As he climbed the stairs, closed the basement door, and bolted it shut, his legs were already failing him.
Jay leaped up the old wooden stairs two steps at a time. The torn muscles in his right leg screamed in pain, but stopping now meant death.
He grimaced. The price for refusing to pay with his lifespan was steep.
[Physical Condition: Internal Injuries (Stage 2) + Right Thigh Muscle Rupture (Stage 3). Regeneration required for full recovery (Time required: 1.2 years).]
The system window displayed a warning in red letters, urging him to pay with his lifespan.
1.2 years.
His remaining lifespan was lacking.
He ignored it and burst out of the basement door.
Before him lay the ruins of the outer shopping district. Buildings had collapsed, and the streets were covered in garbage and debris.
The building where his target, the bishop, was hiding was about 50 meters straight ahead.
"Don't let him get away! He's a believer of an evil god!"
Behind him, he heard the sound of two followers' warhammers smashing the basement entrance. They chased after him.
Jay didn't stop. He dragged his right leg, running desperately.
The trajectory he followed, according to the system's calculations, was the most inefficient and complicated path leading to the target building.
'A diversion...'
Jay bit his lip.
His target was the bishop.
However, the system had likely determined that rushing towards the bishop right now would be suicide.
He only had a dagger left, and his body was broken.
The "ambush" instructed by the system was his only chance in this situation. He hid behind a broken shop sign. As soon as he inhaled, his ribs screamed in pain.
"Where did he go!"
"He must be hiding around here! I can smell him!"
The footsteps of his pursuers grew closer. Jay stared at the system window, waiting for the next instruction.
[Instruction: Lure successful. Strike the shop shutter (coordinates 35.82, 112.41) forcefully to create a structural weakness.]
'Create a weakness?' Jay didn't understand, but he followed the instructions.
He quickly emerged from behind the sign and slammed his fist hard against the old metal shutter in front of him.
CRASH!
The impact reverberated through his injured body.
Jay's fist struck the metal shutter.
The sound of the old metal crumpling echoed through the ruins, and intense pain shot through his arm.
[Physical Condition: Internal injuries (Stage 2) + Right thigh muscle rupture (Stage 3) + Left forearm contusion (Stage 1). Regeneration required for full recovery (Time required: 1.5 years).]
The red text in the system window became even clearer. The life span cost had increased to 1.5 years.
"There he is! That bastard hasn't gone far!"
The shouts of his pursuers rang out. They were running at full speed towards the shutter Jay had struck.
Jay quickly turned and hid behind the wall of a completely destroyed old shop, now just a pile of rubble.
'What does it mean to create a weakness?'
He was confused. If an ambush instruction had been given, the standard procedure would be to hide and then launch a surprise attack. However, the system made him expose his position with an seemingly unnecessary attack.
Two followers just passed by the shutter he had just struck. They looked around anxiously, seemingly frustrated that they had missed Jay.
[Instruction: After striking the shutter, move from the cover (the wall of the old store) to the target point (coordinates 41.05, 115.60) within 3.7 seconds.]
The system's next instruction was even more incomprehensible.
The target point was in a completely open space.
Moving there would be tantamount to suicide.
But his experience of surviving in this world for three years had taught him that questioning the system's instructions meant death.
The system was his only means of survival.
Jay crouched down and waited for 3.7 seconds.
In the suffocating silence, only the heavy breathing of the followers and the friction of their heavily armored suits could be heard.
The moment the countdown ended, Jay sprang out from behind the rubble and sprinted into the open space.
An excruciating pain, like his leg muscles were tearing apart, spread from his toes to the top of his head.
"There he is!"
The followers spotted him and chased after him, wielding their warhammers.