Chapter 85-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 85
Hundreds of people in the hall stood frozen in place. Panic over the loss of abilities spread — everyone simultaneously thought of Hai City's situation. Was this some kind of curse?
Amid the chaos, the attackers suddenly became conspicuous. They showed no confusion or alarm — their faces were filled with fanaticism and excitement. Those around them sensed the jarring atmosphere and immediately pinpointed several suspicious individuals.
"This is what you get for overestimating yourselves! The game grants abilities and can take them back anytime. Going against heaven's will won't end we—"
One agitated black-clad figure didn't finish his sentence before being hurled by a force, his weightless body slamming into the stone wall before sliding limply into a corner — dead or alive, unclear — leaving a smear of blood on the wall.
On the distant stage, Wu Xinyou stared at her own fist, full of bewilderment. The ability loss just now seemed like a hallucination — her Talent had returned to normal, no abnormalities whatsoever.
Sensing their Talents were back, people in the hall snapped awake immediately. They spontaneously restrained several suspicious individuals. Having lost the element of surprise, the attackers had virtually no means to fight back. Under the portly town chief's trembling directions, they were taken away for interrogation.
The mobilization meeting was suspended. The operation hadn't even started, yet it had already left behind a mess of problems — truly a bad omen.
This underground factory covered an enormous area — sixteen large chambers, over a hundred branch tunnels. The main hall alone was seventy meters high. Currently, only a small portion of the open area was maintained by backup generators with dim lighting. The vast, dark tunnels required flashlights to navigate.
"This place was built during wartime preparations. It can withstand a megaton blast, survive a magnitude-8 earthquake. Go that way and there's a ten-story abandoned nuclear reactor. Every holiday the past few years, it's been packed with tourists..."
The town chief led several people into a large chamber — spacious and austere. The concrete floor held simple tables and chairs — no sofas, only plastic stools for guests.
"Sit, please sit."
The chief gestured them in. Wu Xinyou sprawled casually on a plastic stool. Langsa Meiduo and others sat down agreeably. Only Theodore remained standing, arms crossed.
He asked: "Something strange happened just now — our abilities vanished for a few seconds. Don't you find that odd?"
Wu Xinyou scratched her head. "Maybe the game glitched?"
"The timing was too perfect." Theodore spread his hands. "I believe someone was interfering."
He looked toward Langsa Meiduo. "Miss, you were able to state the exact number of attackers. Perhaps you know more?"
Langsa Meiduo spoke — this time not the aged voice, but a young, calm tone with a slight accent. "That was a hint from Buddha Mother. Nothing more."
"So — a Talent ability that can silence an entire room. It couldn't possibly belong to someone unknown. One name comes to mind — Tyrant. Could it be them?"
Theodore's tone rose, his expression animated as he shared his hypothesis. "We have zero information about Tyrant's ability. Suppose Tyrant can silence Talent abilities — that would explain how they quickly killed Charlie Anderson, and also Shen..." He couldn't recall the name and glossed over it. "With such an ability, they could kill anyone swiftly."
As he spoke, Theodore's gaze imperceptibly studied everyone's expressions. His calm blue eyes formed a subtle disconnect with his excited demeanor.
"Why bring up Tyrant?" Wu Xinyou was baffled. "Tyrant shows up, silences our abilities, then does nothing? Just flexing on us?"
Wu Xinyou stood up and dropped one hand onto Theodore's shoulder in a seemingly friendly, enthusiastic manner — half-forcing him down onto a plastic stool. She didn't let go right away, giving his stiff shoulders a firm pat.
"Speaking of silencing abilities, I just remembered!" Wu Xinyou's face lit up with sudden realization. "Have you heard of the 100th-ranked Chen Xinyi? She seems to have exactly this kind of ability."
Leaderboard rankings shifted daily — names advancing, retreating, disappearing. Only two names remained immovable, anchored in their original positions.
Langsa Meiduo's eyes shifted slightly. "Chen Xinyi, the Holy Child of the Omniscient Cult. She does indeed have this ability. But she's always been at the main base in Rong City. She's an infant."
"She cannot possibly be here." Langsa Meiduo stated with certainty.
"She's on the Leaderboard — what's impossible?" Wu Xinyou retorted. "Plus, her cult literally worships the game as God — same as the people who attacked us! You can't underestimate her just because she's a baby."
The town chief interjected weakly: "I've heard of them, but the Omniscient Cult's activities don't seem to have spread to our area yet. Those attackers spoke with our local southwestern accent."
The Omniscient Cult had already become a considerable force in southern China. Their Holy Child was spoken of in near-mythical terms — a sacred infant reincarnation of divinity. Some even rumored that Tyrant was connected to this cult.
But apart from possessing the miraculous infant Chen Xinyi, they weren't particularly special. After the world's upheaval, cults worshipping the game had sprung up like mushrooms after rain all over the globe — including the southwest, which had birthed similar groups.
Being tormented by the game and developing fanatical worship and loyalty had become a widespread affliction.
"No, no no no..." Theodore fixed Wu Xinyou with a piercing gaze, eyes glinting. "If our abilities hadn't been silenced just now, imagine — there were attackers embedded among us. Anyone could have been an attacker. It would have only triggered chaotic infighting between us. That was their purpose in infiltrating."
"The loss of abilities halted the chaos that should have occurred, letting us identify the suspicious individuals. Whoever created that brief episode cannot possibly be an accomplice of the attackers."
"This person came to help you... us."
Theodore's reasoning left Wu Xinyou speechless — she couldn't think of a rebuttal. It sounded very logical, yet something felt off.
"Chen Xinyi, Tyrant — neither is why we've gathered here." After a pause, Langsa Meiduo spoke again, steering the conversation back on track. "Town chief, we cannot linger. Please tell us about the Southwest Hydropower Station's situation so we can resolve this quickly."
The chief nodded repeatedly. He didn't want to dwell on this tangled mess and make things more complicated either.
A giant monster roamed the Southwest Hydropower Station and its surrounding area.
The locals didn't call it a mutant. Based on both appearance and behavior, it was a genuine monster.
Over ten meters long, five meters tall — like a gray bus. Its streamlined body resembled a fish, with four powerful limbs and a strong horizontal tail. Its gray skin was perfectly smooth, lacking scales or exoskeleton.
It could climb mountains and dive into water — incredibly fast on both land and in water. Its round, pudgy gray head seemed to have no eyes — only a mouth with an enormously wide gape.
When closed, the line of its mouth appeared to be smiling. When open, it could swallow over a dozen people in a single gulp.
If that were all, it would merely be a somewhat troublesome mutant. Its truly terrifying aspect was a perverted ability.
It could emit specific sound waves that caused organ failure, damaged internal organs, or induced hysteria. These invisible sound waves were nearly impossible to defend against — they could penetrate walls, defensive abilities, and items, directly bombarding a person's insides.
Moreover, it could mimic any sound — animals, cars, people, even different individuals' voices.
"Tang Long was tricked by it! It mimicked his teammate's voice calling for help. Tang Long let his guard down for a moment and was dragged into the water — he died underwater."
"Our entire town moved into this underground factory because of that smiling monster. Just hearing its voice affects you. Listen long enough, and you develop all kinds of symptoms — bleeding from all orifices, persistent high fevers, even sudden death!"
"It doesn't just love tormenting people with sound — its body is ferocious too. It demolishes buildings in one hit. None of us can fight it."
"Only this underground bunker can block it and its sound, giving us a moment to breathe."
"If it's not eliminated, the hydropower station outside can't possibly begin operations. It's intelligent, loves torturing people. We all call it the Smile Killer..."
Separated by one wall, Bai Shan leaned against the cold gray concrete in another chamber, listening to the animated voices next door. The full picture of the Southwest Hydropower Station's situation was gradually taking shape.
She'd arrived at Wanxia Dam straight from the Portal. Whether lucky or not, she'd circled the area without spotting the legendary super-class mutant. So she'd come here first to gather information.
A sound-wave-attacking mutant — it did sound rather troublesome. She wondered if her [Lord's Crown] could block sonic attacks.
If it couldn't, she still had [Constant Moment] — freezing her body's state at its absolute peak, rendering her impervious to any attack.
She wasn't sure whether [Constant Moment]'s frozen peak state would be her current Level 50 outside Hai City, or her Level 89 in Hai City.
Bai Shan tilted her chin up, dark eyes staring at the concrete ceiling. This place was even darker than Hai City. But without the annoying rain and endless mutants, her mood was slightly better than in Hai City.
She hadn't broken through to Level 90.
Her experience bar had been infinitely close to 90 — just a sliver remaining, as if the next fallen prey's spilled blood would fill it.
Then the next, and the next. Bai Shan felt she'd been played. The experience bar appeared to need just a bit more, but in reality it was an impassable chasm!
Just when Bai Shan refused to give up and killed yet another mutant, she unlocked an achievement that seemed to mock her.
[Congratulations, player! Achievement unlocked: "One More Slash"!]
[Obtained item: "Upgrade Gem"!]
Bai Shan's eyes had lit up instantly, thinking the Upgrade Gem would help her break through to 90. But it wasn't for upgrading players — it was for upgrading item quality.
And it couldn't be used on SS-tier items. Bai Shan had to pick an S-tier item to upgrade.
Unexpectedly, it produced a powerful item beyond her expectations.
[Flower of Reversion (SS-tier)
Effect: When in bloom, reverts all targets within range to their state at any point in time, until the petals fall.]
Originally, [Flower of Reversion] was merely S-tier, limited to affecting scenery — for instance, reverting a snow-covered mountain to its springtime state. It couldn't affect people or mutants.
After the upgrade, the SS-tier [Flower of Reversion] could affect players, reversing their personal timeline.
Just now in the hall, Bai Shan had chosen to revert all players' abilities to January 26th — the day before the game descended — effectively erasing everyone's powers.
But her target scope was too large. The Flower of Reversion couldn't sustain it and quickly wilted. Still, its effect was astonishing enough.
Currently, [Flower of Reversion] remained in a withered state within her game inventory. She didn't know when it could be used again. In Bai Shan's estimation, this unexpectedly upgraded item was on par with [Constant Moment] in significance.
Silencing opponents' Talent abilities — in the game era, that could make anyone tremble with fear.
Though it wasn't as flexible or convenient as Chen Xinyi's Talent, recalling the conversation next door, Bai Shan smiled silently in the darkness. She hadn't expected Chen Xinyi to inadvertently provide her cover.
Though the president's nephew clearly hadn't been fooled.
Bai Shan barely had to think before guessing this man's true objective — likely exactly what he'd said on stage.
Theodore Worthington had come for Tyrant.
Bai Shan had no plans to hold a fan meet-and-greet. Having obtained solid information about that mutant, she intended to complete the objective alone.
In the dim chamber, Bai Shan walked to the sealed door, donning the phase-through Transparent Raincoat to prepare her departure. Her hand had just touched the heavy door when she suddenly heard crying.
A sharp cry. An infant's cry.
Comments
Post a Comment