Chapter 52-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 52
Cheng Yue flinched as if scalded. Her body trembled, and she wrenched her gaze away from those vortex-like eyes, looking out at the surroundings.
She suddenly recalled a day when she was nineteen. On a whim, after finishing work on set, she went to the airport alone — no manager, no assistant, no fans waiting to greet her. She wanted to take a trip that belonged solely to Cheng Yue.
Stepping into the airport terminal alone, she studied this place she'd visited countless times as if seeing it for the first time. The hall's lights were dazzlingly bright, leaving her at a loss. She worried about being recognized, but the passersby hurried along with their own affairs — no one paid her any attention.
Cheng Yue stood in the terminal dragging her suitcase, cold sweat beading on her forehead under the blazing lights.
She didn't know what to do next. How to check in? Where to drop off luggage? Had she really been to this airport before?
In the past, her mother, manager, and assistant had handled all of this. A celebrity's time was expensive — not to be wasted on such trivialities. Yet these mundane little things that comprised Cheng Yue's life, yet felt utterly foreign to her, somehow defeated her in that moment.
All she had to do was ask a staff member. All she had to do was look up a guide on her phone.
But Cheng Yue retreated. She walked past the staff members in their blue uniforms and left the airport.
Because she didn't even have the experience of asking a stranger for help or searching for guides online. From a very young age, the time she could have spent on living had been bought out by child modeling wages of a thousand yuan per hour.
Today, both the lake and the sky were a hazy gray, yet the light was unusually bright, shining from every direction. In a daze, twenty-two-year-old Cheng Yue was transported back to that airport at nineteen.
"Cheng Yue, bow before me."
She heard the person across from her speaking.
Bow? What did bowing mean... Cheng Yue vaguely recalled that at the airport, a staff member in a blue uniform had seemed to approach her — but she had turned and walked away.
Cheng Yue's gaze swept around once more before finally landing on the young person in the blue jacket standing before her.
The will to die dissipated in an instant.
"...Alright."
"I accept your radiance."
She was still lost, but this time, she didn't want to miss a flicker of brand-new light within arm's reach — even if she didn't know where that light would lead her.
[Player Cheng Yue has bowed before you!]
[Your "Admonition" can now freely command the talent "The Absolute Center"!]
Bai Shan withdrew the hand resting on the side of Cheng Yue's neck and slipped both hands into her jacket pockets. She blinked once, pressing the pleasure deep into her dark eyes, maintaining her nonchalant expression.
"Let's head back to shore first."
With a new talent in hand, Bai Shan turned her head in high spirits to look toward the distant lakeshore — only to find not a single person there. Lin Huijun was nowhere to be seen.
She recalled Lin Huijun's talent ability and its strong side effects. A flicker of unease crossed her mind, and she immediately activated the newly acquired talent.
Her toes left the blue box. Her body, now extraordinarily light, floated upward. Bai Shan could barely feel her own weight, as though she had become a wisp of free-floating air — yet she could control this impossibly light body with ease.
The sensation was wonderfully novel. Bai Shan pushed off the blue box with her right foot, and a blue blur shot across the lake surface like a bird of prey, alighting on the stone path at the shore.
Cheng Yue was startled for a moment, then immediately matched Bai Shan's pace, leaping from the center of the lake to the shore.
"...Bai Shan, who exactly are you?"
After a long hesitation, Cheng Yue finally asked.
"You already have a guess, don't you."
Bai Shan walked onto the street, scanning the surroundings. Without slowing her stride, she turned her head and glanced back at Cheng Yue.
"Whoever you think I am — that's who I am."
Given this ambiguous answer, Cheng Yue stumbled as she followed behind Bai Shan. The confusion had left her face, replaced by an expression so shocked it appeared blank. Her entire body was stiff as if struck by lightning.
An inconceivable name slowly surfaced in Cheng Yue's mind.
Before she could muster the courage to confirm the answer in her heart, the person ahead tossed out another casually demanding statement.
"By the way, tell me everything that happened during the Position Swap Battle."
"I'm very curious."
*
On the outskirts of Nanzhou City, a manor sat nestled in a secluded mountainside.
"Hurry, hurry — I have to get there before them..."
Xu Da pulled Qin Zhen along, running through the castle's cavernous corridors. Their footsteps echoed off the gilded halls. As they neared a corner, Qin Zhen suddenly tugged Xu Da's hand backward, forcing her to stop.
She looked back at Qin Zhen. Before Qin Zhen could speak, a bespectacled middle-aged man emerged from around the corner with three people in tow.
"Second Uncle."
"Xu Da — what are you doing here?"
Xu Da regarded the man and put on an ingratiating smile. He smiled back at her. Then, almost simultaneously, both dropped their smiles in theatrical unison, their expressions going cold.
Invisible wind blades slashed toward the opposite side. The middle-aged man stood his ground as the marble floor erupted into a stone wall before him.
The wind blades carved two shallow grooves into the stone wall. From behind it, two others charged out with murderous intent.
Xu Da had virtually no solo combat experience. She looked to Qin Zhen for help. Qin Zhen reached into her scarf and produced two silver necklaces, tossing them casually to the ground. The necklaces transformed into two silvery-white metallic snakes that coiled around the two charging attackers, bringing them down.
One produced a dagger-type item and frantically stabbed at the ever-tightening metal snakes. The other drew a gun and shoved the barrel into the gaping maw of a snake.
Gunshots and metallic clangs rang out in rapid succession, but the two metal snakes were completely unfazed. Their emerald gemstone eyes drew closer and closer, growing larger and larger in the two men's vision.
Qin Zhen walked past the two struggling in vain. The pair behind the stone wall seemed to sense the approaching threat. The wall suddenly widened and shot upward with a rumble, crushing the paintings on both corridor walls. A half-broken frame clattered to the floor.
Just as the stone wall was about to seal off the passage entirely, Qin Zhen lifted the bag she had been carrying on her arm and tossed it over — the black crocodile-skin designer bag sailed through the gap between the wall and the ceiling just before it closed.
"Ahhh!"
Screams erupted from behind the stone wall. Something slammed against the wall and fell. Fighting, struggling, the tearing of flesh... interspersed with hissing sounds that made even Xu Da shudder.
"Hold it off, hold—ahhhh!"
Xu Da stared at the stone wall, her face deathly pale. Then, suddenly, her hand was clasped again.
"We can go now."
Qin Zhen said.
The moment she spoke, the towering stone wall vanished and the corridor returned to its original state. A black crocodile at least three meters long lay sprawled on the luxurious carpet, with two mangled corpses strewn across the hallway.
Qin Zhen led Xu Da over the bodies. The black crocodile lumbered along behind them. Its hide was exceptionally glossy — gleaming like a limited-edition designer bag on careful display in a glass showcase, commanding all attention.
As Xu Da was pulled forward, she couldn't help glancing back at the mangled bodies in the corner.
That was her second uncle. She had genuinely wanted him dead just moments ago, but seeing someone who had once been alive — someone who liked to flatter, who occasionally gave her gifts — now lying in such a gruesome state, and then recalling Cheng Yue's killing spree not long before... the Xu Family had really come to this!
Where exactly had things gone wrong?
Xu Da shook her head, pulled her gaze back, and quickened her pace. The priority was finding the Xu Family's last remaining assets — without them, she had no way to survive!
To rise quickly, the Xu Family had made many enemies. She had always been high-profile in her conduct. Once the Xu Family capsized, who knew how many people would come looking for trouble.
Grandfather had died horribly, but his talent [The Great Collector] had left behind many items locked away in this castle. The old miser had only distributed some insignificant items — the truly powerful ones were kept firmly under lock and key in his vault.
She had told Bai Shan that her grandfather Xu Hao could replicate items, but that was actually just Skill 1 of the talent [The Great Collector].
The first person in Nanzhou City to break past Level 20 had actually been Xu Hao. The old codger had unlocked Skill 2 long ago!
Cheng Yue was merely the public-facing target. Behind the scenes, the old man had funneled the experience packages to himself first. Perhaps because his combat ability was too poor, it was Cheng Yue who appeared on the leaderboard.
Xu Da didn't know exactly what the old man's Skill 2 was. She had only vaguely heard that Xu Hao had some sort of collaboration with the government using Skill 2, creating something formidable.
If even the government had treated the old man with extreme courtesy and deference for that thing — if she could gain control of his vault... not only would her safety be guaranteed, she might even become the new head of the Xu Family, perhaps even maintain the Xu Family's standing in Nanzhou City!
At that thought, whatever small trace of sorrow Xu Da still felt vanished completely. Her steps grew urgent with anticipation.
Xu Da knew her grandfather Xu Hao to some degree — he liked hiding important things in basements. But after circling the castle, they found no passage leading underground.
"Could I have guessed wrong? The items aren't in this manor?"
"Xu Da, are you sure? Your grandfather's item vault is beneath this manor?" Qin Zhen asked.
Xu Da racked her brain. "I once overheard him arguing with my uncle — something about 'Don't you dare set your sights on Mid-Mountain Manor'... so there's definitely something important stored at Mid-Mountain Manor."
"My second uncle came here too — I'm certain the vault is here."
Such critical information — of course Xu Hao wouldn't share it with a student-aged Xu Da. But he certainly needed someone to help manage these affairs, and her second uncle had obviously been in the know.
"Damn it, I should have captured him first and made him talk before dealing with him."
Xu Da stomped her foot in frustration. After saying this, she suddenly cast a guilty glance at Qin Zhen — but Qin Zhen wasn't looking at her. She was gazing thoughtfully at the floor. Xu Da let out a breath of relief.
She was genuinely moved that Qin Zhen had appeared at her most vulnerable moment, giving her someone to depend on.
Without Qin Zhen, facing her second uncle and his three subordinates just now would have meant certain death.
But the skills Qin Zhen had just displayed left her uneasy.
Qin Zhen had told her that her ability could transform objects into animals. Xu Da had seen the two silver snakes before. But it wasn't until just now that she realized what Qin Zhen had previously shown was merely the tip of the iceberg.
Xu Da had initially thought Qin Zhen's head-to-toe designer labels were nouveau riche vanity. She had even secretly laughed about it. Now she had a creeping suspicion it might be related to Qin Zhen's ability.
Could this person truly be trusted?
Xu Da looked at Qin Zhen's focused profile. She quietly put some distance between them. Then she saw Qin Zhen stomp the floor hard.
Qin Zhen stood on the solid flooring and said, "If we can't find a way down, we'll just have to make one through the floor."
*
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