Chapter 7: Confirming Fellow Villagers

Kenji Hagiwara's words hit the nail on the head regarding Feng Xingshou's previous confusion. She had been puzzled by how a one-time cannon fodder NPC could have advanced driving skills, and now, hearing what he said, her heart couldn't help but lean towards the fact that the person in front of her was human rather than an NPC.

But looking at the phone he handed her, even though she had only been in the road game for a little over two days and had died once, her social etiquette as a human prevented her from actually checking his phone and violating his privacy.

After hesitating for a few seconds, she was about to shamelessly take the other person's phone when her gaze faltered upon seeing that the other person's hair was soaked with sweat. She blurted out, "Maybe I don't need to check your phone."

In most novels and movies, the concepts of androids and cyborgs seem to be based on the idea that they don't sweat and don't need to eat or drink. Your current state of being covered in sweat does indeed resemble the normal reaction of an ordinary person wearing such thick clothing and squeezed into such a confined space.

"Heh... I'll probably get heatstroke in a few minutes." Upon hearing this, Kenji Hagiwara made a lighthearted joke: "I never thought that one day I could prove that I'm human by the fact that I can get heatstroke."

"Ahem!" Feng Xingshou, who had always assumed the other person was an NPC, coughed a few times and said somewhat awkwardly, "Anyway, you should get out of the car first, take off this 'equipment,' cool off, and relieve your heatstroke symptoms!"

“I want to get off too, but…” Kenji Hagiwara looked at Kazehoshi no Mamoru with an innocent expression, moved his hands and raised his legs to indicate, “It seems that only my hands and legs can move. My whole body is squeezed into this seat, and I can’t even adjust the seat myself.”

He was actually quite curious about how the other party managed to get him out of the explosion site and squeeze him, dressed in a bomb disposal suit, into such an old-fashioned small car.

Looking at his innocent expression, Feng Xingshou's handsome face seemed very sincere. He awkwardly avoided eye contact, not wanting to reveal the contents of his backpack, so he simply changed the subject and bent down to adjust the seat for him. After adjusting it, he asked, "Can you move now?"

"...I can barely stretch my legs out a little." After trying, Kenji Hagiwara still couldn't squeeze out of the car. He couldn't help but smile bitterly. Was he going to be trapped in this car and die because of the bomb disposal suit, even though he hadn't been killed by the bomb? Or should he try to remove the driver's seat from the car?

Those two long, straight legs were so eye-catching that Feng Xingshou suddenly realized how tall the other person was. No wonder he couldn't get out even with the seat adjusted to the widest distance and wearing a bomb disposal suit.

This meant that if she didn't want her booked driver/driving instructor to die of thirst in the car, she would have to expose the existence of her spatial backpack. She hesitated about this, but then she thought about what would happen if she didn't want her booked driver/driving instructor to starve or die of thirst.

She would still use her backpack space ability in front of others. When she needed their help, hiding it seemed pointless. Thinking of this, she reached out somewhat uneasily and touched the bomb disposal suit on the other person's body, silently thinking of storing it. The next second, the bomb disposal suit on his body disappeared into thin air.

Kenji Hagiwara was taken aback when he saw this, and then quickly tried to get out of the car again. Fortunately, this time it went smoothly, and he finally managed to squeeze out of the narrow driver's seat of the sedan. He couldn't help but stretch his arms and move his body.

At the same time, given his cognitive abilities, he witnessed the bomb disposal suit on his body disappear into thin air. He recalled what Feng Xingshou had just said about how, in the dungeon, she could see him, but he couldn't see her, and neither of them could make contact with the other.

He immediately understood: "You were able to take me away in the dungeon, so you must have used that ability to store the bomb disposal suit to take me away from the bomb disposal site, right? What kind of ability is that? Is it a game backpack that's common in games?"

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"Ahem! I'm not quite sure either. There's no backpack space in real life; it only appears in the game." Seeing him get out of the car, Feng Xingshou followed suit. For a fat person like her, even a minute in this car was unbearable, so she certainly wouldn't miss the chance to get out and relax.

However, she didn't expect to hear the other person guess the size of her backpack as soon as she got off the car. Not wanting to reveal more, she could only give an ambiguous answer, but the act of lying made her blink unconsciously and subconsciously move her gaze to an angle where the other person couldn't see her.

For elite police officer San, this obvious lying reaction immediately led Kenji Hagiwara to deduce that she was lying. She should know very well what was going on with her backpack space, but did not want to reveal it to him.

He didn't care about that. Anyone who possessed such an unscientific ability would retain some of it when facing strangers. Moreover, it was thanks to her ability that he was able to survive that desperate situation.

Seriously speaking, the woman in front of him was his savior, and he certainly couldn't repay kindness with enmity unless absolutely necessary, forcing her to reveal private information she didn't want to disclose, or uncovering secrets she wanted to hide.

Because of this idea, Kenji Hagiwara didn't continue to ask about the game's backpack, but instead brought up another matter: "By the way, did anything major happen in your world before 2007?"

"Hey! Why are you asking this?" Feng Xingshou was taken aback by his question and was a little confused.

Kenji Hagiwara's eyes, as clear as the moon, said calmly: "Of course, it's about judging whether we have anything in common through the major events you know, and then speculating whether we are from the same world."

Or was it this road trip game that transported you to the world I was born in? Even though we were born in 2007 and 2025 respectively, the calendar system you mentioned is the same as mine.

My world also has Yellowstone volcano, Chinese characters, and the Central Plains Kingdom. You can understand a little Japanese, so obviously your world also has Japan. Therefore, I guess we might originate from the same world, just in different times.

"...You accepted the facts pretty quickly. I thought you would need at least a few hours to ask me all sorts of questions and accept the reality of being inexplicably dragged into this ghostly highway survival game." And you seem to be quite intelligent.

I've been into dungeons myself, and even if I brought him out, based on his physical characteristics, I'd guess he's probably human. I never considered what he just mentioned. Tsk! No wonder he's a policeman, while I'm just a poor laborer!

Fengxingshou was surprised by his reaction, but also wanted to know the answers to the questions he asked. After all, if the daily dungeons were actually things that happened in Earth's past, this discovery would be very important.

So he readily answered with what he remembered: "After all, it was almost 20 years ago, so I don't remember much. I just remember that there was a huge tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Indonesia around 2007, and that our country won the bid to host the Olympics..."

"In my memory, I have also seen these things on Japanese news. Our countries around the world also name their planets after Earth. The exact date of the Indonesian tsunami was December 26, 2004."

"China successfully bid for the Olympics back in 2001." Kenji Hagiwara breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this answer, even seeming somewhat pleased, and asked her, "By the way, do you remember that serious subway accident that happened in Japan in 2005?"

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"The serious subway accident that happened in Japan in 2005?" Feng Xingshou tried hard to recall for a while before finally remembering something that seemed related from some obscure corner of his mind: "It was all on Zhongzhou News that time."

A major railway accident reportedly resulted in over 100 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

So? I remember seeing a news report about it around 2005, but I don't remember the exact time; it was probably in the spring! The clothes people around me were wearing looked like they were for spring and autumn.

“Yes! It happened in April 2005.” Kenji Hagiwara was genuinely happy this time: “It seems we really do come from the same world!”

Although she didn't know what he was so happy about, after hearing his answer, Feng Xingshou's tense heart did relax a bit. Even though the other party was Japanese, their shared background and the fact that he was a police officer made her less wary of him. However, she was still a little puzzled: "Why are you so happy?"

"Because you're also from Earth!" Kenji Hagiwara said with his usual warm smile, "Although I was very happy to be saved by you in my desperate situation, I was also a little worried about what would happen if this place was not the same world as the one I came from."

How can I go back? Can I go back through other daily dungeons? What if the other daily dungeons change the world and I don't return to the world I started in? Now we know we're all from the same world.

Knowing that even if I can't return from daily dungeons, I can still go back through you, even if it means losing 18 years from 2007 to 2025, is better than dying in the line of duty or being completely lost in this game world.

Upon hearing the answer, Feng Xing Shou realized that the game announcement mentioned that at the end of each season, survivors could return to Earth for a month to recuperate, and his backpack space could accommodate him, allowing him to be "smuggled" back to Earth.

Even if he can't go home through the dungeon, he can still go back on his own, but he will miss 18 years of spending time with his family and friends... After understanding what he meant, and seeing that the other party also needed her help, she felt more at ease.

He half-jokingly and half-seriously said to him, "I'm fine with being a smuggler, but you have to teach me how to drive first. I won't fire my driver until I've learned to drive."

"Don't worry about that! I'm a professional at teaching driving, and I can even give you a car repair tutorial!" Kenji Hagiwara chuckled and gave an OK sign.

Seeing this, Feng Xingshou asked with some surprise, "So confident?"

"Of course, my family used to run a car repair shop." It's hard not to be confident about something you've played with since childhood. When he thinks of the phrase "playing with since childhood," Kenji Hagiwara can't help but think of another close friend he's played with since childhood, Jinpei Ko.

Thinking of the last words she said to him on the phone, and the thought that she had disappeared like this—that she had died in the explosion—Kōjinpei couldn't help but worry. He also worried about his parents and sister; they would surely be devastated to hear the news…

He was fine just now, but now he seems a little worried and sad? If Feng Xingshou put himself in his shoes, he would understand what he was worried about. It's a little heartbreaking to see such a handsome face with this expression on it!

"Perhaps there's no need to worry too much. Since this game seems to use events from Earth's past as daily dungeons, tomorrow's daily dungeons might return to a different time period."

"You can try to leave a message for your relatives and friends that you are still alive, so they won't worry or be sad." She comforted them somewhat awkwardly, realizing that her words were too selfish.

He quickly added, "Ahem... if you can teach me basic car driving in one day, you can stay on as well."

Anyway, as long as you know the basics of driving, you can gradually master the skills through practice. As for the results of practice, with more practice, it shouldn't be a problem. At worst, you might die a few more times, but you'll eventually learn! -_-||