“You finally noticed me?” Qian Ai said through clenched teeth, glaring at his two former classmates. “What happened to bringing your little cousin on vacation?”
Xu Wang shot a look towards Kuang Jinxin. “That’s him.”
Wu Sheng, unaccustomed to being outdone, raised an eyebrow. “What happened to eating your way around the country?”
Qian Ai brought out a sausage meat sandwich and took a giant bite out of it. As he chewed, he muttered, “In this day and age, you can’t even trust your old classmates!”
Kuang Jinxin, who had no idea what was going on, stared at Qian Ai, then at Wu Sheng and Xu Wang. It was extremely difficult to think clearly with the enticing smell of the meat sandwich billowing through the air. “Is this… our new team?”
After a short exchange, the two parties shared each of their grievances.
Xu Wang, Wu Sheng, and Kuang Jinxin didn’t have much to add aside from the fact that after they submitted the first task, they headed straight over to this place; in contrast, Qian Ai had had it much worse. In his team, he was the only one who was willing to come here, so he had no choice but to withdraw. But after he got here, he couldn’t get into a new team no matter what, so he ended up wandering aimlessly around in Owl every single night until 5 AM. Such circumstances had already persisted for three days straight.
As they say, Led by a thread on an owl’s call, cherish fate that has brought us together¹.
It would be a lie to say this turn of events was unsurprising, but aside from the shock, there was also a trace of pleasant surprise—Better with someone familiar than someone new, better to keep rich waters in one’s own fields. It didn’t take any hesitation for them to decide to join hands and work together.
This time, there were only three names listed in the roster, all with 1/23 tasks submitted. Not counting Qian Ai, the other two weren’t names that they’d seen previously; in fact, the names they’d seen listed last night weren’t there at all, including Sun Jiang.
Since Qian Ai had been here three days longer than them, he’d figured some things out: “The only people you can add to your team are people who are within the boundaries of your designated coordinates. For example in Beijing, you can only invite members that are also in Beijing. Here, you can only add members that are here, because otherwise, how can you submit tasks when you’re not even in the same place?”
This sounded logical; last night, Sun Jiang had been in the roster but Qian Ai hadn’t, and now it was vice versa.
Qian Ai was successfully added to the team, but his feelings were complicated. “Was this place created just to mess with our entire class?”
Xu Wang felt the same. All of these former classmates had been struggling and working hard to make a living for themselves, scattered throughout the world. Fate had brought them together again, but instead, they were stuck in a supernatural conundrum of mass proportions. It was truly tragic—if their homeroom teacher were here, they’d definitely hug them one by one in pity.
Unlike the other two, Wu Sheng wasn’t filled with such sentimental feelings. After Qian Ai joined the team, he immediately set off investigating their surroundings and searching for any possible dangers or clues. However, his search yielded no results. Instead, a new doubt had formed in his mind. When they were in the snowfield, after Sun Jiang withdrew from the team, he’d disappeared. But when they saw Qian Ai, he hadn’t joined the team yet. The two circumstances didn’t logically line up with each other.
Right at that moment, Kuang Jinxin suddenly let out a shout that interrupted Wu Sheng’s thoughts. “I remember now! I was wondering why this name sounded so familiar!” His face shone with the victory of having brought the fog of memory to his feet. He turned excitedly towards Wu Sheng and Xu Wang. “Brother Wu, Brother Xu, he’s the Qian Ai you guys mentioned during the idiom game, isn’t he? The one that eats like a tornado!”
Qian Ai’s eyes got narrower and narrower as Kuang Jinxin spoke. When he finally turned to the other two, his eyes were practically slits. “Old classmates, wanna give an explanation?”
Wu Sheng laid his hands out amicably. “We were simply stating a fa—”
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.
Xu Wang clasped a hand over Wu Sheng’s mouth before he could harm their team spirit and beamed a huge, friendly smile at Qian Ai. “You see, it’s a long story…”
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Everyone looked down at their wrists. — <Cheat Sheet>—<Traveler Kuang Jinxin, Traveler Qian Ai, Traveler Wu Sheng, Traveler Xu Wang, please head to Counter G4 to check in to your flight.>
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As expected, Owl would not send out these notifications to team-less players. Task 2/23 had officially begun.
Nothing changed in their surroundings, but anxiety wracked each one of them.
G4 was located not far off in front of them. A handsome man worked the counter. The space before the counter was barren and empty; there were no other travelers waiting to check in. The four of them approached the counter, and before they could say a word, the man had already printed out four boarding passes, which he tosses onto the counter without looking up. “Go through security, Gate 17. Better hurry, or you’ll be late.”
His voice was low, and sounded dangerously magnetic.
Xu Wang meant to talk to him for a bit more, but the man suddenly placed a “temporarily out of service” placard on his desk and left without turning back. He walked extremely fast, disappearing behind the baggage belt in the blink of an eye like some kind of specter.
Xu Wang stared at the empty counter. Goosebumps traveled over his skin. “Was he… a real person?”
“No idea. At least if you talk to him, he’ll answer anything you ask.” Qian Ai was experienced from his three days of being stuck here with nothing to do and had thoroughly chatted to almost everyone he’d seen in this place. “But as soon as you suggest that this place isn’t real, that it isn’t the real world, they either can’t understand, or look at you as if you’re mad.”
“NPC,” mumbled Kuang Jinxin, who’d been uncharacteristically quiet up till now, “they’re like NPCs in a video game.”
“Not exactly,” Qian Ai said. “NPCs generally have two or three lines that they repeat over and over, but I talked to them so much that I practically even learned all about their families and ancestors. No matter how you converse with them, whether it’s in a straightforward or roundabout method, whether you spontaneously talk about random topics that don’t connect or not, they have an answer for everything.”
“AI,” Wu Sheng cut in. He was staring at the people passing by, so fixated that he looked like he was scanning their programming. “Technology is so advanced that AI is capable of having fluid conversations with humans in the real world, let alone here.”
Yes, let alone here. A supernatural space where anything could happen, treacherous and cunning and capable of dragging people inside at will. Never mind AI, you couldn’t even really say that these people weren’t all volunteer actors.
Ding——
<Traveler Kuang Jinxin, Traveler Qian Ai, Traveler Wu Sheng, Traveler Xu Wang, please proceed through security as soon as possible and head to Gate 17 for boarding!>
The notification in <Cheat Sheet> sounded like an urgent prompting.
Whatever comes, comes. Without any more hesitation, the group rushed to security.
Naturally, there was nothing much to check for on any of them. After passing through security successfully, they entered a departure lobby. Xu Wang noticed that Kuang Jinxin was in low spirits the whole time—of course, no one was exactly jumping up and down in this messed up place, but Kuang Jinxin had always been energetic and lively, so it was abnormal for him to be so quiet. After inquiring, he learned that the boy had been patiently awaiting his turn through security with his big hiking bag, but after entering the lobby, his bag hadn’t come with him.
It’s not that there’d been any valuables in the bag, but they were necessities that Kuang Jinxin had poured his heart into selecting. According to him, he’d prepared for everything, be it food, beverages, items to fight the cold and the heat, for overnight trekking, dancing, or singing… With all those things lost, he was overcome by frustration.
Xu Wang patted the little brother’s shoulder and consoled him with the confidence of someone with experience. “Don’t worry, it won’t be lost. From my experience, your bag will probably be waiting for you on the floor of the hotel.”
“But there weren’t any dangerous items in there!” Kuang Jinxin looked piteous with his long, drawn-out brows.
“Then your bag was too big!” Xu Wang knocked him on the forehead. “Alright, get it together. No matter how much you sulk, the bag isn’t coming back. Keep looking forward, we still don’t even know what kind of hell is waiting for us on the plane.”
“I’ve suddenly thought of a problem.” Wu Sheng, who’d been walking up front, suddenly swiveled around. “If we bounce back into reality from the plane, objectively speaking, would that be akin to jumping out of a building?”
Xu Wang nearly crashed into him. He’d just regained his balance when Wu Sheng threw down his horrifying conjecture. “Can’t you say something more auspicious?”
Wu Sheng cocked his head to the side, thinking. Then he answered himself. “I don’t think so, if it can send you out the moment the bear pounced on you, that means there’s confirmation of at least basic safety parametres. There shouldn’t be a “bouncing back to reality from a plane” bug. Okay, I’m fine now.”
Xu Wang: “……”
Kuang Jinxin: “Brother Wu, I’m sure you’re fine now…..”
Qian Ai: “But now we’re not!!!”
The departure gates’ hall seemed to go on forever, with Gate 17 mysteriously not appearing, as if it existed only within a legend. Because the four of them kept walking, and walking, and passed the gates 1, 2, 3, 4, to 20, then 30, but there was still no Gate 17 until about twenty minutes later, when it magically revealed itself.
According to their calculations, they’d walked about 1.5-2 kilometres. This time, <Cheat Sheet> hadn’t provided any maps or designation points, but 1.5-2 kilometres was precisely the distance between the hotel and Zhenbeitai.
They had their tickets scanned, then boarded the plane, the stewardess sending them off with a warm, beautiful smile.
According to the seats designated by their plane tickets, they were seated in first class (Wu Sheng), business (Kuang Jinxin), economy near the wings (Qian Ai), and economy at the back of the plane (Xu Wang). After they settled into their seats, the plane began rolling on the tarmac, and a second later, Xu Wang felt the loss of gravity as his ears popped—The plane had taken off.
What if they bounced back into reality while on the flight?
Xu Wang hated Wu Sheng for bringing the issue up, because it had taken root in his subconscious and bloomed, making even the partially healed wound on his shoulder start throbbing in pain again.
“Don’t be nervous, the discomfort will only last during takeoff and landing. The plane will steady itself soon,” came a friendly voice from beside him.
Xu Wang turned and saw that it was his neighbour, a middle-aged man with glasses. He looked intelligent and elegant, with the air of a scholar or professor.
“Your first time on a plane?” he continued, when Xu Wang didn’t respond, although his inquiry sounded half-hearted, as if he was just making small talk and trying to dispel the awkwardness of the silence.
The man’s voice was easygoing and friendly, unlike the guy who’d checked them in at the counter, but the residual creepiness Xu Wang had from that encounter left him unable to rest at ease, his senses still on alert. “What’s your name?” he asked sharply, his thoughts a jumble.
Brief surprise flashed across the man’s eyes; he seemed to wonder, “Who talks to people like that?”
Xu Wang watched the emotions that flitted across his neighbour’s face and almost seemed to believe he was a real person, until he opened his mouth: “I’m Yin 100, what about you?”
How terrible one’s parents must have to be to end up with such a name.
Still, Xu Wang persisted and turned to the young girl on his right. “What’s your name?”
She smiled. “Mu 98.”
Xu Wang looked past her to the traveler across the aisle. “What are your names?”
The three passengers sitting in the last row on the other side turned to look at him simultaneously, then reported in succession—
“Ping 95.”
“Huang 96.”
“He 97.”
Xu Wang stare at their smiling faces, but could not bring himself to smile back.
[Four more hours~~]
The devious voice sounded in his ear, peculiarity hidden within its cheerfulness, frostiness hidden within its playfulness.
Xu Wang was way too familiar with this voice.
It sent him home.
It congratulated him during task submission.
But “four more hours”? What did that mean?
The question barely flashed across his mind before a passenger sitting somewhere near the wings began screeching, “There’s a bomb here, ahhhhhh—————”
…..Well, it couldn’t get any more matter-of-fact than that.
Is there something missing here:
” According to him, no matter what”
Will they have to disarm the bomb?
Thanks for the chapter <3
Thank you! That was just my own stupidity, somehow I forgot to finish the paragraph. 😅
Thank you for the chapter 💕