Chapter 110 Survival 6

Chapter 110 Struggle for Survival (6)

On the 4th day of the game, the system's mechanical voice announced, "17 players remaining. (Since the number of survivors has dropped below 20, data will now be updated in real time.)"

Su Han chugged a Vitality Potion, restoring her to full strength, and noticed with relief that the fire had weakened. If she were in a hurry to leave, she could do so now.

However, she wasn’t anxious. Calmly, she tossed the new supplies into her companion’s large backpack.

After drinking the potion, Zhong Rui thought for a moment before casually taking apart the newly obtained armor-piercing rocket.

Su Han caught a glimpse of this out of the corner of her eye and was momentarily stunned, but she quickly understood. "Worried there's a rocket launcher at the weapon resource point? Leaving the shell lying around would let others pick it up and use it?"

"Can't be too careful," Zhong Rui replied while continuing to take it apart with even more enthusiasm.

After much effort, he finally broke the shell into useless pieces. He clapped his hands together, satisfied with his work.

Turning around, he was about to speak to his companion when he spotted something. Zhong Rui’s expression abruptly changed. He shouted, "Watch out!" and pulled Su Han into his arms.

The suddenness of the action left Su Han stunned briefly, confused. But she quickly regained her composure and noticed something unusual—where she had been standing moments ago, an arrow whizzed by at waist level. Had she remained still, it might have struck her abdomen.

Upon closer inspection, the arrowhead was coated with an unknown black liquid that gleamed dangerously under the sunlight, clearly dangerous.

Su Han’s expression darkened as she went on high alert.

Zhong Rui released his companion and moved closer to examine the arrow. Sniffing it, he detected a cloyingly sweet smell. His face turned cold as he said flatly, "The arrow is laced with deadly poison."

"Did the attacker hide? I didn’t see anyone holding a crossbow," Su Han thought aloud, all the while scanning her surroundings warily.

Just then, however, she noticed something suspicious protruding from a distant pile of rocks—an object that looked like a long tube. Su Han narrowed her eyes to get a better look, but in the next second, another short arrow shot out, flying straight toward her.

This time, Su Han dodged easily.

"Are you okay?" Zhong Rui hurried to her side, concern in his voice.

Su Han shook her head, her expression grave. She said quietly, "It’s a blowgun."

A blowgun? Hearing this, Zhong Rui immediately understood.

In martial arts stories, it was common for people to use bamboo blowpipes to shoot needles or short darts—the legendary blowgun.

From what he knew, certain tribes in tropical regions traditionally used blowguns for hunting. Skilled blowgun hunters could shoot darts over a hundred meters with deadly accuracy, hitting targets as small as a fist. To increase lethality, they often coated the darts with various poisons to immobilize their prey.

An ordinary person without specialized training would likely be unable to use a blowgun effectively. But given that the attacker was at least forty meters away and still managed to shoot with such precision, it was clear they were an experienced hunter!

What made things worse was that the assailant showed no intention of revealing themselves, preferring to remain hidden and strike from the shadows.

Long-range, poisoned, and accurate—just thinking about it was troublesome.

Su Han suggested, "Don’t you have a crossbow? Why not shoot back?"

Zhong Rui said with a frustrated sigh, "He’s hiding behind rocks. How am I supposed to hit him? A crossbow isn’t a gun—you can’t pull the trigger and have the bolt reach him instantly, leaving no time to dodge."

Su Han tightened her grip on the bat and said coolly, "Then we’ll confront him head-on."

As she spoke, a third short arrow came flying.

Su Han swung the bat—whack!—knocking the arrow aside. Her expression darkened further. "Why's he only coming after me?!"

There were two of them here, yet the attacker acted as if Zhong Rui didn’t exist, focusing all attacks on her! Even saints have their limits—did he really think she wouldn’t fight back?

Su Han immediately stormed forward, only for the opponent to retreat behind the rocks without hesitation.

When Su Han took two steps back, the opponent followed.

If she ran in pursuit, they would nimbly withdraw.

If she stood still, the opponent would also stay put, raising the blowgun to keep attacking.

...

Su Han was out of options. She had long discarded her crossbow and now had no means of ranged attack. In terms of running, the opponent was way more agile—no way she could catch up.

With a deadpan look, she thought to herself, *Is this the essence of guerrilla warfare passed down by our ancestors—"Advance when the enemy retreats, harass when the enemy halts, strike when the enemy tires, pursue when the enemy withdraws"?* She wasn’t exactly afraid, but it was just plain annoying.

Zhong Rui narrowed his eyes, trying to aim. However, weapons like bows and crossbows had limited range—the farther the distance, the lower the accuracy. With fifty meters between them, shooting now would just waste arrows.

The standoff locked them in place.

Just then, the system’s mechanical voice blared back-to-back, "Surviving players: 16."

"Surviving players: 15."

It was unclear whether two players had killed each other or if their injuries were so severe that they coincidentally chose to leave the instance at the same time.

"Three more," Su Han silently counted, scrambling for a plan.

Zhong Rui’s voice was barely audible, "Split up and flank them."

Su Han instantly understood, giving a slight nod. Then she slumped by the rock pile, looking like she’d quit.

Zhong Rui spoke in an offhand tone, "That guy’s too cowardly to come over. You stay here—I’ll go grab water."

After a pause, he deliberately asked, "You’ll be fine alone, right?"

*"Just a scaredy-cat."* Su Han raised her voice, taunting.

Hearing this, Zhong Rui turned and left without hesitation.

Su Han sat calmly, eyeing him defiantly.

Yet the hunter remained coolly waiting for the right moment to strike.

But after the wildfire, the surroundings were charred, with no cover in sight. He could either stand out in the open or step out of attack range.

After much deliberation, the hunter decided to go for it—this person before him might be the last female player left in the instance. Who else was there to eliminate?!

Once decided, he loosed five darts in a flurry, their trajectories staggered and nearly impossible to dodge.

Su Han only managed to deflect two—the other three were unavoidable.

She let out a sharp gasp as she was struck.

The hunter’s mouth twisted into a grin—the darts were coated in lethal poison!

But less than ten seconds later, his smile froze. Despite being hit, the target’s health percentage was dropping at a crawl. It was as if… the attack barely affected her…

The hunter nearly lost control of his expression. He couldn’t wrap his head around why he’d run into such a tank! With health like that, she must have been grinding from day one!

Unbeknownst to him, he had hit the nail on the head. Standing there dazed, he froze for a second.

Before you could blink, Zhong Rui lunged forward and landed a solid punch to the hunter.

The hunter fought back hard, trying to retreat.

Little did he know, Su Han had quietly closed in. Seizing the chance, she swiftly jabbed a tranq dart into the attacker’s arm and injected the drug.

"Ahhh!!!" The hunter let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Not satisfied with just one dart, Su Han pulled out another and stabbed it into the hunter's right thigh, smiling as she said, "Now you’re not going anywhere."

Working together, the two quickly took out the ambusher.

"What kind of drug was that?" Zhong Rui finally asked after wrapping things up.

"Anesthetic. It affects mobility after injection," Su Han explained briefly.

Zhong Rui zoned out in thought, as if struck by inspiration.

Su Han rolled her eyes and laughed, adding, "Don’t overthink it. The darts are all used up now."

Hearing this, Zhong Rui had no choice but to let it go.

Su Han wondered to herself, *What was this guy just thinking? Why did he look so regretful?*

The system’s mechanical voice chimed in, "14 surviving players."

Two more eliminations were needed. Su Han felt the game would likely end today.

**

At the same time, Dai Hui got ambushed.

To avoid the raging fire, she had deliberately followed a small stream. But as she walked, a volley of arrows suddenly flew at her from behind. Though she dodged in time, she couldn’t avoid them all—two arrows grazed her arm and cheek.

Dai Hui knew the attacker wouldn’t let her go and would surely follow up, so she clenched her jaw and forced herself up. But then she realized her wounds felt numb, and her movements had slowed.

"Three satchels? You’ve hoarded quite a lot of supplies," the male attacker whistled, his demeanor way too smug. "Come on, hand ’em over first."

The man wore an innocently sweet smile. In reality, he was thinking that once she handed over the satchels, he’d throw a grenade and blow her to kingdom come!

"Hand the bags over?" Hearing the unreasonable demand, Dai Hui instinctively showed reluctance. She pressed her lips together and remained silent until the man was about to lose patience before obediently handing them over.

"That’s more like it!" The man gleefully took the satchels. He was so overjoyed that he failed to notice Dai Hui lowering her eyelids, a smirk tugging at her lips, as she subtly took two steps back.

Eagerly, the man opened the satchel to check his loot, only to freeze in shock—inside were only six packs of HighExplosive, nothing else.

His fingers twitched as if electrocuted, trying to fling the bag away, but it was too late. A blast rocked the area, instantly wiping out over 70% of his HP.

"I’m a player with a second profession," Dai Hui sneered coldly, sending the man out of the game.

Before turning into white light, the man sputtered furiously, "So what if you have a second profession? I have one too!" He simply hadn’t expected his opponent to have an explosives-related profession, leading to his miscalculation.

Dai Hui remained unmoved. Only when she was alone did she mutter under her breath, "Take the L already, and stop bitching. How annoying."

Shaking her head, Dai Hui sat down and began popping health potions to restore her vitality.

**

A little past 3, the system’s mechanical voice announced, "12 surviving players. Only 10% made it. Congratulations on completing the extreme challenge."

"You have received additional rewards."

"All surviving players in the instance will now be booted out."

A flash of white light, and both Su Han and Zhong Rui exited the dungeon.

The results screen appeared—

Name: Su Han (ID-verified)

Level: 7 (+5 EXP needed to level up)

Profession 1: Dietician (Has maxed-out skills, cannot be upgraded further)

Profession 2: Soap Artisan (Has maxed-out skills, cannot be upgraded further)

Hunger: 860/860

Hygiene: 860/860

HP: 860/860

The scoring system was removed, but bonus rewards for completing the dungeon remained the same as before—she could freely choose two options.

A: +5 EXP

B: Hunger, Hygiene, and HP maximum increased by 20 each

C: Obtain a medical kit (contains medical supplies)

D: Obtain a deluxe care package (contains food and daily necessities)

Her current EXP was 24/30. If she chose option A, she would level up immediately upon entering the next game instance, wasting a chance for full stat recovery. With this in mind, Su Han quickly eliminated option A.

Weighing her options among B, C, and D, she decided on B and C.

Her stats updated to:

Hunger: 880/880

Hygiene: 880/880

HP: 880/880

A system message appeared: "You have successfully advanced. Please enter the 12th round promptly at 8 AM tomorrow."

"Note: The 12th round is the finals. For specific details, please log in to the official forum and check the pinned post."

Su Han’s expression was unreadably serious. She murmured, "So this is it... the final showdown?"

No matter what opponents she might face next, she would give it everything she's got until the very end! With this thought, her gaze hardened with steely determination.

Author’s note: Tank: A gaming term referring to players with exceptionally high HP.