Chapter 143

Chapter 143

[Welcome to Qi Sha’s game world.]

[Game world loaded. Enjoy yourselves!!]

Dim yellow lights flickered throughout an abandoned factory, the bulbs occasionally crackling with electricity. The damp smell of concrete mingled with the metallic tang of rust.

On the cold tile floor lay a man with only the upper half of his body remaining, most of his intestines spilling out behind him.

Eight players appeared at once. Their eyes widened when they saw him. Several girls sucked in frightened breaths, while others reacted quickly and ran to his side.

“My god, the game just started! How is he this badly injured? Wait, I think he’s still alive. We should check on him!”

Xiao Huai’s voice came from behind them. “He isn’t a player. He’s an NPC.”

Every player wore a numbered badge. Once they entered the hall, it could not be removed, and entering a game did not change that.

The man before them wore no numbered badge and remained alive despite such grave injuries.

Naturally, he was an NPC meant to convey information to the players.

The others noticed Xiao Huai and instinctively cleared a path for him.

When the half-bodied man saw the players, light like distant stars appeared in his dying eyes. “Someone came. Someone really came.”

The moment he spoke, a new system message appeared.

[Main Mission: Fulfill the man’s dying wish. Players may leave once his wish has been fulfilled.]

[Game Reward: The best-performing player will receive a gold coin.]

The system announced the mission directly. Not only that, the reward explicitly promised a gold coin.

All they had to do was perform better than everyone else.

The players’ hearts accelerated.

Wonderful. As long as they performed well, they had a chance to earn a coin.

They silently encouraged themselves and began listening intently to what the man would say next.

One player was quite the actor. He clasped the man’s hand and assumed an air of brotherly loyalty. “We’re here, brother. Tell us what you need, and we’ll make it happen!”

They did not know how excellent performance would be judged. Perhaps displaying deep emotion and righteousness would earn extra points.

Tears streamed down the man’s face. “Save my daughter! I can’t find her. There’s a monster here! Save her, please…”

Before he could finish his last sentence, he died.

His request became a true dying wish, leaving the players at a loss.

According to what he said, they first had to find his daughter, but how much information had that one sentence given them?

What did she look like? How old was she? They knew none of it.

Worse, they had also learned that a monster lurked here.

Qi Sha’s games had always focused on deadly pursuit. There was no need to imagine how terrifying the monster in this place would be.

Just as the players prepared to discuss where to begin, a sharp, piercing alarm erupted from every direction and shattered the silence.

Dark silver-blue warning lights rotated along the walls, casting eerie patterns of light and shadow.

Misfortune never came alone. The dead man had a phone on him, and it suddenly began ringing without pause.

The players tensed and looked around warily. “What’s happening?”

The ringtone and alarm echoed together through the dim factory, turning the silent environment into a deafening uproar.

Footsteps mingled with the alarms. Something seemed to be approaching rapidly.

Xiao Huai swept a glance around, his nose twitching. “Hide first.”

Whatever was coming was not human.
At least, no living person would carry such a powerful odor of charred flesh. Anyone who smelled like that was probably moments away from burning to death.

Yet the thing carrying that scorched smell continued drawing closer.

Xiao Huai quickly slipped into a patch of shadow. The others had no idea what to do, so they followed him and hid.

Holding their breath, they watched for movement around them.

The footsteps came closer and closer. With a bang, the door burst open. The players’ legs weakened when they saw what charged inside.

The girls covered their mouths, terrified that a scream might escape.

The creature was a ten-foot giant shaped vaguely like a human. Its skin looked as though it had survived a fire, charred black and peeling. Two abnormally long arms dragged across the ground as it bounded toward the man’s corpse like an ape.

It had no hair, eyes, or nose. Its mouth was filled with blood, fangs exposed, and the only features on its head were a pair of ears.

They were not human ears… but enormous bat ears.

The monster leaped to the man’s side and smashed the phone with one fist, leaving a crater more than a foot deep in the floor.

What terrifying… strength.

Still unsatisfied after destroying the phone, the monster roared furiously.

The sound was so piercing that the players clapped their hands over their ears, their eardrums badly shaken.

It roared for only thirty seconds. The alarm that had filled the factory abruptly stopped, and everything fell silent once more.

Their hearts pounded faster and faster. They did not dare say a word because the monster had not left.

As though sensing something, it inched toward the man’s corpse, seized his upper body, and began eating from the head down.

The crack of human bones filled their ears, revolting enough to induce vomiting. Even with their eyes covered, the sound painted a vivid picture of what the monster was doing.

Only after consuming the entire corpse did it leave in satisfaction.

The players were about to sigh in relief when they saw Xiao Huai press an index finger to his lips, signaling for silence.

They immediately understood. With ears that large, the monster’s hearing had to be exceptional.

They had to wait until it was far away before speaking safely.

But what had just happened?

Why had the man carried a phone, and why had an alarm suddenly sounded in such a decrepit factory?

Xiao Huai approached the pool of blood. Fragments of the phone remained scattered in it.

One punch had driven the device into a crater more than a foot deep.

A short-haired girl with blunt bangs and thick glasses came closer. She wore a purple tracksuit and pushed her glasses up when she saw the phone.

Taking out paper and pen, she wrote a line: “I can recover the data. Can you give me ten minutes?”

The other players clearly found the claim difficult to believe.

The phone had been crushed by a single punch with force comparable to a car running over it. Xiao Huai, however, picked it up and handed it to the girl.

Even she had not expected him to agree so readily. His expression did not change, and his eyes showed none of the disdain or disbelief visible on the others’ faces.

The short-haired girl took out a toolkit and began working with complete concentration.

Only then did the players realize she had not lied. She was highly skilled with electronics and had even brought an advanced laptop loaded with specialized hacking software.

Xiao Huai leaned against a corner and closed his eyes as though about to sleep.

He seemed indifferent to the others, but in truth he was listening carefully to every sound in the surrounding environment.

At the slightest anomaly, he would notice immediately.