Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Dou Sha Le

Huang Fu Miao Miao’s face flushed from white to red. Her whole body shook—fear, rage, maybe both. She clenched her fists and screamed, “This isn’t fair! It isn’t fair! Everything I said is true! I didn’t lie! You can’t kill me!”

She felt wronged to the point of madness. That half-visible bone blade hovered so close to her throat she could almost feel the chill of it.

And Feng Ling stood there like an executioner with the warmth scraped out of her. One second she was smiling, lending her clothes. The next she was about to slit her open.

Worst of all, Huang Fu Miao Miao couldn’t sense any malice from her. Not a flicker.

What kind of freak was this?

What kind of madman?

If she’d known it would end like this, she would never have tried to be clever and work with a human. Humans hated players to the bone. They’d twist anything into an excuse to kill her. She’d been an idiot.

Regret crashed over her. She sobbed so hard her voice broke. “I didn’t sleep all night collecting intel for you! Why won’t you believe me?! He’s the one lying! He’s lying!”

Feng Ling tilted her head, almost admiring the way tears poured out of the skull’s eye sockets. Her mouth curved. “Still pretty stubborn.”

Huang Fu Miao Miao’s chest went hollow. She realized it didn’t matter what she said. It was over.

She shut her eyes, heart turning to ash.

Fatty’s face flashed in her mind—twisted, grinning as he broke her down with threats and pain. The tears wouldn’t stop.

I’m going to die.

This time, I’m really going to die.

Her points weren’t enough to rebuild her account. Even if she logged out, she’d still be dead.

So die… die… maybe dying would be better. No more running, no more hiding. No more missions. No more scraping points. No more crawling through a world that was never hers.

So die… die… just—

Nothing happened.

Huang Fu Miao Miao waited for the cut, for the pain, for the end.

Nothing.

She cracked her eyes open.

Feng Ling was scrolling the forum like none of it had mattered.

Huang Fu Miao Miao touched her neck, dazed. “You’re not killing me?”

“Why would I kill you?” Feng Ling said, bored. “I was just messing with you.”

Her eyes stayed on the screen. Replies were piling up under the post—people asking how to join, what the plan was. Others questioned it outright: why not report the aberrants to the inspection bureau?

Chao Qiang Chao replied: small cities didn’t have anyone to handle it, so civilians had to prop things up themselves.

That wasn’t wrong. Even Qing Jiang City was short-staffed. Third- and fourth-tier cities were worse, barely holding together.

Across the country, out of hundreds of cities, fewer than a third had successfully set up an aberrant inspectorate branch bureau.

Feng Ling joined the comments like she was having fun.

[Dou Sha Le: I have an ability card. Count me in.]

Huang Fu Miao Miao watched her type with dark eyes. She couldn’t let it go. “He’s lying.”

“I know,” Feng Ling said, and refreshed.

A new private message popped up—Chao Qiang Chao’s friend request.

Feng Ling accepted.

“You know he’s lying and you still added him?” Huang Fu Miao Miao’s voice sharpened. She’d almost been scared to death because of that man.

Feng Ling’s smile was careless. “Aberrants can use recovery potions when they’re hurt. If they’re too damaged, they can log out and swap bodies. There’s no reason for them to get injured and then gather up in a bunch. What’s the point? What’s the goal?”

Her eyes narrowed a fraction, amused by her own logic. “Are they lining up and waiting for a doctor to heal them? Either Chao Qiang Chao left out something crucial, or he’s full of shit and baiting a crowd of humans with ability cards into walking right in.”

She typed a polite “Hi” to Chao Qiang Chao and kept talking. “Think about it. If you gather up a bunch of humans who have ability cards, what happens?”

Huang Fu Miao Miao froze. Her eyes widened. “You mean… Chao Qiang Chao is a player? He’s trying to steal ability cards?!”

“Very possible,” Feng Ling said.

A reply came through.

[Chao Qiang Chao: What does your ability card do? We work as a team. If your ability doesn’t fit, we can’t take you.]

“Online at five in the morning. Instant reply,” Feng Ling murmured. “He’s impatient.”

She typed back, gentle as sugar.

[Dou Sha Le: What kind of ability are you looking for? If I’m not a good fit, I won’t bother you guys haha.]

Huang Fu Miao Miao glanced at her. That tone was almost offensively polite.

[Chao Qiang Chao: We already have healing and a main attacker. We need support.]

[Dou Sha Le: (^_^) Then I can do that! My ability card is jellyfish. I can grow transparent tentacles~]

…

In a damp cave, a man stared at his phone and muttered, “Jellyfish? What kind of ability card is jellyfish?”

Beside him, his companion trembled. His whisper came out thin and shaking. “Brother Chao… it—it’s awake…”

The man called Brother Chao looked up.

Deep in the tunnel’s shadow, something moved. A corpse-pale face slid forward like it was being pushed out from the dark—skin waxy, eyes dead, mouth slack and wet.

A hoarse, gurgling voice crawled out of it, thick with phlegm. Rotten saliva and blackish fluid dripped from the corners of its lips.

“Not enough… hkss… still… not enough…”

That face had belonged to their teammate. Now it was a mouthpiece—a vent for something that shouldn’t have been alive.

Brother Chao swallowed hard. His knees went loose. “I—I’ve called people. They’ll be here soon. Soon.”

The dead mouth opened and closed in the dark, lips cracking. “More… hkss… more ability cards…”

“I know,” Brother Chao said through his teeth. “This time, everyone coming is a human with an ability card. You’ll be satisfied.”

The face retreated, inch by inch, into the deeper black until it vanished completely.

The two men pressed together like children in a storm. A long time passed before either of them dared to move.

“Fuck…” Brother Chao wiped a hand across his face, smearing sweat. The swear felt like a lifeline.

His companion’s voice wobbled. “Wh-what if… what if we call the police? Get the inspection bureau…”

“The hell are you saying?” Brother Chao snapped. “If the inspection bureau can’t kill it, do you think it’ll let us go? You think it’ll spare the two of us?”

Then his eyes lit up with something uglier than fear. “Besides—fortune comes with risk. Look over there.”

He pointed to the far side of the cave.

Bodies lay scattered near the rock wall, twisted and piled, half-swallowed by shadow.

“See them? Those are aberrant wanted fugitives. I recognize their faces! If we drag the corpses out, we can claim at least ten million in rewards. Ten million! We’ll be rich. We’ll be on top.”

He stared at those corpses like they were stacked cash. His breathing went quick and hungry.

“Who cares if a few people die?” he said, eyes bright with greed. “If we feed the monster, this cave becomes our money printer.”

His fingers hammered out words on his screen. His voice dropped into a feverish murmur. “I love my country. I want to protect the world. But protecting the world takes sacrifices. The strong can’t be sacrificed to fight aberrants, so the useless weak should at least serve a purpose.”

He grinned at the phone.

“So… it’s you, worthless jellyfish.”

A notification pinged on Feng Ling’s screen.

[Chao Qiang Chao: Fine. I’ll add you to the group. Watch the group notices.]