Chapter 3

The moment I opened my eyes, my breathing became rapid.

I'm on the summit of Mount Everest, but I haven't frozen to death. There's no wind, and no snow.

I stood inside a blue dome a hundred meters in diameter, with light streaming down evenly from above. In the distance was a transparent boundary, and beyond that… I could see nothing but endless white.

A groan came from behind me.

I turned around and saw ten people lying haphazardly on the ground, gradually waking up.

There is no mother.

Luna lay sprawled beside him, her eyes glazed over, as if she hadn't yet recovered from the scene that had just unfolded. Her hand was still clutching the cloth bag, her knuckles white.

I recognized the others too—the convenience store owner, the aunt next door, my former roommate, and several uncles and aunts. Each and every one of them was someone who was willing to give me money.

They looked at me, knowing I was their last hope.

[Shelter: Basic Type]

Area: 100㎡

【Functions: Air circulation/Water circulation/Food storage (7 days)/Power generation module】

[Upgradeable: Capacity expansion, facility unlocking, equipment unlocking]

[New Player Quests Released]

Location: Lower City Ruins

[Objective: Rescue 3 survivors within 2 hours]

[Threat: The Tide-Rising Headhunter]

[Reward: Shelter Expansion + Medical Pod Unlocked]

"Lower city...ruins?" My former roommate's expression changed. "Didn't we...teleport?"

I stared at the "2 hours" indicator and replied with only one sentence: "Teleportation doesn't mean the end. From now on, survival depends on missions."

Luna got up, as if she had made up her mind: "Give me the gun."

I glanced at her. There was no sign of collapse in her eyes, only a suppressed fierceness.

The system responded to her request.

A flash of blue light, and a shotgun and a box of ammunition fell to the ground.

Luna picked up the gun, pulled the bolt to check it, and her movements were so practiced that I was momentarily stunned. She had worked as a hunter with her father for several years and had handled guns before.

"Let's go," I said.

Her lips were pale, but she still nodded.

Luna and I stood at the edge of the dome, and the system popped up a confirmation message for teleportation.

[Enter the Lower City Ruins (Time-Limited Mission)?]

I pressed "Yes".

The air instantly became foul.

A cacophony of rotting odors filled the air. The lower city was gone. Not just flooded, but torn apart by monsters and then succumbed to the seawater.

Further away, the tall buildings in the direction of the city were still barely standing, but I saw people waving white cloths on the rooftops, and I also saw helicopters circling higher up—they were rescuing their own people.

Luna sneered, "They're still alive."

I chuckled too: "Alive? No matter how rich they are, they can't save their own lives now."

As soon as I finished speaking, the system gave me a new notification.

[Ability Unlocked: Energy Vision]

[Note: This allows for the observation of bioenergy flow, damage, and weaknesses.]

The next second, the world before my eyes changed.

A layer of subtle light patterns rose from the gray ruins. The living were like faint lamps, the brightest point being their heartbeats; while in a certain direction, a huge, murky mass of energy moved slowly.

I pointed and said, "There are monsters looking for people. We need to find the survivors first."

Luna, gun in hand, followed: "Where?"

I closed my eyes and then opened them again. A tilted supermarket, inside which were three small, but still flickering, lights.

"The supermarket's refrigerated section," I said. "They're hiding very well."

We rushed into the supermarket. Shelves were overturned, and the floor was littered with debris and stinking seaweed. The freezer door was ajar, and suppressed breathing could be heard from inside.

I knocked on the door: "Don't make a sound. We're coming to rescue you."

A pair of small, trembling hands reached out from under the door. Then, a girl of about seven years old appeared, her face filthy as if she had rolled out of the mud, yet she tried her best not to cry.

"Are you the military?" she asked softly.

I shook my head: "No. But I can take you away. What's your name?"

"Alice."

Behind her, her parents shielded her. The man's hands were covered in blood, and the woman's eyes were frighteningly red. They only relaxed a little when they saw the gun in Luna's hand.

Just as I was about to let them out, the murky mass in my energy vision suddenly accelerated.

It's here.

"Don't move," I whispered. "Follow me, walk close to the wall."

As soon as we left the refrigerated section, the entire supermarket ceiling suddenly shook, and the next second, the walls burst open.

A monster crawled in.

It was the size of a car, resembling a giant ribbonfish with human limbs, and mucus dripping down its limbs.

Its energy was like a swirling mass of dark blue sewage, surging and menacing. But on its neck, I saw an incongruous bright spot—a small patch of soft flesh, its energy flow unstable.

weakness.

"Three fingers' width to the right of the neck," I told Luna. "Go there."

Luna raised her gun and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The bullet struck the edge of the monster's neck, tearing a gash but not penetrating it. The monster immediately shrank its neck, as if consciously hiding the soft flesh and instead using its hard bones to block it.

It knows how to defend !

It turned its head and stared at us. The next moment, it pushed off with all four limbs, smashing the shelf into pieces, and charged straight at us.

"Back off!" I grabbed Alice's father and shoved him backward into the tunnel. "Take them and run!"

Luna gritted her teeth and charged forward, firing two more shots. The monster staggered from the blows but didn't fall; instead, it became even more ferocious. With a sweep of its tail, Luna was sent flying, crashing into the freezer with a dull thud.

Just as I was about to rush over, I suddenly heard the sound of high heels shattering glass outside.

A woman walked in.

Camilla.

She was wearing a special waterproof coat, which seemed to make it difficult for the monster to spot her.

Several figures followed behind her, all wearing the same coats and carrying supplies. I noticed an armband with the words "Noah's Ark" printed on it.

She glanced at me and laughed: "Oh, still alive, Owen?"

My chest sank: "What are you doing here?"

"Jeffrey brought me to Noah's Ark." She lifted her chin, as if declaring victory. "And you? Hid in a rat hole with a bunch of downtown trash?"

Luna tried to get up, using the freezer as support, so I went over to help her.

Camilla saw her, her eyes turned cold, and she immediately raised her gun.

"You've found someone new so quickly?" she scoffed. "I knew it, you must have another woman on the side."

Bang--

Blood splattered on Luna's shoulder, and she fell back down, her face turning ashen.

In the energy patterns before my eyes, Luna's light suddenly dimmed, and a strange deep blue layer appeared around the wound, like seawater seeping into the blood.

[WARNING: Target (Luna)'s wounds are being corroded by the deep sea]

[Irreversible mutations caused by failure to receive anti-erosion serum within 1 hour]

Camilla's laughter hardened: "Don't glare at me. People like you, nobody's even remembered when you die."

She turned and directed people to move the supplies from the cold storage room, leaving with the parting remark: "Just take her and wait for the monster to come and eat her."

Then he walked away.

The monster's shadow loomed overhead, its mouth agape, a stench filling the air.

Luna lay in a pool of blood, staring at me, and with all her might, she managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Don't worry about me...run."

After pushing Alice and her family into cover, I turned around and walked towards the monster.

Luna's gunshot alerted it to its weak point; it pressed its neck tightly together, as if wearing armor. Normal shots were useless.

I closed my eyes, and the energy vision amplified its flow to the extreme: each time it roared, the soft flesh on its neck would be briefly exposed due to the expansion, the exposure time being less than half a second.

The moment the monster lunged, instead of retreating, I charged forward and pressed myself against its side. Its claws grazed my shoulder, tearing my clothes open, and blood immediately gushed out, the pain making my vision go black.

But I held my gun steady, waiting for it to inhale again—

The moment the soft flesh of my neck bulged, I pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The bullet pierced the monster like a nail. The monster froze, its neck flesh bursting open.

But it didn't fall.

It staggered a few steps, black mucus gushing from its wound, but it was still moving.

[Warning: Target not completely dead]

[Residual Vitality: 15%]

[Recommendation: Finish off the enemy immediately]

I picked up my gun, ready to fire a follow-up shot.

Just then, the monster suddenly turned around and pounced on Alice and her family.

It was extremely fast, twice as fast as before.

I couldn't stop it in time.

Alice's father pushed his daughter away, but he was grabbed by the monster's claws and dragged toward its mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Daddy!" Alice screamed.

Luna climbed out from behind the freezer, wanting to fire, but her hands were shaking and she couldn't aim properly. The wound on her shoulder made even raising the gun difficult.

I rushed over, but the monster had already dragged Alice's father into its mouth.

Click—

The sound of bones breaking echoed through the supermarket.

Alice's mother covered her daughter's eyes, but then broke down in tears.

The monster swallowed its first bite and turned to look at us.

It's not dead yet.

Moreover, its wounds begin to heal after it eats.

[WARNING: The target has rapid regeneration capabilities]

Eating can speed up recovery.

Current Vitality: 28%

I raised my gun, aimed it at its head, and fired repeatedly.

Luna was also firing, but most of her bullets missed their mark; her shoulder injury made it difficult for her to aim steadily.

It was covered in blood from the bullets, but it wouldn't fall. It walked towards us step by step, chewing on something.

[Mission Status: Rescue 2/3]

[Warning: Target's health has increased to 35%]

[Warning: Luna's corruption level: 23%]

[Recommendation: Evacuate immediately]

I looked at Alice and her mother, then at Luna.

Luna's face grew paler and paler, and the deep blue color around the wound on her shoulder was spreading, like ink seeping under her skin. She gritted her teeth, trying to stand up, but she couldn't even stand steadily.

Then I saw a new notification pop up from the system:

Emergency teleportation available

[Limitation: Only 2 people (including the host) can be teleported]

[WARNING: Failure to rescue targets will be counted as mission failure]

【Use or not?】

Two people.

Me, plus another one.

I looked at Luna; blood was flowing from her shoulder, and the infection was spreading. If she wasn't treated soon, she would turn into a monster.

I looked at Alice; she was clinging to her mother, trembling, her eyes filled with terror.

I looked at Alice's mother; her eyes were empty, as if she had lost her soul and had just lost her husband.

The monster is getting closer.

[Vitality: 42%]

[Luna's corruption level: 31%]

I have to choose one.

Luna, or Alice?

Or Alice's mother.

But you can only choose one.

My finger hovers over the system interface.

The countdown has started.

[Emergency teleportation countdown: 10 seconds]

Luna looked at me, and she understood.

"Take them away," she said, her voice weak. "Your mother... risked her life for me... I can't..."

"no."

"Owen," her voice was calm, "your mother gave her life for me. I can't let her die in vain. Take them away... please..."

[Countdown: 05 seconds]

[Luna's corruption level: 38%]

The monster pounced.

My fingers fell—