Chapter 8: The Tragic Players

Those people ran wildly, screaming as if their souls were being torn apart.

Some fell onto the yellow muddy ground, still clutching their umbrellas tightly, crawling desperately on hands and knees toward the village, as if afraid that even a second's delay would mean Fang Yue would devour them.

This reaction left Fang Yue utterly stunned.

What the fuck? Am I really that terrifying?

Leaving Fang Yue's thoughts aside.

Those refugees outside the village who were still conscious, upon seeing the Patrol Team's reaction, instantly pissed themselves, shrieking in panic, snatching up their clothes to cover their heads against the rain, and sprinting toward the village.

This move immediately triggered the other refugees, who all abandoned their campfires and rushed toward the village in a mad scramble.

Those refugees who had just woken up scrambled to their feet, grabbed nearby wooden planks as makeshift rain shields, and charged outward.

The refugees surged toward the village like a tidal wave, their behavior as if they'd seen enemy troops storming the village — everyone had wet themselves.

1!

1!

1!

1!

Under the Heavy Rain, this group was losing HP frantically, their HP loss numbers rising and falling in rapid succession.

Numbers skyrocketed chaotically, the scene wildly spectacular, leaving Fang Yue dumbfounded.

Holy shit, are you guys competing to see who loses HP faster?

The first to collapse were the refugees who had started running toward the village earliest.

Plop.

Soon, the first refugee collapsed onto the ground, motionless.

This was HP depleted — dead outright.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth…

The refugees fell one after another, dying.

Yet those who had run the farthest had only covered half the distance — still far from the village gate.

Seeing this, the others turned pale with terror, whirling around to flee back, rolling and scrambling, using every ounce of strength they had.

"Fuck! I've never sprinted this hard in PE class!"

"What's world sprint champion Ah Xiang compared to me? I'm breaking records in a hundred-meter dash right now!"

"Oh my god! Shit game! Fuck your brother! Front is Heavy Rain, back is some weird thing — are you even giving us a chance to live?!"

"Fucking system, you're dead! I just entered the game and you're giving me a pincer attack? Are you fucking with me?!"

"What the fuck! Turn back! Turn back! In this Rainy Day, we'll die before we reach the village gate!"

The refugees cursed like a storm, leaving Fang Yue stunned.

This, this this this.

This familiar feeling. This familiar tone.

Tears welled up in his eyes.

So they're all players!

Found the organization!

Fang Yue's heart leapt with joy; he immediately turned from his straight path toward the village gate and sprinted toward them.

This sight sent every refugee into sheer terror.

"Don't come near us!!"

"Aaaah! I can't take it anymore! I'll fight you to the death!"

"Bro, don't be reckless — that's a Rain-level weird thing!"

"What's a Rain-level weird thing?"

"Who the hell knows? But look at how the Patrol Team fled like they saw ghosts — do you think we can handle that thing?"

Remembering how easily the Patrol Team slaughtered them like dogs, they instantly understood the terrifying gap in power.

But… what could they do? What the hell could they do?!

They were suffering inside.

This shitty game dumped them straight in as refugees — no character creation at all.

That was bad enough, but refugees had the lowest status: villagers gave them cold looks, no food or drink, just a shitty shed converted from a pigsty, then completely ignored them.

Some analyzed this as a beginner trial — earn villagers' favor, sneak into the village, and you pass the tutorial.

Others figured that by tomorrow morning, the villagers would let them into the village.

The problem? This game uses 1:1 real-time conversion.

Wait until tomorrow morning? What the hell do we do all night? Sleep?

Sleep via Game Watch outside the game, and sleep inside the game too?

Then what about tomorrow? Tomorrow we have to go to work! Who can spend all day glued to this game?

What kind of bullshit is this?

Most were lost and helpless; a few began thinking, trying all sorts of wild tactics.

Some wanted to kill Patrol Team members to prove their strength.

Others sneaked into town, stole things to bribe, or left to seek other paths.

Each player had different ideas, and each acted according to their own plan.

After all, it's a game — if you won't act in real life, are you gonna be a coward in a game?

The final result? The number of players in this refugee camp dropped by two or three tenths — most died, but a few actually managed to sneak into the village, leaving the rest envious, jealous, and furious.

Among them, the one most jealous to the point of red eyes was Shi Wuliao.

"Damn it! I had pre-ordered a Game Watch with a lucky gift bundle! That scalper boss said he had inside info, that he'd arranged dozens of scalpers at the Jianghai City branch store No. 399, guaranteed to get one! But in the end he just handed me a regular watch to pass it off."

"If it weren't for this, I'd definitely be living the high life right now, and that weird first kill would definitely be mine!"

If ordinary players watching other players enter the village was merely jealousy, then Shi Wuliao was going mad.

He, the dignified third young master of the Shitian Group, had sent out a mass announcement declaring he was going to make a big splash in "Blue Sea," and now he was about to be killed out of the game by a monster.

If word of this got out, could he still mix in the second-generation circle?

"Brothers, don't space out, keep charging!"

"Right, right, right, let's go back and take shelter from the rain first! Those Patrol Team guys are going to invite some Lord Han over, that NPC must have a way to handle it!"

"Exactly, there's no way a BOSS would spawn and massacre the newbie village right at the start, right!"

Everyone's words gave Shi Wuliao a sudden lift in spirit.

Right, what game would massacre newbies right at the start!

Charge, charge, charge! The pig pen shed is definitely a safe zone!

Just as everyone continued charging with their heads down, they suddenly heard that rain-tier eerie laughing excitedly.

"Holy shit! Holy shit! Brothers, you're giving me such a warm welcome? Hahaha!"

"Oh right, what levels are you all? Oh, forgot, this crappy game has no levels, what are your stats?"

"Oh right, oh right, you guys misunderstood, I'm also a player, I'm also a newbie player!"

Huh? It's also a player?

Everyone was a bit dazed, but Shi Wuliao quickly caught on.

"Don't listen to it!"

"I have channels, I've seen some materials. The eerics in this crappy game will mimic the way players talk to lure enemies! Don't fall for it!"

Everyone suddenly saw the light.

"Holy shit! That smart?!"

"Damn! So it really is a newbie killer!"

If it weren't for the heavy rain draining their HP so fast, they would definitely have turned around and run toward the village entrance right now, instead of running toward the 'eeric.'

Finally, before their HP dropped to 1, they charged back into the pig pen shed, grabbed anything that could be used as a weapon, guarded the bonfire, watched the 'eeric' in the distance warily, and huddled together shivering.

"What do we do next?"

Everyone looked at Shi Wuliao, who had just spoken.

Shi Wuliao said irritably, "Wait to die, what else can we do!"

"Don't you have inside materials?"

"Damn! I only know that little bit, otherwise would I have sunk to the same level as you guys?"

Hearing this, everyone felt it made sense, and their hearts were once again filled with despair.

And just then, a sudden roar rang out at the village entrance.

"How dare you, eeric! I, Lord Han, am here, stop at once!"

The voice rolled out mightily, so loud it made people's eardrums ache.

Everyone turned to look, and saw an old man in a blue robe, thin frost congealing on both hands, holding a broken Wooden Sword, the blade pointed at the 'eeric.'

(End of this chapter)