Chapter 36

Just as the two were in a standoff, the window behind the male player shattered into pieces.

Block, crashing through the window, held a machete in his hand. He leaped and slashed the male player’s head, shouting, “Take this, you scoundrel! Don’t you dare harm my princess!”

The male player was chopped to the ground by the single blow. “…”

Today was definitely his unlucky day.

Humiliated and disgraced, he crawled on the ground, scrambling far away from Block. When he turned and saw Lin Linya casually sipping a drink, he nearly fainted from rage.

The brat, who usually feared nothing and caused trouble all day, crouched beside Lin Linya, peering over repeatedly and asking with concern, “Need more meds? Got enough drinks? Want me to kill him and loot his stuff?”

The male player snapped, “Are you two seriously discussing whether to kill me right in front of me?”

Neither of them paid him any attention. Lin Linya glanced at his backpack, saw the dozen-plus drinks inside, and blinked. “It should be enough.”

Only then did Block feel reassured. He walked over and thumped the player twice. “Shut up, scumbag! Who told you to bully the princess!”

The male player had no idea why this guy kept calling another man “princess,” and he didn’t dare to ask. He yelped a couple of times. “Stop hitting me, stop! I’m almost out of health, I’m really gonna die! I didn’t bully your princess!”

Finally, unable to hold it in any longer, he roared, “Why don’t you ask him what he did to me!”

His tone even carried a hint of grievance, as if he were the one who’d been bullied.

He crawled back and forth on the ground, reenacting the scene. “I was doing nothing, just looting a First Aid Kit here, when he suddenly shot at me from behind. All his shots hit the ground. I let him off the hook once. Then when I was searching for supplies, I ran into him again, and he threw a grenade at me.”

“If my reaction speed wasn’t fast, I would’ve been knocked down ages ago. And what about him? He hasn’t lost a single drop of health! You call that me bullying him?”

“I’m here to play the game, not run a circus!”

His description was vivid, his anger overflowing.

Block: “…”

He fell into an eerie silence. After a moment, he retorted righteously, “This is a PvP game. Isn’t it normal for him to shoot at you? Besides, you’re not even dead. And you had the nerve to make him sing and call you Big Bro.”

Finally, he’d convinced himself. He punched the player again. “Scumbag!”

The male player glanced at his critically low health bar and his teammates, who were five hundred meters away without a vehicle. Swallowing his anger, he said, “Yes, yes, yes. You’re absolutely right. So, seeing as I didn’t hit him, can you not hit me either, okay?”

“I’m really about to die.”

Block glanced at the Blue Zone, which was about to start shrinking. The male player’s teammates really wouldn’t make it in time. He gave the player a contemptuous look and said to Lin Linya, “I’ll finish him off in the Final Circle. Let’s go first. The car is parked downstairs.”

“Okay,” Lin Linya said, following behind him like an obedient little lackey.

A Jeep was parked below the small building. Number One and Little Yang were sitting in the back seat. Seeing Lin Linya, Little Yang asked in surprise, “Where did you get a Level 3 Helmet and Level 3 Armor? And you even have a full Ghillie Suit?”

Block spoke up proudly, “I gave them to him.”

Little Yang: “…”

He didn’t ask further. He silently glanced at the Level 2 Armor and the damaged Level 2 Helmet Block himself was wearing, and inexplicably thought of those Junglers in Glory who always handed over the Blue Buff to Lin Linya.

Number One poked his head out. “The circle’s shrinking, let’s move. Who’s driving?”

Lin Linya wanted to contribute something to the team, so he volunteered, “I’ll drive! I have a driver’s license!”

With that, he jumped into the driver’s seat.

Block truly felt safe with him and got straight into the passenger seat. Checking the map, he marked a point. “The circle is shifting toward the Military Base. We need to cross the bridge, so head to Mylta first.”

Little Yang was a bit nervous about Lin Linya driving at first. But after a while, he discovered that Lin Linya’s driving was unexpectedly steady. He drove straight along the road, even keeping to the right, and swerved around any obstacles.

Block held it in for a long time before finally speaking: “How long are you going to drive like this? Everyone else will have had their Chicken Dinner already, and we’ll still be in our Baby Bus on the road!”

Little Yang couldn’t help but laugh too. “You must’ve aced your driving test, right? You should go drive the little train at Wanda. That suits you better.”

Lin Linya’s face flushed red from their teasing. Stubbornly, he said, “I was just worried you guys couldn’t handle it. I’m about to go full-on race car driver now. Buckle up.”

With that, he floored the accelerator, heading straight for Mylta.

Lin Linya drove off-road through the mountains. Even in third-person view, Block was almost shaken sick. It was the first time he’d ever seen someone drive a Jeep like it was a Trike.

Luckily, Pochinki wasn’t far from Mylta. They arrived quickly. But just as they reached the city outskirts, they were ambushed. Bullets struck the car, and one of the front tires was already shot out.

Looking at the Jeep, which was now billowing smoke, Lin Linya panicked. “Should I stop? I think this car is about to explode!”

They were out in the open Wasteland. Stopping the car would be no different from feeding kills to the enemy. Block immediately denied the idea. “Keep driving! Drive us next to a building!”

Lin Linya floored it. Under a hail of bullets, the Jeep slammed head-on into a compound wall, flipped 180 degrees in the air, and finally landed on its roof, wheels spinning, inside the courtyard.

Block snapped, “Is your car a one-time use only? How are we supposed to cross the bridge later?”

No time to complain. He rolled out of the car and ran into the building, marking points for his teammates. “One on the rooftop of the small three-story house opposite, holding a Sniper Rifle. One in the building next to us. Two are unaccounted for. They’re probably trying to flank. Watch our backs so we don’t get ambushed.”

Lin Linya followed behind Little Yang.

As soon as he poked his head out of a window, a single bullet slammed into him with a Headshot. His Level 3 Helmet was wrecked. He immediately ducked back, heart pounding with lingering fear. “The enemy’s aim is so precise.”

Block was infuriated. “Come on, try to outgun me! Think you can?”

His first shot missed. But as he peeked sideways, he glimpsed the position of the player on the opposite rooftop. The second time he peeked out, he Quickscoped and shot straight through the enemy’s Level 3 Helmet. “One down.”

“His teammate’s going for the Revive. Let’s intercept them.”

Block vaulted out of the window, crouching and moving along the wall, ready to sneak in for a cheap shot. He was still searching for the teammate’s position when he opened a door and ran face-first into a Rat.

The Rat blasted him down with two Shotgun blasts. Just as he was about to jump out the window to escape, Little Yang rushed over to provide support and knocked him down.

Lin Linya, trailing behind Little Yang with nothing to do, simply started looting the death crates. The squad they encountered had come from the Bunker and was filthy rich. Inside one crate was a perfectly intact Level 3 Helmet.

After scooping up a pile of healing items and realizing his Level 3 Backpack was completely full, he saw many drinks were left un-looted. So, he started chugging them one after another.

Inside the small house, there was a character in a black skin—knocked down by Block earlier—continuously crawling towards Lin Linya’s feet. Finding him extremely in the way, Lin Linya even sidestepped to avoid him.

Block was pretty embarrassed about getting dropped by a Shotgun. He was stubborn, too. Kneeling on the ground for ages, he refused to say a word, trying to catch Lin Linya’s attention and make him come over and Revive him voluntarily.

He only spoke up, feeling utterly wronged, after Lin Linya had finished chugging seven or eight drinks and was about to leave satisfied. “You’ve practically licked those crates clean. Can’t you just Revive me first?”

“Ah? Hold on, let me see where you are.” Lin Linya quickly opened the Minimap and saw that Block was right inside the house he’d just vaulted out of. “…”

He’d had a hard enough time vaulting out the window, and now he had to laboriously climb back in. He pulled Block back up. “Sorry, I didn’t notice just now. I thought you were on the enemy team.”

Block used a First Aid Kit, then an Adrenaline Syringe. Rolling over, he was up and out again. “I’m going for payback.”

Soon enough, they knocked down another one. The entire enemy squad was down to a single surviving member.

Lin Linya was bored. After wandering around, he was just about to drink a beverage and rest when he saw the very person Block and the others were looking for dart up the wall of the opposite building like a black shadow and leap nimbly onto the rooftop.

He hurriedly called out to his team, “Guys, get over here! He’s at my spot!”

Lin Linya ran to the building below the enemy. He tried to climb up and hit him the same way the player had, but failed several times, falling from the second-floor balcony all the way back down to the ground.

The player standing on the rooftop had heard the footsteps below long ago.

He lay in wait, aiming his gun from the roof, waiting for the person below to come up. He waited and waited, but no one appeared.

Confused, he stood at the edge of the roof and looked down, spotting a clumsy figure jumping repeatedly on the balcony railing. After ages of failing to climb up, the figure even managed to fall off.

Lin Linya couldn’t climb up and was too embarrassed to ask for help. Just as he tried again, steeling himself and standing on the balcony edge, the enemy suddenly jumped down and gave him a smack. His tone was one of sheer disgust. “I’ve been waiting for you on the roof for ages. You’re way too clumsy.”

Lin Linya instinctively apologized. “Sorry, this is a bit tricky.”

“Watch closely. I’m only teaching this once.”

The player in the black skin demonstrated for Lin Linya. “When you jump up, you have to tap jump again to grab the ledge and climb. Otherwise, how are you gonna get up?”

Lin Linya had a moment of sudden realization. Following the instruction, he clumsily clambered his way up onto the roof. Joyfully, he stood there and waved down at the player below. “Thank you! I made it up!”

Lin Linya’s other three teammates arrived. The player in the black skin panicked and tried to climb up too. But his hand had just touched the roof edge when Lin Linya, poking his head over the side to see what was happening, nudged him off.

Without hesitation, Block gunned down this airdrop that had hand-delivered itself. The squad was wiped. They secured a top-three finish and entered the Final Circle.

He jumped and threw celebratory punches at the dead player’s crate. “Gotcha now, didn’t I?”

Lin Linya pressed his lips together awkwardly, not daring to say a word.

When the other two arrived, he suddenly remembered he was still on the roof. Standing on the rooftop, he danced a little jig while showing off to Little Yang. “Look, quick! I know how to get on the roof now!”

His words had barely left his mouth when a distant sniper, equipped with an 8x Scope, landed a Headshot on him. He was down on his knees.

“…”

Dejected, he crawled down. Little Yang came over and Revived him. Watching Lin Linya silently popping Meds without a word, Little Yang finally couldn’t help but burst out laughing, his laughter getting louder and louder.

Lin Linya was completely numb. Expressionlessly, he said, “Could you keep it down? Your happiness is upsetting me.”