This was a desolate wilderness, a gray canvas painted with little more than yellow sand and countless stones. In the very center of the bleak scene sat a lush oasis, like a glittering jewel set amid the endless dunes.
But in this silence, piercing screams suddenly rang out.
Following the sound, the source was immediately obvious: a group of humans running for their lives.
“Ahhhhhh!”
The shrill cries tore from their throats as they sprinted.
Behind them, a cloud of dust billowed. Dozens of monsters of various shapes and sizes were giving chase with relentless speed.
The group dashed out of the oasis, heading for a steep slope piled with loose sand.
On flat ground, they had only just managed to stay ahead of the beasts. On the incline, it was impossible. Their pace slowed, while the monsters seemed to grow faster.
What followed was a brutal display of human selfishness.
Those in the lead kicked at their teammates behind them, desperate to scramble upward. Those behind grabbed at the frontrunners, unwilling to be left for dead.
Chaos broke out. On that sandy slope, there was pushing, pulling, trampling, betrayal.
It didn’t matter. Within minutes, screams echoed again, one after another. Green beams of light rose into the sky as players were slain, dissolving into nothing.
Not all perished. One man survived, by ruthlessly shoving his companions into the jaws of the monsters, using them as sacrifices to buy his own life.
From a pile of rocks nearby, He Huan quietly watched it all unfold.
A few minutes earlier—
When the group had first neared the oasis’s center, a monster had been but a step away from reaching them. At that moment, He Huan slipped out from her hiding place among the rocks.
She tossed a smooth stone in her hand and hurled it—smashing into a monster.
Then she crushed an Invisibility Scroll.
The scroll was a common drop from oasis monsters. Its effect was simple: thirty seconds of invisibility. During that time, all aggro (monster hostility) was wiped or redirected. But the price was that the user could not move; any motion would cancel the effect.
He Huan had farmed over a hundred monsters here, collecting nearly thirty of these scrolls. More than once, she had used them to escape patrols.
The stone’s strike had enraged not just the monster it hit, but the whole nest of creatures lurking at the oasis edge. They surged forth like blood-crazed hounds.
Their target was He Huan—until she vanished into thin air.
With her hostility reset, the nearest group of humans instantly became the monsters’ new prey.
And so began the deadly chase, the betrayals, and the carnage.
All very lively.
But not thorough enough.
One man escaped.
He stood atop the sand dune, outside the monsters’ pursuit range, gasping for breath.
His name was Huang Bairong, a member of the Taishan Mutual Aid Society—and not just any member, but an elite. Only those with strong skills, good equipment, and close ties to the Society’s leadership were sent into secret realms to pioneer them.
So far, Taishan had seized control of two secret realms, but they had not cleared either. The monsters were too powerful, and with only four daylight hours available each day, progress was painfully slow. To make things worse, the mechanisms of the realms remained unclear, and each reset wiped their progress.
Thus, for now, the realms were used mainly to gear up high-ranking members.
The Society had expected that with their dominance over Area E7 and their monopoly on secret realms, they would pull far ahead of the other residents once the seven-day novice period ended. Survival seemed certain.
But then came disaster.
He Liang, that fool, had tried to ambush a Red Name player, only to be killed instead—and worse, he had lost the realm compass in the process.
The leadership, fearing the location of Mist Zone #4 would be leaked and invaded, issued a bounty on the Red Name woman while mobilizing their forces to secure the realm.
Huang Bairong’s squad had been sent as scouts, to confirm the entrance location and, if possible, explore the realm’s interior.
He never imagined that within half an hour of entering, their entire team would be annihilated by monsters.
Now he was the sole survivor, heart breaking at the thought of all the elite comrades and precious gear lost.
As he sent reports to the higher-ups and awaited orders to recover whatever loot he could, Huang Bairong turned toward the oasis—and froze.
On a pile of rocks stood a woman.
The wind lifted her long hair.
His pupils contracted sharply. Her body glowed with a faint red aura.
A Red Name player.
Red Name. Secret realm. He Liang.
The pieces clicked instantly. This had to be her.
The anger surged up like fire in his chest.
He cast multiple insight skills at her, trying to pull her stats. But each attempt failed, as though some special item blocked the scan.
All he knew was that she was a Red Name. Very likely, the very woman who had killed He Liang and stolen the compass.
“…I’ve spotted the Red Name woman in the realm,” Huang Bairong said into the guild channel.
His words startled Zhou Yuanshan, the usually silent, aloof leader, into speaking. “The same one who killed He Liang?”
“Not certain. But very likely.”
“What are her stats?”
“Unknown.”
Zhou Yuanshan was surprised, then quickly realized the Red Name must be carrying an anti-detection artifact.
“Can you remember her appearance, at least?” Zhou pressed.
Huang Bairong didn’t answer immediately.
The woman on the rocks was smiling at him—an unrestrained, mocking grin that made his blood boil.
But he didn’t move recklessly.
“I’ll try,” he replied tersely, but he made no move to approach.
Piecing together the strange events—the missing monsters, the sudden horde at the oasis, their selective targeting of his squad but not her—it was obvious she was powerful. More than that, she clearly understood this realm’s mechanics.
To challenge her directly would be suicide.
He decided in a heartbeat: retreat. He could fob off Zhou Yuanshan with vague answers. But one thing was clear—he would not go near that woman. Let the guild handle her.
He turned to leave.
He Huan, watching him, was surprised. She had been certain he would charge, yet he simply glanced at her twice and walked away.
Smart man.
But if he left, he would surely report back, and that would close off her chance to infiltrate Mist Zone #3 with the Taishan group tomorrow.
And He Huan wasn’t one to let grudges wait. Nor did she believe in leaving weeds to grow back. This man could not be allowed to walk away.
“Hey,” she called cheerfully, “I recorded a video.”
Huang Bairong froze mid-step.
He turned back, wary, saying nothing.
He Huan raised her wristband, projecting a light screen.
On it played the scene of him ruthlessly shoving teammates into monsters, over and over. She looped the clip again and again, grinning with feigned innocence.
“Funny, isn’t it?” she teased.
His face darkened from shock to fury.
If this recording spread, how would he explain himself to Zhou Yuanshan? Their squad had been composed of elites.
Huang Bairong’s gaze sharpened, his eyes cold.
A long sword materialized in his grip as he stared at the Red Name woman on the rocks.
wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1