Famine 111: The Gap

Qiu Hong gritted her teeth hard and closed her eyes.

ROAR!!

A beastly roar that shook the mountains caused the entire water park to tremble.

In a flash of lightning, the giant python darted backward. By the time Qiu Hong opened her eyes again, the silver-ringed python was already coiled in a striking posture, coldly watching her from behind.

Qiu Hong glanced back and saw a saber-toothed tiger, towering as if it could touch the sky, walking through the splashing water toward them.

The saber-toothed tiger burst into hearty laughter: “Hahaha! Isn’t this the notorious Maggot of the Fecal Sea? Back with your maggot mother?”

At the sound of this, Wang Jinyu blanched instantly, her expression draining of all color.

Even in such a tense moment, Qiu Youqing couldn’t hold it in and let out a snort of laughter: “Hahaha, what a fitting name!”

Wang Jianguo! Support from the farm had arrived.

Qiu Hong’s whole body instantly relaxed, and she sank to her knees, her twin blades reverting to normal arms. Qiu Youqing hurried to cover her, and the group retreated a distance. Qiu Hong tried to struggle forward, but Qiu Youqing held her back with a firm grip: “Sister Qiu, please rest. The battlefield of chosen ones isn’t something we can take part in.”

On the other side, a flash of blue light signaled the arrival of Anderson, whose shadow already appeared atop the slide.

The two of them, cold and imposing, fixed their gaze on Qi Zhi.

The silver-ringed python sneered, its tongue flicking. “Two chosen ones?…Ah, so this is where your confidence to challenge the Silver Ring Alliance comes from.”

“Do you really believe that just because there are two chosen ones here, you can run roughshod over the Starvation Game?…”

“Come then.” A cold, steely light flashed in Qi Zhi’s vertical pupils. “I alone am enough to deal with both of you.”

“Today, I’ll make it clear—there’s a gap even among the chosen!”

At her words, Anderson’s expression turned a touch peculiar…

“Two?” Anderson retorted. “Who told you there were only two of us?”

Pop! Pop, pop, pop, pop!

Blue light flickered all around them.

From the phasic rift, a ring of vanguard squad members materialized, forming a tight encirclement. They had long been lying in wait!

All six members of Team Xu Bei of the Vanguard Squad were present, flexing their limbs, watching the giant python in the center with unhurried ease.

Behind Qi Zhi, the crowd murmured among themselves. The Silver Ring Alliance members had already drawn their weapons, tense and prepared for battle.

But, as Qiu Youqing had said—battles between chosen ones were not for ordinary people to interfere with. They stood by, waiting for Qi Zhi’s outcome.

Most people watched in silence, carefully observing.

As Qi Zhi herself had observed, the majority of the Silver Ring Alliance were but newly recruited fence-sitters. Their loyalty lay not with the Alliance, but with strength.

“Looks like Sister Qi miscalculated this time. This group isn’t one to mess with…” someone muttered.

But another raised his head defiantly: “So what? Sister Qi’s ranking among the chosen is top tier; no matter how many of them there are, what does it matter?”

After all, Sister Qi had always been the strongest.

…

“—”

At the center of the battlefield, only Qi Zhi herself knew her expression was about to crack.

As a chosen one, she could see at a glance—

All the enemies surrounding her were chosen!

Were these really all chosen?!

Was this even possible?!!

Chosen ones were the favorites of the Main God. Across the whole Starvation Game, among all humanity, only a few hundred or so could make the Chosen Leaderboard!

Ordinary factions, like the Silver Ring Alliance or Skull Ferry, were considered dominant if they had even one or two chosen among them!

Yet in this godforsaken farm, they seemed to be as common as dirt!

Qi Zhi was on the verge of collapse.

Now, the wisest move would be to fall to her knees, beg for mercy, plead for forgiveness.

But as Qi Zhi glanced behind her, she saw tens, hundreds of scrutinizing eyes, all watching, all waiting.

She knew that if she retreated here, it would all be over—she’d lose everything, no path left to turn.

Wang Jinyu stood at her side. Sensing Qi Zhi’s state of mind, she could more or less guess what was happening, her own face pale.

In that moment, Wang Jinyu bitterly regretted her earlier choices, gnashing her teeth in remorse.

Why did I have to make an enemy of this drinks shop?

Why did I bring so many people?

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Sis—it’s all my fault…” Wang Jinyu’s voice trembled. “Take me as an offering, just say it was all my idea.”

“What are you saying?”
Qi Zhi quickly composed herself, took a deep breath.
“Remember? From now on, we’re together—eat together, live together, share life and death, fortune and disaster—never part!”

In Qi Zhi’s voice was a desperate, crazed resolve: “These people, aside from that magician and the tiger, aren’t ranked high. If you and I join forces, at least we’ll take a few down with us before we die!”

“Even if we’re killed, we must bloody their hands on our way out.

“Alright!” Tears welled in Wang Jinyu’s eyes as she nodded firmly. “I’ll do as you say, Sis!”

With that, her form suddenly shrank.

Beside the black, glossy scales of the giant python, a bamboo viper, no thicker than a finger, silently slithered away, vanishing into the water.

No one noticed. The onlookers only shook their heads gravely.

Wang Jinyu was often underestimated.

Among those who relied on brute force, Wang Jinyu had taken another path. Her beast form was a slender little snake, twisting and vanishing from sight at a whim.

All of her enhancements were poured into stealth and that strike.

This was also why Qi Zhi had the confidence to face two chosen at once.

Qi Zhi, transformed into the Sky-Devouring Silver-Ringed Python, drew all her opponents’ attention. Meanwhile, Wang Jinyu, as a tiny green viper, was easily overlooked. When all their focus was on the Silver-Ringed Python, she would suddenly strike from the side, biting an ankle—

As long as her fangs broke the skin, her venom was fatal at first touch!

It was not by luck that these siblings grew the Silver Ring Alliance to such heights; they were not characters to be trifled with.

Despite going on about “Maggot of the Fecal Sea,” Wang Jianguo understood that, if a fight broke out, it would be a tough one.

Hiss!

The Sky-Devouring Silver-Ringed Python flicked her tongue and suddenly reared, launching herself forward.

She was coming!

—Whoosh.

There was no rage of giant beasts, no explosion of flames, only a faint, almost inaudible sound as something cut the air.

All aggression ceased at once.

Qi Zhi’s massive body crashed heavily to the ground, sending tremors through the earth.

There, on her forehead… was a bloody bullet hole.

It was fitting for a top-ranked chosen like the Sky-Devouring Giant Python—even with her skull pierced by a bullet, she was not yet dead.

Qi Zhi’s eyes remained wide and lifeless, her body convulsing.

As if she didn’t understand what had just happened.

“……”

Click.

With a blank expression, Shi He calmly pulled back the bolt of his rifle and rose from behind the rubble.

“You finally showed up!” Wang Jianguo laughed heartily.

“I’ve been here all along,” Shi He replied.

He had arrived long beforehand.

He’d been hidden in the darkness by the crowd, concealed among the shattered stones.

Thousands had assembled two hours in advance; Qi Zhi and Wang Jinyu had given a half-hour speech at his side, and then chaos had ensued for some time… The nearest player had been within a couple meters of Shi He, yet not a single person had noticed him.

While Qi Zhi delivered her impassioned speech, Shi He lay silently in the darkness behind her, a cold crosshair trained on her skull, and she was none the wiser.

Qi Zhi had been right.

Among the chosen, there, too, existed a gap.

Lurking unseen, striking with deadly precision—a shot fired, a life taken!

First on the Chosen Leaderboard—that was strength.

A two-week lockdown was more than enough to kill the bulk of the players. But if someone was truly ruthless, eating human flesh and drinking blood, determined to live, escape was not impossible. If they could think of such things, the Silver Ring Alliance surely could too.

Si Zhiyan had long foreseen that the Alliance would try to wipe everyone out during the jar opening. He also knew that, facing death, enemies would lash out in their final moments. Thus, he’d arranged for Shi He and Nidhogg to lie in wait at the key passageways.

Even if Wang Jianguo failed to arrive in time, Qiu Hong and Xiao Qiu would have been safe.

“Sister Qi!!!”
“Why did someone show up at the last minute?!”
“Out of the way, move move, ahhh!”

Around them, players scattered, scrambling in panic, tumbling and crawling as they fled dozens of meters away to clear the way.

A sharp-suited man in black strode forward, face expressionless, as if nothing significant had happened. He placed a foot on the dying, convulsing giant python, pressing his gun to her head.

Shi He ignored all else; his gaze and the muzzle were fixed on the giant python as he calmly announced, “You have ten seconds to show yourself, or she dies now.”

Splash!

A bamboo viper shot out of the water. Without blinking, Shi He extended a hand and snatched it up.

“Sis! Sis… ah, Sis…” Wang Jinyu writhed desperately in his grip, overwhelmed by despair. “How—how could you stoop to such underhanded tricks!”

“……”

Shi He couldn’t even be bothered to respond.

Who said you deserved a fair duel?
—You can seal people in jars for a month, and then, once released, expect others to give you a fair fight?

If you use dirty tricks, why shouldn’t I? Should the righteous men be shot just for being righteous?

Sorry, Mr. Farmer never had such scruples—and neither did Shi He.

“Heh… heh…”

Beneath Shi He’s foot, the silver-ringed python slowly returned to human form.

Qi Zhi collapsed sideways on the ground, coughing and laughing.

“Let it go, little viper, let it go.”
“It’s over for us… We’re finished.”

“Sis…” Wang Jinyu’s voice was shaking.

Wang Jianguo spoke coldly: “What’s the point of putting on a tragic act now? You’ve killed so many—who here hasn’t lost a parent, a friend, a sibling, someone dear to them? Did you ever hear their cries?”

“……” Wang Jinyu bit her lip, trembling.

Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of a dark shadow at the edge of her vision.

That same child from the beginning. Shaven-headed, dark-skinned, androgynous. Standing afar, tiptoeing to look this way.

Wang Jinyu stared at her with everything she had.

In that instant, she realized that the start of all this, perhaps, came from her trying to secure a cave close to the shop for her sister, and so she’d used a little force…

In a moment of clarity, an absurd despair washed over Wang Jinyu. She nearly choked on her regret.

She lowered her head and, in the clean, clear, precious water at her feet, saw her own reflection.

A face twisted with despair, on the verge of collapse.

Suddenly, she felt an eerie sense of familiarity.

On the day it all began, after she had blasted open the cave—when that bespectacled middle-aged man, known as “Old Shen,” learned she’d killed that shaven-headed child for the sake of cleanliness, he’d worn the very same expression.

Back then, she hadn’t understood and had paid it no mind, turning away indifferently.

Now she felt it keenly.

What goes around comes around—retribution never misses, only waits its turn.

Wang Jianguo said, “Now you regret it—but why didn’t you act better before? Couldn’t you have chosen to be a good person?”

“Heh… A good person? You lot are hardly saints either…”

Qi Zhi’s bloodied face sneered, sprawled on the ground.

“Little viper and I were dancers in a troupe. At the very start of the Starvation Game, players who were already strong captured us.”

Wang Jinyu closed her eyes, breathing in desperate gulps.

“They gave us just enough to eat, but forbade us from doing missions or enhancing ourselves. They kept us as pets, slaves, for their pleasure…”

“We went through hell and did everything we could to turn the tables and finally live as humans again…”

“And now you want me to be a good person?”

“When we cried out in vain, where were you then?” Qi Zhi’s gaze was icy, without a hint of remorse. “You’re only better than me by strength. Killing me is only right and proper.”

Shi He pressed the muzzle to Qi Zhi’s head, his face impassive.
He frowned minutely, clearly growing impatient and a little annoyed that the farm owner had to step in.

He squatted, searching what little fabric remained on Qi Zhi’s body.

Suddenly, Qi Zhi laughed, choking. “Hehehehe… Looking for the ‘jar’, are you? You want it badly, don’t you?”

“I’ll tell you now: every cursed item we carry was just a projection. Their true forms are bound to my body and will dissolve with my death…”

“Even if I die, you’ll leave empty-handed!”

Shi He’s expression finally changed.

He exchanged a glance with Wang Jianguo, who was frisking Wang Jinyu, and saw the same grave look in his eyes.

A wave of white mist rose.

Si Zhiyan’s figure appeared, emerging from the clouds.