Chapter 1: Village in the Rain (1)
It is early autumn, the sky is high and the air is fresh.
A tourist bus is driving on a country road.
Outside the window is a dense birch forest.
Inside the car, several passengers sat in adjacent seats, looking at each other with nervous and wary expressions.
"Is this an act?" a college-looking boy muttered to himself, "What's going on?"
"If only it were an act." Someone behind him said coldly, "Unfortunately, what you see is the truth. The truth is what it is now."
.
The male college student is named Zhao Shuo, and he is twenty years old.
The reason why he said he was acting was because he clearly remembered that he was sitting on the No. 27 bus from the commercial street back to the university town.
He just took a short nap, but when he woke up, all the passengers in the car had changed.
What's even more outrageous is that the scene outside the window has changed from a bustling city to a desolate scene of yellow earth.
By now, Zhao Shuo had secretly pinched himself several times, his hands were red, and he still suspected that he was still dreaming and had not woken up.
.
The man who answered was the one sitting in the row behind Zhao Shuo. He was in his thirties, had short, coarse hair, dark skin, and was wearing a sports jacket. He was stocky, had slightly slanted eyes, and a fierce demeanor.
Under normal circumstances, this would definitely be the type of person that Zhao Shuo would take a detour if he saw her.
But the situation was too strange, and the man in the jacket was the only one who paid any attention to him.
So Zhao Shuo bravely asked, "What is the truth?"
The man in the jacket ignored him. Instead, he stood up and looked around. "Are you all awake? We'll talk after you wake up. They all look new this time. I think we're going to be in big trouble."
Then he tutted his tongue in disgust: "One more missing."
Zhao Shuo immediately followed his movements and looked around.
He first noticed the two male passengers in the row to his right.
These two people looked about the same age as Zhao Shuo, but they were much more eye-catching. The one by the window was dressed in black, with sharp and handsome features and a very tall figure.
As for what the man in the jacket said about "one more missing", he was referring to the one by the aisle.
The man with eye-catching white hair was sleeping soundly with his head resting on the shoulder of the man sitting by the window.
Compared to his black clothes, the little white-haired boy's outfit was quite flashy. He wore a color-blocked baseball jacket, jeans, and a bunch of accessories: a necklace, a ring, and a sparkling earring in his left ear.
He was wearing an eye mask and his face was buried in the shoulder of the young man in black clothes, revealing only a little white skin on the lower half of his face, and the delicate contours of his nose and lips.
The little white-haired boy hugged the left arm of the man in black clothes like a doll and slept soundly. He was probably dreaming, and he even rubbed his face against the man in black clothes' shoulder.
Zhao Shuo: “…”
I was struck by something.
He silently turned his gaze to the back row.
In the row behind the man in the jacket, on the left and right sides of the aisle were a little girl and a man in a suit and tie with a briefcase, both looking nervous.
Across a row of empty seats, and one row further back, was a short man with a crew cut.
He had a scar at the corner of his eye, and his eyes were gloomy, staring at the ground beneath his feet.
There were only seven passengers in the car, plus the driver driving in the front seat.
Except for the two young people who were quite close, the seats of the others were a little apart from each other, and it was obvious that they did not know each other.
.
The man in the jacket glanced at the sleeping little white-haired boy again and sighed impatiently: "It's just one more, let's not wait any longer. It's too late to wait any longer."
"Can't we wake him up?" Zhao Shuo asked.
"You can only wait for them to wake up naturally," the man in the jacket said. "If you force them to wake up, they'll be trapped in the game."
Zhao Shuo didn't understand what was going on, and the man in the jacket didn't seem to want to explain.
He turned to the young man in black and said, "You two are together, right? When he wakes up, tell him what he wants to say. Be gentle and don't scare him to death."
The young man nodded.
Then the man in the jacket looked around at the passengers around him and asked, "Are you all new here?"
"What is a newcomer?" Zhao Shuo asked.
"What do you mean by scare yourself to death?" asked the man with the briefcase in a trembling voice.
"Okay, you two must be new here." The man in the jacket sighed.
"What's happening now is that you've entered another world. Think of it as a survival game. The goal is simple: survive."
.
"Survival game? What does that mean?" The briefcase man stood up anxiously. "I don't want to play any game. How do I quit?"
"There's no manual exit option. You'll automatically exit once you complete the game." The man in the jacket had seen this happen so often, his tone calm. "Then you'll be able to return to your original world."
"What if I don't pass the level?"
"If you don't beat the game, you're dead. Dead in this game, and dead in the real world."
Briefcase's face turned pale, and his lips trembled for a long time before he asked, "Why do you know all this?"
"Because I'm a gamer too." The man in the jacket said impatiently, "It's a little tricky, but you'll know the answer next time you encounter this kind of situation."
He spoke calmly, but when the briefcase man heard the word "next time", he instantly broke down.
He pointed at his nose and asked, "Why did you choose me? I'm just an ordinary teacher!"
The man in the jacket had seen many people in this situation either weak or furious, so when faced with the collapse of the briefcase, his face didn't even fluctuate.
Even a little bored.
He raised one corner of his mouth and sneered, "I want to know this question too, why me? But this is the fact. I advise you to calm down and adapt quickly, or else learn from this guy and sleep all the time."
The man in the jacket pointed at the sleeping little white-haired boy and said, "The gaming world is very dangerous. If you can't adapt, you'll die quickly."
.
There was silence in the car, with only the roar of the engine and the noise of the wheels rolling over the road.
Zhao Shuo's mind was a little confused. There was too much information to digest. He was skeptical and thought: It can't be that exaggerated, right?
Looking at the others, their expressions weren't much better either.
Only the little white-haired boy was still sleeping soundly, and the young man in black clothes beside him also had a silent and stable temperament that was out of tune with the tense atmosphere in the car.
.
The man in the jacket had no intention of offering any humanitarian care to the flustered newcomers, and went straight to the next step: "Since you're all new, let me tell you a few things. It'll be difficult to beat the game if you start out with a blood sacrifice."
"First, there are supernatural phenomena in this place. If you really encounter them, don't try to get yourself killed. Run away quickly."
"Secondly, other than us 'players', most of the people here are NPCs. Don't mess with them recklessly. You never know what you might run into."
"third……"
As he spoke, the little man kept looking at him gloomily, not hiding the suspicion on his face. The man in the jacket must have noticed it, but he ignored him completely.
Just as I was about to say the third point, the bus suddenly shook and a sharp braking sound was heard!
With a sharp bang, everyone was thrown forward by the huge inertia of the sudden brake.
.
Zhao Shuo first hit the backrest of the seat in front of him hard, then bounced back like a sandbag, his head hit the window with a "bang", and he fell back onto the seat.
For several minutes his mind was in a daze, and he forgot who he was, where he was, and what he was doing.
He took a long time to calm down before rubbing his head and trying to sit up.
The others were also badly injured, especially the man in the jacket, whose nose hit something and blood was oozing out. Fortunately, no one suffered any serious injuries.
Only the two handsome guys looked decent. They were wearing black clothes and protecting the little white-haired boy with one hand. It seemed that nothing was wrong.
After all this trouble, the little white-haired boy finally woke up. He pushed the eye mask onto his forehead and rubbed his eyes a little dazedly with a silly and cute temperament that was completely different from the tense atmosphere in the car.
The man in the jacket wiped his nose, uttered a curse in Chinese with a grin, and was about to stand up with his hands on the back of the chair when a strange and muddy voice suddenly sounded from the driver's seat.
"I bumped into something."
.
Everyone's attention was focused on it immediately.
The person who spoke was the bus driver. He was slowly unbuckling his seatbelt while mumbling incoherently, "What's going on?"
He was completely talking to himself, and strangely enough, he hadn't made a sound before the collision, as if he didn't care what the passengers behind him were discussing or whether they were injured.
Normally, all we should do at this time is wait and see what happens, but the briefcase man was so stimulated that he suddenly changed and couldn't bear it anymore.
"Impossible, this is a lie, absolutely a lie..." He shook his head, muttering with a blank look in his eyes. Suddenly, he looked at the driver in front and shouted, "I want to get off! Driver... Ugh!"
The man in the jacket originally had an expression that said "I'll just watch you go crazy" and watched the briefcase's behavior coldly, but the moment he was about to call the driver, the man in the jacket's face suddenly changed.
He suddenly jumped up like a tiger pouncing on its prey and covered the mouth of the briefcase behind him with his hands.
The man in the jacket had his own blood on his hands, and his movements were so fierce that the man with the briefcase was frightened out of his wits and immediately began to struggle frantically.
He tried to pry open the hand of the man in the jacket that was pressing on his mouth, but the difference in strength between them was too great, and it was useless. He couldn't even make a sound.
The man in the jacket did not attack the briefcase any further. He just covered his mouth and mouthed to him desperately:
Don't mess with NPCs!
But in fact, everyone was skeptical about what the man in the jacket said just now. After all, survival games and supernatural phenomena sounded too fantastical. On the contrary, the man in the jacket himself looked more creepy.
She was so frightened by the way he held her briefcase that she almost passed out, and she had no time to care about what the man in the jacket wanted to say.
He was about to bite the jacket man's palm, but before he could do anything, the driver in the front seat turned around and looked at the people in the passenger seat: "Is someone calling me?"
Briefcase's pupils suddenly contracted at that moment, and his throat made a "click" sound because of extreme fear.
Because he clearly saw that the driver's face was flat and his facial features were completely painted on.
As he spoke, the line representing his "mouth" opened and closed, revealing a black crack.
When the little girl saw the face of the paper man clearly, she was so scared that she screamed uncontrollably, and the next second she covered her mouth in extreme panic.
The little white-haired boy gently pushed the young man in black clothes' arm, and the man in black clothes stood up calmly.
The man in the jacket also moved towards her with a tense face. Anyway, the briefcase had stopped struggling.
Both sides were wary of the driver's sudden movements.
However, the driver ignored the little girl, as if he could not hear anything unless she spoke to him. He stood there and waited silently for a while, his pair of painted eyes rolling around, looking here and there.
Finally, he stared at the little white-haired boy inexplicably.
Being stared at by a pair of drawn eyes like this is actually quite funny and scary at the same time.
Unexpectedly, the little white-haired boy looked at the driver without any reaction. He simply closed his eyes again and leaned on the arm of the man in black clothes.
He kept muttering, "Ah, a nightmare."
Everyone: “…”
driver:"……"
The driver stared at the little white-haired boy for a long time, but the little white-haired boy ignored him. Finally, between losing his composure and momentum or pretending to be a ghost to scare people, the driver chose the latter.
The driver sighed. “No one called me? What a shame.”
He turned and walked towards the driver's seat.
Swish, swish, swish.
The footsteps sounded very strange, like the sound of paper dragging on the ground.
He slowly opened the door and got off the bus without even glancing at it again. He walked back in the direction he came from until he completely disappeared in the fog.
The man in the jacket released his hand from covering the man with the briefcase's mouth.
The man with the briefcase suddenly slid down the seat like a sack. There were water droplets on the sides of his eyes and cheeks, mixed with the blood from the man in the jacket's hand, making a mess. It was impossible to tell whether it was cold sweat or tears.
The car was silent, and the only sound was the sound of falling leaves in the wind outside. Except for Little White Hair, everyone's face was as pale as paper.
.
Someone should say something to break the silence.
But no one could speak.
The newlyweds were initially skeptical and hoping for a lucky break, thinking that maybe the man in the jacket was a charlatan.
It is normal for them to think this way, because this survival game world is very inhumane. There are no prompts when newcomers enter the game for the first time, and even the player points interface cannot be seen if they have not passed the level.
Many newcomers come in dazed and leave without knowing anything.
Now that I’ve seen the paper driver, my hope that the “man in the jacket is a scammer” has been dashed.
The better ones among the newcomers were like male college students, with pale faces ready to respond actively. The worse ones were like briefcases, so scared that they collapsed in their seats, and it was hard to say whether they could get off the bus in good health.
The man in the jacket didn't want to talk now. He hadn't played many games and was still not fully accustomed to this kind of thing.
The little white-haired boy grabbed the arm of the man in black and leaned against him.
But if you look closely, you will find that he doesn't seem nervous at all, he just wants to take the opportunity to get closer to the man in black.
It’s not that he doesn’t want to ease the atmosphere, although he really has no intention of doing so, but mainly because he is still a little tired.
Little White Hair—or, if he wanted to call him by his given name, Su Yue—had long discovered that the game system seemed to be targeting him. Every time he entered the game, he had to wait a long time before regaining his strength.
.
“Sizzle——”
Suddenly, a sharp sound of electricity was heard in the carriage.
Although it is necessary to break the silence, this method of breaking it is too exciting.
The male college student almost jumped up, the man in the jacket was also startled, not to mention the briefcase and the girl at the back who were the most timid.
Su Yue quickly raised his eyes to the top of the carriage, looking in the direction of the sound.
There is a small black loudspeaker installed on the upper part of the car, and the electric sound comes from there.
After a brief electric sound, human voices came from the speaker.
It was a very standard voice of a female radio announcer, gentle, calm, and even beautiful.
But in the wilderness where the birch forest blocked out the sun and almost no light could penetrate, the sound echoed in the narrow carriage along with intermittent electric currents, giving people a sense of déjà vu like the opening of a horror movie.
"Hello... sila... tourists, welcome to Qiyun Village. I hope you'll spend every... sila... day here."
——
Su Yue didn't pay attention to the game title before entering it. Since it was a spot check, he chose it randomly.
After hearing this, he understood that the players in this game are tourists who are going to "travel" somewhere.
The introductory lines on the radio continued.
"Qiyun Village is a beautiful village with a long history. I wish you a pleasant holiday here. Before the tour officially begins, we will verify the tourist list. Please cooperate with the sign-in, otherwise... sizzle..."
The last sound was drowned out by the sound of electricity.
"What do you mean by signing in?" Briefcase, nearly frightened to death, was finally brought back to life by the voice. He asked listlessly, "How do I sign?"
The man in the jacket shook his head gravely, indicating that he didn't know either.
The broadcast did not give them time to discuss and started calling out names directly.
"Zhao Shuo."
The male college student was confused: "It's me? What should I do?"
After a few seconds of silence, I heard the announcer say sweetly:
"Sign-in failed."
Zhao Shuo:?
He asked loudly in panic, "Why did it fail? What does it mean?"
No one answered him. The announcer continued his speech without any emotion: "It's about to... sizzle..."
Zhao Shuo: ???
The sweet voice suddenly became strangely distorted when it said the last two words.
The crackling noise of electricity suddenly surged and filled the entire carriage.
This kind of snow noise, as if the signal is blocked, is creepy in itself, not to mention that this is in the wilderness and the weather is gloomy, as if something is eager to get out of the speaker.
This would be creepy enough even in the real world, let alone here.
You never know, something might actually crawl out of the loudspeaker.
The little girl in the back row suddenly let out a suppressed, extremely frightened scream from her throat.
She pointed toward the car door, her slender white fingertips trembling violently.
Zhao Shuo looked over and his scalp started to tingle.
On the glass outside the car door, a blurry, human-shaped shadow appeared at some point in the dark.
.
"ah--!!!"
Zhao Shuo's heart almost exploded with fear, and he was the first to scream.
The little girl and the briefcase followed without hesitation and started a screaming trio.
The noise from the loudspeaker seemed to enjoy the passengers' panic. The sound of electricity became louder and louder, like the chirping laughter of ghosts watching a show.
A blurry black shadow stretched across the car door, and one could see its limbs had grown to an eerie degree.
The car doors were shaking violently, as if they could break in at any second.
The little man stared out the window with a sullen expression and had already ducked under the seat. The man in the jacket gritted his teeth, cursed, and grabbed the metal handle that was lying aside.
This was what he collected from the luggage rack after getting on the bus, just to deal with this sudden battle.
Su Yue sighed and stood up.
To avoid casualties, it is better to let the veterans do this kind of thing.
.
At first, everyone's attention was on the dark shadow outside the door, and no one noticed him.
By the time I noticed, Su Yue had already stepped out of his seat and stood in the aisle.
His position was very front, which meant he was closest to the black shadow. If the black shadow rushed in, he would be the first to fall.
"Sit down, bro!" the man in the jacket yelled. Although his tone was harsh, he was actually quite kind-hearted. "This isn't a dream! Don't mess around!"
Su Yue ignored him, assessed the situation, looked at the luggage rack, raised his head, and reached out his hand.
His slender fingers lightly grasped the loudspeaker above his head that was making the noise, and then he casually broke it.
Kalah!
With a crisp sound of breaking, the horn that was screwed to the roof of the car was removed by him.
.
"Fuck! Are you trying to kill yourself?" The man in the jacket was shocked and shouted anxiously, "I just told you not to mess with the NPCs. Are you still asleep?..."
He suddenly shut his mouth.
Because he found that the moment the loudspeaker was violently removed, all the creepy noises disappeared at once.
More importantly, the terrifying black shadow clinging to the car door also disappeared.
The whole world suddenly returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.
Su Yue kept holding the loudspeaker with one hand and holding the back of the seat with the other.
There was no sleep in his eyes now.
He seemed not to have heard clearly what the man in the jacket had just said, so he turned around and smiled brightly at him: "Hmm?"
Man in jacket: “…”
It’s okay, brother. I’m praising you.
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