Chapter 28: A Way Out

Deep in the night, at Room 408, Building 2 of the Saigeta Technology Industrial Park on Yunjin Road, Puluo District, Yin City.

This is a standalone three-story building in a neo-traditional style, featuring white walls, blue-tiled roofs, and ornate carved beams. Inside, the furnishings are classic and elegant, exuding an antique charm.

Li Sheng sits in the third-floor office, gazing out the window.

Over the past few hours, he has accompanied Zhangsun Yao to visit several local branches of various organizations in Yin City.

The solution offered by the Prometheus Corporation did not include a complete cure. The terms proposed by other organizations were much the same.

Derek Atchison, head of research at Gen-Sys Biotechnology, stated that their latest gene inhibitor could likely extend Li Sheng's life by six months. The price, however, was a contract requiring Li Sheng to surrender his personal rights in the final stages of his life, allowing the company to conduct a series of experiments, including vivisection and drug testing.

A guild named "Beast of a Thousand Throats," which specializes in selling monster familiars, offered to turn Li Sheng into a corpse-demon—a souvenir for his family that would double as a bodyguard.

Another guild, the "League of Demon Scientists," offered to extract Li Sheng’s soul and preserve it as a long-term soul crystal, at the cost of him being permanently trapped in a container, unable to interact with the outside world.

The most reliable option, relatively speaking, was a guild called "Whale Song," which specializes in computer and electronic information technology. Their latest technology can scan and upload a portion of a person's consciousness, achieving a form of "digital immortality." However, this technology still faces numerous insurmountable hurdles; the "person" uploaded to the server has a lifespan of only a few minutes, cannot retain memories, and is trapped in an endless loop.

Li Sheng did not consider this a "cure." When he inquired about purchasing player qualifications to enter the "Killing Field" himself to seek a solution, every organization gave him a firm refusal.

At any given time, player qualifications are an incredibly precious resource. Aside from automatic selection by the Killing Field, the only way to obtain them is through the "non-player kills player, usurps qualification" method.

In the early days, when the Killing Field games had just begun and there were no rules, low-level players were no different from livestock. Multinational corporations, gangs, terrorist organizations, regional warlords, and even violent institutions like the CIA would systematically hunt players to transfer their qualifications to their "own people." If a player resisted, their families would be kidnapped as leverage, forcing them to surrender every resource obtained from the Killing Field. It was effectively "farming."

It wasn't until early players grew strong enough to counter modern weaponry that a balance was established. Multinational corporations stopped using violent means to collect qualifications, opting instead to cooperate with civilian players through high-paying contracts, employment, and even marriage. Civilian "Selectees" also spontaneously formed guilds to compete with these corporations and state apparatuses, eventually forming a dynamic equilibrium with a set of basic rules, leaving the era of savage growth behind.

Today, no guild that values its reputation will openly sell player qualifications. Even if they do, it is only under extremely specific circumstances—for instance, if a non-human species kills a human player and acquires the qualification, and the guild happens to have captured said monster, ghost, demon, or machine, rendering human rights concerns irrelevant. Such a qualification can sell for between 100 and 200 million on the black market, and it is usually a case of buyers offering prices with no sellers willing to part with them.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Li Sheng scanned the office. Every painting on the wall was animated: the ocean in an oil painting surged with massive waves while sailors on a ship shouted hoarsely, furling sails to resist the storm. In a landscape painting, a waterfall cascaded down into mist, while ancient figures by a pool played a game of chess.

Below the paintings stood a row of locked glass cabinets filled with various items, ranging from glistening ancient daggers to long-barreled flintlocks, and from a Chinese-style wedding dress made of red paper to an unactivated lightsaber hilt.

Beside the cabinets were two movable blackboards covered in bounty notices:

【Meng Xiucheng, male, 40, Lv17, unaffiliated. Triggered a red-level anomaly event in Meng City to enhance his own power. Currently believed to be hiding in the Killing Field (-52, 17, 290) area. Bounty: 7,500】

【Lynn, female, age unknown, Lv27, former member of the League of Demon Scientists. Extremely dangerous. If encountered in the Killing Field, report immediately to the Global Supernatural Alliance. Any valuable information will be rewarded with 2,000 or more.】

【Wanted: Unhatched dragon egg. Must be a metallic dragon from the fantasy system, such as Brass, Bronze, Copper, Gold, or Silver. Payment negotiable.】

【Reliable sale: Three Dementors. Raised in our own backyard, pedigree certified, gentle temperament, suitable for guarding homes.】

【Eugene, male, 30, Lv10, former member of The Clocktower. Defected after stealing seven golden arrows from the guild. Currently believed to be hiding in Yin City.】

Just as the business card stated, the scope of "World Nuclear Peace House" was incredibly broad, handling private commissions while collaborating with other guilds.

*Creak—*

The office door was pushed open from the outside. Zhangsun Yao walked in with a grey-white chinchilla perched on her shoulder, placing two rows of brown ampoules filled with clear liquid on the desk.

"This is a potent gene inhibitor I obtained through an 'European Heavy Industries' channel. While they aren't as specialized in biological engineering as the GS Corporation, they are still one of the industry's premier pioneers."

Zhangsun Yao sat in her boss chair and said, "Thirty vials. Take one every two days. It will suppress the insectoid reaction and extend your lifespan as a human to two months."

"Thank you."

Li Sheng nodded and, as agreed, placed the semi-solid black grease he had confiscated from Cai Zixuan on the table as payment.

Zhangsun Yao glanced at the black grease, and lines of description appeared within her field of vision:

【Name: Laughter Putty】
【Type: Consumable】
【Quality: Fine】
【Special Effect: Curtain Call. Upon application, significantly enhances physical attributes for a period, while inducing an uncontrollable, bloodthirsty rage. If one survives the rage phase, the enhancement becomes permanent.】
【Consumption: None】
【Cooldown: None】
【Usage Requirement: No prior supernatural enhancement】
【Note: Western drama originated in ancient Greece and Rome. This product is formulated from the volcanic ash of Pompeii. Thanks to this ash, modern people know that ancient Romans had grey skin, no hair, and liked to lie on their floors using stones as blankets.】
【Note: When unhappy, go for a drive in a convertible; when sad, go for a ride in a helicopter.】

"Fine-quality Laughter Putty?" Zhangsun Yao put the black grease away and asked, surprised, "You ran into someone from the 'Laughing Troupe'?"

"I suppose so." Li Sheng thought of the giant in the hospital. "Was this item made by them?"

"Mm. The 'Laughing Troupe' is an infamous, non-typical guild. They lack any strict management structure and likely don't even have a headquarters."

Zhangsun Yao said, "The troupe members pursue theatrical effect as their life goal. Sometimes they appear out of nowhere to help official organizations solve anomalous events; other times, they are the ones creating the anomalous events themselves. This item is a prop they made. It grants a massive boost to physical stats at the cost of a bloodthirsty rage. Once, they put a bucket of this stuff into the food at an international summer camp, leading to hundreds of children from various countries slaughtering each other, with only one survivor. The reason? Someone in the troupe wanted to write an article titled 'The Contest at Summer Camp.' These people are a collection of sadists, lunatics, trolls, psychopaths, paranoids, and madmen. Their logic is hard to fathom through the lens of profit, so it's best not to deal with them."

"Understood. Thanks for the warning."

Li Sheng nodded and packed the ampoules to take with him.

"Wait." Zhangsun Yao took out two more items and tossed them to him. One was a black spray can resembling an air freshener, and the other was a medicine bottle.

"The spray contains a deodorizer that removes all odors from your body, preventing you from being detected by other 'Lord of Insects' infected hosts. The pills in the bottle increase your heart rate and pulse without any side effects."

Zhangsun Yao explained, "The Special Affairs Bureau’s SkyNet surveillance system uses a technology called Eulerian Video Magnification. It filters video pixel brightness to observe heartbeats and pulse frequencies through the minute changes in skin color during blood circulation. Supernatural beings have physical stats far exceeding normal people, so their heartbeats and pulses slow down unconsciously. The Bureau has used this metric to discover many anomalies hiding among the population. Your current heart rate is fine, but during genetic mutation, you could still be flagged by cameras in high-security areas like high-speed rail stations or airports. These two items are complimentary. If you have anything good in the future, you can come back here to barter."

"Alright."

Li Sheng accepted the two gifts, stood up to bid farewell, and left the World Nuclear Peace House. He exhaled into his palms against the cold wind and walked into the vast, dark night.

Zhangsun Yao reclined in her boss chair, leaning back with her hands behind her head and her long legs resting on the desk, gazing at the bright moon outside the window, lost in thought.

"Squeak, squeak—"

The grey-white chinchilla on her shoulder chirped. She tilted her head to look at her pet and said casually, "You ask why I was so kind to him? Well... perhaps I saw a shadow of my former self in him."