Chapter 29: Flesh Eating |
It was eight o’clock on the evening of March 12th, and the countdown timer showed just one hour remaining.
Qi Si had dressed early and was sitting on the sofa. His pockets were stuffed with various small tools, like Swiss army knives, he cradled a newly bought chainsaw in his lap, and his right hand gripped a gun.
The gun had been left by Liu Ajiu. While it was a standard-issue model, it wasn’t something one could easily get their hands on.
Given that he’d managed to “illegally” bring his custom bracelet into the first instance, Qi Si considered two possibilities: either there was something unusual about the bracelet, or there was something unusual about him.
He had already asked a “friend” to investigate the first possibility. As for the second... he was eager to see if he could bring other things into the instance as well.
There's a saying: “All fear stems from a lack of firepower.” Physical attacks might not work on the supernatural, but if he couldn’t kill the monsters, he could certainly kill his teammates.
Time ticked by, second by second. With nothing else to do, Qi Si casually pulled a book from the shelf and began to flip through it.
Just as the countdown hit zero, his eyes fell upon a passage describing people in starvation:
“‘Once the public kitchen shut down, none of the families had food. Everyone scrambled to strip bark from the elm trees. My mother was too weak and didn’t manage to get any. You’d chop the elm bark into tiny pieces, roast it dry, then grind it into a powder to make a soup. That soup was so good; it was thick and gelatinous. You’d let it cool and slurp it down, a whole bowl in a single gulp. And isn’t it strange—my grandmother was unconscious, muttering deliriously, but the moment my sister-in-law placed a piece of elm-bark bread in her mouth, she stopped her nonsensical shouting and just started chewing...’” [Note]
His immersive reading was interrupted by a jarring notification.
The world spun around him. The colors before his eyes dissolved like grains of sand, collapsing into a primordial blackness, the void that existed before the universe. Then, a single point of faint light sparked into existence.
Qi Si found himself standing before a full-length mirror. His reflection flickered for a moment before vanishing, replaced by two lines of silver-white text.
[You are not yet a registered player. You cannot select your instance.]
[This instance will be randomly generated and will not affect the passage of time in the real world.]
The text remained for fifteen seconds before dissipating, leaving only a black vortex spinning slowly in the center of the mirror.
Qi Si stepped into the vortex.
The moment his entire body passed through the mirror, all light vanished, and he was plunged into darkness.
[Randomly generating instance...]
[Loading instance... Load complete.]
...
A lurching motion, dizzying and relentless.
The constant jolting was accompanied by a grating *creak... creak...* that threatened to shake his very bones apart.
The air was thick with the smell of old leather, mingled with the heavy stench of smoke and gasoline.
Qi Si's consciousness blurred for a moment. A wave of weakness, the kind that often follows significant blood loss, washed over him, as if he had just been torn from a deep, muddled sleep.
He opened his eyes and found himself on a mid-sized bus. The gun and chainsaw were gone, as were the small tools he had so carefully prepared. All that remained were the custom bracelet on his right wrist, the [Rose Heart] hanging around his neck, and the [Fate Pocket Watch] in his left pocket.
In the upper right corner of his vision hovered a card woven in red and black. On it, the image of a face—half of it spewing tentacles and eyeballs—stared at Qi Si with an ambiguous, mocking smile.
The moment his gaze landed on it, lines of text materialized below the card:
[Identity Card: Humanoid Evil]
[Effect: You will find it easier to establish connections with evil gods, cursed objects, and malevolent spirits. (Hidden effects await discovery.)]
The Identity Card unlocked in *Rose Manor* could be brought into other instances? Why hadn’t anyone mentioned this on the forums?
Also, what exactly was the distinction between evil gods, cursed objects, and malevolent spirits? Did this just mean he was more likely to attract ghosts?
Qi Si had the inexplicable premonition that some immense trouble was brewing just beneath the surface.
He shifted his gaze, surveying his surroundings.
The bus had twelve seats, including the driver's. He was in a window seat, and through the grime-streaked glass, he could see withered wheat fields on either side and a sky choked with dust.
The typical rural scenery receded as the bus sped on, becoming monotonous after a while.
Every seat on the bus, except for the driver's, was occupied. Men and women with drowsy, drooping heads were now stirring one by one. Some faces were calm, while others were trembling like frightened birds, shaking uncontrollably.
A scream ripped through the cramped bus, coming from the girl in the seat in front of Qi Si.
The girl looked to be under twenty, with a bob haircut and the air of a student. Her baby face was covered in freckles, and she was wearing a long, light gray down jacket that made her seem rather short.
She trembled, timidly eyeing the people around her, and asked in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, "Where is this? Who... who are you?"
"Hey sis, if you're here, you must've picked up one of those black cards too, right?" The speaker was a heavyset man in a woolen coat sitting next to Qi Si. He was in his early twenties and built wide, giving him a stout appearance.
The man spoke with a thick accent and seemed quite enthusiastic. "The card I found said this is the Weird Game, and if you can beat it, you get to make a wish."
Wiping away tears, the girl's voice was choked with sobs. "I don't want a wish... I thought it was a dream, so I said 'yes'... I just want to go home now. Please, can you let me go?"
"If you just want to leave, then focus on surviving a few more days and see if you can clear the Final Instance." The speaker was a middle-aged man in a green army coat. He had a mess of greasy hair, and his angular face was covered in stubble, half-grayed by hardship.
"What's... what's the Final Instance?"
"Don't know. It's just something I heard. It's been thirty-six years, and I haven't seen anyone clear it." With that, the middle-aged man turned his head away and stared out the window at the wheat fields.
The woman in a black tracksuit sitting next to him, however, patiently explained, "Little sister, the Final Instance is the ultimate test of the Weird Game. Registered players who have cleared three or more instances can trigger it at any time. If just one player clears it, the Weird Game will shut down, and all players will be set free."
"H-how... how do you clear the Final Instance?"
"We'd all like to know, but unfortunately, no one has the answer. But don't you worry too much, little sister. After you clear an instance, you can wish to leave the game. I heard you just need to save up ten million points. Once you become a registered player, you can earn points through things like investing and management, and you can even choose to enter easier instances. They say it's not much different from normal life at that point..."
As the woman spoke, a blond young man who had been curled up asleep in his chair seemed to be woken by the noise. He shouted impatiently, "Can you keep it down? A guy's trying to sleep here!"
Everyone exchanged glances.
To be able to sleep so soundly after entering an instance, you were either incredibly clueless or an absolute pro.
Then the blond man groggily opened his eyes, looked around, and his eyes shot wide. "Fuck! What the hell is this place? Where's my gear?"
He shoved his hands into his pockets, and a moment later, let out an even more pathetic howl. "Oh my God! Where's my phone?!"
Right. Looked like this one was a newbie too, and a particularly clueless one at that.
What Qi Si found more interesting was that the young man had Western features, yet the words he spoke were standard Mandarin Chinese that everyone present could understand.
It was hard to say whether he was just fluent in Chinese or if the Weird Game was providing a translation.
"My... friend from abroad, don't panic. You can't bring anything into an instance except for your body and your clothes," a thin, refined-looking man said with a smile. "Think back carefully. The invitation letter should have already told you the basics of this game."
The young white man quieted down, apparently recalling some information.
Once he understood the situation, he looked as if he'd witnessed a miracle, muttering under his breath, "Whoa! A supernatural event! Cool!"
Meanwhile, the girl, also a newcomer, hadn't stopped crying. She dabbed at her eyes weakly, looking so fragile that a gust of wind could knock her over.
If they had seen such a display outside of this place, most of the men present would have felt a strong urge to protect her. But in the game, their first thought was: *Is this weakling going to drag the team down?*
Fortunately, though the girl was scared, she still had some sense and didn't do something as suicidal as demanding the bus be stopped.
Of course, she couldn't have demanded they stop anyway, because the driver's seat of this bus was empty. It was either self-driving or a genuine paranormal event.
There were eleven people on the bus in total, and most of them, including Qi Si, remained coldly silent.
Into the stagnant atmosphere, the instance information finally arrived.
[Instance Name: Flesh Eating]
[Instance Type: Team Survival (11 players)]
[Main Quest: Survive for five days in Su Clan Village.]
[Hint: The bloody truth is buried in the villagers' scattered words. Uncover this truth and repeat it at the opportune moment, and the villagers will be unable to harm you.]
The four lines of text appeared on his system panel. Qi Si stared at the words "Su Clan Village," his expression turning listless.
He hated the countryside, especially this kind of dusty, Chinese-style rural village.
After his parents died, he'd been sent to live in the countryside for nearly a year. The memory alone was enough to make him physically ill.
Now, he didn't want to stay here a second longer than necessary.
"I wonder what the minimum death count is. Would one per day be enough? If one isn't enough, how about two?"
Qi Si calculated maliciously, but was quickly disappointed to realize that, given the physiques of the other players, the most he could do was bully the old, the weak, and the women—and only if he got them alone.
His next move would either be to exploit the instance's mechanics, like he did when he became a "Humanoid Evil" in Rose Manor, or to diligently gather clues and try to figure out the world's underlying rules as quickly as possible...
Qi Si touched the Fate Pocket Watch in his pocket. Without a change in expression, he shifted his gaze to the empty driver's seat.
The destination was Su Clan Village, yet they were made to travel there by bus. It all seemed a bit... redundant.
..................
[Note] From *Chronicles of the Dingxi Orphanage* by Yang Xianhui.