“Hello, what’s your name?”
The girl was clearly lively. She bounced along with a spring in her step, her skirt swaying gently with every movement.
Bu Jingjue couldn’t help worrying about her shoes. Were they really suitable for all that hopping?
But he didn’t let any of his real feelings show. Wearing the innocent smile of a boy his age, he replied sweetly,
“I’m Bu Jingjue. What about you?”
“I’m Chen Yuanyuan, and this is my boyfriend, Li Shengqun. And that one over there is the hired gun we brought along.”
Chen Yuanyuan was friendly to a fault, and quickly introduced everyone.
The young man who looked like a painter, Li Shengqun, the boyfriend Chen Yuanyuan had mentioned, tugged at her sleeve.
“Sorry. Xiaoyuan can be a little too enthusiastic. I hope she didn’t scare you.”
Li Shengqun was still young and inexperienced. His wariness of strangers was written all over his face.
“A hired gun?”
Bu Jingjue wasn’t particularly interested in that. Instead, he was curious about Mr. Windbreaker, the man Chen Yuanyuan had called their hired gun. His gaze moved between the windbreaker and the young couple, openly curious but not at all rude.
“Could you be a new player in Tonight’s Right and Wrong? You don’t know what a hired gun is?”
Chen Yuanyuan was still kind toward newcomers, but her boyfriend didn’t seem to feel the same way.
“Xiaoyuan…” Li Shengqun pulled her back in displeasure, eyeing Bu Jingjue with suspicion.
“Sorry, I really am new here. When I woke up, I was in an inn, and the whole town was deserted. I met a gentleman on the road, the same one you just saw, Mr. Bristol. I was scared, so I followed him.”
Bu Jingjue put on an appropriately frightened expression. He held back a tremble, his voice sinking as he looked at Chen Yuanyuan with a subtle hint of hope and delight.
After Chen Yuanyuan pinched him twice, Li Shengqun’s attitude toward Bu Jingjue softened a little. He was more or less forced to be kinder.
“When we arrived, we were in the forest. Our starting locations were different from yours. Could that mean something?”
Li Shengqun frowned, his wariness undiminished.
Bu Jingjue could tell they’d bought his story about being a new player. He privately wondered whether this game, Tonight’s Right and Wrong, or perhaps its rules, its space, divided the so-called players into two camps.
Li Shengqun might as well have had a sign on his face saying, “This guy might not be on our side. We’d better keep our distance.”
As for Mr. Windbreaker…
He’d deal with him later.
First, he’d win over these two “veteran players” who seemed easy to handle, Bu Jingjue thought.
“I’m not sure. But what’s a ‘hired gun’? Is he your backup?”
Bu Jingjue stole several glances at Mr. Windbreaker, who didn’t seem to care at all. He stood with his arms folded, looking as cool and aloof as ever.
Bu Jingjue couldn’t help envying him. That was the kind of role he wanted!
“More or less. Some players hire win-streak players from the origin space to team up with them and improve their chances of clearing a dungeon. Oh, and we’re really lucky to have hired God K…”
“He has no idea what you’re talking about.”
Li Shengqun couldn’t help interrupting, only for Chen Yuanyuan to shoot him a fierce glare.
“Oh, the origin space is where all the players meet. You can think of it as a temporary gathering place, like a town. But since you’re new, you have to complete a mission and earn the space will’s approval before it gives you access. Gosh, everyone’s confused their first time. Good thing you ran into us. If you’d met someone else, they might have pushed a newbie like you out to serve as cannon fodder.”
Chen Yuanyuan stuck out her tongue with a grin. Bu Jingjue guessed she’d been pampered growing up.
“It’s not like I’m some kind of do-gooder… I just think someone as young as you should get to live.”
Oh… So he had to thank this youthful getup, then? Bu Jingjue expressionlessly tugged at his coat, suddenly feeling even colder.
“K is first on the win-streak board and the points board. We were lucky enough to hire him… The price was the item we drew as a reward in our last dungeon.”
“After completing a mission, players get one chance to draw a reward. Usually, you get something useful. The reward from our last dungeon wasn’t a good fit for us, but who would’ve guessed it was just what God K needed?”
“Thank you, Sister Yuanyuan. You’re so nice.”
Bu Jingjue looked gratefully at Chen Yuanyuan, then asked eagerly,
“Mr. Bristol told me the Festival of All Origins is tomorrow. Do you know what it is?”
Chen Yuanyuan exchanged a glance with her boyfriend, then quickly nodded.
“We asked about it when we rode over with those merchants. The Festival of All Origins is a big deal in Beckwell. They say it’s a holiday held especially for some god. Everyone in town takes part in a grand celebration that day… That’s the Festival of All Origins. Do you think our mission might be to find this god?”
Chen Yuanyuan’s imagination was running wild. But Bu Jingjue had gleaned something important from what she said: these three “players” still didn’t know what their mission in this world was.
He’d thought the only purpose of entering an infinite-flow world was to survive. Now it seemed that was only the bare minimum. There were proper missions, too?
“What was the inn that man, Asa Bristol, mentioned called again? Angel’s Cottage? What a strange name…”
“That’s right. I told him I knew you and that you were staying there too. I thought it might be better if we stayed together. At least we could look out for one another.”
Bu Jingjue kept glancing at the three of them, acting as if he wanted to rely on them but was too shy to say so.
“Then let’s go to Angel’s Cottage! Besides… a bed’s a bed, wherever you sleep.”
Chen Yuanyuan took Li Shengqun by the hand and greeted Mr. K. After he gave a small nod, she took Bu Jingjue’s hand as well.
“Come along, kid. Follow big sis.”
Bu Jingjue squeezed her soft hand in return, smiling shyly as he steeled himself.
“Right… I’m a sixteen-year-old kid… I’m a sixteen-year-old kid. It’s fine. I’m not going to get upset.”
All four of them walked to the inn on foot. By the time they reached the place called Angel’s Cottage, it was very late.
Bu Jingjue stood in front of the inn, silent.
Angel’s Cottage was one of the most unusual places in town. It had a distinctive, lavish, showy style, more like a grand hotel than an inn. And yet its name was “Cottage.” It was hard to understand.
And Bu Jingjue discovered that the owner really was a woman! As if she’d been chosen to match the innkeeper he’d lied to Asa about.
“You’re finally back. Didn’t I warn you not to stay out all night, wandering around the streets?”
The innkeeper was beautiful and elegant, but her words were stern. Hands on her hips, she came out from behind the front desk and herded the four of them upstairs like ducks.
“Hurry back to your rooms…”
“If you keep this up… you’ll anger… Tomorrow is the day of His triumphant return. Don’t go looking for trouble.”
“I’ve already had someone bring dinner to your rooms. Who knows whether you’ve eaten yet?”
So this innkeeper was another one of those people who sounded harsh but had a soft heart?
Bu Jingjue reached into his pocket and found a key, complete with a tag bearing a room number. He held it up and waved it at the other three.
Mr. Windbreaker was the first to react. He casually felt around the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a key of his own.
Seeing that, Chen Yuanyuan glanced at her cumbersome skirt, then quickly reached into her boyfriend’s pocket and fished out a key.
But there were only three keys for the four of them.
“Maybe it’s because Shengqun and I are a couple? Or just because I’m wearing a skirt and don’t have pockets?”
Chen Yuanyuan was puzzled, but Li Shengqun quickly cut her off.
“Let’s see if our rooms are next to each other first.”
“I’m in 2011,” Bu Jingjue replied.
“2012.”
Mr. Windbreaker spoke for once, startling Bu Jingjue.
Only then did Bu Jingjue realize Mr. Windbreaker had somehow come up behind him. His broad chest and considerable height gave off an oppressive presence. Bu Jingjue drew his neck in, distinctly uncomfortable.
Strange. Was he really this timid? Bu Jingjue blamed the embarrassing reaction on the role identity card.
“We’re in 2013,” Chen Yuanyuan said with a happy smile. “That’s perfect.”
Li Shengqun’s gaze lingered on the keys in their hands.
“My pocket didn’t have a key in it before… Looks like we’ve triggered the story. Maybe the space will is about to give us a mission, too.”
Mr. Windbreaker said nothing more. He tossed his key in the air, letting the tag clink against it. The sound rang out especially clearly in the hallway, where only the four of them stood…
And it was more than a little eerie.
Bu Jingjue went to the door of his room and smiled at the other three.
“Let’s get some rest. See you tomorrow.”
…
When he entered the room, the first thing Bu Jingjue did was call for 0725. Only after there was still no response did he begin to look around.
The room was furnished like any ordinary inn, but just like Angel’s Cottage’s lavish exterior, everything from the furniture to the decorations spoke of aristocratic taste. Even the pattern on the pillow was no less fine than those on the carriage belonging to Mr. Asa Bristol. Bu Jingjue was beginning to believe that the gentleman’s wealth really was beyond measure.
To his surprise, two candles had been lit on the dining table where the food was laid out. The dancing flames glinted off the food’s oily surface, and suddenly Bu Jingjue realized he was hungry.
He’d eat first. The roast chicken looked delicious.
Bu Jingjue pulled out a chair, picked up his knife and fork, and dug straight into the chicken without a moment’s hesitation.
Mm. Whatever it was, it could wait until tomorrow.