[Vol. 1] Chapter 15 - Disqualified
Xiaolan sank down on the dirt ground, too tired to care if the earth soiled her clothes or the itchy fabric scratched her skin.
She was exhausted, but a few threads of rationality remained. During the fight, she hadn't paid the system any mind... but now she could.
Her gaze flickered toward the system screen.
[Current charge points: 100]
Thinking back to the system notification… receiving 50 charge points for not using the Cloudsave system for six hours had been a godsend.
Ding!
The familiar sound. She stared at the red dot next to (?). New information.
Timeline Stability Reward – Grants +50 charge points if the Cloudsave system isn't used for 6 hours.
Her brain desperately racked through strategies, but a low grumble cut her short. Her stomach protested.
She grimaced, remembering she hadn't eaten a single bite since arriving here. She mentally noted the term "Timeline Stability" before pushing it to the back of her mind.
Food first.
She glanced around, taking in the same hazy, mist-choked air, then toward the spirit-sapping trees. Her gaze lifted upward.
Every trunk was thick, each one seemingly shooting straight through the sky. She couldn't even glimpse the tops or any leaves.
Only then did she realize how tall the trees truly were. Until now, exhaustion and the oppressive atmosphere had made the forest feel cramped and suffocating.
Do these trees have fruit?
Her eyes lit with hope before dimming almost instantly. She remembered how these same trees had left Chen Mingyuan in a weakened state.
She walked stiffly, laboring through the fog, her focus narrowed to foraging.
Crunch.
A participant who had hurried toward her through the mist now stood frozen, his face pale with shock. He'd been excited to find another person in this lonely fog, but what he saw now was…
A figure standing rigid, with long, messy black hair and dirt-stained clothes. That much was normal, every participant bore the marks of hardship here. But her face was deathly pale, her cheeks faintly gaunt, as if all the blood had been drained from her body.
If Xiaolan could see herself now, she'd realize she looked frighteningly similar to Chen Mingyuan's weakened state.
She looked every bit a ghost who had clawed its way out of the grave for vengeance.
If he hadn't seen the talisman with its golden strokes, he would have thought he'd encountered a great demonic beast. He gulped, his adam's apple bobbing. "Hey, you there!"
Xiaolan stopped and turned toward the sound, her eyes landing on a male participant with short ash-colored hair. He wore practical, simple black pleated robes.
Before she could second-guess herself, she walked toward him, hoping to seem friendly. "Ah, hello…" she said.
Then her mind went blank. What could she even say in this situation? Hi, how are you? Want to be friends?
The pale-faced participant, though his legs trembled, did not forget to uphold his dignity as a prospective Alpha of his clan.
Still unaware of her own appearance, Xiaolan wondered what else to say.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"It's Yonchae—" Xiaolan accidentally said her former name, but what was done was done. "I'm Yonchae."
The male participant's face was no longer quite so pale, though his trembling legs still betrayed him. He stared at her with doubt. Yonchae? Was there such a name in Jianghu?
The name was strange. Foreign. He repeated, "Yun Chai? Yong Chai?"
Xiaolan did not correct him. In fact, she had just realized the issue: she was a modern soul, essentially Korean, in a game set in an ancient Chinese dynasty. Her name would definitely sound odd here.
He grew even more wary. He let out a low, sharp whistle, a sound that cut clearly through the quiet air.
Silence followed. Three heartbeats passed before he exhaled in relief.
Confused, Xiaolan asked, "What… was that?"
"A whistle technique," he answered, then murmured quietly, "Not possessed…"
But Xiaolan, in the body of a cultivator with keen senses, heard him despite how softly he spoke. Piecing it together, it seemed the whistle allowed him to detect whether someone was possessed by a malevolent spirit.
The worldbuilding of this incredibly detailed interactive otome game never failed to surprise her. Xiaolan shuddered, a subconscious reaction he did not miss.
He now felt the participant before him was an even greater fool: giving her name so freely, answering without guile. Speaking further with such a person seemed pointless.
She clearly knew nothing useful, so exchanging information would be unfair. He looked her up and down… Forget it, he decided. Stealing her points… Does she even have one?
"No worries," he said. "You just scared me with how you looked."
"What's your name, brother?" Xiaolan asked, thinking it might be good to have someone nearby.
"Lin Eishou," he said, then asked, "Do you already have a teammate?"
"No, I don't," Xiaolan replied. She scratched her cheeks, only to feel their sunken firmness. Was she really that hungry?
Lin Eishou stretched out a hand. "Do you want to work together?"
"Sure," Xiaolan said. She shook his hand briefly before trying to pull away, but her hand remained stuck in his tight grip. Her pupils shrank. "Uh, hey?"
His grip held firm, his gaze fixed on her wrist—specifically on the talisman there, which was smudged with mud. With his free hand, he wiped it clean. "Oho? Thirty points…"
Xiaolan immediately knew this wasn't good. And her premonition was correct.
The sound of swooshes and a thud followed. Three people arrived, appearing to be with Lin Eishou.
His expression remained unchanged, a 'friendly' smile still on his face. "Heh, you think I'd want to team up with a weak alpha like you?"
He sneered in disgust, but his grip stayed tight and unyielding, not allowing her to pull away at all.
Though one hand was caught, Xiaolan's other hand was free. With a quick one-handed sign, she yelled, "Heaven piercing! Lone seal!"
She had no idea what that meant, just words she'd heard in a wuxia drama once. It was worth a shot.
Lin Eishou shuddered and dashed swiftly backward, away from her. His eyes narrowed to slits, wary. Silence followed.
…Huh?
Seizing the moment, Xiaolan turned to flee—but a flash of lightning cut her off.
An electric sensation surged from his hand, a fast current racing up her arm and numbing her entire body. The sound of thunder followed, delayed.
Everything warped and swirled into a haze. Thud. She fell.
"Tsk, I thought she was something… She was just bluffing."
"We caught a big one, she's got thirty points."
Everything was a blur. She could only see their feet. She was helpless, unable to do anything at all.
A hand reached under her collar, probing around her neck, rubbing and feeling for the place where the gland was supposed to be.
One of the teammates scowled, a man with a fleshy face. "You freak, can you not? At least not in front of us." He shuddered, goosebumps rising on his skin.
The person who had been probing Xiaolan's neck grumbled—a woman's voice. "She isn't even an Alpha…"
"Huh? Not differentiated yet… well, that's good. At least I won't have to see any disgusting Alpha-Alpha action."
"So disappointing. I thought I'd have some fun." The woman, Lin Yorou, grumbled with clear disappointment.
Xiaolan's body lay trembling on the ground, a testament to her fear and her struggle to move. Her mind raced, the whistle technique…
The whistle hadn't been meant to confirm possession; it was a signal to the group. The question about whether she had a teammate was only to confirm she was alone. But her realization came too late.
—Riiiip.
A sound like duct tape tearing. And with that, Xiaolan's unconscious body began to fade. Disqualified from the trials on the second day.
"Xiaolan, 30 points. Failed." Bai Yu hummed, a flicker of subtle surprise crossing his expression before it settled back into neutrality. "Take her away."
Several volunteers arrived and unceremoniously carried her off, laying her on a makeshift mattress of leaves.
Within the fog, Lin Eishou asked, "How many points do all of you have? I have 36."
"41 points~" Lin Yorou replied with a toothy grin, showing off her talisman worn like a wristband.
"38," chimed in the man with a fleshy face.
"44. Maybe we should leave now?"
Lin Eishou thought for a moment. "Alright. This might be the final day."
Bai Yu glanced toward the curling fog as another participant emerged, wearing a relieved and victorious expression.
It was the fleshy-faced man—Lin Eishou's teammate, the one who had shuddered at the thought of Alpha-Alpha action.
…Cricket.
"Chao, 38 points. Failed." Bai Yu's declaration was like cold water poured over him.
Back inside the fog, Lin Eishou walked at the rear of his remaining group. Only three of them were left, and they were moving toward the supposed exit.
The male teammate, the one with 44 points, who had suggested leaving the trials, suddenly stretched out an arm to stop the others.
"Taka?" Lin Yorou murmured his name.
"Let's not leave yet," Taka stated.
Lin Eishou felt a surge of fury but swallowed his bitter words, remembering Taka was the group leader. "Weren't you the one who suggested we leave?"
Taka scoffed. "I attached a grasshopper to Chao. He got disqualified. We're still on the second day."
Cricket. With eyes connected to the grasshopper's, Taka could clearly see and hear what was going on outside the fog while it was attached to Chao.
Upon hearing this, Lin Eishou and the woman fell silent. The two of them shuddered as the term "Grasshopper" echoed in their minds. Taka's skill was the real deal.
He turned back to them, his expression set. "We'll continue hunting."
"Do you really have to send Chao away? Can't you just send your insect out instead?" Lin Eishou asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"This fog is special," Taka explained. "It allows only humans to pass in and out. Insects and other Yao beasts cannot." A chilling smile touched his lips.
His insect had only managed to get out because it was attached to Chao. Troublesome as it was to lose a teammate, at least that pig had his uses.
"How many beasts do you think are trapped here?"
The Yao beasts…
The giant crawling insects…
The demonic beasts… each one with sharp claws, tearing teeth, durable hides, and venom.
"You're trying to tame one of those insects, aren't you?" Lin Eishou figured.
Lin Yorou went rigid beside him.
The reason they shuddered at the word "Grasshopper"—the very reason they flinched whenever Taka used his skill, was because there existed a separate race of giant insects that crawled among the roaming Yaos and demonic beasts.