Chapter 2: Bug Launch, Blame the Dog Factory is Right

Upon entering the medical room, the four of them were immediately hit with the strong smell of rubbing alcohol.

Noticing that no one was inside, the girl with long, black hair turned to the boys:

"I'll go find the medic. Could you guys help Shen Cong Fei onto the bed while I'm gone?"

"Sure thing."

"Alright."

As soon as she left the room, the remaining two helped Shen Cong Fei over to the bed without hesitation.

The moment he was helped onto the bed, the two of them seemed like they were set free.

"Flat-top" collapsed heavily onto the adjacent bed, making it creak under his weight. Resting his head on his hands, he kicked his legs up high.

"Gorilla" seemed somewhat disturbed by the smell of alcohol. He fanned his face and promptly exited the medical room.

Lying on the bed with nothing to do, Shen Cong Fei turned his attention to "Flat-top" on the couch.

If he remembered correctly, his name was Xue Yangping.

"Xue."

"Hmm?"

"Who was that girl earlier?"

Xue Yangping shot him a glance:

"You don't remember the girl who commutes to and from school with you every day?"

"Looks like you really hit your head hard."

After saying this, he seemed to grow more curious about what it feels like to have amnesia. He sat up and asked:

"What do you remember then?"

Shen Congfei shook his head: "I seem to have forgotten a lot, except for my name."

He wasn't lying about this.

Currently, this was indeed the case. He just played along with the amnesia act.

"Ha, you're doomed then. Exams are coming soon."

Xue Yangping seemed to revel in his misfortune.

Shen Congfei merely laughed.

What are exams when the world is about to end?

"By the way, where are we? What country?"

Xue Yangping sighed and turned to lie back down, facing away from Shen:

"Neutral United Front, on the edge of the northern region. It's Heng Xin High School."

"Wait, the Neutral United Front..."

Shen Congfei repeated this name, it seemed familiar.

He suddenly remembered.

Neutral United Front. That was the name of the small countries that were sandwiched between the Empyreal Empire and the Free Alliance in the world before the apocalypse in the game "Code: Wasteland".

Due to its strategic location at the border of the two major alliances, the Neutral United Front could only maintain a state of neutrality, which led to the Empire devising a military campaign known as "Daytime Raids during Endless Night".

The plan was to conscript new soldiers under the guise of a rebellious army, swiftly deploying airborne troops to take control of the entire Neutral United Front.

The intention was to enforce a quick power transfer under the excuse of a civil war, allowing them to confront the Alliance from the Neutral United Front territories.

However, the Empire's move ignited fierce opposition from the citizens of Neutral United Front.

The situation was further escalated when the Free Alliance intervened, leading to the employment of several superweapons.

In other words, this place was the catalyst for the apocalypse.

It all started here.

This is bad!

Being born here essentially meant a hopeless starting point!

While he thought he might still have a chance, now it seemed completely pointless.

Lying on the hospital bed, Shen Congfei looked utterly forlorn.

Right then, the medical room door opened and a buxom woman in a white coat entered, followed by the long, black-haired girl.

"Teacher, could you help with the bandages."

"Hold on, let me see."

The female teacher came over to the side of the bed, took out a small flashlight, and shone it into Shen Congfei's pupils while saying:

"You said he has amnesia, didn't you? Then why does he look like he's given up on life?"

Then, she pushed back his bangs to check the size of the wound on his forehead, and after that, she turned around to get the first-aid kit.

...

Not long after, Shen Congfei, laying in his hospital bed, now sported a bandage wrapped around his head.

"All done."

"Now, it's your turn to talk. Why do you look like that?"

After putting away the first-aid kit, the school doctor stood beside his bed, crossing her arms under a notable bust, which attracted "Flat-Top"'s looks.

"Because I'm going to die."

"My apologies, but according to my medical knowledge, the less than two-centimeter surface wound on your forehead is not life-threatening."

"I mean, we're all going to die."

No sooner had he said this than a violent explosion sounded from outside the window, it seemed pretty close.

Everyone except Shen Congfei hurried over to the window to see what was happening outside.

"See, they're here."

Shen Congfei sighed, climbed out of the bed, and walked over to the window to look outside.

In the clear blue sky, there was a large group of aircraft.

From the looks of it, most of them were transport planes.

At the tail end of these transport planes, clusters of parachutes were descending from the sky.

There seemed to be some resistance. Occasionally, a missile from a distance would roar towards the fleet of planes. Sometimes, a plane would be blasted out of the sky causing it to explode into a dazzling ball of fire as it plummeted toward the ground.

He could see from the window that the wreckage of a plane was burning on the school sports ground and more paratroopers were landing.

"What on earth is happening?"

"It's an invasion by the Empire."

On hearing 'invasion', several people turned their heads to look at the speaker, Shen Congfei.

The teacher in the medical room frowned and objected.

"The Empire? How is that possible?"

"With that many planes, they should not have been able to bypass all of our defended borders."

Shen Congfei recalled a clue he had gotten during the internal beta test of the game about what happened before the apocalypse:

"What if it was premeditated? Is the communication network still operational?"

Upon hearing that, the "bald-headed guy" grimaced and quickly shook his head.

"I don't know about anything else, but my phone hasn't had signal since this morning."

By the window, Shen Congfei heard a slight noise. He turned his head, saw something, and stiffened, raising both hands, warning the others:

"Everyone, I think we're in trouble."

The three people next to the window saw his motion and turned their bodies as well.

What they saw was at the entrance of the medical room: the tall, sturdy student with slightly dark skin, who Shen Congfei thought of as a "gorilla" - that was Tang Ke.

He was holding his hands in the air, entering the room looking very uneasy.

What they noticed next was that there was a soldier behind Tang Ke, holding a gun to his head. The soldier was wearing a black military uniform, a steel helmet, and mumbling something in a language that others couldn't understand.

"Cong Fei, don't move. He'll shoot,"

Shen Congfei turned to the long-haired girl whispering in his ear. He saw that she had no signs of panic.

The girl didn't notice the attention from those beside her as she continued to observe the soldier who had taken "the Gorilla" captive.

After she finished observing, the long-haired girl turned to Shen Congfei and asked.

"Cong Fei, is what you said all true? And how do you know about it?"

"Uh... would you believe me if I said that I forgot?"

"Yes."

Seeing her confident expression that trusts his words without hesitation, Shen Congfei felt a bit unbelievable.

There was, indeed, a person in the world who trusted him unconditionally.

Immediately, he gave a bitter smile:

"Maybe we're about to die. Could I know your name before that happens?"

"Xia Wei."

"I won't let you die."

After introducing herself, Xia Wei spoke hurriedly: "I will distract the soldier in a moment. You all should escape before they entirely surround the school. Run as far as you can."

"Hey! Wait, do you have a death wish?"

Contrasting with his words, a sweet smile blossomed on her delicate face.

The soldier noticed them, raised his gun and shouted at them.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shen Congfei noticed that her gaze didn't waver at all.

As the soldier approached them with his gun, Xia Wei started speaking his language.

"She can speak the Empire's language?" The teacher in the medical room was somewhat surprised.

They didn't know what the two of them had been talking about, but the soldier seemed to relax his vigilance a bit and slowly lowered his gun.

Suddenly, without any warning, Xia Wei turned around and kicked the gun out of the soldier's hand.

"Run!" she shouted.

But nobody ran. Instead, Xue Yangping and Tang Ke rushed forward to help.

Seeing the furious expression on the Imperial soldier's face as he tried to retrieve his weapon,

The two boys, lacking any fighting skills, could only tackle the soldier head-on, while Xia Wei fought him from the front.

The medical room teacher seemed at a loss. She saw the gun slide to her feet and the soldier's furious face approaching, so she kicked it away with her high heels and hid.

In an instant, the hostage situation had turned into a physical struggle.

Having lost his rifle and feeling outnumbered, the airborne Imperial soldier managed to free his hand and pull out a handgun from his belt, shouting in the Empire language.

The two boys, terrified by the gun, retreated with their hands in the air and they were forced to keep their distance.

"Bang!"

A gunshot echoed. The soldier looked down in surprise to see his chest stained red.

He "thumped" down onto his knees, his face full of resentment as he glared at the shooter.

Shen Congfei held the gun, looking stunned.

He had not expected himself to actually fire that shot.

Picking up the gun was entirely out of instinct, following the procedures like in the game.

Did he actually kill a person?

"Beep! Detected system abnormality and skipped newbie guide."

"Accurately killed an airborne Imperial soldier, gained 100 world prestige."

"Current world prestige level has risen to level one, event trigger probability has slightly increased."

"Achievement unlocked, First Blood."

"Received 1 career planning point."

"Uh...."

Upon hearing this flood of notifications, Shen Congfei was stunned.

Turns out, he does have a golden finger.

It was a system bug.

Those damn developers, even after the beta test, they'd not fixed the bug!

He couldn't resist the urge to curse anymore, sending mental complaints toward the entire family of developers behind "Code name: Wasteland."