R-Star lay utterly swallowed by golden sands. The storms had passed at last, and as Ye Shu and the other players, along with the surviving locals, clawed their way out of the desert, nothing awaited their eyes but land, consumed—obliterated—by dunes.
"How could this happen?"
"Is our city... gone, just like that?"
"No! Gumo City must still stand. Let’s go—if Qiangwu has fallen it’s no matter, so long as the great oasis lives… there’s still hope!"
Ye Shu and Su Bai stood frozen, silent. They could not utter the truth. The laments echoing from the players’ screens revealed it all: the greatest oasis on R-Star had fallen beneath the sand, lain waste like Qiangwu City, reduced to ruins.
Atila and a handful of the caravan still breathed.
Upon seeing Ye Shu, the middle-aged man broke into tears as though beholding a beloved kin come back from the grave. "Ye Shu-ala, I knew it! You survived—I knew you both would! Let’s go to Gumo together, you wanted to go, didn’t you? The caravan’s supplies remain, the journey’s about ten days."
Atila was jubilant. He believed Ye Shu still possessed a way to hope—so long as she remained, perhaps R-Star had a chance.
But Atila could never know about the survival game. When he pleaded to take Ye Shu and Su Bai to Gumo, Ye Shu’s refusal was cruel and cold.
"Ye Shu-ala, Qiangwu’s water has dried up… It’s dangerous here, there could be storms again..."
No matter how he tried, Ye Shu would not relent.
There was no other way—she was not of this world. In a few hours, she’d be forced out of this sandbox, never to set foot in Gumo.
Meanwhile, far beyond R-Star, among the silent stars, a battleship hovered at the edge of that sandy little planet.
[Congratulations, player Ye Shu, for surviving twenty days.]
[Grade: S.]
[You have successfully left this world.]
[Number of players who cleared the Wasteland Desert scenario: 8,999.]
At the system’s cold, mechanical declaration, Ye Shu felt her soul pulled slowly away, untethered from the world below.
In that blurred twilight, she glimpsed a familiar silhouette once more.
Lin Qingyue.
For the first time, she was not sent directly back to reality. The strangeness of it sparked wariness—without her innate card, the system could simply play her to death, or perhaps all the way to the end without ever revealing why she’d been targeted.
...
Ye Shu awoke to reality.
Da Piaoliang, all green-eyed and bounding, leapt onto her shoulder, concern flickering in those emerald irises. "Master… are you alright? I’ve been through so many games, how did I get kicked out this time?"
"I’m fine."
Ye Shu waved her hand, indifferent. The oddities of this world offered no help here; words were meaningless.
"Master, can your pocket dimension level up? Take me along next time—I promise I won’t end up thrown out like that stupid cat."
The merfolk cast an unimpressed glance at Da Piaoliang. Being ejected after half a second? What an embarrassment!
Unhurried, the merfolk emerged from the bath, droplets puddling the tiled floor. From the corner, the little clownfish bristled for attention, too.
"Ying ying ying… Immortal master, I can predict fortune—very useful! In your world’s storybooks, I’m just like those treasure-hunting rodents!"
The three spirit pets squabbled, their clamor like a hundred ducks at dawn.
Amid it all, the leaf in Ye Shu’s hand flickered faintly—Plant Spirit eager to help, too. True, it hadn’t contributed this time, but it hadn’t been thrown out either—by any reckoning, that meant it had value.
A familiar voice sounded at her ear:
[Seventh round complete. Congratulations to cleared players—rewards will be issued. The eighth round begins in two days. Prepare yourselves!]
[Failure to clear: total erasure!]
[Erasure complete.]
With a few indifferent announcements, nearly a million players were extinguished from existence.
[Player Ye Shu: S-rank clear. Strength +3, Constitution +3, Agility +3, 100 points for completion, 1,000 points for monsters slain.]
The player interface unfolded:
[Player: Ye Shu]
[Age: 20]
[Game ID: 10096]
[Constitution: 75]
[Strength: 80]
[Agility: 74]
[Innate Skills: SSS-grade Remnant (Level 2, cannot drop), SSS-grade Optimization (Level 3, upgradable, not for corpse optimization)]
[Inventory: SS-tier Peachwood Sword of Exorcism, A-tier Vermilion Bracelet…]
Ye Shu wasted no time—she spent 200 points in the shop to fuse her ring’s storage with her inventory, pressing the "optimize" button at once.
[Optimization complete!]
[Storage space upgraded! Now Level 2. A perfectly unremarkable preservation space—can now house intelligent lifeforms. Area: 10 square meters, expandable.]
Ye Shu tried sending both Xiao Bai and the clownfish inside, and it worked flawlessly. The space was too small for all three beasts at once, though—in that case she’d have to forgo weapons or food.
So, only one companion at a time.
...
Just then, a message pinged from Su Bai: she was almost at Ye Shu’s place.
Ye Shu hadn’t even hit send on her reply when a knock—thudding, certain—sounded at the door.
With the money from her last round of item sales, she’d moved into D City’s largest mansion. Qin Zaozao, of course, knew all about it—but her last attempt to lie in wait by Ye Shu’s door had ended in humiliation, left outside, never even seeing a foot over the threshold.
Now, Su Bai slipped inside easily, and seeing this made Qin Zaozao’s face twist in disbelief.
"Ha… Shushu, did you see Qin Zaozao’s face? Priceless! Can you believe the Qin couple value an adopted girl over their own daughter? She spun her own cocoon—serves her right!"
Strutting in as though she owned the place, Su Bai scooped up Da Piaoliang from the sofa, where the cat sat like a brooding hen.
"Shushu, is this your pet cat? She’s adorable! Come here and let Auntie give you a kiss."
Da Piaoliang, always aloof, eyed humans as nothing more than food—except for the one she obeyed.
"Awoo—back off, foolish woman! I know I’m irresistible, but I am loyal to my master alone. Shoo, or I'll slap you."
Ye Shu understood the cat’s weird dialect, though Su Bai, for all her bravado, had no clue Da Piaoliang was parroting snatches of ‘boss-speak’ from the internet.
"Xiao Bai, Da Piaoliang isn’t ordinary—it’s an Oddity. You’d best not touch it."
"What? What did you say? That thing’s an Oddity?!"
Su Bai stared at the small black cat in disbelief. Was this real? Her friend had gone off the rails this lifetime—she’d even dragged an Oddity into her home!
Before Su Bai could recover, a mermaid with a peculiar face hopped out of the bathtub across the room.
"Master, did you call for me?"
Ye Shu froze, realizing both her companions had similar nicknames. The merfolk assumed it was being summoned.
"No… cough, cough. Xiao Bai, go back to your bath."
The merfolk, Xiao Bai, dove back beneath the bubbles, her hairpin glinting.
In the fish tank, the clownfish sent up a hail of bubbles, fixing Su Bai with its beady gaze. "Dead woman… Oh lovely lady, your luck is rotten today—don’t go out, or you’ll die! Die die die die…"