Following the sound around the counter, Chen Feng saw that the only empty spot in the cramped little supermarket had been set up with a mahjong table and a recliner.
At the table, four middle-aged women were sweating profusely as they poured their hearts into the national pastime. On the small recliner next to the table sat a man with a teapot clamped between his teeth—Chen Feng's dad.
"Hey, kid, you're back." Seeing his son return, Chen Feng's father, Chen Jianguo, wiggled his toes in his flip-flops as a greeting. "It's already 8:30. Have you eaten yet?"
"No, and there's nothing at home either." " Chen Feng glanced at the chaotic little grocery store he ran and pursed his lips. "You guys drink tea, play cards—I've never seen a hot meal here anyway."
As he spoke, Chen Feng tried to toss his backpack aside and head upstairs, but perhaps because he was in a bad mood after his opponent had just won with a self-drawn tile, one of the players at the table immediately took offense.
"Hey, you little brat, how dare you talk back?" The plump woman speaking was Li Xiulian, Chen Feng's mother. As she spoke, she slapped the mahjong table, making it clap loudly. "You stay out so late every day, and you still have the nerve to argue? "Hey, you little brat, tell me this: even though I don't cook much for you, have I ever let you go without money? When I give you money, don't you just go out to eat?"
"Go out to eat, go out to eat, and go out to eat again—I've already lost weight down to 90 pounds."
"Hey, I'm telling you… you don't study hard, but you sure know how to talk back!"
Hearing Chen Feng continue to talk back, Li Xiulian was about to "bang her fist on the table and storm out," but Chen Feng simply ignored her and ran up the stairs.
The second floor was where he lived.
Chen Feng's family ran a small "supermarket"—though it was really just a convenience store.
The ground floor was the shop, and the second floor was their living quarters. The walls weren't very soundproof; even after he went upstairs and opened his room, he could still hear the shuffling of mahjong tiles and his mother's loud voice.
"Oh my, my son is such a disappointment… All he does is play video games all day… and he's always going on about esports, telling me esports is going to be in the Olympics. If that stuff can make it into the Olympics, then my mahjong could too!"
"Your son is much better—he listens to me and does well in school…"
"Damn it!"
He threw his backpack onto the bed and let out a heavy sigh. Coming home every day to this constant nagging made him feel a huge psychological disconnect.
At the internet café, he was the "Gun King" everyone fawned over; back home, he was just a "good-for-nothing brat," with nothing he did ever being good enough.
This emotional disconnect naturally made him want to avoid being at home. Chen Feng wasn't a bad kid—though his grades were poor, he'd never done anything to tarnish his character. So, in his current state of frustration, what could he do? He still quietly closed his door and turned on the computer.
"I wonder when I'll ever be able to escape this life."
After the computer hummed to life, Chen Feng habitually stared at the screen and opened *Life and Death Sniper* as usual. Just as he was about to click into a server out of habit, he suddenly spotted something strange in the server list.
"Death Challenge Server."
Above the China Telecom and China Unicom sections, in the most prominent spot on the screen, a very strange server appeared. It had replaced the previous "Recommended Servers" section, with five large characters displayed in a blood-red font.
"Death Challenge Server?"
Chen Feng stared at the screen in front of him, snapping back to reality. "What the hell is this? A new challenge mode?"
Faced with something new, he had to give it a try. Curious, he double-clicked the blood-red server, and a series of large text messages popped up.
"A true life-and-death challenge. Enter here, and you will dance with the Grim Reaper. You will face the ultimate test of life. Through the baptism of blood and fire, you will either die—or emerge stronger."
"You are the character selected by Tuner No. 3. You have one chance to choose. Are you sure you want to enter this server? Note: Entering this server will put your life at risk.
Yes or No."
Two rows of blood-red text filled the entire computer screen, sending an inexplicable shiver down Chen Feng's spine. "What kind of server is this? Did the game company create this just to scare people? 'Life at risk'?"
Chen Feng stared blankly at the screen for a few seconds, then snapped his fingers and chuckled. "Hey! It's just a game. Did I actually let myself get scared? Let's see what this thing is all about."
As he spoke, Chen Feng moved the mouse cursor to the left of the "Yes" option and clicked the left mouse button firmly.
A "beep" sounded. The moment his left mouse button clicked the 'Yes' button, Chen Feng saw the entire computer screen begin to spin at breakneck speed, sucking in every game interface and line of text. The spinning grew faster and faster, until it turned into a strange vortex. The vortex whistled with a "whoosh" and exerted a strange pull, as if it were about to suck Chen Feng right in.
"W-what's going on… Help, help me…"
Before he could even finish his scream, his entire body was sucked into the computer screen and vanished on the spot.
"Oh my God… What on earth is happening? I'm not dreaming, am I…"
After being sucked into the computer screen, Chen Feng felt as if the entire world was spinning. Losing his balance, he fell and fell, as if he'd been pulled into a black hole and transported to another strange world.
As he fell, he instinctively reached out, groping for something to grab onto, hoping to find a foothold. But just then, he suddenly broke through a strange barrier and crashed onto the ground with a thud.
"Ouch…"
He found himself on a dirt-colored gravel surface. After landing with a thud, Chen Feng slowly scrambled to his feet, only to see earth-colored brick walls and a dirt-colored passageway.
"What is this…"
Everything before him seemed vaguely familiar. Chen Feng stared blankly for a moment, then his eyes widened in shock. "Is this Desert II?"
"I've made it to Desert II! I'm not dreaming, am I?"Terrified, Chen Feng hurried to the wall and ran his fingers over its texture. The grit of the sand and gravel abraded the palms of his hands; that unmistakably rough texture told him this wasn't a dream. He had arrived in another world—and to his astonishment, this world was none other than the Desert II map from *Life and Death Sniper*.
"What the fuck?" In his extreme shock, Chen Feng even blurted out in English, "Desert II? There's not going to be a gunfight, is there?"
Before he could even process what was happening, footsteps sounded behind him. He turned to see a figure charging out with a gun raised. The man instinctively fired upon seeing a living target, and Chen Feng felt a sharp pain in his head before losing consciousness.
In the haze of unconsciousness, he seemed to hear people talking.
"How did this weird kid show up?"
"Looks like a middle schooler, doesn't he? About 15 or 16?"
"I don't know… Is something wrong with this space, boss?"
"Let's wait until he wakes up…"
The voices grew clearer, and Chen Feng slowly opened his eyes again. He saw a group of unfamiliar faces—men and women, some older, looking to be in their thirties or forties, and the youngest in their twenties, all in the prime of their lives.
Moreover, they were divided into two groups wearing different military uniforms.
"Young man, how did you get in here?"
While Chen Feng was still dazed, the oldest soldier stepped forward; he appeared to be the leader of the group.
"I… I don't know. I just clicked and ended up here…"
Chen Feng still couldn't make head or tail of the situation. Rather than answering questions, he felt it would be easier to ask them himself. "Where is this? Is this Desert II? Who are you guys? Why did I just get killed and then come back to life? Can I go home?"
"This kid—I asked him one question, and he ended up asking me five in return."
The older officer had someone help Chen Feng up from the ground and continued, "Alright, I'll answer your questions first.
This is an extremely dangerous death zone. As for whether it's Desert II, if you're referring to the game, it isn't. However, the layout here seems to overlap with the virtual game world in some ways, so certain areas are identical to the game."
"As for who we are, we're members of the War Wolf Special Forces, a top-secret special operations unit under the Nanjing Military Region!"
"War Wolf?"
Hearing that name, Chen Feng felt a surge of excitement. "I've seen it in movies. They say War Wolf members are the elite of the elite among special forces—each one terrifyingly skilled. I never imagined such a unit actually existed!"
"What's portrayed in the movies isn't all fiction."
The older officer smiled and nodded upon hearing that Chen Feng knew of War Wolf; clearly, the name "War Wolf"
was a source of pride for him as well.
"So where exactly are we? And you still haven't explained why I wasn't killed!"
Although learning the man's identity put Chen Feng's mind at ease, his biggest question remained unanswered.
Where on earth was this place?
How had he gone from playing video games at home to suddenly being kidnapped by bandits?