Chapter 25: Showdown in the Devil City (2)
When the starting pistol fired, before the players could even grasp the rules of the race, they were sent flying forward.
Yes, literally flying—as if a pair of hands had suddenly materialized behind them, shoving them hard. Qian Wei was shoved so violently he nearly coughed up blood. The sensation of being abruptly airborne was utterly nerve-wracking. He barely managed to adjust his posture to land when his peripheral vision caught sight of something behind him—
Fucking Hell Demon Wolves!
One wolf per lane: eyes glowing scarlet, fangs bared, muscles bulging, ferocious and lightning-fast. They bolted out in pursuit of the players, bringing a foul, bloody stench before they even drew near. A closer look revealed scraps of raw meat still clinging to their fangs.
Qian Wei shuddered. The moment his feet touched the ground, he scrambled forward without pause, immediately equipping his item: “Zulijian Running Shoes.” Shouts of alarm erupted from both sides. Knowing Peng Mingfan wasn’t as fast as him, Qian Wei’s heart leaped into his throat.
Everyone landed at different times. That initial shove had effectively granted them a buffer of safety. Qian Wei landed neither too fast nor too slow; to his left, Jin Cheng used the momentum to soar far ahead, while the unfamiliar player to his right scrambled in disarray.
Swoosh! Jin Cheng loosed an arrow midair, followed immediately by another upon landing. One arrow struck the wolf in his own lane, while the other obstructed the one in Peng Mingfan’s.
Players couldn’t cross into other lanes, but attacks could.
Peng Mingfan rolled upon landing. Having no time to offer thanks, he bolted forward.
The demon wolf merely paused for a split second after being shot. Even with Jin Cheng’s arrow piercing its leg, its sprint was barely hindered; it even howled in fury, spewing raging flames.
The flames surged forward like a shockwave, blasting at least five to six meters out, snapping right at the hem of Jin Cheng’s coat. Jin Cheng retreated at high speed, loosing another arrow with a flick of his wrist. It tore through the flames, striking dead center into the demon wolf’s gaping maw.
Qian Wei had neither Jin Cheng’s guts to face it head-on nor the skill to shoot while moving; he could only run for his life. Ahead lay a sharp curve. Qian Wei took a deep breath, not daring to let his guard down.
He still remembered that this first stage was called the “Obstacle Course.”
Even so, when the obstacle arrived, he still nearly fell flat on his face, because the already uneven track abruptly turned into rolling waves, churning endlessly.
Qian Wei barely steadied himself, his movements looking as comical as someone dancing the Dance of the Little Swans.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Qian Wei cursed as he stumbled forward. Looking over at the brother in the ghillie suit beside him, the man had already fallen flat on his stomach, seemingly about to be conveyed straight into the wolf’s jaws by the undulating track.
Qian Wei grew anxious watching him. “Run, hurry!”
Did the guy in the ghillie suit need to be told to run? He scrambled to his feet on all fours, but the surface made it impossible to keep his balance. Before he could even steady himself, he took another spill, nearly splitting his lip open.
In the nick of time, he suddenly whipped out a rocket launcher, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and fired a round right at the demon wolf. Hit or miss, the immense recoil instantly propelled him ten meters forward.
“That works?!” Qian Wei, still busy dancing ballet, gasped.
Fortunately, the demon wolf was also affected by the shifting terrain, its speed dropping noticeably. In his panic, Qian Wei glanced toward Jin Cheng, hoping the big boss could lend him a hand again. But what he saw nearly gave him a heart attack.
Faced with the undulating ground ahead, Jin Cheng simply stopped in his tracks and turned straight back. Drawing his bow and nocking arrows, he loosed a volley of three shots in rapid succession—each aimed squarely at the exact same spot on the wolf: precise and brutal.
Howl—! The demon wolf’s waist was shot almost completely in two, leaving a bloody wound the size of a bowl. But an NPC provided by the system wasn’t about to die so easily; it launched a frenzied assault straight for Jin Cheng’s legs.
Jin Cheng kicked off the transparent barrier between the lanes, evading the strike with a perilous midair backflip. At such close range, there was no time to nock an arrow; flipping his grip, he looped his bow right around the demon wolf’s neck.
The bowstring pressed hard against the wolf’s throat—twist, strangle!
“Contestant Number 4! Contestant Number 4 has pulled off a counter-kill!” the little imp cheered passionately from midair. “Heavens, what a thrilling contestant! Let us look forward to its upcoming performance!”
The monsters on both sides of the track erupted in excitement. Pair after pair of eyes—some blood-red, some emerald-green—stared at Jin Cheng, waving their hands as drool dripped from their maws.
The little imp focused all its attention on Jin Cheng, its tone overly dramatic: “Oh, it hasn’t stopped yet! Let’s see which cute little wolf is going to suffer this time—it’s Number 12!”
Number 12 was Tang Cuo.
Before the game had officially begun, Tang Cuo had immediately opened his character panel to allocate his points, dumping all six points straight into “Strength.” The stat allocation took effect instantly; Tang Cuo could clearly feel a slight boost in his physical attributes, such as grip strength and leaping ability.
Coupled with the buff from “Sprint,” even though the demon wolf dogged his heels three meters behind, it could never quite sink its teeth into him.
Breathing fire seemed to be a triggered skill; as long as the wolf wasn’t attacked, it wouldn’t use it.
On the wave-like terrain, Tang Cuo’s reaction was remarkably similar to Jin Cheng kicking off the transparent barrier. After all, he was a student trained by Jin Cheng himself. In layman’s terms, this move was called wall-running.
Each lane was about ten meters wide. On one side of Tang Cuo was the transparent barrier, while on the other were the houses stacked like building blocks. He repeatedly vaulted off the barrier and the building walls, bounding forward in a zigzag pattern, only briefly touching the undulating ground when the gap was too wide.
Tang Cuo maintained a steady, rhythmic pace, not the least bit hurried, because Jin Cheng was there. His drill instructor’s bad temper was legendary, but his protective streak was just as notorious.
A hundred meters away, Jin Cheng provided long-range fire support. Swoosh, swoosh! Two splitting arrows loosed simultaneously, blossoming out in a shower of projectiles over Wolf Number 12. With nowhere to hide, the demon wolf took a hit right in the eye, howling in agony and spewing flames.
Tang Cuo dodged with razor-thin margins, but the heat wave still grazed him, singeing two strands of hair. Checking his system panel, his HP had dropped by 2%—thanks to the Curse of Handsome: Fire Resistance -80%.
He turned to glare at Jin Cheng.
Jin Cheng shrugged, raised his hand, and shot an arrow at Meng Yufei.
“Fuck your mother, Jin Cheng!” Meng Yufei couldn’t stand Jin Cheng’s flashy antics. Flitting around the entire arena like a butterfly was annoying enough, but you actually have the fucking bandwidth to mess with me while doing it?!
An eye for an eye, when would the cycle end?
Meng Yufei hurled a ball lightning back at Tang Cuo in retaliation.
Separated from Meng Yufei by three lanes, by the time the lightning reached Tang Cuo, only one or two orbs remained; the rest crashed into the lanes in between.
When the city gate catches fire, the fish in the moat suffer.
“Could you guys stop moving before you fight?!” In Lane 10 was a fierce young woman with long hair. Tanking three lightning orbs all on her own, she had almost been shocked bald.
In the blink of an eye, she blinked forward with a flash step to dodge, redirecting two of the three lightning orbs into the wolf behind her. It blew the beast’s flesh open, turning a disaster into a blessing in disguise.
Numbers 9 and 11 followed suit, leaving Meng Yufei thoroughly depressed.
On the other side, Jin Cheng fired another pair of arrows at the wolves chasing Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan, pulling them out of immediate danger, but causing himself to fall to the very back of the pack.
By now, barely six minutes had passed since the start of the game.
“Ahhhh!” A blood-curdling scream suddenly erupted from the left.
Everyone looked over to see Contestant Number 1, who had somehow cleared the wave section and surged to the lead, only for the newly flattened ground to sprout a dense forest of steel spikes, impaling right through the soles of his feet.
“Holy shit.” Seeing that he was about to hit that section too, Qian Wei slammed on the brakes. But he was moving too fast, his momentum too great to stop. Gritting his teeth, he mimicked Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo by planting a foot hard against the barrier.
“Careful!” Peng Mingfan shouted in alarm.
Qian Wei was already being as careful as he could. His leap wasn’t long enough to clear the spikes, so he drew his sword and struck the ground with fury. The tip hit the surface, the blade bending and springing back, catapulting him forward to land face-first in the dirt.
Tumbling to the ground, he didn’t even care about his bruises, scrambling to check his sword. Sure enough, an extra crack had appeared on the blade.
Qian Wei was on the verge of tears, but thanks to the back-to-back demonstrations by him and Number 1, the others each displayed their own unique skills, successfully leaping over the steel spikes. Tang Cuo’s method was simple: continuing to wall-run.
To his right was the wall, lined with windows filled with grotesque spectators watching the show. Running out of room and about to hit the ground, Tang Cuo had no choice: grabbing a long nose poking out from one of the windows, he swung across like a child on a swing.
“Number 12! What kind of god-tier treasure is Number 12?!” The little imp flapped its wings, doubled over with laughter, while the long-nosed monster clutched its nose in agony, looking ready to murder Tang Cuo on the spot.
“Ahem.” The little imp cleared its throat. “We now see Contestant Number 1 back on his feet and running forward again! That wounded little look is simply heartbreaking. Do any of our lovely Devil City residents want to secretly pick him? Please shower him with loving support!”
The audience booed in response.
Cold sweat poured down Number 1’s back. Enduring the pain, he hobbled forward, looking back to see the demon wolf still in pursuit. With a mighty leap, the beast bounded right over the bed of spikes.
He hastily pulled out a potion and downed a gulp. Seeing the others overtaking him, he panicked and shouted at Jin Cheng: “Number 4! Number 4, help me out!”
Jin Cheng didn’t pay him any mind.
Ahead was a nearly ninety-degree incline, its surface smooth as a mirror. Jin Cheng bounded up the slope in leaps and bounds, reaching the summit in an instant, only to come to an abrupt halt.
Beyond the slope was a tightrope walk; beneath the tightropes lay a bottomless abyss.
Within the abyss squirmed colossal beasts—around a dozen of them crammed together, craning their necks and gaping with toothy maws, eagerly waiting for players to plunge. When the biting wind gusted, the air filled with foul stench.
With colossal beasts ahead and wolves behind, Numbers 2 and 3 took out their weapons and turned back to fight. At least Jin Cheng’s earlier move had proven that the wolves could be killed; if they stepped onto the tightropes only to be rear-ended by the wolves, they might as well jump into the abyss and commit suicide.
Number 1 didn’t understand why they turned back. Enduring the pain in his feet, he scrambled up the slope, refusing to step down no matter what. The demon wolf followed hot on his heels, claws digging into the surface with the ear-grating screech of nails on glass.
“Save me, help me! Save me!” Number 1 glared at the demon wolf, kicking desperately to shove it down while glancing toward Jin Cheng out of the corner of his eye.
Jin Cheng neither advanced nor retreated, watching him in silence with a smile on his face. Number 1 was falling apart, the last thread of his sanity about to snap, when Jin Cheng suddenly shot an arrow, knocking the demon wolf tumbling down the slope.
Having done this, he didn’t spare Number 1 a single glance more.
By this time, Qian Wei, Peng Mingfan, Tang Cuo, Meng Yufei, No. 6 in the ghillie suit, and the girl at No. 10 had all arrived before the tightropes. They tentatively extended a foot to test the wire, but none dared to truly step across.
“Don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look down…” Qian Wei chanted like an incantation. He had already swapped out his shoes; during such a terrifying tightrope crossing, having a Top 100 EDM banger blasting in his ears would literally be suicide.
Relying on the advantageous terrain, No. 6 in the ghillie suit aimed his rocket launcher at the demon wolf behind him and unleashed a barrage of blasts, finally blowing the wolf to pieces while also lending fire support to neighboring Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan.
The wolves chasing Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan were already wounded by Jin Cheng’s arrows; under this additional barrage, they were either dead or crippled, clearly unable to climb the slope.
Meanwhile, the long-haired girl at No. 10 summoned an item shaped like an origami paper boat. A moment later, her face fell. “Flight is restricted here; you can’t fly across.”
Just then, Tang Cuo’s demon wolf arrived.
Howl! The demon wolf charged up the slope, opening its bloody maw to bite at Tang Cuo. Without a second word, Tang Cuo leaped onto the tightrope. After wobbling a few times, he found his balance and swiftly advanced three paces.
The demon wolf snarled and roared at him, but didn’t follow onto the cable.
Seeing the demon wolves closing in, Numbers 9 and 11, who had just arrived, abandoned all hesitation and scrambled onto the cables as well. But lacking Tang Cuo’s balance, when the wind blew, they hugged the wires, cowering like quails.
Circling overhead, the little imp announced with great regret: “Not a single one dead yet! This batch of contestants seems pretty lucky, though unfortunately none of them know how to bite—not in keeping with our Devil City customs at all! But tightropes aren’t so easy to walk, you know! See those adorable little bugs squirming below? If they don’t get fed, they get very angry, and our Devil City will have another earthquake! So for everyone’s safety, who among you wants to volunteer to jump?”
At these words, all the players fell dead silent.
Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes, once again looking toward Meng Yufei.
Meng Yufei could no longer hold back, snapping in fury: “Do I have a grudge against you?! Is Jin Cheng your fucking dad?! You help him every single time?!”
Tang Cuo wasn’t pleased to hear that. “You’re so annoying.”
Meng Yufei’s breath caught in his throat, unable to spit it out or swallow it down, his face turning the color of pig liver. But having run rampant in the lower zones for so long, he wasn’t someone who lost his sanity easily, so he held back after all, choosing not to strike.
Neither Jin Cheng nor Tang Cuo made a move either; they had no doubt Meng Yufei would drag everyone down to die with him.
A stalemate ensued. The opposite cliff was merely a hundred meters away, but the wind howling up from the abyss blew harder and harder, rocking the tightropes and causing them to creak agonizingly.
Tang Cuo closely observed everyone’s reactions. In truth, walking a tightrope was not difficult for someone with military background like him. If there were a pulley, one could simply hang from it and slide across effortlessly. But none of the players present seemed to possess such gear or training.
The little imp cackled sinisterly in midair as if anticipating something, while the monster spectators lining both sides craned their necks and jeered loudly.
Suddenly, Number 9 took a misstep and plunged with a scream.
The monster audience erupted into cheers.
In the next second, Number 9 reacted quickly, grabbing the tightrope and dangling precariously from it.
The monster spectators sighed in disappointment.
This close call sent everyone’s hearts racing. Number 9 tried to pull himself back onto the wire, but couldn’t muster the strength. With the biting wind chilling the cable to the bone, hanging like this meant he wouldn’t last ten minutes.
Looking back, the demon wolf loomed menacingly at the edge.
Numbers 2 and 11, who knew him, were frantic with worry, but one was too far away while the other was stuck on their own tightrope, neither daring to make a reckless move.
Just then, an arrow streaked through the air, knocking the demon wolf down the slope, while the girl beside him at Number 10 decisively tossed him a length of rope. Number 9 made it out of danger, and the wolf in Number 11’s lane was disposed of shortly after.
Yet perhaps the colossal beasts below grew impatient, as the ground suddenly trembled violently, nearly pitching the newly rescued Numbers 9 and 11 right back over the edge.
Still standing on the tightrope, Tang Cuo looked down at the rioting giant worms crashing repeatedly against the cliff face, then looked up at the red-skinned little imp.
The little imp continued tempting them: “As long as one person jumps down, everyone else can cross safely, you know!”
Looking thoughtful, Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes at Meng Yufei.
Under the gaze of those clear, dark eyes, Meng Yufei’s heart skipped a beat. Realizing something, he whipped his head back toward Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng was staring at him as well, even drawing his bowstring taut.
“Don’t you dare!” Every hair on Meng Yufei’s body stood on end as his scimitar cleared its sheath. “If you dare make a move, I’ll drag every single person here down to hell with me!”
Jin Cheng curled his lips—how boring.
Tang Cuo found it boring too, casually turning his gaze away.
Leaving Meng Yufei standing there alone clutching his blade, agitated like an utter fool.
Meng Yufei’s face was ashen, yet not daring to lash out here, he had to sheathe his blade and suppress his boiling temper.
With a clack, Jin Cheng split his mechanical bow into two halves once more. Stepping to the edge, he severed the tightrope without a second word. Catching the cut cable in his hand, he swung it to test the grip. Then, under everyone’s flabbergasted gazes, he leaped into the abyss.
“Dage!!!” Qian Wei’s heart nearly stopped.
In the next instant, the steel cable snapped taut. Amidst the howling gale, Jin Cheng’s body swung across the abyss like a pendulum, arcing straight toward the opposite cliff face. Below, the giant worms thought an extra meal had arrived, craning their necks with wide-open maws, eagerly waiting to be fed, only for Jin Cheng to glide smoothly over their heads.
Bang! He planted his feet against the cliff face, bending his knees to absorb the impact, yet still kicking a large crater into the rock. Rubble cascaded downward, but Jin Cheng appeared completely unhurt, scrambling upward with fluid, agile movements at blistering speed.
Utterly disappointed, the giant worms resumed violently slamming into the walls, shaking the cliff so hard that the players at the edge swayed and stumbled, while Jin Cheng climbed with unwavering stability.
“Number 4! Heavens, look at our cutie Number 4!” The little imp covered its mouth melodramatically, as if suddenly possessed by Mr. Crow. “It pulled off another delightful trick! This is truly the most entertaining play I have ever seen! Number 4—remember Number 4, everyone, what an absolute cutie!”
The monster audience went wild with excitement as well. Visible or unseen, they crowded by the windows craning their necks, looking ready to burst out at any second.
“Awooooo!”
“#*@%#*Number 4@#@…”
Amidst unintelligible cheers and roars, under the watchful eyes of all, Jin Cheng climbed onto the opposite ledge. He brushed the dust off his trousers, tossed aside the cable, and gestured toward Tang Cuo.
Coming?
Tang Cuo remained expressionless. He felt Jin Cheng’s stunt was undeniably cool, fast, and efficient, but undeniably showy.
