Chapter 6-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
At half past noon, when Bai Shan returned from the 25th floor to the ground-floor lobby, the eerie silence made her raise her eyes and scan the surroundings. Without breaking stride, she walked straight toward the front door.
"Stop. Which unit are you from?"
"Orders from above—no running around. Wait for instructions."
The teenager wore a navy blue tracksuit, tall and thin, with a black hiking backpack slung over her shoulders. Her demeanor was as casual as if she were heading out on a field trip. She ignored the stern warning and walked past the frozen crowd.
The old man who'd called out darkened his expression. The young woman in fuzzy pajamas rushed ahead to block Bai Shan's path. Bai Shan stopped, looking at her in confusion.
"Move—where's your dog?"
Bai Shan remembered this woman. When everything first went wrong, she'd come running back with a Golden Retriever. Now her eyes were red and swollen, and the dog was nowhere to be seen.
"What cats and dogs? I've already sent people door to door to throw all those things out. Those animals will all turn into monsters!"
Only then did Bai Shan spare a glance at the security guard who'd spoken. He looked to be in his fifties—the type who'd pulled strings to land a cushy post and coast through life. Who would've thought that in a time like this, he'd be so eager to assert himself.
Bai Shan offered a well-meaning reminder: "You should worry less about cats and dogs. This building has a massive tree growing on top of it. Plants aren't exactly vegetarian."
Old Li the security guard snorted. "Who cares what tree it is? If everyone works together, we can chop it down. It's chaos outside—you think you can just run out there?"
Someone chimed in eagerly: "Uncle Li has already sent people to gather the residents. Everyone should register their abilities. There are so many of us in this building—if we look out for each other, we can definitely get through this."
"Yeah, sis, we don't even know what's going on outside. Don't go out there and get yourself killed."
"The government will figure something out. Staying home is the safest bet."
"She's the one from the 25th floor I told you about... Haohao, look—this is what happens when you don't study or go to school..."
"Dad, do I still have to go to school?"
Bai Shan raised an eyebrow, puzzled as she looked at this group. Given the current chaos, forget a security guard—even a real estate developer shouldn't command this much authority. Why was everyone following his lead?
"What level are you?" Bai Shan looked at Old Li and asked abruptly.
Old Li cracked a subtle smile. Someone beside him answered for him: "Uncle Li is already a 'Hunter'!"
"Oh. Who did you kill?"
Bai Shan had smelled a faint trace of blood when she entered the lobby. Her first thought hadn't been murder—she'd assumed a mutated creature had broken in and the guard had killed it, gaining experience and leveling up, which explained his elevated status.
If that were the case, it would also confirm Bai Shan's theory: "players" didn't just include humans, but any living creature with special abilities.
The game's deliberate vagueness on this point was practically designed to incite humans to slaughter each other. But in Bai Shan's view, this little trap was easy to crack—as soon as one person killed a mutated animal or plant and discovered they also counted as players, the news would spread quickly even without the game's channel or chat functions.
After Bai Shan's words fell, the lobby atmosphere turned awkward. The silence was deafening.
Then Bai Shan realized what had happened. Her lazy expression vanished, and her eyes widened almost imperceptibly.
"...You actually killed someone."
She'd only been making her usual caustic remark—she hadn't expected to be right.
Killing a single human player was apparently just enough to reach Level 5 and meet the requirement.
"Do you people realize what you're doing? Murder?"
The game had only officially descended an hour and a half ago, and someone had already crossed the line and killed for personal gain. And this butcher even had a flock of lambs orbiting around him.
"Don't be naive. So what if he killed someone?" Someone jumped out to retort. "The game rules don't leave room for you to play saint. Don't forget—only killing players lets you level up. Those who can't level up get erased!"
Bai Shan glanced at the young white-collar man who'd spoken. "The game never said only humans count as players."
"Right! The game called us 'human players,' but the rules just say 'players.' The monsters outside might count too..."
From the corner, a middle schooler in an oversized school uniform held up her notebook. But the white-collar man cut her off: "Then why don't you and her go outside and kill a monster to show us!"
Bai Shan folded her arms and stared at him coldly.
She hadn't received experience from killing the mutated bat earlier, but she suspected that was due to a level cap. The way to prove it was simple enough.
Kill a person and see.
If killing a person still didn't yield experience, then there was indeed a level cap.
Bai Shan had thought she was the most prepared player in the world, but before she'd even stepped out of this building, she'd already realized she'd severely underestimated the current game arena of eight billion players.
"I was wrong." Bai Shan's cold expression thawed, and she let out a laugh. "Killing people is necessary."
The young man had initially dismissed Bai Shan, but now, looking at her expression, an inexplicable chill ran down his spine.
He instinctively stepped back, then forced himself to stop. The game had granted him powerful abilities—he had nothing to fear.
The young man secretly clenched his fists, attempting to activate his ability. Energy fluctuations rippled around him.
Bai Shan, meanwhile, kept her head down, toying with a red dart in her hand, lost in thought.
The young man guessed the dart was her ability and watched it warily.
Their confrontation had exposed the cruel topic everyone had been trying to avoid. Whether it was killing people or killing monsters, for those born in an era of peace, both were unimaginably distant.
Just as the situation was about to spiral out of control and panic engulfed everyone once more—
"Enough! What's all this talk about killing? Old Li didn't kill anyone!"
"Those who want to leave can leave. Those who want to stay can stay. Who's going to stop you young folks anyway?"
The old woman's booming voice shattered the dangerous silence.
Liu Chaoyun finished speaking and turned to Bai Shan, explaining: "Earlier there was a half-dead young man. Old Li tried to use his ability to save him out of kindness, but couldn't. Somehow that unlocked some kind of title."
"We're old and don't understand any of this. But everyone knows what kind of person Old Li usually is. He definitely didn't do it on purpose."
Bai Shan still remembered Liu Chaoyun's ecstatic, unhinged behavior when the game descended. Now, seeing her put on this warm, considerate act, Bai Shan felt like she was seeing a ghost.
The old security guard had died, and Old Li had only been on the job a short while. Life moved so fast these days—who could have any deep impression of a lobby security guard's character?
But Liu Chaoyun's words did make some people recall Old Li's usual standoffish demeanor, and doubt crept in—would someone like that really go out of his way to save someone?
The young white-collar man's gaze, which had been locked on Bai Shan, shifted to Old Li. His scalp tingled. Could this old man have used the pretense of healing to actually kill someone and complete the game objective?!
Everyone's game panel was visible only to themselves. What abilities anyone had was entirely self-reported—no one could verify.
Old Li had played the fool better than anyone. The moment the game panel appeared, he'd read his out loud and asked the younger people to explain what it meant.
In hindsight, the old man was truly cunning. His ability might not have been healing at all.
The more the young man thought about it, the more certain he became. But he didn't dare speak up, because Old Li was already Level 5—a "Hunter" who'd completed the game's objective.
Nobody knew what kind of power gap existed between a Level 1 player and a Level 5 "Hunter."
Had truly no one suspected that this old man might have deliberately killed someone under the guise of treatment?
Bai Shan scanned the faces around her. Most likely, no one dared to question it. If it was an accident, offending someone with healing abilities would do them no good. If the old man had done it deliberately, antagonizing a ruthless person in this lawless situation would be even worse.
Turning a blind eye was best for everyone.
"Old Li, don't you think what I said makes sense?" Liu Chaoyun turned to the security guard.
"Ah, I was just looking out for everyone's safety. Got a bit extreme in my thinking for a moment." The old man softened his grim expression and shot Liu Chaoyun a grateful look. "Anyone who wants to leave, go ahead. Those staying, register your abilities so we can manage things. If the authorities show up someday, this data will surely be useful."
Old Li dropped his earlier authoritarian manner and put on an approachable front, which visibly relieved quite a few people.
Bai Shan stood to the side in silence, watching the two shrewd old people play off each other.
These old foxes were better at playing the game than the young people.
Old Li simply wanted to leverage his level advantage to promote himself from security guard to building leader. It wasn't strange for someone to develop a desire for dominance and greed the moment they gained power.
What truly surprised her was Liu Chaoyun.
After the game descended, she seemed to have finally recovered from the brainwashing of the cult. Her entire demeanor and way of speaking had become normal.
Bai Shan found it interesting. She'd assumed Liu Chaoyun would take Chen Xinyi and go find her eldest daughter. After all, an old woman and a baby would be at the very bottom of the food chain in the game world.
Liu Chaoyun handed the baby to someone else to hold and took the initiative to help Old Li organize the ability registration. She wasn't great at writing, so she handed the pen and paper to each person to fill in themselves.
And the people she handed the pen to actually cooperated.
Even the self-proclaimed clever white-collar man gripped the pen and wrote for quite a while—judging by the time, he'd probably written out his skill descriptions in detail.
Bai Shan was somewhat surprised, but on second thought, nobody would write down their real abilities. No one could possibly lack that basic sense of caution.
The old woman walked up to Bai Shan but didn't offer the pen and paper. She simply stood there, watching her quietly with both eyes.
Bai Shan felt a twinge of regret—she'd wanted to see what kind of abilities everyone had made up.
Liu Chaoyun was old and in poor health. Her eyes had been puffy with protruding bags, making her look tired and pitiful. But now, Bai Shan noticed her eyes were sharper than a young person's—like glass beads wiped clean of dust.
"Bai Shan, you—hmph—shouldn't stay here."
"Don't worry, I'll get far away."
Bai Shan shrugged indifferently. Whatever Liu Chaoyun was scheming, they wouldn't be neighbors anymore. Neither she nor Chen Xinyi were any of her business.
The smart ones would leave this building. Those who stayed would be the kind of people Liu Chaoyun wanted.
Bai Shan suddenly extended her right hand toward the old woman. Liu Chaoyun dropped the kindly act immediately, her neck recoiling as she eyed Bai Shan warily.
"Can't I even shake your hand and say goodbye before I leave? Your reaction really hurts my feelings."
Bai Shan sighed theatrically. She regretted being so polite—she should have just caught the woman off guard with a touch, and she could have learned her ability.
No contact allowed? Fine. Bai Shan turned to leave. But as she reached the sealed front door, she suddenly doubled back.
Bai Shan looked down at the baby being held by a stranger. The infant had no idea what was happening in the world. She could only flail her tiny fists by instinct, straining to get closer to the familiar big sister.
Chen Xinyi was barely a year old. She was far too small—exactly the type the First Stage of Tomorrow's Dominator was designed to eliminate.
Bai Shan speculated that the First Stage's purpose was screening. The vast majority of the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled would vanish completely after seven days.
Only personally killing a target yielded experience for leveling up. Bai Shan wasn't yet sure how strong the monsters outside were, but she was confident that given this game's malice, most able-bodied people would struggle just to protect themselves.
By conservative estimates, at most half of the human players would remain after seven days. The odds of one-year-old Chen Xinyi being among that half were virtually zero.
"Chen Xinyi, goodbye."
For the first time, Bai Shan took hold of the tiny hand Chen Xinyi had stretched toward her.
She activated [Tyrant]'s first Skill: [Inspection].
Then, the trace of sentimentality in Bai Shan's eyes was swept clean away, and she abruptly let go.
[Name: Chen Xinyi Level: 1 Talent: Baby's Full Belly (SS) Skill 1: Not Giving Me Food? When the user is hungry, physical contact with any target for more than 10 seconds can silence the target's abilities for 10 minutes. Skill 2: Unlocks at Level 20 Skill 3: Unlocks at Level 50 Skill 4: Unlocks at Level 90]
Bai Shan had played nine runs of Tomorrow's Dominator. Generally speaking, the four Skills scaled in power progressively.
The D-through-SS Talent rating reflected a Talent's growth potential.
Chen Xinyi's first Skill could already silence an opponent's abilities. Her second and third Skills might unlock something like the power to strip a target's Talent entirely...
And such staggering potential was housed in a baby?
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