This time, without passing through the door’s teleportation, in the blink of an eye, Lu Chu was back in that boundless blank room, where thirteen square screens named “Rules” were quietly floating in the air.
The space was so silent that there wasn’t even an echo. Lu Chu could clearly hear the sound of his own breathing.
He looked down at the time on the bracelet on his wrist—74′59″.
As expected, the time for solo missions increased by ten minutes, and for two-person missions, it increased by twenty minutes.
Previously, he had seen over one hundred and fifty minutes on Song Gui’s bracelet. At that time, he thought Song Gui had gone through at least a dozen missions, but now it seemed it might not have been that many. However, it wasn’t entirely impossible that Song Gui had chosen to let the time on his bracelet gradually run out by refusing to choose missions.
As time passed in the room, Lu Chu sat on the ground, squinting his eyes to rest. He didn’t know how much time had passed when he heard a familiar “beep” sound. He looked down at the bracelet on his wrist, and sure enough, the time had changed to “69′59″.”
At the same time, a door appeared in front of him. The inside of the door was pitch black, with no indication of where it led.
Without hesitation, Lu Chu stepped through the door.
Once outside, everything became clear. This time, the illusion was a clean street lined with various shops: a toy store, an instrument store, a stationery store, a large supermarket, a clothing store, and at the end of the street, a Japanese restaurant.
As Lu Chu walked and looked around, he couldn’t help but marvel at the realism of the illusion.
Entering the Japanese restaurant at the end of the street, he saw Song Gui sitting there, eating sashimi with sake.
Lu Chu laughed, “You really know how to enjoy yourself.”
Song Gui turned to him and exclaimed excitedly, “Lu Xiao Chu!”
“Don’t call me Lu Xiao Chu.”
“Chu Chu!” This was how Song Gui called him when they first met, and at that time, Lu Chu didn’t have the chance to correct him.
Lu Chu conceded, “Alright, call me Lu Xiao Chu.”
Lu Chu sat down and ordered some food. While waiting, a girl of about twelve or thirteen walked in. She was sweet-looking, short, and very cute, but she carried a giant iron hammer on her shoulder. She approached Song Gui, smiled at him, and then brought the hammer down on him. Song Gui seemed to have anticipated this, dodging her attack easily, but the stool he had just been sitting on was smashed to pieces.
Not bothered by her failed attack, she shouted, “One of everything, packed to go!”
The food was quickly prepared, and she took the large pile of packed food, slung it over her other shoulder, and left.
Lu Chu asked curiously, “Wasn’t it a machete last time?”
Song Gui switched to another chair and replied nonchalantly, “She changes often. Machetes, scythes, axes—the bigger, the better. She can’t bring them into the ‘game’ anyway, so who knows what she’s obsessed with. She just feels uncomfortable without something on her shoulder.”
The food Lu Chu ordered arrived. In his original world, there was no such thing as “Japanese food,” so he had randomly ordered something and chose corn tea as his drink.
Song Gui shook his head when he saw it, “Why not have some sake?”
Lu Chu replied, “I don’t really drink alcohol.”
Song Gui didn’t press him and raised his cup, “To celebrate our successful mission.”
Lu Chu clinked his cup with Song Gui’s.
They chatted casually, and Song Gui said, “I knew I wasn’t wrong about you. When I chose your name when entering the game, I didn’t hesitate.”
“Do you have to choose teammates after clicking to enter?” Lu Chu asked.
“Wow!” Song Gui made an exaggerated face, “No way, Lu Xiao Chu, you mean you entered the mission without choosing me?”
Lu Chu smiled and shook his head honestly, “No, you didn’t tell me I needed to choose.”
Song Gui, without a hint of guilt, said, “No worries, I chose you anyway. I forgot we were a temporary team and didn’t select a team leader. Generally, if one person in a team selects the other teammates, and the teammates choose the same mission within the stipulated time, the entire team can be teleported into the ‘game.’ If a multi-person mission has only one person or not enough people, it cannot be entered.”
“What do you mean,” Lu Chu asked, “that a single person cannot choose a two-person or multi-person mission, and three people cannot enter a five-person mission?”
Song Gui nodded, “That’s right, you must have designated teammates, and you can only team up with people under the same rule.”
“‘Under the same rule,’” Lu Chu wondered, “this isn’t the first time I’ve heard you mention this. Are there other ‘rules’?”
At this, Song Gui’s expression turned serious. After a moment of silence, he said, “There are indeed.”
Lu Chu looked as if he understood.
Song Gui explained, “I found out during a five-person team mission once. I thought the more people in the mission, the more ‘time’ we could gain, so I teamed up with four reliable-looking people and chose a multi-person mission. The clues were simple, but upon entering, we discovered it was an abandoned sanatorium. We had to fight against people from other rules. At the same time, we had to avoid being hunted by a humanoid monster. If no player—let’s call ourselves players—died within the specified time, the monster would randomly kill one of us.”
Lu Chu seemed to picture the scene.
“As you know, people under the same rule can’t harm each other. This is our biggest safeguard during missions, preventing us from suspecting our teammates. No one wants to die here, and every hour, if no players are injured, ‘it’ will randomly kill someone. So, we did our best to hunt each other’s teammates. By the end of the time limit, only two of my team were left.”
Lu Chu frowned, “You and who else?”
“You’ve seen her,” Song Gui said, “that young girl.”
Lu Chu was surprised. He had sensed a murderous aura from the girl, and Song Gui had warned him before, but he hadn’t expected her to be so formidable.
Song Gui took a sip of his drink and raised an eyebrow, “I remember telling you that her name is Luo Qi. She’s been here longer than I have, with over five hundred minutes on her bracelet—the longest I’ve seen. After going through this game, you gain more life experience than living peacefully for decades. I don’t know if she was always strong or if she trained here, but she’s a tough one.”
Lu Chu looked at the shattered table next to them and nodded, “I can tell.”
“By the way, did I mention?” Song Gui suddenly asked.
“What?”
Song Gui said, “To bring a bed, some clothes, or even a folding single bed into your room. The items here might be fake, but they feel real.”
Lu Chu immediately understood, “I’ll look into what I need.”
People are like this; even in danger, they strive to entertain themselves and enjoy life.
That’s why they didn’t collapse and continued to survive.
As they ate, Song Gui suddenly asked Lu Chu, “What’s your plan for the next game? Want to form a small team with me?”
Lu Chu paused, remembering 7 telling him to choose a solo mission next. He smiled warmly, “I’m tempted by your offer and would love to join you. But I’m still a newbie, not very skilled in many areas. I need to understand more and improve my abilities before taking on more difficult team missions.”
Song Gui raised his cup with a smile, “Of course, to our future cooperation.”
They clinked their cups, both happy.
Song Gui knew very well how capable Lu Chu was. They had both been testing each other—testing if the other could be a reliable teammate. Most of the time, Song Gui had taken a backseat, letting Lu Chu solve the puzzles alone.
There was no doubt that Lu Chu was extremely capable—calm, organized, and clear-minded. His almost psychic ability greatly intrigued Song Gui. Most importantly, Lu Chu’s character made Song Gui trust him and want to be his teammate.
After all, under the rules, they couldn’t harm each other but could choose to ignore each other.
The Thirteen Days I Was Imprisoned
