The sky was overcast and gloomy, the dampness clung to my skin, and a gust of wind sent shivers down my spine.
A cement path extends through the mountains and forests. Several people stand by the roadside; some look on coldly, while others cry and shout incessantly, making a ruckus that won't stop.
A girl wearing blue and white school uniform pants tried to hold back her tears and not panic, but she still hiccuped as she spoke.
"Hiccup... Where am I? I was doing my homework at home, hiccup... How did I end up here? I haven't finished my math problems yet."
"I remember I was working overtime, how did I suddenly end up here? Did I hallucinate from working overtime and die suddenly?"
The person asking the question was a young man in his twenties, with balding hair and dark circles under his eyes, clearly indicating a lack of rest.
Compared to the other two, the other man in his thirties was much calmer. He pushed up his glasses and fiddled with his cell phone, which had no signal.
After his cries for help went unanswered, he asked the other six people, "You're all so calm, do you know something?"
"It seems there are three newcomers in this case." The one who replied was a kind-looking middle-aged woman with a gentle tone that made people feel close to her.
"Let me explain. This is a survival game. You complete tasks to earn points, which can be exchanged for in-game items or other things you want. You can earn points by completing the game, or you can leave this place, but..."
She became serious: "If you don't complete the game, you'll lose points. If you run out of points, you'll die in real life. This is not a joke or a prank. If you want to survive, you have to do everything you can to get more points."
"Then why did we end up here? Is this place very dangerous?" Upon hearing the word "death," the young man working overtime became nervous.
"Entering here is a random selection process in the game. You received a greeting card before you came in, right? That's your pass. As for whether it's dangerous or not, as long as you don't die here, you'll be back to normal when you leave."
"This..." The young man was stunned.
Upon hearing the word "dead," the girl in school uniform pants finally broke down in tears. Her crying only made the other veteran players more annoyed.
"Why aren't all the people here yet? Where did the missing one go? Did he die on the way here?"
"No way, the dungeon hasn't even been announced yet."
As they were talking, the man with his arms crossed saw a figure appear in the distance and warned, "Someone's coming."
"Wow, two? I thought there was only one short."
At the end of the road, Shi Jin appeared in everyone's sight, carrying Sheh on his back.
He was thinking about how to persuade Shekh, but when she entered the instance and saw the mud all over the ground, she was extremely disgusted, as if she was afraid of soiling her noble snake tail.
But because he had never used his legs before, he couldn't walk at all. It was as if he had taken some kind of muscle relaxant, and he couldn't even stand steadily. So he had to be carried over.
As he approached, a mechanical voice, audible only to the player, rang out.
[All players have arrived. Welcome back to Pyramid Survival Battle!]
Copy Name: [Charity Event]
Copy type: Decryption
Key words: hope, choice
Mission requirement: Survive for 5 days (5 points)
Advanced Quest Requirements: Find clues and correctly decipher the puzzle to leave the instance early. (10 points) [Survival points are awarded upon leaving the instance, up to a maximum of 15 points]
Special Note: Failure to complete this instance will result in a deduction of 15 points.
Some people breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.
"As long as it's not a survival or combat game, it's fine. As long as it's a puzzle game, and you can find the right clues here and survive for five days, it shouldn't be a big problem."
As Shi Jinzhe glanced at the man in the baseball cap who had spoken, he was not at ease.
The phrase "successfully survived for 5 days" speaks volumes; this instance must contain something that threatens life.
The instance has officially opened, and everything around it has come to life.
On the damp mountain road, the sound of a car could be heard, and a minibus slowly appeared.
The car is quite old; the paint is faded, and the brakes make a choppy, jerky sound when parking, like a seriously ill patient coughing incessantly, as if the engine is about to burst out of the car.
The car door opened, and a man in his forties got out.
He was wearing a gray striped polo shirt with a large bunch of keys hanging from his waist. He was very enthusiastic and wanted to reach out and shake the hand of the kind woman standing in the front row.
"Hello, hello, you must be the volunteers from the charity organization who came to our village. We're so sorry to have kept you waiting."
The kind woman deftly avoided the question, smiling politely, "It's nothing. Are you here to pick us up?"
"Ah, right, right, my name is Shao Dong. Everyone, please get on the bus. It's still a while before we get to Shaojia Village. The weather is bad, so don't catch a cold."
Led by the kind woman, the eleven people boarded the bus one by one.
Shao Dong sat in the driver's seat and started the car, his face flushed with a smile, clearly pleased with the arrival of the group.
"I am truly grateful that you were willing to come to our Shaojia Village. Please don't laugh, but I am the only person in our village who has gone to university. I know all too well how education can change one's destiny, so I wanted to make sure that all the children in the village could have access to education."
"How long have you been doing this?" the kind woman asked.
"It's been almost ten years, and we've only been able to keep going this long thanks to the support of kind-hearted people."
“You’re a good person,” the man who had just been sitting in the second row, arms crossed, replied.
He glanced around the car, his gaze lingering for a second longer on Shi Jinzhe and Sheh in the second-to-last row.
The next second, as if she knew he was looking at her, the woman with her eyes covered by a black ribbon suddenly raised her head and looked directly in his direction.
He quickly looked away, muttering to himself, "Is this person blind or not? How come it seems like they can see me..."
After driving for half an hour, the car entered a dirt road, and the ride became bumpy. Sher's mood dropped again after seeing the muddy road.
She had just landed, her tail covered in yellow mud, and she was very uncomfortable; she didn't want to see it at all.
Shi Jinzhe held her hand tightly. The snake had been sulking all the way with the mud, and he didn't dare to say much. The mountain village needed help, and the environment there would probably make her feel even worse. The clothes he had put on her before they came in were used to wipe her tail.
Sure enough, after driving for a while, the car stopped at the entrance of a village.
The village roads were impassable by car, so Shao Dong led them into the village. The roads were still muddy and wet from the rain, and they would get covered in mud no matter how they walked.
The houses in the mountains are all built on the hillside, and each family has several fields in front of their house, so the houses are somewhat scattered.
Shekh's feet never touched the ground the entire time, as Shi Jin carried him on his back into a two-story building.
Shao Dong had noticed her earlier. Seeing that she wasn't wearing shoes when she entered the yard, he immediately took out a pair of new slippers from the house and placed them at her feet.
He spoke with a hint of embarrassment, revealing the honesty of a simple man: "Please put these on her. They're all new. I knew you were coming, so I went to town to buy them."
Shekh ignored her, so Shi Jinzhe thanked her on her behalf.
Shao Dong didn't mind. Seeing that it was almost evening, he said to the group, "I'll go out and get you dinner. You guys get some rest today, and we'll see how things are in our village tomorrow."
Only after Shao Dong closed the courtyard gate and left completely did the kind woman speak.
"It's too slow to solve puzzles on your own, so it's not suitable for solo play. Let's get to know each other. My name is Sherman, and I've cleared the dungeon four times."
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