C City.
Dawn had barely broken when the city stirred to life. People were already up, clearing out plants.
Once upon a time, mornings meant heading to work. Now, the routine hadn’t changed much.
Atop the steel-forged city wall, two male players were burning a mutant honeysuckle plant.
“Shit, this thing’s tough,” one of them muttered as he blasted it with a flamethrower. Only a single blossom had withered—the rest of the plant clung on with stubborn vitality.
“Just keep at it,” said the other, shaking his head. “It’s mutated, after all. Needs more time.”
Mutant plants had far greater vitality. Some had even grown resistant to fire.
“Why are we even doing this seriously? It’s just a fucking instance,” the first guy grumbled. “In twenty days or so, we’ll be out of here. Whatever’s left, let the NPCs deal with it.”
His teammate immediately shushed him. “Dude, don’t think like that. Show some respect for the instance. You slip up just once, and it’ll get you killed.”
“Yeah yeah…”
As they talked, they suddenly spotted movement in the distant wilderness.
“Someone’s coming. Stay alert.”
“A car… NPC or player?”
Both stood up straight, peering toward the horizon. Three vehicles were speeding in their direction—a seven-seater van in front, a sedan in the middle, and a small minivan bringing up the rear. From a distance, it looked like all three were packed with people.
The two players immediately perked up, grabbing a loudspeaker and shouting at the convoy: “Stop right there! Where are you coming from? How many of you are there?”
The cars halted at the command. Three men stepped out.
“We…” Qiu Yi had just opened his mouth when Fu Changxun reached over and pinched Dong Zi. The latter immediately raised his voice, cutting in smoothly, “We came from Shangdu. Heard C City was safe, so we came to check it out. Can we come in?”
One of the players on the wall replied, “Hold on. We’ll need to inspect everyone for plant seeds first.”
They quickly descended from the wall and cracked open one of the gates. A player stepped out to meet them.
“Please, everyone off the vehicles. We need to run a check,” he said. “We’ve got to be responsible for the millions of residents in C City. We can’t risk bringing in mutant plants.”
It was a perfectly reasonable request.
No one had any objections, and everyone climbed out of the cars one by one.
When Lin Shu got out, she was moving with great difficulty. Lulu gently scooped her up again and placed her in the wheelchair.
“…Thanks.”
It was the second time she’d been picked up by another girl, but at this point, she was almost numb to it.
So be it. Just go with it.
The two players guarding the gate, however, couldn’t help but look at the group—three vehicles’ worth of the old, the sick, the disabled, and even children—with visible respect on their faces.
Anyone who could survive the apocalypse without abandoning their loved ones was a true warrior.
“All right, you can go in.” After thoroughly inspecting their clothes and vehicles to confirm no plant matter had been brought in, the two gatekeepers made no attempt to give them trouble.
The three vehicles slowly rolled into the city, attracting stares from all directions.
Thanks to reinforced concrete, most of C City’s buildings had been preserved.
Plants couldn’t take root here, so the city was relatively safe.
Xiao Xiao peered nervously out the window. “Ge, a lot of people are staring at us…”
She didn’t think all those gazes were friendly.
“Don’t look at them,” Fu Changxun said softly, shifting to block her line of sight. “We’ve brought a lot of food. That kind of thing easily attracts the wrong kind of attention. From now on, let’s be extra cautious—never talk about our food in front of others.”
Everyone in the car nodded in unison, instinctively clutching their backpacks tighter.
They parked the van beside a still-open inn, and more than a dozen people piled out in a rush.
“Welcome, one packet of instant noodles gets you one room—just for the night. No cash accepted,” the innkeeper drawled the moment they walked in.
“No cash?” the NPC driver repeated in surprise.
The innkeeper yawned. “Who uses money anymore? It’s the end of the world. Even bullets and guns can’t kill the plants. We’ll probably be living like this from now on.”
Fair point. At this stage, what wasn’t more important than money?
Or rather—what was more important than food?
Viewed from that angle, using food as currency seemed not only normal but entirely reasonable.
But with so many people in their group, there wasn’t nearly enough food to rent a separate room for everyone. Qiu Yi deliberated for a moment and rented two rooms—at the very least, they’d separate by gender.
Worst case, they could sleep on the floor.
The NPC driver’s family, of course, couldn’t freeload off the players. Gritting their teeth, they handed over a small bag of rice in exchange for a room, and the two groups parted ways.
After spending a day and two nights in the car, the players were thoroughly exhausted. They hastily rolled out bedding and checked the rooms for any plants, surveillance bugs, or hidden cameras.
“There’s still twenty-one days left. If we stay in C City, there shouldn’t be any real danger—”
Before Qiu Yi could finish, Lulu and Song Zhenpeng lunged forward to cover his mouth.
Lulu panicked. “Shut up!!”
Could someone please poison this crow’s mouth into silence?!
Qiu Yi nearly suffocated from being smothered, nodding frantically to indicate he wouldn’t say anything else. Only then did the two let go, and he coughed for several seconds before recovering.
Fu Changxun said solemnly, “Let’s try to act like NPCs. Don’t reveal we’re players.”
Qiu Yi was puzzled. “But we’re all players—do we really need to be this guarded with each other?”
Even if they were wild-card players, considering how dangerous and cutthroat this instance was, they should at least be open to cooperating with the Special Affairs team.
“What I mean is, what if some psycho buys a stealth item from the Game Shop, kills all of us players, and no one even knows who did it—since their nickname and identity are hidden? Even if they’re livestreaming, no one outside would know.”
Fu Changxun’s tone was cool and even.
He’d already made sure that no one was broadcasting before bringing up this possibility.
Because this kind of thought… might actually inspire someone to carry out such a monstrous act.
He’d seen plenty of extreme cases in his line of work as a psychologist—patients willing to do anything once a certain line was crossed.
Qiu Yi had always believed in righteousness, in serving the people. But not everyone would appreciate that. Right now, pretending to be NPCs was far safer than standing out.
It only took Qiu Yi a second to wrap his mind around it, and he was about to reply when—
Fu Changxun sighed again. “Besides, after that little jinx you dropped earlier, I’m sure we’re in for another brush with death. Everyone better stay alert.”
Qiu Yi: “…”
Qiu Yi shut his mouth. For good this time.
***
The “safety” of C City only existed in comparison to the mutant plant-infested wastelands beyond. In truth, danger here ran even deeper.
Barely a day after their arrival, they heard someone outside screaming for help.
Everyone rushed to the window.
On the street below, a woman and her child were being chased and cornered by two men. A small crowd stood by and watched—no one intervened.
The woman was beaten down in the street. The two men kicked her, stole the food from her and the child, then swaggered off without a care.
Leaving behind a bloodied woman holding her terrified child, sobbing in despair—now homeless, now starving. If no one helped them, they’d probably die on the street.
“It’s only the tenth day of the apocalypse…”
And yet society had already fallen into such chaos—it was like civilization had regressed by centuries.
Fu Changxun whispered the words, but he didn’t go down to help.
They weren’t saints. The woman wasn’t a player. In twenty days, they’d be gone—and the city would return to whatever state it was in before. Getting involved in NPC affairs and causing unnecessary complications wasn’t noble. It was just reckless.
Dong Zi silently walked over to stand beside him, quietly watching the scene unfold.
Fu Changxun let out a breath. “I’m glad our world isn’t like this. But at the same time, I’m scared that one day it might be. Ah Xun… am I just being paranoid?”
Dong Zi’s voice was calm. “It won’t happen. Not while we’re here.”
He lowered his head, resting his chest lightly against Fu Changxun’s shoulder. “We’re going to clear this game. And send it packing for good.”
“Yeah. Together,” Fu Changxun replied.
“Oh, right—I didn’t tell you earlier. That dandelion didn’t vanish or run away. It’s in my inventory,” he said, pulling Dong Zi into a corner, away from the others. “Just like Xiao Hei, it can count as a ‘item’ too.”
Before Dong Zi could react, a dandelion suddenly appeared out of thin air.
He was startled for a moment, but the dandelion instantly shrank down to normal size.
The other players, either resting or chatting, didn’t notice a thing.
The dandelion gave Dong Zi a friendly little wave—then turned to Fu Changxun and began furiously dancing.
Dong Zi couldn’t hear it, but Fu Changxun’s brain was buzzing from the nonstop chatter.
“Why’d you leave me inside? Why? Why? Why?”
“That little cat looked down on me! You have to tell it how amazing I am! It can’t just stare at me like I’m some kind of idiot!”
“Who’s this guy? He seems to really like you. Are you two mates or what? You humans are so complicated. Us grasses just pollinate if we like each other…”
After two days stuck with only the black cat to talk to, the dandelion had gone stir-crazy. Now it was rambling without end, driving Fu Changxun halfway to madness.
Dong Zi, oblivious to the noise, asked, “Is it obedient? Could it be dangerous?”
“Shut up,” Fu Changxun gritted out through clenched teeth.
Dong Zi immediately fell silent.
Then Fu Changxun realized who he’d just snapped at and quickly explained, “Not you—I meant this dandelion. It’s been talking nonstop. It’s so annoying. You guys can’t hear it, but since I made it an item, I’m its ‘owner,’ so I can.”
The hint of hurt that had just started to form in Dong Zi’s expression vanished at once.
He looked at the wildly gesticulating dandelion, then at the vein popping on Fu Changxun’s forehead, and immediately understood just how obnoxious the thing must be.
For even the ever-patient Dr. Fu to be driven to this point… it had to be at least five times worse than Huang Shaotian*.
The dandelion hadn’t stopped chattering—but just then, there was a sudden knock at the door.
Fu Changxun practically leapt at the chance to escape, flinging the dandelion away and opening the door. Outside stood several young men.
“You are…?” Dong Zi asked warily, stepping forward.
The one in front gave the group a sweeping glance, then sneered. “Just arrived in C City, huh? Time to pay your protection fee.”
*Huang Shaotian — A famously talkative character from the Chinese webnovel The King’s Avatar. Known for his non-stop trash talk in-game.
