This is a long-distance bus station. The square outside the station is bustling with noise. Xiao Cheng struggles to weave through the crowd and moves toward the entrance.
There was a platform made of stacked cardboard boxes, with a broken wooden board stuck on it. A thick arrow was drawn on the board, and a sign in bright fluorescent color read: "Tourists please come this way."
The arrow pointed to the VIP passage on the far left. Xiao Cheng tiptoed and looked over the bustling crowd in that direction.
A girl with pigtails wearing a backwards baseball cap was waving at her, then excitedly waved a black flag in her hand.
It seems that's where this instance begins.
"Excuse me, excuse me." Xiao Cheng dodged the stiff, faceless passersby, carefully avoiding being bumped by their suitcases.
As she got closer, she realized the girl with the pigtails was probably quite old. Her face was covered in a thick layer of powder, but it couldn't hide the wrinkles around her eyes. Her attire was very childish, and she was short, barely reaching Xiao Cheng's chest. She had a white card around her neck with the word "tour guide" printed on it.
"Congratulations! You're the first tourist today!" the tour guide said in a high-pitched voice, waving the flag with a rustling sound. "You must be really looking forward to this trip!"
Xiao Cheng: "..." I'm not expecting anything, thank you.
"As the first tourist, what will you receive?" The tour guide casually smoothed his hair. "Will it be a limited-edition flag from our travel agency? Or a hat from the tour guide's exclusive collection?"
She put her hands behind her back, stood on tiptoe, and twirled around in place as if dancing.
Xiao Cheng watched her performance quietly.
Instead of the enthusiastic response he expected, the tour guide's face instantly darkened: "What, aren't you curious?"
Xiao Cheng, facing her sharp, piercing gaze, replied expressionlessly, "Wow, I'm so curious."
Then the tour guide immediately flashed a sweet smile: "Unfortunately, none of them are the ones you get. You always get this one."
She took out a number badge from her small pocket, pinned it to Xiao Cheng's clothes, then stepped back and examined it with satisfaction for a while.
"Number 1, a friendly reminder: please remember to keep your tourist badge safe." She waved the black flag in her hand, then suddenly jumped up excitedly and waved to the crowd behind Xiao Cheng, "Here you are! Oh dear, Number 2 is coming soon too."
Xiao Cheng turned around to look.
Tourist number 2 was a man with a buzz cut, probably in his early thirties, wearing a camouflage vest. He had very well-defined muscles and a very menacing scar on his left shoulder, surrounded by burn marks, which looked like a gunshot wound.
He was very tall, standing out from the crowd of NPCs.
The tour guide's shouts almost immediately caught his attention. He glanced over, then pushed through the crowd and strode over.
"Hello." The tour guide gave him a shy wink, took out a number badge and handed it to him with both hands. "Wear this. I'm your tour guide for this trip. We'll have many opportunities to spend time together in the future."
"Okay, thank you." The man with the buzz cut thanked her politely and pinned the number badge to his chest.
Xiao Cheng stood to the side, subtly observing him out of the corner of her eye. Judging from his demeanor... was he a soldier?
“You seem quite interested in me.” He keenly noticed Xiao Cheng’s gaze, turned around, and scrutinized her from head to toe with a critical look.
"I wouldn't say I'm particularly interested." Since she'd already been discovered, Xiao Cheng's gaze became openly scrutinizing him. "After all, he's going to be my travel buddy for the next trip. It's not unreasonable to get to know his appearance beforehand, is it?"
“Of course.” The man nodded in agreement and extended his right hand to introduce himself: “Hello, I am visitor number 2, my name is Xu Chu.”
In the next half hour, five more players arrived, three men and two women, all of whom were unfamiliar faces.
Fang He was not among them.
Xiao Cheng stared blankly at the pedestrians in the background, feeling inexplicably uneasy.
The tour guide waved his flag, checked the number of people several times, then jumped onto the platform and announced loudly, "Looks like all my tourists have arrived! Now, let's head towards our destination!"
The station was packed with people outside, but the station itself was deserted. The only bus was parked there, its side covered in gaudy graffiti, with five large, flamboyant characters painted on top with a black spray gun.
The Deadly Travel Group.
"This is our tour group's unique logo, isn't it very recognizable?" The tour guide walked briskly to the front. "Tourists, please line up to board the bus and take your seats in an orderly manner according to your assigned numbers."
Xiao Cheng's seat was in the first row by the window, with the driver's seat in front of him. The driver was a bald man wearing a strange clown mask.
"Looks like everyone's settled in!" The tour guide moved from the front of the bus to the back, then sat down in the middle of the last row. "Attention all tourists, open your boxes!"
The box was placed on the next seat, with the same pattern as the car body painted on it. Xiao Cheng opened it and found a tourist guide and a hat of the same style as the tour guide's.
The first page of the guide introduces the tour group, and the second page contains brief rules for tourists, indicated by the familiar bright red lettering, which also applies to this particular tour.
[Attention tourists, the tour has officially begun.]
Rule 1: Please follow the tour guide's instructions.
Rule Two: Please complete your trip.
Rule Three: Please get along peacefully.
Apart from these two sheets of paper, the rest of the guide was blank. Xiao Cheng flipped through it twice and then closed the notebook.
"I'm sure no one has any questions now, so please make sure you complete your trip well." The tour guide clapped his hands vigorously.
"Of course, our final destination is still quite far away, so to ensure everyone enjoys the journey, our travel agency has carefully arranged various activities."
"So, our first destination is... a fun-filled amusement park!" she announced excitedly in a high-pitched voice. "Driver, let's head towards our destination!"
The driver, wearing a clown mask, received instructions and started the bus with mechanical movements, heading towards the exit.
The roadside was filled with faceless passersby who used black pens to draw upturned corners of their mouths and waved goodbye to the bus in unison. Their movements were so synchronized that it looked like a pre-programmed routine, which was quite eerie.
"Faced with this situation, you don't even want to say anything?" the tour guide said in an incredulous tone. "Number 1, let's start with you. You can't be completely speechless, right?"
The driver slammed on the brakes, his body didn't move, but his head turned 180 degrees, facing Xiao Cheng directly with a gaudy clown mask.
"Hmm, how could that be?" Xiao Cheng smiled politely. "I'm almost moved to tears, speechless with emotion."
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