124. The Man-Eating Uncle

After much struggle, Chen Shang finally escaped the arson-plagued town, only to be greeted by an endless desert, as if he had been transported to an entirely new map.

"Sigh... what kind of hellish place is this now?" Chen Shang grumbled irritably.

He had hoped that escaping the town would mark the end of his ordeal, but it was clear that this so-called "Otherworld" would not let him off so easily.

The sky was filled with brilliant, shimmering starlight. A small wooden shack sat atop a nearby dune, appearing like a lonely island adrift in a sea of sand. Driven by curiosity, Chen Shang cautiously approached the shack and gave the door a light knock. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

No sooner had he spoken than he heard a faint commotion inside, yet no one answered.

*So, there really is someone in there?*

Chen Shang decisively drew his pistol, aiming at the doorway while searching for any windows. His light crossbow seemed to be running out of power; its indicator light was flickering. The "SHOWTIME" ultimate move he had used earlier had apparently drained too much energy, forcing him to stow the weapon away for a more critical moment.

After a brief search, he found a window. However, as he peered inside, he saw a dark shadow staring right back at him. Before the red text in his mind could even finish manifesting, he fired two shots at the window and cursed, "Trying to scare me, huh?! Get out here!"

The line of text faltered, then vanished.

The bullets shattered the glass, and the shadow hiding behind it let out a sharp shriek, quickly scrambling away to hide. Realizing there was indeed someone inside, Chen Shang stopped holding back. He charged forward and kicked the door open. "Open the damn door! Your KFC delivery is here!"

The wooden door collapsed under the blow, and a damp, musty odor wafted from the dim interior, causing Chen Shang to knit his brows. His gaze swept across the room, taking in the layout at a glance: rotting furniture, moldy bedsheets, scattered food wrappers, loose batteries on the floor... and a figure curled up in the corner, trembling.

"You! Get out here!"

The figure shuddered, then spoke in a voice that barely sounded human: "Don't... don't kill me..."

"So you can speak? Good, we can communicate." Chen Shang nodded, keeping his pistol aimed at the figure. "Speak up. What exactly are you?"

"I... I'm just a person..." The shadow raised both hands and walked toward him, looking visibly terrified.

Only then did Chen Shang see the man clearly. He was a disheveled man in his thirties with heavy bags under his eyes, messy long hair, and stubble he hadn't groomed in ages. He looked like a primitive savage dressed in tattered modern clothes. His eyes were murky and haggard, darting toward Chen Shang with frantic anxiety.

"You say you're a person, then why are you here?" Chen Shang asked. In horror games, it wasn't uncommon for monsters to disguise themselves as humans.

"I..." The disheveled man fidgeted with his fingers, his voice raspy. "I accidentally wandered in from the Desolation Refinery District a month ago."

"You came in from that same bar?" Chen Shang pressed.

"Yes, yes! Exactly that one!" The man nodded frantically, as if he had finally met someone who understood. "I was drunk that day, my head was spinning, and I stumbled into a bar..."

"When I woke up, a bald robot was standing behind the counter watching me. I asked him for a drink, but he wouldn't give me anything. He just told me to sit in a chair, get some sleep, and whatever I did, not to leave..."

"And then?" Chen Shang urged.

Hearing this, the man seemed to recall something truly horrific; his body began to shake violently. "I thought to myself, what kind of bar doesn't serve drinks? So, I stormed out in a rage. I never expected that outside... outside it was nothing but hell! My god! I'd rather spend a year in the Black Cage District than stay here for even a month!"

"Did you see something terrible?" Chen Shang asked, forcing a smile.

"Terrible? That word is too weak!" The man gestured wildly, his expression becoming delirious. "It was something that defied all common sense! Just one look, and I felt like I was going insane!"

"Zombies in a graveyard... people with only half their bodies still crawling around... and... and..."

Mid-sentence, the man's eyes lost focus, and he began clawing at his matted hair like a madman.

"That bad, huh..." Chen Shang scratched his head, analyzing the man's words. Truth be told, if he weren't wearing his die-gauntlets—which allowed him to bypass sanity checks through cheating—he probably would have lost his mind and ended up just as deranged as this man.

"So you've been living here for a month?" Chen Shang asked.

The man forced himself to take a deep breath, though his voice still trembled. "This place... there's no exit, no way back... I ran for my life... eventually found this shack, and survived on rotting food I found in the nearby town... This place... it's a hell within a hell... there isn't even anything normal to eat..."

"That's rough..." Chen Shang sighed, feeling a pang of pity for the man, even though his own situation was not much better.

With that thought, he pulled a compressed food ration from his pack and tossed it to the man. "Thanks for the information. Here, eat something."

The man eyed the red-and-blue packaging with suspicion, hesitated for a moment, then snatched it from the floor and tore it open, devouring the contents.

"So good... I haven't eaten in so long..." the man muttered as he swallowed, his ravenous behavior making it seem as though he were tasting a gourmet feast reserved for the wealthy in the Central District. He polished off the ration in seconds, his greed so palpable it almost made Chen Shang feel hungry.

"Are... are there more? Any food at all!" the man drooled as he asked.

"I don't have much left. You'll have to bear with it." Chen Shang understood the man's desperation, but he wasn't about to starve himself to save someone else. "I'm looking for an exit now. Do you have any other clues?"

Unexpectedly, the man's eyes turned an unnatural, bloodshot red, looking like a mutated ghoul.

"Quick! Give it to me! I haven't had real food in a month! You must have more! Give it all to me!"

"This..." Seeing that the man had become impossible to reason with, a surge of annoyance rose in Chen Shang. It felt like a lonely traveler arriving in a foreign land, meeting a fellow countryman, and letting his guard down, only to realize the "countryman" was a greedy parasite looking to squeeze him dry.

"How about I treat you to some lead instead?" Chen Shang smiled, aiming his pistol at the man.

"You... your flesh... I can smell it... so fragrant..." The man seemed wary of the gun and didn't dare approach, but his expression grew increasingly savage. "Meat... I haven't had meat in so long! Let me have a bite! Just one bite!"

"Seriously? You're not even afraid of prions?" Chen Shang frowned, wondering if he should just put this poor soul out of his misery.

"I... I can't take it anymore! Let me have a bite!" Drool dripping to the floor, the man lunged at Chen Shang like a starving beast.

Chen Shang frowned and fired a shot into the man's thigh.

*Bang!*

A bloody hole appeared in the man's leg, but he didn't stop; he slammed into Chen Shang. The man snarled like a zombie, trying to bite into Chen Shang's shoulder as they wrestled, rolling out of the shack.

After struggling in the sand for what felt like an eternity, Chen Shang finally seized an opening and landed an elbow on the man's jaw, knocking him to the ground.

"Damn it, should've just killed you," Chen Shang muttered, standing up and brushing off his messy clothes.

Just then, the man, who was struggling on the ground, suddenly shuddered and pointed at the sky, screaming, "Ah... ah... ahhhhhhh!"

"Trying to trick me with a UFO?" Chen Shang scoffed.

But as he looked at the man's face, he saw pure, unadulterated terror—the man's eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets.

Following the direction of the man's finger, Chen Shang looked up at the sky.

In that instant, he froze. A bone-chilling cold spread from his brain to his entire body, and a high-pitched buzzing began to ring in his ears.

And then, he too wore the exact same expression of horror as the man on the ground.