Volume 2: Winter’s End
Standing by the lakeside at night, both glanced at the sky before deciding that they should split up to collect supplies from the small building and check for any information related to the original world.
There weren’t many residences along this stretch of the lakeshore, only six in total. Ye Qian took charge of searching the four closest ones, while Shu Xun was assigned the remaining two. After allocating the houses to be searched, Ye Qian released Shu Xun and headed toward the front.
Shu Xun quickly began his work. Despite being small, the dumpling displayed decent strength and agility, more than sufficient for searching two two-story buildings.
Dressed in a black cotton jacket, the energetic dumpling trotted along, heading straight for the entrance of the first villa. Shu Xun, who had been preparing for action while keeping his energy in check, was ready for some serious work. However, the spirited Shu Xun didn’t anticipate that there would be someone sitting in front of the first villa’s gate—a person, or rather, a frozen corpse.
Seeing the person sitting cross-legged in the center of the gate, Shu Xun immediately halted, stopping his steps. He stood there momentarily, a bit stunned, before realizing that he had encountered the first original resident since entering the game world, albeit a dead one.
The elegant villa, adorned with a layer of thick white snow, had its wide-open gate. In the middle, a man dressed in light gray winter attire sat upright. What surprised Shu Xun was that, apart from being covered in snowflakes all over, this man looked almost no different from a living person. However, there was not a trace of vitality in his body.
The man had a clear and handsome face, exuding a very clean aura, and appeared quite young. He sat there quietly as if he had become a still painting. His deep blue pupils remained open, gazing into the distance. There was no fear, no lifelessness, not even a hint of negative emotion in his eyes. Shu Xun even saw a sense of anticipation in those frozen blue eyes.
The sudden appearance of this peculiar corpse momentarily blanked Shu Xun’s small head. Afterward, he slowly approached the location where the corpse was.
Upon closer inspection, Shu Xun confirmed that the person was indeed dead. A thin layer of frost covered his exposed face, indicating that he had long since passed away. Yet, the body showed no signs of decay.
Frowning, Shu Xun circled the body several times, hoping to find some other clues about this strange corpse.
Finally, when the small footprints around the corpse increased to the third circle, Shu Xun stopped his steps. The chest of the frozen man’s coat slightly bulged as if there was something held inside. But it was obscured by the outer garment and nothing could be seen.
Hesitating for a moment, Shu Xun climbed onto the man’s lap. Upon touching the corpse, a piercing coldness invaded, as if this body had already assimilated with the frozen world, even colder than the world itself.
Climbing onto the frozen man’s shoulders, Shu Xun located the zipper and grabbed it with both hands. He then lifted himself up, but the zipper didn’t budge.
A gentle breeze passed by, and the little dumpling hanging on the zipper swayed slightly with the wind, creating an oddly awkward atmosphere. In a live broadcast scenario, this scene might have triggered laughter all around.
Helplessly, Shu Xun rechecked the zipper on the frozen man’s clothing, ensuring that neither the clothes nor the zipper were frozen. He grabbed the zipper again, secured his two short legs firmly on the garment like mountain climbers, and started pulling like playing tug-of-war.
When Shu Xun was almost about to fall backward, it seemed he finally found the right angle and force. The zipper loosened and slid down instantly, stopping at the chest level.
Looking over, Shu Xun found that this time the zipper was indeed stuck. The thing jamming the zipper was a black A4-sized book that opened like an accordion. Due to the sitting posture, the notebook tilted outward, and it was this tilt that made Shu Xun aware of the presence of something in the man’s arms.
Adjusting the zipper again, Shu Xun took out the black book and also discovered a can. He immediately noticed the peach illustration in tender yellow on the cylindrical can. Without hesitation, he tossed the book into his small backpack, picked up the peach can, checked it, and found it still sealed. Carefully, he placed the can into his backpack.
Having done all this, Shu Xun joyfully hopped down. Patter, patter, he took two steps and turned back to look at the quietly seated frozen corpse. Involuntarily, his steps slowed down, and eventually, he stopped. After a moment, he trotted back, climbed onto the corpse, and with some effort, zipped up the man’s clothes again.
Only then did he leave with the small backpack. For some reason, at the moment of turning around, Shu Xun suddenly felt the backpack was a bit heavy as if shouldering some responsibility. Shu Xun shook his little head, temporarily suppressing this feeling. Now, the most important thing was to diligently search for supplies and then quickly head to the micro-market area. He wanted to check if there were any survivors in the large city under the icy winter, to gather more information about this apocalyptic world.
The villa’s door was not locked, and Shu Xun entered effortlessly. The interior was as tidy as new, with only a thin layer of dust settled. Despite this, the decorating style and furnishings in the room exuded a subtle warmth, giving a faint sense of tranquility even in the extremely low temperature.
There was almost no sign of disorder inside, from the sofa and coffee table to the bookshelves and beds, everything appeared neatly arranged. Shu Xun stepped into the room, his small figure moving agilely as he climbed up and down, occasionally jumping between pieces of furniture to expedite his search.
Shu Xun stood on the desk, gazing at the only flaw in the entire villa—the photo frame on the table was still there, but the picture inside had been taken. Was it a coincidence, or was it related to the frozen man outside the door? What connection could this missing photograph have with the game? A plethora of questions suddenly flooded Shu Xun’s mind.
After a thorough search, Shu Xun’s harvest was not significant. Besides a few winter clothes, he found no food. It seemed that anything edible in the villa had already been consumed.
The absence of food was not a random occurrence. The situation in the adjacent villa was even worse, bordering on complete chaos. The contents were scattered, wooden furniture shattered, and traces of residual ashes in the living room suggested someone had lit a fire here for warmth. Not a trace of food remained.
Shu Xun furrowed his little brows, tugged at the hair on his forehead, and speculated that the residents near this micro-lake had stayed in the villa for some time but eventually left. As they departed, food must have become critically scarce, explaining why the villa was so clean—no grain of rice was left. However, it remained unknown what the situation was like in the other villas. If the guess was correct, Ye Qian probably completed his search as well.
Following the stairs down step by step, Shu Xun left the villa. He pushed open the door, and indeed, not far away, he spotted the black figure of Ye Qian, striding purposefully towards him.
During this time, Shu Xun inspected the corpse sitting in front of the villa’s main door but found no photographs. Turning back, he glanced at the elegant villa behind him. This particular villa seemed to be the most unusual one on the edge of the micro-lake. The corpse in front of the gate gave Shu Xun a peculiar and indescribable feeling.
So, when Ye Qian walked up to Shu Xun amidst the audience’s eager voices, a deep-thinking dumpling face appeared in everyone’s sight.
“I might be poisoned. The dumpling looks so cute with a serious expression, wrinkling its little brows!”
“Original world resident! An original world resident spotted!”
“Really an original world resident. Looks like a human. Is this a corpse? It looks like a living person!”
“Is the dumpling always this lucky? I’ve followed so many live streams and it’s the first time I’ve seen a native, even though it seems to be a dead person!”
“I’m more curious about what happened in this world. Why does everything feel so out of place?”
Author’s Note:
Small Theater:
One late night, General and Shu Xun were getting ready to sleep.
The General helped Shu Xun take off his little clothes, and Shu Xun thanked him with a paw-hug.
The General, lying there, looked at his own clothes. Shu Xun instantly understood the stoic expression and considerately prepared to help the General take off his clothes.
After a moment, the General looked at a certain dumpling swinging on his clothes’ zipper.
Shu Xun (I weigh this much, what can I do? I’m also desperate!)
