"Your girlfriend has already invited you, yet you hesitate here, without a hint of romance."

Gu Yue stifled a laugh, elegantly pulling out a thick coffin, "Firebird, if you think it’s too crowded, I have plenty more. This coffin is for you."

"Enough, stop provoking me, the sight of it makes my skin crawl, let alone lying in it—maybe in the next life!"

Firebird glared at Gu Yue, realizing this woman purely enjoyed watching the chaos unfold, waiting for him to embarrass himself. With no other choice, he turned around and ducked into his own tent for some ’out of sight, out of mind’ peace.

"Sigh, what a fool, all about pride and suffering for it. That tent will heat up soon, let’s see how you’ll stay in there!"

Youtong saw Firebird preferring to suffer rather than joining and felt quite annoyed, grumbling a few words before forcefully closing the coffin.

Even the cream puff didn’t hesitate, chuckling as he lay down inside.

The three coffins were placed in a pin-shaped formation in the desert, creating a bizarre scene. The crowd behind exchanged glances; the unusual combination of beauties and coffins sent chills down their spines, thankfully it wasn’t the middle of the night, or a few might have literally died of fright!

However.

Just as the players began to build the camp, the sky suddenly darkened, and even the air became murky, making breathing feel cumbersome.

"Not good, a storm’s coming!"

An experienced player noticed and his face went pale. Such conditions in the desert were not a good sign, as they could indicate an approaching sandstorm!

"Run!"

The players knew that up against nature’s fury, human beings were insignificant. Getting caught in a sandstorm meant there was no chance of survival!

"What’s happening?"

Sensing something was off, the three women climbed out of their coffins, Firebird included. The oppressive scene made the cream puff extremely calm as he immediately ordered a full retreat!

"Whew, whew~!"

The wind picked up, spreading the sand around, and the sandstorm slowly took form. The fierce wind howled, turning into a sand twister that rampaged across the desert.

"Aaahhh..."

As the players ran in panic, they screamed, as if only by vocalizing could they dispel the fear in their hearts. Some gamers completely broke down and were ejected from the game, turning into a white light and disappearing into the sand.

"Cream, what do we do now?"

Youtong asked the cream puff in panic, already overwhelmed by the terrifying sandstorm, with only one thought remaining in her mind: escape!

"This sandstorm isn’t within any skill’s range, no one can stop it. Only by escaping its reach can we hope to survive!"

The cream puff’s voice was filled with concern. She had brought so many people who hadn’t even had a chance to prove themselves yet, and now they faced this disaster, how could she not be worried!

But as the leader of the group, even if she had to grit her teeth, she had to endure. She owed it to her followers!

With this thought, the cream puff shouted, "Brothers and sisters, as long as we survive this catastrophe, there will be blessings! Such a phenomenon indicates that extraordinary pets are not far from us, after all, this is Pet Island!"

"Haha, I like the sound of that!"

"President, this is our big opportunity. I must survive, I can’t miss what’s coming next!"

"I want to live too!"

"Me too! Who knows, maybe a pet will choose to follow me, hahaha~~"

"Dude, I didn’t expect you to be so shameless. Only a sand worm would ever look up to you!"

Laughter instantly filled the air, reducing their fear of the sandstorm significantly.

The speed of the sandstorm surpassed their expectations, and the vast range of attack filled them with despair.

At last.

Players began to suffer casualties; dozens of players were swept into the sky. Before long, their health was ground to zero, and they turned into corpses that were ruthlessly flung out. This gruesome scene made the players’ hearts clench with continuous screams of horror that surged one wave higher than the last, as if they were spewing all the air from their lungs to ease their suffering.

At this moment, everyone was shrouded in the shadow of death, waiting helplessly for the Grim Reaper to snatch their lives away.

However.

Just at this critical moment, a scene occurred that made everyone’s jaws drop.

The sandstorm that had been wreaking havoc in the air disappeared without any warning; even the howling winds vanished completely as if they had never existed. This left the fleeing players a bit dumbfounded—if not for the bodies scattered haphazardly across the desert, they would have thought it was all a mirage!

"Phew."

The players no longer cared about the scorching hot sand under their feet, and almost all collapsed sitting in the desert, unable to muster the strength to even lift their arms. However, their hearts beat violently, as if narrating the experience of being close to death just moments ago.

"Phew, we finally survived!"

"Can someone tell me, what did I just go through?"

"This is the first time I was chased by the Grim Reaper; that feeling was way too damn thrilling!"

"I mean, I never want to go through that again, and don’t laugh, but I almost peed my pants!"

After having a narrow escape from death, the players obviously became much more talkative, including the usually reticent Gu Yue, who was venting her tense feelings.

"This time, we went through a terrifying crisis, but fortunately, most of us survived!"

Creamy paused to calm her excited emotions before slowly saying, "Let’s tally up the fallen brothers, compensating 1000 guild points each. Our guild is just starting out, and we don’t have many points left, so everyone please be understanding." ƒrēewebnovel.com

"Ha, President, a thousand points is already quite a lot!"

"President is wise, this also gives a settlement for the brothers, I agree with this!"

"Had I known there’d be such treatment, I would have run slower just now..."

"Cut it out, you were the one running fastest at the front, have you no shame?"

Sparked by Creamy’s words, the players chattered nonstop, making the atmosphere lively again.

"Eh? Something’s not right!"

Being at the forefront of the group, Big Smoker had an unobstructed view and saw everything clearly. He unexpectedly noticed a red sparkle hanging in the air at the spot where the sandstorm had disappeared, starkly out of place compared with the sprawling yellow sand.

"What’s not right? Smokey, don’t just say half of it, are you trying to kill me with suspense?"

Youtong was closest to Big Smoker and heard his exclamation clearly, but what frustrated Youtong was that despite being all ears, he didn’t continue, and this feeling was incredibly stifling.

"Look over there!"

Big Smoker pointed forward with his iron rod and said gravely, "That spot is where the sandstorm disappeared, and there is a red light floating above it!"

"A red light?"

The players’ curiosity was successfully piqued by Big Smoker, yet none of them knew what the appearance of this red light signified.

"I’ll send Pet to check it out!"

Creamy also noticed something was amiss. However, she didn’t let her subordinates take the risk, instead, she chose to send out her mount, Firebird.

"Screech!"

After being summoned by Creamy, Firebird took flight, soaring into the air and letting out a cry before transforming into a fireball and diving toward the mysterious red light.