Chapter 3 Resentment and Unwillingness

This daily dungeon not only features fully realistic Japanese houses, but also lifelike Japanese NPCs? Surely it's not like a road survival game accidentally captured the entire Japanese bomb disposal team while trying to capture survivors, right?

But if it really is a Japanese bomb disposal team, and this is a dungeon seemingly modeled after a Japanese residence, how am I supposed to explain myself here? Would these NPCs think I'm a burglar who breaks into homes and steals everything?

Or are the daily dungeons actually part of a storyline? Do you need to complete a certain part of the story to get truly valuable rewards? For example, the car upgrade materials mentioned in the game announcements?

So what should I do now? Should I approach them and try to communicate? Try to gather information to deduce the plot? This is a bomb disposal team, you know! They're usually involved with bombs and explosions. Wouldn't this kind of plot be too dangerous for a daily dungeon?

Go back inside? But if I open the door, they'll definitely have seen me. If I go back, they can just drag me out, right? Besides, I didn't find anything similar to the entrance I came in through inside the house.

The game doesn't mention an exit. According to the typical dungeon format of novels and games, the survivors should be required to find the exit themselves. How do you find the exit after retreating back to the room?

Just as Feng Xingshou was pondering her next course of action and inexplicably thought of the exit issue that she hadn't considered before, she happened to see a silver-gray circular hole at the end of the corridor behind these bomb disposal NPCs, just like the one she had when she entered the instance.

So where's the exit? Do I need to figure out how to deal with these bomb disposal NPCs and get to the exit? Is that part of the challenge in this dungeon? Perhaps this is the real challenge of the daily dungeon? No other complicated storylines?

The exit was at the far end of the corridor, blocked by several bomb disposal NPCs. The countdown was down to 7 minutes and 45 seconds. What to do? Feng Xing Shou looked at the NPCs and walked out of the room with some embarrassment and unease.

She decided to test their attitude first, but the moment she opened her mouth, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed and ashamed as she clutched her bag and suitcase tightly, even though she hadn't felt anything when she was rummaging through their house for supplies.

Now, when I have to deal with these people with this 'stolen goods,' even though I know they are just NPCs in the instance, I feel as ashamed and embarrassed as a thief in front of the police.

She could only suppress her discomfort, force herself to be thick-skinned, and try to greet them in Chinese, since she didn't speak Japanese: "Hi! Hello!"

"..." She thought her initiative would open the next step of the dungeon, but she didn't expect that the people would act as if they hadn't heard her greeting or seen her at all. No one turned their attention to her, and no one responded to her voice.

Feng Xingshou could tell that they weren't ignoring him because they couldn't understand Chinese, but rather as if they hadn't noticed him or heard his voice at all. Did he mean that he was someone who didn't exist in the eyes of these NPCs?

Does this mean that the daily dungeons in this road survival game aren't meant for interacting with NPCs, but rather, as the announcement states, simply for survivors to collect supplies? If so, what's the point of these NPCs being here?

It can't just be a backdrop like these houses and walls, can it? And if I can't see or hear, how am I supposed to pack up so much stuff and still be able to open the doors here?

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Despite having many questions, Feng Xingshou decided to keep trying to see if she truly didn't exist in the eyes of these NPCs. She glanced at the dungeon countdown in the upper left corner and...

There will definitely be more time later.

Carrying large and small bags and pulling a suitcase, she suppressed the shame of feeling like a 'thief' and walked towards the exit across the corridor. Because she had collected so many supplies, and the pots, pans and other kitchen utensils and dishes were very heavy, she walked slowly.

So as we got closer to these NPCs, we gradually became able to hear their conversations—no! I should say, the tall, handsome young man in the middle, who looked to be around 20 years old with black hair and black eyes, was talking on his cell phone with someone.

The others were all carrying riot shields. Some were checking around the fire vent, while others were waiting around the handsome young man. Unfortunately, she didn't understand Japanese and couldn't understand what the young man was saying to the person on the other end of the phone.

Judging from the expressions of the bomb disposal team members around him, it was vaguely felt that this seemingly youngest and most handsome guy was actually the one with a higher position or status among them. The words and actions of the others were all centered around him.

Then, based on her limited Japanese listening skills honed from watching Japanese anime for many years, she could barely make out that the young man was talking to someone on the other end of the phone, or that the person on the other end had broken the driving instructor's car and was asking him to fix it after get off work.

Sigh! If you can fix cars, you must be able to drive! You look like you're only in your early twenties and you can fix and drive cars. Young people these days are really amazing, I'm so envious! I wish I had known I'd be dragged into this road survival game.

Even if he only sleeps three hours a day and can't afford the mortgage, he still has to work hard to learn to drive and get his driver's license! Just as Feng Xingshou was envying the handsome young man who could repair cars and drive.

The tall, handsome guy with black hair and black eyes, whom she envied, then squatted down to examine something at the fire vent in the corridor, while asking about the eight eggs over there. The person on the other end of the phone said something that made him breathe a sigh of relief…

Eight eggs—in Japanese, that seems to mean "bombs." Could this young man be calling a bomb disposal team member? And there's another eight eggs on the other end of the phone? Wait! Why am I using the word 'also'?

Seemingly aware of his subconscious thoughts, Feng Xingshou, despite having confirmed in his previous tests that the NPCs couldn't see him at all, still moved furtively and discreetly.

As I pulled my suitcase and tiptoed past them, I tried to catch a glimpse of where the handsome guy was crouching.

This sight made her gasp. The structure and electronic screens, resembling those in a movie, looked just like a time bomb in a TV series.

Is the purpose of these NPCs appearing here to defuse this bomb?

Wait a minute! If this bomb can be successfully defused, then neither the NPCs nor the bomb will be of any significance to this instance.

Then… Feng Xingshou looked up and saw a handsome black-haired man with slightly damp temples from sweat unscrewing a screw and carefully lifting a cover to reveal the complex circuitry underneath.

Suddenly it dawned on me: these NPCs and this bomb must be the test for this daily dungeon. The countdown in the upper diagonal must be the time the bomb explodes. If I can't get to the exit before the countdown ends, I'll probably be blown up along with the dungeon...

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Realizing the game's sinister intentions, Feng Xingshou disregarded his shame about 'stealing' and whether the NPC would actually discover him. He immediately grabbed his suitcase and rushed towards the exit.

With two minutes left in the countdown, she carried a large pile of things and entered the exit. She thought she would just return to her car, but she did not expect to actually return to her car.

But the car inexplicably appeared in a huge, wide...

On the racetrack, she was surrounded by a dense array of cars that resembled vintage sedans from the same manufacturer. Simultaneously, game announcements automatically opened in front of her whenever she appeared.

[Announcement: Congratulations on finding the exit before the daily dungeon closes. Next is the daily race time. All survivors who participated in the daily dungeon and found the exit on time must participate in the race event which lasts for 3 minutes.]

This event is a mandatory daily dungeon activity. Participants will compete in a speed race against other survivors from the same region who are also participating in the daily dungeon. After the race, the top 10 will receive a Level 1 car upgrade blueprint.

2nd to 10th place will each receive a car component of the corresponding level. The bottom 10 will be eliminated. Other participants will receive a random consolation prize... The competition will begin after the daily dungeon closes, so please pay attention to the timer!

This game is too treacherous! Upon seeing this announcement, Feng Xing Shou knew that even if he couldn't drive, he had to bite the bullet and go for it, because if he didn't, he would definitely be among the bottom 10, and the bottom 10 would be eliminated.

It's probably a euphemistic way of saying that failure equals annihilation! Anyway, the outcome wouldn't be good. Since she was going to die anyway, given her personality, she naturally wanted to fight back. But reality doesn't work miracles because of personal will, emotions, or the will to survive.

Even after starting the car, she couldn't distinguish between the accelerator and the brake, and couldn't control the steering wheel, causing the car to crash into the obstacles on the track just a few seconds after starting...

Reflecting on his experiences over the past two days, and seeing the various comments criticizing him as awful, stupid, and greedy, Feng Xingshou felt a surge of intense resentment. He didn't want to die, didn't want to be watched like a monkey, cursed as he died, didn't want to die so ridiculously, didn't want to die under the contempt of these behind-the-scenes onlookers...

So what if you're middle-aged? As long as you're human, as long as you're alive, you'll reach middle age. So what if you're fat? Does being fat mean you're greasy or awful? Those young people who throw tantrums in the street, beat people, and falsely accuse others of taking photos without permission are all as thin as bamboo poles.

Does being thin, beautiful, and young mean they aren't considered morally reprehensible when they commit inhumane acts? Why does no one condemn them, yet everyone condemns an ordinary person like myself...?

Feng Xingshou didn't know what was going on. As she watched the barrage of comments appear and disappear, the angrier, more resentful, and furious she became, the weaker and more ethereal feeling she had after the crash became.

Strangely, she couldn't feel her own existence. When she tried to move her hands and feet, her senses didn't send any signals to her body. It was as if she were a strange being without limbs or previous senses, yet possessing new ones.

This fueled her resentment and anger, giving rise to a powerful desire—that her consciousness was still intact, that she could still think, that she was still alive, and that since she was still alive, she should return to her body…

As she developed a strong desire to return to her body, she felt as if countless 0s and 1s were appearing around her, or as if she were traveling through an ocean of countless 0s and 1s.

The next second, she felt her consciousness sink slightly, a sense of lightness, much lighter than her body, but more substantial than the ethereal feeling before, was transmitted into her consciousness, and then she found that she could 'see' again.

Why does the scene she's 'seeing' look so strange? She looks around and sees strangely dressed humanoid creatures with various names, as well as white tigers, black wolves, insects, and other strange beings.

And a scene that looks familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before...

It took her a full three seconds to react. Wait a minute! The style of this house, the appearance of these people, how come they look so much like the models in the Naruto game that she had abandoned years ago? Did she die and get resurrected in the game?