“Cheng Shuili, this requirement goes live tomorrow, it must be finished tonight!”
“Cheng Shuili, the server crashed, get up and fix it!”
“Cheng Shuili...”
Cheng Shuili snapped her eyes open, gasping for air. Her supervisor's roars seemed to still echo in her ears, but before her was no longer the familiar office or those lines of code she could never get to run.
Her last memory was a sharp pain in her heart, followed by the world plunging into darkness.
After seventy-two hours of continuous overtime, her heart had finally gone on strike.
“Am I... dead?”
Cheng Shuili's first reaction was: “Great, I finally don't have to fix those damn bugs anymore.” Then, she heard the system broadcast.
【Welcome to the Highway Survival Game. Seven billion players globally have taken their positions.】
A cold, mechanical voice rang in her mind as a semi-transparent system panel appeared before her eyes:
【Player: Cheng Shuili (No. AAAJCCJ8888)】
【Initial Talent Drawing...】
【Congratulations! You have obtained the talent: BUG Physique (SSS-rank)】
【Description: You can always find and exploit system loopholes.】
Cheng Shuili blinked.
BUG Physique? What kind of ghost talent was this?
As a former programmer, she was practically allergic to the word “BUG.” Just seeing those three letters made her heart feel a faint, twitching sensation.
Looking around, she found herself standing in a desolate wilderness. Beneath her feet was a straight highway stretching forward, with distant mountain ranges flanking both sides. The sky was an unnatural, dark red. The wind blew through the withered grass, making a rustling sound.
She finally recognized reality.
Ah, it seems I've transmigrated. How nice.
It's so good to not have to work!
Cheng Shuili literally bounced up, hopping around with excitement several times before she could calm down.
The system broadcast rang out again.
【Welcome all players to the Highway Survival Game. This is Sector 3, Division 1000 of Dragon Country. All players, please choose your initial vehicle.】
Four semi-transparent option boxes suddenly floated in front of Cheng Shuili:
【A. Mountain Bike (Basic transportation, 5kg storage, no fuel required)】
【B. Electric Tricycle (Low-speed cargo tool, 20kg storage, 50km battery range)】
【C. Pickup Truck (Multi-functional vehicle, 100kg storage, high fuel consumption)】
【D. Box Truck (Large vehicle, 300kg storage, very high fuel consumption)】
As a former programmer, Cheng Shuili instinctively began to analyze the interface.
There were slight pixel misalignments at the edges of the option boxes, and an almost invisible loading icon was spinning in the bottom-right corner.
“This UI is so crudely made,” she couldn't help but complain. “They didn't even get the responsive design right.”
She reached out and tried to drag the interface, discovering that she could actually move the floating window. Professional habit drove her to start testing the system's boundaries: double-clicks, long presses, swipes, multi-touch gestures...
When her finger rapidly clicked “Option C” three times, the interface suddenly flickered.
Immediately after, the entire interface blurred into a mess in front of Cheng Shuili, and all the options turned into mosaics.
Cheng Shuili: “???”
What does this mean? I don't even get to choose anymore?
The system panel suddenly flashed with a piercing red light, and a string of garbled code jumped before her eyes. Then, the four option boxes began to shake violently like a frozen video before completely disappearing with a “pop.”
Cheng Shuili: “...”
She suddenly had an ominous premonition.
Sure enough, in the next second, a new prompt popped up from the system—
【Abnormal player operation detected. Vehicle allocation mechanism triggered a BUG...】
【Reallocating...】
【Allocation failed.】
Cheng Shuili: “???”
She watched as the system panel went completely black. Three seconds later, a line of small text slowly emerged: 【Due to an unknown error, your initial vehicle has been lost. As compensation, you have received:】
【A Rusty Shopping Cart (Durability: 10/100, Storage: 50kg, No power, must be pushed manually)】
Cheng Shuili: “...”
Is this even right?
She looked down at the crooked shopping cart that had appeared out of thin air before her. A shaky sign hung from the basket, reading: “XX Supermarket Promotion Price: 9.9 Yuan.”
Cheng Shuili: “...”
Was this the power of the SSS-rank talent 【BUG Physique】?
OK, since things have come to this, let's summarize.
First, this BUG Physique triggers bugs in the game world. After a bug is triggered, there should be two possibilities: a bad result or a good result.
Cheng Shuili's face darkened; the first time she triggered a bug, it was a bad result.
【All players have finished selecting their vehicles. The game is about to officially begin. Now announcing the game rules:】
【1. Please proceed in a straight line along the highway. Supply crates will occasionally refresh on the road. Supply crates contain not only surprises but also scares.】
【2. Daytime is from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. When resting at night, please do not leave a 6-meter radius of your vehicle. The night is always unknown, and the unknown represents danger.】
【3. The system provides a game panel, chat channels, and trading channels. Theoretically, there is only one player per highway, but some lucky individuals will encounter “Highway Merge” probability events.】
【4. Humans have a very interesting saying: 'My neighbor hoards grain while I hoard guns; my neighbor is my granary.' Survivors, the game officially begins.】
【The novice protection period has begun, lasting for seven days. During the protection period, there will be no natural disasters and no monsters at night. The probability of scares in treasure chests is reduced, and vehicle damage will be automatically repaired. During today's two-hour bonus period, no monsters will appear in supply crates. Please open them with confidence!】
【First day's journey requirement: 50 kilometers.】
Cheng Shuili took a deep breath, trying to calm her heart, and then tried to push the shopping cart.
“Squeak.”
A piercing sound of metal grinding rang out. The wheels of the shopping cart turned half a circle crookedly before getting stuck with a “clack.”
Cheng Shuili: “...”
She crouched down to check and found that three of the four wheels were rusted solid, and the only one that could turn was about to fall off.
“Fine, at least it's better than walking.”
She comforted herself.
Cheng Shuili wiped her face and continued to fiddle with the shopping cart.
She discovered a small groove at the bottom of the cart. The shape looked like... a USB port?
Cheng Shuili: “?”
What a coincidence. She happened to have a data cable in her pocket—a USB one. It was the only item she had brought to this world.
She hesitated for a moment, then, with the mindset of giving it a try, she plugged the data cable into the groove.
【Warning: Illegal vehicle modification is prohibited!】
This crappy data cable wasn't even plugged into power, and this broken shopping cart was practically falling apart. How did this count as an “illegal vehicle modification”!
Cheng Shuili violently yanked out the data cable. Taking advantage of the system's momentary confusion, she kicked the wheel of the shopping cart.
“Snap!”
The wheel flew off, but simultaneously, the system panel flashed frantically.
【Vehicle damaged during the novice protection period!】
【Error! Unable to repair!】
【Compensation mechanism activated...】
【Congratulations to the player for obtaining:】
【“Supermarket Promotion Special” Electric Shopping Cart (Durability: Infinite, Storage: 200kg, Top Speed: 40 km/h, Range: 100 km per charge)】
Rate on N.U.
