He Wuning wasn’t genuinely interested in their religious beliefs; he only vaguely remembered that Zone C was a theocratic country, which might make it especially dangerous during this event.
Q-chan hadn’t responded yet when He Wuning’s communication system buzzed.
He Anan: “Ningning! Where are you guys right now?”
His voice sounded anxious. He Wuning frowned. “We’re at the entrance of the treatment center. What’s wrong?”
“We’re also inside the treatment center. Wait for me, I’m coming down to meet you.” He Anan sounded relieved. Soon, He Wuning saw him running out of the treatment center with Qi Hong, followed by Xing Yue.
He Anan dashed onto the milk tea car. He Wuning, seeing him this flustered, frowned and asked, “What’s going on?”
He Anan pointed at Qi Hong: “He saw it.”
“This time, he really saw it. He saw a girl being stabbed in a very high place…”
He Anan furrowed his brow. “I don’t know who the girl is, so I asked him to try drawing it. And…”
He handed the drawing to He Wuning.
Qi Hong’s drawing skills were childlike. In the center was a small, upright figure with a buzz cut, raising a hand toward the sky, surrounded by a blue circular shield.
If He Anan hadn’t mentioned it was a “girl,” He Wuning wouldn’t have guessed that from the rough buzz-cut figure.
“Buzz cut… shield…” Yi Luo raised an eyebrow. “Could it be Zhao Yantong?”
Xing Yue’s face darkened. “And high up.”
He glanced at the high-altitude observation deck of a landmark building originally in City A. “Except for a few people, nobody else knows Sister Zhao maintains the shield there.”
“Of course, not many people are up there. A buzz-cut woman… It’s probably Sister Zhao.”
Q-chan shouted: “Ah, it’s 13:47 now! The next wave of attacks is in 13 minutes!”
He Wuning and Yi Luo exchanged a glance. Yi Luo had already taken the driver’s seat.
He Wuning nodded at He Anan: “Notify Xue Xun.”
“I already told him, but…” He Anan pouted, “I’m worried he won’t believe me.”
He Wuning: “…”
He Anan averted his gaze. “Last time I lied, and he caught me. His ability can’t operate through the communicator, right? He might not trust me…”
“So you came to tell me?” He Wuning looked at him exasperatedly. “I can tell whether you’re lying.”
“Mm.” He Anan snorted. “I know when not to lie!”
“The scene Qi Hong saw doesn’t have a specific time, but it was still daylight, the sun roughly in this position.”
He Anan pointed to the sun in the drawing. If he hadn’t mentioned it, He Wuning might have thought the smiling sun was just a meaningless background—but it actually indicated the time.
Yi Luo glanced: “This position… before 4 PM.”
“Anyway, whether there’s trouble or not, we’ll go check it out.”
He Wuning nodded. “Find a safe place and stay there.”
He Anan nodded lightly. “You be careful too.”
Xing Yue squeezed onto the car just before it started. The milk tea car sped through the empty streets of the safe zone, heading for the highest observation deck.
He Wuning sent a message to Xue Xun:
“Did you get He Anan’s warning?”
“Got it. I’m ready,” Xue Xun replied quickly. “What’s going on?”
“We’re coming, too.” He Wuning replied concisely. “He didn’t lie—trust him.”
Xue Xun sighed: “I never said I didn’t trust him! All my protective personnel are ready!”
“But it’s good that you’re coming too. Otherwise, I’d worry you might wander into some dangerous area.”
On the observation deck, Zhao Yantong sat cross-legged, pale, receiving treatment.
She wore a black combat uniform. Her hair, cut short for Master Zhi Yin’s weapon earlier, remained buzz-cut, exuding sharp valor.
Her health bar was full, and a sealed milk tea to boost HP and defense sat before her. To maximize its effect, she had to wait a while before drinking it.
Even with continuous healing, this was a tough trial.
Every hour, she had to deploy the shield and only lower it once she confirmed the attack wasn’t aimed at Zone A. If the “Day of Divine Punishment” lasted three full days, she would have to maintain it for all three.
Moreover, Director Li of the tech department, using existing data, speculated that the Day of Divine Punishment might extend beyond three days. If completing the task prolongs the punishment, the monsters would try to finish it first.
For her, this was a war of endurance.
Her health was restored, but the lingering weakness from blood loss still made her uncomfortable. Fortunately, Zone A hadn’t been attacked yet, so she could rest a little longer.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Xue Xun seemingly mobilizing people and furrowed her brow in confusion. A healer reminded her: “Five minutes left.”
She immediately focused, and one minute before the hour, she drank the milk tea to boost her stats, then stood up.
Thirty seconds to the hour, she raised the shield early, her expression solemn, eyes fixed on the sky.
At exactly 14:00, the wind howled.
Zhao Yantong’s eyes narrowed: “It’s coming! A hurricane!”
All the players connected to her felt a jolt run through them. They tensed their bodies, bracing themselves for the pain that was about to come, while the healers immediately took their positions, ready to restore health.
He Wu Ning and Yi Luo arrived just in time beneath the observation deck. Yi Luo glanced at the nearby buildings and pointed to another high platform. “I’ll head over there—it’ll be better for sniping.”
He Wuning nodded and rushed into the observation tower together with Xing Yue.
The operators downstairs only let them in after confirming their identities. He Wuning would’ve preferred to sprint up the stairs, but the top-level observation deck could only be reached by elevator.
Standing inside the elevator, He Wuning looked a little anxious.
Xing Yue took a deep breath. “It’s fine, as long as it hasn’t—”
He Wuning immediately turned and gestured for him to shut up.
Q-chan made a shushing gesture. “Shh! Idiot—being unlucky includes jinxing it! You’re not allowed to talk!”
Xing Yue wanted to argue, but lacking confidence, he ultimately closed his mouth.
This building was normally not in use; it had only been powered up today for this special purpose.
The top observation deck could only be accessed by elevator—otherwise it was unreachable—which was exactly why they had chosen this location.
Watching the floor numbers ticking upward, He Wuning lowered his gaze in thought. “How do you think they’ll attack?”
“There’s only one route—the one we’re taking now. The operators downstairs won’t easily let suspicious people through.”
He took the sketch out of his pocket. The attacker seemed to be wearing black, cloak-like clothing, making their identity impossible to discern.
“Especially someone dressed this suspiciously—how did they even get in?”
Xing Yue’s expression was grave. “Even if they killed the operators downstairs, I can guarantee that they’d still send a signal upstairs before dying. We’d cut the power immediately and block the elevator.”
He hesitated. “But that observation deck is open-air—that’s a condition for Sister Zhao’s ability to activate. If it’s the monsters’ side… maybe they’d drop in from above?”
“If they could just drop in from the sky at will, there’d be no need to go through all this trouble,” He Wuning said, shaking his head. At the same moment, the elevator chimed—they had arrived.
The sound alerted the people above. He Wuning saw a figure standing straight at the front of the crowd slightly turn their head. In the next instant, a shadow leapt up from beneath the railing. A dagger flashed coldly as the figure lunged forward, driving the blade straight into the chest of the person in front!
That person instinctively raised a hand to block, but still fell backward to the ground.
“Sister Zhao!” Xing Yue shouted. He immediately activated his ability—animal fur burst through his clothes as he let out a furious roar and charged straight at the monster, trying to pull the knife free.
With a single swipe, he tore open the opponent’s cloak. The black-cloaked assassin flipped backward with agile movements, landing smoothly and revealing honey-colored skin and exotic attire.
—He wasn’t a monster. He was human.
Judging by his appearance, he was a young man from Zone C. He Wuning’s gaze fell to his legs—they weren’t human legs. On closer inspection, they resembled the powerful limbs of some kind of amphibian with extraordinary jumping ability, which explained how he had leapt in from outside the high-rise.
The healers rushed forward collectively, but the injured man waved them off and stood up from the crowd. He pulled out the knife embedded in his hand—at the critical moment, he had blocked the blade with his hand, stopping it short of his heart as it pierced straight through his palm.
And he wasn’t Zhao Yantong either.
He Wuning stared expressionlessly at Master Zhi Yin as he brushed off his clothes and stood up, then glanced down at the sketch in his own hand. True, earlier the man had been standing with his arms raised high toward the sun, and if one really stretched it, the greenish hue on the master’s head could count as a buzz cut, but…
It still felt different from what he had imagined.
Master Zhi Yin touched his head and smiled. “Ah, I didn’t expect them to really take the bait.”
“I even thought they might decide not to come out because the body type difference was too big.”
He seemed completely unconcerned about his hand injury. A pitch-black staff appeared in his hand, which he leveled at the young man opposite him.
“They probably haven’t seen me before.”
One of the twenty-five players responsible for sharing damage stepped forward. Zhao Yantong took off the hat on her head and shook it with a helpless smile. “After all, I haven’t really shown myself much before.”
“But…”
Her gaze landed on the other man’s legs. “Can he still be considered human like this?”
“Or is this what the so-called ‘believers’ are supposed to look like?”
The young man shouted a string of words in a language He Wuning couldn’t understand. Q-chan immediately floated up to translate—he’d gained a lot of experience lately, even mimicking the tone perfectly: “He says, you heretics! You dare resist the gods—you’ll lead this world to ruin!”
“He says he’ll offer the life of that woman who dared to raise a shield against the heavenly god as a sacrifice to the supreme deity!”
As soon as Q-chan finished translating, he added his own commentary: “Peh!”
He Wuning nodded in satisfaction and tightened his grip on his knife. “Just you alone? Where are your companions? So many people from Zone C came over—don’t tell me you’re the only one.”
The man started shouting again, but this time Q-chan looked confused. “He says… he says you hypocrites—we just entered the game and had no power to resist the monsters at all. You only cared about fighting back yourselves, forcing them to go die.”
“He says that in order to protect his unarmed compatriots, he chose to submit to the gods…”
“He’s not from Zone C!”
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The author has something to say:
Zhao Yantong: Someone actually mistook Master Zhi Yin for me…
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