The King of Black Fog

Twenty minutes later, Li Changzhou went up to take over, and Li Qianxia looked back at the desert reluctantly several times.

Li Changzhou glanced at her, "What, have you fallen in love with this place?"

Li Qianxia's gaze was still searching for something, and she said, "Brother, do you think that snake will come back to attack us?"

"It might, it might not, like the ending of 'Border City' by Shen Congwen."

"If I killed it, maybe I could buy the 'Enlarge and Shrink' skill," Li Qianxia said with a tone full of longing.

"Do you want to get bigger or smaller? And specifically, where do you want to get bigger or smaller?"

"Anyway, I definitely know where you want to get bigger."

"Is there something wrong with your brain? I was dissing you." Li Changzhou had a look of having nothing to say, then added, "Speaking of which, I'd really like to have the Chameleon's skill."

"Convenient for peeping in the women's changing room?"

"Get lost!"

Yang Qinglan glanced at the gecko-like siblings on the cliff and then focused her attention on both sides of the canyon, her Perception not missing any movement, while she twisted a fistful of grass seeds in her hands.

The 'Thorns' she exchanged for required grass seeds as casting materials; grass seeds were not sold in the game and couldn't be brought in from reality.

She hadn't been too concerned about this initially—in nature, grass absorbs water, converts sunlight, herbivores eat grass, and carnivores eat herbivores.

In any place with life, grass is indispensable.

But she hadn't expected it to be a desert this time.

Even so, she had now found grass seeds.

If they truly found themselves in a situation where no grass seeds were available, their concern wouldn't be the seeds, but rather where to find water.

After Li Qianxia went down to rest, Li Changzhou looked up at the sky, where the blue sky amidst the heat waves seemed to be undulating in water.

He remembered that October in 2017 when he also had an AK-series rifle, lying at the military base filled with the sounds of gunfire, the pungent smell of gunpowder in the air, and bullets occasionally hitting the high iron railings with a loud clang.

He huddled on the overpass, not daring to show his head, hands trembling, heart pounding, wanting to pee, looked up at the sky, and the scenery was very similar to now.

It was back when the 'Survival of the Fittest' terrorist training base had just started to recruit people.

Li Changzhou wiped off the sweat sliding down his temple, brought back his gaze and thoughts, and watchfully surveyed his surroundings.

Nobody came after all this time.

Perhaps some animals had stealthily passed by, but they hadn't noticed them, nor did they launch an attack.

Time passed like water seeping from stone, dripping away drop by drop.

In the evening, the wind rose, carrying whirling sand and dust, as if an invisible giant hand were sowing golden powder over the desert.

The rustling sound was endless.

"Be careful," Zheng Qing warned in a low voice from the bottom of the canyon, "some animals may use the sandstorm to cover their footstep noises."

"Understood!" Li Qianxia responded, as it was her turn to keep watch.

Li Changzhou and Yang Qinglan started collecting twigs and dried grass in the canyon to prepare for the night.

The temperature in the desert could plunge below freezing at night, and with their thin clothing, if they didn't have a fire, they would either freeze to death or certainly fall ill even if they survived.

Getting sick in the Value game was like getting at least a three-year fixed-term sentence; you'd be in a constant state of trepidation even if it wasn't a death sentence.

Only by surviving these tests could one increase their own 'value,' which is probably what nature meant.

Starting a fire was easy.

Zheng Qing borrowed Yang Qinglan's dagger and also took a bullet from Li Changzhou's AK.

Somehow, she quickly pulled out the bullet head, poured out half the gunpowder, and then cut a piece of fabric from her uniform to stuff inside.

"It's ready," she handed the bullet to Li Changzhou, "aim it at the dry grass."

"Just like 'The Master of the Great Forest' from my elementary school textbooks," Li Changzhou mused as he chambered the bullet with interest.

"What's 'The Master of the Great Forest'?" Zheng Qing showed a bewildered expression.

"Nothing." Li Changzhou handed the AK to Yang Qinglan, "Want to give it a shot? There might come a time when you're the only one who can shoot."

"Okay," Yang Qinglan took the gun.

"I'll teach you. Like this, hold the gun up high, look here, butt against here..."

"Tsk tsk tsk tsk!" came the sound of Li Qianxia jeering from above.

Yang Qinglan's head didn't move, but her beautiful eyes cast a glance at Li Changzhou.

"Mm-hmm." Li Changzhou stepped back a few paces.

"Very precise. Shoot," he pointed at the pile of dry grass.

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"If you can't even speak Mandarin, it's because someone has a guilty conscience."

"If you keep quiet, nobody will think you have heatstroke," Li Changzhou warned Li Qianxia with a cold voice.

"Big brother," if Li Qianxia cared about his warning, she wouldn't be Li Qianxia, "a girl allowing you to get this close at least proves..."

"Bang!"

Accompanied by the sound of the gunshot, a burning cloth strip fell onto the dry grass, making Li Qianxia shudder in fear.

She hurriedly withdrew her gaze and continued to patrol with her eyes.

Li Changzhou added branches and bushes to the fire bit by bit, and soon, the campfire blazed, burning fiercely.

Their shadows swayed on both sides of the canyon.

As the shadows grew darker, the heat began to fade, and the cold started to set the stage.

By nightfall, in addition to dealing with the cold, there was also the need to be on guard against enemies that might appear at any moment in the dark—more dangerous than during the daytime.

Li Changzhou sighed, "I'd prefer if it were daytime all the time."

"Night is dangerous for the other competitors as well," said Yang Qinglan with a calm expression, putting a dead branch into the burning pit.

The flames painted her face with a goddess-like resplendent glow.

There was no talk of keeping or not keeping watch, tonight nobody planned to sleep, ready for battle at any moment.

"Wonder if any competitors will come over," said Li Qianxia as she skewered the tail of a chameleon from the day onto the "mosquito-like blood-sucking gun" and roasted it over the fire.

Not for eating—she didn't even know if it was edible, she simply wanted to try blood-sucking from the "corpse," and incidentally, satisfy the urge to roast something.

"Can I go there?"

"What do you mean by my place and your place?" Li Changzhou looked up, glancing at the three people.

The three people stared back at him, and all four of them stood up simultaneously, directing their gazes toward the cliff on their left.

Li Changzhou holding an AK, Li Qianxia with a steel gun, Yang Qinglan hiding behind Li Changzhou with a dagger in her left hand and grass seeds in her right.

Zheng Qing picked up the reddish earth from the ground and threw it toward the source of the sound.

The granules of earth hit the cliff wall, making a dry sound, and in a blur of their eyes, the source of the sound vanished at the edge of the firelight, sinking into darkness.

"What on earth is that?!"

"Didn't see clearly! Clinging to the wall, has the gecko returned? Or is it a spider?"

"White, seemed like a skeleton," Li Changzhou was not very sure.

Li Qianxia shivered with fear, "Big brother, don't talk nonsense, this is a scientific natural game, not a ghost story!"

She had been afraid of ghosts since she was young, and after watching ghost stories, she'd need Li Changzhou to accompany her to sleep for several days.

"It hasn't left yet," suddenly said Yang Qinglan.

Everyone fell silent, holding their breath, nervously watching the darkness.

The campfire crackled, and the four people's shadows quietly watched over them from behind.

"Can I go there?" The voice, indistinguishable between a child's and a woman's, came from the darkness once again.

Li Qianxia gulped nervously, shifting behind Li Changzhou.

Li Changzhou took a step forward, his fingertip slightly indented on the trigger, "What are you?"

"…" The object in the darkness seemed to ponder.

"Are you human or what?" Zheng Qing asked, while listening intently, ready to gauge the opponent's approximate position by sound.

"What does it say on the identity card?" said Yang Qinglan.

The "identity card" is a supernatural concept in the Value Game, and any participant, even an earthworm, can naturally understand it and read the flame text on it.

After a while, the object in the darkness said, "Pygmy marmoset."

What's a pygmy marmoset? The four of them simultaneously displayed puzzled expressions.

Li Changzhou used his peripheral vision to seek Yang Qinglan's opinion on what to do next.

"Alright, come on over," Yang Qinglan's voice was gentle, like a kindergarten teacher, but her icy and sharp gaze continued to stare straight into the shadows.

At the boundary between the firelight and the darkness, a small, pale, and tender hand reached out.

As the pygmy marmoset revealed its entire body, the four people inhaled sharply, and Yang Qinglan, who had been ready to use 'Attract and Repel,' also halted her plan.

A naked child clung to the wall.

About the size of Li Changzhou's palm.

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