Chapter 69: Oh No, I

Oh no, I’ve run into a celebrity.

My face feels cool.

It seems like... it’s raining?

Consciousness slowly returned.

The sound of noisy rain filled his ears, damp air filled his nostrils, and a chilly wind struck his face.

Cheng Shi slowly opened his eyes and found mist swirling before him, clouds and vapor thickening everywhere.

Sure enough, it was raining.

A light rain.

The drizzle fell softly, persistent but not urgent.

He paid no mind to the rain soaking his hair and clothes, nor did he rush to pull out an umbrella from his personal space—he immediately scanned his surroundings.

This seemed to be the mid-slope of a high mountain; as far as he could see, peaks surrounded him on all sides.

Lush greenery thrived everywhere, the long-missed breath of the wild filling Cheng Shi with renewed clarity and vigor.

Natural scenery truly is a purifier of negative emotions.

As he spread his arms wide, embracing the raindrops falling into his arms, his teammates gradually opened their eyes one by one.

“Whoa, bro, what’s this, praising someone?”

“Outdoors?”

“Ah—cough—cough—cough—”

“Humidity’s too high, air pressure’s low—storm’s coming.”

“Though we’ve just met, I hate to interrupt your appreciation of the rain, but I’ve got some bad news:”

“Our personal spaces have been locked.”

“?”

Cheng Shi froze, yanked his hands back, and immediately tried to access his personal space.

But the space he had always accessed effortlessly now gave no response whatsoever!

“!!!”

This guy was telling the truth—the personal space really was locked!

Honestly, never seen anything like this—every new challenge is different, isn’t it?

Most of the trials of [Annihilation] are about survival—even life-or-death escapes.

In His trial grounds, every kind of survival nightmare exists, so after enduring countless beatings, players deliberately prepare survival gear.

Personal spaces aren’t large enough to carry all household items, so more and more people like Cheng Shi have taken to “sharpening their tools at the last minute.”

But just when you think you’ve got a workaround, the system has a countermeasure.

This trial has locked personal spaces entirely.

Something unheard of before.

Cheng Shi glanced at the ring on his finger and silently breathed a sigh of relief.

Good thing he hadn’t stored this half-artifact in his personal space—otherwise he’d be screwed.

Items in his own space were merely icing on the cake for the trial; losing them wouldn’t cripple Cheng Shi’s strength or put him in mortal danger.

And this was precisely what Cheng Shi had always prepared for.

Nothing external is as reliable as strengthening oneself.

Of course, exceptions exist for truly unshakable allies.

“Fuck, this is real?”

One male player tried for a while, pulled out nothing, then cursed and wiped rain off his face.

His expression was grim, but not hopeless.

Clearly, this guy had some confidence.

But the others...?

Cheng Shi rubbed the rain off his face, deliberately making his expression look more terrified, then peeked quickly through his fingers at the others.

There were five teammates total: besides the man just now, three more men and one woman.

Each of them wore a different expression.

An elderly man with white hair kept coughing, leaning forward with his hand on his knee, his face twisted into a knot, unreadable.

But Cheng Shi noticed his stance was rock-solid—even as he coughed, his feet remained rooted in the rain-soaked mud without shifting an inch.

A boy with a backpack slightly frowned, pulling his coat tight to shield the bag—clearly something inside couldn’t get wet.

Cheng Shi gave it a quick glance; from the shape, he guessed it was a weapon—small and multiple.

The one who warned them was a rugged man with sharp facial features, piercing eyes and muscular arms—clearly an output-type class.

Thick calluses lined both his hands; if he had to guess, he was a hunter.

As for the last one...

Hmph, quite eye-catching.

A slender, frail girl with pink hair.

Her bright eyes sparkled, lips curved in a smile as she surveyed her surroundings, seemingly unconcerned that her personal space was locked.

Cheng Shi’s gaze swept over her face quickly—he felt a strange sense of familiarity, as if he’d seen her before.

But the motion of rubbing his face and observing had been too fast to think clearly.

Then, in the next second, someone called out her name.

“You’re... Tao Yi!?”

Who?

Cheng Shi looked at the girl in surprise, and saw everyone else staring at her with mild shock.

The pink-haired girl squinted and smiled, revealing a mischievous, fox-like grin.

“Hello everyone, I’m Tao Yi.”

Hearing her voice—clear as a nightingale—Cheng Shi finally remembered who this familiar girl was.

A new-generation actress who debuted as a singer, sang for seven or eight years with no fame, then suddenly went viral after playing a minor maid role in a court comedy.

The comedy was called “Spring Breeze Often Brings Disappointment,” a bizarre tale of an ordinary girl accidentally married into a prince’s mansion, only to fall in love with the prince disguised as a woman.

Tao Yi played the maid of the villainous second female lead, who was obsessively in love with the heroine.

Because she was sly, mischievous, and constantly messed things up, her antics essentially handed victory to the main couple.

Audience affection for her skyrocketed—she even surpassed the heroine to become the most popular female character in the drama.

Cheng Shi never watched TV dramas, but his coworkers talked about it nonstop—he couldn’t help but know who she was.

Seeing this celebrity right beside him, he couldn’t help but think:

She’s even thinner than she looks on screen.

Hmph, the world’s strange—trials can drop you right beside a superstar.

“Holy shit, it’s really her! Dyed pink hair almost threw me off—too bad your acting career just started, and this damn game shows up...”

The man who recognized Tao Yi kept babbling, as if he had endless words.

“Uh, actually, I prefer singing to acting.”

“So... you’re a singer?”

“Uh, I’m a mage.”

“?”

Cheng Shi couldn’t help it—he burst out laughing.

Brother, if you’re trying to flirt like this, you’ve got zero chance.

Tao Yi smiled again, pointing at herself:

“Let me reintroduce myself: Tao Yi, [Life], Mage, 1783.”

Tao Yi, [Life], Mage, 1783

The man who’d been talking still wouldn’t stop:

“That’s so coincidental—I’m a mage too, and I’m an actor. [88] Since childhood, I’ve loved space and sci-fi, and as I grew up, I became obsessed—I entered the entertainment industry hoping to make my dream sci-fi film, but I missed the casting for the ‘Three-Body’ series, so I took small roles to gain experience. [89] I’ve played the third male lead in many dramas; the most-watched was ‘The Great Starship Immortal Emperor,’ where I played Zhu Chao, the Demon Realm General. I ranked high on the ‘Most Comical Character’ list—Tao Yi, have you seen it...?”

Since childhood, I’ve loved the stars and science fiction, and as I grew up, I became utterly obsessed with it; after entering the entertainment industry, I always wanted to act in a sci-fi film of my own vision, but unfortunately, I missed the casting window for the Three-Body series, so I had to start by joining smaller troupes to gain experience.

I’ve played the third male lead in many dramas, the one with the most views being The Great Starship Immortal Emperor—I played Zhu Chao, a general from the Demon Realm—and I rank quite high on the list of most amusing characters; Tao Yi, have you seen it...?

As his speech sped up, everyone’s expressions grew increasingly odd.

Cheng Shi’s face was nearly frozen—he wanted to crouch down and check if his shoe soles had been scraped off.

So awkward.

Brother, you’re not cut out for ‘Three-Body’—you should play the lead in ‘Three-Body Syndrome’—you’d nail it.

Perhaps noticing everyone’s faces had turned constipated, the Demon Realm General Zhu Chao finally realized he’d spoken at the wrong moment. He chuckled awkwardly and rubbed his head.

“Sorry, sorry—I got too excited seeing Tao Yi. I’m Su Yi Da, [Existence], Mage, 1864.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow in surprise.

This Demon Realm General was lying.

Su Yi Da, [Existence], Mage, 1864