Chapter 20-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
[Name: Qin Zhen
Level: 10
Talent: Priceless True Love(A)
Skill 1: True Martial
The higher the value of the target destroyed, the more powerful the weapon manifested. Manifested weapons can only be used five times.
Skill 2: Unlocks at Level 20
Skill 3: Unlocks at Level 50
Skill 4: Unlocks at Level 90]
Bai Shan withdrew her hand, expression undisturbed. Qin Zhen gave her a small smile and turned to walk in another direction—presumably to find the red-vest workers and get the lay of the land.
Her first skill was formidable, Bai Shan thought. "Destroyed" had no specific qualifier, which meant items, ordinary animals, mutated creatures, and humans could all be "destroyed" to become her weapon.
Bai Shan remembered seeing her last time. She'd been in the passenger seat of a Rolls-Royce, with someone else at the wheel.
This time, Qin Zhen was alone.
At this point in the game, Level 10 was absolutely one in ten thousand. Every five levels in Tomorrow's Dominator represented a qualitative leap. At Level 10, Qin Zhen almost certainly had blood on her hands.
How many people Qin Zhen had killed was none of Bai Shan's business—as long as she didn't come looking for trouble.
"You two know each other?" Shen Yang watched the young woman walk away, then glanced enviously at her sports car and lowered her voice to ask Bai Shan, "That kind of person—you can tell just by looking that she was doing well before the game descended and will still be doing well after."
"Ugh. To think that on day two of the game, someone was already Level 20—and here I am on day four, still Level 1. I feel like I'm done for."
Shen Yang sighed dramatically. But Bai Shan got the sense that she wasn't nearly as desperate as she was letting on. Lin Huijun had brought a folding chair out from the RV too, and the three of them sat together. Lin Huijun offered some reassurance: "You still have three days. That's plenty of time. I asked the worker—even outsiders can join the government-organized hunting parties."
"That's true, so I've been training today. I'll sign up tomorrow—do you two want to come with us?" Shen Yang asked brightly.
Bai Shan said, "No need. We've already met the requirement."
Shen Yang, a third-year university student, stared in shock. "What?! You two are that intense?! This is high-school-student energy, I guess."
If she'd been a third-year in high school when this happened, she'd probably have gotten fired up too—but alas, Shen Yang was now a university student who couldn't get out of bed before noon and exclusively used AI to churn out assignment after assignment of filler papers.
Still, she was broadly optimistic about surviving. If she really failed to meet the level requirement by day seven... being eliminated probably wouldn't hurt too much, right?
Lin Huijun said abruptly, "I'm planning to go out tomorrow."
Bai Shan turned to stare at her. "You've been Level 5 for a while. Why would you bother?"
There weren't that many mutated plants and animals in this area. Even if the locally organized hunting went smoothly and everything was cleared out, there was no guarantee everyone would make it to Level 5. Why was Lin Huijun suddenly getting involved?
"There's a swarm of mutated mantises around the town's granary," Lin Huijun explained. "Apparently very difficult to handle. Tomorrow the mayor is organizing a group to go eliminate them. I want to go help."
Shen Yang's eyes went wide and she immediately objected, "I heard about that too—those mantises have already killed a lot of people! Please don't do something reckless and dangerous on impulse."
Mantises were already highly skilled predators in nature—expert at camouflage, ambush, and moving at blinding speed.
After mutation, Shen Yang was afraid she'd be killed before she even caught a glimpse of one.
She turned and shot Bai Shan a look, hoping she'd talk her companion out of it.
Unexpectedly, Bai Shan—who up to this point had shown no interest in anything—visibly brightened. "There's something like that? We have to go."
The enthusiasm left the other two wondering if they'd heard wrong. They stared at her.
"Don't look at me like that—I'm not going as a volunteer."
"Lin Huijun, you can do it out of the goodness of your heart if you want. I expect to be paid—food, water, diesel. We need those."
Hearing that was Bai Shan's angle, Lin Huijun's brow creased slightly. But she wasn't surprised, and she couldn't argue against it—that kind of exchange was fine as long as both parties agreed.
"Alright, Bai Shan, but don't expect me to go negotiate the trade for you."
Lin Huijun held up a finger and wagged it at Bai Shan. "If the mayor won't agree to a trade, I'll still go."
Bai Shan snorted softly. That was exactly what she'd figured. Although they were traveling together, it didn't mean they had to share the same stance—drawing those lines clearly upfront was for the best.
Shen Yang eyed Bai Shan skeptically and murmured, "Hey—what level are you? Six? Seven? Ten?"
Aside from the announced Tyrant, the highest level Shen Yang had seen on the World Channel was 11. She told Bai Shan, "The mayor here is really strong—she dealt with a big monster at the reservoir up in the mountains. Apparently she's around Level 10."
"Unless you're a higher level than her, I can't see why she'd need your help!"
Shen Yang tried to put it as tactfully as she could. What would a mayor have to gain from trading with a high school girl? Being Level 5 was impressive, sure—but this world was full of impressive people.
Bai Shan made a vague "mm-hmm" in response and then tried to shoo her away. "Aren't you supposed to go fight monsters tomorrow? Don't waste your time on us."
Shen Yang threw her hands up with a sigh. "What can I do? Most of the people parked here have their families with them and are on guard. You two are the only ones who aren't. Well—there is one other car of young people, but they're... strange."
"Strange?"
Lin Huijun suddenly joined the conversation. Her gaze fixed on something across the way, and she raised a hand, pointing to the right. "Strange as in that car?"
Bai Shan followed Lin Huijun's pointing finger to a white van parked in the corner of the basketball court. At some point the window had been rolled down, and a young man was leaning against the glass, staring blankly at nothing in particular.
One glance and Bai Shan felt a strong sense of wrongness. "Staring blankly" was too generous a description—it implied a certain level of animation he didn't have.
His face was waxy yellow, lips drained of color. His neck was craned at a long, rigid angle. His head sat on his body like a plastic mannequin's, fixed in place.
Bai Shan watched him for a full thirty seconds. In those thirty seconds, he did not blink once.
"...Did this game add some kind of zombie mod?"
Bai Shan narrowed her eyes.
She thought back through nine complete playthroughs, starting to wonder if she'd been playing a pirated version of Tomorrow's Dominator.
Shen Yang nodded vigorously. "Everyone in that car is like that—the first time I tried talking to them I genuinely thought the zombies had arrived! I had the same thought."
"But they don't bite. They can hold a conversation normally—that's why they were allowed in. I talked to them a bit. I think they were just scared out of their wits."
"Scared out of their wits?" Lin Huijun said. "Did they run into some kind of monster on the way here, or... people?"
Shen Yang shook her head and pointed toward the mountains beyond the black RV. The ridgelines stretched out endlessly.
Qianxi Town was situated near a 4A-rated scenic area: Qianxi Forest Park. Dense vegetation, active wildlife, mountains, rivers, and waterfalls. Since it opened, the park had maintained a steady stream of visitors, and the town had been able to develop its own modest tourism economy.
But last year, a series of major landslides triggered by typhoons and heavy rain had forced the park into indefinite closure for safety reasons.
That had dealt a serious blow to the town's tourism economy—but hadn't dampened certain people's enthusiasm for Qianxi Forest Park. The very danger that had gotten it closed turned it into a free, thrilling destination for daredevils. It became a legendary spot for illegal hikes. Experienced hikers were said to have accidentally died in there that year, their bodies still unfound.
Shen Yang lowered her voice. "They were a group who'd gone in there for the thrill of it. They got lost inside before the game descended. It was actually the game descending—and the abilities they got from it—that let them find their way out. Without it, they'd have died in there."
Lin Huijun looked bewildered. There were so many beautiful and safe places in the world—were these people going into dangerous, forbidden areas out of genuine love of nature and a desire to push themselves, or out of vanity and arrogance?
"Did they tell you this themselves?"
Bai Shan asked, eyes still on the van.
"I pieced it together from what they said. They speak in single words at a time—talk to them long enough and you forget how to have a normal conversation yourself."
"But I'm sure they're holding something back. Something they didn't say."
Shen Yang put on a mysterious expression and crooked a finger at them both. Bai Shan and Lin Huijun leaned in with curiosity.
"I've read a lot of reports about this kind of thing. Getting lost deep in the mountains is seriously dangerous—maybe someone got injured and couldn't keep moving. Maybe the food ran out. Or they ran into large predators... My guess is someone in the group definitely didn't make it out. Which is why they all look like that."
"And maybe the way they died was especially brutal—the kind caused by the worst of human nature, you know what I mean?"
Bai Shan nodded with mock gravity and agreed, "Right. The most dangerous thing in the apocalypse is people who sexually assault excrement."
"Exactly! Human nature is the scariest thing!" Shen Yang seemed to remember something and nodded vigorously with a look of genuine horror.
Bai Shan sighed and stood up, firmly but not unkindly steering Shen Yang out of their space, informing her that they needed to rest.
"What? The sun just went down—how can you sleep at your age!"
Having sent Shen Yang on her way, Bai Shan exhaled with great relief. She felt that today's social energy quota had been fully depleted. She caught Lin Huijun's eye, feeling a small pang of regret—she should have tried convincing Lin Huijun to handle negotiations tomorrow on her behalf...
Bai Shan shook her head immediately, banishing that cowardly thought.
Dinner that evening: four servings of self-heating rice between them. The town had its share of uncertain elements, but after dinner the two of them sat looking up at the dense stars in the dark sky, listening to the faint sounds of everyday conversation drifting over from somewhere nearby. Moonlight fell softly on the low rooftops, and a quiet, settled sense of contentment rose in both of them.
An evening without phones or internet turned out to be nothing like as unbearable as they'd imagined. The RV had a shelf of books stockpiled on it. Bai Shan had never paid the slightest attention to them back when she'd been gaming, but tonight she took a proper look and found they were mostly the kind of thing she actually liked.
She settled in and read for a while, and as drowsiness came for her, Bai Shan curled into her blanket.
She wasn't sure how much time passed. Daylight was already streaming in when she was woken by noise outside.
"All registered households, please send one person to collect rations at the bridge entrance. Maintain order—no queue-jumping, no pushing, no fighting. Collect according to your registered portion..."
"All registered households, please send one person to collect rations at the bridge entrance. Maintain order—no queue-jumping, no pushing, no fighting. Collect according to your registered portion..."
The loudspeaker looped its announcement. Bai Shan had no chance of going back to sleep. She got out of the RV to find Lin Huijun already doing a warm-up workout.
The ration collection apparently didn't extend to outsiders. The people parked on the basketball court stayed in the area, each doing their own thing. An elderly person and a child had taken over the outdoor fitness equipment—a side-by-side stepper rocking steadily back and forth.
Bai Shan breathed in the fresh morning air and joined Lin Huijun's workout for a while. After a few bites of bread, the two of them headed out to find the mayor.
Before leaving, Bai Shan glanced over at the strange white van from the day before. Its doors and windows were all shut tight. Not one person had gotten out.
Following the red-vest worker's directions, they found the local government building quickly and were shown through to the mayor without trouble.
The office was packed with several people and felt rather cramped. Still, even without a good read on social cues, Bai Shan could have picked out the mayor at a glance.
For her level of position, the mayor of Qianxi Town was relatively young—she looked barely thirty. She wore a dusty but hard-wearing jacket and stood at the far end of the office, listening attentively to something someone was telling her.
"Mayor, we'll meet in the main hall at five o'clock this afternoon."
The young woman standing beside the mayor said this with a warm smile—nothing like the cold, detached look she'd worn on the river bridge when Bai Shan had seen through her calculations.
"Thank you both so much for joining us—with your help, I'm sure we'll deal with them this time."
So Qin Zhen had signed up too.
She turned her head and spotted Bai Shan and Lin Huijun. Not only did she seem unsurprised—she gave them both a genuine-looking smile.
"Bai Shan, you came too?"
Qin Zhen asked, as though they were close acquaintances.
The mayor looked toward the doorway. Two unfamiliar young faces stood at the entrance—both tall enough and carrying themselves well, standing out in the crowd. But there was still a certain student quality about them.
"And these two young students are...?" she asked.
Lin Huijun raised her hand. "Mayor, I'd like to join your team. I'm Level 8—I should be able to help."
Worried the mayor might not believe her, Lin Huijun offered to post in the local channel to prove her level—but the mayor looked at her for a moment, then suddenly laughed.
"The two of you—are you eighteen yet?"
"Uh..." Lin Huijun didn't want to lie.
"I can't very well take minors into battle." The mayor said it half-jokingly and half in earnest. "I'd still like to hold onto this position for a while longer. Hopefully with room for promotion."
Lin Huijun had no comeback. She raised her arm and elbowed Bai Shan beside her, signaling—your turn.
Bai Shan didn't move.
Lin Huijun turned to look at her, a silent question in her eyes: Aren't you trying to make a deal?
Bai Shan gave her a small shrug—as if to say, nothing she could do about it either.
The mayor turned to her aide and said, "Go and ask these two students what they need. If they're in a rough spot, give them some water and food—don't be stingy, we're not short on that yet..."
And so, the two underage visitors were politely shown the door.
Standing outside the building, Lin Huijun felt a little deflated. She understood the reasoning behind this kind of "special consideration"—especially in an end-of-the-world scenario, that kind of thoughtfulness was worth more than almost anything. But she didn't enjoy being treated as someone who needed looking after.
The two of them walked back in silence. It wasn't until they'd turned into an empty alley that the quiet Bai Shan finally spoke, unhurried.
"Don't be disheartened. We already got the information we needed—main hall, five o'clock this afternoon."
Lin Huijun looked at her, unable to fully read her. "The mayor is already sending someone to deliver supplies to us. You never do anything unnecessary—surely you're not going to show up uninvited when they've already turned us down?"
Now that the supplies were taken care of, it seemed unlikely Bai Shan would push herself on people who'd clearly said no.
Bai Shan's hands were in the pockets of her tracksuit. Her expression held a slyness that was hard to place. "So—are you going or not?"
"...Let's go and see."
Lin Huijun answered hesitatingly. If Bai Shan was going, she was going—to keep an eye on Bai Shan.
Something told her Bai Shan still had something else planned.
Bai Shan shot a sideways glance at the person beside her, quietly turning something over in her mind, footsteps as unhurried as always.
Honestly speaking, the mayor was a good person—more than generous with outsiders who'd done nothing to contribute. But what Bai Shan wanted wasn't the little care package sent to placate two girls.
She and Qin Zhen had only met twice. But her instincts told her Qin Zhen wasn't there purely out of goodwill.
Qin Zhen's Talent [Priceless True Love]. First skill: [True Martial]. The higher the value of the destroyed target, the more powerful the weapon Qin Zhen could manifest—dramatically amplifying her strength.
Bai Shan was very curious: how did this skill assess a target's "value"?
Once, an object's value could be measured in plain money. A person's value could be measured—in a narrow sense—by their net worth, their social influence.
But now, the old evaluation system had collapsed. A new one was still being built.
What was the value of a mayor who was also a Level 10 player? What was the value of a granary that was absolutely vital in an end-of-the-world scenario?
Bai Shan didn't know. The only thing she was certain of was—if Qin Zhen played the villain she suspected her of being, the two of them could leave with a full load of supplies and keep moving.
Warm sunlight lay across the country road, taking the edge off the winter chill. The two of them walked side by side, and without quite noticing it, Bai Shan kicked a piece of rubble off the concrete path.
Author's Note:
Going up on the ranking board tomorrow—posting early today.
Having chapters saved in advance is the best feeling.
Comments
Post a Comment