1.5 They were smoking up

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As Wu Chen expected, the service station, much like the service hall, had a main structure riddled with holes and on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, the internal maintenance machines remained operational.

After parking the vehicle, Baili Yan dropped one coin into the slot. "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" Wu Chen asked quickly.

"It says insufficient balance," Baili Yan said, lost in thought. "Could the price vary from person to person?"

Wu Chen could upgrade his vehicle for one coin, but Baili Yan could not.

It wasn't until he dropped ten coins that Baili Yan finally exhaled. "That’s it."

As the maintenance platform rotated, a brand-new, unrecognizable vintage car was successfully upgraded, bringing it one step closer to becoming Baili Yan’s exclusive sanctuary.

The couple among the players was no exception. Their upgraded ten-coin large RV had transformed; where the four wheels once were, four side wings now sprouted, each equipped with a swivel-mounted machine gun. The body of the vehicle had also significantly extended, featuring eight pairs of double-hinged windows. It was truly a case of replacing a bird gun with a cannon—the near-future sci-fi aesthetic was in full effect.

"Wu Chen, you should try again," Baili Yan suggested kindly. Since the price varied, Wu Chen only needed one coin for his initial upgrade; perhaps a second upgrade would only cost ten coins. As the only Platinum VIP, Wu Chen enjoyed more privileges, and the cost of his upgrades was proof enough of that.

"No rush," Wu Chen said, dropping only one coin and following the pop-up prompts to restore his AE86 to its original state.

Before the roof of the maintenance station was eroded away, three brand-new player vehicles sped out one after another. Aside from the AE86, which still rolled on four wheels, the other two were skimming across the ground in flight. That Baili Yan’s unassuming vintage car was also a flying craft was something Wu Chen soon came to terms with. Enthusiasts obsessed with modifying vintage cars were never in short supply, regardless of the era, especially in these rich and varied plot worlds.

It was a pity that the onboard AI, Aiyi, could not access the shelter’s player database, making it impossible to identify which plot worlds Baili Yan’s vintage car or the couple’s flying vehicle originated from, or what unique special abilities they possessed.

Just as they cleared the maintenance station, a wisp of mist rose from the body of the brand-new AE86. By the time they cleared the service area, the car's paint peeled off in large sheets, and its luster faded. Even the two flying vehicles ahead could not escape the erosion. Wu Chen looked into the rearview mirror; the main structure of the service area had vanished, leaving only a swirling mass of dust.

"Aiyi, construct a 'Fragmented Database'." Wu Chen ordered the car's AI to attempt to construct a database for this new world they were in.

"Understood." Before the AI could finish, a series of screams echoed. The player who had been hitching a ride in the passenger seat had already turned into fly ash. This was a "plot kill"! After all, he had lost his exclusive sanctuary.

"They’re all dead," the voice of the male player trembled over the channel.

"Watch out!" Following Baili Yan’s exclamation, the vintage car ahead swerved sharply, dodging with agility. A player vehicle, more than half-eroded, was stuck across the road. The player in the driver’s seat was shrouded in smoke and turning to ash, leaving only a blurred silhouette.

If they didn't slow down, they would surely rear-end it. A collision would mean the destruction of their vehicles and their deaths.

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Without a second thought, Wu Chen instinctively swerved. Unexpectedly, the telephone booth pendant hanging from his car keys straightened out rigidly, dragging the AE86 straight into the wreck.

*Bang—*

A muffled thud, and space-time shuddered.

The stalled player and their vehicle shattered completely. Almost simultaneously, a ball of light and dust enveloped the AE86, acting like an energy shield that had appeared out of thin air, insulating them from the omnipresent, persistent erosion.

"So that's how it is." Sensing the plot fragments carried by the stalled player within the light, Wu Chen realized: "Baili Yan, when you see a stalled vehicle, just ram right into it."

"Understood." Baili Yan was also a veteran player. The "Reaper Rule" that permeated the shelter was deeply ingrained in his mind. For players, harvesting gains and returning to the shelter for a successful settlement was a necessary part of completing the stage’s plot, and a prerequisite for accumulating power.

For players, the Reaper Rule not only allowed them to harvest the plot, but also other players! Harvesting one another was a massive source of profit.

The day before, the four of them and their three vehicles had set out early before the fragmentation began, which was exactly why they hadn't been frozen in time along with the other players.

Back on the road, Baili Yan followed Wu Chen's lead and rammed into another vehicle. Before the dust even settled, his vintage car also gained a light shield capable of resisting the erosion.

"Master, the 'Overload Energy Shield' is dissipating," the AI reported, monitoring the changes in the shield.

"Not surprising." Wu Chen timed his approach and rammed into another eroded vehicle on the road.

The shield strengthened once more. As long as they kept harvesting along the way to replenish their consumption, they could reach the finish line.

Wu Chen glanced at the rigid telephone booth pendant. Focused, he followed the car ahead. Along the 404 Ring Expressway, the fences and road signs on both sides atomized one after another, and the ground collapsed behind them. The world was accelerating its annihilation, following the players as they raced wildly forward.

Vehicles along the way were eroded, and more players were becoming stranded. With their car shells eaten away, they lost their protection. The players inside the cabs were one by one covered in smoke, with nowhere to run. It started with their hair and skin, then moved to their fingertips. Their bodies accelerated their disintegration from the inside out. Before Wu Chen could even get close, they had turned to dust along with their vehicles. The entire process of annihilation was played back frame-by-frame by the onboard AI. Wu Chen had the illusion of watching an autopsy. The invisible scalpel that sliced through the human body layer by layer, from outside in, was none other than the power of the rules that destroyed everything. And from beginning to end, not a drop of blood was seen. The blood turned to ash before it could even flow.

Of the person and the vehicle, only a faint glow remained within the chest cavity.

This light, capable of briefly resisting erosion, was the "Light of Shelter," the most precious resource in the fragmented shelter world. It was also the only known source of shelter coins. As the only Platinum VIP and a lord-level player, the three items Wu Chen had brought from Dorm 208 included the red telephone booth pendant, which had the ability to absorb the Light of Shelter and cast it into shelter coins. At this moment, it was guiding Wu Chen to ram into the Light of Shelter left behind in the remains of the players, gathering it into a "Shelter (Light) Shield" to resist the erosion.

Aside from the consumption required to constantly counter the external annihilation, wisps of the Light of Shelter inside the car were quietly drawn into the rigid red telephone booth. They were then cast by the coin-operated telephone into precious shelter coins, which fell into the coin box to be stored.

This was the omnipresent, persistent Reaper Rule.

Wu Chen’s four-person team was harvesting the final resources from the failures. Thinking deeper, a VIP player of Baili Yan’s level would need to "kill" at least nine other VIP players of the same level to collect the ten coins needed for an initial upgrade. Only Wu Chen, the sole Platinum VIP, could upgrade for one coin, without needing to harvest other players for profit.

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A sudden, desperate escape had caught everyone off guard. Even though all three vehicles had been upgraded, sufficient to sustain a long journey, the 404 Expressway seemed endless.

"Are we still frozen in the plot?" the male player asked, voicing his anxiety.

"It’s the 404 Road of Destruction; prioritize survival first," Baili Yan replied.

"That’s right, survival is the key," Wu Chen said, reminded by Baili Yan.

"0326, what do you mean?" the male player asked urgently.

"As we saw earlier, the service area seems to have undergone countless destructions and been rebuilt as if new each time. This time is no exception." Wu Chen was worthy of being a lord-level player. "If nothing goes wrong, the end of the Road of Destruction is the Gate of Rebirth."

"Out of despair comes hope; that makes sense," Baili Yan agreed.

In other words, as long as they could outrun the 404 Road of Destruction, they could reach the Gate of Rebirth.

The remains of players along the way were enough to replenish the consumption of their shields. Persisting until the end shouldn't be too difficult.

However, the erosion was everywhere, advancing from all directions.

Before long, the viewing platforms along the 404 collapsed first, dragging the highway surface down with them.

Baili Yan’s and the couple’s vehicles were capable of skimming the ground after their upgrades. Only Wu Chen’s AE86 lacked this function.

Despite having upgraded to the same initial tier, Baili Yan and the others had made rapid progress. Wu Chen, on the other hand, had merely switched from fuel to nuclear power. If it wasn't because the one-coin upgrade had limited rewards, then it meant that the "plot save" of this AE86 was deeper than that of Baili Yan’s group. This meant the AE86 had accompanied Wu Chen through a long and arduous plot line, hence it had more save data. It would require multiple upgrades to restore it to its original state and turn it into Wu Chen’s exclusive sanctuary.

"Master, why not upgrade again?" the onboard AI asked, voicing its own thoughts. "It’s very likely it would only cost another ten coins."

"I don't want to leave the starter village just yet," Wu Chen said, his smile carrying a deeper meaning.