Survival at Sea: I Became Number One by Growing Mushrooms

It went smoothly, but it felt strangely unsettling. An indescribable sense of unease lingered in her mind. Half a month had passed since she left the cave, yet she still felt a sense of unreality.

So she asked Rainbow, "Rainbow, don't you feel that everything is going too smoothly, almost unnaturally so?"

Rainbow stopped what she was doing and said, "Master, it's your imagination. We didn't have it too easy. We were only able to get through this thanks to the Mushroom God. If it weren't for Him, how could you have defeated the Ice God and rescued me? If it weren't for the Mushroom God, we would all be dead."

Xu Jiawei breathed a sigh of relief: "That's right, maybe I was hallucinating and some plants and trees were startled. After all, how could it be considered smooth sailing when attacked by a god?" After saying that, she suddenly seemed to realize something and her scalp tightened.

No way! How could the Ice God still be alive? The only surviving god is the Mushroom God. What is this Ice God?!

In other words, she was still in a hallucination. Xu Jiawei felt a chill all over her body and could barely stand. She had been in a hallucination for more than half a month.

Xu Jiawei's scalp tingled with fear. What was going on? Was it all an illusion? When did she enter the illusion again? Was it while walking through the cave, or in the temple?

There was an even more terrifying possibility: that she was hallucinating, like a dream within a dream. Xu Jiawei felt her brain was about to overload, and the scenery around her began to distort.

Rainbow ran over and anxiously called out, "Master, what's wrong?" Its voice became distorted as the illusion was on the verge of shattering.

As if a barrier had been shattered, Xu Jiawei opened her eyes again. All around her was darkness. She breathed heavily and took a long time to catch her breath before turning on her flashlight. It was nighttime.

Xu Jiawei opened the system panel and was surprised to find that only ten minutes had passed since she fell asleep, but those ten minutes felt like an eternity in her hallucination.

Has she returned to reality? Or... is she still hallucinating?

She gripped her arm tightly, feeling intense pain, but her eyes were still filled with confusion. She couldn't rely on the pain in her body to determine if it was a hallucination. The pain in the hallucination had felt so real; she couldn't distinguish between reality and hallucination.

She now deeply regrets entering the cave. If she hadn't entered, none of this would have happened. Could it be that all the problems stemmed from this cave?

Or is it that even this cave is an illusion?

Xu Jiawei felt increasingly alarmed by her own guess, and a chill ran down her spine. No, she needed to think carefully about when she had entered the hallucination, as this would help her determine her current situation.

She first passed through the collapsed cave and entered the cold area. Then she found the cave, skinned a bear, and went to sleep two meters inside the cave entrance, which is where she is now.

Reflecting on her experiences over the past period, Xu Jiawei asked with a glimmer of hope, "System, are you there? Can you tell me how to break this current situation?"

The system did not provide any response.

Xu Jiawei was taken aback, then asked persistently, "System, answer me!"

Xu Jiawei still didn't hear a sound. As if she had thought of something, she immediately recalled when the system last sent her a message. It was probably when she received the reward.

In other words, she may not have entered the illusion by that time. Perhaps entering the illusion is a gradual process, which is why she could still hear the system's prompts at that time.

So, she's still in the illusion!

Who did this? The only possibility is the Dark God. Yes, how could a trap he set for himself be so easily broken? And that Tree of Death died too easily; it didn't seem like it could be killed so easily.

Realizing she was in an illusion, the surrounding scenery distorted again, yet refused to shatter. Xu Jiawei closed her eyes and continuously released light into her mind to purify it. With a snap, she opened her eyes again expectantly.

Then, the light in her eyes dimmed; she was still in the cave. This discovery sent shivers down her spine. How could she possibly wake up?

Xu Jiawei could only continue to try. In this repeated hallucination, a beam of light suddenly rushed from afar and landed on Xu Jiawei's forehead.

Trapped in the illusion, Xu Jiawei was unaware that the light slowly illuminated her body. The thing was actually a demigod-level equipment, the Lucky Badge, which had been sealed by the system before. Xu Jiawei put it into the rainbow's belly.

Seemingly sensing that its master was in danger, the sleeping badge floated over and illuminated Xu Jiawei. Having been reincarnated many times, Xu Jiawei was in despair, and every time she opened her eyes, she appeared in a cave.

When she opened her eyes again, this time it was different; a portal of light appeared before Xu Jiawei.

She watched the portal warily, but had no other choice. She decided to try anything, and any change would be a good thing. She cautiously stepped inside, and then light enveloped her entire body.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself still in darkness, completely unable to move. She immediately looked around and found herself back near the desert pit.

Before her lay a vast expanse of white snow, and behind her lay a hundred-meter-deep crater; she had somehow returned to this place.

She didn't know when, but her body was entangled in vines, with sharp thorns piercing her skin. The vines didn't move, but they were wrapped very tightly.

Xu Jiawei pondered the situation before her. Was she being transported to a new illusion or to reality?

The vines were motionless, probably dead. Xu Jiawei struggled out, and at some point, a mouthful of black water, about the size of a palm, remained in the deep pit behind her.

As expected, these guys aren't so easy to kill. If this is an illusion, then they really have woven their own thoughts and ideas into the illusion.

[Ding! Player, please act immediately! You have been standing here for half an hour. Please act immediately. (Hey, are you dead? You just ran out and got bitten by a vine, causing a slight hallucination? You haven't woken up after half an hour?)]

Xu Jiawei: ...That's right, this is the feel of the system.

Xu Jiawei still couldn't tell if this was reality, so she asked for confirmation, "Is the system real or an illusion?"

Xu Jiawei didn't expect the system to answer, after all, she didn't know if the other party was pretending or real, and even if it did answer, she wouldn't believe it.

[Ding, player, please wake up! You were hallucinating after being attacked by the Death Tree. The Lucky Badge saved you.]

This was the contingency plan left by the Dark God, something even the system hadn't anticipated.

It even made players lose sight of reality, causing serious psychological effects; indeed, escaping wasn't so easy.

Entering the hallucination is a process. For the first ten minutes, the player can still hear its voice and give some reaction, which is when the reward is given. However, Xu Jiawei just stood still and did not move. By the time the system realized something was wrong, Xu Jiawei could no longer be woken up. The system could only grant her permissions to see if any miracle would occur.