"The proprietress?!"
She was still wearing that familiar gray cloth shirt, but now, more than half of it was soaked in blood. Collapsed at the head of the bridge, her body was curled up and motionless. She was clearly dead.
Even so, one of her hands still maintained a death grip on a bloody woodcutting knife, while the other rested limply against the gap in the broken bridge railing. Not far from her lay another corpse, this one clad in tattered armor.
Though he hadn’t witnessed it himself, Chen Yan could easily imagine the brutal, desperate struggle that had just taken place on this bridge. Encountering such a gruesome scene for the very first time sent a chill down his spine.
He instinctively dashed toward the fallen proprietress, but before he could take even two steps, a dark silhouette suddenly lunged out from the shadows diagonally ahead!
"Another survivor?"
As the hoarse voice echoed, Chen Yan skidded to a halt, using the ambient firelight to make out the man’s appearance. The stranger wore the same type of armor as the corpse on the ground—battered, torn, and completely covered in slash marks and bloodstains. His helmet sat crooked on his head, and beneath his disheveled hair, a pair of bloodshot eyes locked onto Chen Yan with the intensity of a predator staring down its prey. In his hand, he gripped a longsword that was still dripping with blood.
THUMP, THUMP—
Chen Yan’s heart hammered uncontrollably in his chest. Just from being stared at by this man, he could smell the overwhelming, suffocating scent of danger! His palms began to sweat, and his breathing grew ragged. The primal fear of danger left his entire body paralyzed for a moment.
But at the same time, his mind raced at lightning speed, desperately searching for a way out. He wondered if this was all just an illusion, if he would remain perfectly safe even if he did absolutely nothing. But then again, he didn’t dare to gamble on that assumption. He couldn’t afford the price of losing.
Suddenly, he noticed the side quest’s progress bar in the corner of his eye moving—
15%, 34%, 56%, 71%...
The progress bar was going crazy, ticking up so fast it was almost a blur. This wretched side quest hadn’t budged an inch before, no matter what he tried. But now, in this hellish scene, it was as if something had triggered it, driving it forward at a frantic pace.
He instantly realized what he had to do: stall for time! He had to drag this out until the progress bar hit 100%!
Honestly, he felt insane just for entertaining the thought, yet his mind was surprisingly calm, and even the terror gripping his heart had faded considerably.
"Don’t kill me!" Seeing the man advancing on him, Chen Yan spoke up immediately. His tone was rushed but calculated. "I have money on me! I can give you everything!"
The man’s armor was heavily worn. From what Chen Yan knew about ancient military forces, low-ranking soldiers generally lived in abject poverty. Their wages were meager, and their pay was frequently docked by corrupt superiors. Therefore, the allure of "extra income" was always immense to them. That was exactly why Chen Yan directly brought up money.
"Oh?"
Sure enough. The moment he heard there was money to be had, the man stopped in his tracks and tilted his head, sizing him up.
Seeing this, Chen Yan didn’t dawdle. He immediately reached into his pocket. He had spent fourteen cents on the fried Guduo earlier, and counting everything, he originally had less than twenty cents on him in total. So, in reality, he only had a few copper plates left. Even a fool could tell that such a paltry sum would never satisfy the appetite of this bloodthirsty grunt.
A moment later, Chen Yan pulled out the few scattered copper plates, spreading them open in his palm for the man to see. The opponent was clearly taken aback.
89%.
"Heh." Seemingly laughing out of sheer anger, the man dispensed with the pleasantries. He lunged forward, closing the distance in a few strides, and raised his bloodstained longsword. "Boy, do you have any last words?"
Watching the sharp blade whistling toward his head, Chen Yan could even smell the pungent stench of blood coming off it. Instinct drove him to frantically dodge to the side, but he ended up crashing hard into the bridge railing, the impact sending a jarring wave of pain up his arm.
Having missed his strike, the man cursed under his breath and raised his longsword once again.
98%.
Pressed tightly against the freezing bridge railing, Chen Yan cast one last glance at the proprietress lying in a pool of blood at the head of the bridge. Suddenly, he smiled.
The man’s second strike was already thrusting toward him, but this time, he didn’t dodge. He knew he couldn’t evade it.
"My last words are... your wife is quite the ride."
Watching the man instantly fly into a blind rage, Chen Yan felt a sharp, piercing pain in his chest, yet he wore a smile full of mockery—
[Side Quest ’Yongtong Bridge’ Environmental Information Record: 100%]
[Quest Complete. Initiating Return]
The completion notification popped up in the center of his vision. Then, everything suddenly went black, and it all vanished.
His eyes snapped open.
Outside the stairwell, the rain was still pattering down. The entire Ning’an Ancient City was shrouded in rain and mist, giving it a hazy, ethereal look. There was no firelight, no agonizing screams, and no incoming sword tip. Everything was exactly as it had been when he left.
He let out a heavy breath, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and pulled out his phone to check the time. When he realized that less than a minute had passed since his transmigration, his brows instantly furrowed.
Was that transmigration really all just a fleeting dream?
"HSS—"
Suddenly, a jolt of pain flared in his chest. He hurriedly took off his raincoat and pulled up his hoodie. When he saw the small wound on his left chest oozing blood, he couldn’t hold back a furious string of curses—
"You son of a bitch System!"
Even though he knew the System was practically an Artificial Idiot, he still chose to unleash a full barrage of verbal fire. "So, if I hadn’t been quick on my feet, I really would’ve met my maker on that bridge?!"
Unsurprisingly, he was met with total silence.
He viciously berated the mute System for several minutes. It wasn’t until his heartbeat finally calmed down that he sighed, deciding to head back to his office to treat the wound first. But just as he put his raincoat back on and lifted his foot to leave, he saw a string of notifications suddenly refresh on the System interface in the corner of his eye—
[First Exploration Completion Evaluation: Perfect]
[Anchor Stability Increased → 7% (Extremely Low)]
[Energy Level Increased → Deficient]
[Side Quest Reward: Special Building ’Yongtong Bridge’ Memory Fragment x1 deposited into System Space]
[Available Action: You may attempt Fragment Fusion on scenes within the anchor point]
[Suggestion: Choose objects with high relevance to the Fragment]
"Wait... 7%?"
When he saw that a Perfect-tier exploration only brought the anchor stability to a measly 7%, Chen Yan was absolutely dumbfounded! He hadn’t forgotten that when the System first bound to him, the initial stability was already at 5%. Yet after busting his ass and coming inches away from dying permanently on that bridge, the System only gave him a 2% increase?!
What a fucking scam!
However, the energy level had at least upgraded from ’Exhausted’ to ’Deficient’. Even though it still sounded pitifully low, he had a gut feeling. Even if the System issued him another quest next time, there shouldn’t be any risk of his own scenic area collapsing anymore... right?