In the next instant, the familiar scene reappeared.
Players who had failed the round burst into clouds of blood, leaving only the ravaged, brown earth behind.
Soon, the bloodstains on the ground faded away.
Ye Shu watched the events unfold with an unreadable expression, but when her gaze met the man at her side, she exclaimed in shock, "Fu Jingchuan? You're still alive? I thought you were dead!"
She hadn’t been able to reach him in the game at all—she’d truly believed he’d logged out for good.
"Well, as you can see, I’m still breathing…" Fu Jingchuan gasped for air, a flicker of surprise in his eyes swiftly masked by indifference.
He hadn’t participated in the last dungeon at all; instead, he’d been teleported to some other dimension—empty and isolated, where the system menu wouldn’t even open, leaving him utterly alone. He’d been sure he’d die there.
[Twelfth round of the game complete. The next round will begin in two days. Players, please prepare! The system will randomly assign players to the next scenario.]
[Clearing this round earns each player 10 points.]
[Reminder: Replenish your health promptly. If it falls to zero, you will die.]
Just then, the system’s frigid, mechanical voice descended from above.
"Goddamn it, this system is robbing us blind. I only played through one round and lost 20% of my HP! They really treat us like cattle… This is daylight robbery!"
Su Bai, quick-tempered as always and unable to hold back in front of Ye Shu, was flushed red as she cursed—the filth in her words evident on her face.
With the game’s invasion, most veteran players had survived by drawing on bitter lessons from the past. But in the newly launched dungeons, the death rate remained an appalling ninety-five percent.
Ye Shu opened her system interface, only to be bombarded by a torrent of frantic comments.
[GrapeIceSoda: Oh my god, why me? I’m just a little newbie—how did I wind up in the latest scenario? Still, at least my starting identity put me in the Ark crew.]
[KidsForRetirement: I got placed in ‘Hide and Seek,’ which is apparently the lowest-difficulty scenario—you just breeze through!]
[IndomitableHuaxiaWoman: Is the scenario important? Is that the point? You only get ten points for clearing a dungeon. That won’t even buy me a steamed bun and bottle of water at the shop! My health just dropped to 20—it’s a miracle I survived… Speaking of which, how do those leaderboard points even rack up? Tens of thousands, really? I’d do anything to hang onto some bigshot, just don’t know if any of them need extras like me.]
[SurvivorsAllianceCaptain: Anyone up for teaming up? Huaxia regular here, recruiting for the Survivor Alliance… Newcomers message me, let’s help each other get through this.]
Ye Shu glanced at the user’s avatar and turned away.
The number of surviving players on Blue Star now stood at four billion.
With the game’s incursion, humanity had lost everything—not even the barest resources remained. Survival alone was a struggle, let alone recovery. Who could say how many would fall in the next round?
The only reason the three of them could remain here, lighting a campfire and setting up camp, was because Ye Shu’s inventory held a precious cache of supplies.
"Shushu, looks like this place is ours for the long haul. Once I’ve racked up enough points, I’m bringing my parents here so they can settle in too," Su Bai looked around, noticing more than a few hungry eyes fixed on the food in her hand.
Now, the most ordinary food had become the ultimate treasure.
She really didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.
Was it lucky—or tragic—that she’d ended up with such a well-off best friend?
Su Bai tore into a skewer of meat and chased it with half a bottle of beer.
Blue Star’s resources had been stolen by this damnable game, wiping out generations of the Su family’s wealth in a single instant. Her kin were still trapped far away in Jing City. There was no way back—no way home.
Unlike Su Bai, who seethed with frustration, Ye Shu was uncannily calm—even setting aside time to practice her swordwork.
Fu Jingchuan was no slouch either. He’d borrowed a crossbow and set up a makeshift range a little way off.
"Tsk. World’s falling apart and you two are still grinding away," Su Bai muttered. She wanted nothing more than to give up—but watching these two refuse to let up for a second, she ended up practicing with Ye Shu, grumbling all the while.
If she called it sparring, she’d be lying—it was more like getting thoroughly thrashed by Ye Shu.
Still, the three of them got on well enough.
What none of them knew was that, at that very moment, a pair of unseen eyes from within the system’s space was watching their every move.