Chapter 45 | The Alliance Hired Me to Play Final Boss

Before the official "Descent," Ren Yi and Lu Zihan went to say their goodbyes to Lu Qing.

"Xiao Yi, do you plan to continue using the 'Mo Ming' skin to enter the Three Cities World?" Lu Qing asked with a smile.

Ren Yi nodded. "Yes. After all, I need to go to populated areas to collect energy and try to create energy crystals."

"This skin already has a bit of a following in the livestream. I think the risk is acceptable compared to the potential gains."

Ren Yi recalled how, in the Escape Room Instance, he had to count on his fingers, carefully planning how to make each Participant produce positive emotion.

Since he only had one magazine, if the emotions didn't keep up after a certain ability use, his "combo" would be broken.

By comparison, the Three Cities World was practically generous.

But judging by every message from the Alliance, as well as the words of his brother and Auntie Lu, this was a special case among special cases.

It was essentially the newbie protection period overlapping with an anniversary event.

In the future, whether it was entering a world directly or an Instance livestream, such opportunities would be hard to come by again.

In comparison, the most severe price was merely "death."

On the Anomaly Web, Anomalies were very secretive about "death."

The general consensus was that "death"... would be quite miserable.

Well... in any case, it was best to avoid experiencing it if possible.

Hearing this, Lu Qing nodded and carefully instructed, "You can keep using that skin; just make sure the protective charm never leaves your person."

"But take note, if you descend as a Participant, you should appear at the location where this Participant was when they entered the Instance."

"The three cities are very far apart. If your luck is bad, it might be difficult for you and Zihan to meet up. Be extra careful."

"Thank you for taking care of us, Auntie Lu," Ren Yi said with a solemn nod of thanks.

"Mom, we're off!" Lu Zihan waved from the side.

Ren Yi raised his hand and touched the "Yes" option on the Participant panel's "Leave?" prompt.

In the next second, a soft beam of light enveloped him.

After a brief moment of dizziness, a rough sensation came from beneath his feet. He was already standing on a vast, yellow-earthed wasteland.

There was no one around. A howling gale laden with sand and dust swept past, stinging his cheeks.

The sky was pressed incredibly low by thick, dark gray clouds. The light was dim, and the entire world exuded a deathly desolation.

Just then, a notification from the Anomaly Web popped up opportunely:

【You have successfully entered the Three Cities World】

【Calamity Countdown: 7 days】

【After the countdown ends, you will be automatically teleported back to the Alliance】

【Please note, the Calamity Rule has begun to spread】

【Calamity Rule: Do not feel the same pain together】

Most of the information in the notification was already known, except the "Auxiliary Rule" from the previous Instance had been replaced by a "Calamity Rule."

The only hint was that the Calamity Rule didn't seem to descend directly; rather, it required a process to completely cover the entire world.

Previously, Ren Yi had specifically asked Lu Qing whether Anomalies like them would be harmed by the Calamity Rule.

Lu Qing's answer was that since their descent was marked with Alliance identification, they would not be affected by the Calamity Rule.

However, the Alliance only gave them seven days of "free hunting." To collect enough resources and create energy crystals, they had to hurry.

Ren Yi looked down at himself.

He was still wearing Mo Ming's skin, and Mo Ming's items had been synchronized onto him:

A set of faded camouflage gear, a large military backpack on his back, and a machete and dagger hanging at his waist.

He unzipped the backpack. Inside were a canteen, several packs of hard jerky, and a simple map with heavily worn edges.

The only unique item was a small silver sword-shaped pendant.

The pendant looked somewhat old, its surface rubbed to a warm patina, clearly an item the previous owner had worn for many years.

Finally, there were no firearms.

Judging by this equipment, Mo Ming was likely a lone hunter.

This identity happened to be convenient for him to act undercover.

Ren Yi stopped and quickly recalled the information he had learned about the Three Cities World:

This was an apocalyptic world on the brink of destruction. Only three large human settlements remained on the planet: the Holy City, Xin City, and the Royal City.

Aside from these three cities, the rest of the regions were either barren wastelands or occupied by mutant beasts that were unafraid of conventional firearms.

Before the apocalypse, this world had the technological level to manufacture firearms and electronic products. After the apocalypse, a vast amount of technology was lost, and civilization regressed further.

However, after the apocalypse, some humans awakened special abilities to fight mutant beasts, becoming Espers.

The three cities were distant and rife with conflict, but because of the vast geographical distances between them, it was difficult for large-scale conflicts to break out.

Therefore, conflicts were mostly concentrated among the Participants who could encounter each other within Instances.

Ironically, while human civilization in this world had originally been on the verge of collapse, the arrival of Anomalies had unexpectedly slowed that process.

Instances became "dangerous lands" where humans obtained scarce resources. By relying on the water, food, and other supplies gained from Instances, they barely managed to keep the embers of civilization alive.

Perhaps sensing the "enthusiasm" of the humans in this world for participating in Instances, the Alliance did not completely wipe them out. Instead, they transformed it into a Pasture world for sustainable "harvesting."

Unfortunately, that fragile tacit understanding ended completely the moment they descended.

Since Mo Ming's identity was that of a Holy City Participant, Ren Yi's descent point was also relatively close to the Holy City.

He consulted the simple map and, combined with the terrain before him, quickly determined his position. He then began walking toward the direction of the Holy City marked on the map.

But he had only taken two steps when his sharp senses were suddenly triggered.

Something was approaching.

Ren Yi stopped instantly and spun around to face the sand dune behind him.

"Roar—!"

With a piercing shriek, the sand dune beneath him exploded. A creature as thick as a water bucket and shaped like a centipede lunged out.

This "centipede" was a sickly flesh-tone. Its skin was as smooth as a human's, but upon closer inspection, it was covered in fine, black hairs.

Its mouth was a grotesque circle, lined with sharp, recurved teeth that made one's scalp crawl.

The most nauseating part was its feet. They weren't the jointed limbs of an insect at all, but rather thick, fleshy pillars.

At the ends of these fleshy pillars were flat soles, looking like human feet that had been brutally shorn of their toes.

The entire creature looked as if it had been stitched together from several segments of human torsos with the upper bodies removed.

Every inch of it exuded a twisted grotesqueness. Just looking at it was enough to make one's stomach churn.

Ren Yi's brow furrowed slightly. What on earth was this thing?

Ren Yi finally understood why the people of the Three Cities World seemed so brave, even daring to treat Anomaly Instances as resource points to be raided.