"Cangshu: If you don’t look closely, you’d think it’s bread. Even cockroaches have mutated? Is this even scientific? Why haven’t humans changed at all?"
"Xiao Yezi: Ugh—I absolutely hate cockroaches, stop posting about them, please! By the way, isn’t that ootheca about to hatch? I can already see the tiny, pale little critters inside. Ugh!"
"Xiao Yezhi Wannanshui: Don’t say it... but really, it actually just hatched!"
There were plenty more mutated species on the screen: spiders the size of washbasins, centipedes, cockroaches...
Surveying the comment section filled with pictures, Ye Shu’s brow furrowed.
Crack—crunch—
The cacophony of snapping and popping noises outside the car window set her nerves on edge.
How long have I been driving, and that mutant crab is still sticking to us like glue? How vengeful can a crab get—don’t tell me it’s developed some higher intelligence!
They had been driving west for half an hour.
The undercarriage no longer dragged through sludge.
Ye Shu rolled down the window for a look. The army of crabs lingered dozens of meters away, refusing to advance. Pairs of black, beady eyes bore into her, as if trying to stare a hole clean through.
Finally rid of the crabs, she didn’t spare another thought, pulling back onto the road toward her destination.
–––––––
The twelfth day since entering the game.
The temperature around noon climbed just a little.
Temperature: -35°C.
Su Bai and Pang Pangzi huddled inside the vehicle, shivering violently, their bodies plastered with heat packs, clothes bundled thick around them till they seemed nearly mummified.
Even Ye Shu had lost her earlier composure, wrapped up in layer upon layer of heavy cotton coats.
Stuck outside, mealtimes were nothing more than hasty affairs.
"We’re close to the Tibetan Route now."
Out the window, snow drifted down in billowing sheets, piling atop the boundary marker. Through the veil, the characters for Tibet still showed faintly.
Lucky for them, Dongguang wasn’t far. Otherwise, she’d probably freeze to death halfway—on roads like this, no supply stops, maybe a few scattered villages, anyone caught out here ends up as a life-sized ice sculpture.
At last, a hint of a smile touched Ye Shu’s usually solemn face.
"Good—I could really use a hot meal soon. Damn this game. It’s so freezing, even my abilities are about to freeze solid," Su Bai complained, poking at a bowl of instant noodles between gritted teeth.
Pang Pangzi just sniffled, nodding silently in agreement.
He was in the worst shape among them; he’d practically collapsed last night from a high fever, and now his throat was so raw he couldn’t speak.
The main road into Tibet was more treacherous than she’d imagined—especially in this blizzard.
The path was a muddy mess; one slip and you might tumble straight off a cliff. By the time Ye Shu managed to locate the entrance to the safety zone, another three days had passed.
–––––––
The fifteenth day of the game.
Entrance to Tibet’s safety zone.
It was nothing like she’d imagined—instead, a sea of people crowded before her. Ye Shu stopped the first person she saw, and only then learned the truth: everyone here had gotten wind of the safe zone’s location by radio.
She remembered those radio signals—broken, barely audible. It had made her overlook the most crucial detail.
To board the Noah’s Ark, you needed a ticket!
Which, of course, they didn’t have.
Su Bai stared in disbelief. "So… are you telling me we came all this way for nothing?"
Ye Shu was calm as ever, her eyes locking onto the guards by the entrance. She was weighing her options: perhaps with the right mix of bullets and explosives, she could open a path onto Noah’s Ark.
"Yeah, looks that way."
Her words were intercepted by a scruffy man nearby.
"You’re all players, right? Me too. Yesterday, some of the ability users tried to stir up trouble and storm the Ark. Didn’t expect the guards to put the riot down so fast—rounded them up for 'creating disturbances.' But really? That was just an excuse; rumor is they’ve been hauled off to the lab as guinea pigs."
Ye Shu’s gaze shifted to the unshaven stranger.
"Who are you?"
"How do you know all this?"
"Why approach us—and how are you so well informed?"
Anyone who survived this death game as an ability user was dangerous. Ye Shu couldn’t believe these so-called troublemakers had been caught so easily.
"Tch. After all my grand scheming, all my men got dragged into those labs. Who do you think I am?"
"We’re all players here—no need to be so guarded. Name’s Lin Chuyi."
"Since we all want on the Ark, how about we team up…"
But even before he finished, Ye Shu cut him off without hesitation. "No."