[”Flight…”]

My heart nearly stopped several times as I crept through the smoldering wreckage, the ruins of the town closing in around me like a maze of bone and ash. The Jiangshi were all around me, pulling closer with eager groans whenever some burnt out plank cracked or snapped under my heels. They filled the streets, pressed through doorways, crawled over rubble that I couldn’t hope to pass, forcing me to retrace my steps through terrain that felt too open, all the while I could feel their presence draw nearer—the air thick with the stench of death and burning.

Fortunately, even with an invisible hand guiding their actions, it seemed the Jiangshis’ minds remained as dim as their soulless eyes.

Even as my attempt at getting some elevation—stepping off against a blackened piece of wall, jumping for a hole in the roof to get away from the encroaching undead—caused a shingle to crash to the ground, the three shambling figures that eagerly lurched around the corner just ended up in a confused circle around the source of the noise. One of them even manage to let out a moan that sounded strangely annoyed, as if to blame their undead friends for disturbing their peaceful search.

None of them thought to look up.

I hung there, breathless, suspended from a beam mere feet above their heads. And just as I could feel my grip slipping, my heart doing somersaults in my chest, another noise cut through the stillness—some other Jianshi having stumbled through a wall, breaking it down to a greater ruckus.

The three below me turned, their heads snapping in unison toward the noise, and with hasty shuffles, they moved off to investigate, leaving me with nothing but a still moment and the thick, smoky air to fill the void.

I pulled myself up onto the roof, my limbs shaking with the strain. For what it was worth, up here, with the death mark gone and the chaos of the undead below, it seemed I was almost invisible.

I realized as much as I took my first step across the roof and the plank beneath me gave way, snapping with a sickening crack. But even as half my leg was left dangling from the ceiling, all that came from it was another few groans and confused shuffling underneath me. The Jiangshi didn’t even pause, too caught up in their erratic movements to notice what was happening right above their heads.

As long as I didn’t fall straight through the roof into their waiting arms, I could avoid them. But that was cold comfort when compared to the black ship and its crew. From up here, even the slightest misstep, a back too straight or a silhouette too tall, would expose me to their watchful eyes.

Through the burnt-out gaps in the roof and broken shingles, I caught glimpses of the armored figures. They stood motionless, silent witnesses to the grotesque game playing out below. Nao stumbled in a desperate circle, her undead brother shambling after her with a predator's patience. I didn’t need the timer [00:08:47…] to tell that she wouldn’t be able to go on like that for much longer. She was visibly getting winded, her screams for her brother to come to his senses having long since faded into ragged breaths and panicked whimpers. She was slowing, and when she stopped, the game would end.

I tore my gaze from the scene, returning my attention to what lay ahead of me. With my feet off the ground, it shouldn’t take me more than a few minutes to circle around to the burnt out warehouse. So long as I didn’t misjudge the strength of a beam or step onto a weakened roof, that was.

The hole my foot had punched through the roof was right before me.

But as I crouched there, perched on the remnants of a charred joist, a thought struck me.

This world had mechanics, rules hidden beneath the surface. I’d seen hints of them already—timers, quests, notifications. Perhaps I could… use them.

I focused, half-believing the effort was futile, and reached out with my mind.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then:

// Trait Activated: Omniscience. //

“That’s… interesting,” I murmured, the words slipping out before I could stop them.

It was as if a veil had been pulled back. The world became sharper, more vivid. Every line, every crack in the wood, every faint shimmer of light stood out with startling clarity. I could see, in perfect detail, the stress fractures in the beams beneath my feet, the angles at which they could splinter. The world glowed faintly, gradients of luminescence highlighting paths I hadn’t noticed before.

It was a mix of everything the tutorial had already shown me—the explosion radius from when the arrow shattered the window, and the weak point in the wall that brought the ceiling down on that first lumbering Jiangshi. But now it was everywhere.

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The roof, the beams, the crates in the warehouse ahead—it was all laid bare before me, a map of possibilities waiting to be traced. I could see it, the brittle lines that would give way under my feet, the ominous red glows marking places best left untouched. A map unfolded before me, and for a breathless moment, I believed I had the answer.

I took a single step forward, and then—

It felt like the world ripped me in half. A thousand needles, burning and white-hot, drove into my eyes. My limbs turned to water, and all at once, the clarity I’d held dissolved into agony.

// Warning! Insufficient Qi. //

// Warning! Insufficient Cultivation Level. //

// Omniscience deactivated. //

For a long, trembling minute, I lay there on the slanted roof, breath hitching, shivering as I blinked against the tears blurring my vision. “I get it,” I wheezed through gritted teeth, voice barely more than a rasp. “I… I won’t try anything silly of my own, Tutorial.”

The words felt hollow, an attempt to find humor in the cruel lesson. My breaths slowed, evening out, but the sinking feeling in my stomach grew heavier.

00:07:22…

Over half the time had slipped away, and I hadn’t even reached the water.

Through a crack in the roof beneath me, I glimpsed the shambling undead, still combing through the building. Their groans rose like a sick, discordant melody, and in the distance, Nao’s voice carried, strained and broken, calling out to the thing that had once been her brother. Somewhere out there, Mei was waiting, most likely wondering what in the nine realms was taking me so long.

“Damn it all to hell.”

The words came out raw, a hiss of frustration through clenched teeth. I rubbed the heels of my palms against my eyes, blinking away the last remnants of pain. The colors were gone, the clarity too, but I could still remember what I’d seen. Vaguely. Enough, I hoped, to make it count.

With a deep breath, shaking off all the things I didn’t need, I started forward again. The roof betrayed me almost immediately.

The sharp crack of splintering wood was deafening, and before I could leap clear, a chunk of the roof gave way behind me, crashing to the ground below with a noise loud enough to wake the dead.

Or, worse still, to call them, along with their masters, closer.

// Enemy Neutralized. //

// Combat Essence Increased. //

// Environmental Kill. //

// Combat Essence Increased. //

// Enemy Neutralized. //

// Combat Essence Increased. //

// Environmental Kill. //

// Combat Essence Increased. //

I didn’t have time to marvel at the surreal notifications. The building groaned, swaying beneath my feet and threatening to collapse entirely. The crash would have alerted the soldiers. I couldn’t afford to hesitate.

It was do or die.

I sprinted forward, each step a gamble. The roof beneath me sagged and creaked, and I leapt over gaps and splintered beams, my hands and knees scraping against jagged edges. Blood streaked behind me, smearing across planks and sharp shingles, but I didn’t stop. My heart pounded in my ears, drowning out the groaning undead and the distant cries of someone screaming—Nao? Armored soldiers at my heels? I didn’t pause to think.

Adrenaline was my lifeline, spurring me forward even as the world blurred into motion. More tiles snapped and fell beneath my feet, forcing me to move faster, faster still even as I ran doubled over, hoping—against all odds—to avoid their eyes.

I didn’t even realize where I was headed until it was too late.

My last desperate leap carried me off the roof, across the narrow street, and toward the warehouse. For a moment, I hung suspended, airborne over the heads of several Jiangshi shambling the other way.

The world seemed to slow, every frantic beat of my heart illuminating a new horror.

The soldiers, armored and impassive, remained encircled around Nao, their armor catching faint flickers of the burning town. Her voice was raw, her breath hitching in panicked yells as she kicked her brother away with trembling legs.

The Jiangshi were no longer scattered; they had gathered en masse. The streets writhed with them, a grotesque sea of decayed bodies. Their numbers must have been closing in on the high hundreds, sweeping through every alley, clawing into every corner, overturning debris, and digging through shadows as if determined to find the last dregs of life hiding among the ruins.

The impact jarred through me as my ribs caught the edge of the warehouse’s unfinished roof. The impact was brutal. My hands scrabbled for purchase, splinters digging into my palms as I scrambled to steady myself. Below, the horde groaned and shuffled, their movements erratic but relentless.

In a desperate surge of strength, I managed to kick myself over the edge, only for the roof to betray me in its absence. There was barely anything there, and what little there was snapped under my weight. Gravity betrayed me, and I tumbled into the warehouse with more speed than I’d intended.

The impact was brutal. Even as I got my feet underneath me, my knees helplessly buckled, bending reflexively as I pitched forward into a wild, uncontrolled roll. Open crates and charred debris blurred past in the dim chaos of the building’s interior, and every bone in my body felt the rattle of the landing. The taste of blood bloomed sharp on my tongue as Detached PoV flickered, then sputtered out like a dying candle.

But there was no time for pain, no room for anything but the raw, primal instincts that flooded my veins.

The roll ended with a sickening thud against a half-burned beam, once part of the warehouse’s skeleton. I was on my feet before the thought even registered, scrambling through the ashen ruins with the grace of a wounded animal.

By the time I wedged myself behind a stack of charred barrels, pressed tightly against a half-finished, half-burnt wall, heart thundering ribs aching under the weight of my hand, the world finally slowed.

No one was following me. Somehow, impossibly, I’d made it into the warehouse unseen.

Now, there was just the rest of this hellish night to survive.