Chapter 35: "Do You Want to Die?!"

Chen Jiang looked at the instance panel, slightly stunned. He had initially thought this would be an entertainment-style instance, but now it didn't seem to be the case at all.

The hidden tasks were no longer explicitly stated, and there were now side quests as well; the content of the instance suddenly felt much more complex.

Immediately after!

As the surrounding scene gradually solidified, Chen Jiang had not yet clearly seen his surroundings when he caught the thick, pungent smell of sea breeze. At a glance, the distant ocean was vast, the sky and water merging into one, and he was standing on the gravel beach of an island.

Behind him was a dense jungle.

In front of him were five straight battle lanes, with each player standing at the starting point of their own lane.

Each lane was approximately 300 meters long and 1 meter wide, marked with 300 grid squares. Each square could accommodate one "plant," meaning, theoretically, up to 300 plants could be cultivated.

Above his head hung a massive, translucent countdown.

- "First wave of attack, 00:14:59."

The first wave of attacks would arrive in 14 minutes.

Chen Jiang did not dare to waste a single second. He immediately looked at the panel in front of him, realizing that something was off about this instance. The difficulty was likely not low, and his cabin was right behind him; once the zombies breached the cabin, it would mean instant death.

Although it was an F-rank difficulty instance, it didn't seem easy at all.

There was a basic panel before him:

- "Initial Sunlight: 100 points."
- "Sunlight may drop upon killing zombies, or be obtained by planting Sunflowers."
- "Sunflower: 100 Sunlight, produces 100 Sunlight every 15 minutes."
- "Peashooter: 100 Sunlight, the most basic offensive plant."
- "Wall-nut: 100 Sunlight, can briefly delay the zombies' advance."
- "More plants will be unlocked as the level progresses, or through other means."

Without a moment's hesitation, he bought a Sunflower and planted it in the first grid closest to him. Soon, a translucent sunflower about half a meter tall appeared in the "planting grid" and gradually solidified.

The sunflower swayed in the wind, and a 15-minute progress bar appeared above it. Once the bar finished, he would receive 100 Sunlight.

This way, by the time the first round's defense countdown ended, he would have just enough to buy a Peashooter.

After finishing this, he glanced to his sides. Ya She and Xu Kun had made the same choice, as had the remaining two players. Anyone who wasn't a fool wouldn't just buy a Peashooter immediately. Those two players had no intention of talking to them, sitting together and whispering. They clearly knew each other.

Chen Jiang scanned them once and didn't pay any more attention. This wasn't a team instance; everyone just needed to guard their own lane. There was no need for cooperation, nor any need for unnecessary conversation.

"Brother Jiang."

Just then, Xu Kun walked over, lowering his voice: "According to the rules of 'Plants vs. Zombies,' if we don't find a way to break the deadlock in the first round, we'll almost certainly lose the subsequent ones. It'll be impossible to hold on."

"If we play it safe and use our 100 Sunlight to plant Peashooters, we might easily pass the first round, but as the difficulty ramps up in later rounds, relying solely on Peashooters definitely won't work."

Chen Jiang's eyes narrowed slightly. "You have a suggestion? Just say it. I've never played this game."

"Never played?" Xu Kun was slightly taken aback. The game was very popular; few children hadn't played it. But thinking of the skills Brother Jiang possessed, he could understand—when would he have had the time to play games?

"My suggestion is to take a gamble."

"Use the 100 Sunlight we get in 15 minutes to plant another Sunflower. The three of us will hold off the zombies ourselves. Since the instance panel mentioned a side quest where killing regular zombies yields rewards, it means the strength of these regular zombies is something players can kill with their bare hands."

"According to compound interest, if we operate this way, the subsequent Sunlight we acquire will increase significantly."

"After 30 minutes, we'll have 200 Sunlight and two Sunflowers."

"Then we use that 200 to plant two more Sunflowers. After 45 minutes, we'll have four Sunflowers and 400 Sunlight. Then we use that to plant four more Sunflowers. After 60 minutes, we'll have eight Sunflowers and 800 Sunlight."

"By then—" Xu Kun paused before continuing, "Our yield will be 800 Sunlight every 15 minutes. Planting Peashooters then will be much more comfortable than it is now."

Chen Jiang looked toward the sea without speaking. His thoughts aligned with Xu Kun's. While this approach carried higher initial risk, once they made it through the early stages and the snowball started rolling, their late-game economy would be extremely abundant, perhaps even allowing them to steamroll the levels.

"Let's go with this plan."

"But can you hold the line?"

Chen Jiang and Ya She both looked at Xu Kun. The two of them had undergone rigorous military-style training and possessed genuine combat skills, but Xu Kun was a complete amateur. Whether he could hold his own against the zombies in his lane was hard to say.

"I'll do my best!" Xu Kun took a deep breath, pulled his fire axe from his coat, and gripped it tightly with both hands. "I'll try not to trouble you two..."

He still had some confidence. After all, he had spent three months in special training with Ya She during the last instance. He felt he had the strength to fight now. If it were the old him, he would have had zero confidence, but now he felt he could manage—at least he was surely stronger than those two new players nearby.

Just then, the two players next to them suddenly stood up and walked toward them.

"Are you three together?"

The tall, thin man in the lead scanned Chen Jiang and the others before showing a friendly smile. "My brother and I are veteran players. We've been through this instance many times. As soon as your Sunflowers produce Sunlight, plant Peashooters in the first grid near your cabins."

"Remember to be quick."

"The first wave of zombies is very fierce."

"Veteran players?" Chen Jiang paused, then smiled as well. "Once you've cleared three instances, you leave the Novice Plaza to become official players of the God's Paradise. Can veteran players enter instances in the Novice Plaza?"

"Heh." The tall man laughed upon hearing this. "Looks like you really don't know. How many instances is this for you? Second? Third?"

"Instances where hidden tasks remain uncompleted can be entered multiple times. Entering an instance repeatedly doesn't count toward your novice instance progress. We've been in this instance nine times already."

"Every time, we complete the main task to earn 100 Paradise Coins. So far, I've earned 900 coins. Many veterans use this method to earn as many coins as possible in the Novice Plaza so they have enough of an advantage once they become official players."

"You didn't know?"

"We really didn't. Thanks for the clarification," Chen Jiang replied with a gentle smile.

He had never encountered an instance where hidden tasks were left uncompleted, but he had a faint suspicion. Everyone's cabin was separate; even if these two died, it wouldn't affect them. Instead of believing these two were being kind, it was more likely that while the lanes didn't directly interact, the offensive plants could attack zombies in other lanes.

For instance...

The Peashooters they planted could help the others share the pressure of the initial attacks.

To verify this guess was simple: just watch if these two used the 100 Sunlight they were about to receive to plant Peashooters.

Soon!

15 minutes passed in a flash!

The countdown above their heads hit zero, turning a deep, flickering crimson. Combined with the sudden appearance of dark clouds over the sea, the atmosphere became incredibly oppressive. The stinking sea breeze, mixed with a thick, bloody stench, rushed toward them.

Hundreds of zombies slowly crawled out from the seabed. Though their pace was slow, they marched toward the gravel beach with extreme determination.

At this moment—

The five players received their Sunlight simultaneously. Almost at the same time, all five quickly planted another Sunflower each.

Ten sunflowers swayed in the wind across the five lanes, bobbing their heads. Facing those hundreds of zombies, they looked incredibly helpless.

"Are you all crazy?!"

The tall, thin man from earlier turned pale, his eyes filled with terror as he roared, "What are you doing? Didn't I tell you to plant Peashooters? Why are you planting Sunflowers?"

"Do you want to die?!"

"Damn it, I knew it! Among those who end up in the God's Paradise through accidental death, there are plenty of idiots!"

"How could anyone who dies accidentally be smart!"

"Three morons!"

He didn't have time to say anything else. Gritting his teeth, he shared a terrified look with his partner, gripped his weapon, and marched toward the front of his lane.

This time...

Without any Peashooter cover, they had to rely on their own strength to hold off the first wave. The danger had spiked, and whether they could survive, they didn't know; they had never encountered a situation like this.

The new players they had met before would always obediently plant Peashooters.

It significantly relieved their pressure.

The planted Peashooters dealt heavy damage to these ordinary zombies, basically one-shotting them. Once those Peashooters finished clearing their own lanes, they would come over to clear the zombies in their lanes.

Then, they could gradually snowball using the initial two Sunflowers until they reached the tenth round.

Even if there was the occasional tough one, two Peashooters were barely enough.

They were very familiar with this process. They hadn't expected to run into three troublemakers today.

Chen Jiang calmly glanced at the two players. He remembered that the instance panel didn't explicitly forbid killing other players, did it?

But he thought better of it.

If these two players died, and those zombies ran into their three lanes, that would be troublesome.

"Prepare to engage."

Chen Jiang cradled his Uzi submachine gun and walked toward the front of the lane, aiming the muzzle at the approaching horde of zombies.

The magazine capacity was 100 rounds, and the power was decent. After the ammunition was exhausted, it would automatically reload in 10 minutes.

He didn't intend to engage in melee combat first.

A spray of bullets would suffice to start.

Early use meant early cooldown.

Peashooters? Could they be as powerful as his Uzi?