Survival Game? But She's Already Slaughtered the Entire Server - Chapter 20

After hearing Ruan Tian’s words, 001, who had originally planned to play dead to the end, still showed some subtle reactions.

Even if it was just a faint, almost undetectable fluctuation of energy, Ruan Tian still noticed it.

She curled her lips slightly, her gaze unfocused on the ceiling, her tone flat and lazy as she stated a fact: “Every time the Lin family is mentioned, your emotions become especially intense.”

“001, rather than calling you a system, it’s more accurate to say you’re the remnant consciousness of Lin Zhiqing, or perhaps you are Lin Zhiqing’s consciousness itself, clinging to this body under the guise of a system and refusing to leave.”

“I can’t even be bothered to expose you.”

After she finished speaking, the faint smile at the corner of Ruan Tian’s lips disappeared completely.

When she looked up, the warmth in her pupils faded, a cold hostility spreading from the corners of her eyes and winding up to her brows.

“But what you should never have done, was to try to seize control of this body.”

“What belongs to me, I hate it most when others touch.”

Her voice was very soft, even carrying a hint of gentleness.

But… 001 inexplicably heard a murderous intent in her tone.

001 forcibly suppressed its emotions to comfort itself.

I’m just a string of data now, what could she possibly do to me?

At most, I’ll just suffer a bit.

I won’t die.

It definitely won’t die.

Ruan Tian gently closed her eyes, her consciousness sinking into a state of chaos.

On a square patch of open ground in the darkness, surrounded by an impenetrable blackness.

Ruan Tian stood in the center of the clearing, cold light spilling down from the void, casting her figure sharply onto the ground.

Not far away, at the edge of the clearing, a transparent figure was pacing along the boundary between darkness and light, trying to escape this place.

“Don’t waste your energy.”

Ruan Tian’s voice echoed across the clearing, calm even with the reverberation. “As long as I don’t agree, you can’t leave.”

The transparent figure froze, its outline trembling slightly under the light, as if finally recognizing reality.

She slowly turned around and walked step by step to stand face to face with Ruan Tian.

The two faces overlapped in the cold light-the arches of their brows, the tails of their eyes, the curves of their lips-astonishingly similar.

But their eyes were worlds apart.

Ruan Tian’s gaze was always calm, like a deep pond shrouded in a thin mist, unfathomable, carrying a detached indifference to everything.

But Lin Zhiqing’s eyes churned with obsession, hiding a reckless madness, and when she looked at Ruan Tian, there was deep wariness and fear.

The cold light stretched their confronting figures long, casting two nearly identical yet utterly different shadows on the ground.

Lin Zhiqing looked at the girl before her, so calm she seemed almost indifferent, cold sweat breaking out on her back, her voice tight: “You can’t kill me.”

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Ruan Tian’s lips. She strolled slowly up to Lin Zhiqing, her fingertip gently hooking Lin Zhiqing’s chin, lifting it slightly.

She looked at the face so similar to her own, the cold light in her eyes hidden, her tone as light as a sigh: “If I don’t kill you, should I let you stay and fight me for control of this body?”

“I didn’t… I didn’t…” Lin Zhiqing stammered in reply.

She wanted to struggle, to escape, but her body felt out of control, unable to move at all.

Panic mixed with urgency in Lin Zhiqing’s eyes as she explained, “I just… I just don’t want you to hurt him.”

“I regret it. Killing Lin Zhixia is enough. Let him go.”

“Let Fang Senran go.”

“I want to cancel the third task.”

Ruan Tian looked at her and suddenly laughed.

The smile was dazzling on her face, but there was no warmth in her eyes, only undisguised mockery, as if she were looking at a fool.

Lin Zhiqing closed her eyes, as if she had exhausted all her strength. When she opened them again, the panic was replaced by a desperate resolve.
She stiffened her neck, her voice trembling but biting down hard.

“I am the sacrifice. My wish-I can change it however I want.”

“If you still want my body, you have to do as I say.”

“Otherwise, you’ll never truly control my body.”

Ruan Tian let go, the corners of her lips curling into a half-smile, half-mockery. “Naive girl.”

“Why do you think you’re here?”

“Why do you think I hurt myself those first two times?”

“I never let anything uncontrollable stay by my side.”

“And as for ‘yours’-from the moment I arrived, this body has been mine.”

As Ruan Tian’s words fell, Lin Zhiqing’s body suddenly went rigid. A chill shot up from her feet, spreading through her entire body, even her fingertips turning icy cold.

“You…”

The first two times she’d self-harmed-it wasn’t because she’d been disobedient or upset her, not as a punishment, but… she’d been searching for her.

“You knew from the start I wasn’t the system.”

Ruan Tian thought seriously for a moment. “Not from the very start, but close enough.”

“If you’d just behaved from the beginning, I could’ve pretended to know nothing.”

“But you just had to be disobedient.”

As Ruan Tian’s voice faded, an invisible force wrapped around Lin Zhiqing’s figure.

It was bone-chillingly cold, like countless ice needles piercing into her body. She had no time to react, only able to let out short, sharp, and miserable screams.

The soul-rending pain twisted Lin Zhiqing’s entire form. Her translucent figure struggled violently within the force, flickering in and out of sight.

Her eyes were filled with terror and desperate pleading, but she couldn’t even form a complete sentence.

As the screams grew weaker, her figure thinned at a speed visible to the naked eye, the edges dissolving into tiny points of light.

Finally, with a whimper that cut off abruptly, her entire form shattered, turning into a fine powder that was swept away by the wind in the empty lot, disappearing into the cold light, leaving nothing behind.

Ruan Tian stood where she was. She lowered her eyes to the empty ground, the smile at her lips fading a little.

Damn it, the bit of strength she’d just regained was gone again.

Ruan Tian’s consciousness returned. She lay on the bed, turned over, and went straight to sleep.

She didn’t know-or maybe she knew but didn’t care-that while she slept, deep in her mind, a burst of static suddenly sounded, like the garbled noise of an old radio tuning.

Immediately after, a mechanical electronic voice stuttered out, with obvious lag and electric distortion:

“Sys…tem…re…con…nect…”

“Iden…ti…ty…ver…i…fied…”

“Main…body…swap…com…plete…”

The static gradually faded, and the electronic voice became clear and cold, no longer sluggish: “Unit 001 reporting in. Previous interference cleared. New link stable.”

Ruan Tian’s brows moved almost imperceptibly, but there was no sign of waking.

The new electronic voice also quieted down in her mind, making no further sound.

…

Ruan Tian slept until dawn.

As soon as she opened her eyes, the familiar, bolded system text appeared before her.

[Detected: Player Ruan Tian has missed three consecutive Daily Quests. Forced Quest Mechanism triggered.]

Ruan Tian: “…”

So it’s already been three days.

“Can I at least put on my shoes this time?”

The Yellow Sand really hurts to walk on.

A clear electronic voice sounded, each syllable precisely cut, with no unnecessary inflection, steady as a straight line.

[Understood, Host. Applying for a one-hour delay for you. Please prepare yourself.]