Chapter 19-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player

[Does anyone have ibuprofen or amoxicillin? We're in Hujia Village, Qianxi Town. Will trade gold and food. Child has been running a fever.]

[I don't have medicine, but my ability can heal people. Interested in a trade? I'm in the next village over.]

[Be careful with trades—there are already gangs using trade offers as bait to lure people in and kill them!]

[Voice message 16″]

[What is this, a voice message you can't even make out—what kind of old person with no teeth is still playing games without a kid around to help? Heartbreaking.]

[There are killer mantises near the granary at No. 230, Tianning Village. Several people have gone down there already—do NOT go near!]

[Isn't that name above the mayor? My household is running low on food and water—when are you sending someone to deliver it? It's too dangerous to come to you and pick it up.]

[Wang Laizi, have some shame! The village can barely keep the elderly going—you're a healthy young man, stop wasting resources!]

The World Channel had a region filter. You could set it as wide as global or as narrow as a five-kilometer radius—roughly the size of a county town.

Most of what the World Channel discussed was noise. Discussion of "Tyrant" had escalated to absurd levels—lizard people, dinosaur people, urban legend territory. Bai Shan's most-used channel settings were "nationwide" and "within five kilometers": the former to keep track of the broad national situation, the latter to catch developments close to hand.

Two days had already passed, and they were still barely on the verge of leaving the province. Far slower than Lin Huijun had estimated.

The forest cover in this area was high, all hills and ridges. The highways that should have been clear were destroyed by rampantly growing vegetation. Even the arched tunnels through the mountains had been crushed. They were constantly doubling back to find alternate routes.

Worse still, in certain areas where mutated plants and animals had overrun everything and order had broken down, local people who could no longer hold out had been forced to flee—turning into so-called "displaced people," driving their cars with their whole families to wander and scavenge for food and resources.

Their RV, plainly a well-stocked traveling resource, had already attracted four separate groups who'd mistaken them for easy prey.

As far as Bai Shan was concerned, those people were the ones who looked like low-level mobs—lv.1, lv.3 scrawled above their heads. Since acquiring the S-tier bracer, she could sit inside the vehicle and flip over the ambushers' cars and the ambushers themselves with [Tyrannical Command], and the attackers never even got a glimpse of her face.

But with incidents piling up one after another, even that grew tiresome—like having ants crawling on your skin.

Just that morning they'd been accosted by a family in a BYD who'd set traps on the road to stop vehicles, then moved in on whoever was inside. Bai Shan had put three darts through the stomachs of the two adults who attacked them. The old people and children in the car immediately climbed out, got on their knees, and started wailing, begging to be spared—their cries echoing mournfully through the mountain highway.

Wind swept through the forest. The RV abruptly slowed as yet another rockslide appeared ahead, the fallen debris blocking the tunnel entrance.

Bai Shan felt a listlessness settle over her. She checked the local five-kilometer channel feed, glanced at the navigation map, and said to Lin Huijun, "Turn back. Head toward Qianxi Town. From the channel posts, the local government there is still functional."

"I don't want to run into any more of those people. And I'd rather not sleep in the mountains again tonight."

Lin Huijun agreed wholeheartedly. She'd take monsters over the particular kind of wretched, infuriating people they kept encountering.

Two nights running, they'd parked on the roadside to sleep, sitting inside the vehicle staring out at the pitch-dark mountain forest with no light whatsoever. Lin Huijun had to admit it was frightening. This RV's soundproofing wasn't great either—the wind through the trees at night sounded like wailing ghosts, the sort of thing that invited all kinds of horror-story imaginings.

In a situation like that, wearing earplugs was out of the question. If you slept too deeply, you couldn't react to danger in time—which would be truly fatal.

"Oh, Bai Shan—go check the food, water, and fuel. When I got back in the car yesterday I took a look and felt like we were running low." Lin Huijun directed her.

Bai Shan climbed from the passenger seat into the living section and did a round of inventory. The clean water tank had fifty liters left, plus two cases of bottled water—for drinking alone, that could last half a month, but factoring in washing and hygiene, it felt tight.

Food-wise: ready-to-heat meals, bag noodles, compressed biscuits and the like. Rationed carefully, it could last a month—but the mere thought of eating only this for the foreseeable future made Bai Shan feel vaguely hopeless.

She had stockpiled these supplies back in the game. In a computer game, characters only needed to not starve; in reality, people had far more to worry about.

She really wanted something fresh.

But based on her experience with the game, you couldn't casually eat roadside vegetables or fruit—even familiar ones. There was no telling what they'd mutated into.

The RV was a game item, but aside from its formidable defensive stats and performance on a par with an off-road vehicle, the rest was essentially a normal camper—it also ran on diesel. The fuel was running low too. Yesterday they'd passed a gas station with nothing left; the only comfort was that power reserves were still adequate. The vehicle could recharge while driving, and it had a lithium battery pack, solar panels, and a small generator.

Bai Shan dug carefully through the corners and found a compound bow, a shield, a rainwater collector with built-in filter, stealth coating, and even a drone.

These were things she'd collected in the early stages of the game. As [Tyrant]'s level had grown, better items had come in, and these had been left to gather dust in the corners of the RV.

It was now the fourth day of the game's descent. Some of these things were still useful.

Bai Shan was someone with very little lived experience. Her baseline was "alive is good enough"—material and appetite desires both minimal—but now that she was actually in a world of scarcity, she found she wasn't as desire-free as she'd thought. She'd just never had reason to worry about these things before.

"In 500 meters, turn right."

The navigation AI droned its instruction.

Just as they were about to make the turn, Lin Huijun glanced at the rear-view mirror from the driver's seat and caught sight of another car behind them—a Lamborghini, of all things.

She kept driving, keeping an eye on it. In just a few days, she'd already developed a sixth sense for danger. You had to be careful in times like these.

By the time she drove into a town, the car had made no suspicious moves—it seemed to have simply been going the same way.

Up ahead at an intersection, someone in a bright red vest was waving and shouting "Stop the car!" and "Stop right there!"—an armed officer standing nearby. Lin Huijun immediately pulled over.

Bai Shan got out with Lin Huijun. The woman in the red vest immediately asked them to show their ID cards, or any identifying document they had.

Lin Huijun actually produced an ID card from her pocket. The woman noted down her name in a register, then looked inquiringly at Bai Shan.

Bai Shan stood there with both hands in her pockets, completely at a loss. Who in their right mind would remember to bring their ID card when the game descended?

The red-vest woman, seeing she couldn't produce anything, offered an alternative. "Then post something in the local channel saying 'My name is [xxx] and I miss you from Qianxi Town,' and we can confirm your identity that way."

The game ID was real-name registered—more ironclad than an ID card itself. But Bai Shan was the one exception.

She couldn't post in the channel. Channel posts displayed your level and ID—and "Tyrant" had been broadcast globally just two days ago. If a lv.20 "Tyrant" claimed to just be a coincidental name match, would anyone believe it?

And that bit about "I miss you from Qianxi Town" at the end was completely unnecessary.

The red-vest woman saw her hesitate and grew suspicious. The others began to close in around her.

"Miss, in a special situation like this, we need your cooperation. If we let just anyone in without knowing a thing about them, who knows what trouble they'll cause?"

Both girls looked young and harmless enough, but you couldn't judge by appearances. When the world fell apart, all sorts of people emerged from the woodwork. Their town had just dealt with a sixteen-year-old killer—a kid who had seemed perfectly well-behaved right up until the world changed, and then they'd completely transformed.

Recording information obviously couldn't restrain behavior, but having a process in place signaled that order still existed. People with bad intentions would at least think twice.

Satellite networks were all blocked. Communication devices were useless. Contact between areas had been severed. Radio receivers were silent. It was like being thrown back into ancient times—isolated townships like this one could only find their own way to maintain order.

Harsh times called for harsh measures.

Seeing the atmosphere tighten, Lin Huijun was about to speak up for Bai Shan—but Bai Shan had already turned and gone back to the vehicle, then returned carrying a photograph.

She held it out, pointing at it. "Here. My name is right there."

The woman leaned in, puzzled, and looked. In the photo, a beaming woman bent down with an arm around a small child's shoulders. The child—reasonably cute—wore the expression of someone enduring a mild inconvenience, and held up a certificate.

[Bai Shan has demonstrated outstanding performance in the first semester of the 2014–2015 school year and has been awarded the title of: Bright Little Star This certificate is issued to recognize and commend the above achievement. Huahua Kindergarten, Xin'an Street, Changjie District, Rong City]

The group of red-vest workers took one look and dissolved into laughter. The tension vanished instantly. The woman looked Bai Shan up and down with amusement—this kid had worn the exact same expression since toddlerhood. Her mother couldn't have had an easy time of it.

On reflection, these two girls were traveling alone together, no adults in sight—they'd probably both had something bad happen at home. She decided not to press further.

"Alright, you two. Are you just passing through, or are you planning to stay? It's getting dark—let me have someone show you a spot to park up. It's relatively safe here."

"Follow this sister here, drive on in—Next!"

The black RV moved forward, and another car pulled up in its place. The red-vest woman looked up—and did a double take.

"Oh my, and here's someone in a sports car!"

The window rolled down. Without waiting to be asked, the young woman with a chin-length bob produced her ID card and gave her information upfront.

"I'm Qin Zhen, coming from Rong City. I'm trying to get to Nanzhou City to find my family. May I stay here for the night?"

The red-vest woman logged her details and replied warmly, "No problem—we've set aside a designated area for travelers like you. It's quite safe here."

Qin Zhen offered a brief smile. The window closed. She hit the gas.

*

The black RV came to a stop on an open lot. About a dozen other vehicles were parked around it. Bai Shan got out and surveyed the surroundings. They were on a basketball court ringed by the kind of outdoor fitness equipment popular with elderly residents—horizontal bars, side-by-side steppers, waist twisters. This had probably been a community activity area for the locals.

Next to it was a small, empty shop with a red-vest worker sitting inside—evidently responsible for keeping an eye on the visitors.

Lin Huijun jogged over to chat with the worker and get the lay of the land. Bai Shan dragged a folding chair off the vehicle, propped herself against the side of the RV, and observed the surroundings.

Fifteen vehicles were parked on the basketball court. All of them had local license plates, suggesting they were heading to other cities in the province, or leaving the province altogether like Bai Shan and Lin Huijun. That seemed a little off to Bai Shan—being this close to the provincial border, you'd expect some out-of-province cars coming back through as well.

Though with such a small sample, any analysis wouldn't be very meaningful.

Some of the other vehicles' occupants were moving around the basketball court. They looked her way now and then with simple, direct curiosity—no obvious hostility—but Bai Shan still didn't appreciate it. Her slightly downturned eyes, which already gave her a cool look, stared right back.

To her surprise, the person on the receiving end seemed almost pleased at being noticed. They picked up a plastic stool and trotted over, plopping down across from her with the ease of someone who'd known Bai Shan for years.

"Hi hi, we're from Chengcheng College nearby. Are you guys alumni? I'm Shen Yang."

Shen Yang was excited to see someone around her own age, and it showed.

Bai Shan said, "I'm in high school. Never heard of your college."

"Yeah, our college isn't exactly famous—if you've got hands, you're in, haha. You high schoolers seem so much more mature than us university students though, haha..."

Bai Shan said, "If you've got hands, you're in? I should look into that."

Shen Yang couldn't quite tell whether that was a compliment or a dig. She was already a little sorry she'd come over to introduce herself—but having done so, she soldiered on as the senior party. "Which subject track did you choose—"

"You're at university nearby. Why are you out here?" Bai Shan cut off the pointless small talk.

"We evacuated here yesterday. The campus... forget it. Me and two roommates got lucky—a soft-hearted teacher took us along and drove us out."

"So all four of you got here yesterday. Why haven't you left yet?"

Shen Yang scratched her head. "Why rush to leave? We finally found somewhere stable. Visitors even get food here."

Bai Shan understood. Not everyone had a destination. Some had simply ended up here by chance while fleeing.

"I do want to go home," Shen Yang went on, voice dropping. "But I'm from out of province—home is too far." She pulled out a bun and started eating it mournfully, muffled voice saying, "Obviously, your own life comes before everything."

The high school girl across from her suddenly reached out. Shen Yang blinked, and let her give her a pat on the shoulder.

"You're comforting me, aren't you?"

Shen Yang blinked, a little moved. She hadn't expected this stone-faced girl to be a cold exterior, warm heart type. She held out both arms to pull Bai Shan into a hug—going for a wholesome moment of mutual comfort in the apocalypse.

Bai Shan leaned back and sidestepped the hug, frowning. "What I was going to say is—you really are suited for finding a safe, well-stocked place to stay."

She had just used [Inspection] on Shen Yang. Her Talent was only C Tier—an ability that gave her strength proportional to how much she'd eaten. Leaving aside the Talent tier, eating enough to actually use the ability was an extreme luxury in a world like this. No wonder she was still lv.1. She couldn't even fuel her ability.

Bai Shan rolled her bracer-clad wrist idly. She'd hoped that with the [Breathing Bracer], she might be able to use her first skill [Inspection] at range as well as the second—but no. Physical contact was still required to view a target's Talent.

...She hated initiating physical contact with people most of all. And she had to find excuses to do it herself.

Bai Shan looked down at her right wrist and said absently, "It's just that places you'd call 'safe' are getting very few and far between."

More than that—being too "safe" was a bad thing in Phase One of the game. No danger meant no way to level up.

Only three days left until Phase One ended. On the third day from now—February 3rd—anyone who hadn't reached Level 5 would be eliminated.

How many people in this town hadn't reached Level 5 yet?

"Bai Shan, I'm back!"

From across the way, Lin Huijun finished getting the rundown from the red-vest worker and jogged back with a bounce in her step, crouching down beside Bai Shan's low stool. She pressed a flyer into Bai Shan's hands.

Bai Shan took it with mild curiosity and read it through. Gradually, her eyebrows rose.

It was actually a sort of newsletter—printed that very day. It listed recent mutated creature activity, complete with a danger rating system. Anyone who wanted to hunt monsters could gather at a designated location; the government would send someone to lead a party, both to eliminate threats and to help everyone level up and complete the game objective.

There was even a dedicated support group for the elderly, with younger people assigned to help older residents understand the game panel and their Talent abilities.

The model was remarkable—but it required a certain level of local order to function. Leadership with genuine authority, organizational capacity, a small and manageable population, roughly equal ability distribution, and no mutated creatures or lawbreakers too powerful to be controlled.

This town seemed to meet all those conditions. It might genuinely be able to get most of its people through Phase One without incident.

Bai Shan handed the flyer back to Lin Huijun and said, "Not bad"—and at that moment, a gray sports car pulled up directly in front of them. The sleek body caught the light with a cool gleam.

...What kind of person drove a useless sports car around in times like these? At least go to a dealership and zero-purchase an SUV.

The door opened. A young woman in a trench coat stepped out. Seeing Bai Shan and Lin Huijun, a faint look of surprise crossed her face.

"We meet again. Fate seems to keep putting us in the same place."

The woman smiled.

Bai Shan recognized her too—the woman who had approached them on the river bridge. Back then she'd been driving a different luxury car.

"Last time I wasn't entirely upfront with you. I apologize for that. My name is Qin Zhen—let me know if there's anything you need."

Her words fell into a brief silence. Lin Huijun was about to say something polite, but Bai Shan stood up from her stool first, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly.

"It was nothing. We'd already forgotten about it."

"I'm Bai Shan. The 'shan' as in kindness."

Bai Shan reached out her hand toward the woman as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Qin Zhen looked at the hand with the dark green bracer around the wrist. She hesitated for just a moment—then smiled and extended her own hand.

The two hands clasped, then simultaneously let go.

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