Chapter 54-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 54
Under Qin Zhen's watchful gaze, Bai Shan walked into the warehouse. Without asking a single question, she reached out and touched the iron furnace's rounded top.
She activated [Inspection].
[A Furnace (crafted by player Xu Hao — now discontinued)
Function: Toss an object inside and it will spit out two copies for you. But it is by no means a generous, selfless furnace — it feeds on metal. Only when it's well-fed will it work for you.]
The description popped up. Bai Shan read it through and restrained her instinctive surge of excitement.
"This furnace can replicate game items, but it requires consuming other materials — like the cars parked outside."
As Qin Zhen spoke, she suddenly tossed one of the white spheres to Bai Shan. Bai Shan raised her hand and caught it, gripping the smooth white ball.
[Teleportation Ball (Replica)
Function: Crush it to be randomly teleported to a location within a maximum range of 10 kilometers.]
"How do you know all this?"
Bai Shan toyed with the white ball in her hand.
"Xu Da told me. She brought me here to retrieve her grandfather's belongings. Something happened along the way — she died. Then I found this place."
Hearing the news of Xu Da's death, a subtle shift crossed Cheng Yue's expression.
She knew Xu Da wasn't a good person, and Xu Da might not have thought much of her either. But a young girl who had often hovered around her, affectionately calling her "big sister" — that girl was dead now. Cheng Yue felt a complicated mix of emotions. The days gone by would never return.
Bai Shan tilted her head, listening to Qin Zhen's carefully evasive account. She raised an eyebrow slightly. No need to ask further — the "something" that happened to Xu Da was almost certainly Qin Zhen's doing.
She thought Qin Zhen was a bit like a shark hyper-sensitive to blood — the moment any creature showed a bleeding wound, she would catch the scent and lunge mercilessly to tear into it, even if they had been swimming side by side just yesterday.
"I didn't know what this furnace was. I saw it had an opening, so I just tossed something in. Didn't expect it to spit out two."
Bai Shan feigned curiosity. "Oh, you just toss things in and it works?"
"It also needs an offering. I drove a car into it."
Bai Shan glanced at the haphazardly parked cars outside and sniffed the faint scent of blood lingering in the air. "Was it the Xu Family people piled up outside who told you how it works?"
Qin Zhen shook her head with a smile, pointing at marks on the floor. "The tire tracks on the ground told me."
"Interesting."
Bai Shan muttered. She tossed the white ball Qin Zhen had given her into the furnace's square mouth, then stretched her hand toward the warehouse entrance and clenched. In the distance, a dust-covered sports car suddenly lurched to life, smashing through several other vehicles as it came roaring into the warehouse.
The sports car barreled in without slowing. Qin Zhen and Cheng Yue dodged aside just in time, watching the car charge straight at the half-height iron furnace.
Just as the car was about to slam into the furnace, its front end suddenly began to warp — as if some invisible force was crushing, folding, and crumpling it. The multi-ton vehicle twisted and deformed, squeezing through the furnace's square opening in an instant.
The iron furnace began to vibrate. It shook a few times, then stopped.
"Not enough," Qin Zhen said. "Even though the ball is only a B-tier item, replicating it isn't easy."
So Bai Shan used [Tyrannical Command] to pull in several more cars, sending them into the furnace one after another. Standing off to the side, Cheng Yue felt gust after gust of wind and almost thought she was at a car race.
It wasn't until the tenth Ferrari plunged in that the furnace began to vibrate again.
After several shudders, two white spheres were spat out and dropped to the ground. Qin Zhen reacted faster than Cheng Yue, bending down to scoop them up and handing them to Bai Shan.
Bai Shan held a ball in each hand and activated [Inspection] once more.
[Teleportation Ball (Replica)
Function: Crush it to be randomly teleported to a location within a maximum range of 10 kilometers.]
Identical replicas indeed.
Bai Shan tried to store the two balls in her game space. It failed. One ball was a replica of Qin Zhen's game item, and the other was a replica of a replica. Just as Cheng Yue had said before — replicas couldn't be stored in game space.
Bai Shan bounced the balls in her hand, gauging their weight. Very light. Replicating a single B-tier item required ten cars — roughly a dozen tons of metal.
No wonder only a select few in Nanzhou City were allowed to drive. Who knew how many cars and other metal products this unassuming furnace had devoured.
Bai Shan looked up and surveyed the spacious warehouse. She noticed drag marks on the floor — other items had definitely been stored here, but they had all been cleared out.
"Not a bad furnace, is it? The Xu Family really was hiding good stuff."
Qin Zhen patted the furnace, which rumbled with two displeased vibrations.
Bai Shan stared at the furnace, puzzling over something.
Xu Hao's Skill 1 was replicating game items. He was dead, yet this furnace remained. That meant the furnace wasn't a direct product of his item or ability — it was... some kind of byproduct?
Like the replicated items, it existed independently of the game system. It wouldn't vanish just because its creator died.
"Could he have already unlocked Skill 2?"
Bai Shan initially suspected the furnace was also a replica, but quickly dismissed the idea. [Inspection] had described it as "crafted by Xu Hao," not as a replica.
Xu Hao had a "crafting" skill as well?
That was the only explanation. The furnace hadn't vanished with Xu Hao, meaning it wasn't a game ability or a game-produced item. It was an independent creation Xu Hao had forged using his ability — an object anyone could possess.
Xu Hao's Talent was probably S-tier or SS-tier.
The young woman who had been watching Qin Zhen the entire time suddenly felt a chill run down her spine again.
"Yes, Xu Da told me Xu Hao had already reached Level 20 and unlocked Skill 2, though Xu Da didn't know the specifics — perhaps Miss Cheng Yue might know a bit of the inside story?"
Qin Zhen responded to Cheng Yue's conspicuously watchful gaze with a beaming smile.
"I don't know."
Cheng Yue turned her face away, her expression darkening, her tone slightly rigid.
The person across from her exuded an unsettling, uncontrollable aura of danger.
Bai Shan paid no attention to the undercurrent between them. She gripped the furnace and examined it from all angles, silently analyzing — Xu Hao's Skill 1 was replication, and Skill 2 was most likely creation.
Since he already had the ability to replicate, why would he create an item designed for replication?
The answer wasn't hard to guess. Xu Hao's Skill 1 replication had a cost. It might consume physical materials like the furnace did, though Bai Shan was more inclined to believe it consumed something from Xu Hao himself — something like time, lifespan, health, luck... something deeply personal.
That was why the Player Association's Contribution Point prices for items were astronomically high, and why even Cheng Yue and the other Xu Family members hadn't gotten their hands on a single replicated item.
If Xu Hao's Skill 1 replication could truly mass-produce, the Xu Family would have dominated the entire province by the time Bai Shan arrived.
As for the cost of Skill 1 replication, Xu Hao had certainly never told a soul. That was the nature of a businessman — inflate the bubble to attract more investment, and once you hold enough resources, there's a chance you can turn the bubble into reality. Fail and you're a fraud; succeed and you're a brilliant entrepreneur.
Xu Hao had been rather lucky. After unlocking Skill 2, he built this furnace — no personal cost required, enabling the possibility of mass-producing replicas.
Bai Shan exhaled. The regret in her heart instantly dissipated.
She despised Talents that demanded personal sacrifice. Xu Hao's Skill 1 was disposable — what mattered was that the "item replicator" she wanted was right under her hands!
Even if it was a voracious metal-eater.
A dozen tons of metal for one B-tier item. To replicate an SS-tier item, wouldn't that take tens of thousands of tons?
But tens of thousands of tons of metal still weighed less than a single strand of her own hair. On that point, Bai Shan could somewhat understand Xu Hao.
"So Miss Cheng Yue doesn't have a great memory? A few months ago at that brand launch event, you even asked me for an autograph. Being forgotten is a bit hurtful."
"...Too much has happened lately. I can't recall clearly."
"The more complex the situation, the more we need to stay focused and clear-headed. But I'm just a minor player — you really don't need to remember me."
"...I'm sorry, I really don't remember."
Inside the warehouse, Cheng Yue struggled helplessly through Qin Zhen's verbal sparring. When Bai Shan finished sorting her thoughts and rejoined the conversation, she looked at the theatrically wounded Qin Zhen and cut in.
"Qin Zhen, you cleaned out everything else in the warehouse. Why did you leave this furnace behind and wait for us?"
The rule about surrendering cars had existed since before they entered Nanzhou City. That meant this metal-devouring furnace had been here for at least eight or nine days. During that time, Xu Hao had surely produced quite a few items. The warehouse showed signs of storage, yet not a single item remained besides the furnace.
"I arrived first, so naturally everything here belongs to me."
Qin Zhen stroked the furnace with a hint of reluctance. "I stayed behind — left this furnace here — because it has a far more valuable use..."
A red dart materialized silently in Bai Shan's palm. She idly toyed with it, her gaze locked on Qin Zhen.
Qin Zhen turned around and met Bai Shan's eyes. Her body suddenly shifted toward Bai Shan.
The red dart left Bai Shan's hand without hesitation, streaking toward Qin Zhen's throat. But Qin Zhen seemed to have anticipated it — the silver snake hidden in her coat collar emerged almost simultaneously, catching the lethal dart in its jaws.
"Qin Zhen, what exactly do you want?"
Bai Shan frowned. She was in no rush to strike again, standing in place and watching as Qin Zhen, heedless of the danger, closed the distance.
"I just want to make up for my initial mistake. Bai Shan, I truly regret how things started between us."
In two or three steps Qin Zhen stood before Bai Shan. She was slightly shorter. Looking down, Bai Shan could see her eyes — ordinary brown-black irises that somehow shimmered with an almost mesmerizing gleam.
"I'm giving you this furnace. Next time we meet, there's no need to look at me with murderous intent, is there?"
Qin Zhen said with a smile.
A white sphere appeared in Qin Zhen's hand. She gripped it and slapped it against the furnace. The ball shattered, the furnace let out a loud clang, and her figure vanished from the spot.
In the instant she disappeared, a small object flew from Qin Zhen's other hand. Bai Shan caught it. She looked up — Qin Zhen was already gone.
Cheng Yue's expression turned grave. She murmured, "Just letting her go like that?"
Bai Shan looked down at the small object in her palm, silent for a moment.
A white chess piece lay in her palm — a white king crowned with a cross, the symbol of royalty on the chessboard.
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