Volume One, Chapter Five: This Is What It Means to Be Breathless

"This is racial discrimination! Racial discrimination!"
"You people in the Dragon Kingdom have no human rights!"
"I'm the son of a chieftain!"
"I can't breathe."

K'Sante, pinned to the ground, was still trying to exert his subjective initiative. To the spineless cowards at the school, these words might have caused a stir, but not to Xiao Fanchen.

A tremendous force struck K'Sante, making him feel as if his neck had been slammed by a truck. The intense pain silenced his wailing instantly, and the look he cast toward Xiao Fanchen was filled with sheer terror.

Xiao Fanchen slapped K'Sante’s thick face heavily, as if he were striking livestock. Then, he delivered a brutal knee strike directly into K'Sante’s abdomen. The blow was so severe that K'Sante nearly vomited the burger and fried chicken he had eaten the day before. The agonizing pain forced him to his knees, dry-heaving violently.

Xiao Fanchen acted decisively, pressing his knee heavily against K'Sante’s throat.

"This is what 'cannot breathe' feels like, okay?"

"You dare to humiliate me like this? This is serious racial discrimination!" K'Sante wheezed. "I will let the whole world know that you in the Dragon Kingdom discriminate against us black people! I will make your country the most stupid, backward, and feudal pariah state in the eyes of the world!"

*BANG!*

A .44 Magnum round roared. Xiao Fanchen had pressed the Desert Eagle against the back of K'Sante’s head and pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through his skull and continued inward, shattering his white teeth before his head exploded like a watermelon.

The other man, who had been cowering on the ground, was completely stunned. He never could have imagined that in the Dragon Kingdom, hailed as the safest place on earth, an art student would be carrying a Desert Eagle.

"No! No! I have gold! Buy my life!" The man struggled, lifting the massive gold chain around his neck, thick enough to leash a dog.

Xiao Fanchen let out a cold snort. "Right, you should pay for my bullet."

Then, the gunshots rang out in rapid succession. Magnum rounds whistled through the air, striking the man's body repeatedly. In the blink of an eye, he was torn to shreds.

"Emptyed the magazine by accident." Xiao Fanchen chuckled, deftly ejecting the magazine and replacing it with a full one. He looked toward Bai Taohua, who was clearly frozen in shock.

In the Dragon Kingdom, aside from veterans or law enforcement, almost no ordinary citizen had ever heard a gunshot, let alone the terrifying, roaring thunder of a Desert Eagle at such close range.

Xiao Fanchen spoke up, "Hey, what was your name again?"

***

Hearing Xiao Fanchen’s voice, the young woman finally snapped back to reality. She looked up, tears spilling from her eyes, and said with a trembling voice, "Bai Taohua... Th-thank you. That was too horrible, too horrible."

Muttering to herself, she suddenly turned to run, but her legs, weakened by terror, gave out. She collapsed to her knees and then scrambled forward in a rather comical attempt to flee.

Xiao Fanchen raised an eyebrow. The girl was clearly terrified. And, he noted, she was wearing blue-and-white striped underwear.

Bai Taohua fled, and Xiao Fanchen followed at a leisurely pace. Once they reached the hallway next to the dormitory where Wen Tingting and Tang Wanyu were staying, Bai Taohua threw open a door, dove inside, and slammed it shut, locking Xiao Fanchen out.

"Hm? Interesting." A playful glint appeared in Xiao Fanchen’s eyes. This little girl—didn't she know he lived right next door?

Still, he understood her reaction. If you saw someone execute two people with a handgun right in front of you, you’d want to run away too. As for this little wooden door... honestly, it was somewhat humorous to him. If he wanted, he could kick it open at any moment.

Xiao Fanchen knocked gently on the door. "I live right next door. If you run out of water or food, you can come find me at any time. After all, as you just saw, I was saving you."

With that, Xiao Fanchen turned and walked away. He was certain that in a few days, she would come knocking on his door of her own accord.

Returning to the scene of the execution, the two corpses were already gone, leaving behind only a few small, green experience orbs.

"As expected, the doomsday game has already begun in secret." Xiao Fanchen frowned slightly. It was just like in his previous life. The blood-colored dust had arrived suddenly, and instead of dissipating, it would only grow thicker and spread further.

Humans were the most reactive to inhaling large amounts of this dust, transforming into zombie-like mutants within tens of minutes. By the seventh day, the dust would rise to the height of six or seven stories. By that time, not only human corpses but also various animals and even plants would begin to mutate.

On the night of the seventh day, the blood-colored dust would vanish, followed by the announcement of the doomsday, declaring that human civilization had entered the end-times era.

In short, these seven days were merely a screening process for the players of the doomsday game. Most of the world's food and water had already spoiled upon contact with the dust. Humans would have to hunt mutants or scavenge for loot points and treasure chests generated by the game to obtain food, water, and equipment.

As Xiao Fanchen approached, the green experience orbs merged into his body.

*Ding! Experience +2.*

A glint of joy flashed in Xiao Fanchen’s eyes. Everyone else would have to wait until after the seventh day to unlock their doomsday interface, meaning they couldn't absorb the experience orbs from their kills. But thanks to his system, he had accessed the interface seven days ahead of the rest of the world.

It was like a beta test for a game. He got to play for seven days before anyone else, and it wasn't a wipe! He was far ahead of the curve. Furthermore, in his mind were memories of countless immense, special rewards he had missed or failed to secure in his past life. This time, all of them would fall into his hands!

He opened his doomsday interface:

[Name: Xiao Fanchen]
[Age: 20]
[Level: 1 (2/100)]
[Perception: 10]
[Strength: 10]
[Constitution: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Skill Books: None]
[Abilities: None]

"Huh?" Xiao Fanchen was surprised. In his past life, his base attributes hovered around 3. The doomsday game was supposed to map attributes based on the player's own physique, yet the system had granted him a flat 10 across the board! This meant his current physical condition was more than three times that of an average man.