Chapter 93 Extortion - Don't Get Hangover!

Your brain feels numb as if it's been burned by strong liquor, your vision is still blurry, and the cold air rushes into your lungs, causing your body to instinctively curl up.

The men surrounding you, practically stealing away the last bit of cold air, are still yelling something, but their voices are no different from a storm in your ears—in short, they can't be properly processed by your brain.

The hangover, the nausea, and the terrible headache... Ugh! You can't even tell what language they're speaking.

Looking at them, you become increasingly confused. Opening your mouth only pulls at your already cracked, frostbitten skin, so you mumble a few words to protect yourself: "...What...what are you...talking about..."

It still uses the language of flowers.

It took you several seconds to realize what was happening.

However, speaking requires the use of too many facial muscles, and for a moment you feel like you have facial paralysis and can't speak at all.

The men paused abruptly after you spoke, their roars briefly halting. Then, one of them frowned and exchanged a strange expression.

Then, you hear heavy, broken whispers slowly fall: "...passporrrrrt... yourrrr passporrrrrt... shrrrow it."

You blinked your dry eyes, finally managing to make out their words amidst the endless tongue-twisting sounds.

—They want to check your passport information.

I took a deep breath and tried to get my brain working again from the fog.

He reached into his pocket, but the moment his fingers touched the inside of his clothes, his heart skipped a beat—

Your passport is missing.

You frantically searched your pockets—good heavens, you were completely frozen, which was quite a delicate task for you at that moment—cold sweat poured down your back, and finally, you completely shook off the numbness and drowsiness brought on by the alcohol.

Passport, wallet—none of them are on you. You guess you should have a backpack, but that's obviously gone too.

You have lost your identity document.

The first thought that flashed through my mind was—"You must have lost your belongings while you were drunk."

Haha, this is truly the first time.

The second thought is—you are in a very dangerous situation right now.

You look up at the faces of this group—you finally realize who they are—police officers.

Their expressions remained serious, but their features—in the dim morning light—some force seemed to distort the ornaments on their faces: their mouths were stretched too wide, their eyes sank into shadow, and the angle of their noses became strange and uncoordinated.

You've never seen anyone so "unhappy" before; they practically use their eyes, nose, and mouth to vividly express how "I'm having a really bad day."

Perhaps one of your mistakes will lead to your execution by these people.

You only have two paths to choose from:

First, you either stand there obediently, give them what they want, or break some rule, and let these people decide your fate; or you leave now.

Your fingertips trembled slightly as you quickly reached for the Lundu Mist Canister in your pocket—thankfully, items in dungeons are likely bound and won't be easily lost.

"Click—"

You press the button with your thumb, and a thick, grayish-white mist instantly spreads from your palm.

The vapor canister was completely emptied, and the entire bottle disappeared. The vapor spread rapidly in the cold air, swirling and churning around you as if it were alive.

The naturally occurring gales in the instance will not dispel the fog, and your figure will be easily swallowed up.

In the eyes of those police officers, it's as if you've simply disappeared.

They will never see you again.

“…Leete! (Damn it!)”

They cursed angrily, then immediately turned around. They weren't particularly surprised that a living person could just disappear like that. Instead, they strode off in another direction not far away to find their next target.

You stand still, breathing rapidly, your body hidden in the mist, completely motionless.

Thankfully, he survived.

Once he had fully recovered, he dragged his stiff feet and heavy boots, which were now very heavy from lying down, and slowly followed behind them.

Even if you manage to evade them temporarily, you still need to know how to deal with these police officers.

They continued their patrol through the icy wilderness and soon spotted another unfortunate soul—a male outsider dressed in ordinary winter clothes, with a slightly flustered look on his face.

The man was clearly a newbie; upon seeing the police, he even excitedly rushed over to ask what was going on.

"Hey! Passport!"

Just like when they pulled you out of the snow, the police quickly surrounded you and questioned you with stern faces.

The man paused for a moment, seemingly not quite understanding what was going on. He was still somewhat intelligent, and instead of immediately wondering why he was there, he blankly rummaged through his pockets.

But he couldn't seem to find his passport either, so he nervously looked up and gave an embarrassed smile: "Sorry I don't... Ah, I mean... I... I lost..."

Before he could finish speaking, the first gunshot rang out in the cold sunlight.

"Bang!"

The bullet pierced his skull precisely, and blood splattered in the snow, the deep red liquid instantly spreading across the pure white ground.

It wasn't some strange power from any dungeon, but rather this direct... execution?

You covered your mouth tightly, even though the all-too-realistic scene of death made your stomach churn.

The man didn't even have time to react, nor did he have a chance to beg for mercy; he was executed on the spot.

The police officers' expressions didn't change at all.

You mean you feel they weren't corrupted by the power of the instance to commit such atrocities, but rather did it simply out of their own whims?

You watched them like hunters, quickly finding the next outsider.

“Passporrrt!”

This time it was a middle-aged man, dressed fairly decently. He obviously had identification, but the police officer, whether he was in a killing frenzy or something, impatiently pulled out his gun the moment she took out her identification.

The second gunshot echoed through the desolate, deserted streets.

His body lay on the ground, blood still slowly seeping out and into the snow.

You clenched your teeth, your nails almost digging into your palms.

You're glad you had the props and used them in time, but you really can't understand: if you can't do it without the documents, why can't you do it even with the documents? What do they want?

There's an even stranger phenomenon—the more they kill, the more intense their anger becomes, as if they're inherently impatient rather than carrying out a mission as executioners in a dungeon.

The raw pain of being frozen is masked by fear and doubt, leaving you no choice but to continue following them, determined to uncover the logic behind their actions.

Clearly, their "hunting" behavior reached a certain "critical point" when they caught the next outsider.

They didn't bother with any more words, simply pulled out their guns, and were about to pull the triggers in a fit of rage.

Your heart was pounding, but thankfully, this time they were facing a clearly very experienced player.

Almost the instant they approached, the man raised his hands in submission and calmly pulled something from his pocket—

A stack of neatly folded banknotes.

The police officers glanced at it, and then one of them nodded.

The money was taken, and the person was released.

ah.

Is it true or false?

You feel like you're about to die of speechlessness.

It turns out these people weren't on any special mission; they just wanted to accept bribes.

In reality, this would simply be causing some trouble for ordinary foreigners, but here it has become a random massacre.

"Stay away from the police." You thought silently as you turned to look at the snow-covered ground stained with blood.

After navigating several streets, you stop at a corner, and with a thought, the fog dissipates.

Walk a few more steps faster and run back; you catch up with the very experienced girl from before.

"Hello, I just got here and I'm not quite sure what's going on, and..." You awkwardly sniffled, shrugged, and said in your still slightly neon-accented, whiny voice, "I'm in a bit of a mess. I even lost my phone, and my identification information is actually..."

The girl across from you, wearing a fitted leather jacket, sized you up and down. Her eyes, with their long, narrow eyeliner and thick eyelashes, quickly narrowed into slender, smiling eyes: "I'm from China too, no problem, no problem~"

She warmly took your arm, asked you about your well-being for a while, and then led you to a randomly chosen bakery to sit down. She then showed you the situation there on her phone:

"Welcome to the Kingdom of Los! The rules here are the most numerous and complicated of the three dungeons I've visited. You must read them carefully and remember them well."

1. In the country of Los, toasting is a very important custom. When drinking vodka, you must drink it in one gulp and you cannot refuse, otherwise it will be considered disrespectful to the other person.

Remember, if someone pours you a glass of vodka at the table, but pours it just over the rim without spilling, don't drink it. This drink isn't for you; drinking it will make you a guest at another table. As for which table… I'd better not tell you, lest I scare you.

2. Never eat borscht alone.

Ross people often eat borscht, but it's usually shared among family or friends. If you order a bowl of borscht by yourself, and the color is darker than usual, even bordering on black, you must finish it within three sips, otherwise it will slowly cool down and eventually turn into a pool of blood, and you will become part of the table.

3. The heater should not be set to the highest setting.

Especially now—I see you're quite cold yourself, so you should know how terrible winters are in Los Kingdom. Correspondingly, the heating system here is very powerful; the temperature inside is usually much higher than outside, but people don't usually turn it on to the highest setting. If the heater suddenly turns to the highest setting on its own and you haven't touched it, don't try to turn it off. It's not heating you; it's preventing something from entering the room.

4. Don't wear other people's winter boots.

In Los Angeles, wearing heavy boots in winter is common; shoes must be warm, otherwise frostbite is easy. But you must be careful: when entering indoors, you usually change into slippers, while outdoor shoes are left by the door. When you come out again, always check if those are your boots. If you're wearing the wrong thing and feel "someone move" inside, immediately take them off. If you don't take them off in time… well, they might not be your feet anymore.

5. Do not accept lunch boxes on the train casually.

In our real world, it's common for strangers to share food on long train journeys. However, in this game, if you need to take a train and someone hands you a lunchbox with unrecognizable contents, do not accept it. If you eat it, your seat number will silently change to a non-existent number, and the train conductor will no longer be able to see you.

6. Don't order takeout from Los Angeles Dumplings in the middle of the night.

Like Northeast China, dumplings are a common food here, especially in winter when a bowl of hot dumplings is a frequent treat. However, if the serving is an odd number instead of an even number, you must finish them within three minutes. Otherwise, someone across the table will eat the rest for you—regardless of whether you live alone in your room or not.

7. There's a joke that goes, "The last drink is always superfluous."

If you're invited to have the "last drink" at a normal dinner party or bar, you should always check the bottom of your glass for anything extra. If there is, you must pretend you didn't see it and find a way to refuse the drink.

8. Don't put your hat on the bed after you come back from outside, as this is considered unlucky.

Of course, it doesn't matter if you forget such trivial rules. The rules of the Los Kingdom instance are often easy to break. You just need to pretend that it's not your hat, and don't treat this room as yours anymore, and you can avoid bad results.

9. People don't casually strike up conversations with strangers in public spaces.

If you see a stranger laughing continuously, and you're sure there's nothing funny about the surroundings, never make eye contact with her. If she looks at you, you'd better look away quickly to avoid being bothered by a strange person.

10. Be wary of the number '6'.

Let me give you an example. Well… I really enjoy going to the movies, especially in winter, when this place is probably one of the few places that's actually quite lively. Once, I didn't realize I'd bought seats in the sixth row, and throughout the movie, I felt something was off. I kept feeling like someone was blowing on the back of my neck… I really wanted to turn around and look, but thankfully I didn't. Of course, I did pretend to glance in the makeup mirror, and guess what? None of the people in the rows behind me were there! I practically fled the moment the movie ended, and my friend who had come with me and turned around disappeared without a trace. What happened to him after that, I don't know, but anyway… I never dared to ask him out again—I mean, to meet up.

11. Do not touch any extra coffee cups that appear in the office; simply ignore them.

Locals in Los Angeles usually bring their own coffee cups. If you find an unfamiliar coffee cup on your office desk—you're probably an undergraduate student, judging from your clothes—you'd better change the scene to a classroom or government office. In that case, you'd better finish what you're doing and run.

12. When using a ride-hailing service, pay attention to the decorations on your rearview mirror.

You mentioned you've been to the Westfall instance before, right? Then you should have noticed that walking or cycling is more common there, and the public transportation system is more developed. Ride-hailing services or taxis are generally expensive and rare. However, in the Kingdom of Los, especially during the cold winter, driving isn't convenient. Even locals prefer ride-hailing services to the cost of maintaining their own vehicles—as for taxis, I wouldn't recommend them. And if you absolutely must take a taxi, be sure to check the various decorations on your rearview mirror, such as icons or incense burners. Especially icons! If an icon doesn't have facial features, you'd better change your destination immediately, or you'll be responsible for the consequences.

13. Puppet shows are common on the streets of Los Angeles.

However, if you notice that the puppet's eyes are moving while the performer's expression remains unchanged, walk away immediately. If you're alert enough to see a street performer at an intersection, it's best to simply take a detour.

14. Do not open any New Year's Eve red envelopes without a sender's address.

New Year's Eve is a very important holiday in the Kingdom of Los. Hmm… come to think of it, you're really unlucky; you actually spent New Year's Eve here before you left. So remember this: if someone rings your doorbell on New Year's Eve, be sure to check it. But if you receive a red envelope without a sender's address, don't open it! Reciprocity is very important here, but how are you going to return a letter without a sender's address? I haven't experienced it myself, but experienced travelers say the best way is to ignore it. Speaking of which, you've probably already noticed that most rules in the Kingdom of Los are to ignore unusual phenomena—this might be related to the climate; in the freezing cold, who has that much enthusiasm? Ignoring it is the most reasonable underlying logic.

15. If you see someone wearing only a thin white coat slowly walking along the sidewalk on the streets during the polar night, do not let them catch up with you.

Just do it as it says.

16. It is essential to join a tour group when traveling to Los Angeles; independent travel is strongly discouraged.

Be careful, if you're an energetic and adventurous person like me, who doesn't stop exploring even after arriving in the dungeon and loves to travel, then you absolutely must stick close to your guide. The guide might suddenly disappear at any moment, and you... don't want to get lost in a place you don't even know where you are, right?

17. Always check your location and destination. If you arrive at a non-existent platform and fail to disembark in time, no one can save you.

This bright and cheerful girl, who named herself "Tamara" after the Kingdom of Los, not only listed out the rules one by one, but also patiently and thoroughly explained each one to you.

Almost every point she made was based on her own experience, detailing how to avoid risks and how to deal with crises without reservation.

When have you ever experienced this kind of treatment?

You held the hot chocolate she had offered you in your hands; your fingertips were still a little white, but at least they were warming up.

"Thank you for telling me so much, otherwise I really wouldn't know what to do," you said.

"Oh, it's not a big deal. In Los Angeles, you can't trust the student union. It's best to get firsthand information directly from your fellow countrymen." Tamara wiped the coffee stains from the corner of her mouth, not really bothered by these things. She took out her business card from her bag and handed it to you. "You don't have a phone now, but once you find it or get a new one, you must add me on WeChat. I think you're really smart and capable. We can help each other out and keep each other company."

"Okay." You readily agreed, but secretly, you took out the Soul Talisman you got from the previous dungeon.

-----------------------

Author's Note: Tiger's disclaimer is here again: The content of this article is inspired by the author, Crazy Liuzi, through personal life experiences, travel observations, daily sharing from relatives and friends, and observations of online comments. Essentially, it exaggerates and amplifies stereotypes that are mostly negative in nature to create a terrifying narrative. Therefore, many events and plots presented do not represent the full picture of any particular country's customs and culture.

In reality, Tiger's own study abroad experience and travels have mostly involved friendly people, happy events, and beautiful scenery. However, Tiger has a vivid imagination and is a fan of horror, so he felt that some trivial matters that could be laughed off were suitable for writing into supernatural tales. Tiger hopes that readers won't take these things too seriously or develop a negative impression of certain countries or regions, and certainly won't question Tiger's personal stance (Tiger knows readers won't do that, but this subject matter is indeed sensitive, so Tiger will be careful to avoid criticism). It's all just for fun.

Tiger firmly believes that cultural differences are insignificant compared to the differences between people. Traveling without prejudice and experiencing things firsthand is the only way to gain your own unique experience. It's perfectly normal to have completely different feelings about certain countries and regions than Tiger expects. Tiger often feels there's a magnetic field between people and places. For example, in Germany, Tiger always encounters incredibly warm and kind strangers, yet many people consider Germany a stronghold of anti-flower sentiment because they consistently encounter unfriendly people there. So, please enjoy reading Tiger's novels, and feel free to share your travel and life experiences in the comments section. We all have a bright future together!!

I haven't been able to keep up with daily updates for a while, and over time I've become a little afraid to look at the comments section. But once Tiger really does keep his promise and updates daily for two weeks straight, I'll read all the comments in one go and try my best to reply. Love you!!