Chapter 188: Besieged

“Shi Zhile is mine!”

“Kill her, and we’ll split the supplies.”

Tang Yan held his crossbow, shielding Shi Zhile behind him.

It was a good thought, but another group of people had come up from behind them.

In no time, the two of them were completely surrounded.

Although they had Tang Yan and Shi Zhile surrounded, they were also afraid of being turned on and killed, so they kept their distance, leaving a large open space around the pair.

“Shi Zhile, if you don’t want to die an ugly death, just kill yourself!”

“Don’t let her kill herself! If she does, the supplies will be gone for good.”

“Right, just hand over the supplies obediently.”

Shi Zhile asked her System in her mind, ‘System, roughly how many people are there?’

‘357 people,’ the System replied. ‘296 male players and 61 female players. Host, my advice is to run.’

Shi Zhile spun the Water Gun in her hand. The moment she lowered her head, her gaze met the small eyes of the Green Snake.

It flicked its tongue, letting out a “HISS.” The next second, a sparse rustling sound came from all around, followed by more and more HISSING.

Shi Zhile raised snakes; she was all too familiar with this sound.

At the same time, the players on the outer edge of the crowd began to realize something was wrong.

“Something just crawled up my pants leg! HOLY SHIT, it bites… It’s a snake!”

“So many snakes! There are snakes on the ground!”

“AH! Don’t bite me, don’t bite me!”

The crowd descended into chaos. Tang Yan stayed vigilant, watching for players to make a move while also keeping an eye out for approaching snakes.

Shi Zhile stood back-to-back with him, her Water Gun suddenly aimed at the crowd.

With a light press of her index finger, the small nozzle of the Water Gun instantly shot out a massive column of water. The immense pressure sent the targeted player flying.

The closest player simply vanished into the blast of water. For those farther away, you could still see an afterimage as they were launched into the air.

What’s more, they didn’t even make a sound.

A trench was carved into the grassy ground. She fired again and again. Tang Yan spun in a circle to coordinate with her, nocking and loosing arrows from his crossbow over and over. When he turned to face the other side, he found no one there.

Tang Yan: “…”

‘Where’d they go?’

‘What just happened?’

After one full rotation, almost all the players had been sent flying. Centered on the two of them, a layer of the surrounding grassland had been stripped bare.

The few who remained were so scared they ran without even needing to be attacked, but Shi Zhile didn’t let them go. She drew a bow and shot them down one by one.

The patch of grass scoured by the Water Gun was exceptionally clean, but the thick smell of blood in the air was a testament to the brutal battle that had just taken place.

The two walked side-by-side. Tang Yan hesitated, “Um…”

Shi Zhile: “Um, what? If you have something to say, say it. If not, shut up.”

Tang Yan: “That Water Gun of yours is… something else.”

He never would have imagined that something resembling a child’s plastic toy gun could produce such a powerful, high-pressure blast.

He had initially been prepared for a fight to the death, but when he turned around and saw that the people in front of him had vanished, his mind went completely blank.

He took the chance to glance back and only then did he see Shi Zhile using the Water Gun. No! It was a super-duper-high-high-high-pressure Water Gun.

When that thing hit the first person, it blasted his body apart. The impact on the second and third people wasn’t as powerful as the first, but those who were hit were probably dead too.

As for the untold number of people behind them, they were all just blown away by the water.

Shi Zhile smiled, took out the Water Gun, and handed it to him.

Tang Yan glanced at it, then glanced at it again, but still didn’t dare to take it.

He was a little scared to hold such a powerful weapon. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation and would stuff it directly into his own backpack.

Shi Zhile pushed it toward him again. “Since you think it’s something else, why don’t you see how it feels?”

“Can I really try it?”

“Of course!”

She wasn’t the least bit worried that Tang Yan would use the Water Gun against her. Without water, a water gun was just an ordinary toy.

The weapon’s killing power was indeed strong, but it also required a huge amount of water.

The reason this Water Gun could kill people was because she had stored a lot of water in her backpack in advance. While she was using it, she was constantly transferring water out of her backpack.

To others, it looked effortless and cool, but in reality, it was a pain in the ass to pull off.

With a look of astonishment, Tang Yan cautiously took the Water Gun and ran his hands over it again and again, examining it meticulously.

Although he maintained a calm expression, inside he was practically bursting with joy.

‘She’s letting me try out such an important weapon. Does this mean that in Shi Zhile’s heart, I’m a very, very trustworthy partner?’

Shi Zhile: “So? How is it?”

Tang Yan: “It’s very light. It feels just like a child’s plastic pistol. Can I try firing it?”

“Go ahead!”

Tang Yan aimed the Water Gun into the distance and pressed his finger. A thin stream of water squirted out, landing just two steps away.

Tang Yan: “…”

He tried again, not wanting to believe it. This time, the water sputtered out even closer than before.

“You’re messing with me.”

Shi Zhile took it back and used it again right in front of him.

A huge pillar of water shot out, so powerful that it even deformed the neat grass on the ground.

Tang Yan: “…I get it. This is the legendary ‘weapon choosing its master’.”

Shi Zhile nodded seriously. “That’s right. Besides me, no one else can use it.”

A message popped up again. Shi Zhile opened her panel.

Wen Bai: [Image], [Image]. What just happened? Someone suddenly came flying from up ahead.

Shi Zhile replied: Oh, they got blasted by my Water Gun. If you run into them, finish them off. They’re all players who just tried to kill me.

Wen Bai: ??? Water Gun? 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

Shi Zhile ignored him and focused on observing the terrain.

By now, they had been walking for over half an hour. Including the time they’d spent traveling in the afternoon, they had been walking on the grassland for nearly three hours. But even so, they still couldn’t see its end.

This grassland was so vast it seemed to have no borders, causing them to lose their sense of direction.

After walking for another ten-plus minutes, the sky turned completely dark. They still couldn’t see the edge of the grassland, so they simply took out a vehicle and started a fire right where they were.

The night grew colder. A chilly wind mixed with a light drizzle blew against their faces, and before long, their bodies began to feel cold.

They set up a rain shelter, and the mutton continued to roast over the fire. The two of them took turns changing clothes inside the vehicle, then sat on stools to eat dinner.

「The night passed quietly. The next morning, as the sun rose in the east,」 Wen Bai and Sun Ci caught up with them, and the four of them continued on together.

As they ventured deeper into the grassland, more and more animals appeared, some familiar and some not.

Sometimes they were the hunters, and sometimes they were the hunted. Tang Yan had it the worst; his red shirt was the most conspicuous, and he was chased by a wild bull until his legs almost gave out.

Because of the previous ambush and slaughter, Shi Zhile’s score was a full 20,000 points ahead of second place, making her shine even more brightly on the leaderboard.

More people came one after another to throw their lives away. The group of four killed as they walked—sometimes players, sometimes animals—which led to the four of them occupying the top four spots on the leaderboard.

And so, the four of them walked across the grassland for seven days.

「On the evening of the eighth day,」 the group climbed a small slope on the grassland. Under the setting sun, the silhouette of a mountain range slammed into view.