're heading over?"

The chat group system replied, "That's because he already harbors a subsystem of the survival system within him—which is one of the billions of avatars belonging to that survival world's consciousness. If I want to bind him, I must first obtain permission from his primary system.

This survival system is entirely different from the consciousness-cum-system deity of the eerie world, and it's also different from the good deeds system of the interstellar world from before. It is exceptionally overbearing and difficult to communicate with.

In short, the energy I provide to it is only sufficient for it to open a back door for us, permitting us our temporary entry into the survival world with a landing spot near your grandfather. To get him out, we must strictly adhere to the world's hidden clearance rules for its subsystem to unbind from your grandfather and let him return to the real world in our company.

Otherwise, even if you used the spatial safehouse to haul him back to Earth, as long as his soul remained bound to the survival system, he could be dragged right back into it at any moment...

Wanting to pull your maternal grandfather into the traveler group chat would require paying an additional sum of energy stones..."

As a meticulous, frugal system that practiced budgeting, the chat group system naturally refused to do that.

If anything came up, waiting until they met Yao Qingshan and communicating with him face-to-face would yield the exact same result anyway.

Yun Zhi: "Fine, fine. Are you trying to say you want to save where you can? What if my grandfather has already lined up other teammates ahead of time?"

Chat Group System: "He won't. He has always been a lone wolf participating independently."

Inside the spatial safehouse, Ziji could likewise see the system's light screen.

He raised a question of his own: "How much longer until we reach that survival world?"

While busy performing missions previously, staying with Yun Zhi inside this cramped ten-square-meter spatial safehouse hadn't stirred any awkward or ambiguous feelings.

Yet now they were merely traveling. Once they reached the survival world, they would still have about a day's time to "reunite" with Yao Qingshan and persuade him to let them join his team.

In short, the level of danger during this interim phase was minimal.

He sat in the single-sofa chair opposite Yun Zhi. His sense of smell was acutely sharp, and since Yun Zhi had likely just showered, he could catch the faint fragrance of milk body wash emanating from her.

Ziji began to feel somewhat ill at ease.

Yun Zhi glanced at Ziji and suggested, "How about we catch some sleep first? There might be a tough battle waiting for us ahead."

Resting properly to keep both mind and body in peak condition was highly necessary.

With that, taking advantage of the temporary usability of her personal space, Yun Zhi produced a folding cot.

She had only prepared one bed; she would let Ziji sleep on it, while she possessed a smaller frame and could manage on the couch.

Ziji: ......

Should he share the same room with Yun Zhi?

That strange, indescribable feeling in his heart began churning once more.

Ziji silently recited a cleansing mantra from start to finish before he and Yun Zhi retired to their respective sleeping spots.

The sofa, equipped with armrests and measuring only 190 cm, proved slightly too short for Ziji's 188 cm stature, leaving his feet dangling uncomfortably off the edge.

Furthermore, the sofa featured soft padding and was actually more comfortable than the folding cot.

Consequently, Ziji didn't argue with Yun Zhi and accepted the cot instead.

Yun Zhi pulled up her thin quilt and fell asleep almost instantly. If anything came up, the system would sound an alarm to wake her.

Ziji, however, remained thoroughly awake, finding it hard to drift off.

This folding cot seemed to carry a trace of Yun Zhi's scent.

Had she perhaps slept on it previously?

No, how could he harbor such thoughts? That was an offense to a good friend!

After reciting the cleansing mantra several more times, Ziji finally managed to fall asleep.