Chapter Ten: Scaring Myself?

After reviewing the rewards, Gu Xi dismissed the system prompt and rolled her eyes at Su Chen.

"It’s nothing, just a random line from a song I heard when I was a kid in the last century."

She certainly found him annoying—especially a man who insisted on throwing himself at her. Although Su Chen was irritated, he didn't dare complain. The two of them moved forward, crouched low against the wall, heading toward the west.

"Is this the place?" Gu Xi asked, trailing behind Su Chen, feeling uncertain.

Su Chen had led them directly to a subway entrance. The opening was blocked by a collapsed billboard, and the gusts of cold air rushing out felt unnervingly biting and sinister.

"This is it. The map says so. We don't just need to enter; we need to go down. The hint provided says that to reach the edge of the floating island, we first have to reach the perimeter. I’ve checked everywhere else; the only access point is inside the track walls of the subway."

Su Chen was equally speechless at the counter-intuitive map instructions. His current abilities were completely useless here.

"Fine. Get the flashlight from the back of your pack. I assume there’s no power inside the subway."

After fumbling for a while, Su Chen pulled out the flashlight. He glanced at Gu Xi, signaling for her to take the lead while he followed. They were exceptionally cautious as they descended into the subway, the pitch-black darkness sending shivers down their spines.

Just as they were heading deeper into the areas indicated by the map, Gu Xi thought she heard the "squeak-squeak" of rats. She turned around nervously, but found nothing.

"Scaring yourself, are you?" Su Chen teased in a low voice.

At that very moment, a thunderous sound of running footsteps erupted behind them.

"No, they’ve caught up!" Gu Xi had no mood for Su Chen's jokes.

Seeing the grave look on her face, Su Chen finally realized the severity of the situation. From the subway entrance, the roars of unknown creatures echoed from near to far. It was clear they weren't being chased by just one—but an entire pack.

"Go! Go! This way!" Su Chen bolted, sprinting in the direction indicated by the map.

Gu Xi almost failed to keep up with his sudden dash, but fortunately, the awakened ability she had received from the system—the increased physical fitness—proved useful. Within three seconds, she caught up to him.

"Where is it? Hurry!" Her voice was laced with anxiety.

She had to get out. That was her conviction.

The situation on the floating island seemed beyond repair. The entire city felt like a ghost town. On her way from the apartment to the subway station, she had barely seen a single person. If she didn't know better, she would have thought she was an NPC in a game.

The sound of running and roaring grew louder behind them. As the distance closed, Su Chen went into a frenzy. They leaped down onto the tracks and ran wildly along them. The creatures, hearing their footsteps, shifted direction and gave chase. The friction of their feet against the tracks felt as though it might spark a fire.

"Here!" Su Chen shouted anxiously.

Finally, following the prompt, he reached the destination. It was fortunate that no trains were running, or they would have been blocked or trapped without any hope of escape.

On the wall where Su Chen pointed, Gu Xi saw a glowing green icon. It looked like the dopamine-colored UI elements she had seen in the TV commercial for *GTA 100*. While Su Chen pounded on the wall, Gu Xi pulled a Winchester from her system inventory and fired at the wall marked with the green door icon.

In moments, the wall was riddled with holes. It was clear there was light on the other side—a blinding, intense brightness streaming through the perforations.

"Put some muscle into it, man!" Gu Xi kicked the wall, but it didn't budge. She signaled for Su Chen to help. The wall surface was thin and brittle; she could feel it absorbing the impact of her kicks, shedding debris like dry cracker crumbs. She hated that sensation; she preferred the solid impact of flesh against a real target.

Su Chen gathered his strength, and rather than kicking sideways like Gu Xi, he planted his foot squarely against the center of the wall.

*Crash.*

The surface peeled away, revealing a light-speed portal that looked like something out of a sci-fi film. Before Su Chen could call out to her, Gu Xi dove straight in without a second thought.

The sounds of the creatures grew even louder. After a moment of hesitation, Su Chen followed her through.

The moment she entered, Gu Xi felt as if she had been tossed into a tumble dryer, spun violently round and round. She felt as though her brains were being shaken loose, and the sensation showed no sign of stopping.

It finally ceased the moment Su Chen arrived. Gu Xi collapsed onto the ground, her face deathly pale, looking as though she were about to vomit. Before they could even observe their surroundings, she retched all over the floor.

"Nobody told me it would be this unbearable," Gu Xi gasped.

Seeing this, Su Chen quickly pulled a small bottle of water from his pack for her. She took a while to recover before standing up. Looking around, she found only white walls, with a small door at the far end.

"That must be the exit. Let's go. We shouldn't stay here long." Gu Xi braced herself and began to walk. Su Chen tried to help her, but she waved him off. He had never met a woman so strong-willed.

They reached the white door and opened it. The sight that met their eyes was vastly different from what they had just left. A gentle breeze blew, and beneath their feet stretched an endless field of green vegetation, swaying in the wind.

"Is this... a field of wheat? It smells like wheat," Gu Xi blurted out.

She immediately clamped a hand over her mouth. That didn't sound like something she would normally say—neither she nor Su Chen had ever seen wheat in their lives.

*System voice???*

"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!"

From the middle of the swaying fields, a chorus of animal cries suddenly erupted.

"Those are rats!" Su Chen exclaimed.

They immediately went on guard, backing into each other to survey their surroundings. Not only were the squeaking sounds growing louder, but the door they had just stepped out of—the one leading back to the white room—had vanished into thin air.

The breeze shifted, turning into a powerful gale. The high ponytail Gu Xi had tied up was snapped off by the force of the wind. Her hair whipped around her face, the strands seemingly acting with intent to block her vision.

"I told you! Outside the floating island is dangerous! Great, just great—we’ve barely left the island and it’s already GAME OVER!" Su Chen regretted not forcing Gu Xi to return to the laboratory with him to take shelter.