Two days later.

The Survival Game resumed right on schedule.

[Twelfth round initiated. Insufficient new players for this instance; one million players will now be randomly selected to enter the game.]

[Please take this game seriously.]

[Failure to clear the instance results in player death.]

[Welcome back, Ye Shu, to the Survival Game. This is your eleventh successful clearance; you have been granted an additional card draw opportunity.]

[You have gained +1 Strength.]

[You have gained +1 Constitution.]

[You have obtained: Nothing ×1.]

[You have obtained: Nothing ×1.]

Ye Shu: "............."

What the hell?!

Never before had she encountered such a thing. She wondered if the game's system was out to get her—no rewards, not just once, but twice...

In that distracted moment, Ye Shu was unceremoniously tossed into the new instance.

By the time she came to her senses, she found herself standing on a bustling city street, the crowds ebbing and flowing around her.

She sought out a quiet corner to check her status screen.

[Player: Ye Shu]

[Game ID: 10096]

[Current number of players alive: 1,020,331]

[Initial items: Identity Card ×1, 2,000 cash, Mobile Phone ×1.]

[Game identity: Ordinary Chosen Worker]

[Game Description: Devouring Game. Further details require points to unlock... ]

[Game Objective: Survive until the game ends.]

There was no specified ending time for this round—a first in all her time entering the game. Ye Shu couldn’t shake a gnawing sense of foreboding.

She tried to contact Su Bai and Pang Pangzi, only to discover that this instance had split players across ten different areas. She was in area D, Su Bai was in area A. Only basic communications were permitted; even teleportation channels had been shut down.

[Sexy Mother Cockroach in Black Stockings: Shu-bao, how will I survive without you? Food doesn’t even taste right if we’re apart... With the game's cryptic warnings, you know nothing good is coming!]

Ye Shu agreed wholeheartedly with Su Bai's assessment.

After exchanging a few words, both got busy preparing supplies.

With no end date to this game, the duration could be a day, three days... maybe a month or even three months. She had to fill her inventory first.

Moving quickly, Ye Shu headed into a random supermarket and spent all her starting cash.

Devouring game...

What does it mean to devour?

Just as Ye Shu racked her brains with no answer in sight, a familiar male voice called out behind her.

"What’s this? Ye-jiejie! Long time no see!"

Ye Shu turned and immediately recognized the smiling face of Fu Shiyi.

"You’re in this area too. What a coincidence." Ye Shu greeted him, cool and measured.

Fu Shiyi had been out of contact for so long that even Fu Jingchuan had no idea where he’d been. And yet, here he stood, right before her.

"You’re alive!"

"I thought you were dead."

"Didn’t Fu Jingchuan say you’d vanished without a trace?"

"Tsk, come on! We were comrades in life and death, and this is how you greet me, Ye-jie? There was an accident in one of the last rounds. I got trapped in an instance. Only when the game invaded Blue Star and new players entered old instances—plus I burned a resurrection card—did I get out. That's the short version!" Fu Shiyi grinned, as thoughtless and lighthearted as ever, dodging Ye Shu's pointed questions with airy carelessness.

"Trapped in an instance?

What happened? Tell me."

At these words, Ye Shu’s expression immediately sharpened with interest.

"Uh, the game glitched. Unlucky me, I was the one bugged. Stuck there until the game expanded and someone finally pulled me out. That’s about it!"

Ye Shu made a noncommittal sound, withdrew her gaze, and pushed her shopping cart without hesitation to go around Fu Shiyi.

"Jie?

Seriously? Just walking off?

We’re proven teammates, comrades!...","Fu Shiyi followed her, chattering away like a firecracker and drawing plenty of curious glances from passersby.

Veins pulsed across Ye Shu’s brow. She snapped, "Keep up."

"On it!" Fu Shiyi scampered after her, heels clicking.

Just as they exited the supermarket, a deafening roar thundered across the sky.

Where once there was unbroken sunshine, a brooding darkness descended.

"What the hell?"

"Someone ascending to immortality?"

"Or is the world ending tomorrow?"

"Pff, as if. It’s just weather. Didn’t something like this happen in D City a few months back? Nothing happened then."

Snippets of conversation floated to Ye Shu’s ears from passersby.

Ye Shu knew this was the sign—the game was beginning. She ducked into a deserted corner and stowed her supplies in her storage space.

"Ye-jiejie, let’s find somewhere to hole up first," Fu Shiyi suggested.

Ye Shu nodded in agreement.

This round gave players precious little information.

She would have to adapt as she went.

…………

XX Hotel.

23rd floor.

The sky had cleared, brilliant as before, as though nothing had ever happened at all.

Fu Shiyi had chosen the suite—two rooms. Ye Shu had put up with similar arrangements when living with Pang Pangzi. With a door between them, she didn’t object.

"Ye-jiejie, I think I know what this round is about."

Fu Shiyi held up a tablet, enlarging a black-and-white photo on the news, pointing to a shadowy pit.

"What’s that?"

"That’s the kilometer-deep pit that appeared in F City three years ago. They say it’s ten meters wide, but how deep is anyone’s guess. Every instrument they sent in failed; investigators ventured in, but never came out. The rope they used to lower them in ran out at 10,001 meters, but there was still no bottom…"

For three years, it had just existed in the world, utterly silent.

When the city’s residents found the pit, they just started dumping garbage in it. Even waste from other cities was shipped in, but still, the pit never filled up.

Ye Shu’s brow furrowed. Her gaze locked onto the abyss, anxiety rising inexplicably within her, especially knowing this bottomless pit was right here, in F City.

That made her even more uneasy!!

"Ye-jiejie, shall we go have a look? It’s like a cosmic black hole!"

"Hm, let’s go."

"This pit must be tied to the game."

Ye Shu glanced up to see Fu Shiyi’s bright smile, but it struck her as oddly discordant.

"Ye-jiejie, what’s up? Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?" Fu Shiyi blinked, eyes large and suspicious.

"No, let’s go to the pit."

He was the same as always, loud and brash. Maybe she was just being paranoid...

They hailed a cab.

When the driver heard they were tourists wanting to see the pit, he lit up, launching into a nonstop stream of chatter.

"Why are you kids fixated on that thing? Showed up three years ago right in the city center. Scared everyone half to death! I was there—almost drove straight in myself…

Now, it’s just a dump."

F City wasn’t large; from their hotel to the pit, it was less than a half-hour ride.

"Here you go."

Ye Shu got out and strode straight for the pit.

Fortunately, security wasn’t tight. Anyone could sneak in.

The pit was a ten-meter wide circle, surrounded by an iron fence. Junk piled all around—scrap metal, food waste, plastic refuse… Nearby, municipal workers were busy dumping more trash in.

Ye Shu took advantage of a lull, slipping through the fence.

Pitch black. Not a glimmer of light.

Even when she tossed in a flashbang, there wasn’t so much as a ripple.

It looked just like the news photos, but in person, the terror was palpable.