Absolute Death Game

"Damn, it seems only the bad stuff works," Xia Zuowei sighed, thinking to himself that there truly was no such thing as a free lunch. He looked toward the place struck by lightning and suddenly noticed what seemed to be a person lying there.

"Huh, what's going on?"

He hurried over with quick, large strides and, sure enough, found a young man lying at the center of the charred impact site. The man's clothes were scorched, revealing a strong and rugged body covered with burn marks that looked dark and charred. The man lay there with his eyes closed, apparently unconscious.

(Could he have been struck by lightning? But that doesn't seem right, there was no one here before... Could he be an Immortal from the heavens? Or perhaps a cultivator undergoing tribulation?)

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Scenes from novels he had read before began to emerge in his mind, (If he really is an Immortal, he must have some Magical Treasures on him; let's search!)

With this thought, he carefully approached and started searching the man. The man didn't have many belongings, and it was almost immediately clear what he had on him, which made the search quick and easy.

A black, disc-like object, no idea what it was for, and a burned hard drive, Xia Zuowei was somewhat puzzled, wondering if even Immortals used computers. Lastly, there was a black ring with a gemstone embedded, made of some unknown material.

Looking at these incomprehensible items, he felt frustrated for a moment. No, this didn't seem like the wealth of Immortals or cultivators; there had to be something else. Suddenly he noticed the pocket of the upper garment seemed to bulge. He reached in and pulled out a cigarette case, immediately revealing a slip of paper-like item. He took them out for a closer look and his eyes lit up.
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Those were talismans, and though he didn't know their purpose, the Runes on them were clearly linked to the mysterious and occult. This guy was definitely a cultivator!

A wave of elation surged in his heart. He looked around and saw no one, thinking to himself that he shouldn't call the police, otherwise there'd be no benefit for him. Better to carry the man back home first.

With that in mind, he lifted the man by the arm and hoisted him up. The man was burly and muscular, weighing quite a bit. Combined with Xia Zuowei's lack of regular exercise, it took all his strength to drag the man onto the back seat of his scooter.

As the day turned to night, for fear of arousing suspicion, Xia Zuowei waited a little longer until it was completely dark before riding his scooter towards his home.

Xia Zuowei's home was located in the outskirts of City B, in a remote factory courtyard. This place was once a state-owned radio factory which had its moments of glory in the 80s and 90s when radios were valuable like computers are today.

However, with the advancement of electronics, radio sales plummeted, and the factory failed to transform in time, eventually falling into disuse and partly closing down.

Xia Zuowei's parents had been workers at this factory and had both died in a car accident a few years ago, leaving him with their only property, a house in the factory complex.

Upon entering his home, Xia Zuowei finally relaxed, dragging the man into the house and setting him down on the bed. The man seemed to have no serious injuries; despite numerous burns, there didn't appear to be anything life-threatening. He lay there with a steady, deep breath, breathing long intervals but very steadily, like someone asleep.

Xia Zuowei didn't dare to try and wake the man up, panting as he pondered what to do next.

(If this guy really is an Immortal, reviving him will certainly not lack rewards; perhaps he could even teach me a few spells or something. And if he really can't be revived, no worries, the items on him must be extraordinary, and keeping them would be useful.)

He placed those items on the table; the only ones seemingly intact were the black disc and the ring.

The ring reminded him of the Storage Rings often found in novels. He cautiously slipped it onto his finger and closed his eyes to sense for a while, but he felt nothing special, thinking he might have expected too much.

He took off the ring and picked up the disc, weighing it in his hand. It was light, and he had no idea what it was used for.

He recalled all the different ways to use Magical Treasures he had read about in novels before, but none seemed to connect with this disc, nor did he know how to use it.

Got it! A thought suddenly struck him. In novels, to use a Magical Treasure, one had to do a Blood Recognition of Master. Perhaps this thing worked the same way. He was just afraid that the weirdo before him had already claimed it, which would mean no luck for him. But it wouldn't hurt to try.

As he was thinking this, he took out a fruit knife, and after hesitating for a while, he gritted his teeth and stabbed his finger with it. The pain almost made him scream. Trembling, he squeezed out a drop of blood and smeared it on the disc. However, the blood simply seeped into it and disappeared without a trace, leaving no mark behind.

Did it work? He wondered to himself, closing his eyes to try to sense the presence of the Magical Treasure, but still, there was no result.

"Damnit, are you messing with me? If you can't do anything, at least don't suck my blood! You're just like that bitch!" He said indignantly as he threw the disc onto the ground. It rolled on the ground and suddenly flashed a red light. Xia Zuowei was stunned for a few seconds and started to get a bit scared. (What was that red light about?

Could the disc be sentient? What if it could attack on its own?) With this thought, he yelped and hurriedly picked up the disc again, wiping off the dust and placing it properly on the table.

"Dear Disc, dear Disc, if you are sentient, please don't be mad at me. I wasn't thinking right just now, I definitely didn't mean it. You're a big guy, be magnanimous and don't hold a grudge against me, alright?"

He rambled on at the disc, but it remained still, as if the flash of red light he had seen was just his imagination. Xia Zuowei mused over it for a while and suddenly found his own behaviour hilarious, which made him burst into laughter.

While he was laughing, a strange gurgling sound suddenly entered his ears. He stopped laughing to listen carefully, only to realize that the noise was coming from his stomach. That's when Xia Zuowei remembered he hadn't eaten dinner yet.

Opening the food cabinet, there was nothing but instant noodles. In order to please Shasha, he had been spending a lot of money recently, and as a result, he had been wrapping noodles around his stomach every day. Seeing the meagerness of his food cabinet once again ignited a hidden fury within him.

But no matter how angry he was, he couldn't skip a meal. He prepared a pack of instant noodles and waited for them to be ready, turning on his computer out of boredom. His main pastimes were playing games and reading novels online, and since he had nothing better to do, he did just that.

As the startup music played, the screen lit up. Just as Xia Zuowei was going to find a novel to pass the time, he suddenly noticed a strange icon had appeared on the screen.

It was a skull-like thing, black and red, appearing to be an icon for a computer game.

"Huh, what's this? I don't remember installing this game. Could it be a computer virus?" He muttered to himself, right-clicking to check the file path, only to find it displayed a series of ????. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

Right-click delete—deletion failed.

Shred file—still failed.

(Damnit, as if I can't do anything to you.) Xia Zuowei thought for a while, then double-clicked on the icon, figuring he might as well see what this was all about. It wasn't as if he cared about getting a virus since his computer was an old clunker and had nothing important on it.

The screen flashed, and he entered a login interface for a game, "Absolute Death Domain". The background looked grand and lifelike. It seemed like a decent game, indeed—(Hmm, worth giving a try).

(To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)