At this moment, no one cared about the consequences of following the copy's instructions and using the props.
Sun Qian took out a protective item, which was a huge shield, and placed it in front of them with a thud.
The giant tree flew over and hit the shield heavily, making a loud "clang" sound, and then it broke into two parts and flew away to the left and right!
With this shield as a shield, they would no longer be hit by other objects blown up by the wind, but this kind of protection alone was not enough -
The power of this thunderstorm itself is too strong!
The heavy rain was crackling down, and the raindrops hitting their bodies were very painful. In such a sudden downpour, it became difficult for them to open their eyes.
The howling wind sounded like the roar of a wild beast, trying to pull them up from the ground.
Xi Nuanyang and Jiang Shuye, a couple, directly threw out a cone-shaped protective hut, which covered the two of them. The bottom of the hut was deeply rooted in the soil, standing tall in the wind and rain, motionless.
Li Mian swung out a whip, which wrapped around a hill not far away. She hugged Fei Shengxiao and flew over with the force of the whip, and was fixed at the foot of the hill.
Song Yang and Xia Jing each took out a long knife and stabbed it into the ground.
After Song Yang entered the safe house, he used the mechanism of the safe house's small supermarket to transfer many props.
At this moment, those props appeared in the form of small icons on various parts of his body. He could store and retrieve these props at will without going through the space bag.
Song Yang glanced at Xia Jing, who seemed to be blown away by the wind at any time, frowned, raised his other hand, and gently pressed a small icon on the side of his neck.
The next second, Xia Jing grabbed his hand.
He found it difficult to open his eyes, but his voice remained calm: "It's not time to use it yet. Wait a little longer, Song Yang."
Song Yang paused.
The next second, Lu Chenfei flew past the two of them, leaving behind a sentence: "Damn, it's so miserable to be alone!"
Song Yang and Xia Jing: "..."
Song Yang pulled him speechlessly, saving Lu Chenfei from having to use a prop that he was about to take out.
Lu Chenfei wiped his face, panted, took out a long sword and stabbed it into the soil, finally stabilizing it.
It was as dark as midnight, and lightning kept climbing across the sky, splitting the sky fiercely.
The strong winds kept breaking trees and blowing them into the air. It was more of a catastrophe than a sudden rain.
Sun Qian's arms were like iron rods, firmly locking the huge shield to prevent it from being blown away by the wind.
Jin Yaya and Luo Jiu were quite far away from the other players.
Luo Jiu cursed and used a prop to merge himself with a huge rock. As long as the rock didn't fly away, he wouldn't be blown away by the wind.
Under the effect of the props, Jin Yaya's legs turned into two branches, and her feet turned into roots, digging deep into the soil and firmly grasping the soil to stabilize her body.
The thunderstorm lasted for about half an hour, and everyone was struggling to hold on in the wind and rain.
Half an hour later, the dark clouds dispersed, the heavy rain stopped, and the strong wind dissipated.
The whole jungle was wet.
Countless trees fell and many dead insects were scattered on the ground, making it look a mess.
But no matter what, the disaster is finally over.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and wiped their faces.
Xia Jing, Song Yang and Lu Chenfei released their weapons, and Fei Shengxiao and Li Mian walked over from a distance.
"Damn!" Lu Chenfei took off his shirt and wrung out the rainwater. "To force us to take out our props, this dungeon is really making such a big fuss!"
Sun Qian, who was not far away, released his huge shield.
He looked at everyone else and frowned. "I have a feeling this kind of natural disaster will happen again, but if the dungeon is simply trying to trick us into using items, then I don't understand."
"Except for me, Jin Yaya, Luo Jiu, and Xi Nuanyang, you all used weapons like swords and whips. With this experience, we will definitely be able to better deal with the next disaster, and we will waste fewer items. Isn't it a bit naive to try to trick us in this way?"
In the corner, Song Yang was wiping Xia Jing's hair.
His movements were clumsy but careful.
Xia Jing's hair was a bit messy, like a ball of exploded cat hair. When he heard Sun Qian's words, he looked up and said, "The next natural disaster may not be a thunderstorm again. Not all our experiences can be applied."
When humans are caught off guard by unfamiliar disasters, they are most likely to act on instinct.
In order to induce them to use props, the copy may also present various tricks.
Sun Qian still frowned. "The problem is, the dungeon forced us to take out our items, and then what? We couldn't put our items back into our space bags after we took them out. Many large items couldn't be taken with us and had to be left behind. Isn't this just a simple attrition tactic? Does the dungeon really think it can wear us down this way?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Jing and Song Yang noticed something and quickly looked behind him.
Behind him came the muffled groans of Luo Jiu and Jin Yaya.
Sun Qian was stunned for a moment, turned around and looked, then a look of surprise appeared on his face.
Not far away, Jin Yaya was lying on the ground.
The thunderstorm had ended several minutes ago, but she still hadn't removed her gear.
Her legs were still like branches, deeply connected to the soil.
Jin Yaya seemed to be trying hard to pull her legs out of the mud, but her flushed face was of no avail.
And behind her, the same thing happened to Luo Jiu.
Luo Jiu exerted so much force that veins popped out on his forehead and he groaned in his throat, but his back was still stuck to the stone and he couldn't move.
In the center of the open space, the conical protective hut still stood there, but Xi Nuanyang and Jiang Shuye and his wife never showed up.
Until this moment, a dagger pierced out from inside and cut a hole.
Xi Nuanyang and Jiang Shuye emerged from the opening and said sullenly, "In this instance, it seems our items can't be deactivated once we use them!"
——They can only get out by destroying the protective props by violence!
When these words came out, Sun Qian was shocked.
Jin Yaya shouted with a pale face: "I can't do it either. I can't turn off this prop!"
Luo Jiu kept cursing "grab".
Xi Nuanyang and Jiang Shuye can break through the protective hut to gain freedom, but the props they use directly transform their bodies. How can they break free from the confinement?
Jin Yaya and Luo Jiu were not fools either. They certainly realized their situation and they couldn't help but grit their teeth.
——If they want to break free from their confinement, they may have no choice but to cut off their legs and cut open the flesh on their backs!
——They never expected that this copy induced them to use props, but actually set such a trap for them!
"Once an item is used, it can't be retrieved. Once a weapon is taken out of the space bag, it can never be put back," Li Mian said in shock. "In this dungeon, every decision we make seems irreversible."
Xia Jing said, "Perhaps we can use a logic that is more in line with the background of this dungeon to understand the settings of this series of dungeons."
The young man stood up, smoothed his wet black hair, and said calmly, "In the context of the apocalypse, the natural environment is damaged, and natural disasters will naturally continue to occur."
"I think we need to be prepared for disasters that shouldn't happen in the summer."
The ever-changing seasons are an element that appears in many apocalyptic background stories.
The expressions of the others turned serious.
"As for the props players use during disasters—" Xia Jing said thoughtfully, "Tool-type weapons like knives, swords, and shields will only speed up the consumption of our weapons. But body-modifying weapons probably symbolize the mutation of organisms."
"Since it's a mutation, it can't be reversed."
"Players will die in the disaster. If they use items to survive the disaster, they may also be dragged down and killed by the 'mutation'. The pace of this dungeon is very fast, and we may not have much time left to complete it. Or perhaps-"
Xia Jing lowered his eyes, thought for a moment, then raised his eyes and said, "Perhaps we should be prepared to leave this island if we are unable to find and kill the main monster and cannot continue to survive on this island."
"Leave the island? How to leave?" Sun Qian was stunned.
Xi Nuanyang suddenly had an idea and shouted, "That helicopter!"
Fei Shengxiao asked in confusion, "But didn't the helicopter fall to pieces?"
Song Yang also wrung his clothes and said calmly, "Sun Qian's initial idea was right. The helicopter clue provided by the copy must have other uses. We might as well search the entire island. Maybe in addition to other fragments, we can find other clues."
The group nodded thoughtfully.
But before that, they must first solve the problems with Jin Yaya and Luo Jiu.
Luo Jiu struggled for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Come and get me down, hurry up, don't waste time."
Sun Qian asked, "The only way to get you down here is by force. Are you sure you can hold on?"
"If I faint, beat me up and wake me up, come on!" Luo Jiu had made the decision.
Sun Qian walked forward, took off his shirt and stuffed it into Luo Jiu's mouth.
Then he borrowed Song Yang's knife, and with one clean and decisive stroke, he chopped Luo Jiu off the stone!
Luo Jiu fell to the ground, his whole body twitching slightly, his back covered in blood, and a white spine exposed in the air.
Sun Qian immediately sprayed him with medical spray, and Song Yang stepped forward to bandage Luo Jiu's wound - with the medical supplies from Smiley Face City, Luo Jiu would not die, but with such a serious injury, it was impossible for him to recover as before immediately.
After Song Yang bandaged him, Sun Qian helped him to a tree. Luo Jiu leaned against the trunk with a pale face.
Next it was Jin Yaya's turn.
Sun Qian wanted to try to dig out Jin Yaya's "feet" that had transformed into branches and roots from the soil, but Jin Yaya said, "Don't dig. The reason this prop can be used as a protective tool is because the roots it transformed into are buried very deep."
"It makes no difference to me whether I break a stem or a pair of legs. Just chop it off."
Since Jin Yaya said so, Sun Qian could only take a deep breath and cut off her "leg" with a knife.
Blood splattered from the cross-section of the two branches. Song Yang frowned as he bandaged her.
Unlike Luo Jiu, even though Jin Yaya regained her freedom, her legs were still as stiff as branches.
In this state, can she really continue to move?
Jin Yaya was sweating profusely and said in a hoarse voice, "Give me a night to rest. Although these legs are not as good as human legs, they can still be driven. As long as tomorrow comes, I can stand up!"
She must never lie down at the beginning of a dungeon and become a burden to the others.
The flying catkins spread again, and the light in the sky gradually dimmed after the dark clouds dispersed.
Song Yang glanced at the time and said, "Sun Qian's shield is standing here. We definitely can't take it away. Why don't we use this place as our base and rest here tonight?"
The others had no objections and nodded.
"Since we still have some time today, let's rest for ten minutes before continuing our exploration. Jin Yaya and Luo Jiu will stay here to rest, and one of us will take care of you. The rest of us will come back before dark.
Does anyone have any objections?
Everyone shook their heads.
Song Yang: "Then act according to this plan."
*
Ten minutes later, Xi Nuanyang stayed to take care of Jin Yaya and Luo Jiu.
The remaining seven people continued their journey, heading deeper into the jungle.
They stepped one step at a time on the wet soil.
After the rainstorm, the jungle was eerily quiet. Water droplets dripped from the branches and reptiles hid under the leaves.
After walking for a while, Lu Chenfei couldn't help but discuss: "Xia Jing, I think your analysis is correct, but it's strange that the dungeon has a whole set of settings related to the end of the world. What role does the 'Eye' play in this?"
Could it be that all the burdens brought about by disasters and mutations are only to speed up the pace of the dungeon and increase the difficulty for players to pass it?
Such a huge and complex system has nothing to do with the main monster?
Li Mian frowned after hearing what Lu Chenfei said. "It's strange. I participated in the 'Death Ringing' dungeon with you guys before. In that dungeon, we also faced disasters at every level, but in the end, it turned out that we were in a monster's game. Everything was closely related to the monsters."
But in this copy, they haven't found even the slightest trace of monsters.
Song Yang and Xia Jing quietly observed their surroundings.
After listening to what the two said, Song Yang said, "Actually, I think something is wrong and may have been revealed when Sun Qian used his supernatural power."
Sun Qian and Jiang Shuye, who were walking in front, turned around after hearing this.
Song Yang asked, "Sun Qian should have observed every angle of the dungeon at that time, right?"
Sun Qian nodded: "Yes, but I can't guarantee that there will be no mistakes or omissions. My ability can only perform a 'scan', and I can't make a very detailed observation."
Song Yang: "If a target as large as helicopter debris were in the jungle, wouldn't you be able to see it?"
Sun Qian was stunned and said, "This shouldn't be impossible to find..."
Having said that, Sun Qian fell silent.
Song Yang said calmly: "So, you didn't find any traces of the remaining helicopter debris on the island at that time, right?"
"I suggest that we all search the entire island thoroughly because this kind of on-the-ground, in-depth search is essential. Even if we know we may not find anything, at least by searching, we can be sure that we haven't missed any clues."
"But your ability search will most likely be our final search result."
After hearing what Song Yang said, Sun Qian and Jiang Shuye were completely stunned.
Jiang Shuye was stunned and said, "What on earth is the clue of the helicopter debris—"
Xia Jing glanced around and spoke softly, "Since the copy gave us one of the fragments, there must be other fragments in this copy. If not on this island, then somewhere else."
"As for where it is," the young man turned his gaze, "this is probably the clue we are going to find on this island."
So Song Yang also said it before.
What they are looking for are "clues", not any other "things".
And "find"
"The act of 'finding' itself requires us to use our 'eyes', doesn't it?" Xia Jing chuckled.
Sun Qian and Jiang Shuye were both shocked.
They looked at each other.
That's right, if you think about it this way, these clues can actually be connected.
After that, they searched the jungle for another hour but still found nothing.
It was already completely dark, and the seven of them had no choice but to return to their original place.
Lu Chenfei and Sun Qian walked for a while, returned to the beach, and moved the huge helicopter debris over.
It was completely dark.
The group started a fire in the middle of the open space and took out some dry food from their space bags to satisfy their hunger.
Song Yang checked on Luo Jiu and Jin Yaya.
The bleeding of both of them has stopped. With the help of the medical supplies from Smiley City, Luo Jiu's back has begun to regenerate muscles, but Jin Yaya's injury has only stopped at the stage of stopping the bleeding.
After all, it was impossible for those two branches to grow a pair of legs.
Song Yang didn't say much.
Although Jin Yaya herself is still willing to contribute, it is unknown whether her physical condition will be able to support her to keep up with everyone's actions tomorrow.
Song Yang returned to Xia Jing's side.
Xia Jing was looking up, preparing to put in eye drops.
Song Yang took it: "I'll do it."
He lifted Xia Jing's upper eyelid, gently squeezed the soft potion bottle, and a drop of transparent potion fell into the young man's eyes.
After dripping the drops into both eyes, Xia Jing closed his eyes for a while and then opened them again.
He looked at his hands, then at Song Yang, and said, "Do you feel that all of our bodies are a little transparent?"
Song Yang stared at him intently for a while, rubbed his eyes, and said, "To be honest, my eyes are so dry right now that I can't see anything clearly, so I can't be sure."
Xia Jing tilted his head, thinking to himself.
Not far away, Xi Nuanyang suddenly said, "I always feel that the four-star dungeon is very different from what I imagined."
Among the people present, except Song Yang, everyone else was challenging a four-star copy for the first time.
Hearing her words, they nodded in agreement.
Xi Nuanyang bent his legs and said, "I thought I might be in danger soon after entering a four-star dungeon, but that thunderstorm just now..."
It's called "dangerous", but it doesn't seem to be the case.
Lu Chenfei looked at Song Yang: "Is this what the four-star dungeon you entered before felt like?"
Everyone's eyes were focused on it.
All ten people here can probably guess Song Yang's ranking, so Song Yang doesn't need to hide it here.
He said, "I've entered two four-star dungeons before, and the styles were quite different. In the most recent four-star dungeon, the main monster was easy to identify, but the monster itself was very powerful, and the other players couldn't survive it."
Even he would have died in that copy if he didn't happen to have a fake death item.
Recalling the situation in that copy, Xia Jing glanced at Song Yang lightly.
Song Yang's profile was reflected in the firelight. He said calmly, "As for the previous four-star dungeon, the main monster's identity was hidden very well. The last few of us surviving players didn't see through its disguise until the very last moment. I think this four-star dungeon may follow the same route."
This route is exactly the one that many players fear the most.
Using mental strength is much more difficult than using physical strength.
Everyone fell into deep thought.
Luo Jiu propped himself up, adjusted his sitting position, chuckled, and said hoarsely, "I remember the last four-star dungeon gave out five player slots, and the one before that seven. This time we have ten people in total. If we all work together, it shouldn't be that difficult to clear the dungeon."
——However, the star rating of a four-star dungeon is based on its difficulty level evaluated based on a certain number of players.
Having a large number of people doesn't mean that clearing the level will become an easy task.
But saying this could easily make people feel discouraged, so no one spoke up.
The branches crackled and popped in the flames.
Everyone was silent for a while, and Xi Nuanyang lay down first, wanting to rest early.
Li Mian also whispered to Fei Shengxiao to go to bed early. She felt that something might happen tonight and she would not be able to sleep well.
Song Yang put some blankets in the space bag.
He took out the blankets and placed them behind Xia Jing.
Xia Jing raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is this how humans fall in love?"
Song Yang found it a little funny: "Then how do you think we should talk about it?"
At this moment, Sun Qian, who was sitting in the corner, suddenly jumped up and shouted towards the dark jungle diagonally across the street: "Who's there?!"
Everyone was shocked.
They quickly followed his gaze, but saw nothing. There was only darkness in the jungle.
A group of people stood up, gathered together, and were on guard.
Song Yang asked, "Did you see anyone?"
Sun Qian stared at the spot, feeling uncertain and puzzled. "I didn't see it clearly, but I'm sure there was someone... a creature standing there watching us!"
Jin Yaya held onto the tree trunk behind her and said warily, "But didn't you say during the day that you didn't see anyone on this island except us?! We haven't seen any animals on this island yet, only bugs!"
Sun Qian was unable to answer.
He still stared at the darkness, as if he felt that "that person" would appear at any time.
Xia Jing suddenly said, "Stop for a minute and look at your right arm. Is this thing appearing on your arm like mine?"
Everyone was stunned and looked at Xia Jing.
On the inside of the young man's exposed right forearm… five hollow black five-pointed stars suddenly appeared!
The five five-pointed stars were very large, almost covering Xia Jing's entire arm.
Song Yang's expression changed and he immediately raised his arm - the same pattern appeared on his right forearm.
The same five-pointed star appeared on everyone's right forearm!
Accidents happened one after another. Luo Jiu said with a stern face: "What on earth is going on? What do these five five-pointed stars mean?!"
Xia Jing opened his lips slightly, narrowed his eyes and said, "These five five-pointed stars appeared after Sun Qian saw 'that person'."
Everyone was stunned.
Xia Jing said slowly:
"It feels like some game has officially started."