Chapter 71.1 Crazy Love Season
A frightening shockwave swept in. Wen Shi’s explosion-proof suit worked well. While others fell and spat blood, he just coughed a couple of times.
The mini scarecrow’s head popped out from his arms. He ended up with straw in his mouth. After spitting it out, his big eyeball rolled around.
They looked at each other. Wen Shi gave him a pat to remove the dust and said, “Good thing your eyeball didn’t come out.”
When he had fallen earlier, the cat-tailed creature quickly rolled up the almost-catapulted scarecrow. Now, the bat wings still held onto his thin, soft tail, with the small head resting on top.
The scarecrow’s hat got blown off. Now, slender fingers helped tidy the straws on its head.
Wen Shi dealt with Jian Qingrong with a bit more patience than the others. In the previous instance, he had manipulated this man until his demise, consistently using him to clear quests. But Jian Qingrong never asked for anything from him.
This contradicted Wen Shi’s usual way of doing things, where he tried not to owe anyone.
Wen Shi stood up and looked back at a fierce sea of fire. Almost half of the city had turned into ruins amidst the towering flames.
The young man’s sexy Adam’s apple twitched nervously, and his cat ears quivered in response. He stood still for three seconds, replacing his nervousness with confusion. Surprisingly, the game didn’t send a warning. Was it too dazed from the explosion?
Just a while ago, the mechanical voice was criticizing itself for nesting dolls over a minor issue.
Wen Shi had no idea that the one to blame was the handsome middle-aged man. Though, in essence, it was still his parallel self in another world.
So this performance, where he almost got blown up, was called ‘Karma’s a Bitch: I Matryoshka Myself.’
If the game were a program viewer, it might even give tips to someone who was running around frantically in the live chat.
Wen Shi, lost in thought, ran back a distance and climbed a utility pole to gaze into the distance.
In the background, after the helpless host’s rage, he was the first to rush towards the sea of fire, shouting, “Cameras! Are the cameras okay?”
Crew members desperately held him back, wearing mournful expressions. “Gone, they’re all blown away. Thankfully, we still have a few drones for follow-up shots.”
The host urged, “Quick, bring one drone back.”
Faced with a drone hovering overhead, he initially thought of wiping the ash off his face with his sleeve, but his suit was burnt even more, so he gave up.
“Dear viewers, we just experienced an unexpected situation. But it further proves the watchability of our show. Stay tuned for more enemies to come!”
In this moment, even Big Eye was struck by this show of professional ethics.
The workers of Big Factory were dedicated to their jobs. Little did they know, outside, there were those who have already died after exhausting their efforts.
“Pei. Wen. Wei!” A resentful voice echoed from below.
Wen Shi looked in the direction of a nearby trash can. Tian Wanling had been blasted, her eyes rolling back as she chillingly accused, “It’s you, isn’t it?”
Wen Shi shook his head, wearing an expression that said, “Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Not you? Then why wear explosion-proof suit?” Tian Wanling got up, pained and indignant. “With so many formidable enemies, how did you survive till today?”
Looking at the scene, even arms dealers would be amazed.
Wen Shi spoke frankly, “As you can see, they’re all dead.”
Those who didn’t die would deserve life imprisonment for the crimes they committed.
Tian Wanling tightly shut her eyes. At this moment, all players, including her, finally understood why the game provided a three-second respawn time.
What could you do in three seconds?
You could press the fire missile button.
Wen Shi jumped down from the utility pole. The strongest wave of enemies had been dealt with. The following challenges should be much easier.
His biggest concern was encountering Tu Bianxi’s【Ghost Wall】 , combined with a barrage of bullets, which was a sure dead end. However, surprisingly, the【Ghost Wall】hadn’t appeared yet.
Could it be that Tu Bianxi was still alive?
Thinking this, Wen Shi gave a little prayer to the sky, “Thanks, Heavenly Father.”
Wait, he should also thank Tu Bianxi for pulling himself together.
He dragged his heavy steps to rendezvous with Liu Yun and the others. As they met, he got straight to the point, “We can find a place to take cover now.”
Apart from hearses and cars fallen into ditches, there wasn’t a single vehicle on the street. With no transportation, the distance between players wasn’t too far. The anomaly had happened too fast earlier, leaving no time for communication. Now, gathered together, a male player panted and suggested, “Let’s each share the most crucial enemy we faced. This way, we’ll be prepared when hiding.”
This male player was called Sun Geng, and he had the same skill as Zhang Suihe,【Slack Off】.
Inside the instance, most skills had overlapping effects. Only a very small number of rare skills were possessed by individual players.
He proposed a very reasonable approach, but nobody spoke up.
Compared to that missile, it seemed no other enemies were worth mentioning.
Wen Shi thought of players like Luo Xiao, encountered in the endgame. She was skilled at strategizing against humans, with manageable physical attacks. Most items in the in-game store were designed against monsters. Those that could directly blast the castle stairs were acquired from instances, and only a few players possessed them.
“I should be fine here,” he mused after some thought.
Trust between people was on the brink of being shattered. Ji Yuanzhi wiped off the soot from his glasses and asked, “Are you sure?”
Wen Shi nodded, looking back and saying, “Besides, there probably aren’t many enemies left.”
The impact of the missile had swept through many areas, and surely, quite a few who had just revived were blown away.
Indeed, this was a silver lining in misfortune.
After adjusting their states, everyone rallied their spirits. Eventually, they settled on hiding in a skyscraper that was a well-known tourist spot in Tianhai City. The top floor had a telescope that allowed them to observe a significant portion of the city.
Half the group stayed behind…
The game was fair in this aspect. Those who survived longer were mostly players with controllable strength, usually acting alone.
It wasn’t just them seeking higher ground. About three streets away, a revived long-time player shouted through a megaphone after surveying from a high point, “Drones! Keep an eye on where the drones are!”
“I’ll go.”
On the rooftop, Tian Wanling’s head injury couldn’t fully recover for the time being. She needed to drink potions periodically. While flaunting another bottle, she said, “Whose brilliant creation is this again, I wonder?”
Ji Yuanzhi took the initiative to claim it, even speaking in a nostalgic tone, “This person died many years ago. He was a player I encountered when I entered my first instance.”
The air grew quiet once again.
Did his first instance really lead to someone’s death? You’re quite something.
Tian Wanling’s gaze remained fixed on the telescope, adjusting the focus to capture a few suspicious moving dots on the ground.
“I’ll craft a few basic decoy dolls using my【Fabric Crafting】,” Tian Wanling told Ji Yuanzhi, “You try to see if you can confuse their perception.”
She had dealt with players possessing hallucination skills before. Ji Yuanzhi, managing to slip away from the main group unnoticed in Sealed Coffin Village, surely had a similar skill.
Seeing them descend the elevator, Wen Shi hurried to catch up. At this moment, his tail wagged oddly like a small dog, and he proactively asked, “What do you need me to do?”
The two fell silent. Finally, it was Tian Wanling who spoke up, “You, the adult version of a decoy, better stay back.”
Just as they were about to step inside the elevator, Wen Shi suddenly said, “Don’t do anything foolish.”
Tian Wanling’s footsteps abruptly halted.
Wen Shi returned to the massive floor-to-ceiling window, observing the spots where intense firepower clashes erupted. “This quest is called Soul Hunting. It has nothing to do with those who care about us.”
It was just a chase, nothing more. The game wouldn’t bother crafting virtual characters that cared for them.
Tian Wanling wasn’t particularly daring, and with her injuries, going down actively at this moment clearly had another reason. When the host introduced the Cause of Death Thread, her instant reaction was to ask if one could truly turn into a ghost after dying. Wen Shi had a rough idea of what she was thinking.
Upon entering the cabin, Tian Wanling seemed lost in thought, so Ji Yuanzhi pressed the close door button.
Tian Wanling laughed self-deprecatingly, “My mom bled a lot when she gave birth to me.”
She had contemplated seeking the other party’s trace in the city.
Ji Yuanzhi didn’t offer any consolation in words. Thinking about the phrase “rebirth through death,” his gaze grew dim.
For combined skills, like【Ghost Wall】and missiles, the power of one plus one was far greater than two.
The two of them jointly captured an enemy, placing a decoy doll on them to draw firepower as a shield.
While others exerted themselves, Wen Shi, tail drooping, comfortably took a seat.
He studied Big Eye’s wings. Monsters couldn’t freely leave the game. This body likely wouldn’t be usable outside the instance. Wen Shi couldn’t help but think of Tian Wanling’s 【Fabric Crafting】skill, wondering if the big eyeball could possess a doll.
Grasping the tiny wings, Wen Shi leaned close to the scarecrow’s ear and murmured a couple of sentences in an extremely low voice.
His breath brushed against his face, and from initial shyness, the scarecrow’s big eyeball turned unexpectedly serious as Wen Shi finished speaking.
“Can you manage it?” Wen Shi asked with a smile.
The scarecrow lowered its head slightly, indicating it was ready to take on the task.
“Attention, there are three minutes left until the current Soul Hunting.”
The system suddenly sent a notification.
Wen Shi stretched his limbs and started heading downstairs, getting ready to join the production team.
At this point, the revived survivors left alive posed minimal threat.
Players began converging towards the hearse one after another.
Sun Geng picked up the dice, the only thing that hadn’t been affected by the explosion, its surface devoid of any soot. His experience with Tian Wanling’s dice throwing had taught him that the result was related to a player’s initial luck value. Lucky items didn’t offer substantial enhancement effects.
He simply tossed it into the air and rolled a【4】.
As the second hearse didn’t arrive promptly, players reluctantly got onto the dilapidated vehicle.
The smell of blood in the air was completely overshadowed by the scent of gunpowder. Even the sturdy windshield shattered, and the windows of the hearse were all blown out, leaving a dark, eerie expanse outside the carriage.
Sun Geng glanced around. Glass shards littered the seats. He could only make do with the handrail.
“Where’s the host? Are they still around?” He had initially wanted to gauge the next destination’s danger from the host’s expression. However, the crew members were all charred black by the blast. The camera operators carrying the cameras were gone, and a quick glance made it impossible to tell who was who.
Among the pile of charcoal, the host’s eye twitched in frustration.
The hearse, now without a door, resumed its journey.
The damage to its exterior structure didn’t hinder it from taking off again. As it gained speed, the wind blew from all directions, distorting people’s faces.
Wen Shi’s time in his transformed body had come to an end once more. He hadn’t extended it again, and without his tail for assistance, he clung tightly to the pole.
“Thumbs down.” The wind blew into his mouth, creating ‘gululu’ noises. Wen Shi’s cheeks were nearly puffed up like a hamster’s. “Definitely a thumbs-down…”
He loathed this drifting hearse!
Everyone felt the same, but they couldn’t even muster the energy to curse aloud.
The aftermath of the explosion hadn’t completely subsided. After the hearse sped for eight hundred kilometers, the players first found a place to rest against, only then paying attention to what awaited at this stop once they recovered slightly.
Cold wind stirred fallen leaves in the air, yet there was nothing else.
“Great, it’s a safe zone.” Sun Geng forced a smile.
“……”
Wen Shi tested the waters, “How about we rest for a bit?”
Anyway, there were over twenty hours in total, and they had already covered more than half of the journey. There was no need to rush.
That hearse wasn’t built for human comfort.
“Agreed!” Nearly everyone, including Sun Geng, answered in unison.
Just across the street was the Greenfield Park. They were about to step up their pace to find a bench to sit on when the hearse suddenly emitted a buzzing siren sound.
It echoed in the air.
The explosion hadn’t taken this vehicle down, so the likelihood of it malfunctioning was low. It seemed more like a soundless urging, prompting the players to get on board quickly. When they didn’t move, the decibel level increased.
Wen Shi remained silent for a moment, “This hearse sure has personality.”
As he spoke, his legs felt as heavy as lead, and he slowly climbed back into the car in slow motion.
Zhou Lulu: “Wait a moment.”
She hadn’t rolled the dice yet.
Ten seconds later, Zhou Lulu rolled a【1】. Wen Shi raised his thumb, “Well done.”
The sincere praise was clearly a sign that they only had to ride for one more stop.
Racing at lightning speed, the hearse shot off towards its destination. The area ahead was still a safe zone.
After a round, the dice ended up in Wen Shi’s hand again. Without any surprises, he closed his eyes and rolled a【6】.
Human potential was limitless. He was getting used to the lightning-fast feeling of the hearse. Gripping the front pole, Wen Shi saw a large pink heart-shaped gift box on the ground before they even reached the stop.
Every time they reached a destination, there was a corresponding punishment or reward. They had encountered both punishments and safe zones, but this was the first reward.
Suddenly, Liu Yun fully believed in what Wen Shi had said during the Big Factory team leader election—that his skill was【Lucky Star】. Actually, it wasn’t just a Lucky Star anymore. it should be renamed to【Starry Sky】.
There was no excitement in Wen Shi’s expression. He stepped off the car and untied the bow on the heart-shaped gift box. Inside were six smartphones.
The Crazy Dice was a group quest, and the rewards or punishments along the way were for all players.
Everyone exchanged glances before turning their phones on simultaneously.
【Group Quest: Encircle your devotion
Within fifteen minutes, enter the Love You To Death app and, starting from the University Town, run a path in the shape of a heart to express your affection for your candidate.
The bigger the heart, the more generous the final reward~】
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