Transmigrated Too Late to Join the Rest!

"There's also a chance of getting one from a supply crate, but the odds are very low. The other option is to buy one directly from a specific service area. That's the most reliable way."

"You need a Service Card to enter a service area. First place on the rookie mileage leaderboard gets you a Service Card for an area of your choice. Otherwise, you can get one from supply crates or by killing monsters."

"Also, even if you get into a service area, you'll need Survival Coins to buy anything. They're the standard currency on Survival Road. You can get them from supply crates, killing monsters, or taking first place among the rookies, but the drop rate is very low."

"Of course, if you take first place among the rookies, everything becomes simple. You'll get a Talent Awakening Potion outright, and once your stats are high enough, you can awaken your talent."

As Zhou Chang spoke, he plopped down on the ground. The other four sat down too, and Su Ye joined them without standing on ceremony. The six of them sat in a circle.

"So your goal right now is to take first place among the rookies and get the Talent Awakening Potion. As for that Service Card that lets you choose an area, I'd recommend a shop service area. Not only do they sell Talent Awakening Potions, they also have potions, spirit fruits, and things like that to boost your stats directly."

"Anyway, there's plenty of good stuff, but these Service Cards are single-use, so I'd suggest waiting until you have enough Survival Coins before using one."

"..."

Zhou Chang explained a great deal, and the other four chimed in from time to time. It was all valuable advice for a newcomer like Su Ye, keeping him from stumbling around in the dark.

"Although the Fivefold Race is a single racial civilization, the fact that it's divided into five groups means there must be conflicts between them. If you run into members of different groups later, you might be able to stir up those conflicts and profit from them."

"That about covers it. If there's anything you want to ask, go ahead," Zhou Chang said.

"Brother Zhou, when did you enter this game? And why have you turned into monsters now?" Su Ye asked.

"Us? Going by the survival game's time, we've been here for 134 years."

"As for why we turned into monsters, that's because we're all dead, of course."

Dead?

Su Ye didn't think these five were ghosts or anything of the sort. Instead, realization stirred in his expression, and he asked, "You mean that when people die-or rather, when players die-they don't really die? They stay in the survival game as monsters?"

"You're a sharp kid. When players die in the survival game, they're eliminated. It doesn't count as a true death; they just lose their player status."

"When an entire racial civilization fails in the survival game, with not a single player reaching the end of the highway, that whole civilization stays in the game as monsters."

"But the game still gives us a way forward. As monsters, we can stop the next civilization from reaching the end of the highway. The more players we stop in the process, the more survival points we earn."

"Once we have enough survival points, we can buy back our player status and take part in another round of Road Survival. If we fail again, we go back to being monsters and stopping other civilizations. The cycle keeps repeating until we reach the end of the highway."

As he spoke, Zhou Chang looked at Su Ye with a curious expression. "As for what's going on with you, I really don't know. I'll have to go back to the Gray Mist World and ask the higher-ups."

"The Gray Mist World? The higher-ups?" Su Ye looked curious.

"Civilizations like ours that failed at Road Survival can only stay in the Gray Mist World. We can only come onto the highway according to the rules when a new civilization enters Road Survival."

Zhou Chang continued, "As for the higher-ups, our Blue Star civilization gathered together after we failed. Right now, the entire Blue Star civilization is managed by seven War Gods. I'm on friendly terms with one of them, so I can contact him directly."

"Heh, Brother Zhou's being modest. What do you mean, friendly terms? He's that War God's father-in-law," one of the men beside him said with a laugh.

Su Ye was startled and looked at Zhou Chang in disbelief. He hadn't expected the man to have such powerful connections.

"Father-in-law, my ass. I'm too embarrassed to claim that title. It was my own fault for trying to break them up back on Blue Star. Then we ended up in this damned game, and the brat went and proved I shouldn't have looked down on a poor young man. He became a War God."

Zhou Chang wasn't annoyed at having his past exposed. More than a century had passed, and those events were now just another chapter in the life of a handsome middle-aged man like him.

"You really do have a good eye, Brother Zhou. If you hadn't tried to break them up back then, you might never have helped him become a War God," Su Ye said with a smile.

"Hahaha! Now that's what I like to hear, kid. Don't worry. Once I get back to the Gray Mist World, I'll talk to him. He'll definitely take this seriously."

Zhou Chang continued, "After all, you're a special case. Someone from Humanity somehow became a player in the Fivefold Race's game. I'm curious myself—if you reach the end of the highway, will that count as a successful survival run for the Fivefold Race, or for Humanity?"

Su Ye was curious about that too. He continued asking, "Brother Zhou, have we in Humanity entered the survival game a second time during these past hundred-odd years?"

"We have. Twenty years ago, we entered the survival game for a second time. Unlike the first time, when we fought among ourselves, everyone united this time. We even voluntarily handed all our resources over to the seven War Gods, but we still failed."

Zhou Chang said helplessly, "The second survival run was far harder than the first. And the more times you attempt it, the harder it gets."

"Humanity's leaders discussed this. They all thought we only had a chance of succeeding in the first three runs. If everyone had united the first time, our chance of success would have been as high as 98.1%. Even united, our chance on the second run was only 11.3%. We haven't experienced the third run yet, but it'll definitely be below 1%."

"But there's no use regretting it now. We've already failed twice. Even once we gather enough survival points for a third run, we won't start until we're fully prepared."

As he spoke, Zhou Chang's eyes lit up. "But you're different, kid. This is your first time participating. Once I report your situation to the higher-ups, you might really be able to reach the end of the highway with help from us Blue Star humans."

Help from all the Blue Star Humans?

Su Ye's eyes lit up too. He hadn't received any other special advantage when he entered this Road Survival Game.

If all of humanity helped me, wouldn't that be a special advantage in its own right?

At the same time, Su Ye understood. Everyone on Blue Star had entered the survival game a century ago, which was why time had stopped across the entire planet.

But because he had transmigrated too late, he had only been pulled into the game now.

"I actually transmigrated too late to join the rest."

Su Ye silently marveled at that, grateful that he had missed them.

Otherwise, he would probably have ended up like Zhou Chang and the other four, becoming a monster in this game.

He didn't believe that his arrival alone could have made the difference in a survival game that billions of people across the globe had failed to clear.