Chapter 2 — Me Lo Airport

The girl's eyes were filled with gratitude, her hands typing furiously. She pulled out a stack of food coupons, counted the number to match the number of cards I was holding, then quickly pulled out two more, mixed them in and pressed them into my hand, her eyes filled with gratitude. — It was successful! My heart was pounding, but on the outside I remained calm. "Sister, here you are! Quickly take the baby out to eat!" “Brother, take it!” I quickly returned each boarding pass and meal ticket, my movements as neat as the wind. Finally, I stuffed the two extra food coupons into my inner pocket. I raised my head and shouted to the crowd: "Go get your meal ticket and rest to regain your strength! It's not too late to settle accounts with them later!" While everyone was paying attention to receiving votes, I, like a slippery eel, slipped out of the crowd and disappeared into the crowded corridor of the station. If you want to survive in this game, you must know how to take advantage of loopholes better than others. As soon as I left the waiting room, I saw Ngo Tri. He smiled gently and said: "Sister, I just saw you take action, it looked like you were watching a big brother's negotiation scene in a movie. Are you really not thinking about allying with us? We will definitely need to help each other in the future." In just one day, there were four more players next to him. But I still refused his invitation. 5 Take the food coupon and eat until you're full, your Hunger index is temporarily full, but the feeling of fatigue comes back like a tide. My Stamina has dropped below 50%. It is now 11 pm, the number of people in the airport is very sparse. Most of the stores began to close, the lights also became dim, the atmosphere gradually covered with a cold and indescribable feeling. The chairs in the waiting room all have armrests, so no one can lie down. A young player, perhaps too exhausted, wrapped himself in a thin jacket, huddled on the floor, trying to sleep. But in less than two minutes, a harsh flashlight beam shone straight into his face. "Wake up! You can't lie down here!" — The NPC guard's voice was emotionless. The young player didn't pay attention and turned around to continue sleeping. Suddenly, a group of security guards rushed out from a hidden corner. Without saying a word, they picked him up and threw him out of the airport gate. On the game's public channel, the system immediately broadcast an announcement: 【Player number 13 was eliminated because he left the game area, incurring a debt of 1 million yuan.】 Immediately afterwards, people in other areas were also eliminated in the same way. The system is forcing us — using fatigue and cold to squeeze every last bit of reason out of the players. At this point, my Stamina was severely depleted. To avoid being eliminated, I wrapped myself in an old blanket, sat on a chair in the waiting room and tried to doze off. The next day dawn told us — only a day had passed since the game. My Stamina stat slowly returned to 75%, but my Hunger stat dropped to 50%. I still have a meal ticket on me, so I'm not too worried. I took a sip of cold water, ate two more packets of sugar, then continued towards the departure hall to "hunt". Suddenly, a player rushed forward and snatched the hot sausage from a child's hand. He passed close to me, almost making me fall. 6 The child burst into tears, security immediately rushed in, surrounded the other player, then threw him straight into a police car parked outside the airport. System The announcement sounded again: 【Player number 25 stole food from NPC, was thrown out of the airport by security, and eliminated from the game. Burdened with a debt of 1 million yuan.】 I suddenly realized one thing - in this airport, you can do anything, but you absolutely cannot attract the attention of security. The airport was strange today — not a single flight was delayed. I guess maybe the vulnerability I took advantage of yesterday has been patched by the system. All day, I pretended to be a normal passenger, wandering around the lobby, visiting every store that had free food samples. Of course, I only ate, didn't buy, and tried while observing the staff's attitude; If I'm discovered to be just eating at temple, I'll immediately run away. Just hold out until nightfall. For dinner, I used the remaining meal voucher, filling up my Hunger index again. But today's Fitness index decreased more strongly than yesterday. This time, I didn't choose to doze off on the chair anymore. I sneaked into a dark side hallway, at the end of which was the “treasure” I had discovered during the day — an abandoned equipment room, the door ajar. The inside is filled with miscellaneous items, but just close the door and it becomes a discreet shelter. As soon as I walked in, I hadn't even had time to close the door tightly when — "Bang!" The door was kicked open. Entering was a tall man with slanted eyes, behind him were two young men with fierce faces. I panicked a bit and unconsciously retreated deeper inside. "Get out! This place belongs to us!" — The tall guy shouted. I recognized him - yesterday at the bakery, he was the fiercest robber, even snatching cakes from the hands of two other players. Knowing I wouldn't encounter this type again, I decided to leave this shelter. But as soon as I got to the door, the tall guy suddenly pulled out a knife and pressed it close to my neck: "The remaining money and food on your body, give it all to me! Otherwise I will cut you into pieces!" Their eyes filled with madness and cruelty told me - they dared to act for real. My head was spinning with calculations. Fight back? There is no way to win. Pay money? This means being eliminated and saddled with a debt of 1 million yuan. Be? Be?! 7 I swallowed a mouthful of saliva, trying to keep my voice calm: "Sir, what are you talking about? Thieves in this game will be immediately eliminated by the system." "Stop talking too much! Hurry up, I don't have any patience!" — the blade of the fruit knife pressed a few more inches closer to my neck. I gave up the idea of resisting and immediately transferred all the remaining 50 yuan in my account to him. As long as I'm still alive in the game, I have a chance to win 1 million. The tall guy received the money and immediately pushed me out. The door closed, I heard a delighted voice from inside: "Robbing like this is really effective. Luckily, he told us that robbing money doesn't disqualify us. So from now on, we won't have to worry about running out of money anymore." Who is the "he" in their mouth? Stealing items from NPCs is disqualifying, but robbing money and even killing players is okay. Who knows the rules of the game like the back of their hand? Just on the second day, I had lost all my remaining 50 yuan, with no money, no food... Could it be that I was just waiting to die? Less than a moment later, on the game's public channel, someone anonymously announced: 【Area B, departure floor, 24/7 convenience store is discounting soda crackers.】 The door to the equipment room opened, and the tall man led two juniors out. I quickly moved aside and quietly followed them to the convenience store. All three took it All the stolen money was used to buy soda crackers. The "ting" of the payment notification rang out, and immediately the system announced: 【Player numbers 5, 49, 61 were eliminated due to overspending, incurring a debt of 1 million yuan.】 The tall guy screamed bitterly: "I stole this money! Why is it considered overspending..." Before he finished speaking, his whole person turned into a beam of light, disappearing into the air. The two juniors also followed suit and disappeared. Dozens of bags of cookies and four or five bags of bread fell to the ground. I immediately rushed forward, took off my coat, and tightly wrapped all the cookies and bread. Sure enough, my guess was right — from the beginning, the system said that spending too much would result in disqualification. Each person only has 50 yuan in their account, how can they spend too much? There is only one possibility: robbing another player's money. If you spend more than the original 50 yuan, it will be considered over the limit. But the fact that the tall guy stole someone else's cake at the store yesterday without being disqualified proves that stealing food is okay. I can predict that in the coming days, many people will understand this rule and fight for food. So food must be hidden carefully. With this food, I can last until the end of the game. I found five places that I thought were safe, divided the cookies and hid them separately, opening one place every day so I could survive the remaining five days. Having done all that, my Stamina had dropped to a warning level. I went back to the waiting room, sat on the chair and fell asleep. 7. The game enters its third day. A series of violent coughs, tearing through the space, echoed nearby, immediately attracting the attention of everyone around. It was player number 47 — the girl who looked frail from before. She huddled on the cold metal bench, her body trembling, her face red from coughing, even a little purple. The boyfriend, also a player, frowned in disgust: "What's wrong with you? Do you have a fever? Don't collapse before Saturday!" 47's voice was hoarse, weak, thick with phlegm: "It's just... I suddenly feel so cold... so uncomfortable. A Vinh, can I hug you?" "No! What if I infect you?" — the guy named A Vinh flatly refused.