Death-Announcing System: My Name Is Fan Shang, and by the Time You Read This, I Will Already Be...

At first, few people paid any attention, and fewer still cared.

But after several hundred people went insane from staring at the eerie moon out of boredom, or ignored the warnings and spent too long away from the "road" in the fog, never to be heard from again, everyone fell into line.

They weren't stupid, after all. Some only had to think back on their escape from school to realize that there was no fog on those "roads" that had suddenly appeared.

As long as they didn't linger too long, the roads were actually quite safe. Most people had escaped by following one of these endless roads that had appeared out of nowhere.

With the reminder provided by the three iron rules, they naturally understood that these so-called roads were among the few "temporary safe zones" in this eerie world.

Yes, temporary. Staying on a road too long would still attract the attention of eerie entities.

"What are you still staring at? Do you want to go after my cat too?"

Fan Shang raised his eyes and glanced at the people around him. At his words, they all scattered.

After all, nobody wanted to provoke someone ruthless, especially someone ruthless enough to chop off a classmate's head. Nobody dared mess with a man like that. With that kind of time on their hands, wouldn't they be better off bullying timid, honest people?

Seeing everyone disperse, Fan Shang glanced again at the shapely corpse on the ground and couldn't help feeling a little regret.

Wang Xiaoxue had been quite pretty, after all. Sure, she hadn't showered for a week and her panties had probably gone rancid, but she still had a pretty face, didn't she?

It really was a shame that she'd died just like that.

Of course, it wasn't that he was sentimental. Although Fan Shang didn't consider himself a good person, he didn't consider himself a bad person either.

Honestly, seeing his classmate die right in front of him still made him a little uncomfortable.

Even if he'd killed her himself.

But she'd crossed Fan Shang's bottom line by going after Little Black, so there was no way he could let her off.

After all, he could find her attractive, but that didn't mean he could spare her.

It was a matter of principle.

With that thought, Fan Shang crouched down and searched both people's clothes, finding only a softened Snickers bar.

He put it away, gave Wang Xiaoxue one last glance, and headed straight for his bicycle.

He began moving away. The smell of blood was unpleasant, after all.

"Hey, Wang, pretty good, right? Didn't I tell you these college girls were tender? Just one packet of instant noodles and they'll sleep with you, yet you still didn't want to spend it."

"Zhang, you... Sigh, I just couldn't bear to part with it. We've been in this godforsaken world for months. You know how important supplies are. But you really were right, Zhang. These college girls are seriously tender. Compared to the batch that came in with us, even their panties smell sweet. And that counselor, the way she was dressed..."

"Haha, I told you, you can't go wrong sticking with me."

Fan Shang: "..."

As he rode along on his bicycle, Fan Shang couldn't help feeling speechless at the quiet conversation drifting over from nearby.

He shook his head but didn't listen any further. He had something more important to do now.

"Come on, Little Black. Let's get farther away."

At his words, the black cat following beside his feet gave him a remarkably humanlike look.

Then, with a leap, the cat jumped straight into the basket at the front of Fan Shang's bicycle.

The movement was fluid, as though Little Black could hear and understand what Fan Shang was saying.

Fan Shang wasn't puzzled by this. Little Black had always been smart; otherwise, the cat couldn't have helped him evade so many deadly dangers.

Right now, Fan Shang had something else on his mind.

He found a spot with fewer people and sat down, then eagerly got down to business.

System, open the panel and message window.

The instant the thought crossed his mind, a sudden "ding!" sounded. In the next moment, a deep blue panel appeared before Fan Shang.

[Name]: Fan Shang

[Race]: Human

[Physique]: 10 (Peak normal human level: 10. Physique is the foundation of human activity. Those with weak physiques, such as college students, are on death's door after running a kilometer; those with robust physiques can travel dozens of kilometers a day without tiring. Affects strength, speed, endurance, defense, injury healing time, etc.)

[Spirit]: 8 (The normal human limit in optimal condition is 10. Those with abundant spirit: I really can solve math problems. Those with depleted spirit: forget something seven seconds after it happens. Affects willpower, intuition, senses, resistance to mental stress, etc. Offers some resistance to mental contamination such as overwhelming pressure, suppression from higher life forms, and fear.)

[Energy]: 8 (Peak normal human level: 10. Energy is the source of power. Affects maximum energy, energy recovery speed, energy perception, etc.)

[Skills]: Willpower lv1, Street Elbow Technique lv3, Learning lv3

[Survival Points]: 2400

Fan Shang gave it a quick glance, then eagerly turned his attention to the blood-red message window beside it.

Several lines of blood-red text were etched into the window, looking as though they had been written in blood. He could even see bloody trails slowly trickling from the edges of the letters.

But Fan Shang paid that no mind and looked straight at the contents.

[My name is Fan Shang, and by the time you read this, I will already be dead. I shouldn't have spared her. I shouldn't have spared that bitch. If I'd killed her then, she wouldn't have gone to those men, and they wouldn't have ambushed me. No, I can't die yet. I haven't found my sister. I promised I'd protect her. I... should have killed Wang Xiaoxue.]

The message was short, but from those few words alone, Fan Shang could read the writer's regret and despair between the lines.

And then there was that final sentence.

It was as though Fan Shang could see the terrifying, twisted expression on his own face as he breathed his last.

Even his breathing slowed a little.

Then he took a deep breath. A few seconds later, once he'd calmed himself, he slowly lowered his gaze.

There was another line below.

The instant he saw it, the heaviness that still lingered in Fan Shang's heart lifted.

The line read:

[Ding! Host detected to have killed "Wang Xiaoxue," evading a lethal crisis. Survival Points +500]

[Would you like to claim them?]

[Yes]

Without hesitation, Fan Shang selected yes, then looked at the attribute panel.

The panel, which had originally shown only 2,400 survival points, instantly changed to 2,900.

A flicker of delight rose in his heart.

This meant he had a little more to fall back on. More importantly, it meant his guess had been right.

Killing Wang Xiaoxue outright had been the correct choice.

"Exactly. I knew my kindhearted classmate would never say something like that. Sure enough, it was an eerie entity pretending to be her!"

At that thought, Fan Shang couldn't help feeling a lingering chill of fear.

Honestly, he'd hesitated over whether to kill Wang Xiaoxue. They had been classmates, after all.

Fortunately, he'd noticed something was off and killed her. Otherwise, he would have been in trouble.

With that thought, Fan Shang looked again at the panel before him. No, perhaps "system" was a better word for it.

Yes, Fan Shang had a system. It had awakened when he'd first entered this eerie world.

He'd even given it a nice-sounding name.

The Death-Announcing System, or the Myriad Ways to Die System.

Apart from Little Black's help, the system had also been indispensable in keeping him alive this long.

For one reason alone: it... could announce Fan Shang's death.

Yes, his death.

Whenever a major development that could threaten Fan Shang's life was about to occur, the system would provide a warning resembling someone's last words.

Although it only gave one warning a day, it had still helped Fan Shang avoid plenty of danger.

But that wasn't actually what made the system so awesome.

Its most awesome feature was survival points.

Yes, you heard that right. Survival points!

Besides the fixed amount of survival points issued each day, he could earn more every time he evaded a lethal crisis.

And survival points were important-extremely important, even-because he could use them to upgrade supplies, or even... improve his own attributes.

With that thought, Fan Shang looked at his panel.

System, add a point to physique.

[Ding! Would you like to spend 500 survival points to increase physique by one?]

[Yes]

The instant he answered, Fan Shang suddenly felt a warm current flow through his body. Then all his bones seemed to soften, before a series of cracks and pops rang out.

His muscles began growing denser too. In just a dozen or so seconds, Fan Shang felt as though he'd become much thinner.

But...

He opened his hand, then clenched it hard. Fan Shang felt that his strength had instead nearly doubled.

[Physique]: 11

"So this is strength beyond the human limit?"

He murmured the words.

Then Fan Shang checked the sensations within his body, and his brows furrowed in disappointment.

"So even breaking past ten physique points hasn't awakened a Sequence? What exactly does it take to awaken one?"

This wasn't Fan Shang's first time increasing his attributes. As a young man deeply invested in games who loved reading novels, he understood perfectly well that only his own strength truly counted. That was why almost all the survival points he'd saved over this time had gone into boosting his own stats.

That was how he'd gone from the original college-student average of five points-the average for elderly men was around six-all the way to his current eleven.

That was how he'd avoided so many crises, and how he'd survived what had just happened.

Yet even so, even with his physique above ten points, he still hadn't awakened.

What exactly does it take to become a Sequence transcendent?

With that thought, Fan Shang looked toward the three people at the front of the crowd.

But in the next instant, a piercing scream rang out.

"Aaaaah!!"