Chapter 7: Six Suns (7)
“All the food is yours.” Fatty dropped the hiking backpack and tossed it to Jian Yuntai, choking up as he said, “I can’t leave Jinjin behind.”
He was about to rush forward.
Jian Yuntai kicked out, tripping him.
Fatty went sprawling, scrambling to his feet and shouted angrily, “What the hell are you doing?!”
“Don’t rush to your death,” Jian Yuntai said coldly. “I have a way to save Jinjin.”
Fatty’s eyes lit up. “What way?”
Jian Yuntai glanced swiftly backward, thinking of the wrecked car.
All the corpses in the alley bore bite marks, but no tire tracks. This meant the mutant rats had killed the people after the car had already crashed. And the woman had stayed in the back seat the entire time—never discovered by the mutant rats.
Could hiding in a car really protect one from mutants? Step back and think: hiding in a building blocks the light; hiding in a car does the same, doesn’t it?
It would be best to check with Red-Green Blindness—if there was green light behind them, his guess would be proven correct.
But… the skill could only be used once per day. If he used it now, for the next several hours, Jian Yuntai would be strong physically but otherwise just like any normal person.
Should he use the skill?
These thoughts flashed through his mind for a few seconds. Fatty was already impatient. “What’s the plan? Tell me already!”
Jian Yuntai flicked the backpack with one hand. Most of the food and water inside had been consumed, but the pack was still heavy—there was still a large container of gasoline.
Gasoline. It had been in the airdrop. The enforcers had probably anticipated that they would need a car.
Thinking this through, Jian Yuntai made up his mind. He shouted, “Make Jinjin small! We retreat!”
“But the way behind is a dead end,” Fatty hesitated.
Jian Yuntai’s voice was cold. “Do you want to save Jinjin or not? If you do, then trust me.”
“…” Fatty paused, gritted his teeth, and said, “I trust you.” He shouted forward, “Jinjin! Shrink! I command you to revert to your original size—come back immediately!”
The walking corpses surged forward endlessly, layer upon layer, screaming in a language no one could understand. Jinjin’s enormous body vanished in an instant. The undead lunged at empty space, piling atop each other as they struggled to rise again.
Now Jinjin was completely out of sight.
Jian Yuntai and Fatty both focused intently on the mass of corpses, anxiety etched on their faces.
One second, two seconds.
Jinjin didn’t appear.
Three seconds, four seconds.
Still nothing.
Fatty’s eyes instantly reddened. Just before his mind broke entirely, a “meow” rang out from the corpses. Jinjin emerged, tail wagging, slipping through the gaps.
It limped forward a few steps. Though its legs were injured, it was still alive.
Both Jian Yuntai and Fatty exhaled in relief. The former turned and ran toward the end of the alley; the latter dashed forward, scooping up Jinjin, falling several meters behind Jian Yuntai as he turned.
They didn’t exchange a word, running flat out. Behind them, the undead fell upon the ground, surging like a black tidal wave, endless as far as the eye could see.
When Jian Yuntai reached the alley’s end, Young Master Xue was already trying to figure out how to climb the wall.
He grabbed at protruding clumps of soil with his fingers but couldn’t climb even half a meter. Turning back, he looked like he wanted to cry, “Did you ever learn rock climbing? Is there some trick to this?”
“Get in the car!” Jian Yuntai yelled.
“Why?” Young Master Xue was confused. Jian Yuntai had already slipped into the car’s back seat.
Young Master Xue looked again. Seeing the mass of undead, he trembled and scrambled inside.
“Does hiding in a car even work?”
“You’re in anyway, so it doesn’t matter.” Jian Yuntai gripped the door handle, shouting outward, “Fatty, hurry!”
Young Master Xue peeked outside.
Fatty was running like his features were scattering in panic, his face screaming terror. Two meters from the car door, his foot was grabbed by a corpse, and he pitched forward.
Before hitting the ground, he threw Jinjin into the car.
“Meoww!” The cat screamed sharply, struggling, trying to leap out to save Fatty.
Jian Yuntai felt like a villain separating lovers, holding Jinjin down by the tail.
“Hurry! Quick!”
Fatty was trapped by the undead, unable to free his hand. Less than a few meters behind him, the army of walking corpses had closed in, a writhing mass.
It was clear that if Fatty were caught, he was done for.
“Close the car door!” Fatty shouted with effort. “Don’t worry about me! Just shut the door!”
Jinjin’s meows grew piercing.
Jian Yuntai held Jinjin with one hand and the door with the other, still unsure of what to do. A flash of white light shimmered beside him. Young Master Xue disappeared from inside the car.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared two meters away.
Young Master Xue pressed his palm onto Fatty’s head, twisted his shoulder, and another flash of white light occurred.
Thud! The car’s suspension dipped, and two people landed in the back seat, their weight pressing toward Jian Yuntai as if from midair.
“Close the door!” Young Master Xue barked.
Snap! The door shut.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The three hid inside the car, not daring to breathe. They exchanged nervous glances, eyes wide with fear.
Outside, the walking corpses swayed. Losing their target, they regrouped and moved toward the alley exit.
Jian Yuntai peeked through the rear windshield. “They haven’t gone far. Still nearby.” Seeing Fatty and Young Master Xue looking pale, he added, “Relax—they aren’t locating us by sound.”
Phew—
Both finally exhaled. Fatty hugged Jinjin, impressed with Young Master Xue. “I thought I was a goner just now. Thanks for that.”
“No problem,” Young Master Xue replied, still a little awkward at receiving serious thanks. He turned to Jian Yuntai. “How did you know hiding in the car would be safe?”
“Simple.” Jian Yuntai explained in a few words the woman’s cause of death and the gasoline in the airdrop. “I guessed. Got lucky—my guess was right.”
“That’s not guessing. That’s prophetic!”
Young Master Xue’s eyes filled with admiration. “Last time, you saw something was off too, right? You had me land at the far right of the plaza. If I had trusted you then, I wouldn’t have landed straight in the enemy’s main base.”
He regretted it deeply. “Why didn’t you convince me more back then?”
“Words won’t stop a ghost that wants to die,” Jian Yuntai said.
Young Master Xue shook his head repeatedly. “No, no, no. Next time, I won’t need convincing. I’ll follow you automatically.”
Throughout their conversation, Fatty remained serious. Young Master Xue thought it was because Jinjin was hurt and tried to reassure him. “Even though we offended Jiang Jiu badly, the livestream team will assign other Sinister Spirit Types to heal the cat once the instance ends.”
“Jinjin’s self-healing is strong. This little wound won’t survive outside the instance—it’ll heal on its own,” Fatty said, still grim, staring at the woman’s corpse.
Jian Yuntai asked, “Then what’s wrong with you?”
Fatty looked at them, voice hoarse. “Have you considered that with so many corpses rising outside, the body inside the car might…”
He didn’t finish, but the other two instantly understood. They turned to look at the woman’s corpse.
The car fell silent except for breathing.
Jian Yuntai’s position faced the woman’s face directly. He could see her bluish-black, stiff expression. Her eyes hadn’t closed in death; the whites were murky and blackened.
Her chest cavity was exposed—intestines or organs scattered on the seat, filling the car with a nauseating stench.
If the woman’s corpse rose inside the car…
The thought made him shiver. Just as he stiffened, a strange voice sounded inside the car, startling both Young Master Xue and Fatty.
They leaned back, terrified, staring at the corpse.
But they quickly realized the voice wasn’t coming from the corpse. A man was speaking.
【I went to find the institute’s seniors. They’ve completely lost it, not repenting at all, scolding me harshly, saying I don’t understand. What is it I don’t understand?】
“That’s the man from before,” Young Master Xue whispered. “The one who kept a diary warning players.”
Fatty hushed, “Listen carefully.”
The deep male voice continued. Last time, it had been full of grief, lamenting the institute’s elders. Now, after a day, his tone had changed—cold and defeated, as if he had given up resistance.
【The seniors locked me back in the dormitory and assigned someone to watch over me. Before leaving, I saw many colleagues rushing down to the lower floor—that’s the morgue. I overheard them saying the air radiation was too strong, and all those killed by mutated plants and animals had come back to life.
Even now, haven’t the seniors realized? This is a human rights nightmare. The plants and animals were infected, and the corpses were infected too. I wanted to send the research data to the outside military, but I was powerless. They would surely kill me to prevent any leaks.】
The male voice paused abruptly, growing frantic: 【It’s too late… it’s already too late! I hear sounds at the door—they’ve come to kill me!】
Then came a chaotic clatter: the legs of a sofa scraping the wooden floor, doors being slammed.
The sound made anyone listening tense and anxious. After a long pause, the voice resumed, now choking slightly:
【If anyone sees this diary—I am Song Yulu, the only sane person in this institute. I cannot stop the seniors who have completely lost their minds. I can only leave this last message: anyone who finds this diary must do everything possible to stop the sun from being launched.】
【When the fourth sun is successfully launched, something even more terrifying will happen. By then, it will be too late for anything!】
After this, the voice fell silent, never returning. Fatty exclaimed, astonished: “That’s it? Why didn’t he say what would happen after the fourth sun is launched?”
“If he said more, he’d be giving players hints,” Young Master Xue said, puzzled. “So this Song Yulu guy… was he silenced by the institute? Were those his final words?”
Fatty stared blankly. “No way. This is my first time entering an instance. I’ve never seen an NPC complete the plot on their own like this, leaving such a mess for us.”
“NPC?” Jian Yuntai asked, confused.
Fatty realized it was Jian Yuntai’s first instance and explained: “NPC is what players call them privately. They are the native characters tied to the instance’s plot. Think of each instance as a movie: the NPCs are the characters who appear in it. No matter how small their role, they count as NPCs.”
“Got it,” Jian Yuntai murmured. “Song Yulu’s message is basically telling us to go to the institute before the fourth sun is launched, to stop the seniors from firing it.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than an electronic voice sounded:
【Player mainline progress updated】
【STEP1: Go to the institute】
The instant the voice sounded, both Fatty and Jian Yuntai exhaled in relief.
“Damn it, finally triggered the mainline,” Fatty swore. “If the mainline hadn’t appeared and the instance ended, we’d only be survivors, not completers.”
“Surviving isn’t good enough?” Young Master Xue, ever cautious, said. “Every time I start an instance, I survive until the end once the mainline triggers. You still get survival time rewards.”
“That reward is too little,” Fatty disagreed. “The more mainline progress you push, the more time you earn. It also increases tolerance in future instances. I’ve only got twenty-three days left of survival.”
Young Master Xue replied bitterly, “I’ve got twelve.”
The two compared misery, practically wanting to hug and cry. The livestream viewers watching were both sympathetic and amused. They also saw Jian Yuntai’s indifferent expression and were curious.
“Dadan’er, how many days do you have left?” Fatty asked.
Jian Yuntai: “Six minutes,”
“What?” Fatty thought he misheard, hesitated, and confirmed, “Days?”
“Six minutes.” Jian Yuntai slightly tugged his collar; tiny tadpole-like characters on his collarbone confirmed it.
“…”
Both men fell into an awkward silence.
After a moment, Fatty tried to comfort himself: “At least there are six minutes.”
Young Master Xue nodded repeatedly, “Better than nothing.”
Jian Yuntai looked at them helplessly.
After New World arrived, human lifespans were materialized on the collarbone and reduced to a month. Everyone over eighteen had to enter instances, and only by completing them could their lifespans extend.
But since awakening, Jian Yuntai had been locked in the Xiang’an Team, never getting a chance to enter an instance and earn more time. If not for their release, he could have been imprisoned until death.
Even so, his remaining time was precarious; he had to push the mainline as much as possible.
Thinking this, Jian Yuntai said, “This car’s wrecked. We need to get a new one and ideally grab a native to guide us to the institute.”
Easier said than done.
The undead still roamed the alley; none of the three dared go outside, waiting in the car instead.
They waited… four hours.
Most of the undead outside had dispersed, but a dozen remained. They couldn’t wait any longer.
The car faced the scorching sun; inside, the temperature was terrifying. Jian Yuntai felt like he was in Laozi’s alchemy furnace; even his exhaled breath felt scorching.
“Do you remember how the woman in the backseat died?” Fatty said weakly, staring blankly. “I feel like I’m getting heatstroke; it must be close to sixty degrees in here.”
Young Master Xue raised a sweaty hand, lips stuck together, and croaked, “The alley opens to the plaza. There will be buildings there; let’s pick one to go into.”
“Can you teleport in?”
“Not now.”
“Then what good is that?”
Both slumped in the seats, looking utterly resigned, as if ready to attain enlightenment right there.
Viewers watching the scene grew anxious: “Staying there will fry them sooner or later!”
“They can’t do anything else. Besides the dozen undead in the alley, many natives died in the plaza—there will be even more undead out there.”
“Stay and die, go out and die. I thought streamers were stronger, but look, they’re just waiting to die. The state even says the livestream can teach escape methods, but I’ve watched ‘Idiot Son’ stream so long and learned nothing.”
Some viewers replied on the chat: “You think you can learn anything from Idiot Son’s stream? He’s a space-type Sinister Human Type, he can teleport—you can’t. Go watch Jian Dadan directly if you want to learn something.”
“…Talking like Jian Dadan is some genius. He’s just stuck in the car too, powerless.”
The chat suddenly lit up. Many were confused: “They told you to watch Jian Dadan because his Sinister Type isn’t big; he mostly relies on himself in instances. Some people insist on arguing, we can’t help that.”
The original commenter was attacked by others, annoyed: “Whoa, a newbie this good? Just one day of streaming and already has brainless fans protecting him?”
“…”
“…”
The chat filled with ellipses, people dumbfounded, lacking the words to respond.
Just as the original commenter was smug, Jian Yuntai suddenly straightened and said, “Want to leave here?”
“?!” Everyone froze, eyes glued to the screen. Even the sarcastic commenter hesitated, suspicious.
Fatty forced himself to perk up. “You have a plan?”
“Yes, but it’s risky. We have thirty seconds to reach a building,” Jian Yuntai said. “When I go out, you follow right behind me—half a meter max.”
“Okay.” Fatty didn’t hesitate; he could hold on, but Jinjin was barely managing. The desert cat wasn’t afraid of heat, but Jinjin was already injured; untreated wounds could fester.
Young Master Xue hesitated a few minutes, recalling that Jian Yuntai always found the correct escape route. He stopped dithering, grimly saying, “Older Brother, my life is in your hands. Don’t mess this up.”
When the livestream viewers saw this scene, they instantly felt vindicated—thrilled beyond words:
“Yay! Where are the people saying Jian Dadan can’t handle anything? Why aren’t they speaking now? Just because someone’s stuck doesn’t mean no one has a solution. And Jian Dadan really isn’t just popular because of brainless fans—he transferred over from the Xiang’an Team. That alone is enough for plenty of bystanders to become his spontaneous supporters.”
Originally, it should have ended there, but the stubborn commenter persisted: “You’re celebrating too soon—they might die as soon as they go out.”
That triggered chaos in Young Master Xue’s chat, mostly about Jian Yuntai.
“My livestream suddenly got so many downvotes,” Young Master Xue said, confused. “What about you?”
Fatty frowned. “Me too.”
Jian Yuntai touched his wrist and heard the electronic prompt:
【Live stream likes increased by 1,220; dislikes increased by 2,556. Total likes/dislikes: 34,000. 30,000 more required for next recommendation.】
【Coins: 854; Bookmarks: 3,671; Your rank remains Lowborn.】
“Dislikes mean viewers disagree with us going out,” Fatty said. “They think it’s dangerous.”
Jian Yuntai asked, “You said coins could be exchanged for national points. Will dislikes stop me from earning?”
“Uh…” Fatty, amused at this conscientious ‘colleague,’ said, “No. Dislikes just mean disagreement; they don’t cancel coins.”
“Then it’s fine.”
Jian Yuntai calmly watched outside, waiting.
Some viewers grew impatient seeing him indifferent. They enjoyed seeing him prove naysayers wrong, but to speak the truth, outside was genuinely dangerous.
No matter how many disliked, Jian Yuntai remained still, observing the undead.
“Now! Go!”
He flung the car door open, activated Red-Green Colorblind, and the world turned entirely red and green.
Fatty and Young Master Xue jumped down, following quickly.
Jian Yuntai ran fast, heartbeat racing, but the livestream notifications were even faster.
【Your livestream dislikes increased by 1,369】
【Your livestream dislikes increased by 2,456】
He had only run two meters when the number of dislikes in the livestream room jumped by several thousand. By the time he reached the middle of the alley, the dislikes had somehow increased by more than ten thousand.
Fatty and Young Master Xue were probably in just as miserable a state as he was. The two of them ran while continuously cursing, “Holy shit, holy shit.” For a brief moment, they almost felt as if they were up against the entire world.
Finally, a notification sounded in his ear:
[Jian Yuntai’s livestream has reached a total of 70,000 likes and dislikes combined. Congratulations, you have obtained a Nutrient Solution recommendation slot. Your livestream will be promoted to the D-level instance homepage. All viewers watching D-level instances will see your stream prioritized.]
The number of viewers in the livestream skyrocketed all at once.
Many of the newcomers had no idea what was going on. As soon as they entered, they saw the screen filled with dislikes. “What’s happening?”
“The streamer’s a newbie. He wouldn’t listen to advice and ran outside. It’s dangerous out there—quick, dislike to talk some sense into this pretty dummy!”
Someone in the barrage took a moment to reply.
The newcomers were even more confused. “Isn’t he perfectly fine? The instance monsters can’t even get near him. What’s so dangerous about that?”
“……” The people who had been burying their heads in dislike all froze. Only then did they have the time to look carefully at Jian Yuntai. A few seconds later, they stared at the screen in shock, their hands stopping mid-click.
“Fuck—what the hell is going on?!!!”
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