Twilight is the worst time of the day for my eyesight, and as far as the eye can see, the streets are packed with humans. The tall buildings and streets have also changed their usual appearance, just like in Ubisoft’s mold-piercing game[1].
He was lying in the corner of the stairs, carrying a hint of strange smell, a kind of moist smell more than strange. When I passed by, I realized that he was dead, and it happened at that time.
——Adapted from "Rhino in Love" [2]
"In short, it just happened, I don't know anything." Lin Huai said sincerely and sickly.
His face was pale and his body temperature was cold, as if he was frightened by the corpse: "When I came in, the man was already dead there, and the door disappeared."
He pointed to the direction of the original villa door, where it had become a piece of brick. The masonry wall had a 20X50cm opening in the middle.
Now he can't crawl out of that hole. Well, it might be okay before...
Lin Huai silently compared the gap between his body and the exit, and made a conclusion for his body that couldn't be folded into a sheet.
He felt that he was very sincere, and he also thinks that this handsome (even very handsome) face that had been selected by him is very friendly. But the men and women in the villa just stood there, looking indifferent and suspicious in his eyes—as if he had done something heinous.
Lin Huai felt very sad about this, since he became a human being, few people have seen him like this. But as a law-abiding citizen, he sincerely put forward his own suggestions: "Let’s call the police, and the police will take care of this. I just came here today. If I knew there would be such a thing... "
I will definitely continue to live in the school dormitory, instead of looking for a shared apartment, he thought silently, even if my roommate's feet smell like thousands of rotting corpses piled together.
"No need." The woman in the yellow shirt stopped him. "The phone cannot be reached."
Why?
Lin Huai thought of the news about how the uncle and aunt dismantled the base station a few days ago because of the protest against radiation, and nodded sympathetically: "I didn't expect Shanghai to have such an ignorant uncle and aunt. The popularization of scientific knowledge really needs to be strengthened...I- I am from a nearby university majoring in mechanical engineering, and I also know a few students majoring in communications. When this matter is resolved, I will ask them to write a popular science article and send out flyers."
He had cleared the way for himself, he was proud of his identity. He took a few selfies in front of the mirror every day when he got up, and observe whether the rupture of the skull caused by jumping off the building was repaired.
He had just finished, the crowd coldly snorted: "?? In the end you have to be silly or fool the point where now you have not clarified the situation."[3]
"Forget it, it appears it's a Newcomer who can’t figure out the situation.” The woman in the yellow clothes sighed, “Introducing myself, I’m Huang Lu, an experienced player, and I’ve participated in 3 games. You are the latest one. Apart from you, here they are all experienced players who have participated in the game at least once."
"Game?"
"This is an infinite stream of survival game. If you pass the level, you will live, and if you don't pass the level, you will die. In the game, we use humans to fight ghosts according to clues. Once the end of our failure is death. No, maybe it’s more terrifying than death." Huang Lu spoke out a whole set of lines as if she had written a draft beforehand. Lin Huai felt that she was probably a copywriter in real life, "You look like a copywriter."
"You are a newcomer, did you receive the black invitation letter? Take it out and have a look."
"Oh." Lin Huai obediently took out the crumpled flyer from his pocket, "Is that this one? "
While talking, he unfolded the flyer. He saw that the leaflet had a black background, delicate skin, and the dark red font on it looked like solidified blood, which read:
Shangjin Apartment! The transportation is convenient, the express delivery is smooth, and the monthly rent is only 998! There are currently 12 co-tenants, who are required to have men and women, and some have ghosts, who want to buy as soon as possible, and obliterate overtime or arrears.
"The basic situation is like this." Lin Huai said innocently, "I didn't take it seriously, but my roommate's feet are really stinky. When I went out today, I was ghosting, so I wanted to come over and watch the excitement...No, Rent an apartment. I really didn’t kill the courier. There are cameras everywhere. If I really want to kill him, I must choose a place where there is no one. I am a college student with a bright future, and I want to take a civil service exam, too. I don’t want to have a criminal record."
Huang Lu: ...
"Suddenly." Huang Lu said, "Anyway, are everyone here?"
She nodded, plus Lin Huai, there are now a total of ten people standing in the living room. A person. Men, women and children, all available. One of the thin girls said, "It's still one short."
She was wearing a blue and white school uniform and looked like a student from a nearby high school. She also wears the same school uniform as a man and a woman. The boys are handsome and the girls are fashionable.
The skinny girl always stands with fashionable girls, it seems that they are a pair of friends.
"Is anyone else coming in?" Huang Lu frowned. "Or said that..."
"Is it a man in a plaid shirt and jeans? I have seen him." The boy in sportswear said, he was handsome and dressed. Wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, he has a gentle temperament, "He should be the first to arrive at the villa. I saw him go to the toilet."
The direction his finger was pointing was the toilet next to the stairs, and it was dark and silent.
"One person action?[4] Go to the toilet? This boy is courting his death." A boy with a lot of piercings coldly snorted.
Several people were talking with him one by one, but the sound of flushing came from the toilet next door. Everyone's gaze followed the noise, and a tall young man in a plaid shirt walked out with a yawn. His features were profound, he felt like a mixed-race, his legs were slender, his hairstyle was particularly unruly, his chestnut colored hair were tangled up, and he had a somewhat casual temperament.
He looks like a male model who had gone on the wrong set, or a dandy in the pool hall, ignoring the wrench he was holding.
The suspicious black liquid condensed on the wrench as if it had dried up. The young man's eyes rolled around everyone's face, and finally stopped on Lin Huai's face.
Lin Huai stared at the black liquid on the wrench, and his eyebrows twitched.
"People have emergencies." The young man didn't notice that everyone's gaze was strange.
He smiled at everyone, "Are you waiting for me? Sorry." He smiled very brightly and heartily. Good feelings.
"There are emergencies? You have been in a hurry for more than 20 minutes?" The boy said, "Oh, you have kidney deficiency, don't you?" The young man said casually.
He didn't listen to them, and sat down beside Lin Huai with a grin: "Let's talk, what's the situation now?"
"Let's introduce ourselves first." Huang Lu in a sports suit said, her temperament was calm and she looked like about forty years old, "I'm Huang Lu, the sales director of a nearby company. I have experienced three games so far."
"Ye Xian, Minghua High School student. Two games." The handsome boy pushed his glasses and seemed a little nervous, sitting upright.
"Zhang Lu, I am Ye Xian's classmate. I have gone through a game now." She said, pulling the hand of the girl next to her. "This is my friend Feng Yao. She has only experienced two games." The thin girl who started nodded nervously at everyone.
A few people will introduce the past in order. Counting Chu Tian, who just came out of the toilet, there were 12 people in the audience, 6 each. By age, there are four high school students, four young people, and four middle-aged people. Both in terms of gender and age group, it can be said to be very average.
"Just call me Chu Tian." The young man with a wrench said, "Former programmer, there is nothing else to say... If you insist, I am a firm materialist."
"Materialist?" everyone was very speechless, "here?"
"Ghosts are also things." The young man shook the murder weapon in his hand. "As long as they can be killed, they are all things."
Lin Huai: ...
He moved aside unconsciously.
After the youth introduced himself, it was Lin Huai who had been waiting by his side for a long time. Lin Huai pulled the collar: "I'm Lin Huai. I'm currently a student of S University next door. I haven't participated in the game before."
"Oh," the young man glanced at him, "Little newcomer."
Lin Huai ignored him. Lowered his eyes.
The self-introduction section came to an end. Huang Lu turned to Lin Huai and said, "You are the only newcomer here, so let me introduce you to the rules."
"Once you receive the black invitation, you cannot quit or start again. All players are in the black invitation. Under the guidance of, they will gather in the same place, and start survival games with different time and different content according to the rules provided by the game. Since you are a newcomer, follow our steps and don’t make your own decisions. Those who make their own decisions are generally doesn't last long."
Under everyone's scrutiny, Lin Huai nodded: "I'm very good."
He added: "Don't worry, I will never take the initiative to cause trouble."
Huang Lu frowned.
"Proactively cause trouble. "
Lin Huai's answer obviously puzzled her. She was about to continue to inquire, but the TV screen in the lobby of the villa lit up.
[1] I'm linking an article here in case you wanna know more... it's basically entropy affecting everything, and rendering materials unusable *according to meraki.exe*
[2] "Rhino in Love" is a story about love. It tells a man who falls in love with a woman and does all that one can do for her. link to article
[3] it's a little difficult to comprehend but what it means is: this boy said all these bigs things thinking he had clarified himself and no one would be suspicious of him. But he was a fool to think or understand the point where he had not clarified anything.
[4] Like "one person who murdered?" Something similar...
DISCLAIMER
Anyone can pick this novel up (for human translating or MTLing, I don't mind. Just don't steal this one), just inform me and I'll drop it! It's edited MTL, please don't confused it with other projects I'm doing. This one is an exception since I wanted to read it and needed more people reading it (and screaming with me). The length of it is too long for me to ever tl it until and unless someone is interested to tl it with me (at least 4-5 translators please, or even 3 would work. Hit me up if you wanna talk about it on twitter or in the comments).
Editing: Meraki
Meraki's thoughts:
Huang Lu is very literally.... a milf ;-; And here I was simping....
*sniff* mc and ml are lovable tho... and very interesting ah...
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