Chapter 68-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 68
"Don't open the Game Panel?"
Lin Huijun leaned in for a closer look, confirming she hadn't misread. She asked, puzzled, "I can understand the rest, but why can't we open the Game Panel?"
The same question swirled in Bai Shan's mind. She even felt an itch to try opening the Game Panel herself, but Hai City's situation was simply too strange, so she suppressed the urge.
"Woof!"
The Corgi finished scratching its itch, lowered its stubby little leg, and suddenly barked at them.
Its round black eyes seemed to glance at them meaningfully, then it looked up toward the closed ceiling hatch.
Bai Shan understood. She telekinetically pushed open the rooftop hatch.
Those short legs immediately sprang upward, the stocky body transforming into a streak of yellow as it shot through the opening and landed on the roof before the rain could even hit the floor of the cabin.
Bai Shan quickly closed the hatch, blocking out the torrential rain.
Without needing any explanation, Lin Huijun also understood the Corgi's intent. She ran back to the driver's seat and looked up — the Corgi had already leaped onto an abandoned vehicle nearby.
She started the engine at once and followed the Corgi.
The short, stocky medium-sized dog navigated the urban landscape with remarkable agility — jumping from an abandoned car roof to a restaurant sign, from a roadside tree to a trash can further ahead. Its small figure darted left and right like a bright yellow thread weaving through the dark, oppressive city, a solitary beacon of light in a bleak world.
Lin Huijun could no longer afford to worry about the engine or the brakes. She floored the gas pedal, and the once-sluggish black RV surged forward at full speed, sending up wave after wave of water that crashed against the vehicle.
The RV sat high off the ground, offering a broader and higher vantage point than most vehicles. Lin Huijun easily kept pace with the guiding Corgi.
The Corgi led them back the way they'd come. After rounding two streets, it leaped into a street-facing residential building the black RV had passed earlier, vanishing from sight. The RV pulled up below.
Lin Huijun peered out through the window and noticed a tightly shut window on the fifth floor suddenly swing open.
"Bai Shan, this is the place. Let's go."
Lin Huijun was about to unbuckle her seatbelt when the RV suddenly lurched. She snapped to attention, only to realize it wasn't a mutant attack — the RV was rising.
Their vantage point climbed higher and higher. Bai Shan levitated the RV up to the eighth-floor rooftop, setting it down steadily in the rain.
The two opened the doors and jumped out. The rusted iron door to the rooftop stairwell was shut tight.
Bai Shan scanned the area and spotted an iron rod beside the door. She picked it up and gave it a couple of test swings.
Seeing this, Lin Huijun stepped back two paces and watched as Bai Shan swung the rod — clang — smashing the lock off the iron door.
The lock clattered to the ground. The tottering iron door was pushed open, and the two entered the dim stairwell, making their way down to the fifth floor.
Arriving at the fifth-floor corridor, Bai Shan glanced to the right and noticed one apartment had its door ajar.
The iron rod she'd used to break the lock was still in her grip. She dragged it behind her as she walked, the metal scraping against the floor with a shrill screech that sliced through the quiet of the residential building.
Yan An peeked from behind the door and saw a figure in a black windbreaker and black cap, drenched in rain, dragging a long rod toward her. The corridor outside was battered by a downpour, and the approaching figure radiated the chilling presence of a serial killer stalking through a rainy night, drawing closer step by step.
Behind the door, Yan An gripped her gun tightly, cold sweat seeping from her clenched fist. Her pupils contracted with tension as she tracked the figure's every move.
Just as she was about to raise the gun, another person dashed in front of the "serial killer" and called through the half-open door, "Is anyone there?"
This other person had a gentle demeanor, well-proportioned features, and an air of vitality that naturally inspired trust.
But Yan An still clutched her gun, and from behind the door, she said coldly, "Put the rod down."
Bai Shan glanced down, then casually tossed the rod away. The rusted bar sailed down the stairwell and landed below, lying forlornly in the rain.
"Any other requests?" Bai Shan said.
A voice came from behind the door. "Don't try to use your Talent abilities. In Hai City, that's suicide."
Bai Shan and Lin Huijun exchanged a glance — what did she mean they couldn't use Talent abilities?
Lin Huijun noticed the woman behind the door seemed on edge. She didn't press with questions, instead softening her voice. "We came from Nanzhou City. We had reasons we couldn't avoid for coming to Hai City. The two of us mean no harm. Thank you — and thank your... dog — for the warning."
"If we're bothering you, we can leave. Please don't feel any pressure."
With that, Lin Huijun took Bai Shan's arm and made a show of turning to leave.
"Wait."
The voice behind the door fell silent for a moment before speaking again. "Come in."
A relaxed smile immediately spread across Lin Huijun's face. She pulled Bai Shan inside and saw the person behind the door.
A woman who looked fairly young, yet whose face was deeply fatigued. Her body language was tense and guarded, and the eyes watching them were filled with wariness.
She stood in the doorway, scrutinizing them up close for a moment, before finally stepping aside and inviting them in.
The moment they entered, the enthusiastic Corgi pounced on them. Lin Huijun couldn't help but crouch down and pet the little dog's head — the fur was silky smooth.
Then she stood up and introduced herself. "I'm Lin Huijun, and this is my friend Bai Shan. How should we address you?"
"...Yan An."
The exhausted young woman hesitantly offered her name, her voice hoarse, like sandpaper stripped of all elasticity.
"Yan An-jie."
Lin Huijun called out with a warm smile. Yan An's expression softened slightly.
Bai Shan, standing off to the side, glanced at the gun in Yan An's hand. Completely devoid of any intention to ingratiate herself, she asked bluntly, "Why did you send your dog to deliver this to us?"
She pulled out the card holder from her pocket and set it on the wooden table beside them. The slip of paper with the three lines of writing was still intact inside.
Yan An's expression froze, turning dark and unreadable.
The eased atmosphere took a sharp turn. The simply furnished room sank into silence. Yan An lowered her eyes, the corners of her mouth tightened, lost in some unknowable thought.
"Bai Shan!"
Lin Huijun called out Bai Shan's name with a hint of reproach, lightly nudging her with an elbow.
Bai Shan stood unmoved with her arms crossed, her dark eyes locked onto Yan An.
"Alright, girls, you don't have to play good cop, bad cop with me."
Yan An let out a cold laugh and met Bai Shan's probing gaze. Every word she spoke sounded as if it had been ground against coarse sand. "I've seen enough people come to Hai City to die. Today I had a moment of goodwill and decided to warn you people who are marching to your own deaths."
"Seems like I wasted my breath. You two don't seem like the type who needs my warning."
As she spoke, Yan An's gaze swept pointedly over Bai Shan. Bai Shan turned to Lin Huijun. Faced with Lin Huijun's reproachful stare, she innocently raised an eyebrow.
"You want food, water, weapons, even game items — I can give you all of that."
Bai Shan looked back at Yan An. "Tell us — what exactly happened in Hai City?"
Much of Yan An's exhausted appearance stemmed from how thin she was — sunken cheeks, protruding cheekbones, unnaturally deep eye sockets, pale lips. Add to that the empty little living room with only a deflated bag of dog food sitting in the corner, and it was obvious this young woman called Yan An was severely lacking in supplies.
Yet Yan An showed no sign of temptation. She gave a cryptic smile, her eyes carrying an emotion Bai Shan couldn't decipher — something close to pity, as if they were the ones lacking resources.
"What happened in Hai City is simple — lots of monsters appeared. All kinds of monsters."
"But out where you're from, besides monsters, something far more complicated happened."
Bai Shan and Lin Huijun frowned simultaneously.
"Game Talents, Game Panels, Leaderboards, first place, second place... I have to tell you — there is no game here."
Yan An set the gun on the table, then held up her empty hands. "I'm an ordinary person."
Her hoarse voice fell like a thunderclap, draining the color from both their faces.
Bai Shan's pupils dilated instantly. She suddenly seized Yan An's wrist, and Yan An let out a pained yelp.
[Inspection] activated — but the familiar attribute panel didn't appear.
No level, no Talent, no skills.
She stared blankly and released her grip.
Lin Huijun, meanwhile, was struggling to digest this bombshell. Her expression was dazed, as though the revelation had knocked her completely off balance. It took her a long while before she could manage to speak.
"No game? Wait — have you never heard the voice of the game? A mechanical voice, representing a game called Tomorrow's Dominator..."
Yan An seemed unsurprised by their reactions. She rubbed her wrist and continued, "No."
"Hai City has only had monsters. No game has ever descended here."
"January 27th — I remember it clearly. I was at work at the bank when a two-headed mutant bird suddenly burst in. The security guard was snatched away while trying to fight it off... I quietly grabbed the gun he dropped."
"Then I ran outside and found that Hai City had descended into total chaos."
"Many animals and plants had mutated into monsters. Everyone could only hide at home and wait for rescue. That very night, it suddenly started pouring — and the rain hasn't stopped since."
Recalling the turmoil of that first day, Yan An still looked shaken.
Bai Shan's expression was frozen in a blank stare. How could Hai City have no game, no Talent abilities?
It was just like the 1.0 version — a post-apocalyptic world where, aside from the game's protagonist, there was nothing but rampaging monsters.
"When I learned that the outside world had a game and people had superpowers, I found it just as unbelievable and absurd as you do right now."
Yan An shook her head with a wry smile. "But that's the truth."
"Don't use your abilities in Hai City. That's my advice. You will be attacked."
"Attacked by what?" Lin Huijun asked, still stunned.
Yan An shrugged. "I don't know either."
"All I know is that plenty of outsiders like you have barged in, thinking they could be Hai City's saviors."
"But those people died even faster than an ordinary person like me."
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