Chapter 16: Survival After the Disaster

Survival After the Disaster

Reality, in an empty parking lot in an unknown province and city.

Chen Chong slowly opened his eyes, looked at the familiar car roof in front of him, and sighed with mixed feelings.

Survived again.

Not only that, but he also got a second A-level talent from the trial reward.

【Obtained talent: Defense Under the City (A), Warrior profession talent, when using shield-type skills, all defense-type effects are increased by 25%】

Players with 1600 points have two extra talent slots in addition to the two initial talent slots, all of which can be replaced.

Chen Chong silently swapped out his last C-level talent and swapped in the newest A-level talent.

In this way, his talent configuration suddenly changed from the lower-middle level of 1A2B1C to the upper-middle level of 2A2B.

In the current segment distribution, being able to get this talent configuration with just over 1600 points can be considered very outstanding, at least ensuring that he has more confidence and a higher survival rate in the trials to come.

"Cheng Shi... do all big shots like to show off..."

He shook his head and laughed, took a bottle of beer from the stack of beer boxes in the passenger seat, and poured it down his throat.

The beer spilled and flowed down, wetting his clothes, but he didn't care. He finished four bottles in a row before burping, tilted his head, and collapsed on the seat back.

"Heh, this damn world, it's better to dream."

Chen Chong smiled bitterly and threw the beer bottle out of the car window.

After the bottle was thrown out, it didn't shatter from intimate contact with the ground, but instead made a crisp tinkling sound.

Looking towards the sound, he saw that the large parking lot was already piled high with mountains of beer bottles.

Compared to the name parking lot, garbage dump might be more appropriate.

A garbage dump for recycling beer bottles.

Chen Chong was never a person who needed two bottles of beer to help him sleep.

What he drank was two cases.

And what he sought wasn't sleep, but... numbness.

"End it quickly, this fucked up world."

Reality, in an apartment in an unknown province and city.

Cao Sansui stared blankly at the pocket watch in his hand, still not having come back to his senses.

The trial ending 1 hour early was something that had never happened before. He couldn't know what this change meant.

But there was one thing he did know, and that was that at the moment he left the trial, he saw Cheng Shi's smile.

"What is he laughing at? Why isn't he afraid? Could it be that he knew the trial would end early?"

Cao Sansui's expression became even more suspicious.

He had always firmly believed that time would not lie, after all, he had opened a time battlefield in the trial.

But the problem was, even if time doesn't lie, can't people?

If there is a person who can deceive everyone and mess with time...

Then it could only be the one who gave them all cola...

Cheng Shi!

"Hmm!?"

Cao Sansui suddenly widened his eyes, ran quickly to the desk, used tools to dismantle the watch face of the pocket watch, and began to search carefully with a magnifying glass.

Sure enough, after not searching for long, he found a trace of an incomplete fingerprint on the back of the watch hands.

There were three traces of this fingerprint, and when connected, they formed exactly a subtle expression:

:)

"..."

Time indeed does not lie.

But someone deceived time.

Cao Sansui understood instantly, and he laughed with relief while holding the pocket watch.

The trial didn't end early; what was early was the time in his hand.

"Cheng Shi... amazing."

Reality, in a basement in an unknown province and city.

Nangong sat cross-legged on the ground, looked at the half-eaten beef patty that was missing from his hand, and suddenly laughed out loud.

"Survived again... that's great."

His score was as low as ever. Even with the score from this trial, the ladder was just over 1400.

This score is not easy to live with today, as trials become increasingly difficult with the passage of time.

But he had nothing to be dissatisfied with. Being able to survive under the gaze of 【Decay】 was already not an easy thing.

"You could have lived more easily. Accelerating the decay of others is also a kind of offering to Him."

A hoarse voice echoed in the dark and damp basement. Looking around, one couldn't see a second person besides Nangong.

This was actually a voice from Nothingness.

But Nangong seemed to have long been accustomed to its existence. He took out a dagger, shook his head firmly, and said:

"I cannot harm people."

"Stupid, embracing decay is the creation of all living things."

"I cannot harm people."

"... Stupid beyond belief, forget it, let's start today's sacrifice."

Nangong was slightly stunned and said: "Didn't we just sacrifice?"

"The sacrifice in the trial was an offering to Him. Now, it's my share."

Nangong's expression changed slightly. He gritted his teeth, took off his pants, and used the dagger to deeply cut a gash on his thigh.

This gash was a stroke in the character "Zheng," and such "Zheng" characters almost covered his legs.

Fresh blood instantly gushed out from the deep wound, and the blood quickly gathered towards the dagger. Nangong's face became increasingly pale.

When his body temperature began to drop, the dagger stopped sucking and hummed with satisfaction.

"Is it done?"

"Hmm, you can heal yourself now."

Nangong forced himself to give himself a healing spell, then rummaged out a small notebook from under a rotten wooden bed and solemnly wrote down a name.

Cheng Shi.

"You still want to repay him? Ridiculous, the gods will not let you meet again."

"Then I must write it down, just in case!"

Nangong flipped through the pages. The tattered notebook was filled with densely packed names, each one a person who had once helped him.

"I have also given you help, why not write down my name."

"Your reward... I have already given it..."

Reality, in a park in an unknown province and city.

Song Yawen looked at his trial score, dumbfounded.

【Ladder of Audience +3】

"How much?? 3 points??? The Ladder of Audience can also add 3 points???"

He looked at it again and again in disbelief, and then started jumping around wildly on the spot with a strange cry.

"Holy shit! I added 3 points! Brothers! My Ladder of Audience added 3 points!"

Other players in the park heard the sound and cast looks of "this person is crazy," but this didn't affect Song Yawen's enthusiasm at all. He ran wildly around his living area again and again, shouting while running:

"Just ask if you're awesome, I added 3 points in one go! Just ask if you've ever seen anyone add 3 points!"

Finally, someone was annoyed by his shouting and cursed:

"Song Yawen, are you fucking sick? The Ladder of Audience adds at most 2 points. Are you dreaming of adding 3 points!"

Song Yawen didn't stop at all and continued to roar:

"You don't know shit. I can't misread the reward panel. A big shot took me to fly, opened the big move directly to see the true god. I'm not on the same level as you guys now, understand?"

"Is there really a big shot? What's his name? What profession and faith?"

"Nonsense, I tell you... I tell you shit, is the big shot's name something you can know?"

After speaking, regardless of how the people around him looked at him, he continued to shout to himself until he vented all his excitement and the joy of surviving the disaster, and then he calmed down and sat back in his tent.

Then...

Continued to type in various channels:

"My Ladder of Audience added 3 points, brothers, look at how awesome I am?"

"Heh, not looking."

Reality, in a detached villa in an unknown province and city.

A blurry snow-white figure was outlined in the shattered dressing mirror.

If one focused their vision, one could vaguely see a hand covered in calluses hesitantly reaching towards those slender, beautiful legs.

"Cheng Shi..."

The whisper sang, 【Birth】 bloomed.

She gazed at this place once again, dispelling the frost on the believer's face and giving her a new blessing. ===== CHAPTER 17 =====