Chapter 81: Decibel Town
[Player Passerby A has entered "Decibel Town" and is defaulted to participate in this E-rank random instance.]
[Background Introduction: "If 20 decibels can immerse one in the warmth of lovers' whispers, then 40 decibels carries the cold hardness of strangers, while 60 decibels brings painful torment. Beyond 80 decibels, the human world is hell."]
[The former clock master Nicer once said this. He had many hobbies throughout his life—indulging in games and pleasure in his early years, obsessively crafting clocks in middle age, and passionately creating puzzles in his later years—excelling at each to the utmost.]
[He held unique insights and obsessions regarding sound. For this reason, after retiring, he built a well-equipped town and invited friends and family to settle there.]
[As fellow enthusiasts of precise decibels, the town's residents, to make the town more beautiful, erected mechanical walls around it, leaving only an east and a west gate for entry and exit. Additionally, they hired several unusual security guards at high prices to maintain order and punish those who created noise exceeding 60 or 80 decibels. They also agreed never to have three people appear together in any public place, to avoid disrupting the residents' living environment.]
[After Nicer, who served as the mayor, passed away, visiting mourners violated Decibel Town's rules, provoking frenzied retaliation from the guards and residents. Eventually, the government was forced to order all residents to relocate and close the town.]
[To this day, Decibel Town remains an isolated island cut off from the world...]
[Instance Mission: Leave Decibel Town.]
[Instance Time: Unlimited.]
Standing in front of an old gas station, Xu Huo turned off the game screen and stared coldly at the two people kneeling on the ground.
Nian Hong'an hadn't yet recovered his senses. Seeing Xu Huo's murderous expression, he opened his mouth to shout, but Xu Huo quickly covered his mouth and whispered, "If you don't want to die, shut up!"
Nian Hong'an's eyes were terrified as he nodded frantically. Beside him, Wang Chaoqing instinctively covered her mouth as well.
Xu Huo withdrew his hand and looked around.
The gas station was at the end of the street. The ground showed fresh footprints, and the gas nozzles had varying layers of dust, suggesting someone had used them recently.
On both sides of the street were British-style shops and buildings, with bell-shaped objects hanging from doors and windows. The greenery in front of the doors, the pedestrian areas, and the central railway track were all covered with plastic dolls of various sizes. It looked like a toy factory had been ransacked, but in reality, these dolls were evenly distributed everywhere—at least one doll per step, except on the railway tracks, which were relatively clean.
Beside him, Wang Chaoqing cautiously tried to stand up, but Xu Huo immediately stopped her: "Don't move!"
Wang Chaoqing froze, anger showing on her face. "This damn place is an instance. Are we supposed to stand here and wait to die?"
Xu Huo didn't speak. He made a silencing gesture and then looked ahead down the street.
A bus was slowly approaching. Figures moved inside, and a young woman held up a sign from a distance: "Don't speak, don't move, don't step on anything on the ground. Get on one by one."
As the bus drew near, Nian Hong'an and Wang Chaoqing scrambled to their feet. The young woman holding the sign and the others inside all changed expression, but when they saw Xu Huo standing still, they slowly sat back down.
After the two boarded, the young woman nodded at Xu Huo.
Xu Huo took two quick steps, grabbed the door, and stepped into the carriage.
The young woman immediately closed the door.
"Why didn't you stop earlier?" Seeing so many living people on the bus, Wang Chaoqing felt she was out of danger and began to complain, relieved.
"Are you blind?" The woman in sunglasses in the back said weakly, "The game said three people can't act together. Do you know you almost got us all killed just now?"
"I didn't know!" Wang Chaoqing raised her voice slightly, causing everyone in the bus to frown. The man driving pointed at the decibel meter on the window. "Keep your voice down. The last person who came in shouting didn't even leave a trace."
"But don't worry," the young woman holding the sign said, pushing Wang Chaoqing into a seat. "Before you attract the xenomorphs, we'll kill you first. From now on, no talking."
Wang Chaoqing shrank back and sat still. Nian Hong'an also obediently found a seat.
"Decibel Town has xenomorphs?" Xu Huo frowned for a moment, then said, "The security guards the town hired are xenomorphs?"
The others in the bus looked at him with slight surprise. The young woman said, "You figured it out right away. Yes, there's not a single person left in the town, only a few xenomorphs."
The woman in sunglasses chuckled. "You're quick-witted, unlike those two idiots."
Xu Huo scanned the six people on the bus. The woman in sunglasses was the famous movie star Gu Yu. The driver and the sign-holding woman were the couple he had seen before. All three had appeared near the haunted house. The other three were likely the ones who had entered the haunted house.
This whole busload had been dragged into the instance by Nian and Wang. It was hard to say who was the fool.
"Lin Pei." A man near Xu Huo stood up and shook his hand. "Let me introduce the others. The driver is Shen Yi, and this is his sister, Shen Xin."
"The scar-faced one is Ke Liang. Don't let his looks fool you; he's actually very kind."
"The one in the front seat is Wu Qiuyi. The one in the back you probably recognize—the famous actress Gu Yu."
Shen Yi and Wu Qiuyi only nodded at him. Shen Xin smiled, Ke Liang glanced at him, and Gu Yu in the back didn't acknowledge him at all.
Xu Huo looked at each of them in turn. Shen Yi and Shen Xin seemed in slightly better condition. Wu Qiuyi, Ke Liang, and Lin Pei had pale faces. Gu Yu looked even weaker than the previous three.
"How long have you been here?" His expression darkened as he realized another serious problem. "There's no food here?"
Lin Pei gave a bitter smile. "This town has been abandoned for a long time and is cut off from the outside. Even if there were food, it wouldn't be edible. We can only drink water."
"Ke Liang, Wu Qiuyi, and I have been here for five days. Gu Yu and the other two came two days ago."
"Have you searched every part of the town?" Xu Huo asked. "This town is quite large, and with the rule against three people acting together, five days shouldn't be enough to search every room."
"Did you see those little dolls on the ground and the bells on the doors and walls? Every single one of them, whether touched or stepped on, makes a sound over 60 decibels. Forget going door to door to search—just clearing this track took us a lot of effort."
Lin Pei explained, "You must have noticed this bus is unusual. Its engine is very quiet when running, and it's fine to move around inside as long as you watch your volume."
"But it can't stop. Once it stops, the internal alarm system activates, and the alarm sound over 60 decibels will attract the xenomorphs."
He paused for two seconds. "When I first arrived, there were eight people on this bus. Four died in the xenomorphs' mouths, and one starved to death."
"Someone actually starved to death! With xenomorphs and no food, we're all doomed!" Wang Chaoqing couldn't help but interrupt.
Xu Huo turned to look at her. "Dying to xenomorphs is unavoidable, but no one here will starve. If you really can't find food, you can use each other to fill your stomachs."