This Humble One, Reincarnation Stream Player

"After we land, maintain this order. Do not look back, do not get bogged down in combat. Once we cross that residential area, head straight for the subway station; that's the only place we'll be able to catch our breath."

"Then, we go from the subway station directly to the vicinity of the Ancient Castle. Follow my plan, and in two hours, we'll make it back safely!"

Yuki spoke rapidly. While assigning tasks, he fired his grapple gun toward the opposite embankment. Only after confirming it was anchored did he turn back to glance at the others.

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Having escaped death several times now, he didn't feel much fear. Tense, yes, but he remained methodical in his preparations.

Eating, drinking, checking ammunition—the only sound was the rhythmic clack of bolts being pulled.

Everyone had grown. It made sense; those who couldn't handle this life had long since been weeded out.

Yuki thought of the black man, the college student, and the office lady. Those three had actually been decent prospects. The true idiots were eliminated during the novice trial. Thinking about it, this game should have started with twenty people. Two days later, including Li Dan, only six players remained.

If not for me, Mai Sakurajima would likely be dead too. Among all the newcomers, only Hayasaka Ai has the grit.

He engaged the safety on his rifle, strapped his long blade to his waist, shouldered his Chainsaw Sword, and gripped the overhead cable. Like stepping onto an escalator, he glided toward the opposite side at a steady speed.

The reddish river water rippled. Yuki saw pale arms reaching out from within—Living Corpses that had fallen in. There were hundreds of them at a glance, but they couldn't escape the current, forced to watch helplessly as their prey slid over their heads.

The air was filled with whimpering. The dense buildings on the opposite bank were devoid of light, all hidden within a curtain of crimson. Looking at the embankment, shadows of corpses danced, among them many powerful Living Corpses that looked nothing like humans.

It was a hellish tableau that made one's scalp tingle, and the players were voluntarily walking into the embrace of hell. For a fleeting moment, Yuki even felt a touch of philosophical detachment, but before he could dwell on it, a deafening boom erupted.

Li Dan had made his move. It was unclear what weapon he used, but from far away, he blew up a car parked at the bridgehead. Flames soared, adding a flash of light to the red night, and then—

Hell turned into purgatory!

ROAR—

The whimpering turned into a roar. In an instant, Yuki couldn't count how many Living Corpses were surging toward the opposite side of the canal. It was like a rolling black carpet, pouring out from buildings, streets, and riverbanks.

The iron bridge hundreds of meters away was instantly packed. Living Corpses fell into the river like dumplings, kicking up a dense spray of water.

They drifted downstream and soon discovered the prey right above them. Whimpering and struggling, they stretched their hands to the limit, missing the players' ankles by mere meters. The Living Corpses grew even more excited, creating the illusion that they were about to leap right out of the water.

Gulp.

Hayasaka Ai swallowed hard, instinctively suppressing her breathing to the limit. They were parallel to the bridge, with a straight-line distance of only a few hundred meters.

Once discovered, the surging Living Corpses would be enough to clog the canal, then form a human ladder to pluck them down like grapes and gnaw them to the bone.

She subconsciously tightened her grip on her gun, as if walking on the edge of a hundred-story building; it was the only thing that brought her a sense of security.

"Stay quiet. Keep your eyes forward. They won't notice us."

At that moment, Yuki's voice came on the wind. It was strained, yet it drilled accurately into Hayasaka Ai's ears. More miraculously, her racing heart began to steady.

Right. With this man leading the way, trust his judgment.

Hayasaka Ai hypnotized herself, forgetting that there were very few people in this life she could trust. She simply looked ahead. That back occupied her entire field of vision like a mountain peak; she could no longer see the Living Corpses, nor did she feel like she was in purgatory.

For a moment, she finally understood why she hadn't chosen Li Dan, but this more mysterious and dangerous man instead.

Yuki didn't have the luxury of thinking so much. His head was as rigid as if it had been welded in place, staring fixedly ahead. His mouth opened and closed, muttering in a voice only he could hear.

Can't see me, can't see me, can't see me...

He wasn't a robot. Thousands of Living Corpses were crossing the river just a few hundred meters away, and the water beneath his feet was teeming with hands. It would be strange if he weren't afraid.

How much of an impact Li Dan could make, whether Robert could be as "fearless" as he hoped—he had no certainty about any of these questions.

Tap.

His feet touched the ground. There were fewer Living Corpses on the embankment, but more were crawling up from the river.

He took one look, then unslung his Chainsaw Sword. Amidst its high-pitched whine, he charged toward the path on the embankment.

Yuki was capable of fear, and he wasn't infallible. He simply had one good habit:

Before acting, be cautious to the extreme. Once the decision is made to face life and death—

Move forward without looking back!

Keen observation and calm thinking can solve most problems, but humans are not gods; it is impossible to master every variable.

So, the rest must rely on courage to carve out a path.

Tap.

Yuki stepped onto the embankment. Even with the noisy background, the remaining Living Corpses turned their heads. Neither side needed an opening line; they collided head-on along the path.

More and more Living Corpses were crawling ashore; they had to kill their way out.

Yuki's thinking became as simple as a single-celled organism. Gripping the Chainsaw Sword, he met a tongue lashing toward his face. With a spray of blood, he severed the tongue and the head in one motion.

A Smoker?

He continued his charge, the chainsaw sweeping horizontally to bisect the Living Corpses on his left and right. He looked up to see a deformed, gaunt figure opening its foul mouth.

Pfft.

Before Yuki could act, a flying axe spun through the air and embedded itself in the creature's forehead. The momentum sent the Boomer falling backward. As golden hair whipped about, Hayasaka Ai rushed out from Yuki's side, reaching out with her left hand to brush against the man's waist.

CLANG—

The long blade left its sheath. The Living Corpses that had rushed to his side were already cut at the waist. Before they could crawl up, the Chainsaw Sword passed along the ground, slicing them cleanly through.

A Chainsaw Sword over a meter and a half long could never be nimble, and trying to play death-whirlwind like Thomas was too exhausting; fortunately, Hayasaka Ai provided cover.

What seamless coordination.

Yuki also found it strange, as if he had been training with Hayasaka Ai for a long time; a few simple words were enough to convey a massive amount of information.

"Duck."

The girl instantly crouched, and a Living Corpse with arms like an ape dropped from the air. It should have landed on Hayasaka Ai's back, but instead, it was met by a roaring Chainsaw Sword!

Flesh and blood flew as the body split in mid-air. Hayasaka Ai passed through the rain of blood, lunged forward in a dash, and pulled a hatchet out of a Boomer's forehead.

With a long blade in her right hand to sever legs and a hatchet in her left to crush skulls, she kept her momentum forward, hacking down the surrounding Living Corpses one by one. Yuki followed close behind, his Chainsaw Sword sweeping left and right, separating the bone and flesh of any enemy attempting to surround her.

As the slaughter continued, Yuki's speed grew faster and faster, but his mind became increasingly blurred. He felt as if a red veil had covered his eyes, making everything appear drenched in blood, while his heart throbbed with intermittent, sharp pains.

Kill, kill, kill! Kill every living thing!

"Fire, Mai, come help!"

Just as he was about to lose control and cut Hayasaka Ai down as well, he roared with his final shred of sanity. No sooner had the words left his lips than the bang-bang-bang of gunfire rang out.

Robert had opened fire. A rapid burst of short shots cleared the swarm of corpses that had been about to envelop the pair, leaving Yuki momentarily without a target. At that moment, Mai Sakurajima stepped forward, holding a syringe, and plunged it into the back of Yuki's neck, injecting the green liquid inside.

Quiet Dew.

Under normal circumstances, this injection would be enough to send Yuki into a deep stupor, but the timing was perfect. This auxiliary Chaos Item swept away his berserk killing intent.

His sanity returned—no, it would be more accurate to say he became even calmer than usual. Yuki felt as if he had lost all emotional fluctuations, possessing the rationality of a robot.

Current status analysis: The river embankment road has been crossed. Gunfire has attracted more Living Corpses, and there is a trend of them surging back onto the iron bridge.

The target is two hundred meters away, with very few Living Corpses remaining inside. The Chainsaw Sword has finished its warm-up. While maintaining rationality, the physical enhancement remains active for two minutes, which will continuously extend while in a killing state.

However, one must be mindful of the limit; Quiet Dew cannot resolve the feedback of exhaustion.

With a single glance, Yuki harvested a massive stream of information. His previous hypothesis was verified: Quiet Dew and the Chainsaw Sword were indeed a perfect match; there was a mutually reinforcing relationship between Chaos Items.

With a steady heartbeat and absolute calm, his target was clear, coupled with the feedback from his weapon—

"Fall back."

Hayasaka Ai, who had advanced another dozen meters, stopped immediately. As she looked up, she saw Yuki leap over her head. He flipped in mid-air and then slammed the greatsword heavily into the road surface.

Overload Mode. Storm Cut!

With a piercing screech, the high-speed airflow splashed out in a fan shape, sweeping forward. This dealt massive damage to the unprotected Living Corpses; severed limbs flew within dozens of meters, exposing a massive figure over two meters tall behind the swarm.

Its arms were so thick they could be called deformed, while its head appeared extremely small. Its arms were crossed, and its forearms were covered in scars.

A Tank? Planning to hide in the back and hit me with a heavy blow?

Yuki recognized the monster. This thing was far stronger than the previous mutated Living Corpses; once entangled, there would be no escaping in the short term.

But time is exactly what I need most right now!

Without a moment's hesitation, Yuki charged straight at it. His body radiated a blood-red hue like the Chainsaw Sword, along with glowing magic circuits.

Bang—

With an instant acceleration, the concrete ground cracked under his feet. In a single breath, the Chainsaw Sword collided with the massive shoulder.

Clack, clack, clack...

Blood sprayed, but the saw teeth did not cut the flesh in two; instead, they jammed into the bone, emitting a dull sound like a saw cutting through steel plate.

It's tough.

Yuki gritted his teeth, feeling the stinging pain of the webbing between his thumb and forefinger tearing. His physical fitness was merely that of an excellent ordinary person; this strength was forcibly stimulated by external objects, and he would definitely be at a disadvantage in a head-on collision.

He loosened his grip on the hilt slightly, saw a fist the size of a sandbag coming at his face, and leaned back without a second thought.

Whoosh.

The massive fist grazed the tip of his nose. The Tank didn't care that its right hand was about to be severed; it leaned down, hooked its joints, and prepared to crush its prey in its arms. But at that moment, a pitch-black gun barrel was pressed against its forehead.

The blonde girl held the gun with one hand and pulled the trigger, expressionless.

BANG!!

A 12-gauge buckshot fired at point-blank range instantly tore that face apart. The steel-hard skull was shattered, and the massive body fell backward. At the same time, Yuki pulled out his sword and cleanly stabbed it into the monster's chest.

"Follow me!"

The chain rotated, tearing through the chest cavity. Yuki pushed the corpse forward and sprinted, shoving aside the few Living Corpses in his path.

The four of them quickly formed a single-file line. Yuki cleared the path in front, Hayasaka Ai finished off the stragglers, and Mai Sakurajima and Robert simply had to keep up.

Ahead lay a residential area with an iron gate between the buildings. Because of the noise from the previous battle, the Living Corpses inside had all been drawn out.

Yuki slammed the gate open, stopped, and turned, tossing the bloody, mangled corpse in his hands to Hayasaka Ai. She didn't say a word; she hacked an axe into the corpse's shoulder, and while pulling the axe out, she kicked it toward the incoming swarm of corpses.

Frontal Lobe Fragment!

Sharp Petals grew wildly on the corpse, quickly forming a dense field of blades that blocked the three-meter-wide gate completely. The dull sound of flesh being shredded was almost continuous.

The entrance was too small, and the Living Corpses' defense was too low; it was like they were actively throwing themselves into a blender, so naturally, they met a grim end.

For a moment, this Chaos Item, which couldn't be compared to the Chainsaw Sword, actually achieved ten times the lethality.

"Go, go, go!"

Yuki had no desire to look back; he tucked the head-splittingly pained Hayasaka Ai under his arm and charged into the residential complex.

A sense of exhaustion-induced vertigo began to surge, and seeing the blood-red glow on his Chainsaw Sword fade, he knew his enhancement was nearing its limit.

He dared not stop, scrambling up stairs, cutting through the central garden, slicing a hole through the opposite perimeter wall, and bursting into the next residential block, continuing in a straight line while violently dismantling every obstacle in his path.

Smashing walls, sprinting, smashing another wall, sprinting again—just as the chainsaw was on the verge of stalling, the view ahead finally opened up.

The Crossroads had been reached; the horde that should have clogged the streets had long since been lured to the riverbank, filling the sea of blades with their own flesh and blood, packing several large residential blocks to the brim.

Thousands of Living Corpses were stampeding, including many highly mobile variants, but trapped within the sea of bodies, they had no room to maneuver; even if one tripped on a stone step, it would be trampled into paste by countless others.

The wailing behind them was like a mountain of crashing waves, and with no new Living Corpses spawning ahead, Yuki seized this window of time and bolted straight for the subway entrance on the side of the street.

While wandering the city earlier, Yuki had already confirmed that this Crimson Moon City subway had only one entrance.

He dove in without hesitation, slid down the ramp, and drew his pistol to blast the heads off two wandering Living Corpses, only then finding the strength to turn his head.

Behind him, Mai Sakurajima and Robert also scrambled in, followed by dozens of Living Corpses; neither dared to look back, leaping down the stairs in a few strides and sliding past Yuki like they were performing a slide tackle.

Clack!

Yuki forced himself up and smashed the alarm on the wall with a fist; as the red light began to flash, the heavy fire door slowly descended.

Thud, thud, thud.

Heavy, muffled impacts followed—undoubtedly the sound of Living Corpses slamming their heads against the door—and after a few moments, the sound shifted into a dense, rhythmic pounding.

The red light flickered; having sprinted two kilometers, their breathing should have been ragged, but the subway station was deathly silent, everyone suppressing their breath to the absolute limit.

Yuki leaned against the wall, cradling Hayasaka Ai, remaining as motionless as if he were dead, while Mai Sakurajima and Robert held their rifles, stiff as statues.

Slap, slap, slap...

Dozens of palms struck with full force, causing the fire door to begin to warp, and the sound of their breathing became even more stifled, reaching a point where it was almost impossible to draw air.

Everyone knew that there were thousands of Living Corpses outside, a crowd far more overwhelming than any superstar's concert, enough to pack the wide Crossroads so tightly that one couldn't even set foot down; if they poured in, even if Yuki were ten times stronger, there wouldn't be a scrap of him left.