I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

……

……

When Mu Xiao opened her eyes, she felt a strong smell of smoke enter her nose.

—It's like wet firewood mixed with spices being lit, the smoke stinging your eyes.

She didn't dare move, only squinting and breathing softly, letting her eyes slowly adjust to the light in the dungeon.

She was in a house.

The house was low and small, with walls made of completely unpolished black stones.

The stones were covered with dried mud, and traces of dry grass could still be seen between them.

The north wind seeped in through the cracks in the wall, stinging people's faces and carrying a hint of snow.

A corner of the roof had collapsed, and several dark, brittle beams were leaning precariously in mid-air.

The ground was wet, and there was hardly any decent furniture in the house.

A crooked wooden table leaned against the wall, with a few rotting carrots scattered on it. Beside the fireplace, a broken stool lay overturned, and a corpse lay nearby.

"!!"

Although this was not the first time Mu Xiao had seen a corpse, she still felt waves of physical disgust.

The corpse's face was covered with a filthy, tattered cloth; its cheeks were sunken, and its lips looked as if they had been stitched together.

Dead flies landed on the corpse's face, and the corpse's mouth was still twitching—

"Are you... are you alright, sir?"

Mu Xiao dared not approach, so she casually took down an iron hook hanging from the fireplace and poked the corpse. Then she discovered:

The corpse's mouth was stuffed with large, fat maggots, which wriggled in its throat and on its tongue, making it appear as if the corpse was "talking".

"vomit……"

Mu Xiao covered her mouth and backed away until her back pressed against the hard stone wall. She instinctively looked out the window.

The window was small, without a frame or paper.

The wind carried snowflakes in, and several stone houses could be seen leaning precariously in the snow.

Some were collapsed, some were half-collapsed, and the remaining few looked like they could collapse at any moment.

Most of the windows and doors of these houses were open.

There was no smoke from cooking fires, no dogs, and no human voices.

Only a few rows of bundles of grass, tied with wooden sticks under the eaves, rustled in the wind.

Every household had straw hanging at their door.

Mu Xiao then realized where the smell of smoke she had smelled when she woke up came from.

……

Welcome to the instance "Merlin's Legend".

[Instance type: Survival/puzzle game.]

[Number of participants in the instance: 300.]

We regret to inform you that due to [unspecified reason], the Clay Sculptor Shop in this dungeon is closed. Instead, the Dwarf Shop will randomly spawn within the dungeon.

【每位玩家获得初始物资：生鏽匕首×1、空水袋（耐久20/20）×1、黑麵包×1、亚麻斗篷×1、劣质草药×1（可以煮水缓解咳嗽，但对黑死病并无治疗作用）。】

[Tip: In the survival dungeon, players should pay attention to their hunger, health, and mental state.]

When hunger level is below 30%, movement speed decreases and stamina consumption increases.

Players are more susceptible to the plague when their health level is below 30%.

If a player's sanity level falls below 30%, there is a chance they will be marked by the "Otherworld" entity.

[Warning: Players are from the "outside world," please conceal your identity.]

[The system provides the initial identity: a farmer fleeing from the north, stranded in three abandoned villages on the edge of the Brosleyan Forest.]

[Mission Background: In the sixth century AD, in Britannia, King Euthythe was dead, and the sword in the stone sank to the bottom of the lake.]

The Dark Legion, led by Vortigern, ruled the continent, and the Black Death spread across the land.

The Celtic gods no longer answer prayers, and the Druidic holy sites are burning. Saxon warships have reached the shores of the southern seas.

Main Quest: Find Merlin, ask him about King Arthur's whereabouts, and save this continent from imminent danger.

[Mission failure conditions: All members die or Merlin dies, the instance collapses, and reality immediately resumes.]

[Mission Time Limit: Ninety days. (Time outside the instance is not synchronized; real-world time is thirty days.)]

……

……

Mu Xiao stared at the words "descending into reality," too nervous to speak.

This was the first time she had ever encountered this type of instance!

If you fail, the copy will immediately become reality!

As for what will happen after it arrives, just look at the current situation in Tokyo.

"So, if the mission fails, the Black Death and the Dark Legion will emerge from the instance and descend into reality?"

Mu Xiao quickly opened the player chat panel. Thank goodness, the communication function was still working as usual.

[Mu Xiao: Where are you all? Are you still alive?]

The first reply came within seconds of the message being sent.

[Vivian (the witch): Mu Xiao! Thank goodness! My brother and I were thrown into a room. It's so cold outside, and the whole place smells of burning herbs and roasting meat. I'm about to suffocate.]

[Natasha (archer): Darling, I don't mean to discourage you, but that's the smell of burning corpses. If I'm not mistaken, it's the stench of human fat burning together with firewood and herbs.]

[Vivian (the witch): !!! !!! ! ...

[Vivian (the witch): This is terrifying!]

Oliver: This dungeon is really interesting. I've always thought King Arthur was just a legend.

Oliver: In fact, many scholars believe that King Arthur was not a real person at all, and Merlin could not possibly have existed.

But now the system is actually telling us to find Merlin and save King Arthur; it's like falling into a medieval fantasy tale.

[Chris (crew member): Damn it! Plague! Black Death! Can you believe it?! I just saw some people in robes and bird-beak masks at the window, and they were talking like they were rapping. I couldn't understand a word!]

[Natasha (archer): Sorry to be offensive—your skin color means you can naturally understand rap.]

[Chris (crew member): Hey, listen up, Eastern Europeans, this isn't funny at all. I may be black, but only people my own color can call me that, understand?]

[Chris (crew member): Just like you wouldn't like people thinking you're a KGB agent.]

[Natasha (archer): FUCK.]

Oliver: Guys, if this really is the sixth century AD, then the people Chris saw were probably speaking Old Celtic, or an early Briton.

Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that this instance may be more complex than any we've encountered before; it involves not only black magic, but also magic.

[Vivian: But that's King Arthur! King Arthur! If this was before King Arthur pulled the sword from the stone, wouldn't we still have a chance to see Camelot built? My God!]

Oliver: I remember the story said that the great wizard Merlin appeared before the king. He forged the wand into a holy sword and then gave it to King Uther, who was King Arthur's father.

To prevent the sword from falling into the hands of his ambitious brother, Vortigern, King Uther pierced himself with the sword, turning him to stone and sinking him into the lake.

It is now the reign of the Vortigerns, who rule this place with dark magic… which means the Sword in the Stone is still waiting for its king, oh God, the king has not yet appeared.

Chris: If this is true, could we become part of the Knights of the Round Table?

I mean, the mission mentions "saving this continent," and there's nothing more glorious than that. I'd give my life for King Arthur.

[Mu Xiao: So, to summarize—we need to find Merlin amidst plague, hunger, black magic, monsters, and the pursuit of the Vortigerns, and ask him about King Arthur's whereabouts.]

By the way, do you guys remember that "Sword in the Stone" was on the item ranking list before?

The chat panel went silent for a second.

Chris: The sword in the stone?! A red gadget?! My God, if we could pull it out...

[Vivian: Stop dreaming! Only King Arthur and his successor can pull the sword out of the stone!]

Oliver: But we can see, it must be somewhere in Old London, somewhere in this world.

[Natasha: Forget about the sword for now, think about how to survive tonight. My hunger level has dropped to 72%.]

Chris: Mine too. This bread is as black as me. Looking at it is like looking at my brother.

[Mu Xiao: My advice is to avoid using your starting food unless absolutely necessary. There's no clay figurine shop here, so we need to conserve our food.]

[Vivian: I almost got bitten, thank goodness.]

Oliver: I suggest we confirm each other's locations first. Mu Xiao said she's in an abandoned village, and so am I. It's getting dark, so we need to find the nearest teammate first.

Chris: I saw a light outside the window, in the southeast direction.

[Mu Xiao: Don't go near the fire; it's best to stay indoors to keep warm.]

[Natasha: I second that. Also, everyone put on your cloaks. I suspect I'm freezing. Damn it, even the wind in Western Siberia isn't this cold!]

Vivian: This cloak is so stiff, it feels like a sack.

Oliver: This is the sixth century, gentlemen. Welcome to the "Dark Ages."

……

……

……

Mu Xiao did not reply.

She saw her hunger level continue to drop; she was both cold and hungry.

The wooden door was rotten and was tied from the inside with a thick hemp rope.

The fireplace had long since gone cold, and a few pieces of charcoal that hadn't burned through were still piled up in the ashes.

Mu Xiao shivered as she put on her cloak, took the broken stool leg off and threw it into the fireplace, and then looked around for something to start a fire.

It took a little time to ignite.

Knowing the power of the Black Death, Mu Xiao didn't dare touch the corpse whose cause of death was unknown, but instead searched around the house.

Fortunately, she eventually found a piece of flint.

"Snap!"

"Snap!"

"Snap!"

The cold caused Mu Xiao's fingers to tremble uncontrollably, her breath rising into the air and water droplets landing on her eyelashes, quickly forming a thin layer of frost.

Just when she was about to despair, a spark fell from the flint, landed on the tinder, and slowly grew larger—