Chapter 15-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 15
Zhang Qi came up from the 14th floor.
He had barely slept all night. Finally making it to the bright morning, his nerves relaxed slightly under the warm sunlight. His eyes had just closed when he heard unmistakable commotion from the stairwell.
Someone was still alive?
He didn't know. Last night's memories felt like a dream—trying to recall them only brought back vague fragments, and even those fragments were too horrifying. He curled up, unwilling to think about it anymore.
Zhang Qi listened intently. Such loud noise probably wasn't made by a person. The survivors in this building would only be more careful than the last—how could anyone make such a dramatic commotion?
He suddenly remembered that a monster was still locked on the 16th floor. Yesterday, he and Old Li had personally trapped it there.
...Also locked on the 16th floor was a stubborn old woman. She'd been with the monster for a whole day now—she was probably dead.
Perhaps that was a good thing. She was lucky to have avoided last night's hell... The young man clutched his head, stood up from the corner of the room, and paced anxiously in the unfamiliar space.
He accidentally tripped. Looking down, he saw the catfish's ice-cold corpse still lying on the floor, emitting a foul stench.
He belatedly covered his nose—he had actually spent the entire night in this reeking room!
Zhang Qi couldn't take it anymore. He rushed out the door and ran into the dim stairwell. A sofa chair lay scattered in the stairwell, and he immediately realized—the cat monster from the 16th floor must have escaped!
"Damn cat!"
The young man stormed upstairs, his injured and exhausted body suddenly filled with strength. It was all because of these monsters! He couldn't let them go anymore, couldn't let them escape to harm others!
Kill it, kill it and he could save many people. Kill it and he could level up. Ah, he was just a little short of level 10...
When Zhang Qi reached the 16th floor stairwell, tears mixed with dried blood made his young face look twisted and terrifying. He stared at the fire door and let out a strange laugh.
He regretted it! He was wrong! He shouldn't have stood up to argue with that old woman at that moment. But if it weren't for the game rules and those monsters deceiving them, last night would never have happened!
He would live the rest of his life in endless regret—this was what Zhang Qi believed he deserved.
To atone, he swore that from now on he would kill every monster that appeared before him and save everyone who needed help!
Separated by just a door, he could already sense a powerful monster standing behind the fire door. He steadied his breathing and summoned all the strength in his body. All the scattered furniture and debris in the stairwell suddenly floated in mid-air.
"Die!"
Zhang Qi roared, and the floating objects all crashed toward the fire door. The two doors were knocked open, and everything flew straight at the monster behind them.
This strike used almost all his strength, yet he felt incredibly light—as if when these heavy objects fell, the shadow of guilt looming over him would shatter, and light would shine into the dim stairwell.
But the smile froze on the young man's face.
The objects he controlled didn't land on the monster as he'd hoped. They seemed to be forcibly paused by some power, suspended in mid-air.
The floating objects were like a huge curtain, blocking the figure behind them. Zhang Qi couldn't even see the other person's face—he could only tell it was a human.
Could the old woman trapped on this floor still be alive? His expression changed. He waved his arms in the air, veins bulging, but couldn't move those suspended objects.
A young voice, completely flat in tone, spoke up.
"Ah, an ability similar to my second skill."
Second skill? Before Zhang Qi could process what "second skill" meant, his body was suddenly flung away!
A solid wooden table slammed him down the stairs, sending him tumbling to the next floor. His head smashed against the hard, cold ground, and blood gushed from the back of his skull like a broken dam.
He struggled to get up, but then came a safe, a short stool, a large sofa... crash crash crash, piling on top of him. He tried to activate his ability—he was a gravity manipulator, how could he be crushed by gravity?
"No, no, no, why—why!"
His throat could no longer speak, but his mind screamed. A controlling force far more domineering than gravity firmly suppressed his ability. He was like a living person with disabled limbs nailed inside a coffin, helplessly feeling suffocating death approach.
"Heh... heh..."
She said second skill... second skill... Level 20?!
He didn't know how many people died last night, and he had only reached level 9...
"How is that possible..."
A piece of furniture was struck by another flying object, and its sharp corner suddenly pierced Zhang Qi's temple.
Bai Shan walked to the stairwell and glanced down at the pile of debris below. A hand protruded from the heap, hanging limply.
This person seemed somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember. Since she couldn't remember, he must have been someone insignificant.
He was truly unlucky. These objects happened to be the ones she had moved—no matter what his ability was, objects touched by her right hand would only obey [Tyrannical Command].
This was the first time Bai Shan had tried to control multiple objects simultaneously. It was like clearing another blocked path—her ability's scope became broader, her usage ideas clearer.
She gradually felt why [Tyrant's Grip] was an SS-tier talent. It had the absolute authority of a tyrant, an undeniable sense of domination.
"Tyrant..."
Bai Shan murmured. She seemed to understand the true way to use this talent.
That person's talent ability wasn't weak—Bai Shan guessed it was at least A-tier. Yet she had completely suppressed him without much effort. It probably wasn't just a level difference.
[Tyrannical Command] was telekinesis driven by her will. She could vaguely feel that the stronger her will, the more effective and effortless the telekinesis became.
"Is this forcing me to be a tyrant?"
Bai Shan was amused by her own thought. She didn't even have a single soldier—some tyrant she'd be.
She turned around and saw Lin Huijun standing at the corner, nervously peeking out.
Bai Shan dusted off her hands. "I took care of it."
"I heard a lot of noise, so I came to check. Was it a mutated animal?" Lin Huijun asked.
"It was a person," Bai Shan said.
Lin Huijun fell silent. The game had been going for less than two days. She had only killed dangerous monsters—as for killing people, she subconsciously avoided the thought.
Bai Shan appeared uninjured and in good spirits. Lin Huijun felt relieved.
"Bai Shan, you said earlier that 'it fooled everyone.' What exactly happened?"
With the small interruption resolved, Bai Shan and Lin Huijun headed back. Hearing Lin Huijun's question, Bai Shan abruptly stopped.
"Lin Huijun, go back and stay with Tian Hui and the others first. I need to confirm something."
"Let me come with you. They can protect themselves, and they have Mochi. This floor seems pretty safe too."
But what you're about to do seems very dangerous—Lin Huijun left this sentence unspoken.
Bai Shan thought for a few seconds, then looked up at Lin Huijun. "Fine, but prepare yourself mentally."
"It's just a guess—I'm not certain. But my intuition is usually accurate."
The two returned to where they had been. On one side of the corridor was the fire door; on the other were three elevator doors.
"This elevator has already crashed down." Bai Shan pointed to the innermost elevator—they had discovered this on the first floor, where the metal elevator had crashed to the bottom of the shaft.
"These two elevators, heh."
Bai Shan let out a cold laugh, but her expression wasn't as light as her tone—even her brows were tense.
She also needed to prepare herself mentally.
Lin Huijun looked at Bai Shan in confusion. She watched her pace between the other two elevators, then suddenly stop in front of the one on the right. She placed both hands on the metal elevator doors.
Bai Shan braced herself, activating [Tyrannical Command] along with all her strength, and forcibly pried open the sealed elevator doors!
"Bai Shan, you—urgh!"
Lin Huijun stepped forward, but before she could see what was inside the elevator, a thick stench hit her face. A swarm of buzzing flies flew out with it, and Lin Huijun stumbled back several steps from the smell.
But Bai Shan stood at the threshold, motionless, just looking down into the elevator without a word.
Lin Huijun recovered and approached. The elevator doors were open, but behind them wasn't an elevator car—just the gray walls of the shaft.
Lin Huijun looked down into the elevator shaft—
They had finally found the missing hundred-plus corpses.
Comments
Post a Comment