~New Arc: Paranoia~
Chapters 165-202
[Small world exit in progress…]
[Staff exit successful.]
[Small world settlement in progress…]
[Rahotep love value full, heartbreak value full]
[Shamule love value full, heartbreak value full]
[Seto-Anubis love value full]
[Nub love value full]
:
[Warning, an abnormality has been detected in the small world settlement…!]
[After inspection, the threat level of the abnormality is approximately zero. Small world settlement successful.]
[Please continue your efforts, staff.]
This small world settlement procedure seemed different from previous ones.
“What abnormality?”
Xin Hexue couldn’t help but ask curiously.
K looked through the anomaly report, [The data activity of two target characters exceeded the limit value, but it hasn’t reached the barrier-breaking standard stipulated in Article 139 of the ‘Small World Regulations’. Therefore, it was judged as non-threatening and can be settled normally.]
“…”
Xin Hexue was silent for a moment, “Transfer to manual.”
Transfer to manual failed. It was still the cold mechanical voice, [System K is dedicated to serving you.]
K: [The program detected that the two target characters, Rahotep and Shamule, reincarnated fifty-one times after the storyline ended. They seem to be looking for you. But don’t worry, the host has returned to the Big World. It is very safe here.]
“…”
He even emphasized the word “safe”, as if something terrible would happen to him if he got caught.
Xin Hexue carelessly untied the belt of his white robe. He walked towards the bathroom of the house, and the clothes he dropped along the way fell on the wooden floor, forming a long winding arc.
K diligently chased after and picked up the host’s dropped items, until with a “bang”, the bathroom door closed right in front of his nose.
He touched his nose. When he stood up, the corners of his lips on the bionic skin identical to human skin slowly raised by two pixels under the control of the central nervous system, showing how different he was from certain husbands in stories who washed underwear with cold faces.
When the sound of the shower stopped, K handed the clothes inside.
Xin Hexue walked out wrapped in a bathrobe, one hand drying his damp hair while the other took the freshly squeezed orange juice. Seeing K still looking at him, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
K confessed: “The company has arranged a new schedule for the host recently. To improve the host’s popularity and promote your work, the company has accepted an invitation for a variety show for you. The schedule is a bit tight, as recording will start the day after tomorrow. It will be broadcast in two forms: a live broadcast online and later edited and released.”
“So the host doesn’t need to take on new small world scripts for now.”
“Variety show?” Xin Hexue hadn’t been exposed to variety shows in the Big World yet, but based on the script aesthetics he had encountered before, “A melodramatic dating show?”
“No.” K denied, “Survival variety show.”
“What the host needs to do is survive in the variety show.”
Of course, the program team wouldn’t really let the guests die, otherwise it would turn into a major performance accident.
This variety show was called ‘Who Can Survive’, and it was indeed a survival variety show. The guests would log into a fully immersive game of the same name produced by the program’s sponsor company. Depending on the guests each episode, different dungeons would be generated within the game.
Each dungeon is built with exceptional realism, and with such high quality that they were even praised by the audience as reaching the level of being able to become individual small worlds. There was no script, no hints, and no save button. Starting with just an identity card, what the guests needed to do was explore and survive until the dungeon was cleared.
In past episodes, some guests thought they had found a loophole and tried to hide in a “safe spot” until the game ended. However, in fact, the end of the dungeon did not depend on the length of time.
In other words, it had no exit countdown. If you didn’t go find the “ghost”, the “ghost” would come find you.
The fresh orange juice in his cup reached the bottom, leaving only the cold ice cubes clinking in the glass.
Xin Hexue asked keenly: “Are there supernatural elements in the dungeons?”
K explained: “According to statistics from past episodes, doomsday survival dungeons account for ten percent, real-life battle royale dungeons account for thirty percent, urban horror dungeons account for fifty percent, bizarre natural disaster dungeons account for ten percent.”
Urban horrors alone already occupied half. It seemed supernatural elements were the big selling point of this game.
Food is the paramount necessity of the people, and this also has common ground in the aspect of entertainment.
Various entertainment projects are also like food. What type of food is the most delicious and popular?
Whether it’s high-calorie sweet cakes or heavily oiled and spicy stir-fries, the common point is that they are generously seasoned. Similarly, in entertainment, pornography, violence, and gore are all seasonings. Rich supernatural elements can be linked to all three of these, as they always manage to engage the audience’s senses endlessly, so it was no surprise that they would dominate.
K thought for a moment and added, “There is a less than 0.01% possibility of encountering a compound type dungeon in the game…this is according to the reminder found on the game’s official website. But since the program started broadcasting, a compound type dungeon has never appeared. This can be ignored for now.”
“Hmm…” Xin Hexue pondered for a moment, “Is there anything else that needs attention?”
K: “After the game starts, the agent cannot provide help in the form of non-verbal communication.”
Xin Hexue: “You mean you are restricted from taking form?”
K: “I’m sorry, yes.”
Xin Hexue: “I see…”
Thinking about it, there was another matter that K had seen in the company notification. “The company notified that another actor who debuted around the same time as the host will also be invited to participate in this variety show.”
“Huh?” Xin Hexue raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, “So is it about selling CP? Don’t we need to communicate beforehand?”
K: “….”
He didn’t say yes, nor did he deny it.
Xin Hexue guessed that the notification might have contained some related hints but K chose to close his eyes.
After a while, K said: “That actor belongs to the third category, an immersive actor. After entering the dungeon, there is a very high probability that, like when entering small worlds for work before, he will block out his memories of the Big World, integrate into the character setting, and only retain his soul’s natural instincts.”
So no extra communication is needed.
After all, once entering the game dungeon, this player would become no different from an NPC.
….
April 5, 1990, 16:46 in the afternoon.
Black Swan Hotel, Changkong South Road, North Island.
The sun was bright. Outside the balcony railing of this room, there was an old banyan tree. Long-tailed ribbon birds flickered among the lush green leaves.
This type of bird has a striking bright yellow on its beak.
Dark clouds in the distance pressed towards this small island, and in an instant, the wind and clouds changed color.
Two muffled gunshots, like thunder, rang out in the previously clear sky. The ribbon birds in the tree fled in alarm!
There were chaotic footsteps, and heavy and disordered breathing. Blood splashed onto the carpet three steps away from the main door, and a burst of bullets shot through the foreheads of his two capable subordinates.
They didn’t even see a shadow of the killer.
‘This way of dying, it’s Number Nine…!:
‘It must be Number Nine!’
Sweat slid down the face of the fat, blond middle-aged man. His massive weight made it impossible for him to dodge nimbly, and his knees went soft as he retreated, “The other door, the other door……”
He held the two MP5 submachine guns in his hands tightly. The shadow of death loomed over his head, and his soul screamed frantically for him to escape this room!
The blond middle-aged man stared intently in the direction of the main door, the muzzle aimed, constantly on guard against the murderer who might step over the corpses of his two subordinates, and continuously moved backward.
Until his back bumped against another person. Realizing that the subordinate behind him was actually still dazed at this moment, he panted in anxious anger, lowered his voice and roared: “Go open the other door! Go!”
The man behind was very tall, standing straight and upright, and his shadow was like a spear. A pair of cold and slender hands pressed on the blond middle-aged man’s head, and an oppressive feeling immediately came over.
“Crack.”
Rotated 120 degrees, the cervical spine twisted, and ligaments and nerves were torn.
Number Nine used the hands wearing black leather gloves to close the deceased’s eyes for him. Throughout the entire process, Number Nine’s pitch-black eyes didn’t have a single ripple, as if he had just gone out to take out the trash.
Not far behind him, near the balcony, the subordinate’s corpse lay face up hanging over the back of the sofa, like a pile of overcooked noodles.
Number Nine raised his eyes and looked towards a black suitcase placed on the round table.
…..
On the same day, at 16:51 in the afternoon.
The red taxi parked outside the Black Swan Hotel welcomed a new guest.
The clear sky had reversed within just five minutes. The black clouds were like thick wool blankets soaked with water covering everyone’s heads.
The driver turned on the windshield wipers. After the wet raindrops were swept away, he could clearly see through the glass the customer who walked around the front of the car and opened the rear door.
The raindrops wet the young man’s black hair, black long trench coat, and black suitcase.
The grayish colors merged with the gloomy street. He had an air that naturally blended into the background, making people’s gazes not linger. But if one intentionally focused attention on his face…
A not often seen handsome face.
“Young man, where to?”
There were Kent cigarettes placed in front of the driver’s seat window. The driver reached out to feel for them, and then fumbled for his lighter.
“Can you not smoke?” The young man’s voice was flat and cold. Handsome brows and starry eyes appeared in the rearview mirror inside the car. “To South Bay Walled City.”
Hearing this address, the driver’s initial movement stopped, then he put down the lighter he had just found. “Okay, okay.”
The red taxi sped away, its exhaust smoke spreading on the street in front of the Black Swan Hotel.
The car radio broadcast a weather alert.
“According to this station’s news, Typhoon ‘Rodney’ will reach North Island tonight. Citizens, please take preventive measures, close doors and windows, avoid going out…… Zizi…… North Island Meteorological Observatory reminds……… Zizi……”
Number Nine pulled out the stack of newspapers in the mesh pocket on the back of the driver’s seat. The date on the newest newspaper was also from a week ago.
Apart from large sections of government announcements and legal revisions, North Island people also often published house rentals, seeking partners, job advertisements, and even marriage gossip news involving trivial domestic messes in the corners of the gazette.
A week ago, it unusually published content from the outside world:
“Joachim International Violin Competition gold medal winner passed away unexpectedly at the Golden Crown Hotel in S City at the age of 21.”
The reason Number Nine noticed it was because this newspaper had a rare picture next to this piece of news. Compared to text, he was more interested in pictures.
The slender young man standing on the stage had a violin resting on his shoulder, his brows and eyes lowered. Printing limitations made the face unclear. It was a black and white photo, but this person seemed to be radiant with brilliance.
Number Nine put down his crossed, raised knee, folded this stack of newspapers, and stuffed it back into the mesh pocket in front.
They were almost there.
Turning from Xicun Road to the other side of Shicheng Road was South Bay Walled City, the grayest lawless zone on North Island.
The taxi drove over the bridge, getting closer and closer to the walled city.
From a distance, these buildings built cramming into every available space were arranged without any pattern. The lower ones were several stories, the higher ones ten or eight stories. Buildings outside buildings outside buildings, and dangers lurked on all sides. In addition, most buildings didn’t have pilings, making all of them dangerous buildings.
The iron protective nets on the windows of the outermost layer of buildings, pieced together, looked like a huge prison.
…….
Dim, damp, cramped.
Some filthy alleys were barely enough for one person to pass at a time. If you encountered someone coming the other way, you could only pass by turning sideways.
In such a place, even fires couldn’t burn properly because the population density was too high.
Southeast Asian stowaways, social outcasts, extremely impoverished unregistered households, vicious criminals….these keywords represented the silhouettes of the residents here.
In a narrow alley, you could probably run into someone who looked exactly like the portrait of a wanted criminal posted on the wall.
In such a place, to meet people’s daily supply needs, a micro-society independent of the outside world was already formed.
Food, plastic, hardware, garment, electrical appliance workshops, and even spinning workshops. Although these workshops were family-style, brotherhood-style handicraft workshops, hiring at most a few irregular short-term workers, they only reached a scale of over ten people.
Like the workshops, the markets were also mostly set up on the ground floors of the buildings.
The rain was getting heavier. Large-character signs encroaching on the streets were staggered, swaying drunkenly in the rampant alley winds, and the overhead tin rain canopies made jingling sounds.
Number Nine stepped over the waterlogged puddles. A kindly old woman from a sweet soup shop greeted him, “He boy, you’re back early today? It’s really windy and rainy outside today…”
Number Nine took a moment to react. Here, he was called He Qinghong.
“Mmm…”
He lived in the building at the end of this forked road ahead. Among the buildings in this walled city, it belonged to the tallest one, and had sixteen floors. It was called “Ju’an Building”, but it had no elevator.
There were several shops at the bottom of Ju’an Building. One of them was a fish stall, selling grass carp and also goldfish.
Number Nine lived on the fifth floor. On the blue brick steps were traces of dripping from numerous umbrellas.
Turning past the damp wall corner stained with mildew, walking all the way to the end of the corridor, was his room.
“…Huh?”
His room was at the end, and at the very end, what used to be a storage room, was now a busy place with a couple of porters coming and going. Miscellaneous items were piled in the corridor opposite the storage room door.
The corridor wasn’t wide, and they also had to avoid the rain, so the footsteps of several people mixed together chaotically.
Number Nine stared at the items placed in front of his door and spoke: “This isn’t mine. You’ve placed them in the wrong place.”
A mess of miscellaneous items were piled on top of a box. A violin case, with a mahogany shell gleaming with a delicate luster, rested at the top, its side embedded with an exquisite brass lock.
A tall man came out from inside the room. The edges and corners of his clothes were stained with dust, and he was holding a broom. He placed the cleaning tools against the wall, faced Number Nine, and quickly made movements with his hands.
He Qinghong: “I don’t understand sign language.”
“Sorry, these are my things.”
A low, soft voice came from behind him.
He Qinghong turned around.
The slanting wind and light drizzle just happened to wet the newcomer’s shoulder-length hair.
The blue-green changshan clung to the curves of the waist, and the brows and eyes were delicate and beautiful, like ink splashed on snow-white paper.
The only warm touch in the cold-toned environment was the bulging bag of goldfish in the person’s hands.
“Zhou…” The low, soft voice faltered, “Husband, help me move these things inside,” Xin Hexue lowered his eyelashes, “Be careful with the violin.”
