Chapter 147 Yu Xing Fights a Tiger, Grandpa’s Invitation

Chapter 147 Yu Xing and the Tiger: An Invitation

The tiger was unsettlingly realistic—Yu Xing could even smell its rank, animal odor.

When its initial pounce missed, the tiger whipped its tail, turning and lunging again at a speed that made Yu Xing's pupils contract in shock.

This time, she couldn’t evade. In the nick of time, she extended her left hand, grabbed, and slammed it to the ground. By the time she registered what had happened, she had already pinned the tiger down by its scalp.

"..."

Yu Xing was speechless. This game was too fake; could a real tiger be subdued so easily?

The tiger beneath her thrashed, so Yu Xing swung a leg over its back and sat astride it. Raising a fist the size of a sand pot, she bellowed, "Yu Xing fights the tiger!"

She punched the tiger several times, and it let out a shriek like a pig being slaughtered. Just as it seemed on the verge of death, the trees in the forest ahead rustled violently.

For a moment, Yu Xing tensed—in reality, such a disturbance would signal the approach of a contaminant. Thankfully, she remembered the game had no contaminants; at most, another tiger might appear.

Instead, over a dozen tense-looking people, armed with stone axes and spears, emerged from the woods. The moment they spotted Yu Xing bare-handedly beating a tiger, their eyes collectively widened.

The group: "..."

Yu Xing: "..."

Both sides stared at each other in awkward silence.

Finally, someone exclaimed, "Holy shit, she’s fiercer than the tiger! Is she some kind of humanoid beast NPC in this game?!"

"..."

Another awkward pause. Then a woman slapped the speaker. "You idiot! What kind of beast wears clothes?"

Yu Xing stood up, a little embarrassed. "Uh, the tiger’s not dead yet. It’s still breathing."

The leader of the group, a man with a buzz cut, stepped forward in admiration. "Sister, you’re incredible. Your physical stats must be off the charts."

Yu Xing chuckled awkwardly. "Heh heh, just average. Mostly, the game’s tigers are too weak."

The moment she said that, all eleven faces twitched in unison.

The buzz-cut man also laughed awkwardly. "Heh heh, everything in this game, all the data, is identical to the real world. It’s not that the tiger is weak... it’s that you are truly too strong."

After their explanation, Yu Xing learned that in the game, only appearance could be altered; all other physical data remained the same as in reality. So, it wasn’t that Yu Xing became exceptionally powerful in-game, but rather that she was already exceptionally powerful in real life.

Shocked by this revelation, Yu Xing stared at her hands.

She had indeed felt some changes in her body after consuming contaminant hearts, but she hadn’t realized the transformation was this drastic.

"Sister, the game is dangerous. Even if you’re strong, going solo isn’t wise," the buzz-cut man said earnestly, extending a hand. "Why not join us? We’d be thrilled to have you."

Yu Xing's understanding of games was still based on Earth's standards, so she asked, "How many people are in your guild?"

A girl behind the leader laughed. "What guild? There are no guilds in this game. Our tribe only has eleven people, and we’re just barely surviving."

Yu Xing: "?"

"You didn’t know?" The buzz-cut man scratched his head. "You can starve in-game. If you don’t eat for too long, you’ll die and your character will be deleted. We came out here to hunt for food."

Yu Xing was increasingly bewildered. A game where you could starve and had to forage for food? It was incomprehensible.

She couldn’t help but ask, "Then why play this game? Just to suffer hunger?"

"For realism!" A teenage girl in the group exclaimed excitedly. "Don’t you think a world almost identical to reality—but without walls, free to explore and develop—is incredibly captivating?"

Yu Xing found it hard to understand. She countered, "Did you catch anything today? Have you eaten?"

"..."

Another awkward silence.

The buzz-cut leader looked sheepish, lowering his head. "We... ate. We found some wild fruit today. Everyone... ate two berries each."

What a tragedy. Instead of enjoying nutritious liquid meals in reality, they chose to endure hunger in a game.

By now, the tiger had kicked the bucket. Yu Xing pointed at its corpse. "You can have this, then."

"You won’t join us?" The buzz-cut man pressed, a hint of urgency in his voice. "If you do, I’ll give you my spot as tribe leader."

"Yeah, yeah!"

"You should lead us!"

"You’re so strong!"

"Our tribe is still a primitive one; we allow multiple husbands..."

Yu Xing’s gaze swiftly swept over the tribe members' faces. She had to admit, everyone had designed attractive faces and bodies. But she had pressing matters to attend to and no time for games.

"No, no, thank you. I’m busy killing myself off," Yu Xing said. "Is there a cliff nearby where I can fall to my death? My friend and I agreed to play together, but I chose the wrong starting coordinates."

Seeing that Yu Xing truly had no intention of staying to be their leader, the tribe members, being very helpful, offered, "There are no cliffs nearby, but we can help you. A spear through the head won't hurt, I've tried..."

And so, Yu Xing died in-game.

Her vision turned black. Taking off her full-body VR headset, Yu Xing heard a "tsk tsk tsk" sound.

Looking closer, she saw Jiang Hui, a wide smile on his face, playing with a dog.

Seemingly sensing her gaze, Jiang Hui turned his head and met Yu Xing's eyes.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Jiang Hui asked, "Done playing already?"

"Oh, I killed myself. There’s a five-minute cooldown before I can re-enter the game." Yu Xing casually asked, "What’s your game ID? And where are your coordinates?"

To her surprise, Jiang Hui's coordinates were also in Africa. She was a little curious. "It seems a lot of people choose Africa."

"Heh." Jiang Hui twitched his lips. "Because the game wasn’t even officially released yet, still in beta, players discovered that Africa had the fiercest animals, and people died the most brutally there. Some people, out of a desire to mess with society, started hyping up the African continent as the most fun after the game launched, and a lot of people fell for it..."

That reason was truly...

Logging back into the game, Yu Xing also created a stunningly beautiful face for herself and named her character "Shen Yuyu," choosing the exact same coordinates as Miao Yuanjin.

The next second, before Yu Xing’s vision had even fully cleared, she heard a familiar voice in her ear say, "Wow, that face is too beautiful, even more exaggerated than mine."

Yu Xing blinked, realizing she and Miao Yuanjin were standing almost face to face.

"..."

"Yu Xing?" Miao Yuanjin still seemed uncertain, asking softly.

"It's me," Yu Xing replied, looking around to find herself in the middle of a vast grassland.

The sky stretched endlessly, the wilderness boundless, the wind rustling the grass to reveal... wait, no—the department head.

Yu Xing instinctively recoiled slightly. "This place is so dangerous."

"Tell me about it," Miao Yuanjin sighed. "I was originally the leader of a tribe. I came out alone to meet you and ended up surrounded here. If you hadn’t arrived quickly, you probably wouldn’t have seen me again."

Yu Xing: "..."

"Say what you need to say quickly," Miao Yuanjin said with a weary tone. "If we don’t hurry, it’ll be too late. Though if we die, we’ll end up in the same predator's stomach, so at least we’ll share a grave in death..."

"Stop talking nonsense," Yu Xing said, exasperated. "When did we ever 'share a bed' in life?"

Getting straight to the point, Yu Xing asked, "You mentioned before that you’d ask your grandfather about that strange symbol. Did you?"

"Ah, that." Miao Yuanjin looked a little guilty. She apologized, "So much happened afterward that I forgot. Did you come back just to ask me about this?"

She then added, "Wait here, I’ll ask him now. Don’t leave, wait for me."

With that, Miao Yuanjin closed her eyes, her arms hanging limply at her sides—she had logged out.

With Miao Yuanjin offline, Yu Xing was left alone and bored. Since the area was teeming with hyenas and lions were lurking in the distant grass, Yu Xing mentally rolled up her sleeves, thinking, *I might as well make myself useful.*

When Miao Yuanjin logged back in, Yu Xing was nowhere to be seen. Miao Yuanjin panicked, wondering if Yu Xing had been devoured by wild animals.

Then she turned and saw hyena corpses strewn everywhere.

"..." *Holy crap, what happened here?*

Hearing movement ahead, Miao Yuanjin quickly ran to investigate. She then saw Yu Xing crouched in the grass, gripping a male lion’s mane and beating it until blood streamed from its orifices.

"..." *Holy crap, this game is bugged!*

Yu Xing looked up, wiped a splash of blood from her face, and grinned at Miao Yuanjin. "I heard you have to hunt in-game to feed yourselves. Does your tribe need prey? You can have all of these."

"..." *Holy crap, I’m strangely touched.*

"I asked my grandfather," Miao Yuanjin said, a little conflicted. "He wouldn’t tell me."

"Ah." Yu Xing was a bit disappointed.

"But he said if you go see him in person, he’ll tell you himself." Miao Yuanjin scratched her head. "Who knows what he's thinking."

Yu Xing was surprised that Elder Miao actively wanted to meet her, but she was also pleased. She had always wanted to meet the legendary figure of the Federation in person.

"But..." Yu Xing hesitated. "Does he know I’m a wanted criminal?"

"He knows," Miao Yuanjin beamed. "You know what? I helped you escape the Seven Cities last time—I asked my grandfather to intervene, and he actually did..."

Only then did Yu Xing realize how much had happened behind the scenes during the B District battle.

Yu Xing asked, "How do I meet him?"

Miao Yuanjin’s plan was simple: she would go to Yu Xing, then let Yu Xing possess her body, allowing them to meet her grandfather without obstacles.

The plan was indeed feasible. Yu Xing told Miao Yuanjin to come to the clinic to find her, then logged off and left the game.

Removing her full-body VR headset, Yu Xing stood up. "I have to go out soon."

"Will you be back for lunch?" Jiang Hui asked.

"No." Yu Xing had originally planned to contact the Transmigrator Exchange Forum to tell them she might have found a fellow transmigrator. But since Miao Yuanjin said she was on her way, Yu Xing likely wouldn’t have time to post.

Sure enough, Miao Yuanjin’s car soon pulled up to the clinic.

As she walked in, she said, "Good thing I didn't go back to District A, or I wouldn't have been able to get here so fast."