Chapter 38: The Overbearing "CS.GO Arsenal"

Xing Xiaolong deduced from this theory that the training ground in the mall must be an independent dimensional space, where time flows countless times faster than in the real world. That was why, despite spending three months inside, everything outside seemed unchanged.

Moreover, after careful observation, Xing Xiaolong noticed that the wolf’s jaws had somehow drawn closer to him—just a little. This further confirmed his suspicions.

As for what happened after he left the special training world—whether He Chenguang’s world continued to operate, or paused like his own main world, or perhaps even rushed forward at tens of thousands of times the normal speed—he had no way of knowing. In the few seconds since his return, years had already passed in He Chenguang’s world. Xing Xiaolong couldn’t even begin to guess.

He had only just begun to surmise the nature of time’s stasis, and hadn’t had a chance to open the CF Mall to check what rewards he had gained from his second round of training, when suddenly the mall screen appeared before him, unbidden.

A row of conspicuous, flashing red text filled the center:

[Player “Red Star Street Sniper,” please note: You have received authorization for the CF Mall. In 10 seconds, the interface will automatically switch to the mall’s main page. At that time, the temporal barrier of the training ground will vanish, and you will return to your original space-time. Please prepare accordingly. Countdown: 10…9…8…]

“Back to my world? So soon? Damn it!”

Xing Xiaolong hadn’t expected the frozen world before him to resume its flow in mere seconds. His relaxed mood snapped taut as a drawn bowstring. He had so many unresolved issues—he hadn’t even figured out how to survive this immediate threat of death.

Lost in thought, he realized only 5 seconds remained.

He glanced at the wolf’s head, barely twenty centimeters away, its savage, razor-sharp fangs bared. His pupils contracted sharply.

“Strike first!”

Fresh from three months of boot camp, his aggressive instincts surged. Gritting his teeth, he resolved to seize this last chance and deal with the wolf before him.

But as his brain commanded his arms into action, pain shot through him, making his whole body shudder, his face pale and sweat pouring like rain. Three months in the training world had made him forget that his real body was battered and weak—especially his left arm, nearly bitten clean through by the wolf.

With this half-crippled body and only his bare hands to fight, he wouldn’t be able to kill the wolf even with five minutes, let alone five seconds.

“What now?”

Xing Xiaolong was anxious and lost. Despite the hardened will forged from “two lifetimes” as a soldier, which kept him from panicking completely, he still could not come up with a solution.

Those fleeting five seconds vanished in an instant.

Swish—

The countdown on the translucent screen disappeared. The previously blurred, pixelated mall homepage finally resolved into a clear interface.

He didn’t even have time to see what the CF Mall looked like.

Death arrived with it.

“Awoooo—grrr!”

The giant prairie wolf, so close its breath stank in his nostrils, shifted from frozen to ferocious in a heartbeat, lunging at Xing Xiaolong with a bone-chilling snarl.

Its gaping maw, packed with lethal fangs, went straight for the most vulnerable part of his throat. If it bit down, blood would surely spurt three feet high.

“Damn it all!”

With the reek of death washing over him, Xing Xiaolong’s pupils contracted again. He jerked backward desperately. His left arm was useless, his legs trapped by his seat, but thanks to He Chenguang’s lessons in grappling, inspiration struck.

His right hand grabbed the wolf’s upper jaw, pouring all his strength into forcing it down, barely holding off the crushing jaws.

The giant wolf couldn’t exert full force in such cramped quarters, and Xing Xiaolong’s survival instincts exploded under the threat of death. For the moment, they were deadlocked.

But this couldn’t last.

Xing Xiaolong, losing blood rapidly, was no match for the furious prairie wolf, whose rage was heightened by the loss of one eye.

“Wait—the CF Mall is a shooting game. There must be weapons among the rewards, maybe even some healing items. If I can pop a pill, I might just hold out.”

Temporarily holding off the wolf’s attack, Xing Xiaolong’s mind raced, determined to use the CF Mall to resolve the crisis before him.

He was a man with a cheat code, after all, and had no intention of ending up as a diamond-encrusted corpse in a grave.

However, fate had other plans.

The silver ring he had almost forgotten, which had been silent until now, suddenly sprang to life at this critical moment, forcibly closing the CF Mall and taking over the screen.

[Activating “CS:GO Arsenal.” Soldier with no rank, please enter your unique code name. This will serve as your arsenal tag. Code name: [ ]. Only numbers, letters, or Chinese characters allowed—up to 12 letters/numbers or 6 characters.]

So much for that—

All the healing items, potential weapons from mission rewards, unopened gift packs and equipment bags—everything that could help him escape mortal danger—were now out of reach.

Even if Xing Xiaolong wanted to start over, it was impossible. After all, you couldn’t activate the ring with both hands, and his left hand, where the gold ring sat, was completely ruined.

“Damn it, couldn’t you wait a bit? What’s with your activation now?”

Just when he was on the verge of saving himself, the CS:GO Arsenal popped up, extinguishing all hope. Staring at the small new interface, Xing Xiaolong nearly fainted from anger.

He was truly furious—so much so that he wanted to rip off the silver ring and throw it away.

Of course, that was assuming he could even remove it from his right index finger, where it felt as if it had grown roots and become part of his flesh.

“I hope you don’t let me down. You claim to be a world-class hit game. I don’t expect miracles, just give me a gun—no, even a knife will do.”

Xing Xiaolong had played CS Half-Life, the very game that drew him into the world of gaming and led to his later obsession with CF. But as for CS:GO, he had only heard of it; he was hardly familiar.

Now, with the CF Mall gone, his single-handed struggle against the giant wolf wouldn’t last much longer. If he didn’t want to become a midnight snack, regardless of his frustration, he could only calm himself.

He pinned his hopes on this brazen, domineering new “cheat”—the CS:GO Arsenal, which had forcibly closed the CF Mall—hoping it would save his life.