The rogue player forced a nervous smile. “What are you talking about? Why would we have keys…?”
“No keys? Then how were you planning to leave?”
Fu Changxun’s voice turned cold. “You were so confident you’d get away—my guess is, you snatched someone’s keys while you were out earlier, didn’t you?”
The others suddenly caught on: “Yeah, you definitely have a car! Hand them over!”
In an instant, the players transformed into a circle of ferocious bandits, surrounding the pair.
The two: “…Fuck.”
They’d been hoping to slip away unnoticed and drive off while the others weren’t paying attention. But that plan was obviously dead now.
Defeated, they let Qiu Yi search them from head to toe. Sure enough, he found a set of electronic car keys hidden in one of their shoes. —Which, honestly, was impressive. They’d been running this whole time with a key underfoot, like high-heeled secret agents.
Fu Changxun dropped his delicate façade and offered some heartfelt advice. “See? In the end, you still have to stick with us. Don’t be so stubborn.”
Rogue Player: “Oh, so robbing us is your way of showing love?”
Fu Changxun replied, righteous as ever: “We may not be in the right, but we’ve got stronger fists.”
Rogue Player: “…”
They were so mad they could’ve fainted.
“I’ll try them one by one,” Qiu Yi muttered, walking toward the nearest cars and muttering prayers. “Please don’t be a seven-seater van…”
The rogue player who’d just argued with Fu Changxun: “Huh??”
The pair stared, dumbfounded by Qiu Yi’s reverse wish-making.
The other players didn’t get it either, but since the two other Special Affairs members weren’t saying anything, they held their questions for now.
Qiu Yi made his way to the far end of the parking lot. Finally, the remote gave a beep.
“Beep-beep—”
A seven-seater commercial van flashed its lights.
Everyone’s faces lit up. “Yes! It’s a seven-seater!”
Lin Shu immediately guessed, “Mr. Qiu, is your ability something like reverse speech magic?”
Qiu Yi was too embarrassed to admit he was just incredibly unlucky. Grateful for the out, he nodded along: “Something like that. Basically, whatever I say won’t happen.”
“Alright, then we can all go together. Let’s divide people between the two cars.”
Lulu deftly steered the conversation away, shielding Director Qiu’s rapidly crumbling image. “Who here can drive? And not just drive—drive fast and steady under pressure.”
Song Zhenpeng, Dong Zi, and Lin Ze raised their hands. Everyone turned to look at them.
The first two looked perfectly capable. But Lin Ze looked sickly and frail, his pale, thin frame clearly not an act. Could someone like that really handle the stress of driving in an apocalypse? What if he had a relapse mid-chase?
Meeting their skeptical looks, Lin Shu smiled. “Don’t be fooled just because my gege’s always coughing—he used to be a professional racer. It’s just that after getting seriously ill and having surgery, he became like this. But his driving skills are still top-notch.”
Lin Ze gave a helpless smile. “Yeah. If it were the me from two years ago standing here, you’d all believe it instantly.”
His ghostly complexion still didn’t inspire much confidence.
Lulu stared at him for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Wait… are you Lin Ze—the Lin Zhe? The one who retired two years ago? No wonder you looked so familiar—you’ve lost a ton of weight.”
Lin Ze coughed awkwardly. “Uh, yeah. I was… kind of inspired by some novels when I picked that fake name.”
Both he and his sister seemed cheerful and open—but Lulu still remembered an old news article.
“Exclusive Interview with Famous Racer Lin Zhe and His Sister: The Real Story”
She’d read it a few years back and had been struck by the story. Later, she’d heard Lin Zhe had retired, and she’d actually felt a little regret. Why would such a promising young racer suddenly quit?
Now she understood.
There had been a reason—one that left no room for choice.
Back then, the siblings had been healthy. No illness, no disabilities.
But now, one was sick. The other, injured.
Lulu didn’t know what those two had been through, but she instinctively shifted the topic. “Alright then. Let’s all ride in the same car to ensure everyone’s safety.”
Now that they had vehicles and all fifteen players were accounted for, they were a solid force to be reckoned with.
In the end, the group decided that Qiu Yi and Song Zhenpeng would take the lead, escorting the man who had instigated the NPC panic, along with the two wild players and the two elderly NPCs, in the commercial van.
Meanwhile, Dong Zi, Fu Changxun, and Lulu, plus the brother-sister duo and the remaining three children, would ride in the minivan.
The little minivan could technically seat eight if they squeezed. The kids were arranged on the rear bench, but Lu Tiangan took up a lot of space—he was a chubby kid.
Lulu squeezed in with them, the two little girls huddled close on either side of her.
On the surface, the arrangement seemed wildly unreasonable—all the muscle was packed into the commercial van, while the minivan carried the old, the weak, the sick, and the young. A total mismatch.
But while the other players might not have realized it, the three from the Special Affairs Office knew exactly what this setup meant—this was actually the top-tier configuration.
The minivan had the #2 player on the Points Leaderboard, “Doctor”; Dong Zi, whose stamina was nearly maxed out; Lulu, who could revive anyone so long as they still had a pulse; and Xiao Xiao, who carried a passive luck buff. It was the ideal survival squad.
“Lin Ze, you drive. Everyone else, buckle up tight. No getting out unless absolutely necessary,” Fu Changxun instructed, then opened his item inventory.
He released the black cat.
It was the first time the black cat had appeared in this instance, and everyone jumped in surprise.
Fu Changxun explained, “It’s one of my items. It helps explore unknown areas. Very useful.”
“Meow meow meow!” the black cat protested indignantly.
How am I just ‘very useful’ now?!
Xiao Xiao, however, was thrilled. “It’s Xiao Hei! Come here, Xiao Hei. Meow meow meow!”
The black cat was always patient with kids. It flicked its tail and walked over, rubbing affectionately against her leg.
Xiao Xiao turned to introduce her new friend to Lu Zhaodi. “It’s really well-behaved. It’s my gege’s item, but it has its own will. None of us can control it.”
Lu Zhaodi let Xiao Xiao guide her hand to pet the cat. The smooth, ribbon-like texture of its fur was so soft she couldn’t help stroking it again and again.
Fu Changxun let them play for a while, watching as the black cat purred in contentment. When it started purring like an engine, he gently said, “Alright, Xiao Xiao. Let’s send Xiao Hei to work, okay? Once we find a safe place to stay, you can play with it again.”
Xiao Xiao nodded and, together with Lu Zhaodi, reluctantly bid Xiao Hei goodbye.
With a loud “Meow—mrow!” the cat sprinted off toward the parking garage entrance.
It disappeared into the dark.
Because the black cat could return to the inventory at any time, Fu Changxun wasn’t too worried.
Both groups watched as the cat darted out. Those who knew what it was stayed quiet. Those who didn’t—also wisely kept their mouths shut. In the game, there was an unspoken rule: no one was obligated to explain their abilities or items.
The silence lingered for a long moment until, finally, the sound of light pawsteps echoed in the dark. The black cat bounded back with an audible “Meow—rrrow!”
Safe!
Fu Changxun let out a breath of relief. “No aggressive plants out there. We should be fine if we’re careful.”
“Got it,” Qiu Yi’s voice came from the other vehicle before their windows rolled up. The van slowly pulled out of the parking garage.
As the black cat had indicated, the outside world was currently safe—because it was night.
Without sunlight, most of the plants were dormant.
Driving along the pitch-black roads, they passed twisted, warped trees. Gone was the uniform, neatly planted avenue they once knew.
With the power stations overrun by plants, all the buildings on both sides of the street were pitch dark. Only the solar-powered streetlamps gave off a faint, flickering light.
When they reached another main road deeper in the city, they encountered another vehicle—a car belonging to NPC survivors.
The other driver rolled down his window and asked, “Did you guys come from the plaza?”
From the back seat, Dong Zi answered, “Yeah. There were a lot of plants over there.”
“Thanks,” the man said—and then drove straight toward the plaza anyway.
Maybe his family was there. Maybe he needed supplies. Maybe he was just hoping for a miracle.
Whatever the case, what happened back there was no longer the players’ concern.
By the time the sky began to pale in the early dawn hours, the plants had begun to stir—and the players had just barely exited the city.
According to the map, they were heading toward another city—one far more industrialized.
In this battle royale instance, players weren’t restricted from roaming the map. As long as they stayed alive, they could go wherever they pleased.
And highly industrialized meant heavy pollution.
Terrible news in the real world—but in the game, it meant fewer plants and lower danger.
For players desperate to survive, it was the perfect choice.
The two vehicles sped down the road. The commercial van darted smoothly between trees planted along the median strip. The minivan was a bit slower, but steady—and stayed close behind.
They were just about to leave the willow-lined streets behind, entering poplar territory, when one stubborn, rogue mutated willow suddenly lashed out at both vehicles.
The van took the hit without issue—its sturdy build left it undamaged, and it kept moving as if nothing had happened.
But the minivan was older. The moment it was struck, the hood dented inward, and it looked like it was about to take more hits.
Lin Ze abruptly floored the gas pedal.
Even the minivan itself probably never expected it would one day hit 150 kilometers per hour.
“Hang on.”
Lin Ze slammed the accelerator, aiming the vehicle straight at the thrashing willow tree.
This particular tree hadn’t mutated to the point of uprooting itself. Seeing a car barreling toward it at full speed, it hesitated.
I don’t want to get snapped in half!
Using the little brain it had recently developed, the tree calculated the risks. Its branches slowed, its aggression faded, and it tilted its trunk sideways, doing everything it could to avoid the oncoming car.
But just as the minivan seemed on a collision course, it suddenly drifted sideways at the last second, narrowly skimming past the willow tree.
Only then did the mutated willow realize it had been feinted. It tried to lash out again and drag the vehicle back—but the minivan was already speeding away, well beyond its reach.
Branches whipped through the air in frustrated pursuit, but the van was gone.
All that was left was a furious willow tree shaking and thrashing its limbs in impotent rage.
Humans are just too damn sly!
And those cunning humans were already tearing down the road toward their destination.
