Chapter 2 Those Who Break Through the Cocoon_2

When he wanted to take a sip of water, he found the cup crumbled like sand.

It poured from his fingertips like dust.

He hesitated for a moment, then reached for the water dispenser again.

The water dispenser, too, suddenly rusted and rotted away.

His laptop, keyboard and mouse, books, and stationery.

All without exception, rotted away.

Metal objects or plastics, at least, left some remains.

Only items wrapped in white silk were untouched, as if time had stopped around them.

He wasn't panicked.

It was all a familiar sensation.

After a moment of silence, Lu Bu'er stepped out of his room, which was on the first floor of their school. It hadn't changed from before, but he only dared to step on the floor and was afraid to casually touch the walls, for fear that a light touch would cause the walls to collapse and crush him alive.

But his worries were superfluous, the building was still solid.

Only the paint on the walls would peel off rapidly upon touch.

He quickly left the dormitory building, passing through the open gate. Outside the door was the deserted playground. The iron fence at the school gate had been opened by someone, no need to climb over it.

The once-bustling city was so quiet, the upscale residential area next to the school was covered in green vines and ivy, and there was not a single person on the long street. However, there were countless giant roots on the ground.

"Is anyone there? Is anyone there?"

Lu Bu'er looked at these thick roots, which seemed to spread from the edge of the world, endless in sight, with only boundless fog.

The visibility was very low on this cold night, with the fog spreading through the darkness.

All these scenes gave him a feeling of familiarity.

But it was different from back then.

Lu Bu'er walked for a long time without seeing a single person.

It was too cold, the city was deserted, and the temperature was even lower. The current temperature was probably ten degrees below zero. Even a woolen, thickened school uniform was barely holding up.

At the end of the fog, there was a warm and bright light source.

But he didn't know what it was.

Back then, Lu Bu'er hadn't seen these things.

The cold forced him to move toward the direction of the light source. He heard a rustling from the broken electricity pole above his head, as a black crow flapped its wings and flew away, shaking off its black feathers.

There was a rustling sound in the ivy across the street as if some giant creature was climbing and moving on the walls of a residential building, with deep green scales rhythmically opening and closing, shaking off the ash.

That was a snake!

"Hmm, the creatures in the copy would mutate; they are very dangerous." Aware of the crisis in this city, Lu Bu'er took a Swiss Army Knife from his pocket and moved quickly and stealthily along the wall corner toward the light source, weaving through the vast, empty city.

In the silence, a dog's bark suddenly sounded.

Lu Bu'er slowed his pace and leaned around the corner. He could see a dog at the street corner eating carrion. Occasionally, when it raised its head, it revealed a rotting face!

Its pupils were also the startling crimson red!

Damn it!

He inadvertently snapped a dry twig.

And that slight sound alarmed the eating monster dog. It locked onto his position with precision, barking madly as it charged straight at him, baring its teeth.

The creature was not large, but it ran incredibly fast.

Remembering his past experience, Lu Bu'er lurked by the corner of the wall, and the moment the monster dog lunged out, he kicked it in the belly, sending it flying.

After a successful strike, he turned and ran. He didn't know how long he had run before his body felt like it was filled with lead, his chest burned with pain, and his breathing was rapid.

It was too cold. The exhaustion from high-intensity exercise was too great.

"Is this a game? Shouldn't I be a superhuman in the game? Where are my attribute points? My starting equipment?" Lu Bu'er cursed in his heart.

A truly humbling predicament.

When he first tested the game, he had special items arranged by his dad and mom, and he went through without dying.

Unfortunately, he ran through the game multiple times and still failed to trigger the hidden plot, thus, he couldn't unlock the ultimate hidden reward of the copy. His dad and mom once said that they hid a very precious item in the newbie village, but it was unattainable during the initial test. To really get it, one would have to wait until the day the game went into public beta.

It was said to be a secret that could touch the ultimate mystery of the game world, an ultimate weapon that could grow with the player, but it was also part of a great catastrophe, extremely critical.

Although it sounded tempting, since it was just a castrated version of the initial game test, not the official public beta, he didn't care much.

However, his parents said that the hidden item was an easter egg prepared for him and that on the day of the public beta, only he could get it.

Lu Bu'er's thoughts raced, yet the monster dog was still hot on his trail.

He was so exhausted he was gasping for breath. If it weren't for the advanced medical technology of this era, plus his own good health from regular exercise, he might have collapsed long ago.

Many people think that cancer patients must be weak, but that's not the reality, even less so before when medical technology wasn't as advanced. Fighting cancer requires good physical health.

Many patients appear no different from healthy people, but they can collapse suddenly one day, never to recover.

It was as if the howling of a pack of wolves was rising together, and pairs of crimson pupils lit up in the darkness.

Damn it, the monster dog's barking had summoned the pack. These beasts now had the organization and discipline of wolves. They never acted alone, always ganging up.