Chapter 16 Some Daily Life with My New Roommate
General rule 1: You must speak.
General Rule 2: If someone compliments your speaking skills, immediately retaliate with insults in your native language.
If the rules that everyone has summarized are correct, then how can these two rules both be true at the same time?
These days you've been pondering and reflecting on the deeper meaning behind the rules, rather than simply memorizing them and rigidly following them. After all, if simply obeying the rules were enough to survive, then this world would be utterly unchallenging.
Alternatively, as you learned from that Western man, if players could simply kill each other to gain a chance to survive and discover the rules to pass the level without pain, then the world would become a battle royale game, which would be incredibly boring.
Moreover, many things have proven that the strange phenomena behind the rules are diverse. Your choices may not be perfect, but they are not necessarily completely ineffective.
This flexibility gives the rules more angles to respond, but the essence of the rules seems to remain unchanged.
You'll find that what you need to do is find the interoperability between rules in the same scenario to determine the strongest logic, then find the meaning of the rules, and only then can you ensure that you react correctly according to the rules.
Currently, you've noticed two possible negative outcomes for outsiders: being forcibly eliminated for violating the rules, or losing their identity by assimilating into the local population.
The former has no room for maneuver and is an inevitable consequence of violating strong logic; while the latter, once they regain their senses, can still find a way to escape.
This also shows that while assimilation isn't necessarily a good thing, it can provide you with a safe identity.
Let's go back to the general rules.
Rule 1 forcibly prohibits your recognition of your native self-identity as an outsider. This is a very powerful rule, and violating it will result in certain death. Therefore, its logic is strong logic, which is the meaning of the rule. Then, the use of "mother tongue" in Rule 2 must be a seemingly plausible trap.
Once you've figured it out, you'll have a better idea of how to handle the situation.
"Take a tan!" With gritted teeth, you snapped at the shopkeeper with a fierce expression.
"Fadam sunbathing!"
"Not a chance to win!"
"EDIO!"
"Hao Danmao!"
He shouted out a few swear words with great force, instantly intimidating everyone.
You learned all of this specifically, just in case things turn out like they are today.
It's certainly possible to avoid this situation by being as cautious as Xiaoming by not speaking or communicating, but if you have too little information and can't avoid socializing with others, you can only grit your teeth and deal with all the possibilities.
“Wie wagst du es, meine Nationalitaet anzunehmen”
It's out loud now.
The moment the phrase "How dare you presume my nationality" was uttered, exactly 15 seconds later, the locals who had been smiling and watching your reaction were stunned, frozen in place as if struck by lightning.
"Looks good," you added, still wanting more. "Du Rassist!"
Once the label of "racism" is attached to them, they panic instantly, hurriedly getting up and gesturing wildly as if trying to apologize and explain. But as soon as they open their mouths, a lump of red stuff falls out.
You and the others looked down at the ground and saw several pieces of tongue, still wriggling in the dripping blood.
Xiao Hong nervously grabbed your hand, and you felt a bit disgusted. You regretted saying that last sentence. But at least you learned that locals could face non-fatal punishments for breaking certain taboos.
In short, as long as it's useful, that's fine.
Pull Xiaohong tight, turn your face away, push open the door and quickly leave the restaurant.
The return trip was uneventful. Along the way, you helped Xiaohong organize her thoughts and found various necessary information for her on her phone.
Xiaohong hoped to live in the same city as you, but unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. It seems that the passenger capacity of this bus is not related to the region. She is studying in Pai, while you are in the neighboring state of Vladivostok.
"Sister, I'm still a little scared not being able to be with you." Xiao Hong typed to chat with you.
"Don't be afraid, just stay calm. In the end, you have to rely on yourself here." You patted Xiao Hong's head.
This child is very well-behaved and obedient, but you really can't take on more responsibility for her.
The bus ride was bumpy, and you drifted off to sleep without realizing it. When the driver woke you up, you were already sitting on a city bus in your city.
The final stop was only three stops away from where you lived. You thanked the driver and hurried back.
The temperature difference between day and night is huge here. Even though there is no wind, you still feel a tight pain on your face.
The rain jacket that was forced on you is gone; now you're wearing your own coat. Pull up the collar to cover your face; you're finally home.
But you see the narrow corridor piled with cardboard boxes of all sizes, and the door to the room next to yours is wide open, with a figure moving around.
Hearing you come up, the person peeked out, made eye contact with you, curled their lip in disgust, and went back inside.
You scratched your face, puzzled, wondering what was wrong with this person.
She was also an outsider, and the number above her head was still 3. But judging from her composed demeanor, she didn't seem like a novice at all. She was probably a very experienced veteran who hadn't made a single mistake.
Back in my room, my sun-exposed skin was itchy and painful. With the heating on, the air inside was incredibly dry, making it even more uncomfortable.
Finding the aloe vera gel, you pick up the washbasin, carefully avoiding the cardboard boxes blocking your way, and enter the bathroom.
It's so cold outside, and you still want to take a cold shower to make your skin feel better? Just thinking about it is painful.
After brushing my teeth with my head down, I stared blankly at the cold water rinsing my arms, preparing for a cold shower.
You shivered and looked up.
I was startled by my reflection in the mirror.
No wonder that girl reacted that way to me.
The number representing opportunities for outsiders has disappeared from your head, and your facial bones have become more defined and deep-set. Combined with your tanned skin from today's tan, you look like a Yakult mixed-race person.
Clearly, this is the "integration" change brought about by your assumption that your native language is your mother tongue.
what to do?
Unlike the time you were in the server room, this time you have a clear understanding of the situation, but your body is undergoing these changes.
Touching your thinning hair, you are very worried.
I tentatively read aloud the sentence I had just translated into my phone: "I am a foreign student."
"I am from the Flower Country."
It works!
You feel your once-thick hair has finally grown back, and you press your advantage, continuing to "brainwash" yourself with rambling phrases, including but not limited to "I love flowers for my phone" and "I like Zhanlang." Within minutes, you're back to normal.
Hehe, you're so smart.
After a shivering shower, you painstakingly slather aloe vera gel all over your body. The slippery gel is even warmer than your skin at that moment. After letting the aloe vera gel dry and be absorbed, you can finally put on your pajamas and go back to your room to sleep.
You're exhausted after a long day, and before you've even closed your eyes, your local roommate wakes you up again.
When will this ever end?!
The local girl didn't seem to be a university student, but rather doing a course called Ausbildung, which was similar to vocational training.
Unlike vocational schools in the country, this course is a targeted part-time training program provided by the company for the positions it needs, and graduates will be directly employed by the company.
It's said that she's usually very tired, so it's no wonder that this girl goes on a crazy party whenever she gets the chance.
You pull the pillow over your head, and as you're mentally cursing her a thousand times, you hear your new roommate suddenly open the door and strut down the hallway.
Knock knock.
She knocked on her local roommate's door.
He spoke a string of fluent words that you couldn't understand.
The two of them started arguing.
My new roommate stormed back to his room.
You thought that was the end of it, since your local roommate was completely unyielding.
Less than five minutes later, a series of footsteps that could almost shake the entire building came, accompanied by the heavy panting of a dying ox.
Who's here?
For some reason, you feel a little panicked. You get up, climb to the foot of the bed, grip your phone tightly, and strain your ears to listen for any sounds.
Knock knock.
Someone is knocking on your door.
Your room faces the staircase, so whoever comes here will see your room first.
You hold your breath and remain silent, continuing to play dead. Your phone is locked to the translator interface, ready to listen for translations at any time.
The person outside spoke up, his voice loud and clear: "Did you call me here?" It was the landlord's voice.
Looking at the characters on your phone, you're momentarily stunned, then immediately realize that your new roommate has reported the noisy local roommate to the landlord.
"Speak!" the landlord raised his voice, his tone extremely unfriendly. Clearly, the rule of quiet after 10 p.m. didn't apply to him.
He probably won't leave if you don't say anything, so you translate and play it on your phone: "It wasn't me, I'm going to sleep, goodnight."
The landlord replied "okay," but strangely, he didn't knock on the new roommate's door. Instead, he simply opened the door and went in.
The new roommate seemed startled, but she remained calm and negotiated with the landlord.
You couldn't understand a word, but you didn't miss a single sound.
My new roommate, who had been speaking calmly and enthusiastically, suddenly let out a sharp scream. The scream was cut off almost instantly.
Then came the rustling sound of the fat landlord's flesh brushing against the walls on both sides of the corridor as he walked toward his local roommate's room in the back.
With a loud bang, unlike the sound of him opening his new roommate's door, it seemed as if he had simply ripped open his local roommate's door and rushed in like a meat bomb.
The music stopped abruptly, followed by an extremely eerie chewing sound.
Glug.
belch.
Thump, thump, thump.
The downstairs hallway door opens and closes. The car starts, and you secretly watch the landlord's car drive away through the gap in the metal roller shutter.
Only then, with a heavy heart, do you open the door to see what's happening outside.
There were bloodstains on the corridor floor, which had been dragged and smeared. You tiptoed, trying not to step on them.
The entire floor was eerily quiet; in fact, everyone else was "disappeared" except for you.
Or perhaps, they were simply taken away by the landlord.
It was placed in his stomach.
You glanced at your local roommate's room and left. She'd always been on the edge of being quiet, and now she'd messed up; you felt no sympathy for her whatsoever.
But you can't help feeling a little sympathetic towards your new roommate, who is also an outsider.
Sure enough, reporting it to the landlord was a trap.
If you don't report it, at least your room is absolutely safe, and the landlord needs your permission to enter. The fact that the new roommate was able to break in is probably related to her granting the landlord "enforcement power."
Since you've already reported it to them, of course they have the right to go into the house and see what's going on.
Of course, that's not how it works in the real world, but who's going to talk to you about the law here?
A note from the author:
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Happy Saturday!
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