After the Butcher left, Jiang Huaying found a spot that seemed relatively safe and hid herself away.
She opened her Personal Game Interface.
The seven-day clearance countdown was displayed at the very top.
Below it was the Personal Mission just released in the chaos earlier.
At least it wasn’t garbled nonsense anymore.
But after seeing it clearly, Jiang Huaying would rather it had been.
[Personal Mission (0/1): Eliminate the Shufu’s Blackening Value.]
[Mission Description: Lowering your pet’s Blackening Value will trigger “Special Pacification,” increasing intimacy. Once intimacy reaches its maximum, you’ll get an unexpected surprise!]
As if afraid Jiang Huaying wouldn’t notice, the Pet Bar popped out on its own.
The Pet Card, which had once been resplendent and dreamy thanks to Cyan Gold Unsealing, was now shrouded in a gloomy, sinister black mist, sealed within layers of thorny chains, revealing only a faint, dark silhouette.
Only the first card, representing the Butcher, was in an unsealed state.
The cold light of the Lab sliced through the broken shadows.
Shufu hung his head, half-kneeling in a pool of blood, his muscular, naked body crisscrossed with ferocious wounds.
At his feet, the corpses of other Test Subjects lay mangled and ruined.
The card was so dark that Jiang Huaying leaned in closer, trying to see more clearly.
The shadowy black mist gathered from all directions, as if to swallow her consciousness.
Just then, the hollow ram’s skull suddenly lit up with two points of crimson light, turning to look straight at her.
Jiang Huaying jumped, jerking backwards in fright!
“The card moved!!” she screamed inwardly at the System.
[Cards are inanimate.]
A cold, mechanical voice replied.
Jiang Huaying took a moment to calm herself, then looked again.
The Butcher remained in the same half-kneeling pose as before.
It was as if everything had been her imagination.
Tentatively, Jiang Huaying reached out and tapped the card with her finger.
Nothing happened.
But before she could relax, a torrent of images flooded her mind.
After the Butcher ruthlessly sold her out, he was quickly acquired by the MF Group.
All the top resources were funneled toward him.
Through constant modifications, Shufu grew ever stronger, eventually becoming a tyrant whose very name struck fear into countless people.
Jiang Huaying swallowed hard after watching, then cautiously asked the System: “What’s the Butcher’s Blackening Value?”
[The density of the black mist represents the degree of blackening. When the mist dissipates, the Blackening Value reaches zero.]
Jiang Huaying looked back at the card.
The shifting black mist writhed like coiling black snakes, twining around the card.
Jiang Huaying hugged her fragile life, trembling in fear. “If… I mean, if I don’t complete the Personal Mission, what happens?”
[It will be considered a clearance failure.]
Jiang Huaying’s heart plummeted.
She suddenly remembered the rest of her cards, the ones emanating such unsettling auras. “The other pets… don’t tell me they’ve all blackened too?”
DV
Jiang Huaying wailed, recalling her gaming experiences.
While other players explored maps and leveled up, she was raising pets.
While others refreshed achievements and forged weapons, she was raising pets.
While others grouped up for PK and fought monsters, she was still raising pets.
What could she do? It wasn’t her fault the officials had drawn those monsters so alluringly.
Was it wrong for all the players to be so foolish?
Three years had passed. Her memories of the game had long grown blurry.
She couldn’t even remember how many monsters she’d raised, or what she’d done to them…
Jiang Huaying took a deep breath.
It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine!
There’s no way she could be that unlucky and run into them all.
“There’s a pretty two-legged sheep that survived the first round of harvesting.”
This was the hottest topic among the people of Upper City today.
After all, no two-legged sheep had ever escaped the Butcher’s harvest before, let alone survived right under the Sacrificer’s nose.
This was the first time in history.
As a killing machine created by the MF Group, Shufu’s existence symbolized MF Group’s unshakable authority, and also served as Upper City’s greatest intimidation against Lower City.
The three-minute rule was only there to slow the Butcher’s harvest and to increase the spectacle of the death game, satisfying the lofty spectators’ pleasure in watching their toys struggle in vain.
Now, that unwritten rule was like a still lake suddenly broken by a pebble.
Perhaps it triggered some strange rebellious psychology, but the nobles and elites instantly fell in love with this special little lamb.
More and more viewers tuned in to Jiang Huaying’s live broadcast.
They were intoxicated by her angelic beauty, showering her with affection and admiration, and spending massive amounts of Credit Points to buy her Supply Drops.
Of course, there were also those who scoffed, thinking Jiang Huaying only survived by sheer luck.
Next time she encountered the Butcher, she’d definitely die a miserable death.
On the Death Game, many people bet on Jiang Huaying’s name, eagerly anticipating the bloody demise of a beauty.
But Jiang Huaying was unaware of all this.
For safety’s sake, she’d already changed her hiding spot several times.
The girl, more disheveled than ever before, rubbed her bruised knee from her earlier panic as she hobbled along.
The number of survivors had decreased yet again.
Jiang Huaying turned off her holo-terminal, carefully avoiding the Supply Drop points.
Just like in the survival games she’d played in the real world, the two-legged sheep could see the entire Adam District map on their terminals.
Supply Drops and special items were marked on the map.
They were what all the two-legged sheep fought for.
Supply Drops contained precious food and water, clothing, weapons, medicine, and even Landmines.
Jiang Huaying saw someone draw a card from a Supply Drop.
When he saw what was written on it, his face turned ashen.
The next second, he simply froze in place.
His face was locked in a mix of terror and resistance, his eyes empty and gray, gradually overtaken by a blue glow.
When he returned to normal, he seemed like a different person—gone was the timid cowardice.
He fearlessly provoked others, then grabbed someone and jumped off a tall building together.
Even in death, his face remained wild with excitement, as if his body was nothing but a skin suit in the game.
Jiang Huaying felt a chill run down her spine, recalling the sci-fi novels she’d read.
To survive, the poor would rent out their bodies to the wealthy, who controlled them remotely with advanced technology, earning rent in return.
That man’s brain probably had a standard interface; once he got the card, he was automatically selected to become a toy, controlled by the audience.
Aside from Supply Drops, there were also special items: Credit Points.
Jiang Huaying didn’t know what Credit Points were for.
She spotted a small clinic ahead and decided to try her luck, hoping to find something useful.
“Hiss…” She’d barely taken two steps before drawing a sharp breath.
Her delicate skin had been rubbed raw by cheap shoes, blood streaking out from the pink wound underneath. A fine, persistent pain crept up her nerves, making Jiang Huaying furrow her pretty brows.
Two Supply Drops bearing the “MF Mark” seemed to have timed their arrival, landing right in front of her one after the other.
The first contained a large bouquet of brilliant Red Roses, their tender petals still beaded with sparkling dew.
The second was a gorgeous Emerald Necklace, nestled in a luxurious velvet box, along with a letter full of flamboyant cursive and sticky, obsessive love confessions.
Expressionless, Jiang Huaying dumped them both into the trash can.
She’d lost count of how many Supply Drops this made.
The only good thing was that these Supply Drops were sent solely to her and wouldn’t appear on the map.
But they still drew the attention of other two-legged sheep.
Soon, two people ran over.
Jiang Huaying hadn’t managed to slip away in time and had to hide in a concealed spot.
She noticed the first man to arrive had a black terminal on his wrist.
The second, a woman, had a red terminal just like hers.
A subtle tension spread between them.
The man, who seemed stronger, actually hesitated.
But the woman didn’t give him a chance.
The two clashed.
Both had picked up weapons, fighting with no mercy.
With a muffled, unwilling roar, the man clutched his chest and slowly collapsed.
The woman, ecstatic, grabbed the man’s terminal!
After a few beeps, her terminal received a huge sum of Credit Points.
The crimson -18357 turned positive, and her terminal turned black.
Ignoring the blood streaming from her wounds, the woman was wild with joy: “Yes! I escaped the harvest—I don’t have to face the Butcher—”
Before she could finish, she spewed a mouthful of black-red blood!
She stared incredulously at the man’s corpse, clutching her throat and making pained gurgling noises, and within seconds, she too was dead.
Survivors: 79/100.
Ten minutes later, Jiang Huaying finally emerged from hiding, her face pale.
Terrified as she was, she gritted her teeth and walked over.
Her hands trembled as she tried several times before finally removing the terminal from the woman’s blackened wrist.
The corpse was still warm, the air thick with the lingering scent of blood.
Thanks to another favor from the Goddess of Fortune, Jiang Huaying’s popularity soared once again.
“My little angel, why hasn’t she transferred her Credit Points yet?”
“No, no, once she becomes a Black Sheep, she’ll be hunted by the other Red Sheep. Isn’t she clever!”
“But the second round of harvesting is about to start… No, I have to send her more Supply Drops!”
Arnold, having changed his attitude completely, sat glued to the live broadcast, anxiously fussing like a single dad.
His actions quickly reached the ears of his Nemesis.
Nemesis flashed a wicked grin and crooked his finger at the Servant: “Since Arnold likes that little lamb so much, I’ll send him a gift. Buy our little lamb a beautiful death—I want her lovely skin torn to shreds, blood spraying like a fountain all over the ground.”
The Servant left with a large sum of Credit Points.
Jiang Huaying didn’t transfer her Credit Points right away.
Credit Points were her trump card for survival; she’d wait until the Butcher appeared, then use them, and stay as close as possible to Shufu as a Black Sheep.
For now, she was waiting for the Butcher to come find her.
The vintage Flip Clock appeared once more above Adam District.
The second round of harvesting began.
The familiar screams and terror erupted, the heavy, iron-blooded footsteps ringing like the death knell, drawing ever closer.
One panicked figure after another dashed past Jiang Huaying.
In the blink of an eye, the deserted street was left with only her and Shufu.
When Jiang Huaying saw the Butcher, she immediately transferred her Credit Points. Her terminal instantly turned black.
Perhaps the sudden change made the Butcher lose his target, and he stopped in place, not advancing further.
This was her chance.
Jiang Huaying clenched her cold fingers, took a deep breath, and, full of unease and anxiety, slowly walked toward the Butcher.
At some point, a hazy mist had filled the street. The golden-haired girl looked like a delicate, frightened golden canary, stumbling toward the savage, merciless beast.
With a barely audible mechanical whirr, Shufu suddenly moved.
The giant axe swept out fiercely, its sharp blade glinting coldly in midair, reflecting the bloodless face of the girl.
Jiang Huaying’s scalp tingled, terror flooding her heart and soul!
Her body froze like a statue. She couldn’t even attempt to dodge, standing ramrod straight with her eyes squeezed shut.
She was going to die!
The next second, the double-bladed axe swept past her ear, slicing deeply into the ground behind her, the blade humming.
The tremendous sound of shattering concrete drowned out the noise of the mechanical core breaking down beneath the surface.
Dust billowed up, covering Jiang Huaying’s face. She could hold on no longer and collapsed to the ground, legs giving way.
In Upper City, Arnold’s Nemesis smashed a table in fury, cursing loudly.
“I spent three million Credit Points—three million! And you’re telling me the mechanism was broken by a single swing of the Butcher’s axe?”
“This is the mechanism you prepared?!”
A massive projection in front of him showed the ruined mechanism from all angles—it was completely and utterly destroyed.
But since the mechanism had only just activated, everything was hidden beneath the ground.
No one on the surface knew a thing.