Famine 46: Chasing the Sun

Sha Tong charged toward the depths of the Service Players’ settlement.

Amidst the chaos, cries of misery echoed everywhere as people surged toward the areas designated for Qualified Players, making Sha Tong’s advance against the human tide an arduous struggle. His military boots were specially enchanted—those around him quickly fell behind, unable to keep pace.

He could no longer care about anything else. All he could do was run with every ounce of strength.

With each second lost, more victims would fall.

Every person dying here had already fought tooth and nail to survive seven years in the famine game. The Main God couldn’t kill them, yet now their fellow humans had brought them to such ruin. It was pure absurdity.

The air reeked of iron and blood.

“God…” A townsman wearing a cross knelt in the square. Sha Tong brushed past, catching the choked whisper: “Please… please save us…”

Si Zhiyan floated aloft, only seven percent of his spectral avatar remaining. Just to maintain the thinnest threads of clouds and keep track of two locations required his utmost effort.

[Warning: Spectral avatar concentration is decreasing and may affect the host.]
[Warning: Spectral avatar concentration is decreasing and may affect the host.]
[Warning: Spectral avatar concentration is decreasing and may affect the host.]

The system’s alarm blared without cease.

Si Zhiyan reclined on the couch, pressing his fingertips to his temple. His hand trembled lightly as he silently swallowed a mouthful of blood. Not a flicker crossed his face.

The farm owner could hardly look after himself.

Suddenly, Gu Haoping made a move. Perhaps he didn’t want to press Nie Du too hard, or perhaps he sensed danger for some unknown reason… He rose to his feet, briefly cutting his connection and shifting his position several times.

With this change, his direction altered significantly.

At that very moment, a field of total ruin blocked Sha Tong’s way. He couldn’t stop in time and stumbled into the collapsed debris. Pausing to catch his breath while leaning on the rubble, he hesitated, then forced himself upright to push on. Yet he didn’t know which way would let him bypass the wreckage fastest, and ended up taking a winding route.

“……”

This wouldn’t do.
Si Zhiyan bowed his head.

[Warning: Spectral avatar concentration is decreasing and may affect the host. Confirm whether to continue?]

Continue.

In the farm owner’s cottage, Si Zhiyan’s fingers slowly tightened on the sofa armrest.
Unseen by any, his pupils turned a deep crimson, reflecting tranquil lake water.

Bit by bit, he forced a part of his spectral avatar to materialize.

At last, a luminous sphere serving as a beacon hopped forth from the fog before Sha Tong.

As long as Si Zhiyan’s will remained clear, he was a living map.
From a god’s-eye view above, he guided Sha Tong along the shortest route.

In the dark night sky, the beacon shone with a faint golden light, like a rising sun deep within the clouds.

Sha Tong, sprinting amid chaos, swiftly caught on to Si Zhiyan’s intention. Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he followed the beacon, managing a gasping smile: “Thank you, Master Farmer.”

Those supporting each other nearby all raised their heads in bewilderment, gazing at the glowing orb in the sky.

A woman in a blue raincoat, weeping, reached out to Sha Tong. “Captain Sha… Captain Sha, I recognize you—please, please save my child…”

Sha Tong glanced back. A collapsed tent, a table standing in the center of a pool of blood, and atop it, a little girl of two or three, shivering in fear.
The blood pooled thickly around, and a nearby fountain only made it harder to approach. With no protective equipment, no one dared to cross.

It took only seconds for Sha Tong’s heart to soften. Without further thought, he plunged three strides through the blood, seized the little girl by the collar, and hauled her into the mother’s arms.

The woman in blue raincoat hugged her child tightly, sobbing with joy. “Thank you! Thank you!… Captain Sha, where are you going?!”

Sha Tong had no time to explain. He waved her off, kicked into a run again, dodging past groups of the suffering as he went.

Suddenly, the wind whipped past his ears!

Sha Tong’s footing slipped, his balance failing. He slid to a stop, swinging his musket in a swift arc, and tore down a stretch of cobweb from the air!

Ssshh! Poison, lethal on contact with blood, slashed across his cheek.

Before him, a half-spider man in red withdrew, the connected webs shimmering and vibrating as he melted back into the darkness, ready to strike again.

—A member of the Captain’s Guards.
Sha Tong recognized this man: a master of stealth and ambush. If this one were allowed to flee, such attacks would happen endlessly.

“Lousy bug fit to be crushed!”

In a flash of movement, Sha Tong spat a curse and raised his musket.
This was exactly why, among all the dazzling array of weapons, Sha Tong insisted on using the musket as his main arm. The musket exchanged from the Main God’s store came with a specialized ammo system.

[Infinite Load—Bone-Piercing Shock Round], fire!

Sparks from flint erupted. With a thunderous crack, steam billowed, and a lightning flash shot forth, cleaving through the spiderized man’s brow like a hot knife through butter.

He vanished into the darkness.

No—that wasn’t right.

His thoughts cut short. Suddenly, all around, the world exploded. Sha Tong was wrenched upward and instantly cocooned within spider silk.

The spider man raised his head from the bloodpool, revealing a savage grin.
Half of his body had dissolved into blood and reconstituted itself before Sha Tong—exactly the tactic Gu Haoping had used to evade Nie Du. His body was soaked in blood, yet not a bit of his flesh seemed harmed.

“Damn it! What’s Gu Haoping turned you people into?! Ghosts in the bloodpool?!”

Sha Tong gritted his teeth and struggled with all his might—he couldn’t move an inch. The bloodstained webs bound him tightly, cocooning him like a zongzi dumpling.

“You’ve passed through the bloodpool?!”

The spider man made no direct reply, replying in a cold, sinister voice, “Me like this, I’m far stronger than you so-called ‘normal’ people, Captain Sha.”

Sha Tong sneered. “He fed you to the bloodpool, then shat you out again, and you’re pleased about it? You’re the golden mushroom floating in the septic tank, and now you think you’re hot stuff?”

The spider-man flew into a rage. “Still mouthing off, even at death’s door! Enough talking, I’ll kill you and have done with it!”

Spider legs braced, he sprang straight at Sha Tong!

Sha Tong lowered his eyes; a chill gleamed in them.
Good. He’s taken the bait.

In a blink, deadly venom struck for Sha Tong, the spider man’s jaws gaping wide.
From within the silken cocoon, Sha Tong drew a measured breath and squeezed the trigger.

Si Zhiyan’s hand pressed against his own temple. His gaze sharpened as he realized what Sha Tong was about to do.

Bang!

[Infinite Load—Festive Iron Shot], fire!

The iron shot exploded.

High-speed pellets burst like a death shroud, instantly engulfing both the spider man and Sha Tong himself.

The spiderized man was torn apart by the blast, his body shredded and cast into the bloodpool like a rag.

Si Zhiyan, observing everything, made note: these bloodpool creatures had no obvious vital points and could ignore decapitation, but if subjected to a large-area, short-duration attack, they could be gravely injured or killed.

The webs dissolved, and Sha Tong crashed heavily to the ground. The musket flew from his grasp and skittered away.

His face was chalk-white.

Clenching his bloody teeth, Sha Tong tried to push himself up—searing pain shot through his leg, and he collapsed again with a dull thud.

“Damn…” Flat on his back, breath shuddering, he clamped a hand over the mutilated flesh of his leg.

At the critical moment, he’d used the web cocoon to shield his vitals. Even Nie Du’s flesh had been protected by his own body, not losing so much as a sliver.
But luck was not with him—a handful of iron shot had struck his right leg, blood flowing in torrents.

The main muscle must have been hit—he couldn’t put weight on it, couldn’t stand.

But the real danger wasn’t even that.

No, what truly mattered was that before him, the spider man lying in the bloodpool was rising—slowly, but surely.

Some insectile power was at work; its regenerative ability far surpassed Sha Tong’s.

“Sha Tong… Sha Tong…” The spiderized man rasped with hate, his voice frenzied yet weak. “You… cunning, despicable thing… I’ll kill you… I’ll peel off your skin and suck your flesh dry…”

Near collapse, the spider-insect staggered towards him.

Bad! Sha Tong’s face twisted in agony as he reached for his musket—too far, utterly out of reach!

So close, yet so far. All Sha Tong could do was watch, helpless, as those spider legs drew closer, and closer, right before his eyes…

Thunk!

A stone crashed into the spider man’s face, flattening it and sending him staggering aside to land heavily on the ground.

Sha Tong stared in disbelief.

“Hiss—?!” The spider man shrieked in rage, whipping around.

It was the woman in the blue raincoat—her face smeared with blood, legs trembling visibly, clearly terrified. Yet she forced herself to swallow, raising her voice in a shaky shout: “D-don’t hurt Captain Sha—he’s a good man…”

None could say when, but the battlefield was now surrounded by fleeing Service Players.

Most wore tattered cotton jackets, some in rain gear, supporting the old and young as they limped along, most bearing injuries, looking frail and helpless. They had no fine weapons, nor had they been physically enhanced by the Main God’s power.

Even so, these people dared to intervene in a Qualified Player’s battle!
The spider man screeched and lunged at her. “Are you looking to die?! Old woman, I’ll kill you first!”

“Ah!…” The woman flinched in terror.

From another direction, a burly man suddenly charged and hurled a stone—crack!—striking the spider man squarely on the back of the head!

With a grunt, the spider man staggered, his assault faltering, a spider leg twitching.

That stone seemed to signal the start. One person charged, then another, then another… The crowd surged like a flood, encircling Sha Tong, building layered walls of flesh around him.

Beneath the beacon’s faint sunlight, they still showed fear, yet fixed the spider man with furious stares, their eyes burning in the night like countless small torches.

A man stood at the very front, head lowered, yet his eyes lifted, reflecting the blood-soaked ground as if set alight. “Just now… I saw you crawl out of that bloodpool.”

“Is this your doing?”
“What did you do?!”

A dozen threads stirred crazily, the spider man’s voice now barely human as his tattered body struggled to remain upright. “You… you worthless trash…”

The man hefted another stone and smashed it down hard on the spider man.

Bang!

This time, the spider man shrieked, his legs buckling, nearly collapsing on the spot.
His face paled suddenly—bad! He mustn’t show weakness now!

“This thing’s already been knocked down by Captain Sha!” the man shouted harshly. “There’s nothing to fear!”
“He’s weak now!”

Bang! A second stone.

“My mother’s dying! It’s all your fault!”
“What the hell did you do?!”
“Don’t touch the Volunteers!”
“Protect Captain Sha!”
“Did you make these monsters? You did, didn’t you?! Answer us!!”
“Let Commander Nie see you now!”

“If it weren’t for Captain Sha and the Volunteers, we’d have all starved ages ago!”

A third, fourth… Countless voices roared, many in tears, countless furious stones rained down from every side, splattering blood as they struck the spider man.

Someone howled, voice raw:
“Kill him! Kill him—avenge my mother!!”

“Aaaargh—!”

The spider man’s screams turned inhuman, thrashing desperately.

He tried to break free, but the stones pummeled his Main God-enhanced flesh—already past its peak—until it was no more than insectile pulp.

The struggle grew ever weaker; his voice went from agony, to pleading, to terror, to silence…
No one paid him the slightest heed.

At last, the spider man was utterly buried under a hail of stones from every direction, and fell silent forever.

He died at the hands of the same Service Players he’d scorned.

Sha Tong was lifted by a half-dozen hands, clinging feebly to someone.

“Take… take this over…,” Sha Tong’s jaw chattered as he fished out a bloody bundle. “This has to get to Gu Haoping! It’s the only way to overcome the bloodpool!”
But his leg wouldn’t move.

With barely half a second’s hesitation, the man who’d first thrown the stones took the bundle from Sha Tong.

“I’ll do it!” His lips trembled, still afraid, but he swallowed hard, steadying himself. “Let me! I’m used to carrying things, and I run fast, too!”

“Just… where do I even find Gu Haoping?”

After catching his breath, Sha Tong slowly lifted his head.

Everyone followed his gaze upward.

Deep within the clouds, a small orb hovered in the night, casting a faint golden glow.
Compared to the Main God’s giant sphere high above, this was gentle in color, its light pale and thin.

Yet it still shone steadily and long. In the ebon night, it was like the newborn sun, tearing a pale streak through the gloom.

Sha Tong’s lips quivered for a long moment, before he finally said, slowly:

“Head toward the light… chase the sun.”

The man nodded gravely. “Understood!”

He tightened the straps of his rain boots, stretched his limbs, and dashed away!

Sha Tong collapsed, spent, in the arms of the others, his eyes burning, breath coming like a bellows, exultant bloodlust racing through him.
Commander Nie, can you see us?

Our ideals, the people we strive for—they will never betray us!

Suddenly, Sha Tong called out, raising his voice to the fleeing man’s back: “Comrade, what’s your name?!”

His faint voice pierced the bloody rain and echoed distantly:

“Liu Zhengchu.”

——

Liu Zhengchu didn’t get far.

He wasn’t Sha Tong, just an ordinary Service Player. Along his route, storms of blood and some sections overrun by the bloodpool left no visible path forward.

Following the beacon’s guidance, Liu Zhengchu tied his raincoat around his legs. His face caught the downpour, and passing through, it went numb as festering sores, cursed by the mist, grew along his cheeks.

He ran on as long as his strength held—his lungs burned like fire, blood loss and weakness buckling his knees until he collapsed by the roadside.

While Liu Zhengchu gasped for air, a crew-cut woman in military garb suddenly blocked his vision. “Why haven’t you evacuated? Need help?”

Her face was familiar—they must have met at the farmer’s shop before. She might not be a Volunteer, but she was clearly an ally.

Liu Zhengchu grabbed her sleeve. “Haah… haah… Comrade, are you… a Qualified Player?”

She answered readily, “Yes, I am, what—”

Before she could finish, he thrust the bundle into her arms.
Earlier, when he lost the strength to go on, Liu had dipped his finger in blood and scrawled the [EMERGENCY MISSION] code on the wrapper, along with a target and priority mark.

“This… This is for the Volunteers and Commander Nie… Haah, Captain Sha told me to bring it. I can’t go on… Haah…”

“I don’t even know what it is, but please, you must—must get it to Gu Haoping!”

His voice was breaking, his bloody knuckles clinging desperately to her sleeve.
“This is our only hope to conquer the bloodpool!”

“……” After a brief shock, the woman’s gaze grew resolute. “Understood. What do I do?”

Liu Zhengchu lifted his head. In his darkening vision, the beacon alone burned golden above.

“Chase the sun!”

“All right, I will.” She wasted no words, stowed the bundle, and set off at a run!

The crew-cut woman ran another ten minutes. Then, from below—a long spear thrust up, slicing across her left flank!

Barely dodging with a desperate roll, she escaped the blade, but not before blood spurted from her side.

A Guardsman, loot dangling from his body, stood before her, spear leveled with practiced aim, thrusting again, carefully skirting anything that looked like charm-engraved jewelry.
Some Guardsmen had little loyalty to Gu Haoping, and not wanting to fight the Volunteers had deserted, turning to theft and looting in the chaos.

Clutching her wound, the woman cursed bitterly and was forced into a fight.

Until a one-armed Volunteer, noticing her struggle, rushed in to help.
Working together, barely, they managed to defeat the Guardsman.

“Volunteer? You’re with the Volunteers, right?”
Unable to see clearly, she clung to the one-armed man, shoving the bundle at him. He widened his eyes, then gathered her hand into his, taking up the bundle.
“This was entrusted by your Captain Sha. It’s our hope against the bloodpool—it must get where it needs to go!”

“Hurry… chase the sun, chase the sun!”

“Chase the sun…”

The one-armed man repeated, slung the bundle on his back, drew his sword, and ran without turning back.
His eyes held both killing intent and steely resolve.

He ran for another fifteen minutes.

Before he could pass the bundle along, a Volunteer youth—just a teenager—noticed him and pulled the package from his back. The one-armed man only had time to grab the boy’s hand and say, “Chase the sun!”

The young Volunteer ran for eight minutes.

His raincoat was torn to shreds; a sudden surge of bloody water drenched him. With no alternative, he thrust the bundle into the arms of a youth in a white coat—a Service Player.

“Chase the sun!”

The youth in the white coat ran five more minutes.

Players fell, one after another, but each time the bundle was handed onward. They broke through the Guardsmen’s blockade, skirted the bloodpool’s hazards, and all the while, eyes fixed on the golden beacon above, never pausing for a breath.

Even if the night was deep and the beacon’s light thin, it became their rising sun.

From above, Si Zhiyan looked down, memorizing each name, each face.

Reflected in the bloodpool, stars filled the sky, sunlight hung impossibly high, set against the fierce, unyielding will of mortals.

An unspeakable awe clenched Si Zhiyan’s heart, making his mind clear and his heartbeat deafening.

Once, in the past, Si Zhiyan had known a feeling like this.
A scene pierced the fog of memory, reappearing in his mind.

At the center stood a golden figure, face uplifted, saying to him:

“Please look at us.”
“See how we struggle, hear us scream. Do as you wish to us, but do not look away.”

“We’ll show you…”

“Our burning souls.”

Boom!

Deep within the Service Players’ sector, the final runner strode through the surging sea of blood, parting the tent’s flaps.

Gu Haoping, clutching his shattered shoulder, was lost in thought—he never expected anyone could have come so far. He jerked up with a start, staring in astonishment.

Straight into a pair of steadfast, aged eyes.

—Zhong Manwen.

Sha Tong had hidden Zhong Manwen and the others deep in the Service Players’ sector. When the bloodpool’s sacrificial event caught them by surprise, it ended up trapping them here. With Zhong Manwen’s special identity, Sha Tong feared public exposure would call down reprisals, so he’d sent the Volunteers and Li Shize to help elsewhere, while Zhong Manwen, aided by Tang Qinghuai’s floating raft, continued hiding.

By a twist of fate, this old lady, so long in the rear, came to wield the final, closest stroke against Gu Haoping.

Throughout their standoff, Gu Haoping had issued countless orders for Zhong Manwen’s capture—placing a bounty for her head.

But in this moment his face was nearly blank—because he did not recognize her.

Gu Haoping had never known what “Zhong Manwen” looked like.
An old Service Player was beneath his notice.

Burdened with experience, Zhong Manwen needed no words to know what he was thinking. The person who ruins your life often shares no acquaintance with you. She let out a dry, bloody laugh, her voice hoarse but cutting, burying endless words into one accusation torn from her chest—

“I once swore that you would pay for blood with blood.”

Rip.
She unfurled the cloth wrapping Nie Du’s flesh.