Chapter 50-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 50
World Channel.
[What's going on? Is the leaderboard bugged?]
[She's up to 42nd! Did it take half an hour after the Position Swap Battle to settle her score?]
[I knew it — how could she come back from a Position Swap Battle and actually drop a rank?]
[This crappy game is already playing on such a grand scale, and it still has bugs this basic?]
[I watched Cheng Yue's rank climb with my own eyes. It doesn't look like data lag.]
[If it's not data lag, then at this rate of climbing... is she killing people?]
[Killing ordinary players wouldn't make her rise that fast. Unless she's killing high-level players — but how could high-level players be taken down like cutting vegetables?]
[Any locals got intel?]
[Local here — we don't dare go anywhere near her, okay!]
[Cheng Yue seems to have gone insane.]
"What exactly is going on?"
Lin Huijun gripped the steering wheel, asking Bai Shan beside her, "Has anyone on the channel said anything?"
Bai Shan said, "People on the World Channel and the Nanzhou City channel are saying Cheng Yue's gone insane."
"We'll know the specifics when we get there."
Lin Huijun clenched her teeth in a grin. "Cheng Yue's gone insane, and we're the kind of people who charge toward the tiger knowing it's there. We're not exactly normal either."
Nanzhou City, which had been fairly lively moments ago, was now devoid of people. The streets were empty on both sides. Ordinary players who had survived the game's first phase had sharp instincts for danger and had retreated to safe locations to wait things out.
Up ahead, a military vehicle pulled out from a street on the left. The people on board spotted the black RV — a vehicle that had become unmistakable in Nanzhou City.
"Stop! Stop!"
Soldiers in uniform waved them down. Someone fired a warning shot into the air. Bai Shan guessed this was a Nanzhou City government vehicle.
The Xu Family's Player Association had squeezed the local government into near-irrelevance, but the two sides must have maintained some level of cooperation — otherwise the Player Association couldn't have grown to represent Nanzhou City.
"Keep driving. Don't stop."
Bai Shan instructed.
Bang bang bang! Bullets sprayed at the RV's undercarriage, but the RV rolled past the military vehicle completely unscathed — not a single bullet crater on the tires or body — and sped into the distance.
A soldier looked at the road surface and found it spotless — not a single trace of a bullet anywhere.
They had just emptied a magazine in a frenzy. How could there be zero bullet marks on the road? Had the air swallowed them?
Suddenly, a sharp pain in her palm — the gun flew from her hand. She watched helplessly as the machine gun sailed away, and not just hers — several guns whipped past her, flying toward the RV!
It happened so fast that no one could react. They could only stare wide-eyed as their weapons followed the RV into the distance.
A hand rested casually on the black RV's window ledge. If anyone on the street had been watching, they would have seen a slender, well-defined hand holding a fistful of metal bullets, then gently releasing them. The bullets fell — but never reached the ground, vanishing into thin air the moment they left her fingers.
Then, one gun after another flew into that hand. The hand caught each one steadily, gave a light toss, and the gun too vanished into midair.
When the last gun was stored away in Skill 1 [Storage Room] of the talent [Personal Domain], Bai Shan's hand, still extended out the window, tapped the black vehicle body three times with soft, crisp knocks — a gesture of thanks.
The military vehicle left behind didn't immediately give chase. The people inside received new information over the radio. After a moment of deliberation, they ordered the vehicle to turn around and head back.
"That old bastard Xu Hao is dead. Cheng Yue's out of control. The Xu Family's affairs are none of our business — nor do they need to be."
"...What about those two people just now, and the rampaging Cheng Yue — we're leaving them alone too?" the aide asked.
"Times have changed. We used to be the enforcement arm. Now, a single person can match an entire enforcement agency — many enforcement agencies! Using force to subdue people like that is the stupidest approach."
"But..."
"Head back. Watch and wait, adapt as needed — that's the smart move."
The army-green vehicle turned around and drove off quietly in the other direction.
Meanwhile, Bai Shan had confiscated a batch of machine guns and was in an excellent mood.
"I thought we'd at least get a flat tire. I didn't expect this car could even withstand bullets — game items really are something else."
Lin Huijun marveled, her expression still tinged with confusion and surprise.
The car's GPS was set to an entrance of South Lake — that was where Cheng Yue had been pulled into the Position Swap Battle. This was no secret in Nanzhou City, because the moment Cheng Yue vanished, the Organization had stationed people there to await her return.
Over half an hour had passed since the Position Swap Battle ended. Cheng Yue was most likely still in the vicinity.
Before long, Lin Huijun spotted a wall of cars blocking the road ahead, as if transported back to a busy pre-game downtown street — gridlocked and impassable.
After the game's descent, only a select few in Nanzhou City were allowed to drive. Needless to say, every car in this jam belonged to the Organization.
The two exchanged a glance, jumped out of the RV, and slammed the doors shut.
Standing on the road, Bai Shan could already smell the tang of blood drifting from the other end.
She had a rough idea of how Cheng Yue's ranking had surged.
Cheng Yue had returned from the Position Swap Battle only to drop a rank, shocking the entire world. Speculation and controversy flooded the channels.
Only someone who had been inside a Position Swap Battle would know the specific rules. As the first person to return from one, it wasn't hard for Bai Shan to guess what had happened.
Camila had died, but it wasn't Cheng Yue who killed her. Simple as that.
Bai Shan remembered clearly — in her own Position Swap Battle with Charlie Anderson, she had willfully let Fatima deliver the final blow. Yet the post-battle announcement said "the Tyrant killed Charlie Anderson."
That was also correct, because without her involvement, Charlie Anderson wouldn't have died. Even with an outsider stepping in, she was the one who orchestrated his death.
But half an hour ago, when Cheng Yue and Camila's Position Swap Battle ended, the announcement said "Camila has died" — not "Cheng Yue killed Camila."
Combined with Cheng Yue's ranking, it could only mean one thing: someone else had killed Camila, and Cheng Yue had played almost no role in Camila's death!
This confirmed her earlier guess. Camila must have been in an extremely dangerous situation at the time, so she used the Position Swap Order to pull in a new variable. Unfortunately, Camila still failed in the end.
As for why Camila chose Cheng Yue, Bai Shan was curious too. Her intuition told her something very interesting had happened during this Position Swap Battle.
So why had Cheng Yue's ranking suddenly skyrocketed? Because the moment she emerged, she was surrounded by plenty of high-level but low-capability "experience packages."
The two made their way past the wall of cars. Every vehicle was empty. Bai Shan's sharp eyes caught a person curled up inside one of them. She gave a casual glance and walked on.
The person huddled in the car was made even more nervous by that inadvertent eye contact. She hid inside, not daring to make a sound, and clearly heard the footsteps fade away. Her racing heart settled — but only for a moment before it leaped back up again.
Knock, knock, knock — someone was tapping on the car window.
"Xu Da, it's me, Qin Zhen."
Behind the window, a face full of concern appeared.
"Don't worry, there's no danger nearby. Let me take you back to base first."
Qin Zhen's face and demeanor made her look like she was only in her twenties, which was why Xu Da had double-checked the math after seeing the birth date on her ID.
But in this moment, Qin Zhen's backlit face looked especially gentle and soft, and the care in her eyes reached straight into Xu Da's heart.
Xu Da was seventeen, from a wealthy family, well-traveled from a young age, and more mature than her peers. But she also carried the clichéd family wounds of a rich kid — she had spent more time with the nanny than with her entire family combined.
The Xu Family had quickly found a way to adapt after the game's descent. The cruelty of the apocalypse had always felt as distant as a plotline to Xu Da. Witnessing Cheng Yue's rampage was the first time she had felt her life truly threatened.
Xu Da slowly climbed up from the car floor. Through the window, she looked at Qin Zhen and felt an unexpected surge of emotion — of being cared for, of being protected. Her heart still beat fast, but it was a different kind of feeling.
A motherly, elder-like warmth.
Xu Da opened the car door and grabbed Qin Zhen's arm, clutching it like a lifeline.
*
"Lin Huijun, remember our earlier bet?"
"Of course — you lost, so you have to be chauffeur for a day. Why bring it up now?"
Bai Shan gave an exasperated look. "I'm talking about the bet to reach Level 20 in Nanzhou City!"
"Level 20? That's your goal. My target was Level 15, and I'm only 2 levels away..."
Two young people stood by the lake, trading irrelevant banter.
The temperature had dropped again today. The sky was hazy and overcast, the lake surface a sheet of gray. The withered old trees along the shore hadn't yet sprouted new green buds, lending the scene a desolate air.
In a corner, several people hiding inside a Portable Toilet listened to the approaching chatter and exchanged bewildered glances.
Suddenly, the blue Portable Toilet was kicked over. The people stacked inside tumbled with it, and a chain of startled screams erupted from within.
"These people — deal with them as you see fit."
Bai Shan pointed at the people scrambling out of the toppled toilet and addressed Lin Huijun.
"As for me, I'll go find— oh, no need."
As if sensing something, Bai Shan turned her head. On the arched bridge across South Lake, a dark figure was looking in her direction. The figure had paused on the bridge.
A cool breeze brushed her face, rippling the calm lake surface.
Through the hazy mist over the lake, neither could make out the other's expression clearly. But deep in Bai Shan's core, a thrill of excitement surged — an eager, coiled battle intent ready to spring... and perhaps the other felt the same.
Days earlier, Bai Shan and Cheng Yue had clashed briefly. Cheng Yue and her abilities hadn't even left a clear impression in Bai Shan's mind.
The Tyrant had made the number-two ranked player bow in just ten minutes. It seemed natural to have little interest in someone ranked 61st. But now Bai Shan understood — it wasn't that Cheng Yue's abilities were too weak or her ranking too low. Before entering the Position Swap Battle, Cheng Yue had merely been a puppet with an impressive facade.
Bai Shan despised fakes. The highest form of disdain wasn't hostility or harm — it was indifference, not even deigning to notice.
Though she didn't know exactly what had happened in the Position Swap Battle, now, Cheng Yue had finally become someone worth her interest!
Bai Shan rose onto her tiptoes and waved at the figure across the lake. Then she kicked the empty Portable Toilet — effortlessly, like kicking a soccer ball. The rectangular blue box shot out over the lake, bobbing on the water.
The next moment, Bai Shan leaped onto the blue box.
Against the monochrome scene of gray sky meeting gray water, Bai Shan in her navy jacket standing on the bright blue box became the only splash of color.
She crouched slightly, lowering her center of gravity. The blue box beneath her feet received an invisible driving force and shot forward — gliding across the water like a skateboard, racing straight toward the far end of the lake!
On the curved arch bridge, Cheng Yue watched the figure on the lake draw closer and closer. Through her hazy eyes, a bright blue light entered her vision.
She leaped from the bridge, skimming the lake surface like a waterbird — swift and fierce, charging straight at her opponent!
Cheng Yue stared, almost in a trance, at the blue growing ever nearer.
Just moments ago, she had destroyed the very foundation she had depended on for survival, smashing everything to pieces.
She could have kept being their puppet, pretending nothing had happened. But she kept seeing Camila's eyes. Having witnessed such a strong, unyielding life die before her, she could no longer sleepwalk through existence as a puppet.
Cheng Yue felt lighter than she ever had — as light as someone leaping from the edge of an abyss. Whether or not there was a future might not matter anymore. All she needed was one exhilarating act of self-destruction!
On the lake, two formidable forces rushed toward each other with eager abandon. The spray they kicked up shattered South Lake's tranquility once and for all.
*
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