SSEI | Chapter 2.2

If there was any silver lining, it was that the flesh that had crawled into his mouth earlier had completely disappeared. But still… what was he supposed to do now?

As Yuan was pondering, a relaxed voice came from behind him.

“Eren Noeul, this guy seems to be awake.”

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“Attach the language extractor. We should at least introduce ourselves properly, don’t you think?”

One was a man, the other a woman. From the direction of the voices and the faint vibrations he felt as they spoke, Yuan deduced that the person carrying him was the woman.

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A moment later, a small metallic device, shaped somewhat like a harmonica, was placed into the opening of the box.

Yuan recognized it immediately—it was the same machine Lork had been biting on throughout the last game. Back then, the device had produced speech without requiring air. Testing it out, Yuan clamped down on it and thought of the words he wanted to say. The device processed his thoughts and emitted sound on its own.

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“Hello. Were you the ones who pulled me out of the water? May I ask who you are?”

The device was a bit awkward to use at first, but it definitely conveyed his words properly.

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As soon as he finished speaking, the woman responded with a chuckle.

“Oh, you’re surprisingly polite. Hey there, flower-faced friend.”

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“Flower…?”

“You’ve got that pretty red mark on your face. Anyway, I go by Eren Noeul. It’s not my real name, just a nickname—but half the people around here are like that, so whatever.”

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“Ah, yeah, I heard that people around here often forget their real names. My name is Yuan.”

“So you’re one of the types who remembers their name, huh? Everyone else just calls you ‘White One’ or ‘that guy with the scar,’ so I thought you didn’t have one. Anyway, nice to meet you, Yuan.”

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Did she know who he was?

For a moment, Yuan felt a jolt of unease, but then he realized—after all the chaos he had caused at the sanctuary while escaping, it wouldn’t be surprising if his face had become well-known.

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Still, her voice didn’t sound hostile. It was bright, cheerful, and relaxed—like someone who didn’t seem interested in harming others. That reassured Yuan a little.

Of course, judging someone’s character based on their voice alone wasn’t reliable, but a friendly first impression was certainly better than a frightening one.

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After the woman finished her introduction, the man spoke next.

“My name is Sael. You’re a newcomer, right? We might run into each other a lot from now on, so let’s get along.”

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It was a low, smooth, and pleasant young man’s voice.

Maybe this person was a good one too.

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Yuan held onto that baseless hope in his heart.

“Oh, nice to meet you too! By the way, would it be okay if I asked how I ended up traveling with you all?”

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“Ah, that? To be honest, we’d like to ask you the same thing. How on earth did you end up with your neck cut off and floating in a toxic lake? Did that Red Man take out his frustration on you?”

“Frustration? Hmm… I wouldn’t exactly describe it like that. He was kind of indifferent about it… So, uh, while we were crashing in some weird vehicle from the Descent Hatch, he said I was getting in the way, cut off my head, and threw me out. And then somehow, I ended up in the lake.”

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As he spoke, Yuan started to feel like something about the explanation was a little off.

Would cutting off someone’s head count as taking out frustration? If you consider the fact that I came back to life anyway, then maybe it’s not? But still, cutting off a person’s head is an attack, and attacking someone out of irritation does sound like taking out frustration…

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The more he thought about it, the more confused he got about what exactly counted as common sense.

As Yuan groaned to himself, Sael let out a chuckle and said,

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“Well, that certainly is an indifferent attitude. Normally, when you crash like that, you pass out the moment you hit the ground and wake up back at the sanctuary… No, wait. Could he have thrown you into the toxic lake on purpose? To make you suffer until you die?”

“There’s no way. No matter how much of a monster that Red One is, he wouldn’t have known where the toxic lake was before the match even started. It was probably just a coincidence.”

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“But what if he used points to buy a special biome detection pass, like we did?”

“That guy’s not the type to buy something like that. Think about it. If he had used a special biome detection pass to find the toxic lake and threw this guy in on purpose, there’s no way he would’ve just left us to fish him out. Besides, coming to the toxic lake usually means you’re after Giant Clams, but he didn’t even try to catch one before leaving.”

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Special biome? Giant Clams?

More and more unfamiliar words were popping up, making it hard to follow the conversation.

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But as he listened, Yuan realized one thing for sure—The Red Man didn’t expect me to survive.

He must have assumed that Yuan would die and return to the sanctuary.

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And that meant…

‘If he ever finds out I’m still alive, won’t he start hunting me down for real this time?!’

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Of course, Yuan surviving was purely by chance, and even if he had done it on purpose, it wasn’t exactly a crime.

But still, the thought of it made him nervous.

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What if Red Man thought, That annoying little brat just won’t stay dead. From now on, I’d better make sure to thoroughly finish him off?

As he trembled at the thought of his bleak future, Sael”having finished his conversation with Eren Noeul”calmly explained,

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“Anyway, let me explain the situation, Yuan. We came to this toxic lake to get a Giant Clam and use it in battle. And somehow, we ended up fishing out the clam that swallowed you.”

“A clam…? A clam ate me?”

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“Haha, well, not exactly. It’s more like the clam is coexisting with you. Right now, you’re inside its shell.”

Only after hearing Sael’s words did Yuan finally realize.

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That long, horizontal slit he had thought was an entrance to a box… was actually the gap between two massive clam shells.

And the squishy substance wrapped around his head was probably the clam’s flesh.

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‘Man, this world really does have some bizarre weapons.’

Yuan was oddly impressed by the thought.

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He had nearly been eaten, but since things turned out fine, wasn’t it all good in the end?

“Anyway, if we want to use the clam as our weapon, we’d normally have to kill you and pull it out of there. But since you’re new here, wouldn’t it be frustrating and unfair if you died twice in a row without even getting a chance to play the game properly? You might even get discouraged.”

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“Uh, yeah. I can’t say I didn’t feel that way.”

“I thought so. So we figured, instead of killing you, why not take you with us for now? You can’t do much alone anyway, and that clam doesn’t have mobility, so moving around would be a hassle.”

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“That’s true. I mean, right now, I can’t even move a finger—wait, I don’t even have fingers, but still, I can’t move at all.”

“So, here’s the deal. Since things turned out this way, why don’t you work with us? If you use the clam’s abilities to help us, we’ll help you survive and teach you how to make it in this world.”

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At Sael’s words, Yuan’s eyes widened.

This… This was nothing short of a miracle.

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–

Thus, Yuan decided to travel with the two.

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There wasn’t a single reason to refuse.

Having unexpectedly been given a second chance at life (or something like that), Yuan resolved to properly learn about this bizarre world and its chaotic survival game this time around.

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“In the wasteland, unless you’re really unlucky, you won’t run into enemies. There’s not much to do besides walking, so if you have any questions, ask away.”

Since Sael had said that, there was no reason to hesitate.

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Yuan started throwing out every question that came to mind, and Eren Noeul and Sael answered them quite kindly.

“Hmm, let’s start with what’s immediately important… That Giant Clam you’ve got is a weapon that helps with stealth. Just having it with you means enemies more than 50 meters away won’t be able to detect you. It’s one of the best weapons for early-game survival.”

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“That’s a really useful ability. But since it’s a weapon, doesn’t it have any attack functions?”

“The clam will attack on its own if it senses a threat. It releases a neurotoxic mist that causes full-body paralysis and breathing difficulties. But you have to be careful when using it. Normally, the mist doesn’t affect teammates, which is a major advantage, but… right now, even though we’re traveling together, the system doesn’t recognize us as teammates.”

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“Recognize…?”

“There’s a system in place. In this world, most weapons don’t work on their own partners”it’s a rule. That Red One is especially nasty because he has special ways to kill or trap his own partner.”

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Special ways…

Was that referring to the bright Red Blade that Red Man had?

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The memory of his neck being sliced flashed in his mind, making Yuan shudder involuntarily.

Seeing this, Sael chuckled and continued explaining.

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“Anyway, that Giant Clam is an excellent weapon in many ways. The neurotoxic mist is particularly effective, which is why it’s worth fishing for in the first place.”

“Fishing for… Right, earlier you mentioned something about a special biome detection pass. Does that mean the lake I fell into isn’t normally accessible?”

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“Huh? Oh, no, it’s not like that. After all, you fell into the toxic lake without a detection pass, right? You can find lakes just by wandering around the wasteland, but this place is much, much bigger than you think. You can’t just walk around randomly and expect to stumble upon special biomes—meaning unique landscapes like the toxic lake.”

According to Sael, the wasteland, which served as the first stage of the game, was so vast that even after days of traveling in the wrong direction, one might never reach its end.

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There were no roads, no landmarks, and every time a new game started, the terrain itself changed.

Even veteran players couldn’t memorize the locations of special landscapes.

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But if you purchased a special biome detection pass, you could land near a special area when the game began.

These special areas were where good weapons could be found, so buying a pass was a solid strategy if you were looking for something specific.

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“Where do you buy these special biome detection passes?”

“Lork didn’t tell you? You were on the same team last game, right?”

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“Lork’s always like that. Probably got sidetracked explaining useless stuff and forgot.”

Sael sighed before continuing.

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