Player Reload

Zhangsun Yao stepped out of Starbucks and pressed her car keys. A parked electric car at the end of the street lit up and drove itself out of the parking spot, arriving in front of the coffee shop.

The Auto-Park technology had only been allowed by law in recent years and could be installed in certain models of cars.

"Get in."

Zhangsun Yao opened the car door, sat in the driver's seat, and Li Cheng took a seat in the back, buckling his seatbelt and spoke softly, "I thought you might suddenly disappear, like last time."

"That's my personal skill. Players releasing skills consume resources like Spiritual Power Value, it's better to use ordinary transportation if it's not urgent."

Zhangsun Yao fastened her seatbelt and explained casually, "Besides, using Supernatural Power on Earth accelerates the expansion speed of rifts. You know what rifts are, right?"

"I do."

Li Cheng nodded, "Experimental subjects from the killing field fall into the real world through rifts, causing disasters."

"Exactly. According to the Global Supernatural Alliance, Supernatural Power is similar to chlorofluorocarbons in the ozone layer crisis. The more it's used, the more blurred the boundary between reality and the killing field becomes, and the more frequent the anomalies."

Zhangsun Yao curled her lip, "Previously everyone was unaware of this rule, and abused Extraordinary Power, leading to overrun rifts.

Four years ago, a Level 5 hurricane erupted in the United States, sweeping through the eastern states, leaving millions homeless and thousands dead.

That was the official statement, but in reality, it was a rift event. A divine calamity in the shape of a dragon escaped from the killing field.

At that time, the killing field had just opened for half a year, and players were of low levels, completely unable to fight it. Nuclear missiles launched by the military were destroyed by the thunderstorm around the Divine Calamity.

At last, a local American player piloted a fighter jet, dropped a nuclear bomb on the Divine Calamity's face at close range, combined with the Dragon-breaking Slash Skill Scroll, and finally blasted it back through the rift, banishing it back to the killing field.

That dragon-shaped Divine Calamity, with its white wings and golden horns, floating ethereally, was named Tianjin Disastrous Earth."

"Derived from the Tempest Dragon in Monster Hunter?" Li Cheng said, "That's quite... anime."

"Script Tasks ordained by the killing field occasionally overlap with real-world literary works—games, animations, comics, novels, etc. In order to increase survival rates, players also need to study various kinds of literary works."

Zhangsun Yao continued, "Beside the Tianjin Disastrous Earth incident, the gas leak incident in South Korea Busan three and a half years ago, the foggy night murder ghost incident in London three years ago, and the underground rat people incident in New York were all deep-red alert-level disasters. A slight mistake could topple a city.

The real world has a carbon footprint, and we players also have a 'Supernatural Elemental Footprint'. Abusing power is akin to being a public enemy of all humankind, punishable by death at most.

Therefore, even top players who can ignore mortal laws rarely release power on Earth—for their own benefit."

Protecting the environment is everyone's responsibility. This makes sense.

As the vehicle moved through the busy city streets, Li Cheng thought for a moment and then asked again, "Why take me with you for free? I thought guild leaders were very busy."

"Three reasons. One, I'm quite bored right now, having nothing better to do.

Two, I'm a broker, and one of the professional principles of a broker is to treat everyone as a potential client. Especially in an environment like the killing field where anything is possible. Who knows, the kindness left today might be a lifesaver in the future."

Zhangsun Yao drove according to the navigation map, calmly saying, "Three, you are interesting."

"Interesting?" Li Cheng raised an eyebrow slightly.

"The killing field selects players based on characteristics that are significantly more prominent than the vast majority of their peers."

Zhangsun Yao explained, "You are much better than ordinary people, and by rights, you should have been selected by the killing field before encountering abnormalities. But you weren't.

Moreover, after being infected by the Master of Insects and obtaining Extraordinary Powers, you better meet another selection criterion, and are more eligible to become a player. Yet, you weren't.

Such cases aren't entirely unique, but they are quite rare. So I find you interesting."

Is this, a compliment?

Li Cheng smiled wryly in his heart, looking out the window.

One month, he only had one month left to live.

Before now, Li Cheng seldom contemplated matters of life and death, even after knowing he was infected by the Master of Insects, he optimistically and actively sought a cure.

Until now, he suddenly felt a profound and surreal sense of weight as the cold life deadline loomed before him.

"We're here."

Zhangsun Yao stopped the car, right in front of the towering Prometheus Laboratory Company's Yin City branch building.

It was deep into the night, and instead of security patrols outside the building, there stood two bipedal robots nearly three meters tall.

It features reverse-jointed feet and expandable roller skates under its broad soles, with police electric shock guns and high-pressure water cannons mounted on both arms, covered in a layer of black bulletproof fiber.

The overall design closely resembles the ED-209 robot from the old movie "Mechanical Police".

And its name is indeed ED-209—Prometheus Company bought the design rights directly from the movie studio, using it as their security robot.

Speaking of security, it only needs to swap the electric shock guns and water cannons on its hands for machine guns and flamethrowers to be ready for battlefield missions.

Li Cheng followed behind Zhangsun Yao into the lobby, where someone who recognized her warmly greeted them and, after understanding the situation, escorted them via elevator to a high floor.

The two were led to an elegantly decorated, luxurious guest room.

Several suited waiters arranged the tea sets and brewed a pot of tea; Zhangsun Yao lay casually on the sofa, drinking the tea as leisurely as if it were milk tea. After a while, a blond, blue-eyed man and a middle-aged professor entered the guest room.

"Good evening, I am Augustus Perez, the security chief of the Prometheus subsidiary."

The blond man, who appeared by the canal on that night of the Divine Calamity infection, introduced himself in quite standard Chinese: "It's quite late, otherwise our boss would definitely host a feast in honor of Miss Zhangsun's visit.

Oh, and this is my friend Derek Acheson, the research director of the Gen-Sys Biotechnology Yin City branch."

"I just happened to be discussing business projects at Prometheus, what a coincidence."

The middle-aged professor smiled elegantly, "Long time no see, Miss Zhangsun. And this gentleman beside you, how may he be addressed?"

He turned his gaze to Li Cheng, who, after a moment's thought, calmly said, "Call me Ant."

"Derived from Ant Shakes Tree? Good name, we players facing the relentless pressure of the killing field truly are like ants fighting for survival."

Derek, well-versed in Chinese culture, nodded appreciatively.

In truth, Li Cheng hadn't thought that deeply; the first gene he absorbed was from an ant, the second from a mantis.

Ant Shakes Tree, Mantis Blocks Chariot, these two phrases have similar meanings, both carrying a sense of absurd, Don Quixote-like fate.

The security chief Augustus sat opposite them and after understanding the situation, crossed his arms on the table and said seriously, "Then, Mr. Ant, let's talk business.

Firstly, it's clear that all infections by Divine Calamity are troublesome, especially the Insect Master.

The infection by the Master of Insects is not limited to one part, but permeates the DNA of all cells in the body, including brain cells.

As time progresses, it continuously rewrites the genome until one fully transforms into a monster.

This condition is difficult to resolve for any guild, including the Special Affairs Bureau and the Global Supernatural Alliance.

Our company, Prometheus, has three solutions.

First, we extract your brain and place it into the latest humanoid robot.

Your appearance will not differ from ordinary humans, and since the brain is constantly bathed in a gene suppressant, your human lifespan will extend from one month to six months. This solution is priced at 30,000 killing field currency, roughly equivalent to 300 million RMB."

The exchange rate between killing field currency and RMB is about one to ten thousand, and the rate may rise if the market is tight.

"The second solution is cheaper at only 40 million. We extract your brain and place it in a nutrition tank where it can connect to the network via cables. The lifespan is still six months, but the downside is that you can't live a normal life in human society."

"The third solution is that we give you money."

Augustus rubbed his palms together seriously, "Prometheus is very interested in advanced-stage infections by Master of Insects. If you agree, you can join our research project, or you can sell your mutated corpse to us after death; Prometheus is willing to pay 60 million for it."

Discussing how much one's corpse would sell for while still alive is magical from any perspective.

Li Cheng thought for a moment and calmly asked, "What will you do with the mutated corpses?"

Augustus honestly replied, "Turn them into defense mechs, similar to the Tyrants in 'Biochemical Crisis'."

"Is that legal?"

"As long as you sign a donation agreement."

Augustus said, "Prometheus is a research company, using corpses for scientific studies does not violate the law."

His sincere demeanor reminded Li Cheng of a job advertisement he recently saw online—location in Nordic Sweden, busy for five hours a day, monthly salary 60,000 with comprehensive insurance and free employee housing, the company would even help find a partner.

The only concern being, before flying to Sweden, one needed to transfer through Myanmar North.

Are you kidding me?