Thanks to Green Kitea for the kofis. Enjoy the bonus chapters!

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Jian Xingyi thought he was hallucinating.

He rubbed his eyes and realized he hadn’t seen wrong—this really was… reality.

Huh?

No… what’s going on here?!

Jian Xingyi couldn’t believe it.

Although the sky was still the same pitch-Heiye, the surroundings were the skyscrapers he knew so well—not the forests and old-fashioned houses from the game, but real skyscrapers…!

It was even near his home.

Could it be… that he had left the game?

Just then, Jian Xingyi was jolted awake by the low growls of zombies.

“…!”

Jian Xingyi shuddered all over, barely coming to his senses.

No.

This isn’t reality!

Although everything looked exactly as he remembered, the place was deserted—except for… the zombies.

All around him, hunchbacked zombies, dragging their rotting flesh and decaying organs, wandered aimlessly. There were quite a few of them, yet they all moved in unison toward the same direction.

They hadn’t noticed Jian Xingyi’s presence yet; they were simply moving forward in a daze.

Jian Xingyi thought to himself that perhaps if he followed the direction they were heading, he could find the black hole and return to the air wall.

But Jian Xingyi wasn’t Shanhai; he didn’t have the ability to break through a sea of zombies, and following them recklessly would be extremely dangerous.

Jian Xingyi frowned. If the black hole in the air wall at the end of the game was where the zombies appeared—a place players jokingly referred to as where the game developers had written the zombie code—then what was this?

A base for producing zombies?

That was strange, too. How could there still be a city behind the air wall? Moreover, the very sight of this city sent a chill down Jian Xingyi’s spine.

Jian Xingyi looked around. The entire city was clearly a place he knew so well, but at this moment, it resembled a ghost town. Aside from a few streetlights, LEDs, and scattered, unidentifiable glimmers, the surroundings were pitch black—it was obvious that the water and electricity systems weren’t functioning.

It had never been this dark around here, not even in the game.

Bloodstains and the smell of rust were everywhere, along with the nauseating stench of rotting food and corpses.

Jian Xingyi took a deep breath and began to move, walking silently along the walls and cover to avoid attracting the zombies’ attention and hiding in a corner.

Jian Xingyi crouched down and tried to open the terminal to take a look.

……It turned on.

Sure enough, he was still in the game.

Shanhai: 【Xinghe?】

Shanhai: 【Can you see my message?】

Shanhai: 【Xinghe?】

Jian Xingyi typed a reply.

Xinghe: 【Yes】

Shanhai: 【Where are you? Is it safe around you? I can’t get through the air wall, but the Unity Anchor is with you.】

Jian Xingyi: “……”

This is awkward. After getting 5 Unity Anchors, he forgot to share them with Shanhai…

So now they can’t use the Unity Anchor!!

Total disaster!!!

Jian Xingyi felt like crying, but had no tears left.

I guess neither of them expected to run into a situation like this.

Xinghe: 【……Am I the first player in the game to get stuck in the air wall?】

Shanhai: 【Yes, are you safe?】

Jian Xingyi explained the situation on his end to Shanhai.

Shanhai: 【Hold on, I’ll ask the experts in the group chat】

Shanhai: 【I’ll see if I can find a way to get through】

Shanhai’s tone seemed calm, and Jian Xingyi had no idea what he was thinking right now, but seeing how composed Shanhai was, Jian Xingyi calmed down, too.

Although he didn’t know where Shanhai was—perhaps he’d wandered into another memory bubble or dungeon—for now… he was relatively safe.

He couldn’t follow the zombies into the black hole, so Jian Xingyi decided to look for another way.

If there wasn’t one, he’d have to find a safe place to rest and wait for Shuixi to come up with a solution or a guide.

Jian Xingyi crouched low, moving forward on tiptoe.

The streets were filled with dazed zombies; anyone unaware might have thought they were holding some kind of parade.

Whoosh—!

An unidentified creature darted past Jian Xingyi’s feet, startling him so much he nearly let out a scream.

Jian Xingyi covered his mouth, still shaken.

Thank goodness he was naturally taciturn!

Only after turning to get a better look did Jian Xingyi realize it was a rat.

—In a city devoid of humans, rats have begun to run rampant.

And…

Jian Xingyi stared in disbelief. This rat was enormous! Wait… a rat’s tail is usually described as slender, but the one before him was as thick as half a child’s arm!!

No wonder it made such a commotion earlier!

Jian Xingyi recalled the nature of rats, glanced around, and cautiously followed it.

The rat moved quickly, but it wasn’t a mutated monster from a video game. Aside from its overly fat body and equally overly smooth fur, it was still just an ordinary rat. Perhaps because Jian Xingyi had combat bonuses from the game, keeping up with a single rat wasn’t difficult.

The rat strolled down the street as brazenly as a human, while Jian Xingyi followed along the corners as furtively as a rat.

He turned several corners and ran quite a distance before noticing that the number of zombies on the road was gradually decreasing.

—Though “fewer” was relative.

By the Black Hole, they’d been packed like sardines; now there were simply fewer than there, but it was still a sea of corpses.

Jian Xingyi furrowed his brow slightly. The number of zombies in this city… was even greater than along the Game Wall!

After all, while the area near the Game Wall appeared crowded, it was a concentrated group. Now, Jian Xingyi didn’t know how large the city was, but after walking for a while, he found zombies everywhere.

All of these combined amounted to a full-scale zombie tide.

Jian Xingyi thought to himself, “No wonder it’s a zombie breeding ground.”

A rat darted through a window into a department store.

Jian Xingyi paused. He gently pushed open the store’s door and saw it filled with food and merchandise. The rat was in the corner, gnawing on a bag of potato chips, squeaking as it ate.

The department store wasn’t large; there were five or six zombies inside. After Jian Xingyi took out his bow and arrow and killed them all, he closed the door, picked out a bag of potato chips from a shelf—one without any rat bite marks and still looking intact—tore open the package, and took a sniff.

It smells so good.

But… is it safe to eat?

If it is, he could easily scavenge resources in the area and stuff them into his backpack!

That would be a huge advantage!

Jian Xingyi thought to himself, It should be safe to eat. Even if it isn’t, it probably won’t poison him…

Jian Xingyi prepared his medicine, took a deep breath, and popped the thin, crispy potato chip into his mouth.

Mmm.

So good.

Jian Xingyi squinted his eyes in bliss.

It had been so long since he’d eaten something so salty—industrial puffed snacks loaded with MSG… It was absolutely delicious!!!

After confirming the food was safe, Jian Xingyi went over to grab a can of Coke to drink.

With a crisp “pop” as the can opened, Jian Xingyi tilted his head back and poured the Coke into his mouth.

It had been just as long since he’d had such a sweet drink—happy water, happiness!!

So refreshing!!!!

Jian Xingyi’s terminal beeped again.

Shanhai: 【Are you okay?】

Shanhai checked on Jian Xingyi every five minutes. His tone was cold, but the frequency made him seem quite anxious.

Jian Xingyi took another sip of Coke, savoring the return of the carbonated drink’s flavor.

Xinghe: 【Great!! The Coke is so good, and the potato chips are delicious too!!】

Shanhai: 【…】

Jian Xingyi immediately started shopping, sweeping his hand through the supermarket and stuffing all the food into his backpack.

But…

Jian Xingyi glanced at his backpack and furrowed his brow slightly. His backpack had limited slots, but perhaps because it was custom-made for the game, it was very smart when it came to storing in-game items.

For example, if Jian Xingyi obtained 2,000 portions of beast meat from the game, the slots would look like this:

【Beast Meat x1000】

【Beast Meat x1000】

It only took up two slots.

But perhaps this was something taken from the “real world.” Jian Xingyi picked up two bags of potato chips, and in his backpack, they appeared as:

【Potato Chips】

【Potato Chips】

The same potato chips, but each bag took up a slot—that was just too unintelligent!

How was he supposed to stockpile supplies like this?

Jian Xingyi had no choice but to make some sacrifices. He chose 10 large bags of potato chips, 10 large boxes of cookies, and 1 case of soda.

The fruits, vegetables, and meat in the supermarket had all gone bad because the refrigeration system had lost power, so Jian Xingyi could only take the dry goods with longer shelf lives.

This place was truly bizarre. Not only did it look exactly like the real world—with food spoiling, systems failing without power, and rats running around—but it felt like actual reality, not a game.

Yet it was clearly still a game. For instance, he could use the terminal functions, there were zombies, and he possessed skills and combat stats.

Just then, Jian Xingyi looked down and saw that his Sanity had dropped by half.

His body was starting to turn translucent!

He knew exactly what this meant—it happened whenever he stayed too long in a memory bubble or a time-space that wasn’t his own. Could it be that this place wasn’t a map or a bug zone in the game system, but some kind of memory bubble or dungeon?

That didn’t make sense…! If that were the case, wouldn’t there at least be a tutorial or a new memory bubble?

Jian Xingyi couldn’t sit still any longer, but he wasn’t about to pass up a free meal. He dashed around the supermarket, stuffing everything he could into his backpack—regardless of what it was—until it was full. Only then did he hurry out, hoping to spot a memory bubble nearby.

Damn it…!

Nothing at all!

Could it be that he really has to go through the black hole all by himself?

Jian Xingyi began rummaging through his backpack, hoping to find some useful items.

Jian Xingyi didn’t forget to check his mailbox either. He had previously bought land on the motorcycle and received the first-time reward for reaching the Air Wall, but things had been too chaotic before for him to look at it. Now was the perfect time to see if there was anything he could use.

【Congratulations to player 【Xinghe】 for unlocking the achievement 【What Lies at the End of the Game?】, earning 66,666 Dawn Coins, Special Item 【Desire for Knowledge】 x1, Rare Item 【Special-Grade Combat Voucher】 x1, 【Special-Grade Management Voucher】 x1】

He already knew what the vouchers were for, but what exactly was this 【Desire for Knowledge】?

Jian Xingyi opened the details.

【Desire for Knowledge: You may ask the system one question, and the system will answer based on your player level and permissions.】

【Detected player 【Xinghe】 bound to the 【Savior】 system. Rewards have been automatically upgraded for you!】

【Advanced Desire for Knowledge: You may ask the system one question, and any question will be answered.】

Jian Xingyi: “……”

It can actually be upgraded—and from a somewhat misleading reward to one that answers every question.

This seems valuable, but it’s not suitable for use right now.

Jian Xingyi felt that even if he asked the system how to get out, it would only tell him to break through the black hole.

After all, this wish can only answer questions; it can’t actually help him leave.

Jian Xingyi continued rummaging through his backpack. He had a “Brilliant Plan” and two “Wish Bottles,” but these were too rare, and their functions were similar to that of 【Wish for Knowledge】. Jian Xingyi would avoid using them if possible.

The Wish Talisman and Snow Spirit Talisman weren’t much use… Hmm?

There was also a Heroic Spirit Battle Talisman!

The Heroic Spirit Battle Talisman could summon a Heroic Spirit to fight for him, usable only once a week—and Jian Xingyi hadn’t used it yet!

Perhaps… he could use this Battle Talisman to break through the black hole?

Jian Xingyi felt a bit nervous.

He still didn’t know what would happen once the Heroic Spirit Battle Talisman was summoned!

Jian Xingyi took a deep breath, made his way through the dark alley until he was near the black hole, hid in a corner, and watched the swarming sea of corpses before him. He swallowed hard and sent a message to Shanhai.

Xinghe: 【Time is running out. I’m trying to figure out a way to get out.】

Shanhai: 【Stay safe.】

Jian Xingyi shut down the terminal and squeezed his koi necklace to psych himself up.

Thinking about it now, Jian Xingyi found it rather funny—he’d been clutching that koi necklace for so long, and it had actually been a gift from Shuixi.

But that was… not so bad.

【Player 【Xinghe】, do you confirm the use of 【Heroic Spirit Battle Talisman】 to summon a Heroic Spirit to fight for you?】

Jian Xingyi tapped “Confirm.”

— In an instant, the heavens and earth changed color.