Zheng Haoyun quickly turned her head—and saw a cold-faced woman, clearly the ruthless and vicious type.
Without hesitation, Zheng Haoyun gripped her weapon and charged forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, preparing for close combat.
The attacker was named Yamano Kirai, a woman from the island nation. When she heard the game's alarm earlier, she immediately rushed in Zheng Haoyun's direction.
She had arrived just as Zheng Haoyun was preparing to leave and had planned a sneak attack from behind—only to find her target was not only highly alert but also lightning fast. It was well beyond her expectations.
Yamano Kirai had once been an archery athlete, so when she saw that Zheng Haoyun was going for melee combat, she instinctively tried to retreat to regain distance and shoot again.
Unfortunately, the ground was slippery and the night dark—she slipped and fell right into a swamp. The more she struggled, the deeper she sank.
Under the beam of her flashlight, Zheng Haoyun saw the entire dramatic scene unfold.
She noticed the woman trying to use wooden planks from her backpack to climb out—but without mercy, Zheng Haoyun swapped her heavy sword for her bow and loosed three arrows in rapid succession.
Yamano Kirai also saw the arrows flying toward her—but now that most of her body was trapped in the swamp, she was a sitting duck, completely defenseless.
In the end, Zheng Haoyun effortlessly claimed victory in this absurd little battle.
When the system revealed that the attacker was from the island nation, Zheng Haoyun's mood got even better.
She had never had a good impression of that country—and now that she had personally taken one of them down, how could she not feel thrilled?
Worried the commotion might attract other survivors, Zheng Haoyun quickly gathered her loot and climbed a different tree to lie low again.
After checking Yamano Kirai's backpack, Zheng Haoyun was almost giddy with joy—she'd found a genuine advancement token. Talk about a stroke of luck!
It seemed even the heavens occasionally favored a "non-lucky" player like her.
System comment: You probably didn't realize that woman's luck stat was about as terrible as yours.
In fact, Yamano Kirai hadn't found the token herself—it had been looted from someone she killed.
As for her other supplies, Zheng Haoyun didn't find anything great, but still organized and stored all the miscellaneous junk into a wooden box in her inventory.
Now that she had the crucial advancement token, her next objective was to keep moving and stay alert against other players.
During her movements, she inevitably encountered other survivors. Early on, things were mostly peaceful. But as the game timer ticked down, tensions escalated rapidly.
Many players who still hadn't found a token were going mad, attacking anyone they saw on sight.
By the sixth day, Zheng Haoyun had already run into several waves of maniacs. Though she was skilled, she still sustained a few minor injuries.
She treated the wounds with basic spray medication and refused to waste her precious healing card.
In those two days, Zheng Haoyun didn't dare sleep at all. At most, she shut her eyes briefly to rest.
The slightest noise would jolt her awake. She gripped her weapon constantly—even when going to the bathroom.
And it was precisely this caution that allowed her to survive—because there was indeed one time, while she was doing her business, when a woman tried to ambush her.
The timing was awkward, yes—but her weapon had never left her hand. She swiftly turned the tables and killed the attacker on the spot.
Since then, Zheng Haoyun had remained on high alert, not daring to let her guard down for even a second.
Starting on the sixth day, she didn't even dare close her eyes. She took only the smallest sips of water, just to minimize her need to relieve herself.
At this point, only around 2,200 survivors remained. At this rate, the next day or two would be the deadliest stretch.
Everyone still alive was highly wary of one another. Meanwhile, the five-person team led by "Possessed by Luck" crumbled as soon as they found a single advancement token.
The first-place player "Possessed by Luck," in order to protect his girlfriend, was severely wounded by the other three members.
The details of this betrayal were exposed in the chat channel by his girlfriend, who urged others to help her retaliate against the trio who had robbed them.
Zheng Haoyun read the post but didn't comment on whether it was true.
What shocked everyone was that the profile icon for "Possessed by Luck" grayed out by the sixth night.
Immediately, some people in the chat began searching for his girlfriend, "Orchid in Full Bloom." But although her profile was still active, she never replied or showed up again.
Zheng Haoyun had a guess:The top-ranked player was gravely injured, and the girlfriend, fearing he would become a burden, took all the supplies and abandoned him. He likely died from murder.
That assumption was mostly accurate—except for one detail:
He wasn't murdered by others—his girlfriend killed him herself to steal everything, especially the only advancement token he had.
Once she realized he had no high-level medicine and still expected her to protect him, she no longer wanted to endure hardship with him.
So she simply killed him, and headed off alone, thinking: Finally, I don't have to drag dead weight anymore.
But in the end, she never got what she wanted either—she was killed by a man in black, and all her scheming ultimately benefited someone else.
During the final stretch, Zheng Haoyun continued to scrape by, constantly on the edge between life and death.
Only when she heard the game's end announcement did she finally relax her tense nerves.
"Ding! Congratulations to the 678 survivors in the tropical rainforest who have both survived and hold advancement tokens. You will now be transported. Please check your rewards. Top 10 will receive bonus rewards!"
For the first time ever, Zheng Haoyun felt that the game's mechanical voice was actually music to her ears.
Meanwhile, the names of standout players had already been broadcast via live stream and reported to the game organizers.