Chapter 6 Hagihara Kenji

Hearing her answer and seeing her obvious avoidance of eye contact, Kenji Hagiwara, despite not knowing the specifics, began to carefully observe the condition of the other vehicles.

Seeing so many cars competing on this enormous track, it seemed that none of the drivers had any competitive spirit; they were all doing whatever it took to prevent the cars behind them from overtaking.

The cars collided with each other, rear-ending and jostling each other. He even saw other cars around him that were severely damaged and on fire, with the drivers inside unable to escape. The woman next to him said that the last ten would die.

However, the other drivers who had already escaped the bottom 10 positions did not slow down or pay attention to the safety of other vehicles and people; instead, they continued to vie for the right of way and overtake each other...

The fact that such a grand spectacle could be staged on Earth, and that he himself had appeared here from the explosion site, was beyond the scope of current scientific explanation. He could only speculate that this arena and the entity behind it were definitely outlaws.

Only a woman standing next to him could say such things and be so certain that the last 10 would really die. It seems the other drivers also firmly believed this, enabling them to kill indiscriminately. Such a large event was never reported by any public media; surely satellites could have captured it…

All these circumstances led him to speculate that, contrary to the possibility that the bottom ten would die, achieving a high ranking in this race might bring some benefits, the opposite of death. Therefore, even those participants who surpassed the bottom ten did not slow down...

After observing these events, Kenji Hagiwara desperately wanted to get out of the car to help those involved in the accidents, but the surrounding traffic was so dense that he felt that if he stopped or got out of the car, he would be crushed into mincemeat.

The damage to those cars all looked like they were drivable and didn't need saving, while the ones that weren't drivable were beyond repair. Having just escaped death, I really didn't have the courage to knowingly go and die.

These circumstances led him to conclude that he not only could not get out of the car, but also had to strive for a good ranking in the driving skills competition. Therefore, he did not overtake into the group of cars and get out of the bottom ten, but instead maintained that ranking until the end.

The car wasn't stopped from its journey by the accidents and fatalities. Instead, the driver checked the fuel gauge, confirmed that there was enough fuel, and that the car's other performance was not affected by the damage to the hood before accelerating again.

It quickly overtook one car after another, speeding forward unaffected by any obstacles. By the end of the race, despite starting tens of seconds later than the other vehicles, it had somehow managed to secure tenth place...

[Announcement: Today's daily dungeon speed race has ended. Rewards for the top ten have been distributed, as well as group encouragement awards. The bottom ten were eliminated and have been removed from the game. Please collect your rewards.]

[Announcement: Congratulations to survivor Wind Star Guardian for achieving 10th place in the daily dungeon Speed ​​Race, and receiving a Black Iron Chest as a reward.]

[Announcement: In this daily dungeon, 172 survivors failed to find the exit in time and were eliminated.]

[Announcement: A total of 509 survivors were eliminated in this vehicle skills competition.]

[Announcement: This area has completed today's daily dungeon and the daily dungeon driving skills competition, and will return to the Survival area.]

[Announcement: The first daily dungeon event has successfully concluded. Survivors who survived can now access their personal information panel, which can also be viewed through the game panel.]

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Feng Xing Shou didn't expect that his previous driving skills were not the limit of the handsome guy next to him. Despite starting almost a minute late and being delayed by other survivors' car accidents, he still managed to get 10th place.

If I hadn't started late, and hadn't been delayed by the car accident...

Could he possibly finish first? Looking at the pop-up game announcements and the black box, about 5 liters in volume, that appeared out of nowhere on the back seat.

The temporary driver could get away with it, and his driving skills seemed quite promising, and he was even offered an unexpected surprise reward, which made her look at the person in the driver's seat in surprise.

Kenji Hagiwara also saw the game announcement panel and the black metal box that had appeared out of thin air in the back seat reflected in the rearview mirror. He also showed an incredulous expression. He had previously guessed that something unscientific might have saved him from that certain death situation.

However, the sense of upheaval in one's worldview is completely different from that of speculating and witnessing an unscientific scene firsthand. This is especially true for someone like him who has a firm belief in science, so the impact is naturally much stronger.

This made him look at the woman in the passenger seat who should know the situation. Just as he was about to ask her something, he felt the car shake slightly. The next second, he saw that the view outside the window had completely changed.

The once enormous racetrack transformed into a narrow, one-way road barely wide enough for one car. Thick fog blocked both sides, obscuring everything beyond. The road ahead wound its way forward, with no end in sight…

He took a deep breath and, looking at the woman who clearly showed no surprise at the change and had been speaking in Chinese throughout, asked in Chinese, "Hello, could you please explain what the situation is like now?"

"Uh... Before I explain, shouldn't you tell me what you know first?" Since he's an NPC from a road game instance and has such high driving skills, the game should have instilled in him the corresponding NPC knowledge information!

Feng Xing Shou looked at the other person, hoping to get more information about the game from him. However, the awkward Chinese pronunciation showed that the official team of the road game really liked to make it look like the Japanese people's Chinese pronunciation.

"I don't know what kind of information you're referring to? My personal information?" Upon hearing this, Kenji Hagiwara gave a polite, even pleasant, smile, released the steering wheel, pointed to himself, and continued, "Kenji Hagiwara! 22 years old."

The family has both parents and an older sister who just graduated from the Japanese police academy this year and is now working in the bomb disposal unit in Japan! This afternoon, during bomb disposal operations, they encountered a criminal remotely detonating a bomb. A few seconds before the explosion, they witnessed an inexplicable phenomenon and are now inexplicably here.

Upon hearing this, Feng Xing Shou's beady eyes widened, and he blinked blankly: "Is this your NPC identity setting in the dungeon? I mean other game information that you know."

"The NPC role in the dungeon?" Kenji Hagiwara looked at Kazesei-no-Mori thoughtfully. After pondering for two seconds, as if he had guessed something, he suddenly said, "Madam, I don't know if you have any misunderstanding about me."

But I am a real human being, not some kind of NPC in a game. If you don't believe me, you can feel it yourself; I have the same body temperature and heartbeat as you, and I also need to breathe to survive.

As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed Feng Xingshou's chubby hand, placing it on his chest. However, after placing it there, he realized that he was still wearing his bomb disposal uniform. The thick protective uniform completely blocked his heartbeat and body temperature.

He let go of her hand, a little embarrassed: "Ahem! After I take off this bomb disposal suit, you can test my heartbeat. I guarantee I'm a real human, not the NPC you're talking about."

After saying that, he prepared to take off the bomb disposal suit, but the interior of the old-fashioned car was too cramped. He couldn't stretch out to take off the thick and sturdy bomb disposal suit, and he couldn't even squeeze out of the car door to get out and take it off.

In his 22 years of life, Kenji Hagiwara had never encountered such an awkward situation before.

He was embarrassed in front of a strange woman, and given his personality, he was finding it hard to remain composed.

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"Your body temperature and the feel of your skin do indeed resemble a real human, but it could also be a product of advanced technology like an artificial human or a cyborg. This game should be able to achieve that." Feng Xingshou was startled by the temperature of his palm first.

Then, realizing there were other possibilities, she tentatively asked, "Could it be that the game instilled in you a perception that makes you unaware that you are an NPC in a game instance? That's why you think you're human?"

"..." Hearing her say that, and thinking of the black iron box that appeared out of nowhere, and the technological barrier represented by the light screen projection, it was indeed impossible to deny the possibility of artificial humans and bio-engineered humans. This made Kenji Hagiwara feel a kind of frustration that he could not explain: "I never thought that one day I would need to find a way to prove that I am really human."

"Sorry!" The handsome man, who was always calm and gave people a pleasant feeling, suddenly showed an unhappy expression because of his words, which made Feng Xingshou feel a strong sense of apology even though he didn't know if he was a real human.

When Hagiwara Kenji heard her sincere apology, he deduced from her behavior that she was not the kind of person who was being unreasonable and scheming because she had the upper hand, and who wanted to take advantage of the situation to coerce others. So he tried to say to her, "Anyway, I am indeed confused about the current situation."

You seem to know some of the answers. Could you tell me? For example, who are you? Where is this place? Why did I just appear at that giant racetrack from the explosion site? What are you referring to as a "dungeon" or "game NPC"?

Upon hearing this, Feng Xingshou thought for a moment and realized that he would still have to rely on other people's driving skills in the future. Regardless of whether he was an NPC or not, he clearly had no understanding of road games.

I do need to explain things clearly to him in order to convince him to drive for me in the future. Anyway, this is definitely better than sending him back to the daily dungeon and having him die there every day when the dungeon closes.

Even if he doesn't want to drive for me, I've at least saved his life, so it's not unreasonable for him to teach me how to drive! But even if I answer him, I still need to keep my driving skills a secret.

In case he could be controlled by the game and had any ideas about her skills, she had to be wary. Thinking of this, she felt reassured and, having done nothing wrong, simply answered, "My name is Feng Xing Shou, from Zhongzhou Kingdom. Two days ago..."

“2025, Yellowstone volcano eruption, road survival game…” Kenji Hagiwara listened to Mamoru Kazehoshi’s explanation and was momentarily bewildered by the current situation: “But my time is November 7, 2007, not 2025.”

"Uh! That's normal! Aren't dungeons in games usually based on events that happened in the past or future, making them into separate walkthroughs?" Feng Xingshou hadn't yet realized what was causing Hagiwara Kenji's confusion.

Her words made Kenji Hagiwara smile wryly, and he solemnly explained again: "Although it seems impossible to prove it now, I am indeed human. What you saw earlier was the scene where I was working in November 2007."

As he spoke, he realized that the other party had guessed he could fix cars because he overheard him talking to Kojinpei on the phone about helping to fix that Mazda after get off work, and that's how he ended up taking him away from the instance.

He quickly took out his phone and gestured to Feng Xing to look: "Look, my phone not only has the contact numbers of my family, colleagues, and boss, but also text messages and emails I've sent to my friends."

If it's just a single-use NPC in a dungeon, would the developers need to create such a detailed, one-off cannon fodder NPC? No one can see it, and there's no other plot point I need to participate in. No game developer would waste money on something like this.