Chapter 65-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 65
Five minutes earlier.
Under the cool white fluorescent light, Qin Zhen twisted open a plastic bottle cap. The sharp squeak of plastic against plastic pierced the dead silence of the corridor. She tilted her head back and drained the bottle in one go.
Clatter—the empty bottle was tossed onto the empty corridor floor, rolling to a stop beside a cold, sweat-drenched face.
Qin Zhen looked down at the defiant face with eyes bulging nearly out of their sockets. Noticing his eyelids still twitching, she let out a contemptuous laugh. "Healing mineral water? I've got as much of that as I want."
She had barely hit Level 20 and entered the rankings before someone challenged her. The ploy was transparent—betting she had just finished a grueling battle, hoping to exploit an opening.
But Cui Yuxuan had guessed wrong.
He hadn't guessed wrong because of bad luck. Qin Zhen had anticipated this exact scenario long ago. She had used the Xu family members to easily grind to Level 19, stopping just short of Level 20. After her encounter with Bai Shan, she left Nanzhou City.
This morning, having ensured her whereabouts were concealed and her physical and mental condition was at peak levels, Qin Zhen killed a Level 10 player. She successfully reached Level 20.
[Priceless True Love] unlocked its second skill: [True Corrosion].
Although Cui Yuxuan had guessed wrong, Qin Zhen was happy to let him believe he was fortune's favorite. To that end, she had used a bottle of healing mineral water to put on an act.
Qin Zhen had given the Replication Furnace to Bai Shan, but she had swept up all the items Xu Hao had mass-produced with it—including over a hundred bottles of replicated healing mineral water.
After facing Cui Yuxuan, though, Qin Zhen realized her theatrics had been entirely unnecessary.
A gray-blue glint flashed through Qin Zhen's pupils, and Cui Yuxuan's panel popped up before her.
[Name: ***** Level: 19 Talent: *** (*) Skill 1: Lucky Wheel Upon learning the target's name and appearance, you may copy their talent for 24 hours. The power output depends on the number the wheel gives: minimum 30%, maximum 300%. Skill 2: Unlocks at Level 20 Skill 3: Unlocks at Level 50 Skill 4: Unlocks at Level 90]
This was an item Qin Zhen had obtained by chance—[Scout Eye].
Within a one-meter radius, it could randomly reveal two pieces of information from the target's panel.
"...Ahahahaha!"
Upon seeing Cui Yuxuan's ability, Qin Zhen doubled over with laughter.
No wonder he had gone down so easily—so effortlessly that Qin Zhen had suspected a trap.
Copying an opponent's talent was an impressive skill. With good luck and 300% output, using the opponent's own most familiar talent to crush them completely—domination on both physical and psychological levels—that was an entertaining thought indeed.
But 300% of [Priceless True Love]?
Where in this office building was there anything "of value" to destroy and weaponize? Garbage multiplied by three was still garbage!
And as it happened, her newly unlocked second skill [True Corrosion] wasn't a high-damage ability either—yet it just so happened to counter his items.
[Priceless True Love] was an A-rank talent that required time and courage to carefully cultivate and develop. It wasn't some S-rank or SS-rank talent that could destroy the world the moment you got it.
This man called Cui Yuxuan had a laughably shallow understanding of the world. To challenge someone without even anticipating this scenario—he didn't even qualify as a gambler. The fact that he'd made it this far probably meant his greatest skill was standing around with his mouth open, waiting for heaven to feed him.
This time, heaven didn't serve a meal. It delivered a fatal slap instead.
Qin Zhen was a true, seasoned gambler. For higher returns, she was willing to walk the tightrope—to willingly place her own head in the noose. But she kept the risks within a controllable range.
Until the timing was ripe, no matter how tempting the golden fruit dangling before her eyes, she would choose to walk away.
This was how she stayed in the game longer.
At some point, the body lying in the corridor had gone rigid, its faint breathing ceased. Qin Zhen walked over and touched Cui Yuxuan's corpse. The nearly six-foot human body vanished, replaced by a colorful spinning wheel.
Qin Zhen gazed at the numbers on the wheel—30%, 50%, 80%... all the way to 300%—her ears picking up the distinct pounding of her own heart.
"As expected of rank 97."
"Much appreciated."
Having spent only one spirit serpent and two wind blades, Qin Zhen walked away with a full haul.
[Player Qin Zhen has killed Player Cui Yuxuan!]
[Cui Yuxuan's Position Swap has failed!]
Accompanied by the global broadcast that set the world abuzz, the trench-coated woman from a foreign land vanished from the cold, lifeless corridor.
*
[Was it even ten minutes? Did Qin Zhen just break the Tyrant's fastest title-defense record?!]
[Please, comparing a fight between ranks 96 and 97 to ranks 1 and 2? That's an insult to the Tyrant]
[Qin Zhen jumped to rank 74!]
[Where did this Qin Zhen come from? Seems like a ruthless one]
[Wait, killing rank 97 only got her to 74? The gains aren't as big as I imagined]
[Finally a normal Position Swap... The previous two were bizarre—one won without leaking any info, the other won but might as well not have]
[@Tomorrow's Dominator, what achievement do we need to unlock the Position Swap livestream feature? We really need it, thanks]
[My guess: Cui Yuxuan's experience and items didn't boost Qin Zhen much. They were close in rank, yet Qin Zhen won quickly—her ability is probably more "tricky" than "powerful"]
[The gap between rank 2 and rank 1 might be a chasm, but the gap between 97 and 96 can't be big. Qin Zhen probably had some luck involved]
[That dog Cui Yuxuan is finally dead kkkk My brother saw his posts, secretly took family money to buy MoonCoin, and it crashed in less than two months]
[Always flexing his penthouse and luxury cars on SilkThread, shouting "crypto is the last ladder for young people," posting squid-monster-looking selfies—I've had enough of him for ages]
[Wow, speaking of Cui Yuxuan victims, there sure are a lot. Well done, Qin Zhen unnie (or oppa)!]
[Some people are insane—praising a foreigner for killing one of our own, literally crazy]
[Great K Republic just lost another high-level player. This should be a moment of grief and a wake-up call!]
[Does anyone know Qin Zhen? Male or female? Definitely Chinese?]
[Just wait—Qin Zhen only just entered the rankings. If she's the high-profile type, expect super-detailed info within two or three days]
[She just got lucky stepping in crap. Bet her name vanishes completely within two or three days!]
The world channel buzzed with endless debate. Finally something other than the same old Tyrant arguments going in circles. Bai Shan found it far more entertaining to watch from the sidelines—so lively it almost made her want to chime in.
The black RV had left Nanzhou City, merging onto the highway. The "Welcome to Nanzhou" sign in the rearview mirror grew smaller and smaller.
Lin Huijun also wanted to join the fun, but Bai Shan was simply too lazy—utterly unwilling to touch the steering wheel. Between the two of them, the hardworking one always ended up doing more. And the "one-day chauffeur" bet Bai Shan had lost still hadn't been honored.
From Nanzhou to Hai City was roughly 200 kilometers, passing through several cities and towns along the way. Under normal conditions, the drive would take two to three hours.
Given Hai City's peculiar situation, even though Lin Huijun and Bai Shan had tacitly agreed to venture in, she wasn't the type to rush in recklessly. Before entering, Lin Huijun thought it would be best to gather more clues.
"Bai Shan, how about we check out the city closest to Hai City first? What do you think?"
Bai Shan sat on the cabin sofa. She switched from the world channel to the city channel, browsed for a while, and said, "Sure, do what you think is best."
Lin Huijun's lips curved upward slightly. She gazed at the scenery ahead on the highway, then suddenly jumped to a different topic.
"I thought you'd bring Cheng Yue along."
"Hah?"
Bai Shan made an exaggerated sound of disbelief at the game screen.
"This RV is crowded enough. It cannot handle a third person's carbon dioxide."
Hearing Bai Shan's answer, Lin Huijun's smile grew more pronounced. It wasn't that she had anything against Cheng Yue—she was just used to their two-person friendship dynamic. Adding a third person would easily upset the balance, and just imagining it felt strange. This unspoken thought left her with a twinge of guilt.
Bai Shan already had Cheng Yue's talent [The Absolute Center]. She didn't need Cheng Yue tagging along as backup.
Besides, given Cheng Yue's former status—pampered and attended to her entire life—she couldn't even drive. She could only brute-force a vehicle using her powers.
For Bai Shan, one more person meant one more person to interact with. It had taken her long enough just to get used to Lin Huijun's presence. She wasn't about to invite more trouble.
As she mulled this over, Bai Shan's eyes shifted slightly.
Charlie Anderson had submitted through death.
Fatima had submitted out of gratitude.
The Thousand-Year Ginkgo had submitted through understanding.
Cheng Yue had submitted out of aimlessness.
Lin Huijun yielded to her plenty in everyday life too. Would there come a day when she suddenly received a notification that Lin Huijun had submitted to her?
Lin Huijun's talent [Blazing Sun Chariot] came with severe side effects on its first skill. The second skill might not have such drawbacks. Bai Shan decided to wait a bit longer. If Lin Huijun's second skill turned out to be decent, she would find a way to recruit Lin Huijun into the ranks of the submitted.
"Bai Shan, I just remembered—Huang Yuci mentioned that her school had those hallucinogenic mutant chrysanthemums."
"I don't think Hai City is empty."
"The anomaly in Hai City might be because a mind-control type of creature appeared and incapacitated everyone."
The black RV traveled alone on the long highway. Lin Huijun sat in the driver's seat, hands on the wheel, having already set aside her earlier lightheartedness and shifted into a more serious mode.
In just over two weeks, they had adapted to this unpredictable world, learning to adjust their mindset with swift ease.
Bai Shan closed the game screen. She turned to look out the window, her brow furrowing imperceptibly.
When Huang Yuci first mentioned Hai City's strangeness, a mind-control mutant had been Bai Shan's first thought too.
Something like the mutant chrysanthemum Huang Yuci had encountered. Something like the mutant banyan tree Bai Shan herself had faced.
But the problem was, since the second day of the game's descent—when the channel function was unlocked by her—not a shred of information had come out of Hai City. Not a single person had posted anything about the situation there.
Hai City was one of the most prosperous cities in China, with a population of tens of millions.
To trap an entire mega-city, only a Level 90 Grand Overlord-class mutant could possibly pull it off.
A Level 90 mutant appearing on the second day of the game's descent—how was that even possible?
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