Chapter 48: Melee

A loud "thump" came from somewhere, as if striking everyone's heart.

Yu Shuling, who was opening boxes, also heard the noise. She had already opened three or four boxes in a row. Some of them contained realistically made severed hands and feet. Yu Shuling accidentally touched one and felt like she was touching soft, mushy flesh.

When she opened the fifth one, the strange noise coming from the large box disappeared.

With a loud bang, the box was smashed open, and the person inside appeared to be completely naked at first glance. Yu Shuling was startled, but upon closer inspection, she realized that the person seemed to be wearing flesh-colored stockings, covering their entire body.

A roar seemed to carry a sky-high resentment as Yu Shuling finally smashed open the difficult-to-open box, and a transparent water gun fell out.

It's still at full capacity.

Without even glancing at the label, Yu Shuling grabbed the instruction manual and turned to run. Hearing the commotion behind her, she mustered all her strength.

The quiet night had unknowingly progressed to past 2 a.m., with more than three hours until dawn.

The number of viewers during this time period is not high; only a few particularly enthusiastic fans and some night owl streamers will be present.

The streamer, Xiaoyu, is a casual fan of Jiang Wenxi, simply enjoying watching handsome men and beautiful women, with plenty of admirers to choose from. Knowing that "The Wilderness Secret" gets more and more exciting towards the end, and worried that she wouldn't be able to stay awake that night, she specially made herself an iced Americano. When she came back, she saw Jiang Wenxi carefully gripping the protrusions of the climbing wall, using both hands and feet to climb upwards with great effort.

The monster below appeared to be almost naked at first glance, but its limbs were exceptionally agile, and its speed was already approaching that of Jiang Wenxi.

Even though Jiang Wenxi has long arms and legs, this time the NPC was exceptionally slippery and skillful, making the already exhausted players even more overwhelmed.

As the creature drew closer, with what appeared to be a bottomless pit beneath them, Mu Yubing, standing on the distant, split-off ground, looked anxious but helpless.

Jiang Wenxi and Mu Yubing met about ten minutes ago and ran together for a while before being caught by this monster. Earlier, they had also encountered an operator in work clothes who was lying on top of large machinery in the factory and throwing talismans at them. Mu Yubing blocked one for Jiang Wenxi and was given a debuff that caused her to lose health.

[A curse from the Longevity Village: It drains five health points every ten minutes, and the effect ends after three hours. It can be cured with special medicine.]

You lose five bars of health every ten minutes, and thirty bars every hour. Even someone with relatively healthy health would find it hard to withstand that.

The monster kept its eyes on them, and they didn't know what would happen to them if they were caught. Mu Yubing was already exhausted, so she could only ask Jiang Wenxi to give up and escape on her own. Jiang Wenxi didn't say anything, but just grabbed her sleeve and ran with her.

After the ground "collapsed," the mechanisms originally set up in the factory surfaced, but along with them came all sorts of opportunities. After running for a while, they saw a "beast-catching net" hanging there. Although they couldn't see its specific function, it was definitely something that could alleviate their current predicament. Without saying a word, Jiang Wenxi sprinted onto the climbing area, only to find that the monster followed closely behind.

Mu Yubing was so nervous that her heart was about to jump out of her throat. Fortunately, Jiang Wenxi was quick enough to grab the top net before the monster could touch her and fling it down!

The monster had no time to dodge and was completely immobilized after being enveloped, finally giving them a chance to catch their breath. Mu Yubing breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to pull Jiang Wenxi, who was running towards her:

"Run!"

Although they didn't know what awaited them next, Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the two of them had finally escaped and temporarily avoided disaster. She lowered her head and took a sip of the iced Americano she had made.

Jiang Wenxi was standing quite far from the shore, and Mu Yubing could easily pull him across. However, the boy seemed not to see Mu Yubing's outstretched hand, and, ready, jumped with all his might.

He's tall, has long legs, and is athletic, so he should have been able to get through this safely. However, due to his continuous hard work and travel, his condition has declined considerably. Jiang Wenxi stumbled and almost fell, but Mu Yubing quickly caught him.

"Are you alright? Do you need to rest?"

Running continuously has indeed exceeded the physical limits of most people. Mu Yubing was already recovering by standing there. Seeing that Jiang Wenxi's complexion was not good, Mu Yubing thought he was just tired and quickly asked him to sit down and rest.

Upon smelling the faint fragrance of floral water on the woman, Jiang Wenxi's expression stiffened for a moment, but he firmly released her hand.

If Mu Yubing hadn't noticed Jiang Wenxi's resistance before, now, even if she was slow to react, she could see it.

The awkwardness far outweighed the grievance and confusion. As Mu Yubing stood there somewhat at a loss, she seemed to hear the sound of running and chasing feet on the ground again, and subconsciously she took off running.

...

Four o'clock in the morning.

Clutching a key tightly in his hand, Yao was cornered by several tall and strong "people." Panting heavily, he quickly popped the candy he had picked up earlier into his mouth and chewed it up, the sweet taste of chocolate spreading in his mouth.

In his other hand, Yao Ge held an inflatable soft whip, which he dipped in "medicine" and swung around. Those who were touched by it would become slow to move.

Tao Liang had previously tried hitting their bodies with a spiked club, but it was no use. It wasn't until the two of them found a bottle of medicine in the trap that they discovered that sprinkling the medicine on them would damage the monsters.

They ran around and encountered Luo Ziqi hiding in the bouncy ball pit. Luo Ziqi was petite, and it was indeed difficult to spot her when she was hidden inside. Only after seeing her companion did she carefully crawl out and say that she had followed a factory worker and found a workshop where she saw many mobile phones.

"Those phones are basically unusable. The only thing that works is the factory settings, where only the contacts have been set up."

Luo Ziqi had rested enough. She was lucky to have come to this place at the very beginning of the chase, and she even took a short nap there, which greatly restored her energy. She didn't talk about how she "tracked" the factory worker, and went straight to the point.

Among many discarded cell phones, the only usable one was naturally a prop. Luo Ziqi took it with her, figuring it might come in handy later.

The three of them were walking together when Luo Ziqi's phone suddenly rang, attracting the monsters at the same time. Realizing she couldn't ignore the call, Luo Ziqi pressed the answer button while running.

In order not to hinder them from obtaining clues, Tao Liang gritted his teeth and took the initiative to attract the attention of the NPCs. After that, when Yao Ge and Luo Ziqi met up again, they did not see Tao Liang.

Players don't know if each other has logged off, so even if they're anxious, there's nothing they can do. Luo Ziqi, however, told him that she had received a call from a "workshop foreman" who told her to get the key from room 305 and then wait for someone in the warehouse.

After that, the phone would ring every five minutes, so Luo Ziqi had to put it on silent mode. Every time she answered, the other party said the exact same thing.

The two went up to the third floor together to get the key, but unfortunately they got separated again on their way to find the storeroom.

It was a patrol team, mostly factory workers, nothing strange about them. Luo Ziqi took advantage of the chaos to slip the key to Brother Yao, trying to attract their attention like Tao Liang had done, but the patrol team wasn't so easily fooled.

They split into two groups. One group chased after Luo Ziqi, while the squad leader whistled and summoned three monsters that relentlessly pursued Brother Yao. Now that they had broken off relations, the factory would no longer hide the fact that they could control these monsters.

Soon, Brother Yao was driven to a dead end.

In real life, you could probably go toe-to-toe with a strong and muscular fitness instructor, but this is a game that requires specific setups; it's not about solving everything with brute force.

Just like at the beginning, Yao Ge also thought about using his physical strength to steal other players' packages and become a "local tyrant". However, as the plot progressed, he gradually realized that if he treated this game as an "individual battle" from the beginning, no matter how strong he was, there would be no real winner in the end.

How far can they go? Will they fight with all their might or be wiped out in the end? Previous guests have all failed and fallen short of their goals. Yao wiped the sweat from his face. To be honest, he had no other thoughts now. He just thought how regrettable it would be if this were to be completely buried in his hands.

The three monsters, poised to pounce, charged at an odd, cunning angle. Their movements were so fast that Yao Ge momentarily thought it was real, not a game. In reality, he was completely exhausted; sweat blurred his vision, which was sore and achy, but Yao Ge still managed to raise his hand.

He was cornered between two cabinets by the three monsters, preventing him from being attacked from both sides. He could barely hold on a little longer, so he continued to swing his whip—

"call out!"

A whooshing sound rang out, and Yao instinctively looked up in the direction of the sound, which was the second-floor corridor.

The factory consisted of several buildings connected by long corridors. The second floor was dimly lit by candlelight, adding to the eerie atmosphere of the gloomy environment. A young girl stood in the candlelight, drawing her bow and arrow with exceptional accuracy.

It was Yu Shuling. Standing next to her was Zhou Ya, who was holding a transparent water gun and carefully scanning her surroundings to prevent being suddenly attacked.

When Yu Shuling first got the water gun, she felt uncomfortable using it. Fortunately, she met Zhou Ya on the road and exchanged it with her.

She was more comfortable using the crossbow, although she was more used to using the composite bow, but this simple imitation was enough.

After escaping for a while, you can easily find boxes by following the factory workers. On average, three out of ten boxes will contain various supplies, such as potions that can suppress monsters.

The box required a combination lock to open, which proved quite challenging for Yu Shuling, who hadn't fully adapted to modern knowledge.

But it's okay.

After she and Zhou Ya completed a two-player level together, Zhou Ya, panting, was about to ask Yu Shuling how she solved the puzzle so quickly when a girl's eyes lit up at the sight of scattered boxes ahead. She picked up the combination lock box and slammed it down with a bang—