Famine 203: Hunting

Bian Xu never liked big cities.

For convenience in handling affairs, Si Zhiyan had claimed the top-floor duplex apartment in the city’s tallest building as his own.

The rooftop was a small garden with a pool, and outside the floor-to-ceiling windows stretched the stunningly lit neon nightscape of the metropolis.

Si Zhiyan moved his office here, and at night, as he watched the pinpricks of light spread and illuminate the city, he was filled with an unmatched sense of accomplishment.

While Si Zhiyan worked, Bian Xu lounged on a deck chair by the pool, nursing a glass of juice and gazing out at the unknown.

One morning many days later, with his files in order, Si Zhiyan looked up at Bian Xu and, almost absentmindedly, smiled. “Would you like to go out for a walk?”

“Yes!” Bian Xu’s eyes lit up at once; he leapt to his feet, answering without hesitation. But then he caught himself, hesitating: “Sir… Don’t you have a meeting with Li Yi today?”

“Mhm.” Si Zhiyan’s expression was gentle. “So, how about going out on your own?”

Bian Xu gave a faint shiver.

Si Zhiyan’s lashes lowered as he smiled softly. “It’s alright. This place is built by our own hands—it’s our home.”

He checked his watch. “You can already handle being on your own for ten hours now. It’s seven in the morning. Just come back by dusk. If it’s too much, you can always come back sooner. No matter when you return, I’ll be waiting here.”

“You did well last time at the Hephaestus Castle. Let’s try for a bit longer this time, hm?”

Bian Xu’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his hands tightening unconsciously around the glass, his voice rough: “I…”

Si Zhiyan put down his papers and leaned back in the swivel chair, legs crossed, red eyes fixed on Bian Xu as he said softly:

“Don’t disappoint me.”

A warm tremor crawled up Bian Xu’s spine, chilling him to the core.
He wasn’t sure if he truly wanted to go out, or if it was simply that he could not refuse this man… Before he knew it, his body had already nodded on instinct.

Si Zhiyan’s voice was gentle: “Have fun.”

…

And so, Bian Xu disguised himself, pulled a hood over his face, and stepped out.

It had been a long, long time since Bian Xu had lived alone among the players’ settlement.

The last time he’d emerged into a crowd, he’d been the dazzling champion of the Chosen ranking. Now, he was just a ghost, less than even the anomalies themselves… Bian Xu didn’t know what he was anymore—a core remnant? The scrapings left by a used-up system?

Would he go mad? Would he kill innocent people?

But when Bian Xu actually tugged his hood lower and threaded through alleyways and streets…

He quickly discovered that things weren’t as bad as he’d feared.

Huddling in his hood’s shadow, Bian Xu found no one paid any more attention to him than usual.

Just as the gentleman had said…
They had built this place together—this was their home.

The fact that he’d once brought in Zhong Yanqing already proved Bian Xu was a curious soul.

And this city was an explorer’s paradise. Many places were tucked out of sight, rarely visited by others.

Wandering the alleys and streets, Bian Xu’s footsteps grew lighter by the day.

After the world’s creation, small street stalls began to pop up all over the city.

You’d find them in every alleyway: under office blocks, next to residential neighborhoods, in the corners between two courtyard walls…

Many of these stalls only appeared at certain times, vanishing once the hour passed—one had to slowly figure out their schedules.

Bian Xu didn’t dare speak with anyone, living in solitude. But with his wealth of experience and deft skill, he was soon discovering all manner of marvelous hidden eateries.

The wonton stall he found on day one was just the easiest to spot.
In ever more concealed places, he unearthed a slew of other stands: egg-stuffed pancakes, jianbing, mix-and-match boxed rice, fried hot dogs…

Every kind of small vendor imaginable could be found.

Their stallholders, all unseen people in the drifting city, had voices that rang through the air—sometimes warm and bustling, sometimes shy and plain—each greeting spoken with a hometown lilt, each bowl of piping hot snack passed out with care.

These wayfaring, life-sustaining rest stops, along with all the city’s wanderers, had endured.

Like seeds in this new world, they existed alongside the players.

Si Zhiyan was a homebody—if he could stay in, he was content.

Bian Xu returned home promptly each day.

He’d fling open the door, and walk right into the gentle gaze of Si Zhiyan.

Every time Bian Xu discovered a new snack stall, he’d bring a serving back for Si Zhiyan.

“Sir! Sir! There’s a grilled cold noodle stall tucked in an alley next to the old high school!”

Setting the bag down on the table, Bian Xu would lift his face from beneath the hood, his dazzling golden hair spilling out.

“I knew it—there’s no way every snack could have vanished from around a school! It’s just that these stalls only come out at eleven at night because school lets out so late…”

Eagerly, he’d unpack the bags, reporting his “hunt” to Si Zhiyan with bright anticipation.

“Grilled cold noodles—hah! Back home, they always soaked them in tomato sauce: thick, sweet-sour, with corn sausage, absolutely delicious…”
“But in the south, they’re savory, with cheese sometimes—what blasphemy is that…”

“Make sure to load up on sauce, and extra spice—always get it spicy…”

A lively little lion, stifled all day without anyone to talk to, now let words pour forth in a rush.

Si Zhiyan, holding a small paper bowl, would lower his head to taste the chewy, grilled strands in their fragrant, sweet-sour tomato broth, his gentle gaze never leaving Bian Xu as he listened to the endless chatter.

Besides this, Bian Xu compiled all his discoveries about these snack stalls.
One deserted night, he walked alone into the central city square and, meticulously, line by line, wrote down every location on the big whiteboard, sharing it freely with all.

Good food is meant to be shared, after all.

Everyone’s welcome to try!

The next morning, crowds on their way to work passed through the square.

One player bemoaned to his companion, “Should’ve gotten up just ten minutes earlier—the line at the cafeteria’s out the door!”

His friend’s stomach rumbled. “What can we do? The facilities here just aren’t as good—the early birds snatched up all the best units in Fantasy Town.”

“Guess we better get up earlier next time…”

And then they looked up to see a crowd already gathered at the notice board.

On the whiteboard was a long list, written in bold black.

Each line was a stall’s address.

The first player almost wept, “God! Who is this Benevolent Spirit?! A savior, truly!!!!”

Looking closer, their excitement grew. “What?! There’s a jianbing stall in an underpass just two kilometers away? Damn, I haven’t eaten jianbing in seven years!”

The player with him could hardly believe his eyes.

So many! There must be a dozen… no, dozens of them!

Could there really be so many hidden little stalls nearby? Wait, the abandoned dam—unless you can fly, you’d barely make it there, right? You’d have to parkour along rooftops to get across, and that’s one of the easier spots. Some places, even if you know the route, are tough to reach.

Besides, after finally discovering a hidden gem, sharing it for free with everyone else—wasn’t that just giving away one’s own treasure?

It’s not like people hadn’t seriously scouted the city’s snack stalls, but usually, once they found a good one, they’d keep quiet, reap the rewards alone—no point sharing and making it harder for themselves to get food.

Such skill, such keen instincts… and so selfless, with a heart of gold.

Shi He, hands in his pockets and clad in a black suit, stood beneath the notice board, head tilted back, eyes filled with awe.

The same question appeared in countless people’s minds.

—Just who was this mysterious benefactor?

No matter what, the clever and generous mystery man quickly became the subject of everyone’s praise.
No one knew who he was, and rumors ran wild without any clear answers.

A new kind of urban legend began to take root.

One dusk, as Bian Xu was about to update his notes, he looked up and found his breath catch.

Across the street were two all-too-familiar figures.

Shi He dragged Nidhogg along the road by Central Park, the two brothers bantering back and forth as their laughter drifted through the half-lit street.

“Bro, that sausage stall’s great, huh? Want to hit the big hotpot next?”

Nidhogg was obviously full, even a little stuffed. “I’d rather have… what do you call them, skewers?”

He lazily flicked his wings. “Forget it, up to you. Let’s try everything one by one, no rush.”

Shi He laughed and nudged Nidhogg’s chest with his forehead.

Nidhogg patted Shi He’s head, giving a soft hum of laughter:

“I wonder who gathered so many obscure little secrets… Annoyingly good-hearted, aren’t they…”

“……”

With a whiteboard marker in his pocket and his false brows and lashes hidden under his hood, Bian Xu passed by them in silence.

………
……

Even though everything was progressing steadily, the world fragments weren’t being conquered at a record-breaking pace. It was averaging two weeks per new world.

Of all the black hole crystals distributed, few made much of a splash—over half were lost to various mishaps.

Some players lost their crystals in fierce battles; some grew attached to their crystals and couldn’t bear to turn them in for resonance; some, after successfully resonating with the crystal, were so taken with their newfound powers that they refused to hand them over, opting to buy them out instead… These were all common occurrences.

This didn’t bother Si Zhiyan much.

Each fragment was a new world, and every world required finding a fresh path to resonance. Anomalies carried deep traumas and obsessions; there was no way they’d just lay bare their old wounds for you to see. Given the progress so far, Si Zhiyan was already deeply satisfied.

After all, not every team had someone like Zhong Yanqing in command. One couldn’t expect too much.

It was actually the conquered worlds that brought Si Zhiyan the most surprises.

Take, for instance, the recent [Carnivorous Forest Slaughterhouse Creepypasta].

It was only a C-level scenario; Si Zhiyan hadn’t expected much. As the first world to achieve harmony, it was more significant as a proof of concept than anything else.

If, in the end, it helped give a boost, Si Zhiyan would be content.

But when the new world sprouted, Si Zhiyan was taken aback.

—For there, standing before him, was a vast, complete, frozen meat-processing industrial park!