Ashes And DustCh20 - X Means Indefinite

Residential instance world

The man nodded. ‘Yes, that’s the one. Although, it seems that it’s not worth too much since the rule is rarely kept.’ yZXimD

‘Yeah, there was an issue in my last instance too, eleven players with only four veterans. They actually sent a representative to deal with the situation.’

Yang Meili tried to interrupt him, ‘Wait, explain this to me. What’s the two-third rule? Is it bad?’

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Meeting the two’s interested gazes, Zhai Xiaoyi decided to sum it up briefly. ‘It’s a regulation set by the Bureau to guarantee the safety of players. It basically just means that two-third or more of the total number of players must be veterans. That is a problem for us, because..’

Yu Qinyan understood first. ‘Because only half of the players present are veteran players. The both of us are new.’ DCFrS3

Wei Cai nodded. ‘It is highly possible that we’ll have an unheralded visitor soon. Right, I haven’t been able to take a good look at this place at all. Have you guys found the rule plaque yet?’

Zhai Xiaoyi shook his head. Frankly, he had completely forgotten that there was such a thing here he had to look for. ‘I woke up last night on the couch. Then I saw a ghost, and ran into Yu Qinyan. I didn’t even dare use the lights, don’t mention actively looking for anything.’

Yu Qinyan patted his shoulder, ‘That’s right, he was terrified when he came into my room. Could you guys elaborate on what this plaque thing is?’

This time, it was Wei Cai who spoke. He explained the usual rules, as well as a couple of other things that might be considered basic knowledge. ‘In conclusion, once we find the rule plaque and remember to keep the NPC’s rules in mind, we should be alright.’

Z fqW9

Yu Qinyan let out a hum as a sign of his understanding. He asked, ‘Where can this plaque be then? The apartment isn’t too big from what I’ve seen, but there didn’t seem to be anything like what you described in the living room when we were coming over. Is it possible that it’s somewhere else?’

Zhai Xiaoyi looked outside, ‘Let’s check then. It’s most likely in a community place from what I know. For example, in my last world it was simply displayed in the dining room. Of course, that was a D level world, but I don’t think this instance would necessarily want us to not find it.’

Wei Cai agreed, ‘It should be fairly easy to find. I’ve been to an A rank world before, and it was hidden with some starting evidence we needed to find anyway. So even if that’s the case..’

Yang Meili understood. ‘If it’s hidden, that’s just good for us as long as we’re efficient enough when we search.’ A8Bvyz

They decided to look through the living room first, as this place had the most chance of containing the plaque.

Yu Qinyan was rummaging through the small tables and similar surfaces when he looked up just to see Wei Cai looking over. He asked him, ‘Have you ever been to a modern world?’

Wei Cai was somewhat taken aback by the question, but he shook his head honestly.

Yu Qinyan acknowledged him with a low hum. ‘So you’ve never seen a similar setting before?’ DudHxb

‘No. What are you getting at?’

Yu Qinyan stood up, dusting his knees off. ‘Then we’re approaching this from the completely wrong angle. Isn’t it natural that people in worlds without technology spend their time in community spaces? Aren’t meals supposed to be the most important parts of their days?’

Zhai Xiaoyi stopped moving as he paid attention to his words. He appeared to be deep in thought.

Yu Qinyan didn’t give up on leading them to the solution. ‘So what’s something important in this world? In the eyes of someone who lives here. Something they might do every day.’ mkYvRE

He looked around, before his gaze stopped on the small, old TV under the windows. He gestured towards it as he looked at the others. ‘The TV’s clearly in a central position in the room. If you..’ He walked forward, pressing a couple of buttons, ‘If you turn it on, you might find what you’re looking for.’

‘Of course, this is just a conjecture..’

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The TV lit up, and thousands of moving black and white points appeared on the screen. This strange ant-hill moved and swirled together, as bold words became visible amidst the small dots.

[Rules-] DA6hbs

[I. Survive for X days, or find the murderer-]

[II. Find the victim-]

[III. Follow your story-]

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

[IV. Act your role-] c7vakW

Te Hlcsjc ogbkcfv. Aera jr tf kjr jybea ab rqfjx, atf KN rlhhifv, jcv yijmxfcfv obg j wbwfca. Coafg atf qlmaegf mjwf yjmx, la tjv jc jvvlalbcji ilcf.

[Violation of the fourteenth amendment detected-]

Ktf rmgffc yfmjwf yijcx yfobgf oijrtlcu eq jujlc, atlr alwf klat jcbatfg rfcafcmf.

[Calculation of the degree of compensation needed-] Gpg8Yi

Pa vjgxfcfv obg rfnfgji rfmbcvr atlr alwf. Coafg la mjwf yjmx bc, bcis bcf ilcf gfwjlcfv.

[Mode of compensation: NPC visit-]

It didn’t flash again after that. Zhai Xiaoyi looked at Wei Cai with confusion. ‘Have you seen anything like that before?’

Wei Cai shook his head yet again. ‘No, this is my first time being compensated.’ p IKtw

‘That’s not what I meant. I was talking about the story part.’ Zhai Xiaoyi gestured towards the screen.

‘Ah? Yes, my last world was also a B rank one. From rank C, there are different versions of scripts in each world.’

‘Luckily we didn’t get pulled into a higher ranking instance, otherwise we might have to act the entire thing out.’

‘Since this is only a B level world, we just have to vaguely follow the events of the story. It’s a looser concept and there is no need for acting skills either.’ rjVyf8

Yu Qinyan asked, ‘This script, is it supposed to be a physical object? Or can it be like the rule plaque, for example a file on a computer or on a smartphone?’

Wei Cai thought about it. ‘We can’t leave out any possibilities, but let’s check for paper based stuff first.’

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Zhai Xiaoyi agreed. ‘It’s most likely to be close to where we woke up since it’s supposed to be an important way of completing the tasks.’

He walked to the couch, and sat down as he began looking through the magazines on the coffee table. The others all followed his example and went into their respective rooms to rummage through the things they could find, except for Yang Meili. vUMzDn

She kept standing in front of the TV as she read the text again and again, apparently not planning to leave and search.

After the other two left, she walked to the couch and sat down next to Zhai Xiaoyi, caution still in her movements.

She nudged him before whispering to him, ‘The X, what is it supposed to mean?’

Zhai Xiaoyi looked up to her, confusion evident in his expression. ‘What do you mean?’ nR6tP7

‘The X.. You know, how much is it?’

‘The X in the first rule?’ Wei Cai’s voice came from inside the room. It seemed that his hearing was especially exceptional.

Yang Meili jumped up to her feet, almost tripping in a stack of newspapers that were bound together.

‘I’ll take that as a yes.’ Wei Cai walked outside, a pile of documents in his hands. ’It is indefinite.’ oC2S1A

‘What do you mean?’ It was Zhai Xiaoyi who asked yet again.

Wei Cai placed the papers on the ground, and sat down next to the pile. He spoke with an indifferent expression as he began to look through them methodically. ‘There is no real survival task in worlds ranked higher than C. Take it as if the first half of the rule was just there for decoration. It doesn’t mean anything.’

‘So the only way to leave is to solve the mystery.’ Zhai Xiaoyi laughed. He wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to feel about the situation.

Wei Cai nodded, ‘Or to die.’ nKI8j4

Yang Meili was on the verge of crying from fright. ‘How can you just say that?! I..’

‘Don’t take it like that.’ Wei Cai was quick to appease her. ‘The situation isn’t as bad as it seems.’

That didn’t help Yang Meili in calming down at all. She sniffled quietly and was just about to say something when Yu Qinyan’s voice sounded from his room. ‘I found something.’

Zhai Xiaoyi and Wei Cai stood up quickly as they hurried to the third room, leaving Yang Meili behind alone. She blinked slowly and her expression became blank for a moment before she followed them. jkqMYd

Inside the room, Yu Qinyan was sitting in front of an old computer. He turned away from the screen to look at his arriving teammates as he spoke. ‘I was right, again. There was a document titled ‘the script’ on the desktop. Quite crude if you ask me. Nonetheless, it seems to be what we’re looking for.’

There was a document open on the screen. It did indeed look like a screenplay.

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Yu Qinyan started reading it aloud. ‘Exterior, a bright street in the city, 2008, night. Fade in, an overhead view of a tranquil scene. Four people are walking down the street, their voices and laughter overlap with the sounds of the city.’

‘The background noise grows, and their words become less and less audible. The noise turns into low hissing, the sound gets louder until it masks all other noises, cut to silence and the title card.’ nKcCs

‘Interior, the inside of a small kitchen. Actor1 is sitting down, Actor2 is staring outside through the small window, while Actor4 and Actor5 are talking to Landlord Luo. The ringing is back after the momentary silence. Actor2’s face shows deep contempt.’

‘The ringing grows louder as Actor2 slowly turns his head first, then his entire body towards the inside of the room. The ringing overlaps with voices, gradually growing louder until he stops turning. The ringing stops, and the voices become more strident, oppressive. Actor2 frowns.’

Actor2 turned towards the others inside the kitchen. He looked at the poorly decorated walls in the dim light coming from the single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. The light moved slightly, making the shadows on the faces of everyone present shift at a terrifying angle.

‘One voice dominates now, Actor4 speaks to Landlord Luo.’ smo1b5

Actor4 spoke to Landlord Luo, his arm tightening around Actor5’s waist. Actor5 leant on his shoulder comfortably. ‘We’ll rent it out. We don’t need the place for a long time, a month at most.’

Landlord Luo nodded. ‘That is fine. The building will be closed off in december.. You can stay until then if you’re willing to pay.’

Actor1 stood up. He walked towards the door, ‘We’ll trouble you to show us around then.’

Landlord Luo’s expression changed drastically. ‘Now? It is so late already. You young people, come back tomorrow morning and you can move in directly. No need to go up tonight then..’ PvyGri

‘We’ll go by ourselves then. You don’t need to worry about our luggage, we’ve brought everything over already.’ This was the first time that Actor2 spoke. His expression was cold, somewhat fierce even.

Landlord Luo agreed reluctantly, standing up to open a locked box hung on the wall, which had the spare keys to all of the apartments. He fiddled with the keys for a moment before handing over two of them to Actor4. ‘C3 is on the second floor. Floor A is the ground floor, and the elevator doesn’t work on floors B to H. You’re better off taking the stairs up.’

Actor4 nodded, and the four left after saying their goodbyes to the landlord. They all grabbed their bags from the pile in the corridor before they left to look for the stairs.

‘Internal, the stairway leading up to the second floor. The lights sizzle and flash, sometimes on, sometimes off..’ Ev6tiA

The lighting in the stairway was really bad. The lights kept turning off from time to time, which made it hard for the group to see the way in front of themselves. They took each step with caution, and it took them a long time to reach the second floor.

Actor1 threw his bag to the ground before accepting a key from Actor4 and opening the door. He pushed it in, and as the first one who stepped inside, he was also first to choose a room to occupy.

Actor4 and Actor5 put their bags down in the only other bedroom, while Actor2 chose to stay on the couch in the living room.

‘Internal. The living room of the apartment, the characters leave their rooms to discuss the situation… That’s all.’ Yu Qinyan’s voice came to a halt. BXd7sh

Wei Cai, who had been staring at the ground as he listened, looked up. ‘That’s it?’

Yu Qinyan nodded. ‘The rest of the document is empty. I’m guessing that there will be more once we need to do something.’

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The room sank into silence, which was broken by Zhai Xiaoyi after a couple of minutes of thinking. ‘The script said that we all had bags, no? Maybe there is more information about who the actors are supposed to be.

Wei Cai agreed, ‘That might be the lead we are supposed to find. Other than that, what else did you all notice?’ r7zvY2

Yang Meili spoke up. She was sitting on the side of the bed and she looked towards the screen of the computer. ‘Uuh.. The landlord is afraid of coming upstairs late at night, that’s probably a clue.’

Yu Qinyan tapped the desk in front of himself, ‘Also, he said that the building will be closed off this december. Putting those together..’

‘Something happened here that makes him afraid to come up at night even afterwards, something bad enough for the entire building to be closed off. But not bad enough for him to not rent the apartments out until the closing.’

Zhai Xiaoyi pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning on. ‘Let’s go out and see if there’s anything interesting in the bags.’ He walked back to the living room to search Actor2’s bag. I1D3cT

The others followed him outside. There weren’t many things in the bags other than some snacks and thick books.

It seemed that these people never really intended to stay in the apartment for the entirety of the month, as there weren’t any clothes in any of their bags.

Yang Meili opened one of the books from her bag out of curiosity, and saw countless pages filled with strange symbols and diagrams, as well as small notes that explained some of them.

She showed it to Wei Cai who was sitting nearby. ‘Look. Do you think we’re supposed to be daoists?’ nUBhPu

‘Huh?’ Wei Cai’s expression was completely blank.

‘Because of the diagrams and array designs and whatnot.’

Wei Cai took the book from her. He scrutinised a couple of pages before handing it back to Yang Meili.

‘I don’t think we’re daoists specifically, but whatever we do is probably connected to magic.’ He showed her another book, one that was filled with descriptions of different kinds of ghosts and monsters. ‘This is just the first one from my bag. The fact that we brought all of these books with ourselves means that we were getting ready for some strange encounters.’ vpdfyz

Yu Qinyan agreed, ‘This could be what the landlord is afraid of, explaining why we still decided to spend the night here. Since we came here looking for something, we naturally wouldn’t turn back and go home just because we have a better chance at finding it.’

‘It’s just that the characters didn’t expect that it would be us who woke up in their stead.’ Zhai Xiaoyi closed the book in his hands.

He put it away before leaning back on the couch, ‘Which means that the instance is most likely about ghost hunters. The thing they’re looking for could be what I met last night, or something else. In the second scenario, the ghost I saw yesterday is just additional trouble.’

Wei Cai thought about it. ‘Then whoever the ghost had been in its life is the victim?’ VImMlK

Zhai Xiaoyi nodded, ‘In which case we just need to find out who he was and who had a grudge against him, which will get us straight to the murderer.’

Yu Qinyan asked, ‘But there is something I don’t understand. Did they try to summon the ghost last night? Something important must have happened inbetween the time the characters arrived and when we woke up.’

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‘You’re right in that there’s an important detail missing there.’ Zhai Xiaoyi fell deep in thought. ‘What if we can’t see the parts of the script that haven’t happened yet? If that’s where the difficulty of the instance lies, and we have to figure it all out by ourselves?’

Wei Cai shook his head slowly. ‘That’s probably not the case. But even if it is, can’t we just solve the mystery without hints? Don’t forget that this isn’t more than a simple thriller story, there shouldn’t be too many difficulties.’ IubKiX

Yang Meili put her bag down before she asked, ‘Then should we go and ask the landlord about him? What if he doesn’t want to tell us?’

‘Then we won’t ask directly. We’ll ask about why he was afraid to come up with us last night, maybe about recent disappearances in the residential area.’ Zhai Xiaoyi shrugged. He turned to Wei Cai, ‘Do you think the landlord has something to do with his death?’

‘Maybe.’ Wei Cai didn’t waste any time talking around it. ‘We have barely any information and it doesn’t look like the script is about to help us out, which is why we have to directly go and ask him.’

‘It may look like we have indefinite time to solve the case because of the first task, but we shouldn’t stay for too long. The minds of those who do.. It’s not a pretty sight afterwards.’ He stood up, walking to the door. KJ2dNM

He was just about to open it, when suddenly loud knocking came from the outside. Wei Cai’s hand froze mid-air, and he looked back at the three sitting around the coffee table.

The same question was reflected in all of their gazes. Open it or not?

The knocking stopped for a moment before starting again, a lot louder and stronger this time.


The author has something to say: UL4bJE

One day I will rewrite all of this and we’ll laugh together at how bad it used to be.  At least I hope so. That might take some time though. In the meantime, I hope you can all have a wonderful day today and do something you love doing!

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2 comments

  1. I dont think it is bad at all? I think you’re doing a good job with the descriptions and details.

    thanks for the chapter <3

    • Thank you for the kind words! My main problem is that I feel that I could do much better. But I feel like I finally found where the problem lies and the best way to change it up! I’m mostly satisfied with the chapters around the 30th and so on, which can be called a good beginning. Thank you so much for reading!