Chapter 106: Falling into a Misunderstanding
Late at night, two flashlights hung in the gas station to serve as lighting. Several players hadn't rested; some sat, some stood, occasionally glancing at Wang Chaoqing.
Xu Huo patted his pants and walked outside. Gu Yu quickly called out to him, "Where are you going?"
"For a smoke." Xu Huo didn't go far, just to the street across the way.
After a moment, Shen Yi walked over, handed him a bottle of water, and asked to borrow a light.
The two crouched by the roadside, smoking.
"That kick you gave me was pretty hard." Shen Yi rubbed his ribs. Seeing Xu Huo turn his head, he smiled and added, "Don't misunderstand, I'm not blaming you."
"The game is a life-and-death battleground. It's not strange to do anything to survive. Your intentions were good, and you didn't really mean to harm us. On the contrary, if we had followed Lin Pei, we might have ended up like Wu Qiuyi."
Xu Huo paused, his fingers stilling. His gaze fell on the restroom across the way, now split in two by his blade. Gu Yu had already carried Wu Qiuyi out.
"Why bother?" he murmured.
Shen Yi heard his muttering and said with self-mockery, "To us, it's a comfort."
"Before coming to this instance, my sister and I joined a local player association. It was formed by a few players spontaneously, to band together for warmth."
"To get through tough times together, we scoured for tickets from the same station. But before we could find any, several companions got pulled into a random instance and all died."
"You didn't see what they looked like. Their bodies were gnawed to pieces, not by large animals, but by small ones like cats or dogs. One of them was still breathing when he came out, and he fell into his mother's soup pot... She thought he'd been out fooling around..."
"Who knows when we'll die too. At least I hope someone will give us a shred of dignity. Not being left to rot in the wilderness—that's the bare minimum."
Xu Huo flicked his ash. "Players might get eaten by mutants after death, or by cannibal players, turned into cans, served on tables. Compared to that, rotting in the wilderness is more dignified."
Shen Yi choked, then said after a long pause, "Talking to you is really hard."
Xu Huo smiled.
After finishing their cigarettes, Shen Yi went back to rest. Gu Yu and the others gradually started dozing off.
The night passed without any disturbances in the town.
"Get up." Xu Huo nudged Wang Chaoqing, who was dozing under the clock.
Wang Chaoqing was in the middle of a sweet dream but jumped up at the sight of him, wiping his drool and saying, "Good morning, Brother Xu!"
"Found anyone yet?" Xu Huo squinted at him.
Wang Chaoqing put on a flattering smile. "Brother Xu, look, the town's big. It takes time, right?"
Xu Huo surprisingly didn't press him and instead asked, "Did you find anything unusual underground?"
"Unusual?" Wang Chaoqing looked clueless. "No, it's all pitch black down there. Can't see a thing."
"What about Master Nisse's residence?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow at him.
Wang Chaoqing dared not admit he hadn't gone. "It's all messed up inside. Didn't see Lin Pei."
Xu Huo nodded and turned to Gu Yu and the others. "Let's check the east gate first."
"Neither gate has moved. The game hasn't notified anyone of clearing the instance. Looks like Lin Pei hasn't escaped." Shen Xin's face lit up with relief. After a night's rest, she looked much better.
"Random instances don't have rankings. Besides, none of us are ticket players. Even if someone clears it, the rest might not know." Gu Yu, well-connected, knew a bit about random instances. "When a ticket player clears it, random players can follow through, but random players don't seem connected to each other. They have to clear it on their own."
"So we can't be sure Lin Pei has left. Better be careful."
The group set out for the east gate.
To guard against possible mutants, the six split into two groups, keeping some distance.
At the edge of town, piles of scrapped cars lay around. Ke Liang went ahead to find a usable one, while Wang Chaoqing and Shen Yi buried Nian Hong'an.
Though the gas station was relatively close to the east gate, they still had to cross a sizable forest. Using a car would save time and be safer.
"This one works." Gu Yu found a small truck. After starting it, she confirmed it was drivable.
They cleared a path together. Ke Liang drove, Shen Xin rode shotgun, and the others sat in the truck bed.
The familiar engine sound echoed through the small forest. Gu Yu looked around nervously, occasionally startled by sudden noises from the vehicle.
Seeing the others watching her, Gu Yu laughed. "After a few days here, I've gotten unused to sounds. Afraid a loud noise might attract mutants."
"If there were still mutants roaming the town, they wouldn't have waited until now." Shen Yi tried to reassure her.
"I'm afraid Lin Pei might release them," Gu Yu said.
"He wouldn't dare." Ke Liang rested one hand on the car door, his tone mocking. "As long as he's still hiding from us, he won't dare release mutants. One-on-one, he wouldn't even be a warm-up for them."
The truck soon passed by an abandoned bus and reached the wall gate.
They all jumped out one by one. Shen Xin looked up at the towering wall. "No matter how many times I see it, it's still stunning."
Xu Huo stopped five meters from the gate. The Crimson Sword, carrying a dark red glow, slashed down. A semi-transparent rectangular slice emerged from the blade, but when it hit the gate, it dissipated like dust.
Gu Yu rushed over quickly, touching the spot where he'd struck, and said disappointedly, "Not even a mark."
"Try somewhere else." Xu Huo attempted other spots besides the gate. He even directly hacked at the wall with the sword. After several strikes, only cat-scratch-like marks remained.
The others knocked and tapped on the wall for a while but found no hidden doors or secret passages.
"Looks like we have to go back to town to search."
This was expected by Xu Huo. He didn't look as disappointed as the others. "First, go to Master Nisse's residence."
The truck rumbled back to town. Master Nisse's residence was indeed a mess, as Wang Chaoqing had said. Some fine ornaments were smashed to pieces, and even the clocks hadn't escaped.
"He really is looking for something."
"At this point, it can't just be for an item, can it?"
"Could there really be something like a key? Or is the opening mechanism here?"
"Search separately," Xu Huo said.
He didn't have a full understanding of super items, nor did he know what information Lin Pei had. Whether Lin Pei was taking a risk for a super item or trying to leave the instance was uncertain.
But since he was so fixated on this place, he would definitely come back to find them.
The group searched every corner of the room repeatedly but found no hidden mechanisms, secret doors, or anything resembling a key.
"How strange. With so many doors in this house, there's not a single key." Gu Yu complained. "Did this town never lock its doors?"
"These doors can be opened without keys." Shen Xin pushed a door. "The keyholes are just decorations."
"Keyholes are just decorations." Xu Huo repeated the phrase. Suddenly, he thought of the wall gate, which fit together seamlessly like a built-in part, unlike ordinary doors. Maybe the method to open the gate could be unconventional too.
"We've fallen into a misunderstanding."