Before the old man could lunge at her with a sinister grin, she shouted, “Help me!”
The old man’s body completely enveloped her. Compared to him, Yang Chaoyu looked like a shivering little rabbit.
He sneered. “No one is going to save you.”
But the moment he finished speaking, he sensed something was wrong. He had only just turned his head when he saw a massive hammerhead hurtling toward her.
“Boom—!” The enormous hammer, seemingly condensed from black smoke, slammed the monster’s head into the floor, smashing out a web-shaped crater.
The blow was incredibly powerful, and the entire building shook.
The monster’s head was not spared either. It was crushed into a mass of flesh and pulp, with red and white matter mixed together. Its enormous body collapsed onto Yang Chaoyu. A scream remained trapped in Yang Chaoyu’s throat as she crawled out from beneath the monster, trembling all over.
She trembled violently, not daring to look at the monster’s corpse again. Instead, she hugged herself into a ball and shrank into the corner.
Her eyes stared at the floor beneath her feet, but they had already lost all focus.
She had almost… almost died.
Not because of the rules of this strange place, nor because Wen Shaoqiao had become a ghost after dying, but because of the impossible monster in front of her.
“What is this? What is this? What is this…”
She kept muttering, her body swaying more and more violently.
One corner of her phone was pinned beneath the monster’s corpse, but Yang Chaoyu’s eyesight was excellent. She could see the comments scrolling rapidly across the screen.
“Young lady, that was freaking awesome! You actually used the overseer to kill a monster!”
“I thought this was a certain-death situation. I really didn’t expect this! I’m calling all my friends over to watch the genius young lady.”
“Using the rules to kill a monster works surprisingly well~”
“I’ve decided. Starting today, the young lady is my god! Rainy Waves forever!”
“Idiot above, are you already making a god out of her?”
“If you don’t like it, get lost and watch another livestream.”
Her fear instantly transformed into anger. She had nearly died, yet these onlookers seemed to be enjoying a festival! She snatched up her phone and was about to say something, but then she remembered the comments beneath the news about Wen Shaoqiao. She still remembered the girl whose face had been covered in tears as she cried in that news report.
The girl had tried so hard to explain, but no one had listened.
A sense of powerlessness filled her entire body, and her impulse to curse at them vanished.
Even if she cursed at these viewers and the MN company, what good would it do? People would still watch what they wanted to watch, and the company would still run its business. She alone would be treated like a Clown and surrounded for everyone’s amusement.
Her hand drooped weakly, and she put the phone back into her pocket.
She had survived against all odds. Although her entire body was still cold, that sense of powerlessness had already dissipated.
Regardless, she had survived. As long as any one of those three brought back the hidden clue, they would be able to leave this place! Then Yang Chaoyu realized something was wrong. Since she could move now, she could search for it herself. Why did she need to rely on others?
Thinking this, she stood up and patted her powerful patron and upper arm.
“What is that thing?”
Qi Yang had awakened because of the earlier tremor, but the moment he Opened His Eyes and saw something so terrifying, he felt as if he was about to faint again.
Yang Chaoyu immediately ran over and viciously pinched the spot between his nose and upper lip.
“Since you’re awake, don’t faint again. Otherwise, you might not wake up.”
The pain jolted Qi Yang fully awake, and he looked at her resentfully.
“Do you have any clues you can share with me?”
Yang Chaoyu’s throat tightened, and she could only honestly shake her head. But she immediately comforted him. “Don’t panic. I just thought of a loophole. They only said we would be admitted or eliminated; they never used anything extreme like ‘execution.’ That means you still have a way to survive. Don’t give up on yourself so quickly. Maybe… maybe Ke Xingyun has brought the hidden clue back to you…”
Qi Yang seemed to have been comforted by her, but when he glanced at his own leg, his expression darkened.
“But even if I go back…”
Yang Chaoyu was silent for a while before saying, “This world is completely different from the one we knew before. If ghost monsters can exist, then perhaps something capable of completely healing your leg exists too. Just like in those popular infinite-flow novels, the main deity system can do anything. As long as you have enough points, you can even buy an entire world, let alone a miraculous elixir capable of bringing the dead back to life and restoring flesh to bones.”
Qi Yang looked at her indescribably, clearly not believing her at all.
But he still said, “I’ll take your word for it.”
Yang Chaoyu pressed her lips together and added, “Actually, I hope all of this is just a hallucination.”
If it were a hallucination, these ghost monsters would not exist, and Qi Yang’s leg would not be broken. The world would still be as it had been. She would be rushing around looking for work, but she would never be constantly worried about her own safety.
She had never, at any moment, wished so desperately to return to her former life.
She looked at Qi Yang and asked, “I’m going downstairs to look for the other three. What about you?”
She was not entirely at ease about Ke Xingyun. Now that she could move, she might be able to find the final clue as well.
Qi Yang glanced at the monster’s corpse on the floor and pleaded, “Could you not go?”
A suffocating silence spread through the air.
Qi Yang also felt somewhat embarrassed. A grown man was actually begging a girl to stay and keep him company. But he was injured and had lost too much blood. He did not want to be alone, especially with the corpse of a huge monster beside him. He had the uneasy feeling that once Yang Chaoyu left, the huge monster would come back to life…
He really could not manage it alone! In the face of fear, everyone was equal.
Yang Chaoyu sniffed, sat cross-legged in front of him, and said helplessly, “Fine. My competitive spirit isn’t that strong anyway. At worst, I’ll be eliminated together with you.”
That meant they could only rely on Ke Xingyun. Thinking this, Yang Chaoyu secretly felt uneasy. Qi Yang looked at her gratefully, then began reciting a long string of numbers, saying it was his phone number. After that, he started giving her the account name and password for his livestreaming platform. Yang Chaoyu immediately raised her hand to stop him, pulled out her phone, and pointed at it.
“We’re Livestreaming right now. Aren’t you worried about your information being leaked?”
Qi Yang let out an “Ah,” finally remembering. The two exchanged phone numbers and their penguin messengers, after which he sent Yang Chaoyu the passwords for all his various accounts, as well as his bank card password.
Yang Chaoyu was stunned.
“What are you doing?”
He said, “I always thought I would live to a hundred. I never expected death to be so close. If I can’t make it back, you’ll be the last person I see. You have a better chance of returning than I do. I only hope that if I’m gone, you can pass a message to my parents…”
“No, no, no, I’m not doing that! Don’t tempt fate like this!”
In movies, people who say things like that usually croak in the next second. Brother, don’t be so pessimistic.
But Qi Yang ignored her protests and said, “I’m not a good son. I didn’t take school seriously, my university major wasn’t what they wanted, and I didn’t work hard either. I insisted on becoming a Livestreamer. After all these years, I still haven’t become famous, and I haven’t earned enough money to make you proud. But I hope that even if I’m gone, you can still live well. I’m not suffering at all…”
As he spoke, he began to cry.
Yang Chaoyu rummaged around with both hands but could not find any tissues. She furtively handed Qi Yang a scrap of clothing left behind when the old man’s clothes had been blasted apart.
Qi Yang froze for a moment, then laughed in exasperation.
“What are you doing? How could I possibly use that to wipe my tears?”
Although the fabric looked soft, it had been worn by a monster. What kind of person would have to be to use it?
Yang Chaoyu felt too embarrassed to throw the fabric aside again and said, “Seriously, don’t be so desperate. I only have one hundred points, so I’m the bottom-ranked person besides you. We’re destined to depend on each other for survival.”
Yang Chaoyu patted him on the shoulder like a good buddy. Qi Yang looked at her speechlessly.
Qi Yang: Did you forget? You still have to return and deliver a message for me. If you die too, then all that emotional speech of mine just now will have been for nothing.