Chapter 1 Basic Rules: Getting Started
Even through your eyelids, the sunlight is so bright it makes you feel a little dizzy.
Where am I?
After working overtime yesterday, your boss dragged you out for drinks again. Despite knowing all the tricks to avoid drinking, you inevitably ended up drunk on your way home.
By the way, have you gotten home yet?
It seems that after vomiting while hugging a street lamp, he collapsed into the grass.
That makes sense.
Even if you work in the most bustling area of a big city, and the bar is just one street away from your company, with police cars coming and going late at night, it's only fortunate that a girl lying outside like that hasn't suffered any personal safety issues.
"I'm never drinking again. Damn boss, damn job." You muttered, your head throbbing from the hangover, your eyes dry and stinging, almost unable to open because of secretions. "I miss college."
You decided to take another nap, and many things from your student days flashed through your mind.
Back then, you had excellent grades and always won national scholarships. In your sophomore year, there was a study abroad program that both the professor in charge and your advisor recommended you try, but you were short of money and ultimately declined, pretending not to be interested.
You've always wanted to travel abroad, but you didn't have the money when you were a student, and you didn't have the time after you started working. You made plans to travel with a few friends who were also working hard in Shanghai, but when it came time to buy plane tickets, they all had to work overtime, so the plans fell through.
You changed your posture and suddenly realized that it wasn't so difficult to just put work, making money, and responsibilities aside.
Actually, lying like this is quite comfortable.
The more you think about it, the more engrossed you become, perhaps because the alcohol that hasn't been completely metabolized is still working in your brain—you think of your favorite travel bloggers on music apps, and your mind starts playing their usual background music. You even feel like you're actually in some foreign land, and even the words spoken by passersby sound different to you, unlike Chinese.
wrong.
Rub your eyes; this will make it easier for you to open them.
The view is of lush green tree canopies, and the clear blue sky filters through the gaps in the leaves, casting tiny dots of light.
People came and went all around, young and old, each holding an ice cream.
They had different skin tones and hair colors, and interspersed among them were several women wearing black robes that covered their faces.
This is a group of... "foreigners".
You don't wake up on a wide roadside, but in a lounge chair in a small garden.
Directly opposite you, in the green grass, stands a bronze statue of a foreign man you don't recognize, a strange smile on his face. The inscription on the base isn't in ornate script, and upon closer inspection, it doesn't even resemble the vernacular you've almost completely forgotten.
You suddenly realize that this is not Haicheng at all, nor even Huaguo.
What's going on? Human trafficking? But who would traffic people and leave them comfortably in a recliner like that?
Countless questions were about to explode your already uncomfortable head, but luckily you have an outgoing personality and are not afraid to stop a seemingly kind-looking passerby and ask her questions in broken English.
—Although the language of this country is not Yingyu, Yingyu is, after all, an internationally used language.
The passerby was initially puzzled, but quickly and kindly took out his earphones and listened attentively to what you needed.
This is your first time speaking to a foreigner, it's normal to be a little nervous. You politely and kindly put on a smile:
"Hi, hi, how are you?"
You think that greeting people first and then asking questions will definitely prevent you from making a mistake.
Unexpectedly, this sunny, cheerful, and enthusiastic lady's face fell instantly.
It's not the kind of pouting and widening of the eyes that makes you look bad, but rather a physical "sagging face" where the skin is waxy and the facial features droop downwards.
You panicked, the fear of seeing a ghost in broad daylight made you want to run away, but you bumped into another passerby in your haste.
"I'm sorry." You apologized subconsciously in Korean, even in this situation, the politeness of the Koreans ingrained in your bones was not forgotten.
The passerby did not reply to you.
Cold sweat dripped from your forehead as your gaze slowly moved upwards.
The passerby's face underwent the same strange change as the girl's earlier.
Actually, it wasn't just these two people; everyone nearby was slowly approaching you, and their heads were all melting away in the same way.
The last thread of reason in your heart snapped completely, and you grabbed a piece of wood, or maybe a stone—you couldn't tell anymore—and started whipping and smashing it at everyone who came near.
They didn't even utter a sound, pressing closer and closer.
Soon, the last layer of muscle tissue was peeled off the head, but instead of a skeleton, it revealed a rotating turbine.
We're doomed.
You thought to yourself.
You are surrounded, your body swirling into their leaves.
A turbine blade got stuck in your bone, and in an instant, you recognized what it was.
The turbine is shaped like a Buddhist swastika tilted at a 45-degree angle.
You lost consciousness.
————
Hier Deutschland, sprich Deutsch!
This line of text appeared in your mind, and it even thoughtfully included a translation:
Deguoshuo Deyu!
You woke up again.
Gasping for breath, you repeatedly pat and touch yourself up and down. You are completely unharmed, only the phantom pain continues to torment you.
You try to calm yourself down and take in your surroundings.
It's still the same park, the same green space, and the same bright sunshine. The bronze-clad man is still looking at you with that unfathomable smile.
Several teenagers with spiky hair appeared on your left. They held cigarettes, spat everywhere, and seemed to be eyeing you with ill intent.
You thought you were moving very quietly, but your Chinese features were already quite conspicuous. But you had no time to pay attention to these boys who looked like hooligans, because you saw a dark red stain on the ground a few steps to your left, which had attracted several pigeons that were pecking at it.
Your stomach churned violently, and you couldn't hold it in any longer. You saw the "wc" sign, rushed in, and vomited everything up.
This is a small toilet booth standing in the park. It has only one room and is shared by men and women, so the ground is particularly dirty and smelly.
After vomiting, you raise your pale face and look directly into the mirror.
You see a comical yet bizarre, bloody number above your head.
2.
The toilet smells suffocatingly bad, but you'd rather stay here and think things through before leaving.
You have to live. You don't want to die a messy death in such a strange place.
Without a doubt, it wasn't human trafficking, nor was it a prank by the boss after drinking too much.
You are very smart. Even endless overtime work has not extinguished your brilliance and intelligence, turning you into a boring and rigid ordinary adult.
You'll soon realize that this is a common time-travel story, or it might be a terrifying infinite flow.
Feeling somewhat distracted, you even jokingly thought that perhaps you were just a character in a game or a novel.
You wave your hand to scatter these extensions that are of no benefit to your survival, and focus your attention on the number "2" above your head.
If I'm not mistaken, 2 represents your opportunity, or rather, your "life number." After all, you've just been resurrected and gained a fatal rule from it—you haven't forgotten the sentence that floated through your mind.
However, the cost of acquiring the rules is too high, and you are not prepared to use your limited number of lives to test the next rule.
You think you need to find someone like yourself and then figure out what's going on as quickly as possible.
That's easy to handle. Although you don't know what those people outside are, the numbers above your head at least make it easier to find your kind.
There's also the worst-case scenario: that you won't be able to see the words above each other's heads. But you can only gamble that this worldview, which allows for trial and error, won't be so difficult that you'll just blindly throw your life away.
After mentally preparing yourself, you finally decide to leave the cramped toilet.
The first step is to figure out what you're doing here. That means you need to find your phone, wallet, etc.
This body has the same face as you, but it's not wearing the clothes you wore to work yesterday; instead, it's wearing a light, thin dress.
You walked out, trying not to look at the pool of blood that might have come from yourself, and immediately spotted the backpack that had been carelessly tossed next to her seat.
Upon opening it, I found a large backpack containing nothing but a wallet and a phone.
I breathed a sigh of relief; it seems this place really didn't try to kill me.
You easily unlock your phone with your fingerprint, and of course you greedily hope to find the rules of survival on it. Unfortunately, besides the most basic text messages, camera, web pages, and a few learning and chat apps, there's nothing else on the phone.
Undeterred, you open it, only to find there are no contacts inside.
After thinking for a moment, you open the mini-program, find Yinshan Docs, and sure enough, you find the few files with titles in foreign languages that you can't understand.
I found a translation app, but it's so bad you'll want to throw your phone away.
However, you still patiently worked on it for over an hour and barely managed to understand the documents.
A medical insurance policy, a bank statement, a housing contract, and a student registration form.
So you're an international student, and you're studying chemistry.
The card in your wallet that looks like a student card matches the information on your student registration form. As usual, you can distinguish between the health insurance card and the short-term residence card for students. You don't need to do anything else; you already know what the rest are, like bank cards and shopping discount cards.
This basic information didn't make you happy for long. You realized you definitely needed to go to class, and going to class would inevitably involve other possible rules.
But you can't speak the local language, and your undergraduate major is in the humanities, which has nothing to do with science and engineering.
"Since you're here, make the best of it," you tell yourself, trying to cheer yourself up.
Searching for this city on the web reveals that it is a wealthy small town in Germany.
You don't know if all of your kind are from the Flower Country, but statistically speaking, the Flower Country people who roam the world in the real world will definitely not leave you alone in this strange world.
You open the map, search for the nearest Huaguo Cuisine restaurant, and head there to wait for your prey.
Your calmness and rationality brought you good luck. As soon as you entered the restaurant, you saw three people with similar flower-like appearances, all wearing numbers on their heads.
They all have a 1 above their heads, and they can really enjoy the food here, so they're obviously more experienced than you.
You are excited, but you still remember to speak up.
You can't be the only unlucky one who can't speak, so boldly type "Hello, I'm new here, can you help me?" on your phone and show it to them.
They exchanged glances, and one of the girls, with a ponytail, nodded, smiled gently at you, offered you the chair next to her, and then held out her phone after you sat down.
The screen displays a friend's QR code.
You quickly scanned her QR code and added her as a friend.
A message that was clearly copied and pasted was quickly sent to you.
"This is the world of study abroad rules. You need to stay in each world for one month to complete your assigned task. After six worlds, you can leave completely. If your first world is Deguo, congratulations, you've won the lottery."
A country has three chances to break the rules and fail, and each failure reveals a general rule.
The general rules refer to the basic rules of the world, which everyone must abide by. In contrast, the specific rules for individual tasks are those that you need to explore on your own.
Remember!! Apart from the basic rules, all rules are subject to change. Don't blindly trust the experiences of others!
The following are the basic rules of the world:
1. I must speak! I must speak! I must speak!
2. If someone compliments your speaking skills, immediately swear at them in your native language for 15 seconds.
3. Garbage must be sorted.
4. Eat 12 potatoes every day.
5. The tap water is beer, not water.
6. The sausage is white and red.
7. The price of second-hand goods should not exceed 5 euros. If it does, immediately stay away from the seller.
8. Water bottles should be recycled, not thrown in the trash can.
9. When a book exchange point appears in your field of vision, you must put a book in it.
10. The different carnival markets every month are a must-attend.
11. Always carry your identification card with you.
12. Please remember, you are Ruko, not a homeless person.
A note from the author:
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Good afternoon! This is a lighthearted, slice-of-life post, just for fun! Thank you, moms!
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