Superstars of Tomorrow - Chapter 128

Chapter 128: God Knows What We Just Experienced

After Zuo Yu went offline, Fang Zhao dragged a wooden crate over and sat quietly for a minute, at the same time exchanging his credits for a number of bullets.

What made it better than reality was that everyone in the game had a “bag,” and a few small items could be placed inside, including ammunition and food.

Fang Zhao gave a silent laugh.

If only reality was similar to the game. Back then, there would not have been so many casualties.

The game was but a game, not the actual period.

Fang Zhao knew that this was not the world he’d once had, it was just a virtual and incomplete replica. Even though the context was just a game, it was too realistic. The surroundings, even the scents in the air, all of it stirred up Fang Zhao’s pent-up emotions that he had suppressed for so long. It was as if, in the depths of his soul, a storm had started to rage.

Not being able to go back to that period, and not wanting to go back—normal people do not want to suffer. He had spent nearly a century fighting for this. Other people did not even get such a chance; of course he had to enjoy it well. This was the world that he and countless others had spent a century’s worth of time and lives to trade for.

Fang Zhao did not miss that period, but he cherished the people during that period.

Deep breaths, as if expelling out all the melancholy in his heart.

“That’s right, I have to enjoy it well.”

But before that, he had to find a way to vent all his long-suppressed tendencies and emotions. Even if he acted similarly to others in the New Era, his soul was mainly filled with memories of those 100 years of hell. Even though he had used all sorts of methods to suppress them, it was impossible to keep doing so. Now he had found a way to vent his feelings; wasn’t this what he’d been waiting for all along?

Perhaps other people might use this game as a form of escape or play it for entertainment, but Fang Zhao was different.

What had happened previously was just a warm-up. The restlessness and agitation had awoken, and Fang Zhao could not just stop now. By chance, Zuo Yu was no longer here.

His eyes were radiating with excitement from all the restlessness within his soul. However, in the blink of an eye, it was restrained; Fang Zhao seemed to entirely blend into the warehouse—even his odor fit in his surroundings.

Other than the warehouse and the kitchen at the back, there were many other rooms on top, probably the dormitories of workers. Fang Zhao never ever let even the tiniest of sounds slip by. He could distinguish every single note in a song, and similarly, he could distinguish the different noises from the sound of activity.

There were people in the room upstairs, yet they also could not be considered people, because they had since deviated from the category of normal human beings. During the Period of Destruction, these “people” were the same as those mutated beasts. They had lost all rationality they’d once had and were now bloodthirsty and violent. They would maintain this sort of temperament till their bodies were incapacitated and they died; there was no way to cure them.

Since there were infected people, there would naturally be people who were fortunate enough to survive. And these people who were lucky enough to survive developed antibodies and became resistant to being infected by that sort of rabid virus. This antibodies were also found in people of the New Era. With these antibodies and methods in the medical field to defend against it, such mortal threats could no longer make a comeback.

But during the Period of Destruction, these sorts of infected people had changed so much that it was necessary to kill them.

A metallic light flashed, and the infected person with sinister red eyes fell to the floor as a wound appeared on its neck. Another lightning quick stab severed its brain stem, interrupting all communication between the brain and the rest of the body. If this had been a normal person, he would have died immediately from this. These infected humans did not die straight away, but they were no longer able to make any movements or attack and could only lie there waiting to die. It was this way in the game, just as it had been back during the Period of Destruction.

Fang Zhao cleared each room upstairs one by one, and then he exited the warehouse. He had cleared it to give Zu Wen and the others a safer place. When they returned, they would not need to continue clearing the rooms on top.

As to what came after that—it was time for Fang Zhao’s own entertainment.

Infected human, kill!

Mutated beast, kill!

Fang Zhao was like a leopard in a grassland, lying in ambush for his prey. Regardless of whether it was the way his body moved, the way he concealed himself, or the way he shot his targets accurately and rapidly, if what he did was placed in textbooks, people would surely think it was exaggerated. Not just Zuo Yu, who’d come from the special forces, even many other soldiers with vast experience might not even have been capable of doing the same.

The bullets that he had exchanged for were used up at an astonishing rate, but although Fang Zhao had exchanged credits for a lot of bullets, his credits kept a large margin and kept increasing more than the amount he exchanged them for. Fang Zhao maintained a high efficiency as he swept through, mostly taking one shot to kill a target. With Fang Zhao in this sort of condition, other than his credits, his experience points rose at an alarming rate.

+10

+10

+20

+1

+5

+10

+1

+30

…

Killing different targets gave a different amount of experience points. However, Fang Zhao did not take notice of his own experience points increasing. All he wanted to do now was some carefree killing, to release some of his long-suppressed emotions. And compared to experience points, he cared more about credits, because in this game, credits could be used to exchange for items.

“Battle of the Century” map, Yanzhou District 79 South, in a seven-floor housing block.

Two players were taking refuge in a room on the second floor. From the window, they could see two nearby mutated beasts.

A person urged his companion, “Hurry, hurry, hurry! Shoot it!”

“Wait a while more, it’s out of my firing range. It’s still too far, I’m not wasting bullets.”

“It’s getting nearer, it has discovered us!”

“Don’t be so anxious!”

“How can I not be anxious? It’s already so close! We will get bitten to death!”

“Don’t rush me, I know!”

“They are going to jump! Quick, fire!”

“I know! Anytime now…”

Bang! Bang!

Two mutated beasts that were rushing toward the second floor fell according to the ringing of gunshots, and they did not get back up.

“…”

After a few seconds of silence.

“The two shots were not taken by you?”

“Obviously, you can tell by listening!”

One of them carefully stuck his head out and scanned one round in all directions. Not seeing anyone, he angrily punched the wall.

“We have been KS-ed[1]!”

“I told you to hurry and fire. Look, just a step slower and we got KS-ed.”

“Shut up!”

District 79 South, inside a certain office building.

A silhouette noiselessly arrived at his own sniping spot and took out his sniper rifle, which he had used credits to exchanged for. Supporting the rifle on his shoulder, his icy cold stare looked through the scope at the figures that were frantically running about on the street below, his finger resting on the trigger.

In the opposite building, there had been a group who were probably university students. Although they’d had numbers, they’d lacked individual ability and experience. When they’d come up and found themselves being surrounded by so many 20 Millions, they’d panicked and fired in a flurry. They had managed to kill a few, but their party numbers dwindled even faster, probably getting killed or disconnecting after running out of ammo. Now, there were no longer many gunshots.

He had taken advantage of the chaos just now and gotten a few kills, and after that, he’d exchanged his credits for a sniper rifle. He loved the feeling of hunting prey. Every time blood exploded from the body of the prey, it would get his own blood racing. However, as a sniper who liked shooting games, he still had the basic essentials: adjusting his temperament, calming down as he prepared to lock on to his target. Imagining blood spurting out from his prey brought a vicious smile to his face, but his face became rigid in the next moment.

A gun shot rang out, and the prey he was locked onto fell, no longer moving.

He had not fired; someone had stolen his prey from under his nose.

Cursing under his breath, he did not dawdle and continued to take aim at his next target. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, his prey fell again.

“F*ck!”

The third, fourth, fifth…

Through his scope, he watched as each 20 Million fell as gunshots rang out—one shot one kill!

The anger of his prey being stolen gradually subsided and was replaced by an icy chill. Even the hairs on his body were standing.

This was a one-sided massacre!

Who was it?

Definitely not the bunch of stupid students opposite him.

Judging from the sounds of the gunshots, the other party’s position was constantly changing, but he simply could not find the person responsible. Only once through his scope did he catch a flicker of a human shadow, but only just that once. After that, even when looking in the direction of the gunshot, there were no traces of anyone. This continued until the gunshots ceased. Now, in his field of vision, not a single mutated beast was left standing.

G*ddamn it!

South District 79, in the hall of a certain hotel.

“Faster, faster, faster! Pay attention to the sides!”

“Leave it to me.”

“Watch the southwest!”

“I’m guarding!

After a series of concentrated gunshots, there was no longer any threat from outside.

The few of them heaved a sigh of relief and, soon after, flashed happy grins. They impatiently checked their own experience points and credits.

“No idea how many we shot dead.”

“I think I killed at least a minimum of two!”

“I definitely hit one, quite a number of them fell just now.”

“Me too!”

The few of them happily went to check their statuses.

Experience points: 0

“…”

“How am I also a 0? I shot over ten times and didn’t hit anything?” Puzzled, he continued, “Then who killed those outside?”

Going one round and checking, of the over 10 people here, only two of them had gotten a pathetic 10–20 credits. The others of the group all had 0 experience points and credits from that battle.

“The f*ck! What actually happened?!”

Fiery Bird’s “Battle of the Century” official website, in the individual districts forum.

“Any friends here from District 79? I logged off for a bit to use the toilet, and when I logged back own, my surroundings were full of mutated beast corpses! Can anyone tell me what happened?!”

“From District 79 too, I am equally clueless, the number of mutated beast we encountered have drastically declined. In the last half an hour, we have only run into a few. Did Fiery Bird make any changes? This sucks!”

“I’m from District 79, everything is normal here.”

“District 79 here, normal. It is rumored that, under normal circumstances, the rate of encountering mutated beast is according to the size of your team. The larger your team, the more beasts you encounter. After all, we are also encountering quite a number. You probably have less people over there, that’s why.”

“No! District 79 South Street, it seems like someone had swept through. There is a significant drop in the larger mutated beasts. What is most frightening is that the majority have been shot dead with one bullet! Is there an expert in District 79?”

“Also from District 79 South. Your father saved up many credits to exchange for a large rifle. After lying in wait for half an hour, one finally came, but before I could pull the trigger, it was KS-ed!”

“District 79 South too, same situation! Is there an e-sports club member in our district? Anyone knows?

“Also District 79…”

“Same…”

The people from district 79 that had disconnected realized that many others had experienced similar situations. Furthermore, they were all from District 79’s south area. They had saved up their credits and energy to go all out but suddenly realizing that there were a lack of chances for them to use their weapons. In less than an hour, a large portion had been swept away!

Nobody knew who had shot them all; there was not even a trace of his shadow!

People who’d disconnected due to various reasons discussed it on the forums. In Yanzhou’s main forum, the popular posts were dominated by the well-known e-sports clubs. Those professional clubs had a formidable lineup and their own tactics. Their activity was not subtle, and whichever district they were at, everyone would know. However, there were no e-sports clubs in District 79.

Although there were people discussing the affairs of District 79, compared to the districts that the e-sports clubs occupied, there was less popularity. But as more and more people took part in the discussion, its popularity would rise. Although it still not gain more hype than those clubs, the post would not be crowded out that quickly.

As more people joined the discussion, it even attracted many people from other districts who were curious about the hype.

“What’s happening in District 79?”

“God knows what we just experienced!”

[1] Kill stolen