The strongest life skills player

Chapter 4 Superpowered Individuals

Chen Huai's breath hitched, and a panic even stronger than when he faced the cat demon surged through him.

He finally realized what was wrong when he glanced at the screen earlier: the game's exit button was gone!

"Calm."

Chen Huai closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

What had just happened made him realize that his life was truly in danger, and he had to survive first before he could figure out what had happened.

Chen Huai turned his head and looked at the four refugees who were still standing around, looking somewhat helpless.

The concern and awe on their faces seemed genuine—or rather, the NPCs in this world were so realistic that even he, a seasoned game designer, couldn't distinguish them.

"I'm fine, just some superficial injuries."

Chen Huai began to reassure him.

He needs information, and these people are clearly the only source of information at the moment.

The middle-aged man, who seemed to be the leader of the group, breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. He quickly pulled out a dirty little cloth bag from his pocket, carefully opened it, and revealed a few wilted grass leaves inside.

"Sir, although these bitter hemp leaves are of poor quality, crushing them and applying them can be somewhat effective in stopping bleeding and relieving pain..."

He handed it over eagerly.

Chen Huai did not go to answer it immediately.

His gaze fell on those few blades of grass, and a thought flickered in his mind; players all have the habit of checking item information.

Sure enough, a simple line of text appeared above the blade of grass:

[Item: Inferior quality bitter lettuce leaves]

[Type: Herbs]

[Effects: Stops minor bleeding and slightly relieves pain]

[Note: This medicine has some effect on ordinary human external injuries, but the effect is weak. It is ineffective on superhumans and those at higher life levels.]

Chen Huai was taken aback; the system panel showed that he was indeed a superhuman.

Chen Huai focused his mind again, his gaze sweeping over the four people in front of him.

A very brief message appeared above each person's head:

[Target: Lei Shi (Ordinary Human)]

[Occupation: Vagrant]

[Level: LV1]

【Strength: 3】

[Physical Fitness: 2]

[Agility: 3]

【Spirit: 4】

[Status: Hungry, Exhausted, Fearful]

Threat Level: None

……

"No."

He shook his head, declining the man's offer.

The man was taken aback, secretly glancing at Chen Huai's shoulder before his face showed a look of realization, his awe deepening. He quickly put the cloth bag away.

The wound on Chen Huai's back was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, and in a short while, even scabs had formed.

"Where did you come from?"

The middle-aged man became even more respectful and began to explain in detail:

"Reporting to you, sir, we are all from the Wild Grass Camp. The camp is located in a mountain hollow to the east. It's about eight or nine li down this slope!"

"Let's go back to your camp first, it's not safe here."

Chen Huai glanced at the "Weak" status bar and the indicator that his health was still slowly decreasing. In his current state, it was too risky for him to survive alone in a dangerous and unfamiliar environment.

This refugee camp appears to be the only possible temporary shelter and source of information at present.

He didn't want to be killed by monsters before the game bug was fixed, otherwise, given the 100% pain mechanic he just experienced, he wasn't sure if he could even revive.

"good!"

Old Lei was also intimidated by the sense of urgency in his words.

The group quickly set off, leaving the forest clearing that reeked of blood.

Chen Huai was supported by Lao Lei and another young man named Amu as they trudged along the damp and rugged ground.

They spent most of their attention vigilantly observing their surroundings.

Small, dark shadows occasionally darted past in the shadows, making rustling sounds that made the refugees tense.

However, Chen Huai found that he was not too afraid of it.

It wasn't arrogance on his part, but rather a... almost intuitive judgment.

When those sounds came, his mind seemed to automatically filter out a vague threat assessment.

This feeling is very mysterious and indescribable, yet it is clearly present.

Perhaps... that's what makes him different as a superhuman. And the cat demon that retreated for some unknown reason earlier, I wonder if it's related to his superhuman status and that newly activated skill.

He recalled the moment he encountered the cat demon. In fact, his body and instincts had already sounded the highest level of alarm, but he didn't react and instead treated it as a passing scene under his preconceived notions.

If he had been more alert and taken that feeling seriously at the time… he shook his head inwardly. Now, thinking back, that was the real omen of his brush with death.

He would never be so reckless as to walk out again.

How much do you know about superhumans?

Chen Huai asked, intending to use this time to gather more information.

When Lao Lei saw that he had asked him, he quickly answered, his tone ingratiating:

"Sir, we don't know much about this... We've only heard that superhumans are powerful individuals who have broken through their genetic locks, and they're incredibly strong! They're the most respected people in the wasteland."

He paused, recalling the scattered rumors he had heard:

"I've heard from the older generation that everyone has a genetic lock inside their body that locks in their potential. Ordinary people can never touch that lock in their entire lives; only through life-and-death experiences can they possibly access it."

Amu, who was helping him up, couldn't help but add, his eyes shining with longing:

"That's right! Once the genetic lock is unlocked, they'll all be real big shots. In a place like ours, if someone's ancestral graves were to emit auspicious smoke and produce a superhuman, they'd be turned upside down immediately! The whole family could be brought to Falling Star City to live, with no worries about food or clothing, and they'd never have to risk their lives scavenging for trash in the wilderness from monsters again."

His tone made no attempt to conceal his longing.

Chen Huai listened silently, his brain working at lightning speed, comparing the information he heard with the information on his own panel.

These men all looked quite strong and healthy, especially Old Lei.

However, the difference in various attributes between him and others is not small. It seems that even a Level 1 superhuman who has just broken through the genetic lock is much stronger than an ordinary person who works hard to train.

He had just "fought" with a level 14 cat demon and even "forced it to retreat," so it's no wonder that the refugees respected him so much; they probably thought he was a high-level superhuman.

"How's the situation at your camp?"

Chen Huai continued to ask.

"Reporting to you, sir, our Wild Grass Camp has about a hundred people, all refugees like us. The family that leads us is surnamed Zhou. They used to be guards on the outskirts of Falling Star City for a while, so they know a bit more. We usually make a living by scavenging around here, looking for edible mutated roots and fruits, and if we're lucky, we might catch some small prey, or scavenge some usable metal parts from old ruins to trade with the occasional passing merchant for some of the lowest quality nutritional paste..."

As Chen Huai listened, he silently noted down keywords such as "Fallen Star City," "traveling merchants," and "nutritional paste."

The camp's conditions sounded extremely rudimentary, with scarce resources and struggling to survive; it was a typical wasteland fringe settlement.

This aligns with his previous speculation.

All of this felt incredibly real.

This is far beyond the amount of resources any game designer would invest in a "lifestyle beginner zone," and it certainly doesn't fit the "relaxed farming" starting tone.

He had felt something was wrong before; it all happened too coincidentally.

As a senior game planner in the company, he was very familiar with standard procedures and contingency plans, but everything that happened today was blatantly trampling on the rules he knew:

He made a mistake in his initial positioning; the preset safe zone dungeon was nowhere to be found, and he was directly thrown into the perilous surface forest. As a level 1 newbie, he was spawned right next to level 14 monsters.

The 100% realistic sense of injury seriously violates virtual reality safety regulations and the superhuman setting of this world, which is clearly detached from life-based games.

Any single bug can be explained as "the test version is unstable".

But when all these anomalies that should never have happened at the same time occurred one after another, even in a series of interconnected events, within a short half hour, a chilling possibility began to grow in his heart.

What happened next further confirmed his suspicions.

They rested twice during the journey. Each time, Chen Huai leaned against a rock with his eyes closed, not to rest, but to try again to call out the exit interface, administrator privileges, or even directly call "Gaia" using various known or guessed methods.

Without exception, they all disappeared without a trace.

What made him most desperate was that he couldn't even send a message on the only game forum that allowed him to connect with the outside world.

As tester number 00000, he has the highest administrative privileges. The forum should be his responsibility, but he can't even use it.

He edited several SOS messages, ranging from detailed descriptions of the current situation to brief "SOS" messages. He even tried to call the forum's underlying data upload function to package and send his current environmental awareness data.

All attempts failed.

Even if it was hard to believe, he had to face this conjecture:

He may have traveled to this game world in a special way.