The Midnight OwlCh14 - Retaliation

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[Owl: Someone used <[DEF] Molting Cicada> on you~~]

At the sound of the notification, Xu Wang, Kuang Jinxin, and Qian Ai’s first reaction was: The hell, is there an end to this?! HFtvB8

But the very next second, they landed on ground with a clunk, like potatoes rolling out of the holes of a broken plastic bag. Even though it was painful rolling all over the place like that, the chill and lack of oxygen they’d experienced up in the sky instantly disappeared, leaving them gasping and taking in large gulps of air, the oxygen slowly bringing them back to their senses.

“I can’t believe you managed to remember to use an item.” It took a while for Xu Wang to get his wits back about him. He crawled up and moved his arms and legs experimentally. As expected, all his joints were screaming out in pain, but he hadn’t actually broken any bones. It seemed like their hypothesis was correct. Owl intentionally controlled the amount of damage they could suffer.

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Wu Sheng had already gotten up and was inspecting their surroundings. “It’s my fault. When we saw Qian Ai, I had a suspicion and I should have followed through on it. I shouldn’t have been led astray by the cheat sheet and charged ahead without thinking.”

A “Wu Sheng admitting he’s wrong” was a rare creature indeed. Xu Wang felt his heart soften and gentle words came out of his mouth. “Never mind whose fault it was. If we’re really to find fault, the rest of us three are worse than you, I didn’t even suspect a thing when we ran into Old Qian. I was too busy being surprised and happy.” 9QwlUr

Wu Sheng was still shaking his head. “It’s normal for you people to not notice anything, but I shouldn’t have made such a mistake.”

“…..” The earnest and serious look on his face made Xu Wang want to give him a 360-degree round kick.

He was a stupid pig if he ever softened his heart to this piece of work again!

While they were speaking, Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai also managed to pick themselves up. The former looked pitiful with his frozen red nose and ashen face; he’d, in all likelihood, landed face first on the ground. The latter was a lot better off, shaking his arms and stretching his neck like a sturdy, strong man.

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“Did someone just try to mess with us? And then class representative saved us?” Qian Ai had heard Xu Wang talking about “remembering to use an item” and connected the dots.

“Old Qian,” Xu Wang asked, “when you stayed at the airport for three days, you didn’t run into anyone?”

“I really didn’t.” Qian Ai put his hands up, innocence emanating from every cell in his body. “If I’d seen a single person like us, gazing down at their wrist and rushing off, I wouldn’t have let them go. Even if I couldn’t join their team, I’d at least have talked with them.”

Xu Wang figured it out. “It’s not that you didn’t see any of them, it’s that they didn’t let you find any of them.” He took a breath. “We’re the only idiots here, all the other teams are smart.” aBFx0p

At last, Kuang Jinxin caught on as well. “There was another team on the plane?!” He was stunned.

Xu Wang facepalmed himself. Kuang Jinxin was the type of boy who’d get screwed over before he’d even made it two kilometres.

“But that doesn’t make sense,” the boy mumbled again, still confused. “We all got sucked in here and we all have to submit tasks. Wouldn’t it make more sense to help each other pass the stage?”

“And what if only one team is allowed to submit their tasks and pass the stage?” Xu Wang asked him. At783G

Kuang Jinxin replied without any hesitation, “Then we fight fairly to determine a winner.”

“But you have the opportunity to gain the advantage by striking first.”

Kuang Jinxin frowned in disagreement. “That’s not called gaining an advantage, it’s called being underhanded. If this were track and field, it’d be cheating and you’d be punished for it!”

“…..” 8aZiuR

Never mind, Xu Wang thought. Two kilometres is pushing it. This kid wouldn’t last two metres before getting screwed over by someone, and he’d even be swindled into helping them count their loot.

“This is the cargo hold of a plane,” Wu Sheng determined, having completed his inspection of their surroundings.

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At his words, the other three began looking around seriously.

They were in a long, narrow space enclosed by several large metal plates spliced together. The floor was flat, covered in vertical lines. It certainly looked like the cargo hold of a plane, but there wasn’t much cargo; only two wooden shelves stood at the very end of the hold area, and the rest of the space was completely empty. bK2YM

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.

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“Old Qian, there’s something wrong with your line of thought.” Xu Wang scooted over to them, lecturing his teammate with a hand on his hip. “What kind of situation are we in to be thinking about the bomb? We were just severely fucked with, don’t you want to get them back?” BlCgdf

“Well, of course that would be nice, but it’s obvious they’re more experienced than we are, so shouldn’t we come up with a few more strategies…..” Without understanding his enemy, Qian Ai would always be the man hiding behind the chain lock door. “Don’t just focus on getting revenge, we need to come up with an exit strategy, for survival and stuff…..”

His voice got quieter and quieter until it trailed off completely, because Kuang Jinxin had scuffled over as well so that Qian Ai found three pairs of eyes all glaring at him.

Kuang Jinxin: “I don’t agree with retaliating, but since they already slapped our faces, we have to respond in kind!”

“If we don’t fight back after being messed with once, there’ll be a second time. I’d rather lose than run away,” said Xu Wang. a1TGKR

“What do you mean, ‘lose’? That word’s not even in my dictionary,” said Wu Sheng.

Qian Ai: “…..” When he’d submitted the first task, no one told him that the next stage would turn into a massive online PVP game! He was just a pacifist who liked guessing idioms! TAT

“But speaking of,” Xu Wang remarked all of a sudden, “I saw them.”

That drew Qian Ai’s attention, as well as Wu Sheng’s and Kuang Jinxin’s. 6fvhXP

“Male? Female? Old? Young? Tall? Short? Fat? Thin?” Wu Sheng sent a barrage of questions at him, getting straight to the point. After all, they needed to know their enemy well in order to get revenge.

Xu Wang did his best to recall that last moment on the plane and then used the simplest, most accurate words to describe their opponents: “Male, male, male, male….. Tall, handsome, skinny, fresh!”

Kuang Jinxin was stunned.
Qian Ai felt that something was off.
Wu Sheng’s brows knit together.

Xu Wang felt slight regret for his blunt choice of words, afraid that he’d just revealed the traits he noticed in men. He was still fretting over this fact when he saw Wu Sheng rubbing his chin thoughtfully. wMZ8xt

“Tall, handsome, skinny, fresh… isn’t that an accurate description of our team too?” Wu Sheng raised his head frankly. “Don’t tell me when Owl creates teams, there are guidelines regarding physical appearance?”

Hmm, wait.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Xu Wang wasn’t following this train of thought. He turned to regard his teammates.

Qian Ai… was truly tall.
Wu Sheng… was very handsome.
Kuang Jinxin… was certainly fresh-looking. G4VRB2

Which left… He just knew there was nothing good left for himself!!!

___

After they officially settled on getting revenge, there were two things they had to do: One, get back into the main cabin; Two, conceal themselves, locate their opponents, and make their move. But all of this depended on how much “manpower” they had.

They each stuck out their wrists, opened to the <Stationery Box> items, revealing how much they had to work with. YMb9rC

Xu Wang: <[DEF] Hand-drawn Prison>, <[ATK] Cao Chong Weighs an Elephant>
Wu Sheng: <[ATK] Cloud Scattering Whirlwinds>
Kuang Jinxin: <[DEF] Cunning Rabbit with Three Burrows>, <[ATK] Flood of Tears>
Qian Ai: <[DEF] Leaves of Distraction>, <[ATK] Words of Pearls>

It was a lot easier to figure out what the defensive items could be, compared with the offensive items. But they still felt that it wasn’t enough.

“Why don’t we see what we can find?” Xu Wang had been staring at the two wooden shelves at the other end of the cargo hold for quite some time already; he kept thinking their contents resembled a “treasure box” and that there’d be surprises inside.

“Those are other people’s things, I don’t think we should touch them…” Even though this wasn’t the real world, Kuang Jinxin felt he had to maintain his Five Stresses, Four Beauties, and Three Loves principles. xM2stF

However, no one else seemed to have heard him. His three teammates had already whipped off the cloth that was covering one of the wooden shelves. Kuang Jinxin walked over helplessly.

The first thing he saw was the stupefied look on their faces. And then he saw the wooden shelf—No, more accurately, it was a wooden cage. In which there was a currently sleeping lion.

It was deep in slumber, head resting on a front paw. Its majestic mane billowed slightly with each breath it took, which made for a very imperial-looking scene.

A nice, friendly smile grazed the faces of the three men and they creeped around silently as if the sleeping creature had the ability to see them in its dreams, until finally, the cloth was placed respectfully and carefully back over the lion, hiding it from view. xJKnOE

Sweet dreams, Xu Wang mouthed silently at it.

Kuang Jinxin stared at his teammates with an “I told you so” look in his eyes. But before he could even react, they’d gone ahead and taken the cloth off the second wooden shelf.

This time, what greeted them was not a cage, but just a wooden shelf that was completely empty save for a dark brown box that was placed right in its centre.

Qian Ai reeled backwards with faltering steps. 0hAcmw

Wu Sheng and Xu Wang were a lot better off, staying where they were, but their breaths skipped.

It was an ornately painted wooden urn. Flowers were carved into the wood; the right side of the box was engraved with the characters, “Of fair hills and clear waters,” and on the left side were the characters, “Rest in everlasting peace.” Right at the centre of the box was the black and white photo of an old woman. She was unsmiling and staring straight ahead, her vision limited to those who directly approached her.

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Xu Wang felt the hair raise along his scalp and hurriedly pulled the cloth back over the shelf. “Sorry for disturbing you,” he added fervently. This time, he spoke out loud because mouthing the words seemed not sincere enough.

Kuang Jinxin was about to cry. “Guys, let’s just go back to the main cabin…” 3Oy6an

This time, Qian Ai raised both hands up in agreement.

Seeing as they couldn’t disturb the lion, and couldn’t disturb the old lady’s eternal peace, both Xu Wang and Wu Sheng gave up and relented, turning their focus back to themselves.

<Stationery Box>: Are you sure you wish to use <[DEF] Cunning Rabbit with Three Burrows>?

Under the guidance of his teammates, Kuang Jinxin clicked “Yes.” trZK8J

In truth, none of them actually knew what “Cunning Rabbit with Three Burrows” entailed; they only inferred from the item’s name that it could help them out somehow.

<Stationery Box>: Please select three hiding areas. Bathroom/Food Service Area/First Class/Business Class/Emergency Door/Cockpit?

As expected!

They beamed and after a short discussion, selected—Food Service Area, Emergency Door, Cockpit. daAoYt

As soon as Kuang Jinxin clicked on the last selection, the ground beneath them disappeared all of a sudden and they felt a rapid loss of gravity as they fell into the dark abyss.

[Owl: Someone used <[DEF] Cunning Rabbit with Three Burrows> on you~~]

Following this notification, they felt themselves carried by a warm, powerful force. It gradually slowed their descent, and a moment later, they landed safely in a tiny, square compartment.

The compartment resembled a box, minus a “cap”—that is, a cover over their heads—instead, there was a circular piece of transparent glass about a person’s width wide in diameter. Aside from that, they were surrounded by darkness all around them and beneath their feet. 1dZgwt

The other side of the glass seemed to be the plane cabin; occasionally, someone would pass by so closely that they could clearly see the designs on the soles of their shoes. However, their line of sight was severely limited and it was impossible to tell from this angle whether each passerby was man or woman, let alone what their faces looked like.

A faint breeze blew from some unknown direction.

The four teammates, dazed, began feeling around the dark walls that surrounded them. All of a sudden, they discovered that there were two other holes along the walls. They split into teams of two and each followed one of the holes, crawling through into a dark tunnel that led each party to a new area. The new space was similarly all dark minus the circular transparent glass over their heads, but what they found was that the glass could actually be opened, like portholes leading above ground that these secret rooms provided them with.

As such, it became clear how “Cunning Rabbit with Three Burrows” worked. ywJVQc

It opened three secret spaces beneath the floorboards of the locations the user selected—in this case the food service area, security door, and cockpit—which acted as a place they could hide and observe. The transparent glass above their heads acted like a double-sided glass found in police interview rooms; those underground could see upwards and out, but if those above ground looked down, they would only see a regular floor, completely unaware of the fact that they were being spied on.

The three secret spaces were connected via tunnels, which allowed users to easily transport themselves to each location.

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There was nothing going on in the cockpit, and while the emergency door was nearest to the bomb, it was also located too far off to the side, which gave them a very narrow line of sight. The only space left was the food service area. As long as they waited until the flight attendants were gone, they could carefully emerge their heads from the circular glass, giving them a comprehensive view of the entire economy class cabin.

And so, for the next twenty minutes, the floor of the food service area flapped open and shut like a sewer cap. As soon as the back of the plane was empty or the flight attendants weren’t paying attention, that little tiny area of carpet would lift up, revealing two peeping eyeballs. J sN7I

After about ten rounds of “observation,” the four of them had locked onto their opponents. It hadn’t been particularly difficult to do so—Xu Wang remembered their general appearance, and anyway, excluding the flight attendants, they were the most active passengers on the plane.

Xu Wang stood directly beneath the glass with a hand on the rod that was used to push it open. “Are you ready?” he asked, turning back to check in with his teammates.

Wu Sheng, who was already raring at the bit, replied, “Just get a move on!”

“…” There was absolutely no comfort to be had from his words. 95qF8C

With a deep breath, Xu Wang flipped the glass open, popped out from it, and waved his hands wildly. “Hey! I didn’t get cast into the four winds, I’m still here!”

All the passengers in the cabin turned around to witness a man appearing seemingly out of the ground at the back of the plane, gesturing his arms and legs wildly like some kind of lunatic. Those four also noticed him, and their expressions were far more horrified than any of the other passengers—To them, Xu Wang was like a demon of the night. It made no sense that he was back!

The four opponents quickly moved from their scattered positions and congregated at the centre of the cabin about ten metres away from Xu Wang. The two parties confronted each other, each on guard.

This was the moment Xu Wang had been waiting for. The corners of his mouth crooked up. He gave a little stomp on the ground with his feet. MT4dFy

When he’d popped out of the hole, he hadn’t closed the glass back over. And so in this moment, Wu Sheng, who’d been waiting for his signal, hopped out from the hole like a flash of lightning and immediately utilised <[ATK] Cloud Scattering Whirlwinds> against the four people in the distance.

Almost immediately, powerful gales started up within the plane cabin, scattering pebbles and sand everywhere, blanketing everything in darkness.

The other team would’ve been alright if they’d still been scattered apart instead of standing together as they were. The winds easily picked them up into the air and blew them towards the back of the plane in an almost step-by-step replay of what they’d done to Xu Wang and his team.

Xu Wang knew they were experienced, so he was already prepared to use another attack, but surprisingly, all four of their opponents traveled obediently over on the winds until they were about to crash into Xu Wang and Wu Sheng like meteorites. kENzpr

Xu Wang rushed to click on <[DEF] Hand-drawn Prison>, which drew a purple circle at the ground before his feet.

The winds died, landing the four people in a pile right at his feet. They glared at him with wide, pissed off eyes, but none of them were able to step outside of the circle.

Translator's Note

金蝉脱壳 This idiom is literally “a cicada casting off its skin’. It’s used to describe getting yourself out of a hairy situation, or getting away with something, slinking away via cunning skill, like making a Houdini move.

Translator's Note

Wikipedia explains.

Translator's Note

狡兔三窟 I believe this idiom has an English equivalent: A smart rabbit digs three tunnels. AKA, smart people always take extra precautions.

Translator's Note

风卷残云 This idiom showed up in the previous idiom game. Here, it’s literal, but typically it’s used to describe the speed and way that someone eats. (This is the idiom they used to describe Qian Ai eating.)

Translator's Note

画地为牢 I mentioned the Confucius quote before. “It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” This idiom isn’t talking about a literal prison (obviously), but a metaphorical one. Usually it means a prison that you have put around yourself, preventing you from moving forward in life. Sometimes, there are song lyrics that go, “Your love makes me a hand-drawn prison,” which is a way to say someone’s love imprisons you. You can also use this idiom to say, “I’m stuck in life.” So actually here, this idiom is being used literally, people who are stuck and cannot move.

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6 comments

  1. Oh how the tables have turned!

    I wonder if they ran out of items and couldn’t defend themselves or if they decided to wait and let the rivals do all the work and then swoop in…

    thanks for the chapter <3

  2. i like the name of “cunning rabbit with three burrows”! it sounds like a watership down quote, haha. thanks so much for the fun chapter as always 🙂