Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-CherryApple, Proofreader-Woojoo
Nan Zhou was slightly stunned.
His eyes focused on the waves in front of him as if he were recalling something.
The sea in front of him reflected his face like a mirror.
Occasionally, there were fine ripples like spasms from the depths breaking the tranquility of the sea.
It was as though the ocean was waiting, listening intently for Nan Zhou’s response.
This is what confused Nan Zhou the most.
——The answer should be “nothing”.
In [Never Town], he was the only person with a consciousness, and there was no existence that could be referred to as a friend.
Later, when [Never Town] opened to the world, he lost his memory.
By the time he woke up on the bus, he was with Jiang Fang and Li Yinhang.
They were all quite friendly, but there was still a barrier between him and “them”.
Despite Jiang Fang’s obvious desire to befriend him, Nan Zhou had not decided whether or not to accept Jiang Fang as a friend.
The rules of the game were very clear.
The questions asked by the Sea of Memory had collected all the data and confirmed that they could be answered by the trio.
It seems that it was used to judge human emotions with quantitative data.
Nan Zhou always had a good memory and was also a person who was good at quantifying his emotions with various standards and data.
But his current problem was that his memories lack very important, objective, and referential data.
In other words, if he wanted to score he might need to answer blindly.
Nan Zhou set the glass bottle steadily at his side.
He asked, “What is the standard for intimacy?”
The little mermaid replied, “It can be anything. The sea of memories will make an assessment based on whether your memories are correct or not.”
Nan Zhou, “Why should we trust its assessment?”
Little Mermaid, “The Sea of Memory is objective and does not lie.”
Nan Zhou confirms, “It doesn’t lie?”
Little Mermaid: “Yes.”
Nan Zhou: “Then what is the single happiest thing I’ve ever done together with my same-sex friend?”
Little Mermaid, “……”
Nan Zhou, “How can I trust it to not lie if it doesn’t verify?”
The little mermaid, “……”
Seeing that the little mermaid closed her mouth firmly and didn’t intend to answer, Nan Zhou did not continue to press her anymore.
He also understood that the Sea of Memory’s authenticity of memory evaluation is the most essential set of game character functions, just like the full moon that can constrain him in all directions.
If the authenticity of the evaluation results could be manipulated, then the players would not show up at all and would have absolute jurisdiction in front of the Sea of Memory, which would be equivalent to being a defenseless white mouse waiting for death.
The balance of the game would no longer exist.
The only problem was how they are going to use their memories to fit the scale of the Sea of Memories.
Nan Zhou asked another question, “How can the Sea of Memory know the content of my memories?”
The little mermaid spoke again and explained, “This rock that you are on is the hub.”
Nan Zhou, “Oh.”
He put his fingertips on the head of his seahorse-shaped rock, groped around, pinched the corner of the rock with his long fingertips and with a little force –
There was a click.
The head of the seahorse broke away from its body.
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.
Ktf ilaaif wfgwjlv ogbhf, “……”
Ktf gffo kjr ilxf rbwf xlcv bo mgfjaegf klat ragbcu gfrabgjalnf qbkfg jcv la ugfk yjmx jujlc lc j wbwfca.
Rjc Itbe atgfk atf ygbxfc tfjv lcab atf vfqatr bo atf rfjyfv jcv gfqfjafv atf rjwf aglmx, ygfjxlcu boo atf rfjtbgrf’r tfjv.
Vfj bo Zfwbglfr, “……”
——…..Why are you so handsy?
Ktf atlc-rxlccfv ilaaif wfgwjlv vlv cba eaafg atlr rfcafcmf.
Nan Zhou was indeed a handful.
He despises it when someone spies on him.
While fighting against the seahorse, he chatted with the little mermaid, “How long is it until dawn?”
The little mermaid looked up and greeted the bright moonlight, “It’s summer now.”
Nan Zhou also looked up like her and positioned the moon’s trajectory, “Ah. That’s still 4 to 5 hours before the game ends.”
The little mermaid who was familiar with the weather at sea gave an exact time, “It’s 5 hours.”
After hearing Nan Zhou mention the time, Li Yinhang realized what the reason was for Nan Zhou’s inconspicuous frown when she answered.
Just now, her attention was completely attracted by the question.
Probably from the thinking habits developed in her student years, the question came to the forefront and she subconsciously answered, but forgot that the time limit for each question is 15 minutes.
She bit her lip in remorse.
The little mermaid had specified that the game ended at dawn.
Whether you know the answer or not, you should use the wording to stall.
To stall for time, Nan Zhou even asked how the little mermaid usually hunts in the sea.
The little mermaid was gentle, answering every question.
Time passed with the waves.
Jiang Fang off to the side was also silently waiting for the answer.
He knew that Nan Zhou no longer remembered his past self.
Therefore, he didn’t know what Nan Zhou would say.
Jiang Fang only worried that he would say the wrong answer.
Despite that, there was a little expectation in his heart, rooted like a parasite.
The countdown for answering the question entered its final minutes, and the little mermaid looked at him with a hint of silent urging and consternation.
Receiving the signal from the little mermaid, Nan Zhou gave his answer before the time ended, “I was with him. The happiest thing was ……”
Nan Zhou paused, “He hugged me and bit my neck.”
Li Yinhang, “……”
She looked up at the sky, pretending she didn’t hear anything.
The boss is indeed a boss.
She felt she was third wheeling so hard that she was a total cock block, but it was absurd that those two could still somehow find the opportunity to act so wild.
Jiang Fang lowered his head and tightened his fists.
The little mermaid closed her eyes, quietly listening to the Sea of Memory’s reply.
Ten seconds later, she opened her bright eyes again and nodded gently, “Yes. The answer is correct.”
Nan Zhou calmly let out a “huh” in his heart.
——…It is really possible.
He was ready to pay the price.
He unconsciously raised his hand and counted the teeth marks on the back of his neck through the thin clothing.
This bite mark was the most prominent and untrackable trace left on Nan Zhou’s body.
He had speculated about the origin of the bite marks.
Maybe it was someone he had a grudge against or someone he had a love affair with.
According to common sense, it was impossible for him to easily expose such a fragile position to anyone.
Those who could wound him, even if they were not friends, are very close people.
The bite marks bore traces of bullying from top to bottom, and their height was obviously higher than his own. In most cases, they could be identified as being of the same sex.
Nan Zhou believed that it contained a different emotion.
Maybe that person hates and loves to the extreme, that’s why he was so ruthless, wishing to tear him apart.
But because he couldn’t remember if it was love or hate, Nan Zhou could only gamble.
He guessed what kind of scene this bite would be, and what kind of mood he should be in, but once he thought about it deeply the muscles all over his body tensed up like a piece of thin blue velvet wrapping around his body and shrinking.
A slight itch, a slight softness, a slight inability to breathe, and yet very comfortable.
Nan Zhou thought if someone could bite his neck so caringly at that moment, he who had always hoped to have a friend should be happy.
He didn’t notice Jiang Fang’s fingers touching his lips on the side.
The slender index finger tapped the corner of his lips.
There seemed to be a faint taste of blood in the mouth again.
He knew that Nan Zhou was speculating based on the residual marks on his own body.
However, that memory was not very good for Jiang Fang.
The drift bottle drifted in the water, spun freely, and chose the next victim.
The mouth of the bottle was once again aimed at Li Yinhang.
This time the question was: “What are the three things you are most afraid of?”
…Li Yinhang was tongue-tied.
She was afraid of a lot of things. Just flying southern cockroaches, wasps, snakes, and toads could do some internal PK first.
Li Yinhang spent a full fifteen minutes confirming her memory, as well as organizing her language as concisely and cohesively as possible.
She replied, “The death of all people or things.”
“No money.”
“Ghosts and monsters.”
The little mermaid, however, after listening to the sea’s answer lamented, “Wrong.”
“You fear the death of everything.”
“You fear not having money.”
“You fear that you will drag others down because of your inability to do anything, but even so, you are still powerless.”
As the words fell, the paralysis of puppetization extended to the root of Li Yinhang’s thighs.
The two consecutive losses, coupled with the conclusive sentence at the end, caused Li Yinhang’s mind to explode instantly.
This time the game did not require them to expend any physical strength, did not require them to hide, nor did it require them to run for their lives.
Rather, they simply had nowhere to run.
The memories were rooted in their brains.
True fear and dread grew deep in there, too.
She could only use her fingertips to hold the porous rock beneath her.
The icy sea water flowed continuously along the holes, soaking her palm and making her breathing more rapid as her body slightly trembled with the rhythm of the waves.
Her ears were filled with the sharp roar of the tide and the gravitational force of the moon constantly rotating above their heads pulled at her heart, surging and chaotic.
Until she heard Nan Zhou’s cold, moon-like voice.
“You won’t.” Nan Zhou said, “You will not drag anyone down, nor will you fall behind much.”
“As long as you reach out your hand, you can always catch up.”
Li Yinhang opened her eyes in a trance and found a fourth bottle floating on the water, the mouth of which was still aimed at Nan Zhou.
Nan Zhou picked up the bottle and put the two empty glass bottles side by side.
The rustling sound of unfolding the note, accompanied by Nan Zhou’s faint voice talking to her, inexplicably gave her peace of mind.
Li Yinhang forced down the heat in her eyes, dutifully organized her mood, and tried to prepare for the next question that would come at any time.
The question in the bottle that Nan Zhou drew was: “Who is the person of the opposite sex that impresses you the most?”
Since it wasn’t asking for a name, the question wasn’t difficult for Nan Zhou to answer.
After dragging it out for fifteen minutes, Nan Zhou gave his answer.
He said, “There was a lady who had planted an apple tree for me.”
However, when he gave the answer Nan Zhou clearly felt numbness spreading from the bottom of his feet.
He couldn’t help being startled and then stared at his legs which were gradually becoming wooden with a confused expression.
“No,” the little mermaid said, “No.”
Nan Zhou, “…… What’s the answer?”
The little mermaid, “It’s your sister.”
Nan Zhou opened his mouth, wanting to refute.
He admitted that his sister did have a significant impact on his life.
After all, she died because of him.
But in terms of “impressive”, no matter what factors are combined to be assessed, his sister should not take precedence over the apple tree lady.
His sister was a false family member that he had long since been aware of.
The apple tree lady was the first real person he had seen in his long, lonely life.
HIs heartbeat at that moment was like a drum, which could not be duplicated at any time in his life.
Although he only looked at her once, up till now, he could still use the tip of his pen to outline the smile of the lady’s lips.
Ms. Apple Tree’s position in his heart was only a little bit less than that of a friend.
However, when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back.
Nan Zhou rubbed his extremely stiff calf, separated the subject, object, and attributive in the drift bottle one by one, thinking word by word why he answered wrongly.
The final landing point fell on two words.
“The most impressive”.
And “of the opposite sex”.
He couldn’t help but begin to consider a new question he had never considered before.
—Is Ms. Apple Tree a “lady”?
On the fifth spin of the drift bottle, the mouth of the bottle was finally aligned with Jiang Fang for the first time.
So far, they had answered four questions, and nearly 50 minutes had passed.
There were still four hours and ten minutes until dawn.
There were only three people participating in the game, and Jiang Fang hadn’t won the draw until now, so his luck could not be called bad.
He leaned down to pick up the drift bottle swimming toward him, and after shaking the water droplets off the bottle, he took out the folded note.
Seeing the question written in black on white paper, Jiang Fang blinked. The corners of his mouth pursed and his cheeks flushed red.
Without saying a single word, his expression already contained a thousand words of dialogue betraying the heartbeat of an extremely rational and utilitarian man.
Nan Zhou, “What’s the problem?”
With a strange difficulty in his tone, he read out the question on the paper: “The first time you were jealous…and why?”
Li Yinhang, “……”
Why did the question style change when it came to Jiang Fang?
————————-
The author has something to say:
[On how the Sea of Memory deals with players]
Dealing with Li Yinhang: Pierce your heart
Dealing with Nan Zhou: Talking about friends
Dealing with Brother Fang: Public Execution
That author’s comment! 😂😂😂
And poor Yinhang. I think this round is the hardest for her than the guys.
And now I’m really, really curious how Jiang Fang wil answer that. maybe he’ll get it wrong on purpose? Though I am curious if his next question will be the same kind of question.
Thanks for the chapter!
Social downfall for Brother Fang
Thank you for your translation 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗
I can’t tell if it’ll have something to do with his parents or Nan Zhou.