Famine 88: Victory

The farm’s city walls blazed with gunfire once more, and Bian Xu’s form had finally stabilized.

But almost immediately, the crisis returned.

The shockwave that woke some of the players had consumed more energy than Si Zhiyan had ever anticipated.

Bian Xu, pulling on the little witch’s puppet strings, was barely maintaining control over the upper eyelid—his figure already trembling, beginning to flicker.

When he tried to summon that power again, he found himself unable to regain even a fraction of his former strength.

“I can’t…” Bian Xu managed a wry smile, dropping his head. “I’ve done all I can. Sorry—the scale of power needed to impact the entire farm is already far too great.”

“…”

Si Zhiyan raised a hand and pressed it to his earpiece.

——

Down at the mountain’s foot, wildfires raged anew.

The heat from the sky seemed to have ignited clusters of trees, their branches wreathed in flames, moving faster and fiercer than before. Burning limbs lashed the air, heatwaves rolling forward, until the base of the farm was engulfed in surging seas of fire.

At some point, Shi He’s sniper rifle had switched to full auto. His blue-grey eyes shone with a strange, blood-shot gleam; he’d pushed himself beyond his limits.

Whizz!

Even so—he was barely able to hang on.

The enemy forest seemed inexhaustible, warped air and firelight obscuring vision; a moment’s distraction and more burning trees would appear in his sights.

Firing was harder and harder, and Shi He had to sharpen his focus to the absolute limit, daring not to lose concentration for even a heartbeat.

[Bzzzz…]

Suddenly, static filled his earpiece—a new voice breaking onto the channel.

Who? At a time like this? Shi He pressed the receiver.

A familiar, clear voice came through: “Look up.” @All the best stories, only at Jinjiang Literature City

The farm owner, Si Zhiyan! Shi He’s mind snapped into sharpness.

If it weren’t something urgent, Si Zhiyan would never contact him now!
@All the best stories, only at Jinjiang Literature City

Shi He raised his head to the sky. His eye, sharpened through countless enhancements, rivaled any sniper scope; he peered through blazing fire, past shifting waves of heat, and saw—high above, a gigantic eye, half-closed, and floating before it…

The farm owner, Si Zhiyan.

Who knew what he’d endured? That thin figure was nearly translucent, flickering in the wind as if vanishing, yet the expression on his face was ever-calm, ever-kind.

Behind him floated nothing but the puppet of a little girl.

—Si Zhiyan, alone, stood against the sky-darkening Eye.

Shi He felt sudden, heavy emptiness grip his chest, teeth sinking into his lip.

“I need you to help restrict the [Eye]’s lower eyelid. At the very least, you’ll have to impede it.” Si Zhiyan said, “Can you do it?”

Hold down the [Eye]…? Me?
Shi He was dumbfounded.

Before he could respond, the farm owner’s voice came again—this time, through the tinny, distant earpiece, already tinged with distortion:

“You must.”

“Otherwise, all of us will die.”

“If you fall here, you’ll never see your brother again—everything about your life will end in this very instant.”

——

Wasn’t this too high a bar?!

Shi He clenched his teeth.

He gripped his rifle tight; even at a glance, he could tell—the distance was already far beyond the weapon’s range.

But—

“…Alright, I’ll try.” Shi He replied. Taking a slow, deep breath, he gently racked the bolt.

Click. The bullet ejected. He loaded a new, special round.

[Miracle of Agony — An Eternally Winding Loop of Time and Space]
You are a poor soul trapped in moments long past, squandering the greatest treasure in your life in ignorance.
You’d give anything—your body, your soul, every longing and emotion you possess—for a second chance, to relive those eight years together.
You are frail and stubborn, fighting to live on your own, fighting to find him.

The Supreme God heard your prayer and granted you a holy miracle.

From this moment, your miracle of agony undergoes the Chosen’s empowerment.

You shall gain the power to reverse time—Backflow.
The power to freeze time—Clockstop.
The power to traverse time—Shuttle.

The cost: each use of these powers will burn away a portion of your remaining lifespan, the cost compounding with each use.
Meanwhile, if the one you miss still lives, tonight he will remember you—and relive your betrayal, once more, in his dreams.

Your lifespan can become your strength. Your time can purchase another chance at life.
So long as you survive, you may one day reunite.
But every day you live, his hatred for you will grow a little greater.

May you, on the day you reunite, still find hope.
Accept the grace of the miracle—gratefully.

——

At first blush, Shi He had stared at the description, mind blank—even uncertain what powers it might bestow.
Soon enough, he understood.

All along, caring for Zhong Yanqing in the sacred tomb… they’d always been together.

Famine.

He’d searched so hard for his brother, only to be sent away the moment they met again. Even so… he’d never truly been surprised.

Shi He moved slowly.

Step one: [Ash Mark Soulhunt—Clockstop]!

Humm!

In the roaring inferno, the burning trees outside were suddenly as if set to slow motion, flames dragging through the air, unaware.

His mind buzzed, and he felt the unmistakable drainage of his life force. He’d used this power for seven years already—how much time did he have left? Shi He no longer knew. All he did know was… he was still young.

After all, time was all he had.

And there—a window!

Shi He’s rifle snapped up.

Bang!!

The special round was fired with a crack of thunder, silver flame streaking straight toward the blood-red sky!

In Shi He’s pupils, the light flared—[Ash Mark Soulhunt—Shuttle]!

[Shuttle] was the highest-priced power at his disposal. It was not mere acceleration, but something closer to a power transcending time—a bending of cause and effect.

Before firing, he could designate a target in his view. Once discharged, the round would skip past its flight time and impact the target, instant and inescapable.

A bullet that ignored distance, transcending cause and effect itself!

Like a falling star, the round streaked into the blood-flecked sky. As its power waned, it flashed suddenly from sight—reappearing just beneath the Eye’s lower lid!

Humm!

With a sharp report, a harpoon-like wire embedded itself deep within the lower eyelid.

[Special Ammo—Poseidon’s Harpoon]
A harpoon to tether your prey. The wire is not something you’d ever wish to touch.

As for the cost…?
Unknown.

Shi He knew nothing about it.
He was only a youth, seventeen or so—he couldn’t gauge how much time he’d just burned… nor could he learn.

The harpoon struck home, and the heavens themselves seemed to shake.

Good, it caught! Shi He gripped both hands and yanked downward—

—but nothing happened!

Shi He was no Bian Xu. He was an expert in concealment and marksmanship, but he had no strength against a colossal Eye!

But the [Eye] had noticed him.

The giant eye rolled downward, fixing that pupil upon Shi He.

In an instant, Shi He’s blood ran cold.

Whoosh!

In a heartbeat, an endless wave of burning branches swept down like a falling waterfall, blocking the mouth of his cave shelter.

There was a protective barrier at the cave entrance, laid down by Zhong Yanqing—it could not ignite, but compared to the flames, what mattered most was—

Shi He bent double, hacking desperately for breath.

…The heat and smoke.

In a fire, the deadliest thing is rarely flame but smoke. Burning dust can reach several hundred degrees and, at its worst, can literally cook a person’s lungs.

“Move aside!”

A tiger’s roar boomed from outside. A massive sabertooth tiger burst forward, tearing open the flaming branches blocking the door.

Wang Jianguo tore through the heat, rushing in with no wasted words: “Get on!”

Shi He scooped up his rifle, grabbed the tiger’s pelt, and vaulted onto the sabertooth’s back.

Wang Jianguo, with Shi He astride, charged into the inferno.

By now the mountain path had become a ribbon of fire, winding and blinding, a burning road coiling directly to the summit—the farm’s heart.

The rest of Team Xubei fought the fire-trees overhead, a tangle of battle in the air.

Zhong Yanqing’s wards sent up bursts of steam, drifting toward Shi He.

“You can’t go back to the caves, not when it’s this hot. They’d become a steamer—pure suicide.”

Wang Jianguo spat: “From here out, it’s up to us on the front lines. Who knows how long we’ll last… How’s it going on your end?”

Shi He answered, “It’s hooked—but not budging.”

Wang Jianguo roared, “Let me help!”

Shi He gripped the tiger’s fur, face utterly calm and fearless. As they raced on, he seized the rifle bolt in his teeth and snapped it to lock the wire down tight.

Big cats make unsteady mounts at speed; the world flipped and spun, but Shi He—young, slim, light—was flung end over end and hung on grimly, eyes cold and grey, clutching that rifle like a lifeline.

Pull!

Even with Wang Jianguo’s strength, it didn’t budge!

At that moment, burning boughs swept in, dragging fire behind them, lashing down savagely.

The sabertooth tiger dropped low, huge form ducking, trying to slip through two slashing torrents of flame.

He almost made it. But Shi He’s harnessed wire stopped him dead—the sudden pull yanked Wang Jianguo right into the flames, and the tiger’s fur and flesh instantly stank of burned hair and scorched meat.

“Roar!!” The sabertooth howled in pain.

Shi He looked skyward—and was stunned.

A wooden spike had pierced straight through the farm owner!

The spike was sharp and unstoppable, pinning Si Zhiyan motionless in the sky.

—I want strength!

From the moment he became Chosen, Shi He had never felt so powerless.

He trembled all over, mind echoing with a single thought.

I want strength! @All the best stories, only at Jinjiang Literature City

If only I were strong, my brother would never have driven me away to begin with…

If only I were strong, Bian Xu wouldn’t have died, the farm owner wouldn’t be hurt…

If I were strong, I wouldn’t be so powerless now… Watching this dreamlike farm fall into ruin, unable to do anything…

I wanted to bring big brother to the farm, to show him what we built and protected, to tell him that no matter his fears, it didn’t matter—we could always live here together!

If only I were strong… If only I were strong enough!

Deep in his mind, the silhouette he’d not forgotten for seven years stretched massive dragon wings in the gloom, revealing a familiar, dangerous smile.

—Such a fine obsession.
As expected of… my child.

Without realizing, a haze of blood-colored mist was creeping up from Shi He’s feet, winding up his slender legs, his waist—climbing higher.

Zhong Yanqing, glancing back, froze in shock: “?!”

Somewhere along the way, Shi He’s eyes had become a bestial, savage red—sclera and pupil melded together, inhuman.

A faint slit pupil gleamed, locked hard upon the sky.

Shi He was oblivious. He pressed his slender legs tight, flipping himself upside down on the sabertooth’s back, gripping the rifle hard—and yanked!

The [Eye]’s pupil was exposed!

At that moment, in the heavens, Si Zhiyan—impaled by the wooden spike—neither dodged nor evaded, but bared a cold smile.

He pulled the trigger on the gun firing candy-red bills one final time!

——

Red-hot paper currency burst out in a rain of sparks. In a cataclysmic, world-ending blast and violent tremor, the [Eye] erupted in a howl of agony.

In a split second, blood-like white light burst from the pupil, swallowing Si Zhiyan whole.