Chapter 341 - Chapter 341: Chapter 340: Great fortune, chicken for dinner tonight!

Chapter 341: Chapter 340: Great fortune, chicken for dinner tonight!

The first Poison Circle damages one health point per minute, which anyone can withstand.

In fact, they don’t even need to use bandages. After all, a bandage can restore 30 health points, and the first Poison Circle only lasts for ten minutes, losing just 10 health points in total.

Du Gang and the rest spent the duration of the first Poison Circle searching through the entire mine.

This time, Du Gang even sent Zhang Xinyi and Tao Xuanzhu to drive.

In the mission world, unlike the game, all items aren’t just in the backpack whose capacity is related to its level.

But in the mission world, they can put supplies in the car, which means they can carry more resources.

Of course, after having four cars, Du Gang naturally had them increase the amount of spare ammo, but the main items they collected were still medicines!

The first Poison Circle was over, and the second Poison Circle started to shrink.

This time, the shrinking circle was more towards the northeast, with its center near Pica duo, covering areas like Saint Martin, Cemetery, and Happy Village. Besides, the military base was still within the circle. It was a safe zone that was greatly offset upwards.

All four members of Du Gang’s team were in their vehicles, ready to set off.

“Du Gang, what are we waiting for here?”

Kou Yingwu was still the curious one out of the lot.

“Waiting for the second Poison Circle!”

Du Gang glanced at his watch and said flatly, “Let’s see what the damage looks like when the second Poison Circle comes.”

The Poison Circle in the mission world was special. While it was shrinking from the edges of the first Poison Circle, another circle emerged at the map’s edge. It shrank at a slightly faster rate than the first layer until it overlapped with the safe zone inside the first circle.

This meant that the new Poison Circle might do more damage than the first!

Soon, the second Poison Circle covered their position.

“Two health points have been deducted, plus one from the first Poison Circle. Now, we lose three health points every minute!”

Du Gang smiled, “The situation is almost as I expected, everything is under control. Let’s go here first!”

As he said it, he marked a spot on the map. It was a bridgehead at the edge of a small island.

“Let’s go!”

Under Du Gang’s leadership, the convoy set off again, finally stopping at the marked point.

“Take out your telescopes and observe. I need to know if there are any survivors on the other side!”

Under Du Gang’s command, since everyone had a telescope, they all quickly started to look around.

While they were observing, Du Gang climbed slowly towards the top of the bridge, using the railings on either side for support.

Soon, he reached the top of the bridge, took out his telescope, and started observing.

What he was looking at were the rooftops of some two-story buildings. These rooftops usually had supplies under normal circumstances.

He could judge whether someone had been there based on these rooftops.

After observing several rooftops in succession, Du Gang smiled.

“No one has been here. So, it seems that most people are still operating within the path of the flight.”

In addition to that, the safe zone was above them, while Coastal Town was in the southwest corner, still in the Poison Circle.

“The Poison Circle has covered Coastal Town for almost twenty minutes, but the supplies there are still intact. This indicates that no one is holed up there in the poison!”

After all, unless people are forced into the Poison Circle, it’s hard to know that the Poison Circle doesn’t kill people – it just drains health.

Du Gang was in no rush to go down, though. He was very careful to sweep his telescope over all the visible rooftops, ensuring the supplies were still there, before climbing down from the bridge.

“How are your observations going? Have you noticed any signs of movement from living people?”

“No!”

“None!”

All three shook their heads. They didn’t see anything, suggesting that there likely weren’t any people in the neighborhood across them.

“Get in the cars. Let’s cross the bridge!”

Du Gang was fired up and with a wave of his hand, he led his team back into their vehicles and drove towards the other side of the bridge.

After crossing the bridge, Du Gang stopped in front of a bus, “Open the map, I’ll divide the areas for you!”

“Coastal Town may be our last resupply city. I have only one request, leave nothing behind in the areas you explore!”

“Collect everything, be it medicines or beverages. Also, if you encounter a bus like this, switch vehicles. It’ll let us carry more supplies!”

“Understood!”

Soon, the four men, each according to their assigned area, began searching for supplies.

Before the search began, Du Gang took a brief glance at the remaining number of people. Only over two hundred and fifty remained.

It was normal for many to die in the beginning, but as everyone gets used to it, they become more cautious, and fewer people die.

After searching two buildings, the third Poison Circle refreshed, closing in on them.

The other three also voluntarily gathered around Du Gang. Though no one spoke this time, they all watched him, waiting for instructions.

Since they kept silent, Du Gang spoke up, “This time, we need to watch closely how the Poison Circle drains health. If it’s exponential or doubling, we won’t be able to wait long before moving…”

“But if it’s based on the number of Poison Circle layers, that would be better.”

His point was clear. If the third layer of poison clearance drained 4 health points, they wouldn’t be able to withstand it for long.

But if it only drained 3 points, it would indicate that the Poison Circle’s health loss mechanism was incremental, which was relatively slow.

If it were the former, this would mean that the fourth Poison Circle could potentially drain up to 20 points at once, which was really scary.

But if it were the latter, it would mean that this time the damage would 1+2+3=6 points.

“Swish!”

Very soon, the Poison Circle covered everyone and continued to shrink towards the safe zone.

Du Gang cracked a smile, “Six points, which means it’s the second type of health loss mechanism!”

“By calculation… we could maximum wait till the 13th Poison Circle because, by then, it would drain 91 health points per minute!”

The health loss mechanism in the mission world deducts directly from the health value at the end of each minute.

So, they could only hold out till the 13th round. If they can’t reach the safe zone by the time the 13th Poison Circle comes, they would surely die in the 14th Poison Circle.

Because the total health loss in the 14th Poison Circle would be 105 points, which could directly kill them!

However, staying till the 13th round might be enough!

Du Gang estimated that after the 13th Poison Circle, there wouldn’t be many people left. When the time came to enter the safe zone, they would face fewer enemies, making it easier to win.

After determining the mechanics of the Poison Circle’s health deduction, Du Gang once again dismissed everyone to continue searching for supplies.

“Beware, don’t waste the medicine. Use bandages only when you’re below 70 health points, got it?”

At this point, Du Gang was constantly reminding everyone.

“Also, save the first aid kits and medical boxes, don’t use them now…”

And so, the Poison Circle kept shrinking layer by layer, and the safe zone was growing increasingly smaller.

By the time of the sixth round of poisoning, Du Gang and his team had thoroughly searched the entire Coastal Town completely. They even started using the supplies they had collected.

When the seventh round of poisoning arrived, Du Gang finally issued the departure command.

By now, the Poison Circle had shrunk to the central position of the Water Plant, Broken City, and Tibo Town. Only around sixty players remained.

Instead of heading directly into the circle, since they had enough remaining time, Du Gang chose the route from Coastal Town to New Mountain City, then to Pica Duo, Saint Martin, Orange Flower Town, and finally to Broken City.

This was to prevent encountering any players who also kept hiding in the Poison Circle.

However, he believed that there wouldn’t be many people who could survive the poison as he did. After all, they had started collecting supplies since the beginning, while others did not necessarily know when they realized the Poison Circle wouldn’t immediately kill them.

“In the seventh round of poison, it deducts 28 points of health per minute. We will stop to bandage ourselves after walking a certain distance. Follow me closely, stop when I stop…”

With the start of their journey, Du Gang became more cautious and required everyone to maintain their health points above fifty.

When they were in Coastal Town previously, his health points had even dropped to single digits. Of course, this was because he had extreme confidence in his calculations, which could be attributed to his daring personality and exceptional skills.

But now it was different. ‘Better safe than sorry,’ he thought. If anyone understood the mechanics of the Poison Circle and managed to survive as they did and then initiated a combat encounter, the more health points they had, the higher their chances of survival!

One different aspect of the mission world from the game was that here, teammates couldn’t help each other up. Once a teammate’s health points fell to zero, it meant death.

As someone who often played survival games and avoided poison, Du Gang knew very well that if they wanted to be among the top five, medicine was indispensable. Therefore, whenever passing through places without buildings, he was relatively relaxed. But when passing by houses, he became alert.

After all, when he used to play games in the past, he often camped in a bathroom with a shotgun for half an hour.

It was mainly because Du Gang had many female companions when he played survival games. Moreover, these girls liked to use the walkie-talkie, and camping in the toilet with a shotgun could always elicit screams…

Every time he heard a girl screaming, Du Gang would reveal a wicked smile.

“Stay sharp, we’ll be passing through New Mountain City soon. Remember not to get out of the car!”

Du Gang’s vehicle had been lightly modified. The windows were covered with lots of bullet-proof vests, leaving only a horizontal line for observation.

In addition to that, he had also fixed some steel plates on the outer periphery of the car, all of which were made during the wait for the seventh round of poison.

As they approached New Mountain City, Du Gang even slowed down the speed of the vehicle.

The mission world was different from the game. In the game, vehicles had durability points, and as long as the durability did not hit zero, the vehicle would not explode.

But it was different in the mission world. A single grenade could easily blow up a car.

Moreover, every participant, though they were controlling ordinary people, had extremely strong control abilities.

Du Gang and the other three had tried out throwing grenades and shooting practice. Everyone was very accurate, making one hundred shots out of hundred attempts.

The four players were very careful. They passed through New Mountain City without danger and headed towards Pica Duo.

Meanwhile, Du Gang picked up their original speed again. At this moment, the eighth round of Poison Circle was gradually approaching and would soon cover them. By this point, the health deduction per minute had reached 36 points.

The map of the mission world was a bit larger than that in the game. Even though at first glance they seemed to have about the same proportions, it factually took Du Gang and his team over ten minutes to move from New Mountain City to Pica Duo by car.

When they passed by Pica Duo, the ninth round of the Poison Circle had covered them.

However, at this point, they had to stop. “Get off and clear the bodies, make way!”

This was because they had no choice but to stop. Among the four hundred players participating, Pica Duo was a central location, so at the time many people chose to land there. The number of dead bodies was so large that it had completely blocked the road.

Left with no other choice, Du Gang and his team moved the bodies one by one and cleared the road for their travel.

At this time, only around thirty people were left. This was only a tenth of the total participants at the beginning.

This meant that over three hundred people had died in this mission.

“Such a tragic scene!”

The other three team members didn’t feel like talking or bantering at this time. Their hearts were feeling heavy.

After all, if they couldn’t win, those people would be their fate.

Only by surviving and “eating the chicken” (winning the game), could they be the ones laughing at the end!

“Keep moving!”

Soon, the team started moving again, driving towards the junction near Saint Martin.”

Thus, the team followed the route planned by Du Gang, consuming a large amount of supplies on the way, and gradually reduced from four cars to two cars. In the end, they reached the central position between Broken City and Orange Flower Town.

By this point, the Poison Circle had shrunk to the twelfth round, and they didn’t have many supplies left.

But luckily, there were only thirteen people left. This meant, besides the four of them, there were only nine others left.

“Great, only nine are left. Our chances of winning are high!”

Kou Yingwu said while looking at the map: “Now, the safe zone is on the edge of Broken City and on the mountain to the west. Shall we enter the safe zone?”

“There’s no rush!”

Du Gang shook his head, “There’s likely to be someone in a building in the Broken City that’s still in the safe zone. Let’s go check the outskirts of the city first. Don’t rush into the safe zone!”

What’s the big deal about only thirteen people remaining? Back when he used to play games, there were countless times when he survived the poison and ended up being the last one standing just by rationing medicine.

However, it was not feasible in the mission world. After the thirteenth round of Poison Circle, it would become lethal, and absolutely did not give any chance to ration medicine. If it weren’t for that, he didn’t even want to enter the safe zone.

Right now, the safe zone was actually very small, just a small piece of land, but there were still thirteen people. This was primarily because of the four members of their team outside the Poison Circle, while the other nine people were inside the Circle.

Maybe some of these people knew that the Poison Circle wouldn’t kill them immediately, but they dared not resist the poison, because the current Poison Circle was deducting 78 health points per minute, which was terrifying.

It was only because Du Gang and his team had a lot of first aid kits that they hadn’t died yet.

So, Du Gang and his team slowly and quietly approached the city. At this moment, the city was quiet except for the noises coming from some burned vehicles.

However, they could still hear gunshots from a bit farther away. That was the sound of gunfire inside the Poison Circle.

Du Gang and his team arrived at the lower town of Broken City, quietly waiting, “Wait until the building in the upper town enters the Poison Circle, then we will go!”

The safe zone outside the thirteenth round of Poison Circle did not cover the Broken City, and the circle shrunk to the clay mountain on the west side.

This meant that if there were still people inside the city, they would have to leave!

Xing Chenyi was rather lucky. At the beginning, like his teammates, he didn’t understand the significance of these city names. In the end, they chose Military Base.

After parachuting, they discovered that they couldn’t jump far, so they landed in Black Spotted Antelope Town. There were quite a few people landing there at that time, but they were lucky as they landed right next to a car. They immediately drove off towards the Military Base.

Upon arriving, they found the place empty. They comfortably searched for a long time, even practicing their shooting skills.

It wasn’t until they were fully armed that another team arrived by car. This team was also equipped with guns.

However, with one side prepared and the other caught unawares, their team of four easily eliminated the enemy four.

After achieving this victory, they found it easier to fight in entrenched battles. So, they decided on a strategy: they would hold their ground at the military base until it was no longer in the safe zone, only then would they move.

As it turned out, their luck held. In the third circle, they transitioned to a Broken City. Subsequently, all the way to the twelfth circle, they remained within. It was indeed a Destiny Circle.

They even eradicated more than ten teams that boldly charged along the road.

Eventually, during the thirteenth circle, their neighborhood was no longer within the circle.

“Boss, what do we do now?”

Xing Chenyi glanced at the circle and said, “Let’s move. Let’s get to the edge of the circle first and check out the situation.”

With that, the four of them left the last building in Broken City and headed towards the circle.

Seeing them leave, Du Gang and his team followed suit, but they were still within the Poison Circle.

“Du Gang, shall we enter the circle?”

Kou Yingwu didn’t dare speak loudly at this point, and quietly asked.

Du Gang shook his head, “Let’s wait. The thirteenth circle hasn’t moved yet, and we still have quite a bit left in our large pack…”

Now was not the right time. They would wait until this team had moved a little farther away before acting.

If they were spotted by the team up ahead and caught outside the circle, they would be doomed, no matter how much they have.

Xing Chenyi and the others crawled onward, eventually reaching the edge of the circle.

“It’s safe. There’s no one around us!”

Xing Chenyi smiled faintly, “It’s normal for us to be safe. We’ve been holding the city, everyone knows there’s tough resistance there. Who would dare to mess with us?”

Indeed, at this point in the fight, most teams were incomplete. Many were reduced to just one or two members. Teams like theirs, still maintaining four members, were rare. Only Du Gang’s team was their equal.

That also meant, aside from two complete teams, there were only five other players left within the circle.

They hadn’t been in the pit long when gunshots rang out in the distance.

“It’s the other side of the circle. Looks like most of the others are over there!”

True enough. On their side of Broken City, near the housing area, there was an open plain. Anyone who emerged would die instantly. No one dared to show themselves here. This meant that only their team was at the edge of the circle on their side of the city.

“Let’s keep waiting, let them fight. We just need to keep an eye on our surroundings!”

Xing Chenyi was not in a hurry, observing the situation while keeping an eye on the number of remaining players on his watch.

By a strange coincidence, the remaining five players were all lone wolves. In their eyes, the dozen remaining players were in perfect teams.

Consequently, the five didn’t move until the Poison Circle began to shrink. But the moment they moved, the circle diminished and they ran into each other.

In reality, they didn’t know that there were no other players in the direction they were headed toward within the circle.

But there was no way around it. Once they encountered each other, it would become a kill-or-be-killed situation, and a fierce firefight erupted among the five.

The gunshots were extraordinarily intense. If one wasn’t nearby, they might think two teams were battling it out.

“12 players remaining!”

“11 players remaining!”

Xing Chenyi kept an eye on the player count, “10 players.”

“9 players…”

When the count reached nine, the gunshots suddenly ceased.

“Listen, there are no gunshots. Could it be that one team wiped out the other and there’s only a lone survivor left?”

“It might be so, but they’re on the opposite side of the circle, quite a distance from us…”

Just then, the thirteenth circle moved to the edge of the safe zone. Simultaneously, the fourteenth safe zone appeared.

This safe zone aptly landed on their side. This meant the group that had just fought would have to move into the circle.

“Destiny Circle!”

Xing Chenyi was overjoyed, “This is a great opportunity. We’re inside the circle, and they’re outside. They’re sure to have to run through the poison. Let’s push forward and restrict them outside the circle!”

“Let’s go!”

The group was thrilled. With nine players left, their chances of winning were high. They just needed to kill five more to win.

In the Poison Circle, by the building where Xing Chenyi and the others had been, was where Du Gang’s team was now located.

Kou Yingwu was a bit worried, “Du Gang, right now the poison damage is 91 hit points per minute. We only have ten minutes left. After the circle shrinks in ten minutes, if we don’t go in, we’ll die…”

Tao Xuanzhu was not as composed at this moment either. With their health dropping into the single digits, they found it hard to bear.

She said, “Du Gang, we can see a few people up ahead now. Shall we start shooting?”

Du Gang had been watching Xing Chenyi and the others’ movements through a small mirror on the ground.

“Don’t rush. This circle is right in front of us. We’re inside it, but they don’t see us. Even if we kill two of them, the other two could still stop us!”

He was experienced and knew he could not fire now because once they revealed their position, it would be all over.

Just then, Xing Chenyi and the others up front moved. Du Gang’s mouth curled into a small smile, “They must think the remaining five players are all outside the circle and are trying to block the edge of the poison!”

Earlier, when Xing Chenyi and the others had stood up and looked around, he had realized they intended to push forward. They were sweeping the edges, ensuring there was nobody on either side.

Now, this team was really on the move!

“Indeed, we are outside the circle. However, we are not within the Poison Circle, but outside it!”

After confirming that the team up front had been gone for about ten seconds, Du Gang finally gave the order to make a move.

“Move out!”

The others saw this and quickly followed.

By now they had lightened their load, each carrying only two guns, some ammunition, and the large pack. As for the car, it had been long abandoned.

The four sneaked to the place where Xing Chenyi and the others had been, and after crawling up the hill in front of them, they all laughed.

The terrain here was slightly higher, while the area in front was relatively lower. Not far from them, Xing Chenyi and the others were completely exposed under their watch.

What was more interesting was that those four were lying down, behind a small mound, looking ahead and occasionally firing some shots.

They were right at the edge of the safe zone, blocking the others from entering. In Xing Chenyi and the others’ view, the remaining five players were all outside the circle.

“Du Gang, should we shoot?”

Du Gang laughed, raising his watch, “Nine left. Four of us, four of them. Kill them, and it’s one left. What do you think?”

Everyone was extremely excited.

Du Gang quickly gave orders, “I’ll take the one furthest left, Kou Yingwu – you take the second from the left, Zhang Xinyi – you take the third from the left, Tao Xuanzhu – you take the one furthest right!”

“Remember, aim for the head if possible, focus on combo attacks. I’ll count down three, two, one, and then we all fire!”

The rest of them immediately grew tense, quickly in position, adjusting their individual weapons and aiming at their opponents.

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

“Fire!”

With his command, a series of gunshots erupted.

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

Du Gang fired three shots in succession, instantly killing the guy on the far left.

The others did well too, all of their first shots hit their targets.

However, Kou Yingwu was a bit slow, he didn’t kill his target with the first shot, which allowed him to react and dodge.

“Damn, the guy moved at the last second, or else I would have gotten him!”

Du Gang paid him no mind, quickly judged the distance, and decisely said, “You guys continue with suppressive fire from here, I’ll go around!”

With that, he withdrew behind the slope and began to move in a position where the enemy couldn’t see him.

Through a series of crawls and position changes, he successfully advanced a dozen meters forward.

Taking advantage of a small hill for cover, he looked up and judged the distance, realizing he could throw a grenade.

If he could throw a grenade, he naturally wouldn’t need to fight head-on. At this moment, he had the advantage of surprise on his side – the perfect time to throw a grenade!

Seeing this, Du Gang quickly unhooked a grenade. But rather than throw it immediately, he held it in his hand for three seconds, only then tossing it toward the location of the last player.

Full of regret and annoyance, Xing Chenyi had no idea that there were people outside the Poison Circle, let alone a whole team.

“Where did they get all those meds?!”

“During the previous Poison Circle, I lost over sixty health in a minute, that’s more than half, how could they have held on?!”

His team had been in many battles and didn’t have many meds, so they didn’t dare stay in the Poison Circle for too long. Running into Du Gang’s team, who held out in the Poison Circle, really was a wake-up call.

“The game isn’t over yet – I’m within the circle, and I have a chance. As long as they charge at me, I can take them down in a second!”

He refused to give up, persisting in his search for an opportunity. He held a small mirror in his hand to observe the enemy position through reflection.

At that moment, he saw a black object flying toward him in a parabolic arc.

“What is that?!”

After a second of shock, he quickly realized what it was.

Run!

At this point, he was unable to worry about being shot at. He had to run, or it would land right on his head.

But as he was about to stand and run, the grenade that arrived over his head exploded with a ‘Bang!’

Remaining players: 5

Seeing the enemy rise from a distance, Kou Yingwu was about to take a shot, only to realize that the place had suddenly exploded.

“What?!”

“How did it explode?!”

“Who threw it?!”

Zhang Xinyi laughed, “Who else could it be? It has to be Du Gang!”

“Wait, that’s not right. I thought it takes a few seconds for a grenade to explode. How did this one explode right above his head?!”

He had thought that Du Gang’s grenade was to create a diversion for them, but it turned out to be an instant explosion grenade. Such skills were truly horrifying!

After seeing their opponent’s death, Du Gang quickly stood up and dashed toward the location previously occupied by Xing Chenyi and his team, and looked outside the circle.

He could faintly see someone crawling among the mounds of dirt, stealthily showing a gun barrel or a firinnication from time to time.

Seeing this, he couldn’t help but chuckle, making a gesture to Kou Yingwu and the others.

Upon seeing Du Gang’s signal, the other three immediately followed, arriving at the edge of the circle.

“Did you see that? The man who just performed a meritorious service is outside the circle. This team went to block him, giving us the opportunity!” Du Gang pointed to the guy showing half of his butt further away and said with a smile.

“Wow!”

Kou Yingwu laughed, “Should we let him come in?!”

“Hehe!”

Zhang Xinyi and Tao Xuanzhu sneered at him, “Why not give you a chance to duel him while we watch?!”

Kou Yingwu shrunk his head, “That’s a no-go. I was just saying!”

Du Gang chuckled, “This is a do or die moment, stay calm and don’t do anything rash. He’s outside the circle, we should ready our guns. If he tries to stand and run, shoot him. If he tries to crawl slowly, bomb him with a grenade!”

Meanwhile, the lone wolf in the distance was still unaware of the situation within the circle. He thought the guy who had shot at him earlier had been taken out by others, and was currently crawling into the circle with all his might.

“It should be fine, the other four are probably like me – individuals, not part of a team…”

Just as he was thinking this, a grenade landed near him.

Looking at the grenade less than ten centimeters away, he was flabbergasted.

He swore that he’d never hated something so much in his life.

“Boom!”

The loud explosion marked his death.

“Winner winner, chicken dinner!”

“Congratulations, you’re victorious!”

“Game Over!”