Chapter 74-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 74
Liu Chaoyun had rarely ever seen Bai Shan smile. Bai Shan left for school with a scowl and came back the same way. Liu Chaoyun didn't care for children like that. Chen Xinyi was already crying in her ears all day long, and every time she stepped outside, she had to face this little harbinger of doom and her sour expression.
Now, seeing Bai Shan again in a faraway city, Liu Chaoyun actually felt a twinge of gladness.
It hadn't been that long, yet their last encounter felt like a lifetime ago. She was a completely reborn person now — but everyone who had known the old Liu Chaoyun was dead. No matter how magnificent her current standing, there was a loneliness to it, like parading in fine robes through the dark of night.
In just two or three weeks, countless people had knelt at her feet. They feared her, revered her, hated her. It had been so long since she'd seen eyes like these—
As if it were any ordinary day, and she was standing in the corridor outside her apartment holding a bag of groceries, when the neighbor's kid happened to come home with her school bag. The old woman and the young girl who couldn't stand each other exchanged a flat look. Occasionally, Liu Chaoyun would be the first to offer a greeting.
"Bai Shan."
Standing high up in Hai City's most glamorous shopping mall, Liu Chaoyun spoke the name like a sigh.
"Bring her up here."
The old woman turned and gave the order to those behind her.
Hengxin Shopping Mall sat near the great river. Days of extreme rainfall had sent the water level soaring. This area was submerged under ten meters of floodwater — enough to swallow the mall's second floor.
Bai Shan had used [The Absolute Center] to reduce the RV's gravity, then steered it forward with [Tyrannical Command] like a boat, crashing through a glass wall of a second-floor clothing store.
Before Liu Chaoyun could send anyone down, Bai Shan sat atop the vehicle and looked up. The heavy vehicle slowly levitated and drifted over to the still-dry third floor.
At the same time, believers who had received orders were rushing down the stairwell, surrounding the black RV parked on the third floor.
Sitting on the roof, Bai Shan laughed. It hadn't been that long, and Liu Chaoyun had gone from an ordinary city granny to a cult warlord. Truly, one should never give up on oneself at any age!
Bai Shan snapped her fingers. Every gun on the third floor flew from the believers' hands. Dozens of firearms sailed up to the roof and landed around Bai Shan.
These believers spanned every age group and background — young, middle-aged, elderly. They all stood dumbfounded. Some remained frozen in their shooting stances, others fumbled desperately to retrieve their weapons, but the precious guns flew toward the figure on the roof as if they had minds of their own.
Believers on the upper floors witnessed the scene and shouted, "She still has her Talent! Everyone be careful!"
Bai Shan was unfazed. She casually picked up a gun, aimed upward at the massive banner hanging from the mall's ceiling, and fired several shots. The deafening blasts shook the entire building. The giant banner tore loose and plummeted, falling into the water below under the astonished and fearful gazes of the crowd.
Immediately after, the believers on the fourth and fifth floors felt their guns trembling in their hands. Before they could tighten their grips, the weapons tore free and flew eagerly down to the third floor!
The now-empty-handed believers looked at one another in bewilderment, exchanging glances of confusion and dread.
After entering Hai City, everyone's abilities had vanished. The cult relied primarily on these firearms to suppress both the mutants and any unruly survivors. Now every gun had been lost — or rather, confiscated by the enemy. Even if this person's abilities disappeared after twelve hours, sitting atop that arsenal made her an enormous threat.
Gloom hung over the believers, their faces twisted with resentment. The captive survivors, meanwhile, secretly lit up with hope, exchanging frantic, meaningful glances.
Whoever this newcomer was, she couldn't possibly be worse than these cultists!
Liu Chaoyun's expression shifted. Her fingers tightened on the metal railing. She quickly regained her composure and announced:
"Since she still retains the power bestowed by God, let those who also carry His blessing deal with her!"
Liu Chaoyun deliberately raised her voice. Her naturally booming tone carried the words far, and the believers' hearts steadied at once, their expressions turning resolute again.
Of course — they were children of the Omniscient God. Even in Hai City, this god-forsaken land, the Protector still retained her miraculous power, rewarding those who had seen the light and returned to the embrace of the Great Compassionate Sacred Love Omniscient God, generously sowing divine blessings across Hai City.
Three people stepped forward. Each had completed the ritual in Hai City and been granted abilities by Liu Chaoyun.
"Let me go! Send me!"
A young man volunteered eagerly. That very morning, he had pushed his grandfather — the one who had organized the uprising — off the rooftop and gained the ability to control monsters.
On the rooftop, Liu Chaoyun had placed a conch shell in his outstretched hand. Compelled by something he couldn't explain, he blew into it. Suddenly, his mind could comprehend the speech of monsters, and he could communicate with them through thought.
Then Liu Chaoyun told him: receiving an ability meant being acknowledged by the Omniscient God. Failure to complete the ritual would be regarded as the gravest betrayal by the cult, punishable by the cruelest torture unto death.
Crushed by terror, he had done something irreversible, as if in a trance.
In the first hour after completing the ritual, he despised the old woman who had manipulated him, despised this demonic cult, despised his own weakness.
In the second hour, he felt as though everyone was watching him with mocking, hostile eyes — as if he truly were beyond redemption. What if his mother, his father, his family and friends found out? Would they look at the child who had once been their pride with those same eyes?
In the third hour, he choked down the barely edible food the cult distributed, and everyone began reciting the doctrine. The crude, artless words repeated in his mouth over and over.
When the young university student recited "This world contains only the Omniscient God and the Omniscient God's children — nothing else" — a sentence he had mouthed dozens of times over the past few days — this time, something clicked. He found salvation in those words. An epiphany struck.
Yes, all of this was the Omniscient God's design. After the game descended, bonds of family, romance, and friendship had all turned to foam. The world was undergoing violent transformation. He had merely... merely returned to his most essential human self and set foot on the path that was always meant to be.
The young man who had been seething with hatred toward Liu Chaoyun that very morning now radiated fanatical devotion, terrified she might hold a grudge and deem him insincere.
"You — stay by my side, just in case."
Liu Chaoyun pointed at a middle-aged woman. The woman bowed deeply, honored.
"Xiao Huang, Xiao Xiao — you two go."
Liu Chaoyun addressed the other two men. A memory surfaced, and a caustic smile crossed her face, though her eyes held a trace of nostalgia.
"Be careful. She's no pushover. Nobody can keep her in line."
Down on the third floor, Bai Shan stowed some of the guns in [Personal Domain] and shoved the rest through the ceiling hatch into the cabin, where they clattered across the floor.
Lin Huijun grabbed the [Frozen Tilapia] and the pistol Bai Shan had given her earlier, then jumped down from the vehicle.
The moment her feet hit the ground, she spotted a pitch-black mutant bird circling through the mall's open atrium. Every muscle in Lin Huijun's body tensed. Without [Blazing Sun Chariot] to protect her, she had to be far more cautious.
Still, she had ample experience in close-quarters combat with monsters. Even without Talent abilities, the sharpness in Lin Huijun's eyes hadn't dimmed one bit.
Bai Shan, still on the roof, paid no attention to the bird inside the mall. She sensed a different, unusual killing intent.
She looked up.
Was it her imagination? The white ceiling above seemed to ripple like water, as though something was swimming through it.
Bai Shan's gaze sharpened. Her languid shoulders tensed imperceptibly. Beneath her loose athletic jacket, her body coiled in readiness.
Suddenly, she tilted sideways, rolling half a turn across the roof and landing in a single-knee crouch. She stared behind her — a smooth marble wall faintly reflected her silhouette.
Nothing. Yet she had definitely sensed a force striking from behind.
Bai Shan eyed the polished wall and let out a quiet laugh. A faint red glow appeared in her pupils.
[Heat Imaging Sensing].
Within the temperatureless wall, a human-shaped thermal signature was hiding.
Bai Shan didn't use [Tyrannical Command]. She personally leveled her gun and approached the wall.
"Getting more suspicious by the second. There shouldn't be anyone hiding inside a wall."
She muttered in a half-crouch, yet the muzzle was aimed precisely at the bright-yellow face in her thermal vision.
Click. She pulled the trigger.
The bullet punched through the marble. Shards flew. Almost simultaneously, the figure inside the wall shot upward like a launched projectile, slippery as a fish, darting several meters in an instant.
The person swam through the wall, hidden and swift — but under Bai Shan's thermal imaging, they might as well have been running naked.
Bai Shan rose to her feet, gave a light hop, and instantly landed on the fourth-floor metal railing.
The wall-swimmer had already realized Bai Shan could see through solid surfaces and keep pace effortlessly. Their movements turned panicked. They dove through one wall after another, desperately trying to shake Bai Shan with speed.
No matter which wall they slipped into, Bai Shan was right there, maintaining a constant distance.
"Damn it! She's playing cat and mouse!"
The man raged internally, but he had no choice except to run. He'd lost his Talent abilities and could only survive on the item Liu Chaoyun had given him.
Damn Hai City! If he hadn't carelessly stumbled into this godforsaken place, he could have thrived anywhere with his skill!
After who-knew-how-many laps around the mall — through shops, stairwells, ceilings — Bai Shan leveraged [The Absolute Center] to make her light body soar through every corner of the building, pursuing him with relentless precision.
In the end, she cornered him on the rooftop.
Perhaps his item's duration had run out, or perhaps the man had simply given up. He stumbled out of the wall, fished a pair of glasses from his pocket and put them on, straightened his collar, and did his best to look dignified.
"Do whatever you want. I don't want to spend another second in this godforsaken place."
He actually assumed an expression of noble resignation.
Bai Shan snorted with laughter. "Who even are you? You're about to die and you still need to save face."
The man — roughly in his twenties or early thirties — darkened instantly, teeth clenched. "You've definitely heard my name."
Bai Shan nodded. "You've definitely heard my name," she repeated.
The man's eyes flew wide — wide enough to crack his lenses. For the first time in his life, he experienced the humiliation of a tiger fallen to flat ground, bullied by dogs.
Before the game, he had been a celebrated investment banker. After the game, he was a formidable name on the Leaderboard. But after entering Hai City, he'd been reduced to hiding in a slum, using a fake name and groveling before Liu Chaoyun and her band of country bumpkins. And now a nobody student was mocking him.
Someone like Liu Chaoyun wouldn't have even met the threshold to be his family's housekeeper in the old days.
In a matter of days, he felt he'd endured every injustice fate had to offer!
"You — you, hahahaha... Don't push me. I can't beat you right now, but I can drag someone else down with me."
A venomous gleam seeped into Shen Yuanzhi's eyes. A sudden recollection twisted his expression into something gleeful.
Days ago, his companions had unwittingly opened their panels and been hit by a lethal attack. He hadn't been able to sense the enemy at all. In his panic, he'd pulled out a Position Swap Order.
A position swap challenge could be used as an advancement tool or a means of self-preservation.
Though no participant had ever disclosed the details, he guessed the challenge would transport both parties into an undisturbed arena — otherwise fairness couldn't be guaranteed. And for fairness's sake, the lower-ranked challenger might even receive some advantages.
Two companions dead, and he'd deduced that opening the Game Panel was what triggered the attack. He had resisted the impulse to use the Position Swap Order then.
But shortly after, his Talent abilities vanished.
Unable to use abilities or summon items — the only thing he had left was the Position Swap Order he'd taken out by accident beforehand. Without Talent abilities, using it would be pure suicide!
After encountering Liu Chaoyun, he killed his own friend, completed the ritual, and received an item from her — a transparent raincoat that allowed the wearer to phase through any solid object.
Shen Yuanzhi despised the item, but he didn't dare cross Liu Chaoyun.
Fortunately, all the torment was about to end now.
Shen Yuanzhi refused to die a pathetic, ignoble death. If he had to go, he'd take a titan with him. He would use his death to shake the entire world!
[Player Shen Yuanzhi has used a Position Swap Order!]
[Player Shen Yuanzhi challenges Player Tyrant!]
Rain poured down in sheets, yet the global announcement blared loud enough to drown out the furious storm.
"Hahahahaha..."
"You little brat — it won't be you who kills me!"
Shen Yuanzhi cackled wildly. He wanted to see for himself — what kind of person was the Tyrant, who stood above all others?
It didn't matter who it was. Once the Tyrant entered Hai City, one careless opening of a panel would mean instant death. And then this so-called strongest human would fall in an even more laughable manner than he did!
"Hahahahaha!"
After a stunned beat, Bai Shan burst out laughing too, clutching her stomach.
The two voices intertwined on the rooftop. Soon enough, Shen Yuanzhi stopped laughing.
Why? He had used the Position Swap Order, yet the scenery around him — the person in front of him — everything remained exactly the same. Nothing had changed.
Dimly, he recalled a rush of text that had flashed through his mind — something about a death match, the challenged party being transported to the challenger's location, other players being allowed to be present, and something else...
Bai Shan finally straightened up after laughing for a good while, a red dart spinning between her fingers.
"I told you — 'you've definitely heard my name.'"
The red dart left her palm and sliced across Shen Yuanzhi's throat. Blood sprayed.
In his final moment, Shen Yuanzhi finally recalled what seemed to be one more rule — something about other players interfering in any way resulting in the game system eliminating them.
He collapsed, glasses shattered, eyes bulging. Through blurring vision, that supposed nobody was still standing there, perfectly unharmed...
Why hadn't the game eliminated her? Where was the Tyrant? Where was the Tyrant?!
[Player Tyrant has killed Player Shen Yuanzhi!]
[Shen Yuanzhi's position swap challenge has failed!]
As the announcement rang out, Shen Yuanzhi's eyes went wide, his mouth fell open, and he died wearing an expression of utter absurdity.
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