Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“The City of Despair is so big!”
On the dim dilapidated street, Xu Zhe kicked away some gravel and climbed onto a small soil slope locking the road. He glanced at it through the misty moonlight and felt that the darkness in front of him was so dense that he could barely see ahead.
“It’s lucky that we didn’t go exploring the map. Otherwise, god knows when we’d be done.”
Li Yuncheng also climbed up to this soil slope mixed with masonry and mud and took a long hard look around. The few of them had walked around away from the camp for more than half an hour now, but at this moment, regardless of whether it was front, back, left, or right, abandoned buildings were everywhere. It felt like there was no end to them.
“Hey, what are those?” Li Yuncheng looked around and asked as he suddenly pointed toward a black mountain that seemed to stretch endlessly.
“It doesn’t seem like a mountain… More of a city wall.”
Sun Shuai followed them up the small soil slope and had a look. He could not see clearly due to the limited light, but the unified height continued to stretch almost endlessly, looking like a long black wall.
“The modeling is just spectacular!”
The other players also noticed the surrounding environment, and they could not help but sigh and exclaim out loud.
“Hey, hey, pick up the pace.”
Just as the few people were sighing in adoration, the lackey Liu Chuanfeng’s voice was heard from the front. “We’re almost there.”
“Are we finally arriving?”
Xu Zhe walked down the small soil slope and rubbed his legs lightly. He felt that if there was an attribute panel at this time, his physical fitness would have definitely fallen below 50% by now. After going around in a big circle, he had no clue how to go back to the camp.
“Quickly catch up!”
The players heard Liu Chuanfeng’s voice and walked down the slope, quickly following Phoenix and Liu Chuanfeng, who was walking in front.
They could tell that the city should have been spectacular in the past with a prosperous population after what they had seen along the way. This could be seen from the construction of various houses and shops on both sides, as well as the fact that large areas had masonry on the ground.
However, everything had been broken down now. Some of the tall houses had toppled over, and many places were now nothing more than ruins; They had no clue what damaged them. There were also signs of fires in various locations. It was evident that it had been an intense battle.
It had probably been a ruin for a certain period now as weeds had begun to grow in many places. Some abandoned and dilapidated buildings were covered by vines and plants, revealing a particularly desolated atmosphere.
“It’s right ahead!”
After passing another block, Phoenix, who had been leading the party, stopped and motioned to the group.
The group immediately looked in the direction that Phoenix was facing. In the gloomy night, one could vaguely make out a fairly open area ahead. The ground should have been neatly paved with masonry, but now it was a mess with gravel everywhere. This was obviously caused by a powerful crushing impact or created from a heavy strike.
At the back of the square, a group of buildings that was one hundred and ten meters wide could be seen. It looked like a warehouse for storing goods, but it had holes on all sides. Even the roofs were lifted off in many places, whilst a section of the warehouse in the middle seemed to have been plowed open since there were broken walls everywhere.
“Be careful from now on. There are a group of sharp beetles here which are poisonous.”
Phoenix said this as she took the longbow from her shoulder and held it in her hand. However, she did not notch an arrow in it. This indicated that she was about to use the longbow as a melee weapon instead.
“Sharp beetles?”
The players were growing more excited when they heard this. Some of them had heard Phoenix mentioning it when they were closer to the camp, while others were only hearing it for the first time.
Nevertheless, they were not too surprised by this. It would be impossible to get their hands on the magic crystal so smoothly to complete the mission.
Under Phoenix’s leadership, the eight players tiptoed through the damaged ground in front of the square and approached the dilapidated warehouse. The gates and walls of the warehouse were full of cracks, so it was not difficult for the group of people to enter.
First, they had to pass through a dilapidated and messy warehouse, and then follow a narrow path to a relatively well-preserved warehouse. Suddenly, right before they entered, they heard a vague shouting as well as sounds of fighting from inside.
“There’s movement?”
“Something’s fighting in there.”
Xu Zhe and Sun Shuai immediately looked at each other. Li Yuncheng behind them and the other players also noticed the sound.
“Be careful!”
Phoenix’s face that was hidden under the hood showed a slightly astonished expression at first, and then she became cautious once more.
She had been here many times before to restock the supplies in the survivor’s camp, but it was her first time encountering fighting sounds. Although it was hard for her to grasp the current situation, if you wanted to survive in this city full of monsters, one had to be extra vigilant.
As everyone quietly approached this relatively well-preserved warehouse, after passing the two wooden doors that were pushed to the corner, the players who had adapted to the darkness suddenly felt that their vision seem to get a little brighter. This was because of a faint blue light illuminating from the warehouse.
However, just before everyone entered, a shout came from the warehouse.
This was followed by a loud bang.
Suddenly, a dark figure flew out of the warehouse that was illuminating the blue light.
The players were taken aback by the black shadow. It was only after the shadow had settled down that they were to see that it was a beetle about the size of a washbasin. Its chelating teeth were wide open, and it continued to make a clicking monstrous calling sound.
“This is the sharp beetle?”
Li Yuncheng was the closest to it, and just as he was able to clearly make out what the dark shadow was, the sharp beetle opened its mouth and rushed toward him quickly.
“F*ck!” Li Yuncheng took a step backward in fright. Insect-like creatures had a particular deterrent effect on some people, and they would suddenly lose their minds when encountered with one.
“I’m here!”
After Li Yuncheng retreated to get out of the way, a figure was heard shouting next to him while leaping forward. It was Liu Chuanfeng, gripping his bone cleaver to face the beetle. The bone cleaver in his hand was swung up swiftly before being brought down hard. Then, there was a popping sound before the sharp beetle managed to fly away.
“Why is the shell so hard?” Liu Chuanfeng looked at the sharp beetle that flew away with a stunned expression. He knew that the bone cleaver in his hand was still a relatively good weapon. Before this, when he failed to provoke the pig-headed monster, he was still instantly chased after snatching the monster’s bone cleaver.
However, earlier on, the beetle merely flew off after getting struck. Only a light white mark was carved into it after being hammered by the cleaver. It turned around after standing up as if it had not taken any damage and rushed forward the players once more.
“Will the bug drop items?”
A male player standing behind Liu Chuanfeng and Li Yuncheng suddenly became thrilled upon seeing the beetle standing up once more after being beaten.
Although the beetle looked terrifying, it was not enough to scare away most of the players, save for those that were deathly afraid of bugs. The player was holding onto a broken spear in his hand, and when the sharp beetle started charging at them, he picked up the broken spear and thrust it at the beetle’s head.
“Don’t do it.”
Xu Zhe saw the player’s actions next to him and hurriedly shouted, but it was too late.
A splatter was heard as the player stabbed the broken spear through the seemingly softer part of the sharp beetle’s mouth, making it sputter out green blood. Some of this splashed onto the player’s hand, instantly halting the player’s actions.
“F*ck, f*ck, f*ck. There’s poison! I can’t move my hands anymore.” The player shouted out loud.
“I’ll hand you a magnifying glass, you dimwitted fool.” Another player ran out and used the spear on his hand to first lift away the sharp beetle. Then, he turned around and knocked the other player’s head before saying, “Didn’t they mention that it was poisonous?”
“It was a mistake, Big Bro.” The player with stiff hands was hit on the head. No one could tell if this hit had been painless, or perhaps that he knew the player who was talking to him, but he was replying in a somewhat aggrieved manner.
“Listen to the command, the command. Do you understand words? How many times must I repeat myself? We’re really sorry about this, captain!”
“It’s fine. There’s no issue.”
Xu Zhe shook his head. These two players were excellent combat powers in his team, and they seemed to be cousins. The poisoned cousin was named Hua Yu, and the other cousin was named Guan Xiong. It did not sound like their real names, but it did not matter; it was just a code name.
“Leave this place quickly, Sheridan!”
“What’s wrong with them, Uncle Gussa?”
“They’re irritated. Hurry, take the magic crystal and go quickly. Otherwise, it’ll be too late!”
After the few of them were done killing a single sharp beetle, before they could check if it had dropped anything, the movements in the warehouse got louder. The fierce fighting and shouting could now clearly be heard.
“Is there anyone inside?”
The players’ attention once again shifted toward the interior of the warehouse. Suddenly, they saw two figures, one large and one small, rushing out of it. They were each carrying a huge bundle wrapped in cloth. A weird crunching sound could be heard crawling after them.
“What’s the situation? Are there any more NPCs?
“The blue thingies are the magic crystals, right?
The players looked at the two people who were running out and could not figure out the situation. However, immediately after this, everyone’s, including Phoenix’s, facial expressions changed.
Following the two dense figures were hundreds of densely packed sharp beetles. Each of which varied in sizes from small discs to washbasins pressed down and layered on top of one another.
The first thing Phoenix did was leap up to the side and jump to the rooftop of the warehouse with a few quick steps. However, the players below did not have such skills, and they all cried out in bewilderment.
“Motherf*cker, what the f*ck is up with this difficulty level!”
“Sh*t. What the hell! This broken garbage game!”
“Did a dog design this game, damn!”
“Those two NPCs, don’t you dare run away. I’m gonna f*ck you up!”
“Run!”
The crowd of players instantly started yelling, but Liu Chuanfeng reacted the fastest. Even though he was slightly aloof, his reaction time was far beyond ordinary people in the face of crisis. He started shouting out as soon as he saw the sharp beetles emerge in large numbers.
Li Yuncheng reacted quickly and jumped to the front in a couple of few steps. At this moment, the matter of waiting for resurrection was not on their minds, even if there were unlimited resurrections and a complete lack of pain. Only a few people would stay calm upon seeing those black pressed insects that were rushing out like a torrential flood.
Xu Zhe felt that his scalp had gone numb and was about to explode. He grabbed the iron sword and ran backward. After a single step, he suddenly halted and started shouting at Sun Shuai, who was frozen stiff. “Sun Shuai, what are you doing? There’s too many of them for us to kill!”
“Bastard! Are you trying to defeat the sharp beetles on your own, Sun Shuai? It’s useless. You can’t possibly stop them alone!” Liu Chuanfeng, who had already run a few steps to the front, glanced back and screamed once more. “F*ck, have you awakened some sort of extraordinary ability?”
Li Yuncheng, who had only just gotten acquainted with these few people, also cried out in bewilderment, “That’s awesome, Captain Sun. I don’t have that sort of courage even if I am in a game!”
Amongst them, Hua Yu, whose arms that could not be lifted as he had been poisoned, glanced behind him as his body raced forward with a penguin’s running posture. It seemed like he had forgotten how to run properly.
“Captain Sun is so mighty, sacrificing his life for justice!”
“Awesome! Everyone run, Captain Sun is desperately trying to buy us time!”
Other players yelled out when they saw Sun Shuai blocking the insects.
Even Phoenix, who had already jumped to the roof of the warehouse, seemed a little surprised at Sun Shuai’s performance in the face of the insect tide.
A single sharp beetle was not very threatening, but it had paralyzing venom and hard armor. When there was an attack on this scale, the only thing she could do was escape.
“Quick… Quick…”
Sun Shuai’s face was pale as his eyes stared straight ahead at the sharp beetles rolling out. He could barely speak as he completely threw aside the classy act he had maintained in the past and cried out bitterly, “Help me, I… I can’t walk anymore…”
“What?” Xu Zhe grabbed Sun Shuai’s arm and shouted.
“Help! I’m afraid of insects and have trypophobia!”