Chapter 7: Game Adaptability

...

The pain from being hit on the head was still lingering.

When Su Ming'an regained consciousness, the health bar in his vision read 337/500, and it was slowly recovering.

However, perhaps due to a lack of rope or being underestimated, he hadn't been tied up.

The comments in the upper right corner continued to float by:

[The anchor finally woke up!]

[This is bad, I have a bad feeling, these people seem to be one of those persecution gangs, here to steal points]

[It's infuriating that people from Dragon Country have to make things difficult for each other, just for the organizers' amusement!]

[There are criminals everywhere, I hate these people the most, go anchor! Kill them!]

[I feel the anchor doesn't look very strong...]

[...]

"Boss, someone just woke up!"

A man's voice, tinged with the smell of alcohol, reached him. Su Ming'an lifted his eyelids and saw five men sitting around a table in the dim room, and slanting starlight spilled in from the high windows.

The man who sat at the far left seemed to be the leader of them all—sporting a buzz cut and unkempt beard, his face covered with scars of life, looking like someone who had a tough time before the game started—though he seemed to be doing quite well now.

"Take him over here." The buzz-cut man was still blowing into his liquor bottle, his gaze only slightly glanced over, seemingly not taking Su Ming'an seriously.

"Who's going? Wang Wang, you go!"

None of them seemed eager for the task, but in the end, a slight, scholarly-looking young man was pushed forward reluctantly to drag Su Ming'an.

"I'll go myself." Su Ming'an didn't resist and, under the somewhat strange gazes of the others, walked towards the direction the scholarly young man was leading.

The burly men exchanged glances, feeling utterly baffled:

"He's actually cooperating…"

"The others fought tooth and nail, it's like seeing a ghost..."

"In the end, they all have to cry and scream to hand over the points, it makes no difference now."

"True, let's continue drinking…"

...

This was a dark corridor, flanked by empty rooms and tall, iron-barred windows.

The young man beside kept watching Su Ming'an vigilantly, and while walking, Su Ming'an also heard the system's prompt.

"Ding-dong."

[You have received a temporary A-class mission: Escape this place (Points rewards will be given based on the completion of the mission)]

[Mission Description: The apocalypse fraught with dangers is about to begin, and yet players have started to fight among themselves. Faced with such a heartbreaking scene, should you save, or should you perish, how should you choose?]

...

The scholarly young man, "escorting" his "prey", never imagined that this frightful journey could be so easy, but what he expected least was that the person beside him would start to talk:

"—You look about my age."

The scholarly young man silently glanced over. The person next to him looked refreshingly clean, his eyes bright, and his figure tall and lean, exuding a charisma (Charm A) that made him seem popular in any group.

...And he despised such show-offs.

Su Ming'an continued talking, "We've come to such a place, yet you turned the tables and became a hunter from a prey… really impressive. I once wished I could collaborate with my team of six, but they abandoned me and left… I was alone, tired, and hungry, truly helpless."

The young man's failed experience somewhat lowered his guard. With pride in his eyes, he turned his head and spoke in a hushed tone, "I am not... that impressive either, they often bully me."

"Actually... not necessarily, it's a game that relies on wisdom and strength, yet some simple-minded people dominate everything with force..." Su Ming'an spoke further, "Once you join this game, you become a willing Plunderer, hating these rules yet wanting to benefit from them... but it's not that easy."

At the end of the corridor, there was a room with iron bars, wherein several individuals bearing marks of beating and looking despondent were kept.

...Clearly, these were the "prey" to be plundered for points by the burly men's small team.

"You, stop talking to me." The scholarly young man suddenly raised his tone and pulled an iron rod out of his bag before forcefully pushing Su Ming'an inside and locking the iron bars.

He pointed the iron rod at Su Ming'an inside, his tone very unstable, "Even if you try to please me, I won't go easy—unless you hand over your points directly. This way, I won't have to lock you up and wait for them to come to torture you after finishing their drinks..."

Su Ming'an faced the iron rod and revealed a very friendly smile.

"No worries," he said, "I just think that sometimes, people should not lose their bottom line."

Perhaps influenced by his approachable demeanor, the scholarly young man lowered his tone slightly, his expression revealing a bit of despondency. His hands trembled slightly as he gripped the iron rod:

"I... I don't want to be like this... I, I also don't want to hurt people. When will this damned game end... I... I don't even know how my parents are doing right now... If they are hungry or being bullied..."

"These people you tortured might be someone else's parents," Su Ming'an said.

The refined student's arms shook violently, and then, he began to weep uncontrollably.

He heard a "plop".

The lock on the iron railing fell to the ground right before his eyes.

He lifted his eyelids, looking bewildered at the hand of the young man in front of him, which was pressed against his temple.

"Goodbye," Su Ming'an said, watching him.

The refined student hadn't had the chance to raise the iron rod when he heard a "hiss".

Annihilation activated.

[——HP-500! (Fatal injury, penetrating wound!)]

The health bar in the upper left corner instantly dropped to zero, and everything before his eyes faded away in an instant.

The barrage of comments was shocked, and the heat on the viewer count had rocketed into three digits:

[Holy shit!]

[I thought this streamer looked like an innocent student, but he kills so swiftly and decisively!]

[The student rises, high schoolers save the world!]

[What he said makes sense... but isn't it a bit too cruel? We need to maintain our ethos as people of Dragon Country...]

[...]

Su Ming'an stepped over the boy's body and picked up his iron rod.

Apparently, the game did not encourage killing players at this stage, so there was no announcement about gaining points.

[You have killed Wang Wang (Player), Exp+0 (Non-competitive instance, no experience bonus)]

But there was a notification about item drops.

[Gained item (Elegant watch strap)]

[Elegant watch strap: A gift from Wang Wang's parents on his eighteenth birthday, looks like it's worth some money. Recycling value:5 points (can be sold after returning to the Main God Space)]

[Gained item (Rusty iron rod)]

[Rusty iron rod: No longer usable for crafting, doesn't even qualify as equipment, but bloodstained, it's still a top-tier weapon. (Cannot be brought back to the Main God Space)]

[Combat Power 190 (Updated according to combat status)+5]

As Su Ming'an sharpened the front end into a spike, he heard cries for help coming from the people trapped behind him.

"Thank you! Can you take us out of here?"

"——Please, I'm really, really scared..."

Su Ming'an slightly shifted his footing, revealing the blocked body of the boy.

The hole in the temple was too evident, like it had been drilled through, dark red blood flowing down from the pitch-black hole. The boy's eyes still looked bewildered, his complexion ghastly.

"Ah..."

The people who had been desperately calling for help seemed strangled, and a middle-aged woman even shrank into the corner.

Su Ming'an glanced at the frightened people, holding the sharply pointed iron rod, and marched towards the outside: "If you want to get out, just find whatever weapon you can and follow me—this is the Apocalypse, not the peaceful world you knew—nobody is coming to save you every time."

His steps were rapid, and while the others were still hesitating, they almost lost sight of him.

"Or, or... let's wait a bit longer?" a young man said, hugging himself and shivering, "Wait for him to kill that group of people, then we can go out..."

"He has killed people too! He's no good either!" the middle-aged woman said emotionally. "He's just a teenager but so ruthless! We can't follow him, we'll die too!"

"Wah, wah, wah—"

In the corner, the irritating crying of a woken child, the others exchanged glances, still not moving.

But just then, suddenly a person, who had been detained and unnoticed all along, walked through the iron railing.

It was the previously unremarkable young man. As he stepped over the body on the ground and moved through the starlight slanting through the high window, the others saw a beautiful butterfly hovering over his shoulder.

"Hey, kid, don't go, that man is dangerous!" the middle-aged woman cautioned him.

The young man turned his head, a faint scar at the corner of his eye, but said nothing and hurriedly rushed out.

...

[World Game·Current Players: 998,543,852]

[Days since the Apocalypse began: Four]