Shoot Me!

Chu Guang turned his head. A burly man stood in the doorway, his left arm tightly locking Ye Shi's neck and bound hands, while his right hand gripped a pistol pressed against Ye Shi's temple. Yet the moment the man shouted "Let her go," two guns had already snapped around to aim straight at him. Seeing this, the burly man instinctively ducked behind Ye Shi and yelled frantically, "Nobody fucking move! I've got your buddy! I know you're strong, but can you outrun a bullet?" Holding his rifle, Chu Guang paused for a moment, the corners of his mouth twitching upward in an awkward smirk. *I'm strong?* *Heh, well, isn't that flattering.* In his five-plus months on the wasteland, this was the very first time someone had praised him for being strong. "Chen Yang? You're not dead?!" Xia Yan's eyes went wide as she stared at the man by the entrance. The burly man's expression grew noticeably awkward, but he forced a tight grin onto his face. "Heh, it's not that easy to put me in the ground. Just wait, I'll get you out of here first!" A spark of hope reignited in Xia Yan's eyes. If possible, she naturally had no desire to fall into the hands of these "primitives." With just her five remaining toes, she could easily imagine what kind of treatment awaited her as a captive. Occasionally, captured mercenaries were ransomed back from slave traders by their teammates or insurance companies—assuming they happened to be sold to Boulder City. Yet even if they survived, they were hardly different from the dead. In mind and in body alike. Having finally wriggled open a sliver of space under the man's arm, Ye Shi, who had nearly suffocated to death, didn't even pause to catch his breath. Struggling frantically, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "Shoot! Fire at me!! What are you guys waiting for!" "Fuck... this dumbass has terrible body odor, he's choking me to death!" If the burly man knew what the hostage was shouting, he might well have pulled the trigger and blown his head off in sheer fury. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't understand a word. He merely found the hostage absurdly noisy. Swinging the pistol grip down hard against the back of the hostage's head, Chen Yang barked, "Behave!" As if Ye Shi would ever behave. He couldn't feel any pain beyond the game's sensory limit anyway; instead, that smack to the head only enraged him, making him shout even harder. "Fire at me! Respected Administrator, please don't worry about me, I can't die!" *No shit.* *Of course I know you can't die.* *Who do you think pays for your respawns?!* Chu Guang rolled his eyes inwardly, though not a flicker of it showed on his face. Looking impassively at the burly man named Chen Yang at the door, he said calmly, "I don't like being threatened. You'd better lower your gun and put your hands above your head against the wall, and I might spare your life." Chen Yang snapped agitatedly, "I'm not joking with you! I really will shoot!" "Neither am I," Chu Guang said, staring at him coolly. "Care to test it? On the count of three, we move together." Slumped beneath the bar counter, Xia Yan couldn't bear to watch any longer. She didn't want a teammate who had narrowly cheated death to throw his life away here on her account. "Enough, Chen Yang. Just leave on your own... don't worry about me." Chu Guang ignored her, quietly uttering the first number. "Three." Watching Chu Guang begin the countdown, a drop of cold sweat slid down Chen Yang's forehead. *This lunatic!* *Doesn't he care about his companion's life at all?!* And the hostage in his grip bore the look of someone eager to embrace martyrdom, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to how a hostage should act. "Two." Crazy. They were all out of their minds! "Wait, stop! I didn't mean to threaten you! You can have him, I only want one thing!" Chen Yang admitted he had chickened out. Glancing hastily at Xia Yan on the floor, he spoke at breakneck speed. "Give me the key on her! The moment I get it, I'll let him go!" Chu Guang raised an eyebrow, mildly intrigued. "Key?" "A magnetic card! She knows what I'm talking about!" Chu Guang looked over at Xia Yan on the floor. The woman wasn't looking at him, however; she merely stared at her former teammate in a daze. "So you came for the key..." "Say whatever you want. Better to complete part of the contract than die here for nothing." *Teammates?* *This is the wasteland.* From the start, his plan had been to wait until the Crawler left before looting his teammates' corpses. Otherwise, he wouldn't have played dead to save his own skin, watching coldly from the sidelines the entire time and only stepping in to "help" her now. Ignoring the profound disappointment in his former teammate's eyes, Chen Yang kept his gun pressed against the hostage's temple as he slowly backed away, his gaze locked onto Chu Guang's expression. "How about it? A woman, plus your companion, in exchange for a single card on her! It's useless to you anyway." Chu Guang nodded. "Makes sense." *In that case, aren't I coming out ahead?* *Still...* *There's no need.* Chu Guang looked at Xia Yan. "Give it to him." Seeing that the Administrator hadn't fired after all this time and was actually negotiating with the captor, Ye Shi struggled even more fiercely, terrified this NPC would compromise for his sake. "Don't worry about me! Fang Chang, you dumbass, shoot!" *I'm a player.* *What the hell am I afraid of?!* *Dying here counts as a heroic sacrifice—my favorability rating would shoot straight through the roof!* "I'm fucking... stop wriggling, let me aim!" Fang Chang was nervous as hell. How could he dare shoot carelessly? It wasn't that he couldn't bring himself to do it—he had team-killed plenty of times back when he played PUBG—but this game wasn't PUBG. Since the Administrator hadn't made a move, how could he dare act on his own? What if he ruined a crucial plot event?! Without a word, Xia Yan reached into her pocket and retrieved a bloodstained magnetic card. Her squad captain had handed it to her before dying. By all rights, Chen Yang shouldn't have known the card was on her. Unless he had already searched the captain's corpse. In an instant, everything clicked. Xia Yan gazed blankly at her former teammate. Rather than sorrow or terror, numbness filled her chest. Perhaps a miserable fate awaited her. She would be tossed into a corner like a soiled rag to rot away, or resold by these barbarians to other slave traders until she could no longer work. Yet suddenly, none of it seemed to matter anymore. "Take it." Pinching it between two fingers, she tossed the card across the floor. Watching the card land near his feet, Chen Yang's eyes flashed with a surge of ecstasy and undisguised greed. He reached out with his foot to pin it down, aiming to kick it out the doorway. Right then, however, something entirely unforeseen occurred. Almost the very moment his right foot stepped forward, the hostage thrashing fiercely in his grip suddenly went limp, slipping right out from under his elbow and collapsing onto one knee on the floor. Before Chen Yang could register what was happening, two gunshots cracked in rapid succession from the side. One of the rounds punched clean through his forehead. A plume of blood mist erupted before him. Eyes wide, Chen Yang fell stiffly backward, dying without ever understanding what had just transpired in that split second. "Fuck! Got him!" A clean headshot! Lowering his rifle barrel, Fang Chang yelled excitedly. "That was mine. Your bullet hit the streetlight outside... go practice your shooting," Chu Guang said, utterly exasperated, as he reloaded his rifle. He had completely given up expecting decent marksmanship from these players. Come to think of it, this was his first time exercising his "GM" authority to forcefully disconnect a player from the game. He hadn't anticipated the function would be so handy. Naturally, if the players ever asked, he wouldn't admit to it; at most, he would chalk it up to network fluctuations in his role as the developer. "You... you killed him..." Xia Yan stared blankly at Chu Guang, clearly caught off guard by his sudden shot as well. Chu Guang said impatiently, "I told him I hate being threatened, and I gave him a chance." Not to mention the guy had pointed a gun at his subordinate. As they spoke, Ye Shi, who had slid onto his knees on the floor, suddenly twitched and blinked open his eyes in utter confusion. "Why did I just disconnect?" His gaze drifted aimlessly until it landed on the dead body behind him. Jolting in shock, Ye Shi sprang to his feet on pure reflex. "Holy crap, how did this guy die?!" *Did we skip a cutscene again?!* Fang Chang walked over and patted his shoulder. "Probably network lag. Good thing you logged back in... Headshot! Heh, pretty slick, right?" "Slick, slick as hell!" *Fine then.* *Looks like I don't even need to make up an excuse.* Pulling his gaze back from the two players, Chu Guang felt that his stamina had mostly recovered, so he stood up from the diner chair. Walking over to Chen Yang's corpse, Chu Guang reached down to pick up the bloodstained card by his feet and the fallen pistol. The former was of no immediate use, but the latter was certainly a nice find. Chu Guang turned the pistol over in his hands for a moment. By the look of it, the weapon appeared to be semi-automatic; while its stopping power remained unknown for now, it was likely substantial. "I'm heading out. You're on your own." Realizing Chu Guang was speaking to her, Xia Yan looked up, bewildered. "You aren't taking me with you?" Chu Guang countered, "Did I say I would?" Xia Yan froze. This was completely different from what she had imagined, catching her entirely unprepared. Yet there was no time left for her to ponder. Seeing that the man named Chu Guang was indeed not joking as he led his two loyal subordinates toward the door, panic seized her at the thought of being left behind alone. "You guys... really aren't marauders?" Chu Guang paused in his tracks, teasing her with a glance. "Are you disappointed?" "I..." Xia Yan parted her lips, awkwardly stuck for words a moment before clearing her throat. "I mean, are you survivors from around here? Can you take me to your settlement?" She had nowhere else to go anyway. Trying to walk back to Boulder City on a single leg was more absurd than taking down a Crawler single-handedly—not to mention she had nothing to go back to. Since this group weren't marauders or slave traders, following them wasn't a bad alternative. Chu Guang, however, had no interest in dragging along a burden. The shelter's current medical facilities certainly couldn't equip her with a cybernetic prosthetic; at best, the woodworker could carve her a crutch to limp around with. Missing a leg meant she couldn't handle heavy labor, and she would simply become another mouth to feed. Wasting food on her would be far worse than recruiting another player. Just then, however, he overheard the two players whispering to each other. "Is this woman a new NPC?" "Could be, but hard to say... Looks like the Administrator doesn't plan on bringing her along." "Still, I feel like she can be salvaged." "True. She looks like a mercenary or something. Even with a missing leg, crafting firearms or weapons shouldn't be an issue, right?" *Hmm...* *That actually makes some sense.* After a moment's thought, Chu Guang looked at Xia Yan. "I'll be blunt. Right now, you're dead weight. Even if I leave you at a nearby survivor settlement, your fate won't be much better than death." Xia Yan bit her lip and lowered her head. It was the plain truth. She didn't need anyone to spell out what kind of end awaited her. Watching the silent woman, Chu Guang continued, "Of course, if you have a useful skill, I wouldn't mind bringing you along..." "So long as you're willing to work for me."