This conversation was a bit silly, but it successfully lightened the atmosphere.
The person scratched the back of his head apologetically and said, “Haha, sorry, just made a joke. I couldn’t bear such a stiff atmosphere.”
The others chuckled absentmindedly.
“Anyway, let’s do some introductions. I’m Han Qianqiu,” the guy who owed a punch was a young man with messy short hair. “I was playing games at the internet cafe. I reached the high ground and was about to destroy the enemy’s crystal with another ‘A’ attack, but they defended it, and I lost! Can you believe that?”
“I was also caught off guard,” the first speaker, a young man with glasses, continued. He had a scholarly look, wearing a cashmere sweater and jeans. “I’m Zhang Yang. I was at home reading before suddenly finding myself here. What about you guys?”
After finishing, he naturally looked at the person sitting to his right, a man in a well-fitted suit with gold-rimmed glasses, meticulously groomed short hair, and the scent of expensive perfume.
With an imposing demeanor, he ignored Zhang Yang’s question, glanced at his watch, and nonchalantly directed the question to Yan Xiu, “Are you the same as them?”
After spending the night together, Shen Lin noticed that Yan Xiu seemed a bit aloof and reserved, and under the gaze of the others, he fell into silence.
The man in the suit coldly smiled, “Don’t want to talk? Or do you have some secrets hidden from us? Are you the one causing trouble?”
At these words, Yan Xiu raised his eyes and calmly looked at the man in the suit, countering, “Why don’t you speak first?”
The man in the suit was startled by his gaze and glanced at his watch, “Just say it first. What’s the point of hiding things?”
After a pause, he said, “I was driving to work on the way to the office.”
“That’s it?” Han Qianqiu asked.
“That’s it.”
“What’s your name, brother?”
“Alex.”
“Stylish,” Han Qianqiu sarcastically commented, “I thought your name would be ‘short.'”
Alex remained silent, and not finding Yan Xiu an easy target, he turned to Shen Lin, who seemed “easy to bully,” and asked, “What about you?”
Shen Lin hesitated, “Let me think…”
Alex looked at his watch again, impatience increasing with each second. He impatiently tapped his fingertips on the table and said, “Can’t remember what happened a few minutes ago due to shock?”
“Experiencing shock is a normal reaction,” Shen Lin said seriously. “If you provide more details, maybe I can remember something.”
Alex understood that he was being excluded. He looked at everyone and said, “Boring.”
He stood up to leave, but his butt was stuck to the chair, making it impossible to stand. He looked at his watch again and said irritably, “I have things to do. Can we stop wasting time here?! What do you guys want to do?! I’m calling the police!”
“Do you have signal on your phone?! Why are you yelling!”
“We are all survivors, inexplicably ending up in this strange place. Everyone wants to figure out what’s going on.”
“Brother, you also said it’s boring to hide things. Look at your honest attitude!” Han Qianqiu, straightforward as ever, was not polite in his words.
“Fool,” Alex mocked, “Do you know all these people? Why spill the beans like that? You didn’t hide anything? Just playing a normal game, how could you encounter such a weird thing? And you, reading at home? Fell asleep? Can I trust you guys?”
Alex’s words successfully punctured the peaceful facade, and the group fell into an uneasy silence. The trust crisis began spreading among them. Just then, Yan Xiu spoke, “Before coming here, I was on a train. The railway was built in the 19th century, spanning over 9,000 kilometers, covering a quarter of the Earth’s circumference…”
“Reciting text?” Alex impatiently interrupted Yan Xiu.
Yan Xiu fell silent for a moment and then said, “I only remember that much.”
Shen Lin raised an eyebrow, “?”
Yan Xiu seemed to realize something, repeating, “I only remember that much.”
Shen Lin didn’t say anything. He pursed his lips and said to the others, “I know him; we were together. Let me explain. Before coming here, both of us were on a train that suddenly appeared in the deep sea.” He described what he had seen, creating a resonating surprise among the group.
“I saw that too!” Han Qianqiu scratched his head and said, “I thought it was an illusion!”
Zhang Yang nodded, “After I fell asleep, I had a dream. I dreamed of being submerged in the deep sea, surrounded by thick and sticky liquid, more like gel.”
Hearing this, Alex also considered sharing his experience, “Something tied up the tires of my car, preventing me from moving forward. I wanted to get out and check, but as soon as I opened the car door, wave after wave of seawater rushed in, dragging me into a vortex.”
Finally finding some common points, the group began to understand the reasons behind these strange occurrences. The gaze of everyone eventually fell on the remaining lady.
The group fell into a brief silence.
… It’s not that they didn’t want to talk to the lady; it’s because the lady was fair-skinned, with brown curly hair and light blue eyes—a Caucasian.
Han Qianqiu: “My English is not good.”
Zhang Yang: “I’ve been taking the CET-4 for three years; you guys do as you please.”
Yan Xiu: “?”
Alex remained silent, mocking them with a glance, “It seems that I’m the only one who speaks English well here. I’ll be the one to communicate with this lady.”
Shen Lin ignored him and took the initiative to communicate with the lady with fluent English, “Miss, we are trying to figure out what happened. May I ask you…”
“I can understand. You can speak Chinese to me,” the lady with brown curly hair interrupted in English, though the others heard no barrier in comprehension.
Shen Lin asked, “You speak Chinese?”
“No,” the lady replied, “but I don’t know why I can understand. I know you’re speaking Chinese, but I can mysteriously understand. My situation is very similar to yours.”
She continued, “My name is Carter, I’m a housewife. I encountered something very similar to you on my way to buy groceries. I saw the octopus I bought suddenly come to life. Huge tentacles stretched out from the eco-bag, entangling me tightly. I could hardly breathe, and the sound of waves echoed in my ears. Although I didn’t see the seawater, there was a salty taste as if seawater had been poured into my nostrils. When I opened my eyes again, I was stuck to this damn chair. My back isn’t good, I can’t sit for long. I hope this chair won’t trap me here.”
Shen Lin took off his coat and handed it to her, “Put it behind your waist; it should be more comfortable.”
“Thank you,” Carter looked at Shen Lin unexpectedly, “You’re a good kid.”
“Now that the situation is basically clear,” Shen Lin said to everyone, “there’s only one answer that can explain all of this. We’ve encountered something mysterious. Someone summoned us here through some means, forcing us to participate in the game before us. Before that, I received a game invitation card.”
Shen Lin placed the invitation card on the table and asked, “Do any of you have one?”
The others shook their heads.
Han Qianqiu picked up the card, and his expression changed after reading the text. He teased, “What is this thing? It looks so juvenile. Did you take the train only after receiving this invitation? Oh my, I was as passionate, naive, and juvenile as you when I was young. Youth is good.”
Shen Lin: “Shut up!”
Shen Lin blushed and said, “Since none of you received it, it probably has nothing to do with this invitation. Forget I mentioned it.”
“But you make sense,” Han Qianqiu said, “this seems to be a game, and the rules are written here. The question is, when will they release us to explore? How can we go back? Do we need to clear the game?”
“Why us? What should we do now?” Zhang Yang said in confusion, “I don’t play games much. Are we going to fight for equipment? What if we lose? Will we die?”
“Would they be that harsh?”
Shen Lin said, “Usually, there will be a game guide; otherwise, it would be too unfriendly to newcomers.”
As he spoke, a muffled conch sound came from the depths of the sea, and the rule card suddenly moved. Then, the card started acting up in front of everyone. It flipped over, revealing a paper figure attached to the back.
The paper figure first popped up its upper body from the paper, and after a moment of silence, it twisted its body. The headless part turned in Yan Xiu’s direction, raised its round arms, and greeted enthusiastically, “Hi! My dear friends!”
Shen Lin: “…”
Before the paper figure could be fully lifted, Han Qianqiu, quick with his hands and eyes, pressed it back down.
Han Qianqiu held onto the card, looking at them in horror, “He moved, he moved, he moved! The paper figure moved by itself!”
Everyone had a poker face.
Han Qianqiu’s mouth twitched, “Why are you all so calm?”
Shen Lin: “Isn’t it a bit late for you to be scared now?”
The paper figure slipped out from the gap between the rule card and the table, struck a dazzling handsome pose, and bowed gentlemanly, “Hello, everyone. I am the guardian of this game room, No. 98, you can call me KP. Now, I will lead you to experience this round of the game. Considering that you are all newcomers, this round will be in the easiest novice mode.”
“Great!” Han Qianqiu shouted.
Zhang Yang asked, “What kind of easy? Is it the kind where you can clear the level lying down?”
“Not that easy. You still need to move your muscles,” the paper figure, exceptionally gentlemanly in its gestures and posture, emitted a friendly aura. “The basic rules of this game, as you just saw, are very simple. You just need to immerse yourself in the game background set by KP, make good use of your identities and specialties, explore this world, and uncover the mysteries behind it.”
—In simple terms, it’s role-playing.
“Now, I will introduce the background of this game to you all.”
The voice resonated in their ears but felt like it was engraved in their minds. A memory, not belonging to them, vividly appeared in their minds.
[You are students attending the prestigious Liru Nobility University. You all have a common friend/classmate named Dorena Haino.]
[To celebrate his birthday, Dorena invited you to participate in his luxurious five-day cruise. During the voyage through a stretch of open sea, the cruise encountered a disaster. When you woke up, you found yourselves on this unfamiliar beach.]
[Survive here and find a way back to civilized society.]
[Now it is daylight saving time, August 13th, 10:16 AM. Please receive your respective role cards.]
