prynovel Chapter 8 Cherry Blossom Expert: He's Lost His Way!
Chapter 8 Cherry Blossom Expert: He's Lost His Way!
The girl's cries still echoed in all the live stream rooms.
The chat was silent for a few seconds before a few scattered comments appeared.
Nineteen years old...
[Bicycle...C-level Disaster Zone...]
She was teleported in without any warning.
[That idiot Singh didn't just kill himself.]
Nobody's posting jokes anymore.
In the official studio, Zhao Mingyuan stared at the girl huddled next to the bicycle on the screen for a long time before speaking.
"Category C Disaster Zone, Scorching Hot Earth"
His voice was somewhat deep.
"The system shows that the surface temperature here remains above 60 degrees Celsius year-round, and the air carries a high concentration of sulfur dust. Long-term exposure can cause respiratory burns. The bicycle has no protection, no shelter, and no cooling equipment."
Lin Xiaotang held the water glass in her hand, just holding it there, forgetting to drink it.
"Then what about her...survival rate?"
Zhao Mingyuan didn't reply, but silently withdrew his hand from the table.
This action made the comment section of the Great Xia forum instantly understand.
Professor Zhao, say something!!!
[His silence means he has no chance of survival, right?]
[The substitute player can't even inherit the remaining supplies; Singh's Class B armored vehicle is still parked in the desert, completely useless to her!]
Lin Xiaotang turned to the camera, trying her best to maintain the demeanor of an announcer.
"According to the rules, substitute players cannot inherit any of the deceased player's remaining resources and will start the game with a completely new state at a random drop location."
"In other words, Singh's Class B armored off-road vehicle is still parked in the desert, engine running, doors open..."
"But it has nothing to do with Priya."
The comments section was flooded with messages.
The camera cuts to a live stream of the scorched earth area.
The scorching ground was cracked with fissures, and the air in the distance was distorted by the heat waves, making the whole scene a scorched yellow.
Priya Sharma knelt on the ground, covering her face with her hands, her shoulders trembling.
She was short, with a messy ponytail, wearing a light blue college uniform, and the soles of her shoes were already starting to smoke slightly.
The bicycle was leaning against her, its paint blistering from the heat.
Her shoes... were smoking.
[No wonder I kept crying, I was kneeling on the ground at a 60-degree angle...]
Stand up!
The chat in Da Xia's live stream was almost entirely filled with shouts directed at the screen.
But the girl in the video couldn't hear anything.
She cried for about thirty seconds, then suddenly wiped her face hard and stood up, supporting herself on the ground.
She stumbled for a moment, then grabbed the handlebars to steady herself.
The comments section paused for a moment.
[...She stood up?]
Wait, she didn't give up?
This girl's got something! Her mental fortitude is impressive, much stronger than her ex's.
But bicycles versus Class C... sigh.
[Don't panic, let's see how Su Shen is doing. Su Shen is still stuck in the mud!]
As soon as this sentence was uttered, the comments section immediately shifted.
The screen switches back to the DaXia No. 1 live broadcast channel.
"Crunch—crunch—"
Su Chen sat on the tricycle, pedaling at a steady pace toward the northwest.
A thick, grayish-white fog swept past on both sides, and the tracks plowed two deep trenches into the mud. Acid splashed to the side, but didn't reach him.
He's in much better form now than he was at the start of the season.
Health has climbed back to 73 points.
The poisoning has been relieved.
The burns on my hands were bandaged with a medical kit, and they still hurt, but it doesn't affect my ability to exert force.
The tricycle moved steadily and straight through the mud.
Su Chen lowered his head, his mind racing with calculations.
System intelligence: 12 degrees north of northwest, approximately 220 meters, hard foundation.
He had already walked nearly 150 meters.
Thick fog obscured the view; all around was the same gray, the same mud, and the same stench of decay.
There were no landmarks, no road signs, and no directional markers.
At that moment, the live stream from Japan was switched in.
A small window appeared in the upper right corner of the screen, which was a live connection with an expert from Japan.
He was a middle-aged man wearing glasses and a neat suit, speaking eloquently to the camera.
The translated subtitles scroll synchronously at the bottom of the screen.
"According to the system display and our calculations, the coverage area of the S-level disaster zone 'Deadly Swamp' far exceeds that of regular desert terrain, and is about three to four times that of a normal C-level zone."
"In an environment with near-zero visibility, no road signs, and no maps..."
He adjusted his glasses.
"Su Chen has no auxiliary navigation equipment, and the residual effects of the high concentration of nerve gas are still ongoing."
"My conclusion is that he must have lost his way."
"There are no supplies or way out in the swamp, and our strength will continue to be depleted."
"The further he went, the more he deviated from the right path. The more he deviated, the less he could find his way out."
The sentiment in the comments section of the Great Xia forum changed instantly.
Wait a minute, this analysis is a bit scary.
Does poison gas really affect one's sense of direction?
[Since Su Shen was exposed to poison gas for a period of time, could it have already had an effect...?]
I suddenly panicked.
The words of the Japanese expert are still displayed on the screen.
The live stream chat from the US was the first to react.
[Hahaha! Lost! Lost in an S-class disaster zone!]
What's the point of a tricycle going fast if you can't even tell which way to turn?
The pride of Great Xia is about to be mired in the mire!
[No GPS, no compass, just your eyes? This isn't survival, it's aimless wandering!]
James Hall finally got back into the swing of things and slapped the studio stage.
"What did I say again? Luck! Pure luck!"
He shook the newly opened beer can in his hand.
"Killing monsters is luck, finding supplies is luck, and now your luck is gone! An S-rank disaster zone isn't your backyard; one wrong turn and you'll die without even knowing how!"
The Japanese viewers also flooded the chat with comments.
[Professional analysis shows that the area of a Class S zone is three to four times that of a Class C zone, and the direction of the residual toxic gas's influence is a scientific conclusion.]
[The performance by Da Xia has come to an end.]
The screenshot was uploaded to Da Xia's live stream, and the chat exploded.
[What kind of scientific conclusion is this? Where are your Japanese athletes? Are they having tea in the B-level security zone?]
[That fat guy from the US is at it again. Last time he said Su Shen's success was due to luck, and what happened? Doesn't his face hurt?]
[Hilarious! You're saying the world's first kill was due to luck? How many did your players kill? Zero!]
[What nonsense is this analysis from Japanese experts! Every step Su Shen takes is meticulously planned. If you don't understand, just shut up!]
[Right, right, Su Shen must have gotten lost. After all, he just killed a monster that even your heavy machine guns couldn't penetrate with a shovel.]
[I suggest that the US and Japan join hands to make predictions, since they always get wrong anyway.]
The comments section was filled with heated arguments, with both sides hurling insults at each other across the entire screen.
In the official studio of Daxia, Zhao Mingyuan stared at the screen showing Su Chen riding a bicycle, without saying a word.
Lin Xiaotang glanced at him.
"Professor Zhao, the analysis from that expert in Japan..."
Zhao Mingyuan did not answer immediately.
He stood up, walked to the large screen in the studio, and zoomed in on the environment around Su Chen.
A thick, grayish-white fog reduced visibility to no more than five meters, and all around were identical mudflats with no landmarks.
From a purely tactical perspective.
Zhao Mingyuan's hand stopped at the edge of the screen.
"This analysis is based on evidence."
The chat in Da Xia's live stream room instantly fell silent.
[Professor Zhao? ???]
Shouldn't you be refuting this?
[Professor Zhao, wait a minute, what are you saying???]
Lin Xiaotang was also taken aback.
Zhao Mingyuan turned around and faced the camera.
"The fog density in the S-class disaster zone is extremely high, with visibility approaching zero. There is no sun, no stars, no wind direction reference, and no usable natural navigation methods."
"Su Chen was exposed to nerve gas for more than ten minutes. Even though he was given antivenom to relieve the poisoning, the residual effects of the toxin on his vestibular system and spatial perception could not be completely eliminated."
He paused.
"Under these conditions, it is theoretically impossible for a person to escape the quagmire by instinct alone. The deviation will accumulate with distance and become greater and greater."
The live chat was filled with groans of despair.
【It's all over, it ...!】
Professor Zhao, please stop talking, I'm losing my temper!
So, Su Shen really will get lost???
Zhao Mingyuan glanced at the comments but ignored them.
"but."
What I just said was theory.
Zhao Mingyuan tapped Su Chen's location on the screen with his finger.
"Has this young man done even one foolish thing since he started playing the game?"
Lin Xiaotang shook her head.
"When digging for monsters, he knows where their weaknesses are. When digging for supply crates, he knows their coordinates. Repairing vehicles, installing tracks—every step is calculated."
Zhao Mingyuan tapped the edge of the screen heavily.
"A person who can escape being burned by acid, a person who can find a 3-centimeter-wide air hole in the mud and kill someone with a single shovel. You're telling me he doesn't know where to go?"
He turned the camera back.
"I don't know what method Su Chen used, but based on his previous demonstrated calculation ability and tactical skills, I believe he must have his own methods! Let's trust him!"
The live comments section is back in action.
Professor Zhao! My Professor Zhao!
You almost scared me to death! But then there was a twist!
[Yeah! When has Su Shen ever done anything he wasn't sure about?]
So, Professor Zhao made me cry first and then laugh, right?
[Su Shen: My affairs are none of your concern.]
……
The scene was not cut off.
A news segment popped up in the bottom right corner of the screen.
The camera switched from the live stream to the domestic scene in China.
The first scene shows a nursing home.
In the corridor, an elderly man with gray hair was getting up from his wheelchair.
His legs were trembling, and two caregivers were supporting him on either side, but he pushed their hands away.
He took one step, then another.
The third step was that he steadied himself.
The camera zooms in, revealing the old man's face covered in tears, his mouth agape, repeatedly muttering the same phrase.
"Twenty years...twenty years without standing up..."
A red cloth hung on the door of the ward behind him, with a few words written crookedly on it: "Su Chen, live a long and healthy life."
The second scene shows an eye hospital.
A middle-aged woman sat in the examination chair. The doctor shone a flashlight into her eyes and then slowly raised three fingers.
"How many?"
"Three."
The woman's lips were trembling.
"I saw it, three of them. I saw it!"
She jumped up from the chair, grabbed the doctor's arm, and started crying, sobbing uncontrollably.
"I've been blind for twelve years, twelve years! This morning I suddenly saw light! It's that child, it's Su Chen!"
The third scene shows an old street.
At the entrance of a grocery store on the street corner, several elderly people were setting up a wooden frame.
The shelf was covered with a screenshot of Su Chen from the live stream, showing him riding his tricycle out of the acid mist.
Below the screenshot are fruits and incense sticks.
A hunchbacked old man stood in front of the shelf, his hands clasped together, muttering incantations.
The person next to him asked what he was doing.
The old man didn't even turn his head.
"Let's build a shrine for our benefactor. If Heaven won't protect him, we will."