Chapter 45-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 45
[Does anyone know Camila Caro? I've barely seen any information about her.]
[Whoever Camila is, anyone who dares challenge someone ranked twenty-one places above them must have serious courage and strength!]
[I heard that people who dared leak leaderboard names on the channel got targeted for revenge, so nobody's willing to share anymore?]
[Everyone on the leaderboard deserves to die! They're all devils conspiring with the game to devour people!]
[Cheng Yue's Talent seems to be gravity manipulation. Maybe Camila's ability happens to counter it, which is why she dared to challenge.]
[I'm betting on the mysterious Camila to win!]
[Before the apocalypse she was a red-hot celebrity, after it she became a famous powerhouse. Cheng Yue is literally built like a protagonist — there's no way she loses!]
[If Cheng Yue wins, will her rank jump into the top 30? Or even higher?]
[Anderson's been dead for days and still nobody dares challenge first place. The whole leaderboard is full of cowards.]
[To become a Top 100 player, you'd have made some big waves locally. One Tyrant, one Camila, and a few others — the world channel doesn't recognise a single one of them. Isn't that bizarre?]
[Wait — could there be ghost accounts on the leaderboard? I mean, lots of games plant high-level accounts controlled by the devs to push competition...]
[Oh my god, that might be the only explanation for why nobody's ever seen the Tyrant.]
[That trick is used to push players into spending money. What good does it do in real life?]
[Seriously, do we have to go full conspiracy theory? Don't forget how big our planet is. The Tyrant and the other low-profile players on the leaderboard probably live in sparsely populated areas where nobody would notice them.]
[You're right. I'm one of those poor souls who happened to be in the middle of a wilderness survival challenge when the game descended!]
[Wait, that's Harper at rank 20!]
[Rank 20 is already Level 29? I'm still a Level-8 scrub. I'd kill to know what it's like having a second Skill...]
Most players had always been intensely curious about the names on the leaderboard — a voyeuristic fascination not unlike the celebrity gossip of the pre-apocalypse era. Discussing these powerhouses had become one of the few remaining forms of entertainment. When Harper Brown, ranked 20th, appeared in person, the world channel's scrolling speed surged.
[Lv.29 Harper Brown: Oh no, I would trade my second Skill for a normal world with actual human beings! Even if you tell me how ugly humanity can be — heh, if you were here, you wouldn't think that way.]
[Lv.29 Harper Brown: Anyone is welcome to challenge me. But you'd better hurry, kids. I'm afraid I won't last much longer.]
[Lv.29 Harper Brown: This place is the end of mankind.]
Nobody knew what Harper Brown had been through. Her words baffled the vast majority. As one of humanity's elite, she should have been a dominant force wherever she was. Yet between the lines leaked a helpless despair — as though she were just another ordinary person struggling through the apocalypse.
But she was ranked 20th among four hundred million human players...
Those active on the world channel were generally not weak — people under severe survival pressure had no time to loiter there. Some with sharper instincts caught a whiff of danger in Harper's words. A belated chill crept up certain spines.
Everyone still able to speak on the channel was one of the lucky ones. The unlucky could never open their mouths again.
Especially in the most unfortunate, most devastated places — the people there never got the chance to tell the lucky ones just how dangerous this world was before they were silenced forever.
Human players' information flowed constantly through the game channel. Ranks one through one hundred were plain to see. But what about the other "players" — the non-human ones? Where were the strongest among them, and what heights had they reached?
Once you thought that far, you could understand why Harper Brown's mood was so bleak. She was stranded in an uninhabited wilderness that had likely become a paradise for certain mutated creatures. Humans were to them what rats had once been to human cities.
"Let's go. We've come far enough."
Bai Shan spoke from the driver's seat as she clumsily attempted a U-turn. The birds circling the car did not swoop down to attack. They simply watched — from the sky, from the lake, from the trees — a dense, silent multitude.
After entering the Wetlands, Lin Huijun had killed six mutated giant birds, and the RV had ploughed in like a battering ram.
Even with her new item greatly boosting her agility, dealing with flying birds was no easy feat. They were too nimble, possessed a measure of intelligence, and coordinated with one another.
"How many birds actually live here?"
Lin Huijun murmured, peering out the window. At first she had been stunned by the mountains of white droppings, but the deeper they ventured into the Wetlands, the more staggering the sheer number of birds became.
She agreed they should turn back. Pushing further might spiral into something unmanageable.
The tyres carved a clear arc in the white-coated ground. Bai Shan managed the U-turn successfully. Her face was expressionless. "There are a lot of them, and their coordination is exceptional. They probed our strength, stopped attacking once they had a read on us, and let us push deeper — as if executing some kind of strategy... This is practically an air force. How has nobody in Nanzhou City realised how terrifying they are?"
The reason for not going deeper was simple: for individuals, the risk-reward ratio here was poor. But for an entire city, this was a problem that had to be dealt with.
A cold, amused edge crept into Bai Shan's voice as she answered her own question: "Well, I suppose ordinary people don't go diving headfirst into a sea of droppings, so how would they notice?"
Lin Huijun expertly ignored the jab and zeroed in on the substance. "Their individual strength is average, but the massive numbers combined with coordinated tactics could absolutely become a major headache for Nanzhou City down the line. We should probably give someone a heads-up."
With that, she opened her game panel.
Bai Shan had not noticed Lin Huijun's action. She nodded and continued her deadpan commentary: "Sure. When the organisation sends people to come after us, I'll mention it to them."
She strongly suspected that if nobody in Nanzhou City took these birds seriously and let them grow unchecked, the city would eventually look exactly like the 1.0 version. But by that time, she figured she would have driven all the way to the Arctic.
"Done editing!"
Lin Huijun looked up, having posted a message to the Nanzhou City channel.
Bai Shan could not be bothered with Lin Huijun's extra initiative. She checked the time — only 4 p.m., over two hours until dark, no rush to head back. "Any other places worth checking out nearby?"
Text flew across the pale-blue screen at a dizzying pace. Lin Huijun quickly adjusted the refresh speed and managed to make out the channel discussions, plucking one or two useful nuggets from the chaos.
"Someone's suggesting we go to Tianye Forest nearby. Apparently there's a Fir Tree that rains down needles — hardly anyone comes out alive..."
Bai Shan raised an eyebrow slightly. She located "Tianye Forest" on the navigation map and headed straight for it without another word.
[Lv.11 Lin Huijun: We just visited the Wetlands. The Mutated Bird Flock here is enormous, highly intelligent, and capable of teamwork. The threat level is extremely high. We hope Nanzhou City's government and the organisation pay closer attention to the Wetlands situation. Sorry for the intrusion, and thank you.]
[Lv.11 Lin Huijun: Also, are there any other troublesome Mutated Creatures near the Wetlands? If it's convenient, please let us know. Thanks.]
The two messages sent the Nanzhou City channel into a frenzy.
Until then, everyone had been discussing Cheng Yue's Position Swap Battle. The overwhelming majority hoped she would win — calling her Nanzhou City's guardian deity would not have been an exaggeration. Half the posts were prayers for her safe return; a smaller fraction cursed the mysterious Camila.
And another chunk had been tirelessly discussing the newly minted dangerous elements since yesterday.
Now one of those very dangerous elements had the audacity to pop up on the channel in broad daylight!
[So let me get this straight — these two punched Huo Yi in the morning, kicked the Wetlands in the afternoon, and they're still out there looking for more?]
[Where are the organisation's people? Huo Yi's family hasn't done anything?]
[I heard Cheng Yue was originally supposed to deal with those two, but then she got pulled into the Position Swap Battle out of nowhere.]
[The Wetlands ARE incredibly dangerous! Birds fly into the city all the time and snatch people. The Player Association should have been managing that ages ago!]
[Report! I just saw a white RV on the road. Not sure if it's them.]
[Wasn't the car black?]
[With Cheng Yue gone, the organisation has nobody else who can handle them? This is trampling our dignity into the ground.]
[Your dignity's already on the ground getting trampled daily. They're just two young girls clearing a few Mutated Creatures. You people making such a fuss are the ones embarrassing us locals.]
...
[The dangerous elements just came out of Tianye Forest. Took them less than 15 minutes. That killer Fir Tree is down!]
[Impressive for Level-17 experts.]
[Seriously? My little sister was killed by that tree just passing through the area.]
[Look here — Changning District has a Mutated Deer Herd on the loose. Very tricky!]
The Nanzhou City channel erupted in fervent discussion tracking the two dangerous elements' latest movements. "Lin Huijun" and "Bai Shan" briefly rivalled "Cheng Yue" in sheer presence.
Because Cheng Yue had been pulled into the globally spotlighted Position Swap Battle, she was being extensively discussed on the world channel as well. Many outsiders and foreign players, eager for more on Cheng Yue, switched to the Nanzhou City channel — only to find two unfamiliar names mentioned alongside hers over and over.
"Bai Shan" in particular kept coming up — some said Cheng Yue had originally been slated to fight her.
A certain person on the far side of an ocean, puzzled, exited the Nanzhou City channel. Not wanting to reveal herself in a foreign region, she posted her question on the world channel instead.
[Who is Bai Shan?]
In the cacophony of the world channel, the name "Bai Shan" appeared for the very first time. The question drowned in the torrent of messages. Nobody noticed.
"The public sentiment probably isn't going the way you expected."
In an elegantly furnished lounge, Qin Zhen scrolled through the Nanzhou City channel and remarked.
Xu Da, seated on the opposite sofa, snorted. "Doesn't matter. Once Cheng Yue comes back and kills them, nobody will even remember this chatter afterward. No one cares about losers."
"True. But — Cheng Yue is taking rather a long time."
Qin Zhen observed.
A shadow flickered through Xu Da's eyes, though she put on an air of nonchalance with a smile. "The only reference we have is the Tyrant, who took ten minutes. But that's the Tyrant."
"For the vast majority, everyone on the leaderboard is an elite. A Position Swap Battle can't possibly be a walk in the park."
Qin Zhen nodded in agreement. Xu Da's expression improved — but only briefly. The lounge door was suddenly pushed open. Xu Da scowled, glaring at the entrance.
Then her expression froze on her face, and her pupils trembled as though she had seen a ghost.
"No need to wait on us."
Bai Shan walked in, picked out a comfortable spot on the sofa, and sat down. She unscrewed a bottle of water from the table.
"We've completed three Special-Class Missions. We're just here to collect the rewards we're owed, per the organisation's own rules — please, carry on discussing the Position Swap Battle."
Bai Shan said it with perfect ease, her gaze drifting from Xu Da to another unexpected face — Qin Zhen.
*
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