Chapter 48: Zone S

The people of Zhuozhai had suffered setbacks at Lin Kuo’s hands today. All of them believed he had some secret method for winning at the bone-guessing game. For the rest of the day, no one dared challenge him again.

Aqi had deliberately gone out to gather information and returned with exactly what Lin Kuo wanted to know.

The monthly Fighting Gu Arena was held on the last day of each month—and now, only seven days remained.

Aqi said, “No wonder everyone’s been gambling like crazy—it’s because the Fighting Gu Arena is coming up soon.” Then he revealed another piece of news: “Last month, Zhuozhai won the arena battle. The opponent was a Gu raised by someone from the walled city. They said its vitality was unusually tenacious—it starved every other Gu to death, one by one.”

“……”

Aqi shook his own Gu jar carefully, lifting the lid for a peek. Because he hadn’t fed it much, the Human-Headed Spider inside was still tiny. He sighed, “How are we supposed to win like this?” Then he glanced over at Lin Kuo’s Fetal Gu—and froze. The outline of its developing body was becoming distinct.

Aqi nearly dropped his jar. “What the—? What did you feed it?!”

Lin Kuo replied: “Gu.”

Aqi: “What?”

Lin Kuo set the fetus down and repeated calmly: “I let it steal and eat other Gu.”

Aqi suddenly realized what he meant. His expression shifted, and he glanced around nervously before lowering his voice: “Don’t tell me… it stole from Old Lady Chen’s Gu?”

Lin Kuo said indifferently: “Not just hers.”

Aqi’s heart skipped a beat.

Lin Kuo continued, “The whole of Zhuozhai.”

Once the Fetal Gu finished devouring all the others, there would be no Gu left for Zhuozhai to put on the arena stage.

Aqi was dumbfounded, mouth agape at Lin Kuo’s audacity. The villagers of Zhuozhai lived for gambling and raising Gu, and Lin Kuo had simply robbed them all blind.

Once the shock passed, Aqi applauded.

In the following days, Zhuozhai’s villagers no longer had the leisure to come challenge Lin Kuo at bone-guessing. Their Gu had all disappeared mysteriously. Meanwhile, the Fetal Gu, full and satisfied, became increasingly humanlike. In just a few short days, its umbilical cord had dropped off; it could lie sprawled on the dirt platform with its belly up, basking in the sun.

Whenever it saw Lin Kuo, it would chirp “Abba, abba,” demanding he play with it.

At last, the villagers’ suspicions turned toward Lin Kuo. When they confronted him, they found him sitting on the dirt platform tossing pebbles while the Fetal Gu happily fetched them back like a child’s game.

Everyone was struck dumb by the sight. Old Lady Chen snatched up the Fetal Gu in one hand. “Outsider, you’ve violated Zhuozhai’s rules!” The Fetal Gu writhed and bit her hand, making her yelp in pain. Seizing the chance, it scampered back to Lin Kuo and clung to his leg, peeking timidly at the crowd.

Lin Kuo pointed at the village chief. “You’re the ones who told me to raise it well.”

The chief, red with fury, shouted: “We told you to raise it—not to let your Gu wreak havoc on everyone else’s!”

Lin Kuo gave a nonchalant “Oh,” then asked, “And how exactly do you know it was mine that did it?”

Old Lady Chen snapped viciously: “Do you even know the consequences of defying the Gu God? We have every right to throw you into the pit to feed the Gu!”

Lin Kuo pressed his lips together, almost laughing. He lifted the Fetal Gu by the armpits. “Feed the Gu? Other than this one, do you even have any Gu left?”

Old Lady Chen was choked silent. “You—!”

Lin Kuo fished a few bone tiles from his pocket and tossed them aside. Then, carrying the Fetal Gu, he turned and went back into the stilted house. Aqi and He Yuting, who had been waiting inside, rushed forward when he entered. He Yuting gasped when she saw him throw away the bone tiles. “Brother Lin Kuo…”

Lin Kuo set the Fetal Gu down. “Don’t worry. They have no choice but to rely on me for the Fighting Gu Arena.”

In truth, he was growing increasingly bored. This dungeon no longer held his interest—it only made him more weary. The sole thing he looked forward to was the arena itself, at midnight tonight, when the two worlds overlapped. That was when he could meet Sheng Wen again.

Because he anticipated seeing Sheng Wen, Lin Kuo began counting down the hours.

Midnight.

Noise swelled outside his ears, light refracted in through the window. Lin Kuo flipped upright, walked over, and looked out. Above, tens of thousands of red lanterns hung against the night sky, dazzling and radiant.

The Fighting Gu Arena had arrived. The two worlds overlapped.

Lin Kuo wanted to find Sheng Wen. He opened the door—only to see Zhuozhai villagers waiting. He couldn’t tell whether they had never left or had just arrived. Old Lady Chen had even put on a smiling face. “Outsider, the arena has come. On behalf of Zhuozhai, we thank you.”

Aqi and He Yuting had also been summoned. Now, in all of Zhuozhai, only the three of them still had Gu. Naturally, the villagers treated them as honored guests.

Led by the villagers, they made their way to the arena.

Along the path, weasels darted back and forth, baring their teeth at the villagers. But upon seeing Lin Kuo, they subdued themselves.

The Fighting Gu Arena stood at the center of Zhuozhai, where the Drum Tower usually stood. But now the Drum Tower was gone, replaced with a martial stage—the kind one might see in old dramas of bride-choosing tournaments. Around it gathered both Zhuozhai villagers and weasels.

Chen Ama glared at the rat wolf’s side and growled in a low voice:
“Damn rat wolf!”

The “Nest Lord” beside the rat wolf also looked at the intruder with disgust:
“Filthy outsider.”

Lin Kuo walked closer to the fighting pit and spotted Sheng Wen. Sheng Wen’s face broke into a bright smile, and the sight was enough to disarm any hostility.

Sheng Wen waved cheerfully at Lin Kuo.

Chen Ama immediately grew tense, whispering quickly to Lin Kuo:
“Outsider, don’t think you can bring them down. If you represent the challenger and lose, then you’ll never be able to leave this place.”

Lin Kuo ignored her.

The fighting pit didn’t follow any formal rules—whoever stood in it represented the defending side’s bug for that month. Naturally, the rat wolf world had no shortage of challengers eager to pit their bugs against it.

Lin Kuo glanced around. The two children he had encountered yesterday had already entered the rat wolf world. They clutched their still-immature bug spirits, itching to test themselves in battle.

The bug defending the nest stood in the pit. Resembling a stick insect, it didn’t have much offensive strength, but its endurance was terrifying. Whenever a challenger’s bug attacked, the stick insect would just sit there, unmoving. Only when the opponent was completely drained of strength would it suddenly strike, stuffing the weakened bug into its nest.

“Click-click-click—”

Because the cycle of his own world was running faster than others, the rat wolf boy’s bug suddenly leapt forward. Its eyes locked onto Sheng Wen, clearly waiting for Sheng Wen to release his bug.

The rat wolf challenger was getting impatient.

Lin Kuo placed the Fetal Gu onto the stage.

Chen Ama froze, then quickly cried out:
“Outsider! The Arena Lord is the Zhai’s Gu—what do you think you’re doing?!”

Lin Kuo ignored her, lowering his head to whisper in the Fetal Gu’s ear:
“Time to eat.”

The Fetal Gu sprinted forward, dashing straight at the “Slime.” It immediately sank its teeth in. The Slime, long used to being gnawed by other Gu, attempted to engulf the Fetal Gu in its fluid body. But before it could trap it, the entire Slime was devoured, swallowed whole into the Fetal Gu’s belly.

As soon as it finished eating, a floating panel appeared in midair.

[Instance: “Gu Arena”
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Player Status:
Lin Kuo — Victory Achieved
Score Status: Lin Kuo +200 points (instance reward)]

All participants could see Lin Kuo’s floating panel. The NPCs inside the instance could see it too. Chen Ama flew into a rage:
“This wasn’t the time to use the Fetal Gu! Doing this will expose its weakness to the Ghost Gu!”

When the scoring ended, another line of text popped up:

【Livestream closing in… 10, 9, 8…】

In the final ten seconds, Lin Kuo shoved through the crowd, rushing up to Sheng Wen:
“Sheng Wen, the Fetal Gu’s weakness is—”

But Sheng Wen cut him off with a smile:
“I know. Wait until those two leave the instance before you tell me. In these last ten seconds, don’t talk about that—say something else.”

Lin Kuo, swept along by Sheng Wen’s rhythm, asked:
“…Then what should I say?”

Sheng Wen:
“Say something sweet.”

Lin Kuo:
“…I’ll wait for you.”

Sheng Wen chuckled softly:
“Good.”

The countdown ended. That familiar wave of dizziness struck, and when Lin Kuo opened his eyes again, he was back in his quarters in District B.

Lin Zhi was cracking sunflower seeds. Seeing his brother return, she jumped up in delight:
“Brother! You’re finally back! How was it?”

Truth be told, not great. In that instance, he hadn’t been able to stay with Sheng Wen for more than a few days.

Steadying his thoughts, a flood of unread messages suddenly popped into his communicator—messages from Sheng Wen that had been muted by the instance system.

At least a hundred of them, his device vibrating until it finally fell silent.

One by one, they appeared on the screen:

【Sweet as the Wind】: It’s boring without my boyfriend by my side.
【Sweet as the Wind】: What is my boyfriend doing right now?
【Sweet as the Wind】: Another dull day.
【Sweet as the Wind】: Tell your boyfriend a story.

Lin Kuo read Sheng Wen’s words carefully. Sheng Wen had recounted his own experiences in a lighthearted, humorous way.

When Sheng Wen entered the Fortress, he had only been fourteen. Luckily, he’d had Guan Miao with him. After learning the rules of the Fortress, Sheng Wen had never stopped diving into instances to farm points. But he wasn’t lured by the rich rewards of the upper districts. Instead, he discovered by chance that in the Upper City’s S District there existed an “S-class” instance. If one cleared it, they could leave the Fortress altogether.

After countless struggles, Sheng Wen finally reached the S District, only to discover that the “S-class” instance was a two-player instance. But by then, Guan Miao had already been chosen by the system as a laborer bound to the Fortress. He couldn’t leave, nor could he downgrade to accompany Sheng Wen. Sheng Wen was forced to survive alone in the vast, empty S District.

Reading those words, Lin Kuo felt a heaviness in his chest.

He… felt his heart ache for Sheng Wen.

Just then, a message from Guan Miao popped up, reminding him that the livestream points had been credited to his account and telling him to check.

But Lin Kuo had no interest in points. The only thing that mattered was when Sheng Wen would finally escape the instance.

The Fetal Gu’s weakness was painfully clear—it was a glutton. After consuming so many Gu, it would inevitably reach a point of satiety. Once it was full, its attack power would plummet.

Lin Kuo had already shared this secret with Aqi and He Yuting. All they needed to do was place their own Gu on the arena when that moment came.

But Sheng Wen’s Ghost Gu was different. Unlike the Fetal Gu, it wasn’t so easily countered. For Aqi and He Yuting, defeating Sheng Wen’s Ghost Gu was nearly impossible. So, out of regard for Lin Kuo, Sheng Wen had decided to show mercy—allowing Aqi and He Yuting to leave the instance first, before he fought in the arena again.

That meant Sheng Wen wouldn’t be free of the “Gu Arena” instance anytime soon.

Lin Kuo’s district rank was low, so he couldn’t watch Sheng Wen’s livestream. But after only a moment’s hesitation, Lin Kuo made his decision.

He was going to the S District.