Chapter 49-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 49
[Bzzt—]
[Player Camila has died!]
[Camila's Position Swap has failed!]
"...Cheng Yue won!"
Huang Yuci froze for a moment, her voice trembling with barely contained excitement.
Excited shouts erupted from both sides of the street, a chattering chorus filtering into the sealed vehicle.
Lin Huijun, still driving, kept her eyes on the road ahead and let out a quiet sigh. Although she had bet on Cheng Yue winning, she knew full well that Cheng Yue's return would spell big trouble for them — the Organization had been treating them as experience fodder.
Cheng Yue had already been a powerhouse ranked 61st among human players. Having killed Camila, where would her strength leap to?
The heartstrings that had been slack for three days pulled taut again. Yet Lin Huijun's face betrayed no anxiety or worry. She stole a quick glance at Bai Shan and teased:
"You just said you'd honor the bet, Bai Shan. Don't forget your promise to be chauffeur for a day."
The slap in the face came rather quickly — Bai Shan had just declared Camila would win, and the very next moment Camila's swap had failed. But Bai Shan showed no embarrassment. Instead, she wore a contemplative expression.
"The announcement just now — it glitched for a second. Did you two notice?"
Bai Shan always caught the strangest details. Lin Huijun was used to it by now. Setting aside any concern about the Organization or Cheng Yue's retribution, she cooperatively dug through her memory. "There did seem to be a stuttering static sound before the announcement."
"That's normal." Huang Yuci said. "When the game first descended, and during the Tyrant's Position Swap Battle, there was that same sound — like a computer clearing its throat."
"...The Tyrant's Position Swap Battle had it too?"
Bai Shan asked.
Huang Yuci nodded firmly. She absolutely despised Charlie Anderson and had publicly insulted him on the World Channel multiple times — banking on the fact that he couldn't possibly cross the ocean to kill her. So when Anderson initiated the Position Swap Battle, she had been refreshing the World Channel obsessively, unwilling to miss even a whisper of news.
"Yes, just a very faint buzzing, stuttering on and off. I was actually a bit scared when I heard it, but thankfully the game immediately announced the good news of Charlie Anderson's failure."
Bai Shan only recalled that on the day the game descended, the announcement voice had also seemed to stutter — and then she watched as the [Tyrant]'s Level 89 account was suppressed down to Level 20.
Beyond that, Bai Shan had noticed something else.
"The game just said 'Player Camila has died' — that's a different format from the last Position Swap Battle's announcement."
"It does seem different. Last time it was something like 'the Tyrant killed Charlie Anderson'... but the meaning is the same, right?" The small burst of excitement faded, and a trace of worry crept into Huang Yuci's eyes. Half-joking, half-serious, she said, "Cheng Yue's back. If you leave now, you might still make it."
Although they had only known each other for a few days, and Huang Yuci had initially approached them hoping to score some benefits, she didn't want to see Bai Shan or Lin Huijun come to any harm. It wasn't about profit or the bit of connection they'd built — she simply felt it would be a waste.
They were the most extraordinary yet not-annoying people Huang Yuci had met since the game's descent. A gray world needed people like them to give it some color.
"Yuci, let's drop you off first."
The car turned a corner. Lin Huijun spoke gently, not directly responding to Huang Yuci's well-meaning advice — but Huang Yuci could already feel her resolute attitude.
"If we dare to act, we dare to face the consequences."
Bai Shan said in a breezy tone, "I'm ready to pay the price at any time. Can't say the same for the other side."
Over the past few days, the astonishing power Bai Shan had displayed in Nanzhou City had exceeded everyone's expectations. Any troublesome mutant was as easy to catch as small fish and shrimp in her presence. Huang Yuci felt that the old Cheng Yue might genuinely have lost to Bai Shan.
But just moments ago, Cheng Yue had won the Position Swap Battle and returned. She would have gained generous leveling experience and items from Camila. It was hard for Huang Yuci to be optimistic.
"Alright then, you two. Let me check where Cheng Yue's ranking has climbed to..."
A blue holographic screen popped up in front of Huang Yuci. The World Channel was as lively as ever, refreshing at a dizzying pace. She opened the real-time player power leaderboard.
Huang Yuci started from number one — the Tyrant — and scrolled downward, searching for Cheng Yue's name. With each swipe, her brows furrowed a little tighter.
When she finally found Cheng Yue's name, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief, checked again and again, and finally blurted out in near-shock: "This ranking can't be right — how is this possible!"
*
"Cheng Yue! Welcome back!"
"Our guardian of Nanzhou City has finally returned! These past few days without you, Nanzhou City was practically turning upside down..."
"This is the winner of the second Position Swap Battle — second only to the Tyrant!"
"Move aside, move aside! Let Mom take a look — are you hurt anywhere?... Oh God, why are you covered in blood?"
A young woman in a black leather jacket suddenly appeared on an empty street, filthy from head to toe, reeking of blood and decay. Yet the people who had been standing guard in this area were overjoyed, showing not the slightest disgust as they rushed forward excitedly.
The clamor reached Cheng Yue before the fresh air of Nanzhou City did. Her eyes blinked open and shut as her legs buckled beneath her onto the asphalt. Still dazed, she looked blankly at the faces around her, and a sudden tingling crept across her scalp.
Her eyelashes were still caked with blood, the red haze blurring her vision. It was as though she were still in that slum, surrounded by rings of faceless corpses waving their rotting arms, about to drag her into the abyss with them.
Cheng Yue, trapped at the center of the crowd, suddenly shoved away the middle-aged woman who was reaching to wipe her face, startling a chorus of screams. She glared viciously around her. The joy drained from the faces of those surrounding her as they stumbled backward in fear.
"Ahhh!"
The next moment, screams erupted one after another. Over a dozen people were flung outward like sheets of paper, tumbling and crashing in the distance. Cheng Yue took a deep breath — after three days, she finally smelled fresh air.
"Bad people outside. Be careful."
A young, childlike voice lingered in her mind. The rumble of cable cars passing over their towers still echoed in her ears.
I'm already back, Cheng Yue thought, pressing her hands to her head, trying to banish the noise.
She dragged her exhausted body forward aimlessly, ignoring the stares from all directions.
No matter which way she walked, Cheng Yue discovered with sorrow that she still seemed to be inside that suspended cable car.
Mountain wind rocked the cable car gently. The legless Camila struggled to prop herself up before her. Camila's eyes were large, her blinks slow — as if with each blink, a little more life drained away.
Despite being so weak she could barely move, Camila still opened her mouth to answer her question.
"You, three days, here?"
"Yes."
With Camila's answer, the dried, congealed blood inside the cable car suddenly transformed into crystalline spikes, shooting from every direction.
In the cramped cable car, several blood spikes were about to pierce Cheng Yue's body when they suddenly froze in midair, then reversed along their original trajectories.
Cheng Yue had barely exhaled in relief when blood pillars erupted from below, tearing through her pants and stabbing into her thighs — like Blood Thorns ensnaring a nightingale.
A cry of pain swirled at the edge of her lips, but Cheng Yue swallowed it down hard.
An iron hammer materialized in her hand. She smashed it downward at her feet with all her might. The hammer struck the dark red blood pillars, but the seemingly fragile, crystalline columns didn't budge in the slightest!
Not only that — they drove deeper into her flesh.
...She had let her guard down. No matter how weak and pitiful Camila appeared, she was still ranked 80th among four hundred million players! A person who dared to initiate a Position Swap Battle!
"—Ahhh!"
A furious roar. Pain and rage channeled into raw force. Camila's broken body floated lightly upward as Cheng Yue's hands clamped around her throat in a death grip.
The Blood Thorns coiled around Cheng Yue's legs like living things. Her face drained of color rapidly as she clearly felt blood flowing downward, being absorbed endlessly by the Blood Thorns.
"Blood manipulation? Is that your talent or an item?"
Camila couldn't understand the words, but she seemed to grasp the meaning. With her throat locked shut, she couldn't make a sound. She managed to force a faint smile.
Cheng Yue realized Camila couldn't speak right now, but she couldn't let go. Camila could control blood — the only way to kill her was through bloodless means.
Kill or be killed — those were the rules of the Position Swap Battle. This was the battle Camila herself had initiated. She couldn't blame Cheng Yue!
Her body grew colder and colder. The hands strangling Camila trembled. Cheng Yue clenched her chattering teeth. She had no solution for the Blood Thorns — the only answer she could think of was right before her eyes: kill Camila.
The long contest of endurance was nearing its end. Would Camila's Blood Thorns drain her life force first, or would she strangle Camila first?
Her vision began to blur. Camila's face warped in her sight.
It seemed like an eternity had passed, or perhaps only a few seconds.
Thud — Camila's body dropped back onto the seat.
Cheng Yue's legs had almost lost all sensation. She looked down in a daze — the Blood Thorns had vanished, dissolved into a pool of dark blood.
"Run."
"Bad people outside. Be careful."
The girl whose face still bore the softness of youth summoned her last shred of strength to utter the final two sentences of her brief life. Her large eyes never managed to close, even at the very end.
...Had she killed this girl?
Cheng Yue reached out in a daze, about to close those lifeless eyes—
[Player Camila has died!]
[Camila's Position Swap has failed!]
"Cheng Yue, what on earth happened!"
The cacophony of voices crashed together once more. Cheng Yue wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and her vision cleared slightly.
Around her, several vehicles had surrounded her at some point, boxing her in on an unfamiliar street, sealing off her path.
A sharp-eyed old man was ushered forward by a group of people, striding toward her with fury, his usual benevolence nowhere to be seen.
"Why — why is your ranking — 62nd!"
"You won the Position Swap Battle, killed Camila, and dropped to 62nd?"
"Cheng Yue, what the hell have you been doing!"
Hearing that she was ranked 62nd, Cheng Yue stood in stunned silence for a while. Then, she actually laughed.
"...So that's how it is." Cheng Yue's voice was hoarse. She laughed as she spoke, "So that's how it is."
Before entering the Position Swap Battle, Camila had already been gravely injured. She had been hiding in the cable car, holding on for at least three days. She had been on the verge of death all along.
It wasn't until Cheng Yue found Camila in the cable car that Camila activated her Blood Thorns in a last-ditch effort — her only chance to survive.
The Blood Thorns dissolving — Cheng Yue absolutely didn't believe that was Camila's kindness. No one could override the instinct to survive.
Most likely, Camila simply couldn't sustain it any longer. She was too badly wounded. Whether or not Cheng Yue had appeared, she would have exhausted her life force and died right there at that moment.
Cheng Yue was left with only one question — why had Camila spent her final moments telling her those words?... Was it because Cheng Yue's hands, as they strangled her, had been trembling with weakness the entire time?
"Disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful. We waited three days for you, and this is the laughable result we get!"
"The Organization kept those two outsiders around for three days, just waiting for your return..."
"The World Channel is roasting us to pieces..."
"Cheng Yue, do you still remember your mission?"
Familiar faces overlapped with the voices, one after another. A suffocating tide swallowed her head in an instant. Cheng Yue's vision blurred again. She had clearly returned, yet everything seemed different.
"Mission, mission... What mission do I even have!"
Cheng Yue shouted the question.
"Those two outsiders are no longer your mission, Cheng Yue. I'll leave them to someone more suitable."
"In your current state, there's no way you can complete the mission."
The suited old man's face was dark. He stood toward the back of the crowd, making no effort to hide his disappointment and contempt. A middle-aged woman pushed through the crowd and rushed to his ear, desperately trying to persuade him of something, but his expression remained cold and hard.
*
The RV pulled into a residential area and stopped at the entrance of a rundown housing complex.
The moment Huang Yuci stepped out of the car, she heard loud chatter coming from inside. Her expression shifted again and again.
"That bitch Cheng Yue actually came back alive — she should have died there to pay for Jiayuan's life!"
"Sigh, she's just a blade for the Organization... Jiayuan was too impulsive back then..."
"She did come back, but her ranking is only 62nd? What's going on?"
"Huang Yuci isn't here again? Heh, figures — first it was Jiayuan, now it's Cheng Yue. She just doesn't want to hang around us low-levels..."
"Cheng Yue's getting roasted all over the World Channel. Wonder what face Huang Yuci will make when she gets back?"
Lin Huijun, who had gotten out of the car with Huang Yuci, heard it all too. Her expression grew grave, and she looked at Huang Yuci with concern.
"Don't worry about it. Old classmates from the same dorm building... there's been some misunderstanding."
Huang Yuci waved it off, wearing a pasted-on smile, and quipped, "Well, you can relax now — Cheng Yue actually went backward after coming back. But you two should still watch out for the Organization."
After chatting for a few more minutes and seeing that Huang Yuci seemed to be in decent spirits, Lin Huijun turned and got back into the car.
The moment she climbed in, she found Bai Shan sitting motionless in her seat, staring intently ahead — she was probably looking at the game's holographic screen.
"Are you watching the World Channel?"
Lin Huijun had been driving, but she also knew that Cheng Yue's ranking going backward instead of forward had ignited a firestorm of discussion on the World Channel.
"No, I'm watching the leaderboard." Bai Shan replied.
"The leaderboard? Any new names?"
Bai Shan didn't answer immediately. She stared at the holographic screen, her eyes gleaming.
[No.59 Cheng Yue]
[No.55 Cheng Yue]
[No.49 Cheng Yue]
...
[No.42 Cheng Yue]
On the leaderboard, Cheng Yue's name was climbing at a frenzied pace!
Black boots stepped over yet another fallen body. The heavy iron hammer struck without mercy at a head that had turned to flee. The fragile skull burst like a watermelon, splattering red and white. The suited body crumpled to the ground. Beside it, the middle-aged woman was drenched in blood, too shocked to react.
[Congratulations, Player Cheng Yue has reached Level 20!]
[Talent Skill 2 unlocked — Reverse World!]
"Now, I'm confident I can take on your so-called mission."
Cheng Yue glanced at the body on the ground. Her eyes still held a trace of confusion, yet a flash of exhilaration crossed her lips.
*
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