Escape and Radiation

A white skeleton, with crimson flames flickering in its eye sockets, stood up from behind the Thin Dog.

Clang!

The skeleton's Bone Sword blocked the Wolf Tooth Club, letting out a crisp sound.

Then, the agile skeleton struck faster, its Bone Blade whirring through the air.

It forced the burly Raider back step by step, leaving several deep bloody gashes across his body.

The sudden turn of events startled the Thin Dog, who had been about to log off.

"Huh? An ally? Then I won't log off."

He sidestepped, watching the skeleton and the Raider fight.

This skeleton, which had appeared out of nowhere, was nimble and faster than the Raider, but its body didn't seem too sturdy.

It creaked and groaned with every step.

"It's weaker than the Raider in strength, but faster, and the Bone Blade's damage is decent. If this keeps up, the skeleton will win. This skeleton's really something—if only I could catch it as a pet."

The battle soon became clear.

The skeleton relied on its speed advantage to relentlessly attack the Raider, carving wound after wound.

In the Thin Dog's view, the Health Bar above the Raider's head kept dropping.

Almost empty!

"ROAR!!!"

Just before dying, the Raider's eyes turned bloodshot, his green skin twisting as he hurled the Wolf Tooth Club with all his might.

Thud!

It hit the skeleton.

Crunch~

A massive damage number popped above the skeleton's head: 300.

It was Killed instantly, collapsing into a pile of bone fragments.

Pfft!

The Thin Dog seized the moment, driving the Pointed Wooden Stick with all his strength into the Raider's blood-soaked head, delivering the final blow.

The Raider glared with unwilling eyes, his head slumping to the side.

A faint warm current flowed through the stick into the Thin Dog's body.

A notification popped up on his watch:

Killed Raider, Experience +12

"Oh, so this is what it feels like when experience enters the body? Warm, tingly, nice~"

On his watch, the experience bar also appeared.

Level Up Experience: 12/500

The Thin Dog had no time to study the experience issue now. He Took a Look at his own health—only 1/3 left, and the radiation status was still draining it.

"First, save the NPC!"

"Hey! Who's the Tutorial Guide!?"

"Over here!"

Cheng Shaofeng heard the familiar Chinese outside, and tears nearly welled up in his eyes.

The base language of this world was different from Earth's. If he hadn't inherited the original owner's memories, he wouldn't have been able to speak the local tongue at all.

Cheng Shaofeng pounded on the iron chains of the Dungeon door.

The Thin Dog outside grabbed the Wolf Tooth Club and smashed them apart with a few loud crack sounds.

Cheng Shaofeng finally escaped the Dungeon!

He looked at the expectant gaze of the African Thin Dog, calmly straightened his attire, put on an appreciative expression, and delivered the line he'd already prepared:

"Excellent! Soldiers from the Calamity Base, you've done well and passed this assessment. As the Lord of the base, I am very satisfied with your quality. When we return to the base, I will grant you the merits you deserve. Now, let us leave this filthy Dungeon!"

The Thin Dog's heart jolted at the words.

"Rewards! Beta rewards must be rare. This kind of assessment event should be a one-time quest—a limited edition quest. Jackpot!"

He had no idea what merits were for, but it sounded high-tier!

Cheng Shaofeng: "By the Way, this old man here is frail. Go help him out."

"Yes, Lord!"

He immediately accepted his role, cheerfully walking into the Dungeon, circling around, then coming back out.

"Lord, are you sure it's this Dungeon you're in? I didn't find anyone else."

"Impossible! We were just talking about whether you could beat the Raiders. He insisted you couldn't. Now it's time to prove the worth of our Calamity Base soldiers! Let him... Huh? Where is he?"

Cheng Shaofeng walked in and froze at the sight of the empty dungeon.

On the ground lay only a few highly decomposed corpses, long past dead.

A chill ran down Cheng Shaofeng's spine.

Who had he been talking to just now?

Looking at the familiar scene, it suddenly clicked.

This was exactly how it looked when he'd been thrown into the dungeon.

That old man in the bloodstained cloth robe had appeared out of thin air!

The Thin Dog stared at the scene before him, already analyzing it in his head.

NPCs in games don't usually spout nonsense, especially the first guide NPC. The devs had this NPC feed me info through dialogue—there's got to be substance. Maybe there's more plot later.

Thin Dog, true to his name.

He silently noted the NPC's oddity.

Just then, a message flashed before Cheng Shaofeng's eyes.

Player 'Lin Tang' has been Killed

"Let's go. We need to get out of here fast."

The guy outside was dead. If they didn't leave now, they wouldn't make it. He'd deal with the old man later.

Zero: Reminder to master—the Raider corpses on the ground can be recycled in the Loot Generator. Recommend carrying them.

"Soldier, haul that Raider corpse. It'll be useful for our base."

"You got it, boss!"

The Thin Dog slung the Raider corpse over his back, grabbed the Wolf Tooth Club, and the two of them hurried out of the Cellar.

Just as they stepped out, the Thin Dog suddenly said, "Lord, wait for me! I forgot to grab something!"

With that, he dropped the Raider corpse and rushed back down.

Cheng Shaofeng: "?"

Damn! Big Bro Thin Dog, what are you doing? You guys can mess around in the game, but I'm really here! If I get caught again, I'm dead!

He dragged the corpse out of the Raider Camp on his own and found a spot to hide.

In less than a minute, the African Thin Dog jogged back out.

In his hand was a black object the size of a vibrator box.

The Thin Dog's face lit up.

"Lord, I Found It."

"Talk later. The other soldiers are Killed. We're retreating now!"

Relying on his memory, Cheng Shaofeng led the African Thin Dog to his old wilderness shelter—the Cave on the Mountain Top.

A small hill with high ground, a wide view, and cover.

Once they arrived, Cheng Shaofeng finally breathed easy.

Temporarily safe.

"What's that thing in your hand?"

"No clue, but I figured since we cleared the dungeon and didn't loot the treasure, I'd go back and check. Sure enough, I found this in their Cellar. Let me take a look."

The black object in the African Thin Dog's hand was actually a Small Black Box. When he opened it, a green light flashed.

Player 'African Thin Dog' has been Killed

Zero's voice rang in Cheng Shaofeng's mind.

Zero: Detected intense nuclear radiation. Auto-activating Nano Barrier. Power draining continuously.

Warning: Low power! Low power! Please replenish base energy as soon as possible!

A faint silver Nano layer appeared over Cheng Shaofeng's body, shielding him from the green light.

This Small Black Box held a radiation source!

"Shit! Thin Dog, you just brought me a mini nuke!"

The Thin Dog had already collapsed. With his level-1, low-health body, the radiation had pierced straight through at close range and killed him.

Cheng Shaofeng quickly snapped the Small Black Box shut.

The green light vanished. The Nano Barrier on his body took a few seconds to fade, returning to his normal skin.

He Took a Look at the base's power.

Only 0.05% left.

Not even the most basic Nano Engineer could be used. He couldn't build any base infrastructure.

The only thing he could use now was Quantum Surfing.

Crouching on the hilltop, sniffing the faint sulfur in the air, Cheng Shaofeng narrowed his eyes as he recalled what had happened back then.

The Raider killed in the alley was the one who came to feed him Radiated Material.

The old man's timing was pretty accurate, but—when that Raider reached the Dungeon, a small piece of Radiated Meat accidentally fell from his right hand. He bent down, picked up a clump of mud from the ground, forced it down Cheng Shaofeng's throat, and left.

At that moment, he could sort of understand his ex-girlfriend.

It really wasn't pleasant.

Though the mud was gritty, it was still better than having a piece of Radiated Meat in his stomach.

He'd dodged a bullet for no clear reason.

"Back then, I thought the Raider was just dumb and careless. Now it looks like the old man saved me."

The old man's appearance and disappearance were both eerie, but he didn't seem to mean him harm.

"This world is far more dangerous than my predecessor understood."

After finishing his recollection, Cheng Shaofeng briefly sorted out his current situation.

"I have a temporary shelter, it's relatively safe here, and there's a freshwater river nearby I can drink from—but my stomach is already starting to growl."

"The three players I summoned are all dead. I need to create new Clones to help them revive."

"The Nano Base's power is critically low, can't do any construction work. I urgently need to recharge."

"The resources I have on hand: endless fresh water, one radiated Clone corpse, one sturdy Raider corpse, one extremely dangerous Radiated Material, and a Wolf Tooth Club. That's it."

Cheng Shaofeng nodded, feeling he'd summed things up well.

"Zero, I Need To revive the players."