V3C25

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[2002: Player count decreases by one. Three survivors, zero markings moved.]

The moment the announcement sounded in everyone’s heads, Song Hanzhang realized, “Dan Liang is in their team, don’t let any of them go!”

Having trailed behind Team 2002 to the roof of the building, the two teams burst out from the stairs, Zuo Linyuan and Gu Fengyi aiming at Du Cheng and Bai Lushuang respectively. Du Cheng escaped just in time but Bai Lushuang fell down the roof. Because she was judged to have died from the fall rather than from the hands of a player, Gu Fengyi didn’t receive any marks.

[2002: Player count decreases by one. Two survivors, zero markings moved.]

Flames swept by like shooting stars. Liu Qingqing pressed down on the tattoo on her wrist and fire lit up the roof, throwing the situation into chaos!

In this chaos, Dan Liang ended his transformation. Zhang Jia watched as ‘Ke Zhengjie’ turned into an unfamiliar young man. He stared at him in shock as Dan Liang gave him a pleasant smile. “They came faster than I expected. I’ll be taking my leave now, see you never!”

Saying that, he dodged an arrow from Zuo Linyuan and rolled into the dormitory downstairs through the hole in the roof.

Another arrow came straight at Zhang Jia. He grabbed the teleportation tattoo on his wrist and reappeared a few meters away, dodging it.

Du Cheng had already been surrounded by Lin Jue and Gu Fengyi. Just as Su Tian had said he would, he activated his berserk skill after a short period of confusion and roared as he fought against the two. Gu Fengyi was nimble, but she was at a disadvantage against opponents skilled in strength; Lin Jue was slightly better off but was forced into the high concentration state of battle mode by the opponent’s unexpected power.

Du Cheng’s strength was shocking, the giant machete in his hands even cracking the fragile concrete under them when he swung. In his state of mad rage, he didn’t have the power to ponder the situation, only knowing how to kill his opponents with sheer power. On the other hand, Zhang Jia’s thoughts were much clearer; he was trapped between Mu Chunning and Mu Qiuning and was trying to think of how to escape from this corner.

The easiest way would be to jump down the hole like ‘Ke Zhengjie’ and escape from the lower floors.

But what was the point? Du Cheng’s death was inevitable. And even if Zhang Jia were to escape, he would never be able to win enough marks, not even to mention… the motivation that kept him alive had already died.

“Chunning, Qiuning, stop!” Zhang Sijia suddenly shouted.

The two sisters hesitated and blocked Zhang Jia’s escape routes, watching him warily.

Zhang Jia stumbled. His only weapon was a knife which was now on the ground a few meters away. He had just been forced to the last straw; there was no escape for him now. His eyes stopped for a second over that brother of his that he never met, before locking on a familiar face. “Su Tian?”

Su Tian lowered her head as if she didn’t hear him.

“You’re not dead?” Zhang Jia asked in shock.

Su Tian looked back. “Are you surprised?”

“Alright, now’s not the time for catching up. Tell everything you know to my dear brother,” Zhang Sijia patted Su Tian’s shoulder and encouraged.

It wasn’t to divide the 2002 team – there was no need to add conflict to a team of only two people. He only wanted to let Zhang Jia know of Zou Lili’s terrible death. He would definitely break down from the pain. Just imagining Zhang Jia’s expression made Zhang Sijia shake from a vengeful excitement.

Su Tian looked towards Zhang Jia, then looked towards Du Cheng who was fighting with Lin Jue and Gu Fengyi. Lin Jue suddenly flipped up from where he was on the ground and pierced Du Cheng through the abdomen, nailing him to the ground. Du Cheng screamed in pain and slashed his machete down at Lin Jue – Song Hanzhang sent a kick to his wrist and his hands lost their grip on the blade. Du Cheng was finally beaten.

Even though she had prepared herself, Su Tian still felt her heart shake when she saw it. She even wanted to beg Zhang Sijia to let him go, but as she looked into Zhang Sijia’s gentle yet cold and dark eyes, she couldn’t say anything.

After selling out her conscience, betrayal was just a matter of course. That pitiful, ridiculous, despicable and pathetic love of hers was nothing more than an ant before the magnitude of her own life.

Su Tian sobbed and whispered, “Zou Lili was killed by Du Cheng and Bai Lushuang.”

Even though he had guessed the truth long ago, Zhang Jia still felt his heart ache, as if someone had a hand around his throat, making it impossible to breathe.

“Tell me, tell me everything that happened.” Zhang Jia’s eyes moistened as his voice trembled.

“Su Tian, you traitorous bitch! Shut up!” Du Cheng roared after leaving his berserk state, and proceeded to spew up blood.

Gu Fengyi stepped on his throat with disgust; Du Cheng choked and almost fainted.

Lin Jue secretly exchanged a glance with Song Hanzhang and mouthed, “Now?”

“Keep waiting,” Song Hanzhang mouthed back.

Gu Fengyi loaded the bow with her feet and judged Zuo Linyuan’s position before looking towards the Mu sisters – she was in Mu Qiuning’s blindspot right now, it would be much easier to put an end to her.

Liu Qingqing approached Gu Fengyi. Even though the flame skill was on cooldown right now, she still had another skill that could be used any time.

Everyone was waiting, waiting for a command from Song Hanzhang. Maybe it was the same for the 2022 team.

Su Tian stammered through Zou Lili’s incident and Zhang Jia listened to it in silence, tears streaking his face.

“Let me deal with him myself. After that, I’ll let you do whatever you want to me,” Zhang Jia said, pointing at the half-dead Du Cheng on the ground.

“Sounds sincere.” Zhang Sijia smiled slightly. But the next second, his smile turned into cold malice. “But I want to see you die in despair, pain, and worthlessness. Why did you think I would let you have what you want?”

Zhang Jia’s expression froze. He widened his eyes and asked in disbelief, “Why? Aren’t we brothers? Even if we’ve never met, we’re related by blood!”

“Never met? Yes, you’ve never met me, but I’ve known you for twenty years! I ate to your photos, slept to your photos, listened to mother and father recite your ‘achievements’ to your photos! If I seemed the slightest bit annoyed, they’d blather on and on like they were accusing me of taking your place, like it was me that forced you to vanish! No matter how well I did, they only remembered you, only told me, ‘if your brother were here, he would do better’! Zhang Jia, what do I owe you? Why do I have to be your replacement? Aren’t I my own person? I hate you, I hate this name, I hate all of this!”

Zhang Sijia’s hysterical outburst stunned Zhang Jia. He finally remembered his father and mother. Ever since Zou Lili’s death, he had been confined to his own world and forgot that outside of this game were his parents. The disappearance of their only son gave them so much pain that even when their second child was born, they were still stuck in their memories, so stuck that they even forced their sick longing onto their second child.

“… Dad, mom, are they alright?” Zhang Jia asked in a low whisper.

Zhang Sijia tilted his head and gave him a twisted smile. “They’re crazy, crazy enough that they can’t accept that I’m not you. So I brought Linyuan home, told them I’m gay. You really should have seen their expression hahahahaha… They were hysterical: asked me how I could be homosexual, showed me photos of you and your girlfriend. Why couldn’t I be different to you? We’re not the same fucking person!”

Zhang Sijia suddenly grabbed the cutlass from Zuo Linyuan’s hands and stepped towards Zhang Jia whose weapons were gone, his skills on cooldown. “My most cared for brother, you’ve been trapped here for too, too long, long enough for white hair to have grown on father and mother’s heads, long enough for me to be able to grow from an infant to be able to say goodbye to you here. This world doesn’t need both of us at the same time. You’ve already left this world for too long, so please don’t disturb us. Just obediently and kindly die with Zou Lili. You love her so much, don’t you? She had such a terrible death, how lonely she would be. I still remember the love letters you wrote to her, folded in your diary. Mother made me read them. You said that you’d go through the sweet days of the living, and reunite in the moonlit darkness. Brother, you won’t go back on your words.”

“Do it!”

Song Hanzhang’s cold voice sounded. The skill tattoo in Liu Qingqing’s hands immediately activated, the ground rising up from underneath her feet all the way to where the Zhang brothers stood. The already weak rooftop suddenly tilted and slid towards the abyss! At the same time, the bow in Gu Fengyi’s hands aimed at Mu Qiuning – the arrow pierced through her unguarded chest. She let out a scream, lost her balance, and slid towards the edges of the roof!

[2022: Player count decreases by one. Five survivors, four markings moved.]

Gu Fengyi was a bit surprised. It seemed that Mu Qiuning was judged to have died from being shot through her chest, so even if she fell to her death like Bai Lushuang, the markings had been transferred to Gu Fengyi.

After the chaos and ash risen up from the collapse, the rooftop which had almost half-disappeared was filled with dangers. Mu Chunning barely held onto the collapsed edge of the roof. Zhang Jia had similar luck to her, but surprisingly, he not only held onto the railing at the edge of the rooftop, but with his other hand grabbed Zhang Sijia!

Zhang Sijia, who was completely hanging over open air, who would drop into lava underneath if he only let go!

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