Chapter 47 Change of Fortune

Just as she saw the light coming from the dilapidated aircraft cabin exit, she was horrified to see thick, long logs rolling out from nowhere, moving along the road past the exit.

At that moment, she could almost recall the opening scene of the movie Final Destination 2, where logs fell from the truck that caused the accident, smashing through a patrol car and knocking the officer's head off.

o(╥﹏╥)o There were logs rolling and flying right in front of me, and the driver and passenger were all police officers. This was just like the scene in that movie. I wonder if I will also suffer such an unlucky death.

Just as she was about to forget Matsuda's clenched words of advice and scream in fright, she saw her car, driven by Hagiwara, sometimes veering to the side, sometimes cutting across, and sometimes leaping over obstacles...

Through a series of incredible maneuvers, they managed to pass through the section of road where logs were constantly rolling without any real danger. However, a new obstacle appeared ahead: this time, the outlines of snow-capped mountains appeared on both sides of the road, and avalanches were rushing down from those mountains.

Just as the avalanche was about to bury the car and its occupants, Hagiwara, amidst the roar of the engine, managed to steer the car through the avalanche zone just before it reached the roadside. But then, another avalanche appeared ahead…

For a full six minutes, Feng Xingshou experienced several times forgetting to breathe and holding his breath to regain his senses. He felt like he was in a washing machine inside the car, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he finally saw the game announcement pop up.

[Announcement: Today's daily dungeon, the Speed ​​Obstacle Race, has ended.]

[Announcement: Congratulations to survivor Wind Star Guardian for earning 20 points in the daily obstacle course, Speed ​​Challenge.]

[Announcement: In this daily dungeon, 27 survivors failed to overcome the obstacles and were eliminated.]

[Announcement: The limited-time racing track shop is now open. Survivors are requested to use their points to trade for the items they need.]

The dizzy and disoriented Kazeki was still reeling from the spinning sensation when Hagiwara and Matsuda moved to her side as if nothing had happened, glancing at the game panel and giving instructions: "Kaze-chan, trade this level 1 control panel upgrade chest that requires 10 points first."

"There's also a Level 1 Gearbox upgrade chest that requires 10 points."

Feng Xing Shou remembered that the game panel had previously announced that this exchange shop was time-limited and would be cleared if not used up within six minutes, which is why he heard the two voices.

Although she hadn't recovered from the dizziness, she quickly found their target on the exchange page, made the trade, and the two treasure chests appeared in their carriage.

Even though less than 6 minutes had passed, the limited-time shop closed instantly as soon as the redemption page was cleared, and then replaced with a new game announcement: [Announcement: This region has completed today's daily dungeon and the daily dungeon driving skills competition, and will return to the Survival region.]

After the announcement, a familiar scene appeared on both sides of the road, and they returned to the road to survival.

Feng Xingshou breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the two bronze treasure chests that had appeared in the carriage: "Great, it seems I didn't waste the points."

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"And it also prevented the Shinkansen explosion, saving many people who would have died or been injured in the accident." Hagiwara and Matsuda exchanged a knowing glance, not discussing the change in racing style in front of Kazesei-no-Kami.

Instead of mentioning the fact that there were still casualties in the dungeon race, they directly brought up this thing that made them happy and gratified: the two of them did not live to see the future era of the Wind Star Guardian, and they did not have the opportunity to look up information about the past in the present world dungeon.

So nobody knew that this time, unlike previous instances, the original past didn't evolve into the Shinkansen.

The devastating outcome, with no casualties, was prevented by Shinichi Kudo, who was using the alias Conan.

The fact that a time and event that didn't actually occur has been turned into a survival scenario raises questions about the game developers' intentions and implications. Neither the two of them, nor Feng Xing Shou, who had never heard of the foreign case, were aware of this.

Feng Xingshou, who was completely unaware of the other change in the dungeon, happily said, "Two bronze treasure chests, more than the one chest each time before. It seems that your driving skills are really superb, second-year graduate student, so you can get double the rewards as before."

"Heh... Let's open it and take a look. It'll be a good opportunity to test the effects of upgrading the car's center console and transmission." Hagiwara looked at her smile, which was free of any gloom, and knew that she hadn't thought about the cruelty hidden beneath those announcements. He breathed a sigh of relief.

The straightforward and simple-minded Kazeki no Shou immediately became interested when he heard Hagiwara say this, and hurriedly took out a crowbar from his backpack to open the two bronze treasure chests.

As expected, this time I obtained upgrade blueprints and necessary materials for two types of vehicle parts, as well as 20 units of bronze from dismantling two bronze treasure chests...

A minute later, Mu Ping looked at the car's center console, which had suddenly become much more upscale, and said happily, "It looks better now, very similar to the center consoles of vehicles produced 10 years from now in the present world."

While it lacks the large screens and AI-powered autonomous driving technologies of 20-year-old new energy vehicles, it's still a significant improvement over the previous rudimentary state!

"More importantly, it seems that the center console has been upgraded, and the function of the car's air conditioning has also been improved. As you can see, with the upgrade of the center console, there are now air vent directional options on the instrument panel and in various areas of the rear compartment and on the roof."

These are generally applicable to adjusting the temperature of different areas of the air conditioning system, such as turning on the heater only in the driver's seat and living room when not resting, and turning on the heater only in the bedroom when resting. "Actually, the current center console is the kind of vehicle center console that Matsuda and Hagiwara are familiar with."

On the contrary, the advanced technological achievements of the latest energy vehicles mentioned by Feng Jiang, such as the center console and AI driving, were something that those of them who did not live to see had never seen. Fortunately, they were all graduates of prestigious Japanese universities and had enough knowledge to imagine some of them based on Feng Jiang's description.

Feng Xingshou listened with a mixture of anticipation and worry: "With such a large interior space, ordinary car air conditioning simply can't provide the temperature regulation required for such a large space, right?"

She was a little worried because she hadn't tried the heating effect of the newly upgraded air conditioner yet.

"Feng-chan! You have to believe in the game's cutting-edge technology! The idea of ​​such a large space appearing in a car that is only the size of a regular four-seater is simply impossible with the current technology on Earth."

"Heh... As expected of the game company! They really went all out!" As Hagiwara spoke, he suddenly opened the car window, glanced outside a few times, and then praised the game company with a somewhat serious expression and a hint of sarcasm.

Matsuda followed his gaze and looked around: "Tsk! It seems the disaster season isn't just talk, it's already begun!"

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"Huh! It's cloudy?" Hearing them say that, Feng Xingshou also looked out the car window and realized that the sky, which hadn't seemed too bad in the morning, just a bit cloudy, was now completely overcast, as if it might rain at any moment.

Thinking about what the two had said and the announcement about the disaster season, she realized that the upcoming disaster season game announcement was not just talk, but would soon begin to happen in reality on this highway.

Thinking of the characteristics of the disaster season mentioned in the game announcement, she couldn't help but sigh: "Looks like we need to hurry up and get some warm clothes and shoes."

"Don't worry, didn't the game announcement say so? The temperature drops by one degree every day, even if it's sleet and damp..."

Humid weather can make the temperature feel cold and damp to the bone, but the temperature won't be too extreme for the first few days.

"We'll get it in a few days." Seeing her worried expression, Hagiwara regretted not trying today's dungeon to see if they could find usable supplies in the baggage compartments of the Shinkansen. But it seemed the baggage compartments near the train could only hold small carry-on items? The larger baggage compartments were in the storage area…

The unspoken understanding between childhood friends is that if one winks, the other knows what the other is thinking. Matsuda, who can see through his childhood friend's thoughts, once again feels that he should put a silver bracelet on his friend to restrain his dangerous tendency to let himself go.

However… thinking about the chaotic thoughts that had filled his mind during the four years he had not been able to see him and thought he was no longer alive, Matsuda silently put the silver bracelet away.

(＃￣～￣＃) Alright! As long as people are alive, nothing else matters. Considering the practical situation, he gave up restraining Hagiwara and instead cooperated, saying, "If we're lucky, maybe we can get the dungeon tomorrow!"

Anyway, the junior's luck is really amazing. Not only did she get a lot of loot from the treasure chests she opened last night, but she also managed to get a lot of ammunition today, which was a concern for them. Is this the kind of luck that is favored by the gods?

“Hmm! That makes sense.” Feng Xingshou was unaware that Matsuda had almost handcuffed Hagiwara again. Hearing what the two of them said, and thinking about how they had upgraded their car into a small campervan in just a few days and accumulated a lot of supplies, he felt less nervous.

However, this also reminded me of another thing I had to be concerned about: "By the way? We didn't move the car yesterday, so why is the instance we went to today not at the time Matsuda was supposed to arrive?"

Upon hearing this, Hagiwara and Matsuda exchanged a glance. They hadn't thought much about it while they were in the dungeon, not wanting to be distracted. Now that they had time, they considered various possibilities and speculated, "There are two possibilities."

One rule is that the same instance cannot be entered a second time. Attempting to enter the same instance a second time at the same coordinates will cause some instance time series mutations, thus entering 2014.

Another possibility is that it may be related to the seventh day mentioned in last night's game announcement. The seventh day of the game may have great significance for the game, which is why changes such as the dungeon time being doubled and the start of the Disaster Season have occurred.

Besides the already announced doubled dungeon time and the start of the Disaster Season, the doubled racing time and rule changes for later dungeons will only be announced in detail when the dungeon ends and the racing starts.

This suggests that the time rules for highways and instances may have hidden variations, similar to racing events, and are not publicly announced, requiring survivors to figure them out themselves…

"I think the second possibility is more likely. After all, the dungeon last night was obviously more advanced than the giant rabbits and giant wolves we encountered before, and the treasure chests we got were of a higher level, with better rewards than before."

This might indicate that as early as last night, just after midnight, without our knowledge, the time indicated by the road coordinates under the car had changed. "Hagiwara has played the dungeons these past few nights, so he knows this kind of change best. In fact, he had speculated about this possibility last night."

After listening to their speculations, Feng Xingshou felt that the changes in road conditions and real-world coordinates would not have much impact on her. Instead, she was worried about the two of them and frowned: "This is troublesome. What if it is the second possibility?"

This coordinate now corresponds to 2014. I remember that previously, I could determine the forward and backward movement of the time in the game by observing the direction the road started and the vehicles moved forward or backward, but now the coordinate has changed.

We don't know whether going forward leads to a past time instance or going backwards. We have to try again to find the right direction. If we're unlucky, Matsuda might have to wait another day or two before he can get back.