> Name: Dodge 2
> Description: You have got a 10% chance of avoiding being hit by enemies’ bullets
Level 7 Branch
> Name: Dodge 3
> Description: You have got a 15% chance of avoiding being hit by enemies’ bullets
> Name: Recoil Reduction 1
> Description: Reduces weapons’ recoil by 5%
Level 8 Branch
> Name: Recoil Reduction 2
> Description: Reduces weapons’ recoil by 10%
> Name: Deadeye 1
> Description: Reduces recoil by 5% and increases your accuracy by 5% when you aiming down the iron sights
Level 9 Branch
> Name: Recoil Reduction 3
> Description: Reduces weapons’ recoil by 15%
> Name: Deadeye 2
> Description: Reduces recoil by 10% and increases your accuracy by 10% when you aiming down the iron sights
Level 10 Branch
> Name: Deadeye 3
> Description: Reduces recoil by 15% and increases your accuracy by 15% when you aiming down the iron sights
Statistics:
> Health: 515/515 (Basic Health + Health Capacity 1 + Health Capacity 2 + Health Capacity 3)
> Stamina: 100/100 (Only basic Stamina as you haven't learned any of the Stamina Capacity skills)
> Speed: 3 m/s (Only basic Speed as you haven't learned any of the Movement Speed skills)
> Damage Resistance: 30% (Damage Resistance 1 + Damage Resistance 2 + Damage Resistance 3)
> Health Regeneration: 45% per minute (Health Regeneration 1 + Health Regeneration 2 + Health Regeneration 3)
> Dodge: 30% (Dodge 1 + Dodge 2+ Dodge 3)
> Recoil Reduction: 30% (Recoil Reduction 1 + Recoil Reduction 2 + Recoil Reduction 3)
> Additional Recoil Reduction (when aiming down the sights): 30% (Deadeye 1 + Deadeye 2 + Deadeye 3)
> Additional Accuracy (when aiming down the sights): 30% (Deadeye 1 + Deadeye 2 + Deadeye 3)
> Additional Damage: 15% (Damage 1 + Damage 2)
Finally, I closed the Skill Tree and leaned back against the couch cushions, savoring that freeing feeling one got after taking care of business. Then I noticed a message in the log that must have appeared in the log when I had been dealing with the skill points. It was saying that there were only ten players left in the game.
It got me thinking. Jennifer and I had reached the final stage of the game. It was almost over. Now that both she and I were max level and had legendary weapons and plenty of ammo, grenades, and consumables at our disposal, we were likely to win the game.
When there were only two of us in the game, we would need to patch themselves up to top off our HP. Then we would need just to wait until the Red Zone closed in on us, collapsed, and killed both of us simultaneously. Then, according to Jennifer’s ex, Steve, the glitch would kick in and both of us would revive in the real world, safe and sound.
I started to feel on edge. What if Steve had lied to Jennifer about this glitch after all? What if this glitch had long since been fixed? The answer was simple––we would die and there would be no winner in the game.
“We shouldn’t have signed up for this game,” I heard myself say, to my own amazement. I wasn’t going to say something like that. I just kinda blurted it out without thinking.
Jennifer didn’t rub it in. She said nothing at all. Instead, she used her left hand to find my right and gripped it encouragingly.
We continued to sit on the couch for a couple of minutes in silence. Then I said, “You know, Jen, when you suddenly showed up in the Battle Royale Online gaming room and said that you were going to play the game, I got scared. I got really afraid for you. I didn’t want you to play this game.”
“I know,” Jennifer said quietly. Her grip on my hand tightened.
“The thought that you might die was so unbearable I realized I didn’t want to play the game.”
Jennifer didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she asked quietly, “You did?”
“Yes. If I had to choose between playing the game with you or not playing at all, I’d rather not play.”
“But why didn’t you tell me that?”
“Because it was too late. The realization came to me when I’d already been locked in my pod. I pounded on the lip, yelled, and demanded they let you and me out, but nobody seemed to hear me. Or they just didn’t care.”
Jennifer didn’t reply. Then I felt her hand tremble slightly. When I turned my head to look at my girlfriend, I saw tears well up in her eyes and streak down her cheeks.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I said softly. “Why are you crying? We’re going to get through this, aren’t’ we?”
“I guess,” she sobbed.
Jennifer then removed her combat helmet and put it on the couch beside her. She went on to take off my helmet and put it away as well.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
Without answering, Jennifer shifted on the couch, turned, swung her leg over my lap, and straddled me. She then wrapped her arms around my neck and brought her face so close to mine I felt her hot breath against my skin. She inched her face even closer to mine and I felt her soft lips brush against mine. Then her tongue slid into my mouth to meet mine and play with it.
As my girlfriend’s tongue continued to explore my mouth, a message popped up in the log. I glanced at it and felt chills run up my spine.
The message read, “Your girlfriend’s so hot and sweet, Jason. It’s a shame she’s going to die with you soon.”
Instinctively, Jennifer realized something was wrong. She broke our kiss, pulled away a little, and looked at me, a question in her eyes.
“I just got a message,” I explained.
“From who?”
“They sounds like Vic Morgan.”
“But I thought the moderators––”
“Yeah, me too.”
Another message popped up. “What? Did you guys really think those dumb moderators could ban me that easily? They just kicked me from the game and adjusted their firewall, but surely I’ve found a way around it, and here I am. If the moderators could’ve gotten rid of me for good, they had long since found a way to do so. But I’ve been connecting to every Battle Royale Online game since some time ago and the moderators can’t do jack to prevent me from doing so. They already know about me being in the Spectator Mode again and are trying to kick me again, but I’ve taken appropriate measures against it.”
“You’re hell-bent on dealing with us, aren’t you?” I said.
A new message from Vic Morgan popped up immediately. “You bet your ass I am.”
“Well, you failed to croak us even when you turned a gang of other players against us. What makes you think you’ll achieve your goal this time?”
“Do names Mikhail and Vladimir sound familiar to you?” Vic Morgan asked.
I said nothing.
A second later, a new message appeared in the log. “You don’t have to answer me because your facial expression is telling the whole story. Do you really think that I texted you the moment I was back in the game? Of course, not. I first watched other players play to decide which ones were the most experienced. Those two guys attracted my attention. They seemed to be very dangerous opponents. As I watched them play, I suddenly realized why they were so good at killing other players. Because they were using cheats. So I reached out to those two players and struck up a conversation with them. As it turned out, they had some beef with you two and were eager to deal with you. They didn’t tell me the reason why they were so mad with you guys, but it didn’t really matter. So they were elated when I told them that I could pinpoint your precise location so they could track you down. They’re already heading your way. Yes, you two managed to foil my attempt to whack you once, but now that you have two cheaters after you, you guys have no chance of surviving. Even if you manage to get away from them, I’ll tell them where you’re
heading. It’s high time you two got killed.”
“Jason, what’s wrong?” Jennifer asked, a worried tone in her voice. “Your face kinda turned pale.”
“We got a problem, Jen,” I muttered.
Chapter Eleven
After I gave her a brief rundown, we quickly stood up, put our combat helmets back on, and grabbed our weapons. We looked out every window but didn’t notice any players nearby. The notifications about how many players were still alive popped up in the log every now and then. Also, since it was the final stage of the game, the Circle collapses were spaced only a few minutes apart. The Red Zone was closing in on us pretty quickly.
After making sure nobody was near the building we were in, we took up the position at the window facing the road leading to the house. I glanced at the log once more. There were only five players alive now.
Jennifer and I argued about what we should do next. Jennifer suggested we get out of the building, get in the pickup truck, and go hunting the two cheaters down.
But I wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea. We would be totally exposed in the open. Being in the house, on the other hand, gave us some sort of advantage over the two players. When attacked, we could duck behind windows and open fire through other windows to get another angle on the players. Although Vic Morgan was constantly monitoring us, he wouldn’t be able to warn the two cheaters about every our move in time.
We argued for some time. Jennifer finally conceded that I was probably right. Then I asked her what kinds of cheats those players might be using. Since her ex was one of the developers of the game, Jennifer was way more knowledgeable about this than I was.
“They can use only ‘small’ cheats, so to speak,” she said. “For example, they can heal themselves without auto-injectors or make extra magazines materialize in their bags. But if they were to try something more serious, like getting endless ammo or infinite HP, they would violate the game rules because it doesn’t allow players to be invulnerable or to have infinite ammo. They would get themselves exposed to the anti-cheat software, which would instantly kick them from the game.”
I thought about what Jennifer had just told me and said, “So they don’t have much of an advantage over us.”
A message appeared in the log. “You will die! You hear me? You both will die? Do you really think you can defeat cheaters? No way! No fucking way!”
Vic Morgan continued to text me every now and then, but by this point, I barely paid attention to him. Sure, I did read all the messages he sent to me so that not to miss something important, but I didn’t bother to reply.
Then another notification appeared in the log, saying that there were only four players still alive.
Vic Morgan texted me again. “The cheaters finally hunted down the last guy and took him out. Now that there are only them and you two in the game, they’re heading your way. I hope you’re ready to meet your death.”
“The asshole just told me the cheaters are coming,” I informed Jennifer.
The hacker instantly texted me. “Did you really just call me ‘the asshole’?”
Surely, I ignored him. Vic Morgan didn’t like being ignored. It really pissed him off. Not that I cared.
We checked our surroundings, yet there was still no sign of the cheaters. I was looking out the window, staring toward the west while Jennifer stood by the window on the opposite side of the house, scanning the eastern horizon.
A message appeared in my HUD.
> Be advised that the Circle will begin to collapse in 04min59sec…
“Jason,” Jennifer called from the opposite side of the room.
“What?”
“We got a problem.”
“Another one?”
“You better check the map.”
I brought up the map right away. When I looked at it, I instantly understood what my girlfriend was getting at. The house we were in was surrounded by the Red Zone. The house was situated in the center of the Safe Zone. There was an inner ring inside this area, which indicated the boundary of the new Safe Zone.
The problem was that the inner ring wasn’t situated in the middle of the current Safe Zone. Instead, it was some way up and to the right of the center. And the house sat outside the inner ring. It meant that after the Circle collapsed, the Red Zone would swallow up the building.
In other words, we had to get out of the house before it got engulfed by the Red Zone. I looked at the map once more. There was a hill in the center of the inner ring. The hill could be seen through the window I was standing by. I judged the hill to be situated about 500 yards from the house. If we got to that elevated land, we would get a tactical advantage over the two cheaters.
Another message appeared in my HUD.
> Be advised that the Circle will begin to collapse in 03min59sec…
We had to hurry. I motioned my girlfriend over. When she walked up to me, I shared my thoughts with her. She looked out the window at the hill thoughtfully, then nodded, and said, “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Let’s do this.”
A ripple of light passed across the living area.
“What the heck,” I muttered and looked out the window again.
I peered into the distance and made out two figures in the dense undergrowth atop the hill. One of them seemed to be watching us through binoculars. Or, more likely, through the telescopic sight of a sniper rifle.
Before I could warn my girlfriend, I caught the glimpse of the muzzle flash and the window suddenly shattered, the shards exploding into the room. A second later the report of the sniper rifle rolled like thunder through the broken window.
Luckily, the heavy-caliber round passed harmlessly between us. We dived for the floor.
Another message emerged.
> Be advised that the Circle will begin to collapse in 02min59sec…
“It’s them,” Jennifer exclaimed. “The cheaters have beat us to the hill.”
“Yeah.”
Vic Morgan texted me. “It was just a warning shot, Jason. Just to let you know they see you. They could’ve easily blown your head clean off had they wanted to. But it would’ve been too easy. Those guys want to play with you for a little. It’s going to be fun to watch. They got you pinned down. What are you going to do now, Jason? They got the upper hand. You’re doomed.”
Another shot thundered, the round burning through the shattered window above us before lodging itself in the far wall.
> Be advised that the Circle will begin to collapse in 01min59sec…
We had to do something real fast. If we stayed in the building, the Red Zone would kill us. So we had to get out and head for the hill, for there was no way to go other than toward the hill. The problem was that there was an open field stretched out between the hill and the house. There were no trees or rocks we could use for cover. So once in the open, we would be totally exposed.
Vic Morgan was right. The two cheaters had the upper hand in this situation.
Jennifer crawled close to me and whispered, “The asshole’s watching us and can hear what we’re talking about, right?”
“Yeah. So?”
“What if we whisper then? Can he make out what we’re saying if we talk real quietly?”
“Not sure. Maybe, maybe not. If we whisper, he should still see our lips moving, but I can’t tell for sure if he’ll be able to actually hear what we’re saying.”
“Let’s try whispering.”
“Okay.”
“So what do we do?”
“I don’t know, Jen. I’m thinking.”
“Well, I got an idea.”
“I’m listening.”
Jennifer whispered, “Do we have any smoke grenades left?”
“Yeah, some.”
“Good. Let’s use them to give us some cover. It worked out pretty well for us the last time, didn’t it? Let’s try this tactic again. Since neither the cheaters nor the asshole can see through smoke, we’ll get some sort of advantage
over them.”
I turned the idea over in my mind for a second. “But what if the cheaters have visors as well?”
“I don’t think they have. The smoke grenades seem to be very rare in this game.”
“What if they’ve got some cheats to see through smoke?”
“I don’t know. But anyway, we have to take this chance, Jason. Unless you got a better idea.”
“I haven’t.”
“Let’s do it then.”
“Okay.”
I was about to get up, but Jennifer stopped me. “Wait. That’s not all.”
Another message popped up.
> Be advised that the Circle will begin to collapse in 00min59sec…
We were quickly running out of time.
Jennifer said, “We need to get some sort of distraction.”
“How do you mean?”
“At least one of them got a sniper rifle he can easily pick us off with from a safe distance. As to us, we don’t have any long range weapons. You got the shotgun instead. It’s a handy weapon, for sure. But it doesn’t have the range of a sniper rifle. You’re gonna need to be up close and personal to be able to deal with the cheaters. So my plan is to split. We throw smoke grenades, then you run through the smoke toward the hill while I drive the truck around the hill. A car is a bullet magnet so one of the cheaters or maybe both of them will forget about you and open fire on my car.”
I didn’t like this part of the plan. I didn’t like it at all.
“You’re going to get yourself killed, Jen.”
“Of course, I’m not because I’ve got this,” she said as she hefted her legendary assault rifle. “I ain’t gonna just race around the hill, I’m gonna fire at them with the grenade launcher. It’ll force them to scramble for cover.”
The Last Player Standing: A Dystopian LitRPG Novel Page 19