Chapter 146: Time's Cruelty (Revised)

The hand of the real world quietly slipped past, the noisy city gradually grew quiet, households turned off their lights one after another, entering dreamland, trying to shake off the day's fatigue.

However, in the undisclosed official secret research lab, the lights remained as bright as daytime.

Researchers in white lab coats gathered around the dissection table, conducting a new round of sampling and analysis on the dissected remains of an aberrant species.

They were trying to unravel the structure of this strange lifeform, to figure out why a normal person would suddenly twist into a monster.

Another team stood by the computers, trying to find out why modern firearms fail against aberrant species.

They even formed a special team to study aberrant arts, conducting a series of tests on a few volunteers who had preliminarily awakened aberrant arts—referred to as "players".

In the largest conference room, the atmosphere was even more oppressive.

About a dozen players, faces exhausted and eyes bloodshot, sat together.

They were among the first batch of players summoned by the officials, and much of the information about the game world came from them.

The officials had separated all players into different secret strongholds for management, which they considered the best available protection and control method.

Faced with those bizarre and unreasonable aberrant arts, they could only do this much for now.

On the huge projection screen in the conference room, a rolling broadcast showed the officials' hastily compiled "guide" based on current intelligence.

The screen displayed the distribution of forces in that world, dangerous zones, known traits of aberrant species, basic survival skills, and even some speculations about aberrant arts.

The information they had come into contact with was more abundant and also more confused.

Many of them had been working since dawn; some could no longer hold up, slumped over the tables and let out faint snores.

Continuous mental tension and high-intensity work allowed them, once they confirmed they were in a safe environment, to finally relax.

But many more fought off the strong drowsiness, seizing every minute and second to imprint potentially life‑or‑death information into their minds.

No one knew when the next "login" would come; recording one more piece of information might give an extra hope of survival.

Time, amidst this extreme fatigue and strained spirit, slipped away minute by minute.

When the clock's hands precisely overlapped at the number twelve,

Mutation erupted suddenly.

Without any warning, all the players in the conference room who were burying their heads in study and murmuring to themselves froze in unison.

It was as if a playing movie had been abruptly paused; their bodies stiffened simultaneously for an instant.

Immediately after.

Their faces instantly turned pallid, their pupils constricted sharply due to the sudden change in surroundings, filled with bewildered panic.

In that very second of "pause," their consciousness was forcibly pulled away, returning them once again to the game world, where they lived through another full seven days.

"Bang!"

It was a man who had been sitting in the corner, clutching a "guide" document; his paper fluttered to the floor, and he himself, like a puppet suddenly cut loose, slid limply from his chair and collapsed flat on the ground.

His eyes remained open, but his pupils had lost focus.

Death descended in the blink of an eye.

"Old Li!"

A man let out an anguished cry and lunged forward; the people gathered in this stronghold's conference room had all received at least some training, and some were even acquainted comrades.

Thanks to that, they could adapt more quickly to the game world and bring back information to help more people survive.

But precisely for that reason, they also knew some information that had not been disclosed.

For example, at this time the previous day, many people had suddenly died without any warning.

Based on limited information, they made an initial inference that those who died suddenly were likely to have perished in the game world.

And scenes like this were not limited to just this place.

Just a second ago, they had been at one's side, working together to study the guide in hopes of surviving the game world, yet after returning they collapsed straight down.

After a brief silence, there erupted a sudden outburst of fearful shouts, even desperate wails.

They had once harbored a hopeful thought: since they had spent seven days in the game world, would they also be able to stay seven days in the real world?

If they had seven days, they could at least seize what might be the final seven days of life to improve themselves or keep company with family...

But reality dealt them a harsh blow: the time they could spend in the real world amounted to only one day!

What can one day accomplish?

If the officials had not, after preliminarily gathering intelligence, immediately convened a meeting to devise and implement countermeasures, they would have been left at home, helpless and panicked, passing the days in dread.

But even if the officials took action in such a short time, it was still powerless to reverse the situation.

Time revealed to them its most cruel face.

Some even unconsciously touched their arms and cheeks, confirming they had returned "intact" to reality, a faint gleam of survivor's relief just appearing on their faces...

Yet a greater terror had already silently descended upon them.

"Uh...... ho......"

A man in a checkered shirt clutched his head in pain, his body lurching forward uncontrollably for a few steps.

Beneath his skin it seemed as if countless tiny worms were wriggling, his bones emitting a grating "crack!" as bulges suddenly sprouted and rapidly swelled.

His eyeballs were quickly covered by a murky yellow, the corners of his mouth tore open to reveal sharpened teeth, and his throat emitted a sound no longer human.

Mutation!

Before everyone's eyes, he was rapidly mutating into a frenzied monster.

"Alert! Everyone inside, withdraw!"

The security commander reacted extremely quickly, hoarsely shouting, rousing the dazed people still rooted in place.

The conference room instantly descended into chaos.

A youth who had fortuitously awakened the fire‑control aberrant art, face deathly pale but forcing back fear, trembled as he gathered a fist‑sized fireball and hurled it at the raging aberrant species.

"Boom!"

The fireball struck true, igniting the checkered shirt that had torn from the bodily mutation, giving off a scorched smell.

The monster undergoing Mutation let out a painful roar, its movement stalled.

But this attack was clearly not enough to be fatal; instead, it only further enraged it.

Its cloudy eyes instantly locked onto the source of the attack, it dropped to all fours and lunged at the youth like a beast.

That youth clearly lacked combat experience; faced with the monster lunging at him, he kept stumbling back in fear, and the second fireball he had just condensed dissipated in his panic.

He could only dodge awkwardly while shouting at the other stunned people.

"Run! Cover the others as they escape through the back door!!"

Amid the chaos, a girl wearing Black-framed Glasses tried to pull the boy beside her who had slumped over, "asleep" from exhaustion.

"Hurry up! Someone has turned into an Aberrant Species!" she shouted anxiously, reaching out to push his shoulder.

Her hand touched his still-warm body, but with that push, as if losing all support, he slid straight off the chair onto the floor, motionless.

His eyes remained closed, his face showing not a trace of pain, as he quietly slipped away in sleep.

The girl's outstretched hand froze midair; the anxiety on her face instantly solidified, turning into bewilderment.

He wasn't asleep, but...

He couldn't come back.

During the seven days in the game world, he might have encountered an accident.

His real-world body, too, at this moment, met its end as his consciousness completely dissipated.

There was no time to grieve, no time to confirm.

The monster kept roaring, companions continued to scream.

The girl yanked her hand back, finally glancing at her motionless companion on the floor, a flash of painful resolve crossing her eyes.

She turned and merged into the panicked crowd fleeing, sprinting wildly toward the exit at the back of the conference room.