[vol. 1] Chapter 4 - Charge Points!
Before Xiaolan could even think of what that system notification was, she had already entered the fog with the others, but a creeping instinct made her glance to either side...no one was there.
She stopped, her breath catching. Since when? They had all stepped through the fog together, they should have been right beside her. But there was only silence, and the dense, swallowing grey.
—Lucky!!
"Save."
She hadn't yet examined her golden finger closely, having been too focused on following Bai Yu's lead.
Now, with a sharp sense of solitude, she focused on the panel before her. It displayed what she could only interpret as a saved point in time, a checkpoint.
A date was there at its edge: a specific time, day, month, and year. Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. This place was too foggy, too disorienting.
She lifted her gaze toward where the sky should be, but even the sun was smothered by the thick haze. A cold realization settled over her.
If even the sun is hidden… how will anyone know how much time has truly passed?
Here is the revised version with grammar corrections and slight improvements for clarity and flow:
She grimaced even more when she realized she couldn't see past the fog. She walked aimlessly, her face set in a resigned expression...the reason was simple.
A modern-day girl from the 21st century, who had only played games to slack off during office hours, was now in a primitive cultivation world where you fought for your own survival and safety.
Back then, a glitch meant restarting a console. Here, in the fog could mean death.
The system panel hovered in front of her. An idea, reckless and born of sheer gamer knowledge, took root.
She grabbed a stick from the damp ground and walked forward ten paces, marking the earth with a crude 'X'. A manual waypoint.
Then, she walked fifty paces in a random direction until the 'X' was swallowed by the grey.
"Load."
The world dissolved and reformed.
She had returned to the precise second. Not just the place. The moment.
"Oh~," she hummed. "It returns me here…" Her eyes sharpened. The date on the save point was a fixed point. If she couldn't trust the sun, she would trust her own checkpoints.
She could scout. She could make a mistake and revert. She could map this place one save at a time. Xiaolan straightened her shoulders, the resignation gone. She looked at the swallowing grey.
"Okay," she said to the fog. "Let's play."
But a dose of cold water dampened her excitement of discovery when she saw the system notification:
[Save points used: 2/2
Load points used: 2/2
Charge Points: 10]
As it turns out...there's a limit to how much you can save and load.
"Eh... Charge points?" Xiaolan said, scratching her head. Thankfully, there was a (?) right beside it.
Charge Points – 100 points are used to either a Save or Load a slot. After every 24 hours, 1 charge point is given.
Save-Load System – Has a 2-use daily limit. This resets automatically each day, or can be reset instantly for a cost of 1000 Charge points or by incurring user debt.
"..."
She looked down at her 'X' in the dirt. Her first save. Her first test.
It had just cost her a hundred days of her future.
But she paused. How did I get ten points all at once?
A face flashed in her mind—braids, a sweet ruqun, a glare that could curdle blood. That girl from the clearing. Chen Mingyuan.
…Did her anger do this?
Maybe the more I influence and cause people's emotions to fluctuate, the more I get charge points? Score!
Xiaolan was now all smiles.
But her smile froze.
Because… if someone was angry enough for their emotions to fluctuate, they'd probably be angry enough to strangle her. Definitely.
She looked at her points again.
[Charge Points: 10]
To reset both slots, she'd need 2000 points. 2000 days of… waiting.
She scuffed her boot over the dirt, kicking soil to bury her precious 'X'. It wasn't a safe zone. It was a waste. A rookie mistake that cost more than she had.
Staying here, saving and loading to map the silent fog, was pointless. It was like idling a broken-down car. She was burning the last of her fuel just to go nowhere.
In the messy, dangerous world of other people...in anger, joy, fear, whatever made them tick. Chen Mingyuan's single glare had been worth more than a week of safe, lonely wandering.
"Okay," she said again, to the fog. But the tone had shifted.
"New objective. Find others!"
Xiaolan stared into the blank, grey nothing. There was no source of anything here. She could wander for days and not find a soul...or worse, stumble right into the wrong one.
No. Wandering was for people with resources to burn. She was on empty.
Her eyes drifted back down to the faint outline of her buried 'X'. A thought, cold and sharp, sliced through the fog in her mind.
A plan clicked into place. It was reckless. It was arguably stupid.
It was also her only move.
Then, instead of walking away from the 'X', she walked back to it. She cleared the dirt away with her hands until the mark was visible again. A target.
She straightened up, dusted her hands on her robes, and took a deep breath that did nothing to calm the frantic beat of her heart.
Then she opened her mouth and screamed.
"HELP!"
The sound was swallowed by the fog almost instantly, a muffled, desperate thing. She waited, ears straining. Nothing.
She tried again, putting more force behind it. "IS ANYONE THERE? I'M LOST!"
Silence.
Panic, real and unfeigned, began to prick at her throat. This was a terrible idea. What if something else was listening?
A sudden rustle cut through the dead air...fabric, a shifting step.
"GAH!" Xiaolan yelped, spinning towards the sound. Not an animal. A person.
It wasn't the fierce cute girl but a young man, his face pale and drawn, his own eyes wide with a wariness that mirrored hers. He looked as lost as she felt and a little battered.
It was Wenhui.
His gaze darted from her face to the 'X' on the ground between them, then to the talisman on her wrist. The number on it, she knew, would be glowing. Branding her as the prime target.
He took a step forward.
And Xiaolan, her every nerve screaming, held her ground. She didn't need to win a fight.
She just needed him to feel something. Come on points, give me points!
He took another step, close enough now that she could see the nervous sweat on his temple. "Your… your points," he said, his voice low and strained. "Just… give me the talisman. I won't hurt you."
Xiaolan looked him up and down, taking in his battered, bloody state. Wenhui noticed her gaze and raised both hands with a heavy sigh. "I'm not… in much better condition than you. We're in the same boat."
She thought for a moment, then nodded. "True. But how did you end up like that?"
"Ran into trouble," Wenhui grumbled. Then he added, "You're a prospecting Alpha, right? I can't smell anything from you…"
Ah, the ABO elements, Xiaolan realized. She huffed, "And I can smell blood on you. Besides, haven't you considered that I might be a Beta?"
Wenhui shook his head with certainty. "No, you can't be a Beta. If you were, you wouldn't have the right to join this successor training. You just haven't differentiated yet."
Xiaolan looked at him as if weighing the pros and cons. Seeing her hesitation, Wenhui pressed further. "I'll be honest. I was targeted, and I need your help."
Xiaolan reached out with an open palm. Wenhui's eyes lit up as if seeing a glimmer of hope. He moved to grasp her hand in agreement, but she pulled back.
"You need to pay first," Xiaolan said lightly, causing Wenhui's face to darken. This should be convincing enough, right? Where are the charge points?
"Pay…?" he echoed. "How about a compromise? I'll swear to the Heavenly Dao," Wenhui spoke through gritted teeth. Xiaolan remained unmoved.
This Wenhui is clearly being targeted...but by whom? Is it a group? He brought up secondary genders, which means he's probing for information. Only a fool would help blindly. Xiaolan is no bodhisattva.
This confirmed one thing: the charge points didn't just react to someone else's emotional fluctuations.
So is it only Chen Mingyuan?
"Oh? Swear to the Heavenly Dao...that desperate?" Xiaolan arched her brows. This could mean the ones pursuing Wenhui weren't just individuals, but a group.
Or…
Someone more powerful wanted to use him as bait, luring others into a trap with the temptation of his points.
Though unsure if it'd work...the worst thing that could happen is social death by embarrassment!
"Come out!" Xiaolan yelled.
[Charge points +5]
[Current charge points: 15]