Having a powerful lord as a father figure, what's wrong with just wanting to draw cards?

"Is it possible that they will never get out again?"

Thousands of people...

If they all die inside...

Fear quickly spread, and the earth-shattering news was disseminated by the local indigenous people who had gathered to watch.

A vortex powerful enough to engulf the entire ruined city is quietly forming.

At this moment, almost all the adventurers who wanted to enter the ruins had already entered. The pure white space was packed with people, like a large-scale cosplay convention.

The cacophony of voices vanished in an instant, and a phantom figure slowly appeared in mid-air, draped in an ancient-style robe that concealed its face and body, with darkness beneath the hood.

An indistinct voice came from among the figures:

"Welcome back to my ruins after many years. The rules are as follows this time."

"The number above your head will increase with each level you pass. The higher the number, the greater the reward at the end. It's that simple."

"Next, please allow me to introduce the contents of the first level..."

Domi listened to the figures talking while observing the expressions and actions of the "old hands".

Do you complete levels and then receive rewards...?

It sounds like a game.

The fact that those seasoned veterans didn't do anything unusual suggests that this has been the usual practice, so we can rest assured.

"The first trial—'A Song of Ice and Fire'—will require you to survive three cycles in the desert. Each cycle consists of the alternation of day and night. During this time, you can defeat other people who have entered the ruins to earn points. Ten points will increase your score by one."

The pure white walls became transparent, and the scorching desert outside came into view.

"Next, please hold hands as you are teleported together."

Domi and the others looked at each other, then took each other's hands and formed a circle.

A white light burst forth from beneath their feet, instantly engulfing them before vanishing from the spot.

The enormous phantom stood there for a moment, then slowly dissipated, as if it had never existed.

The desert is not just a desert; occasionally, there are dilapidated villages or traces of human activity, but they are all from a very long time ago.

Domi and his friends were lucky; as soon as they were 'born,' they saw a dilapidated village not far away, with architecture somewhat resembling the style of Egypt from their previous life.

Anyway, as long as there's a building that can block out the sun, that's fine.

It seemed as if nine blazing suns were shining down on them, the intense sunlight almost turning every grain of sand into glass. After just one minute outside, their clothes were soaked with sweat, so wet that it looked like a basin of water could be wrung out with a single twist.

The distant scenery was so distorted that even a mirage probably wouldn't dare to appear in such an environment.

I can't believe that anyone could live here for so long and even build a village...

However, since those who planted the trees have provided shade for those who come after, Domi should thank them.

The group quickly ducked into a room, finally finding refuge from the sunlight.

Toddler: "Ah~ finally we can find some shade~"

Just as I breathed a sigh of relief, a strange "ho...ho..." sound came from the corner of the room, like the howling of a dried-up corpse.

They were so frightened that they huddled together in the corner.

With a look of disbelief, Toll pointed at a mummified corpse in the opposite corner and cried out in fear, "What...what are you?! Why are you in our house?!"

Afu hugged Forty-Seven tightly, even more frightened.

Domi then sculpted a cross out of slime and held it to his chest, chanting, "Demons and monsters, leave! Demons and monsters, leave!"

"Heh... soft as flesh... heh... soft as a breast..."

"Young man...you've read a lot of books, do you know what this guy is talking about?"

It can even talk? It seems like we can communicate.

Domi put down the cross, recalling the mummified corpse's words, and searched for related records in his memory palace.

Desert, scorching sun, miraculous village, emaciated mummified corpse that seemed to have survived for many years...

These keywords combined don't lead to any conclusions, but the tone and strange pronunciation reminded Domi of a tribe that once lived in the western desert of the main continent, known as the Xisha tribe.

At that time, they were powerful and conquered the central part of the main continent, and then began to invade eastward.

When they attacked the northeast, they engaged in fierce battles with the various nomadic tribes of the north. In the end, they were defeated due to their inability to adapt to the local climate and their weakened strength.

Perhaps they are descendants of those who were captured at that time.

That people's bodies are known for their resistance to natural decay; as long as the body is not completely destroyed, a trace of consciousness can be preserved.

It has many similarities to the one in front of him now, otherwise Domi wouldn't be able to find a better reason to explain this thing.

He could understand the language, but he couldn't speak it.

The reason is that his way of speaking is too bizarre, like Crazy Dave from the internet, and he doesn't want to be Crazy Dave.

“He said, ‘What do you mean your house? It’s clearly mine!’ That’s it.”

After listening, the toddler seemed to understand something: "Indeed, reading more books makes a difference."

"Who told you to pay attention to this!"

Domi stepped forward and tried to explain to him in sign language that they just wanted to cool off because the sun was too strong outside.

The mummified corpse crawled out from the corner, making it clearer to everyone. He was just a skeleton; apart from the tendons that controlled his body's movement, there was no more flesh or fat left, and even his organs had long since decayed.

Even so, he is still alive, and no one can figure out why they are still alive.

“Rui Rui comes to ruai, Gula Bibabo…”

“Outsider, there is no way out here, there is no point in staying. If you want to seek a chance to survive, follow the road in the village to the center, where there is a replica of a palace.”

"Is there anything in the palace?" Domi gestured in sign language.

However, the mummified corpse seemed not to understand or something, and turned its head away, shrinking back into a small corner, ignoring them completely.

Domi faced the team members:

"What do you mean? Should we stay in this village for the next three days, or head to the palace in the middle of the desert?"

Afu said, "You're the captain. Whatever decision you make, we'll listen to you, right?"

The other two nodded in agreement.

That's it...

"Since killing people yields more rewards, we'd better get moving and search for enemies as we head towards the palace."

"agree!"

He then went out of the house and searched the village but found nothing. The only thing he found was a mummified corpse in that house.

They left the village along the only path and headed into the depths of the vast desert.

To cope with the intense sunlight, Domi made four cloaks out of slime for everyone to wear, which could barely block out the sunlight and flying sand.

After walking for an unknown distance, they gradually discovered several 'players' wandering aimlessly. Let's call these outsiders who entered the ruins "players" for now.

With the lure of rewards, they become natural enemies, and there will be no chance for reconciliation once they meet, whether as individuals or as a team.

Just like carnivores preying on other animals in nature, it's a relationship that forms naturally.

Therefore, Domi and his gang killed anyone they saw.

All the "heads" were given to Domi.

There's a saying that the higher the number, the better the reward; conversely, the lower the number, the more useless the reward. Therefore, pooling resources to increase one person's number is the optimal solution for the team.

The only concern was that when Domi used the dagger to cut open the other person's neck, the feeling of the knife slicing through flesh was just too real.

The weight of the corpse, the sensation and temperature of the scalding blood flowing between my fingers—it all felt completely unlike anything in a virtual world.

"Perhaps that's what makes this ruin so magical," Tore guessed.

"Maybe this guy is already complaining to women in the brothel because he was eliminated so early."

"I hope so."

"But even if he really dies, it doesn't matter. I've already killed so many people, I don't need another one like him."

Domi was just saying it casually, but he didn't expect that it would attract the attention of both Tori and Afu.

"Young man... that's a bit scary when you put it that way..."

Chapter 134, Section 133: Boiling Sheep, you mustn't do that!

For Afu, Domi was like a comet that crashed into her life.

It was mysterious from the very beginning, with a strange mask and a taciturn black-robed attendant.

Even though they had known each other for some time, she still knew very little about Domi and had never even seen his face.

It's hard for Afu to suppress her curiosity about such a person.

She really wanted to just walk up to him and ask, "What exactly do you do?"

However, before that, they had to deal with the approaching night and the black storm that was gradually forming in the distance.

Unlike other terrains, deserts have extreme temperature differences between day and night.

It might be scorching hot during the day, like nine blazing suns, but at night it turns into several refrigerators blowing sub-zero air around you at 360 degrees Celsius.

After all, it's called A Song of Ice and Fire, so the temperature difference is naturally quite significant.

Domicao quickly assessed the temperature and found that the daytime high was around 50 degrees Celsius, enough to make anyone feel suffocated.

If the people in this world weren't generally stronger, a large number of them would probably die as soon as they entered.

Even though it's not completely late at night yet, Domi already feels the temperature is around zero degrees Celsius, and the lowest temperature is conservatively estimated to be at least -30 degrees Celsius.

A temperature difference of a full eighty degrees Celsius, coupled with the encouragement of killing each other—this design is simply too sinister…

But we still have to grit our teeth and keep living!

Following Domi's instructions, only two of the tents brought were used.