Chapter 102 Nuclear Radiation 5

Chapter 102 Radiation Zone 5

For a full half hour, people fled in panic, screams rising one after another, and gunfire continuing incessantly.

Su Han stayed quietly in the shop, going nowhere, waiting only for all the troublemakers to be eliminated.

Just then, a blast of fire suddenly appeared outside the door, instantly engulfing the corridor!

Zhong Rui’s expression turned grave as he slowly uttered a few words, "Flamethrower."

Surviving players all had an ace up their sleeves. Now that it was a life-or-death situation, they naturally held nothing back.

The moment he spoke, the ground began to shake violently—so intensely that it felt like an earthquake.

But before long, the strong smell of gunpowder filled the air. At the same time, a corner of the underground complex began to collapse.

"Timed Explosives…" Su Han murmured to herself, "How many were detonated at once?"

Once stamina ran out, players would be kicked from the game. No matter how much gunpowder they had stockpiled, it would be useless. Thus, the robbers went all out, determined to seize enough supplies to survive!

Suddenly, Su Han’s expression changed. She quickly covered her nose and mouth with a moist towelette.

Beside her, Zhong Rui’s face darkened as he put on a surgical mask.

The explosives’ rampant destruction had caused issues in the underground complex. Though the two were inside the shop, their stamina drain suddenly accelerated—even worse than being outside.

"We need to move!" Su Han spoke urgently. "The underground air might have connected with the surface."

Zhong Rui had the same thought.

The two exchanged a glance and immediately evacuated without hesitation, swiftly returning to their own house.

**

After escaping danger, Zhong Rui rubbed his temples, feeling a slight headache—the safest underground complex had been destroyed, making beating the level even more troublesome. He even began to doubt his earlier decision. Was it really worth trading all his Vitality Potions for a single clearance reward?

He pondered.

Boom!

An explosion suddenly rang out, sounding way too close.

Su Han reacted swiftly, immediately turning toward the source of the noise.

Five men had broken down the shattered door, looking like thugs. One of them said boldly, "Got any food or drinks? Hand them over quickly, and we'll let you live."

Another curled his lip impatiently. "Quit yapping! Just kill them and search the place ourselves!"

At this moment, Su Han’s thoughts were clearer than ever. There weren’t just one or two desperate players—there were hundreds. Some were bold enough to target the underground plaza, while others, too cowardly, only dared to prey on surviving residents.

The group before them belonged to the latter.

Su Han stared at the shattered door, her brows furrowed in displeasure.

Zhong Rui, interrupted in his thoughts, couldn't be bothered talking. He simply whipped out a rocket launcher, ready to fire.

"Holy shit! A rocket launcher!" The robbers instantly paled, their hands breaking out in cold sweat.

One of them tried to shout, "These two are tough—run!" But before the words could leave his mouth, he disintegrated into light.

Though they took out the robbers, Zhong Rui showed no trace of joy. His expression was heavy as he announced regretfully, "The concentration of radioactive elements in the room has increased."

The evidence is that staying indoors causes the stamina drain rate to increase significantly compared to before.

Su Han let out a long sigh, feeling the pressure weighing heavily on her, almost suffocating.

**

He did it! He actually did it! Huang Dongri repeatedly checked the stolen goods, unable to suppress the grin on his face.

Potato chips, biscuits, chocolate, canned cola, 5L bottled water, body wash—everything was there. With these, he was sure to survive until Day 10!

Recalling his experiences after entering the instance, Huang Dongri wore a gloomy expression. At first, he knew nothing and foolishly wandered the streets for over an hour. By the evening of the first day, he had already gotten hit with the "Minor Injury" debuff.

Afterward, he realized that his hunger and hygiene meters were depleting unusually fast. Normally, an instance would consume about 50 hunger and 50 hygiene per day, but for some reason, this radiation modifier consumed 80 hunger and 80 hygiene daily!

He had planned to rely on his reserves, but as time passed, the situation worsened—he developed a "Moderate Injury" debuff, consuming a staggering 130 hunger and 130 hygiene per day! To make matters worse, he couldn’t get rid of the debuff no matter what he tried.

He lacked food, daily necessities, medicine—everything. So when someone approached him with a plan to raid the underground plaza, Huang Dongri immediately agreed.

The robbery was brutal, with many allies going down during the escape, but he managed to get away.

Though his stockpile of grenades was exhausted and he had burned through 70% of his ammo, Huang Dongri considered it a victory just to beat the tenth round!

Just as he was daydreaming about survival, suddenly, a group of people burst through the door, their eyes locked hungrily on the supplies on the floor.

Huang Dongri suddenly remembered—some players had chosen to raid the underground plaza, while others had opted to rob survivors' homes. At this realization, his heart sank—in the end, all his efforts had just set someone else up to win.

**

Day 5 of the game was destined to be anything but peaceful.

After the house door was blasted open, Su Han and Zhong Rui ducked into a room, finally slowing their stamina drain rate.

But trouble kept coming. In just two hours, Zhong Rui had blasted five waves of attackers with his rocket launcher.

Finally, he had to admit, "The radiation modifier is really tough. If we stay in this instance much longer, we’ll run out of rocket launcher ammo. Let’s leave as soon as Day 10 arrives."

Su Han nodded in firm agreement.

The broken door still had an impact—the place was way less sealed up than before. Now losing 1 stamina every four minutes instead of every ten. That meant 15 stamina per hour, or 360 per day.

Just doing the math made Su Han’s heart race. She dumped meds into herself, barely managing to push her stamina above 600, only to watch it tank right back down.

Zhong Rui pulled out anti-rad pills. "Since we’re not aiming to clear the instance anymore, let’s take these."

Su Han didn’t hesitate and took them as instructed.

The moment she swallowed, the system’s mechanical voice crackled in Su Han’s ear, "You have consumed anti-rad pills. For the next four hours, you will be immune to nuclear radiation damage and will not absorb radioactive elements. (Note: Limited to one dose per day.)"

Su Han couldn’t help but marvel, "You get what you pay for. Now that’s a solid buff."

Zhong Rui glanced at his Portable Storage, noticing an empty slot, and his soul hurt a little.

Day 6: Eat, sleep, pop pills, fight.

Day 7: Eat, sleep, pop pills, fight.

In the afternoon, the system’s mechanical voice crackled in Su Han’s ears: "Total radioactive element intake has exceeded safe limits. Your body has sustained Moderate Injury."

At the same time, the grayed-out areas of her hunger, hygiene, and stamina bars expanded.

Su Han was shocked to find her max stats took a hit, dropping from 800 to 700.

"With stats caps constantly shrinking, we have to rely on medicine just to survive, gorging ourselves and using supplies nonstop just to keep hunger and hygiene within safe ranges," she muttered, looking skyward. "What kind of broken game is this?"

Zhong Rui reminded, "Drink the Vitality Potion, and the contaminated areas along with the accumulated radioactive elements in your body should disappear together." After all, the potion's effect is to remove all negative statuses from the player.

Su Han said expressionlessly, "Feels like non-Healer players are being discriminated against."

"Each profession has its own strengths and weaknesses," Zhong Rui replied calmly.

Su Han had nothing to say.

On the 8th day of the game, the situation spiraled further out of control. Some players, knowing they couldn’t pass the level, turned destructive, determined to drag others down with them.

Just past 9 in the morning, while Su Han was organizing her Portable Storage, she heard a loud explosion outside.

Stepping out, she saw a guy splashing oil and setting fires, causing chaos. Nearby stood another person, likely the arsonist’s accomplice, shooting at anyone in sight like bullets grew on trees.

Su Han felt a wave of exhaustion. These people, unable to survive themselves, refused to let others live peacefully either.

"Too many lunatics. I almost want to get the hell out of here," Zhong Rui sighed.

Su Han asked deadpan, "And where would we go if we left?"

Zhong Rui froze.

Su Han continued, "A fight outside might cost 100–200 Stamina. But if we can’t find shelter afterward, we might end up losing 200, 300, or even more Stamina every day."

Zhong Rui had to admit his friend was right.

Just as he was about to speak, another explosion sounded outside. Looking over, he saw the neighboring house already engulfed in flames, with the fire rapidly spreading.

The two troublemakers laughed maniacally, clearly out of their minds.

"You take the left one, I’ll handle the right," Su Han said, only to spot a head peeking out from a corner, lighting up the arsonists with submachine gun fire.

The arsonists fought back fiercely with grenades and flamethrowers.

Soon after, all three vanished in white light almost simultaneously.

Su Han, "..."

Zhong Rui, "..."

So many lunatics—it was downright terrifying.

The instigators had fled, but the mess remained.

Staring at the blazing inferno and listening to the crackling explosions, Su Han felt boiling anger.

Zhong Rui rolled up his sleeves and sighed helplessly, "Put out this fire. Even if the water’s contaminated with radioactive elements, the plumbing still works."

Su Han looked ready to murder, wishing she could drag the arsonists back and respawn-kill them a hundred times over.

Over an hour later, the flames were finally extinguished.

Exhausted, the two collapsed onto the couch the moment they returned to their room.

Su Han muttered, "I can’t wait to get out of this dungeon."

Zhong Rui, rarely feeling trapped, was deeply unsettled. "Desperate people are dangerous. Those people have nothing left to lose, so they go all out. If we stay here much longer, we might really get pulled under."

Nothing in this world is ever foolproof. For safety’s sake, he too wanted to leave the dungeon.

Note: Baidu suggests iodine pills help flush out radioactive elements. (Author's not an expert, so don't overanalyze the science.)