Beginner Uninhabited Village (10)

The monsters on the bank seemed to sense that the body underwater had been discovered. No longer wary of the weapons in the players' hands, they crawled out of the grass with guttural roars.

Compared with their last attack, the monsters were noticeably faster now.

"Watch out!" Zhao Fu grabbed Fang Rui by the arm and swung his hammer hard at the head of the scorpion ambushing her.

The scorpion burst like a smashed watermelon. Brains mixed with black blood splattered across the ground, giving off the stench of a rotting corpse.

"Uncle Zhao, are you all right?" Fang Rui tried to check his arm, but Zhao Fu pushed her behind him.

"Don't let the scorpions near the river!" Lu Jiancheng shouted. "Lure the monsters over there!"

Covered in foul blood, the players pressed their backs together and cautiously moved away from the river.

Splash-

Ripples spread across the water as Ji Xun walked ashore, carrying a body with a mutilated face.

He laid the child on the ground and looked around with a frown.

Dead scorpions and human-headed snakes littered the ground. The players were nowhere to be seen.

Just then, Tang Cha's anguished scream came from nearby. "Ji Xun-!"

Ji Xun's pupils contracted sharply. He grabbed his blade and ran toward the sound.

The monsters had gained the upper hand and completely surrounded the players. Everyone had suffered injuries of varying severity, and Lu Jiancheng's arm was almost entirely stained red with blood.

Ji Xun hurled his long blade at the scorpion raising its stinger to strike Tang Cha. The blade severed its tail outright. The scorpion let out a piercing cry, thrashed a few times, then went still.

The long blade then flew back to Ji Xun as though it were alive. The monsters stopped watching the players and instead stared unblinkingly at him.

Despite his time underwater, the bloodstains on Ji Xun's shirt had not faded at all. Combined with his grim expression, he looked like a reaper from the underworld, come to claim their lives.

The monsters grew restless. Their instincts told them this man was dangerous!

Run!

But how could Ji Xun let them escape?

The little boy's grief-stricken sobs, the remains stripped of skin and flesh inside the heated bed's flue, and the infant in the pot who had been too young even to walk.

Even his teammates were covered in wounds because of these monsters.

Ji Xun tightened his grip on the hilt and slashed hard at the monsters.

Setting aside performance records and judging purely by combat strength, Ji Xun ranked among the top three bosses in the escape games.

Against a handful of beginner village monsters, he brought his blade down as easily as slicing melons.

Before long, more than half the scorpions and human-headed snakes were dead. The rest had fled early when they saw things going badly.

Ji Xun caught his breath. "Let's get to the safe house first."

The players were already utterly exhausted.

Ji Xun picked up the little boy and carried him all the way back to the cottage.

Tang Cha saw that the blood on his clothes had grown even darker, and his face was terribly pale. "Ji Xun, are you hurt?"

Ji Xun shook his head. "I'm fine."

He looked at Zhao Fu, his voice even. "Do you have any unresolved wishes?"

Tang Cha looked puzzled, unable to understand why he would say that. It wasn't as though it was time for anyone's last words.

Then he was horrified as he realized something was wrong.

Zhao Fu's face was ashen with a bluish tinge, and his breathing had grown faint. He was clearly dying.

Sitting on the sofa, he looked at everyone with a bitter smile. "I do, actually."

"Zhao! You-why didn't you say anything earlier?" Lu Jiancheng's eyes widened. He could no longer spare a thought for the hole in his own arm.

He hadn't even noticed that Zhao Fu had been stung by a scorpion! And Zhao Fu had kept fighting alongside them in that condition!

Xin Xin covered her mouth and began to cry. She looked at Zhou Yang, who shook his head at her.

If there had been any way to save him, Ji Xun would not have stood by and done nothing.

Fang Rui froze in place, biting her lip as she choked out, "Was it the scorpion that came at me just now? Uncle Zhao, you were trying to save me..."

Zhao Fu managed a weak chuckle and beckoned to Fang Rui.

Fang Rui walked over and crouched beside his knees, her face already streaked with tears.

"I... have a daughter. She was only six when my wife and I divorced. She should be about your age now, cough, cough." He spat out a mouthful of black blood, a harsh wheezing sound coming from his throat. His gaze began to lose focus. "I always thought I could give the two of them a good life, but I never imagined..."

Through his halting words, Ji Xun learned about this middle-aged man's short life.

Zhao Fu had been born in the countryside, but he had set his heart on starting a business. He simply wasn't cut out for it. His wife could no longer stand his lofty ambitions and complete lack of accomplishment. She divorced him and took their child with her, forbidding him from seeing his daughter again.

Zhao Fu had been determined to prove himself. He wanted to give his daughter a good life and win his wife back.

But by the time he finally faced reality in his forties, he was already buried in debt.

The debt collectors' calls reached his daughter. The first words she had spoken to Zhao Fu in all those years were, "You don't deserve to be a father."

"I don't deserve to be a father..." Tears spilled from Zhao Fu's eyes. His numb heart hurt as though a knife were cutting through it.

"Uncle Zhao, do you want us to pass a message to your daughter?" Fang Rui asked through her tears.

She had no way to judge whether this father was right or wrong. From his perspective, there had been nothing wrong with wanting to give his wife and daughter a good life.

But from his daughter's perspective, her father had been almost entirely absent from her life. What had she done wrong?

"Don't bother her." Zhao Fu closed his eyes briefly. "Sorry for the trouble, but please call the police... On the outskirts near City C, there's a car... I..."

Before he could finish, his body suddenly began to convulse violently. Ji Xun pushed Fang Rui aside and stepped forward to restrain his flailing limbs.

"Hh... hh..." The agony of suffocation appeared on Zhao Fu's face. The scorpion venom was making it impossible for him to breathe.

"Uncle Zhao..."

"Zhao..." Unable to bear the sight, Lu Jiancheng looked at Ji Xun.

Ji Xun understood what he meant. Perhaps ending his suffering was the best thing they could do for him.

He raised a hand and placed it over Zhao Fu's heart, applying a little pressure.

Zhao Fu's convulsions gradually stopped. His eyes stared wide open at the ceiling, a happy smile resting on his face.

This was a beautiful dream Ji Xun had created for him in the final moment of his life.

In the dream, he had not stubbornly pursued a business, but had chosen an ordinary job instead. He had a gentle wife and a thoughtful child by his side. Perhaps he would live into his seventies or eighties, watching his grandchildren slowly grow up.

His life would never again have anything to do with the infinite survival games.

Fang Rui sat on the floor, covering her face as she cried silently. Tears seeped between her fingers.

Xin Xin crouched beside her and gathered her into her arms, trying to comfort her.

Only now did they truly feel that people really could die in this game.

Tang Cha looked at Ji Xun in despair. "Will we be next?"

No one could answer him.

"I miss my mom." Tang Cha crouched on the floor with his head in his hands and broke down sobbing. "Why is this happening to us?"

Ever since entering the game, Tang Cha had always seemed optimistic. But in the end, he was only a boy who had just turned eighteen.

Zhao Fu's passing was the first time he had faced death directly.

The eighteen-year-old could no longer suppress the terror in his heart. He was on the verge of falling apart.