Chapter 1287: The Distant Bell
Though his face was filled with confusion and reluctance, Jin Yuanxun knew Chen Junnan all too well.
After much cajoling and persistence, he had no choice but to accept the task of destroying all the doors together.
It didn't take long for Jin Yuanxun to realize that the task wasn't actually that difficult. After all, every door here looked already battered and broken—some could even be shattered with a single forceful kick.
But even so... Jin Yuanxun turned to glance down the seemingly endless corridor, still feeling that the road ahead was long and arduous.
"Bro..." Jin Yuanxun hesitated. "You said this 'train' is divided into three parts... so what's the third part?"
"Didn't I just say you don't use your brain at all?" Chen Junnan said. "Do you even need to ask?"
"Huh?"
"The third part is the 'interview zone,'" Chen Junnan said solemnly. "Deep in that darkest, most ruined corridor, there are all of our 'interview rooms.' We were guided to walk out from the other end of the corridor, each reaching different areas. If we had been determined to go in the opposite direction, we would have seen the 'Heavenly level.'"
Jin Yuanxun paused after hearing this, then raised his own question: "So the door to our 'interview room'—do we have to break it too?"
"That place..." Chen Junnan thought for a moment, seeming stumped by the question.
"Bro, based on this strange layout and the earlier 'Cangjie Chess'..." Jin Yuanxun also began to think. "Our 'interview rooms' might be located anywhere, not on this 'train,' right?"
"Yeah... pretty much." Chen Junnan nodded. "We seem to come from the 'interview room' into the corridor, but the 'interview room' could really be anywhere—maybe in Afghanistan, maybe in the Taklamakan Desert."
"Bro, try to say something I can understand..."
"Anyway, these 'doors' let us travel a huge distance and eventually reach the same corridor..." Chen Junnan said. "And that 'door' at the end of the corridor is also strange—different teams come out at different locations. Plus, since each of us clears the game at different times, we end up arriving at the 'Endland' in batches within one day."
"Oh, that's true," Jin Yuanxun nodded.
"Right... you even waited for us at the landing spot." Chen Junnan said. "You probably understand this principle better than I do."
"Yes, bro. Brother Chu also said that although everyone arrives at the 'Endland' at different times, they all arrive within the same day." Jin Yuanxun replied. "That day doesn't count as part of the 'Ten Days,' Brother Chu called it 'Landing Day.'"
"Old Qi called it 'Day Zero'..." Chen Junnan nodded. "Those two guys figured all this out so early, huh...?"
"So..." Jin Yuanxun still didn't quite understand. "Do we need to destroy the doors of those 'interview rooms' or not?"
"I think it doesn't matter, since those rooms' spaces are all in different places, far from us..." Chen Junnan trailed off, feeling an invisible thread of thought suddenly pierce through his mind.
"Wait..." Chen Junnan blinked. "Holy shit..."
"What's wrong?"
"Hold on... let me sort this out..." Chen Junnan murmured. "I just thought of something. Why does it feel so strange..."
Jin Yuanxun thought that what Chen Junnan had said was already strange enough. Was there something even stranger?
"Xiao Jin! Xiao Jin!" Chen Junnan clapped Jin Yuanxun on the shoulder. "Quick, help me think... Our 'interview room' could be in Afghanistan or the Taklamakan Desert... theoretically very far from the 'train,' and even further from the 'Endland,' right?"
"Yeah..." Jin Yuanxun nodded. "That's what you just deduced yourself, isn't it?"
"That's absolutely insane..." Chen Junnan's expression grew more puzzled. "Why have I never realized before that these things are far apart?"
"Huh?" Jin Yuanxun paused. "Bro, you mean..."
"I spent over seven years in that damn room... With my intelligence, how did I never think of this?" Chen Junnan asked. "I always thought the 'interview room' was in the 'Endland,' that they were very close... With my intelligence..."
Jin Yuanxun wanted to say, "Maybe you don't have that much intelligence," but thought it rude, so he changed his words:
"So what do you think the reason is?"
"It's because I fucking heard the bell!" Chen Junnan's expression suddenly shifted. "Fuck... Why could I hear the bell in our interview room?! Does that even make sense?!"
"Huh?!" Jin Yuanxun's expression changed too at Chen Junnan's claim. "Bro... no way, you could hear the bell in your room?"
"You can't, right?" Chen Junnan said. "If I'm not wrong... in the entire 'Endland,' there probably aren't many interview rooms that can hear it... because it's completely unreasonable! It means our 'interview room' is very close to the giant bell... You can't hear it in the 'corridor,' but you can in the 'interview room,' which means we might not even need to go through the 'train' to get to the 'Endland'..."
"Bro, I'm getting lost again..."
"My head's a mess too..." Chen Junnan frowned. "Does Old Qi not know about this? Why can we hear the bell in our room..."
Chen Junnan closed his eyes and pondered for a long time, feeling the situation was suspicious, but he couldn't come up with any leads.
Qi Xia must know there's something strange about that room. Based on what's happened before, that strange room might even have been arranged by him... but what was his purpose?
Chen Junnan suspected that their 'interview room' might even be hidden somewhere in the 'Endland,' buried among the countless ruins of the city.
But that room was completely sealed—in theory, no one could enter from the outside. So where could it be hidden?
The more he thought, the more confused his mind became. The best course of action now was to find Qi Xia. If Qi Xia knew about this, they could ask him face to face. If he didn't, they could analyze it together.
But this 'train' was way too long. Going to find Qi Xia now would take too long—they only had one night to destroy all the 'doors.'
"Even though I'm full of questions, I guess I don't have time to deal with them now." Chen Junnan looked at Jin Yuanxun. "If we have enough time, let's destroy all the 'doors,' including the 'exit' at the end of the corridor. I want to completely sever the connection between the 'train' and the 'Endland.'"
(September 27th, 7 PM, my Douyin livestream will presell the fourth physical book "Ten Days of Endland: Paradise." If you want to buy, check it out. If not, you can still come chat~ Thank you all.)