Chapter 132: There were two moons in the sky!
An Wujiu stood alone in the darkness, facing a massive virtual screen.
A bizarre and twisted light enveloped him, like a giant net he could not escape.
Despite Shen Ti and Gabriel’s disappearance, many people appeared here. Some came from the same building, others from different places. In a short time, the street was crowded with people—men, women, old, and young—all looking up at the massive screen in bewilderment.
The rabbit on the screen twisted agilely, seemingly ecstatic at their fear.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry, it’s just a little game.”
“But…” His long ears twitched, and his mouth remained in a perpetual smile, “There are a few more participants this time, so we’ve expanded the venue.”
The rabbit spread his arms and said, “It’s this beautiful city!”
An Wujiu coldly watched the rabbit, suddenly sensing something strange in the sky, so he looked up.
To his surprise, there were two identical moons in the sky!
“How can this be?!”
“Two? There are two full moons!”
“What is this? I’m so scared. What is happening.”
Everyone started feeling panicked by this bizarre event, gathering together in fear, and some even hurriedly returned to their homes.
Was this reality being eroded by the altar, or had they never left the altar at all? If it was the latter, did that mean everyone in reality has been absorbed into the Altar’s system?
This was an incredibly large number, and An Wujiu couldn’t be sure if the system could develop to such an extent.
“This game is actually very simple. The only thing you need to do is survive.”
This statement struck everyone’s sensitive nerves like a thunderclap.
“Survive?”
“Why do we have to participate in this game! I don’t want to!”
“What is going on?”
“Let’s call the police, let’s call the police first!”
“Are you already afraid?” The rabbit’s grinning mouth retracted a bit, and he spun around, “What I just said more accurately is to ensure that you are the last survivor.”
An Wujiu frowned.
This statement seemed to have deeper implications.
“Alright, now each of you has two parameters, take a look yourselves!”
As the rabbit finished speaking, two health bars appeared above his head. The rabbit pointed to them himself, “See? One is green, and the one below is blue.”
An Wujiu looked up and saw these two bars above his own head as well. Not only that, but in the top right corner of his vision, the same two colored health bars also appeared.
The green one was labeled [Health].
The blue one was labeled [Sanity].
He turned and looked at the people around him, noticing that everyone had the same parameter bars above their heads, all in full state at the moment.
“These are your two important parameters in this game, remember them. As the name implies, when you are attacked,” the rabbit punched himself, causing the green health bar to decrease a bit, “your health will decrease, and if it hits zero, you die.”
“As for this blue sanity bar…” The rabbit put his hand to his mouth and whispered, “You might see something terrifying, indescribable. When you stare at them, your sanity will decrease. Once it hits zero, you’ll turn into a dreadful pollutant.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a strange and loud noise, something between a beast and a human roar, emerged not far away.
This sound frightened many people present, and some children had already started crying, being held by their mothers who covered their eyes.
“Ah, it seems our pollutants have already been activated.” The rabbit smiled, spreading his hands in a helpless gesture, “Well, let’s just introduce them to everyone directly.”
Suddenly, a massive tentacle rose high from the buildings of the slum and crashed down, smashing the top of a building.
“Ah!”
“Monster! Monster!”
Amidst the widespread panic, An Wujiu stood alone, stunned.
This is…
“This is our pollutant. Remember those cultists blocking the streets? These lovely evil friends have become the first batch of pollutants! Don’t underestimate them; these guys could take your life in an instant.”
After the rabbit finished speaking, “I hope you now understand that both parameters above your head are indispensable.”
“Oh right, I almost forgot.” The rabbit suddenly knocked on his head, “Look at my memory, there’s one more important thing. Check your right wrist!”
An Wujiu raised his hand and pulled back the sleeve on his right hand.
On his snow-white wrist, a string of static numbers appeared prominently—01:00:00.
“It seems you all should see it; this indicates the time you currently have, which I probably don’t need to explain,” the rabbit said, lifting his wrist and pointing to it. “However, it appears static now, but it won’t be for long.”
A countdown.
“Alright.” The rabbit placed one hand behind his back, waved the other in the air, and blew them a kiss on countless screens, large and small.
“My friends, survival is always temporary; only death is eternal.”
“The game begins now.”
At this moment, the numbers on An Wujiu’s wrist changed.
00:59:59.
Sure enough, it’s a countdown!
The urgent task now is to find Shen Ti and the other companions.
An Wujiu concentrated, but the people on the same street were evidently too panicked, making the surroundings crowded.
A man not far away pointed to the sky, stammering, “Wh-what is that!”
Amid the crowd, An Wujiu also looked up.
It was that giant tentacle again!
It was twisting and waving over; An Wujiu glanced back, and its target was not the people, but the building behind them!
“Get out of here quickly!” An Wujiu shouted amidst the crowd, “Run to both sides of the street! Hurry!”
The people around him were too panicked to hear his command; An Wujiu grabbed the nearest man.
“If you don’t want to die, take your wife and kids and run!”
The man was stunned by An Wujiu, dazed for a second, then immediately reacted, “Okay, okay.”
“Leave this building quickly; it’s going to collapse!”
“Run!”
An Wujiu ran, constantly shouting to the people around him, “Get out of here! Run!” But the people were in chaos; some were worried about their money and belongings, their lives, and some were unwilling to leave, wanting to wait for their relatives and friends.
“Go quickly! Or you’ll surely die!”
“I…” The man glanced at the building, “I…”
It’s too late.
An Wujiu looked at the people around him and those still hiding in their homes in the building, unaware of the situation. Even if he could notify them one by one now, they might not appreciate it and leave.
At this moment, his companions’ lives were unknown, and his lover’s whereabouts were also uncertain. An Wujiu couldn’t stay here and play the saint saving everyone.
The tentacle was about to reach their heads; the sticky blue liquid dripped down, corroding the ground.
“Ah! Help…”
A huge drop of mucus fell, landing on the head of a man about to leave on a bike!
In an instant, his head was gone.
The incomplete body collapsed by the roadside, with the blue mucus continuing to corrode his body. The people around were frightened and moved away, but An Wujiu walked over.
He stepped over the man, bent down, and took the bike card from his hand before the mucus could reach his wrist. Then he mounted the motorcycle beside him, inserted the card, and scanned it.
The system voice appeared, “Hello, the motorcycle is now started.”
An Wujiu leaned down, gripped the motorcycle’s handlebars, twisted them, and rode away just moments before the building collapsed.
“Please set a destination.”
The motorcycle kept reminding him, “Planning route, please set a destination.”
He didn’t know where they were now.
Would Shen Ti return to their previous location to find him?
No, An Wujiu thought, since he disappeared, he must have been transferred elsewhere. From Shen Ti’s perspective, he might also think that he had been transferred elsewhere like him.
An Wujiu suddenly recalled his conversation with Shen Ti from this morning.
[You like it here so much, shall we come again tomorrow?]
[Sure, we’ll come again tomorrow. We won’t go anywhere else, just stay here.]
The hotel.
An Wujiu immediately input the hotel they stayed at into the motorcycle’s navigation system. The display instantly showed the planned route.
“Okay, driving according to the navigation. Please drive safely.”
The motorcycle automatically turned, the entire body tilting almost to the ground. After the turn, it accelerated forward with a rush.
The wind roared past his ears as An Wujiu observed everything happening along the road. This once bustling city that never slept had turned into a living hell in just a matter of minutes. Monsters lurked in the corners of buildings, varying in size; some places were rivers of blood, others were filled with slimy mucus and dismembered bodies, and still others were engulfed in raging fires.
Everything was so real, more real than any game An Wujiu had ever entered before. The agonized screams of every stranger pierced his heart.
Why did it become like this?
Is this the purpose of the Altar?
To plunge everyone into an endless hell, collecting the extreme emotions of the entire city or even the world, as sacrifices to that evil god.
While pondering, a huge tentacle suddenly appeared in front of him. What surprised An Wujiu the most was that the tentacle was not covered in ordinary scales but had a structure resembling metal.
Just like… a human prosthesis.
That’s right!
An Wujiu looked at the pollutant that had turned into a monster. Its body had swollen to an enormous size, with three or four long, thick tentacles, and its skin had become wrinkled, glowing with an eerie blue light in the firelight.
The human head had not disappeared but had grown on its back.
The monster’s body was not very agile, but its extended tentacles blocked almost all paths. It targeted An Wujiu and reached out a tentacle directly toward him!
At this moment, An Wujiu noticed that the length of this pollutant’s tentacles was limited.
The automatic driving system issued a warning, “Obstacle ahead! Obstacle ahead!”
He had to switch to manual driving.
An Wujiu noticed a large billboard extending from the side of a building and a row of vending machines at the bottom right of the billboard. He came up with an idea.
He leaned slightly and drove the motorcycle towards that spot. Sure enough, the pollutant noticed too, and its tentacle extended, striking the billboard ahead of An Wujiu!
An Wujiu braked just in time.
The billboard crashed to the ground, one side hitting the ground while the other side landed on the vending machines as he had anticipated, forming an upward slope!
An Wujiu immediately started the motorcycle and sped towards the giant billboard. In the end, both he and the motorcycle flew into the air along a large parabolic arc.
“Vehicle airborne! Vehicle airborne!”
Under the clear light of the two full moons, the motorcycle finally landed on the ground with tremendous impact and speed.
Fortunately, An Wujiu steadied himself and didn’t fall. He glanced back; the pollutant’s tentacles couldn’t reach him but were still chasing in his direction. An Wujiu accelerated, leaving the dangerous area.
The wind blew open his sleeve, revealing the numbers on his wrist.
29:46:12
Half the time had already passed.
An Wujiu’s anxiety grew, and he drove towards the destination as fast as possible.
“Estimated time to destination: five minutes.”
“Estimated time to destination: three minutes.”
Almost there!
He prayed silently that Shen Ti would be there; otherwise, he might spend all his time without getting to see him.
“Approaching destination, please reduce speed.”
From a distance, An Wujiu saw the restaurant they had visited before. The once intact neon sign was now damaged, hanging halfway from the top.
People were fleeing in panic everywhere. An Wujiu almost collided with several of them as he searched for Shen Ti’s figure, shouting his name loudly.
Suddenly, his bike jerked to a halt—
The next second, before An Wujiu could react, he was flung into the air by a massive force. He saw it—a giant tentacle had lifted his motorcycle, along with him, high into the air.
“Vehicle airborne! Vehicle airborne!”
Everything happened too fast, faster than he could anticipate.
Trouble.
An Wujiu could feel himself plummeting rapidly, danger approaching. A huge tentacle shot towards him, seemingly aiming to pierce his body.
Under the intense gravitational acceleration, An Wujiu found it hard to think.
He now faced two possibilities: either he would crash heavily onto the ground, becoming disabled, or he would be impaled by the tentacle.
“Shen Ti…”
A third possibility emerged.
“Wujiu!”
An Wujiu suddenly fell into an embrace.
His startled eyes met those familiar green eyes.
“You finally came.” Shen Ti placed him on the ground, then quickly tilted his head, aimed his gun, and fired multiple shots, taking down the monster in front of them.
“I thought you…”
“Thought I was dead?” Shen Ti raised an eyebrow, slung the gun over his back, and pulled An Wujiu’s hand to lead him away.
“Not even close; I haven’t seen you yet.”
