The Last Player Standing: A Dystopian LitRPG Novel

by Alexey Volkov

  Also, I realized one leveled up pretty quickly in this game. Not that it was surprising. It wasn’t a lengthy MMORPG or something like that. It was a Battle Royale game, which only lasted for several hours, so a player needed to quickly gain levels in order to reach the max level by the final stage of the game.

  Jennifer pulled the Ford to the left-hand shoulder of the road a safe distance from the burning wreckage of the pickup truck.

  “Let’s check the loot out,” Jennifer said.

  “It’s was quite a blast. Do you think anything could survive it?”

  “It wouldn’t hurt to check.”

  “Jen, if any items are still intact, there are still inside the car. We can’t wait for the fire to die down to check the car, hoping to find anything unbroken.”

  “I was just hoping something might be blown out of the car by the explosion. But I think you’re right. Okay, let’s get out of here.”

  “If you’re low on bullets or heals, I can give some to ya. I’ve gathered up lots of ammo and consumables.”

  Jennifer nodded, then pulled away from the shoulder of the road, and floored the accelerator. As we passed the flaming remains of the pickup truck, I felt the heat of the fire through the rolled-down window.

  “I’ve just leveled up,” I said. “I’m gonna assign the skill point.”

  “Do it quick, then. You don’t wanna be jumped on. You had better always keep your eyes peeled in this game.”

  I didn’t know my girlfriend could be so bossy. But she was right, of course. I brought up the Skill Tree and examined the fifth branch.

  > Level 5 Branch:

  > Skill #1

  > Name: Vehicle expert

  > Description: All the vehicles you drive are more resistant to bullets and take 5% less damage

  > Cost: 1 skill point

  > Skill #2

  > Name: Health Regeneration 2

  > Description: Your Health regenerates over time at the rate of 15% a minute

  > Cost: 1 skill point

  > Note: You cannot learn Health Regeneration 2 if you do not have Health Regeneration 1 unlocked

  > Skill #3

  > Name: Damage 2

  > Description: You do 10% more damage

  > Cost: 1 skill point

  > Note: You cannot learn Damage 2 if you do not have Damage 1 unlocked

  > Skill #4

  > Name: Dodge 1

  > Description: You have got a 5% chance of avoiding being hit by enemies’ bullets

  > Cost: 1 skill point

  > Skill #5

  > Name: Armor-piercing bullets

  > Description: All your weapons have a 10% chance to pierce a body armor your enemy wears

  > Cost: 2 skill points

  I wavered between Damage Resistance 3 from the fourth branch and Health Regeneration 2 from the fifth one. I settled on the former and applied the skill point to that skill.

  We tooled in the Ford through the island for about half an hour. Eventually, we reached the turnoff, which led to the building I had discovered on the map a few minutes prior. The building was situated almost in the middle of the island, so when the Circle collapsed again, the Red Zone wouldn’t swallow the house. Jennifer parked the Ford on a small rise thirty or so feet from the house so as the rumble of the car’s engine wouldn’t warn whoever might be inside the house about us approaching.

  We skulked toward the house, our guns drawn and at the ready. Nobody started to shoot at us through the windows. The silence met us as we entered the building. There seemingly was no one inside. Still, we were on the alert until we made sure nobody was lurking in the house.

  Soon we discovered there were no players inside. Moreover, nobody had looted the house yet. We scoured the place for anything useful and found some auto-injectors and two level 1 ballistic vests, as well as level 1 combat helmets, which we put on right away.

  We also looked into the garage and discovered a big dark-colored SUV with tinted windows and a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on its roof. I walked around the front of the car, swung the driver’s-side door open, leaned over to look inside, and saw the keys dangling in the ignition.

  “Looks like we no longer need your Ford,” I observed.

  We returned to the living area. It was high time we had talked over some topics. I turned to face Jennifer and said, “Think we’re safe at the moment.”

  “Yeah.”

  Now that we had finally gotten a respite from gunfights, I looked my girlfriend over. She was dressed in a dark tank top, denim cutoff shorts, and a pair of black military boots. Her raven hair was held back in a ponytail. She looked gorgeous, as always. Her tank top revealed her flat stomach and left her shoulders uncovered, showing her perfectly smooth skin. The swell of her hips was smooth and round. The fabric of her tank top stretched taut across her breasts, accentuating her nipples.

  I forced myself to channel my thoughts in a different direction. I focused on the guns she had on her. Jennifer had a pistol in a holster on each hip, held in place with Velcro straps. I thought that while those could definitely prevent her pistols to accidentally slide from its respective holsters, they would slow the handguns’ retrieval.

  Jennifer also had a bag slung across her shoulders.

  “So that’s all you got?” I asked. “Only these two pistols, right?”

  “Yeah, but those are pretty awesome. Check it out.”

  She pulled one of the pistols from its holster and held it out to me. The pistol looked pretty much like a Beretta 93R. When I looked at the handgun, its stats popped up in my HUD.

  > Name: Double Death

  > Type: Akimbo pistols

  > Rarity: Rare (blue)

  > Level Requirement: 6

  > Damage: 110

  > Accuracy: 85

  > Fire rate: 75

  > Magazine size: 30

  > Special quality: The selector switch could be thrown to the 3-round-burst mode to increase the pistols’ accuracy by 15 percent

  “These akimbo pistols are good,” she said sliding the handgun back into its holster. “At least, for level 6. Still, I wouldn’t mind having the primary weapon.”

  “I’ve got the SMG and the shotgun. Take your pick. Which one are you liking better? I’ve got enough bullets for each gun.”

  “I’d like the shotgun. You’ve taught me how to shoot pistols in real life, so I’m pretty good with handguns. With full auto firearms, not so much.”

  “Could I just say, you were a fast learner. You were able to master this skill very quickly.”

  “Well, guess my past gaming experience helped. Like I said, I ain’t all that good with full auto weapons, so I’ll take the shotgun. It’s easier to use than a subgun, I presume.”

  I unslung the shotgun and handed it over. I also gave my girlfriend all the shotgun shells I had and some of my auto-injectors. She stowed ammo and consumables away in her bag and hefted the shotgun.

  “Well, it ain’t all that heavy,” she said. “Thought it would be heavier.”

  Before I could teach her how to do the reloading, Jennifer started nimbly shoving shells into the loading port and then racked the slide, chambering the first round. Then she topped the shotgun off with another shell.

  She had gaming experience, all right. Or she was a gun buff. Not that I was aware of either. Still, I elected to ask her something else first.

  “So,” I said, “tell me something, Jen. What were you thinking when you decided to play this game?”

  “Here we go,” she sighed.

  “What exactly were you trying to accomplish? Didn’t you know only one player could win the game? Even if you and me survived against all the odds and were the two last players alive, the game wouldn’t end until one of us die. There’s no way both of us can leave the game. No effing way. Even if we made it to the final stage of the game, one of us would have to get their ticket punched so the other one could be the last player standing
and leave the game. So what were you thinking, Jen? If you thought you could help me out, you were wrong. Totally wrong. You’ve just messed everything up!”

  “Are you done yet?” She asked in a calm voice.

  I wanted to vent some more, but something in my girlfriend’s eyes stopped me.

  “Yeah, I’m done.”

  “Good. Listen to me now. Do you really think I would sign up for this game if I didn’t a plan?”

  I looked my girlfriend in the eye. Not only had she the looks, but she also was a smart girl. Instead of mindlessly leaping right into action, she always acted in a thoughtful and delicate manner. Before taking action right away, she first thought everything over. Sometimes it even drove me crazy. Sitting on my ass, doing nothing went against my nature. My mom simply said I had a short attention span. But anyway, Jennifer was nothing like me. And I had to admit, taking a few minutes to contemplate on the matter at hand before making a decision more often than proved to be the right choice while taking the action immediately often resulted in my making a mistake.

  I realized that it was in my nature to jump in Battle Royale Online where 99% of the players got killed, without trying to think up a plan of sorts beforehand. Jennifer, on the other hand, would’ve never decided to play this game if she hadn’t had a workable plan of action. So she must have come up with some bright idea. She always had a plan of action, a back-up plan, and a back-up plan for the back-up plan. It simply was her way.

  “Jen, you’ve got some idea, haven’t you?” I finally asked.

  “Yes,” she said. “I know how we both can win the game and get out of here alive.”

  Chapter Six

  “What are you talking about?” I asked dumbfoundingly.

  “Do you remember Steve?”

  “Steve? You mean your ex?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, kinda. You’ve never told me about him much.”

  “Yes because I don’t like to talk about him. He was overjealous. And an asshole. It was just a matter of time before I broke up with him.”

  “But I thought he loved you.”

  “He did. And still is. But it doesn’t negate the fact that he’s an asshole.”

  “Well, okay. So what’s the deal with him?”

  “He’s working as a programmer for the company that created Battle Royale Online.”

  I did a double take, then said, “Wow. I never saw it coming.”

  “When you came over to me yesterday and told me about your intention to play this game, I tried to reason with you. Sure enough, you wouldn’t listen. So when I realized there’s no way I could persuade you not to play it, I decided to let you go.”

  I remembered how Jennifer had changed her mind yesterday. First, she hugged me, unwilling to let me go. Then she suddenly released me and told me to leave. There clearly was something on her mind.

  Now I knew what it was.

  “Let me guess. After I left, you reached out to your ex-boyfriend?”

  “Yeah. When it dawned on me there was nothing I could do to prevent you from playing, I realized I had to find a way to help you win the game, otherwise I would not see you again. So I called Steve and asked for help.”

  “Why? I mean his being one of the game programmers doesn’t necessarily mean he can help a particular player win the game. Moreover, however much he loves you, I doubt he would be willing to help your new boyfriend out, running a risk of being fired or something worse.”

  “I didn’t tell him anything about you. Do you remember Ellen?”

  “Sure.”

  She was one of Jennifer’s childhood friends.

  “I told Steve than Ellen had gotten in a serious jam and so desperately needed money she decided to play Battle Royale Online.”

  “Did he buy it?”

  “I think he did.”

  “But he could still find out that you lied to him.”

  “He may have figured it out, but it doesn’t matter now that we’re in the game, Jason. At that moment, he might not believe me, but he told me everything he knew anyway.”

  “Okay. So what’d he tell you?”

  “First of all, he said that he personally couldn’t help you––I mean, Ellen––win the game, no matter how much he wanted to.”

  “Figures.”

  “Then he said one could try to cheat to win.”

  “How do you cheat in this game?”

  “One has to implant microscopic biomechanical engines called ‘nanotrities’ into their body. After having them injected, one needs to wait 72 hours so that nanotrities can adjust to one’s body and disguise themselves. With this done, one can cheat in the game. After winning the game, the cheater can have the nanotrities removed from their body. But if one uses cheats way too often, he or she will unavoidably pop up on the moderators’ radar and they’ll unplug one’s pod, disconnecting the cheater from the game, which will result in his or her death. Also, if one decides not to wait for 72 houses to pass, he or she will get themselves in trouble. When the pod automatically scans you, it will detect nanotrities coursing through your system and the cheater will be kicked out.”

  “Where can one have those nanotrities injected?”

  “Steve knows of a couple of hackers who can do that. But it is illegal, of course. If a player gets caught cheating in the game, they’ll be punished. At best, the cheater will be kicked out of the game. At worst, killed there and then.”

  “Figured as much. So I could’ve had nanotrities injected, but I didn’t have enough time for them to disguise themselves in my system because the game was to begin the following day, right?”

  “Exactly. Which was why I didn’t tell you anything about it.”

  “Okay. So how do we both win the game without cheating, Jen? You haven’t told me this yet.”

  “Steve told me that using cheats was Ellen’s best bet for winning the game. She just needed to use them sparingly so that neither the moderators nor the anti-cheat software detected her. I told Steve that it was too late for Ellen to have nanotrities injected and asked him if there were some tricks, game glitches, or something like that that she could use in her advantage. Steve thought about it for a few moments and then replied that he only knew of one glitch.”

  “What glitch?”

  “Steve told me that the developers fix glitches and bugs as soon as they detect them. But this particular glitch they haven’t bothered to fix.”

  “Why?”

  “Because nobody knows about it. This glitch allows two players to get out of the game alive. As you can see, nobody’s ever discovered this glitch because of the main game rule. Everybody knows that only one player can be the last person standing, which is why nobody’s ever tried to find a way to bypass this rule. Sure, some players team up with others to improve their chances of survival, but in the end, one of them inevitably betrays his or her teammates.”

  “So about this glitch. How can we use it?”

  “First of all, we have to make it to the very end of the game where there are only two of us still alive. We also have to make sure we both have the same amount of HP. It is very important. So we both have to have all the three Health Capacity skills unlocked so we have the same amount of HP. I’ve already learned those skills. You?”

  “Me too.”

  “Good. So when there are no players alive except for you and me, we’ll have to make sure we have our Health bars completely filled up. If you’re wounded, even if slightly, even if by a mere one percent, you’ll have to use a heal on yourself to top off your Health Bar. Like I said, it is very important to have our HP identical. And then we’re just gonna need to wait.”

  “Just wait, huh?”

  “Yep. The Circle will be shrinking, closing in on us till we find ourselves in a tiny circle of the Safe Zone, surrounded by the Red Zone. In a few seconds, this tiny Safe Zone will disappear and we’ll immediately find ourselves in the Red Zone. We’ll be getting hurt and s
oon our characters will die.”

  “I must be missing something here, Jen. Did you just say we both will need to die?”

  “Yep.”

  “Really? Are you sure of this, Jen? You’re saying we’ll need to die in order to stay alive?”

  “It’s our characters who’ll have to die, Jason. Not we. Not our physical bodies. Our physical bodies lying in the pods in the real world will be just fine. Believe me. So since we both have the same amount of HP and will be getting the same amount of damage by the Red Zone, both our characters will die simultaneously. What do you think will happen if we die in the game simultaneously?”

  “If our characters die in the game, then our pods will croak us in the real world,” I replied although I started to realize there was more to it than that.

  “Wrong again, Jason,” Jennifer said. “According to the game rules, there has to be a winner in the game. If we both die at once, there will be no winner and the game will start malfunctioning, which will result in us getting disconnected from the game and reviving in our pods. So we both will be out of the game, safe and sound.”

  “Is that all there is to it?”

  “Yep.”

  I thought about it for a moment.

  “Can’t we just go inside the Red Zone right now instead of waiting till after we’re the last two players alive?” I asked.

  “Nope. It only works when there are only two players in the game alive and only when the Red Zone envelopes the whole island.”

  I took a few moments to turn over everything Jennifer had just told me in my mind. Something was fishy about this.

  “What if your ex lied to you about this glitch, Jen?” I finally said. “What if it doesn’t work and we die in the real world the moment our characters kick the bucket in the game?”