Mo-ge: [In the beginner’s Silent Hill, we just need to walk from the starting point to the end. Just make sure your voice doesn’t exceed 60 decibels, and remember to mute your notification alerts.]
Mo-ge: [If you see anything you want, pick it up lightly and don’t rush. Anyway, I’m here to accompany you through the level.]
Liang Shumo used the muted virtual keyboard to type what he wanted to say into the team channel, signaling Lin Zhaoyang to look at the message.
After entering the map, the rules for this scenario were fished out from his memory, and he remembered that he needed to remind his newbie teammate.
Ending up with a beginner instance in random matchmaking was considered bad luck on his part, but for the other person to run into him was quite fortunate. After all, this game didn’t have many proper strategy guides offline, and there were plenty of people who just made things harder.
The first stage was the easiest, but the clearance conditions for the instance required personal exploration, which also demanded multiple attempts. Furthermore, there were those unlucky road-blind players who failed simply because they couldn’t find the finish line and exceeded the time limit.
Lin Zhaoyang: [Got it, Mo-ge. Thank you, Mo-ge. Starry-eyed jpg]
Liang Shumo’s in-game name completely took advantage of everyone. Other people either had to call him Mo-ge or could only address him as Brother; surely nobody would walk up and call him Little Mo, right?
Lin Zhaoyang was originally replying to the message. When he looked up, he realized that the scenery hadn’t only changed, it had also turned eerie and gloomy.
Inside Silent Hill, the landscape was dilapidated, the sky was covered with dark clouds, and the blowing wind carried a strange, wailing sound.
Anxious to keep up with Mo-ge, who had already started walking forward, but remembering that the decibel level couldn’t exceed 60, Lin Zhaoyang wanted to move fast yet cautiously, ending up looking like a thief with a guilty conscience.
Liang Shumo walked forward a few steps, saw a bundle of ropes, and turned around to call Lin Zhaoyang over to pick it up, only to find that the other person was still not far from the starting point.
His walking posture was a mix of cautiousness and sneakiness, resembling a petty thief stealing something for the first time. Fortunately, he was good-looking, so he still looked quite cute.
Liang Shumo didn’t rush him. He just stood right where he was, waiting for Lin Zhaoyang to reach him with an effortful yet extremely slow pace.
“Ge.”
Lin Zhaoyang called out in an extremely soft voice to signal that he had arrived. He wanted to apologize, but talking wasn’t appropriate, so acting cute would have to do, though he didn’t seem particularly cute anyway, but whatever, it was just to show the gesture.
Liang Shumo motioned for Lin Zhaoyang to follow him as he continued walking. He didn’t mind spending a little extra time. This time, he deliberately slowed his pace, experiencing someone this brand-new for the first time was indeed a bit unusual.
Although Liang Shumo had only played this during his beginner phase, this survival game had no strategy guides, and the early stages relied entirely on self-exploration. Still, he knew about some of the materials scattered directly along the road.
Lin Zhaoyang simply followed his Mo-ge and picked up two bundles of rope, a pack of broken candles, and a damaged flashlight before he realized he was starting to find it hard to walk.
He guessed it was because his weight limit was almost full, but since Mo-ge told him to pick those things up, he couldn’t just throw them away, right? It was just that now he couldn’t walk fast either, and he had no idea how far away the finish line was.
Lin Zhaoyang: [Mo-ge, why don’t you head to the finish line first? Find a place to rest there while I take my time.]
The main thing was that once the other person walked away, he could secretly throw the ropes away. The candles and flashlight were useful to him, but the rope was completely useless.
Mo-ge: [What’s wrong?]
Liang Shumo never imagined that someone could have already unlocked exploration, yet their stamina stat could drop as low as 20 points.
Instead of listening to the other person and going to rest at the finish line, driven by curiosity, he turned back instead.
“Mo.”
Lin Zhaoyang habitually opened his mouth to speak, but Liang Shumo had anticipated it long ago. He used his large hand to cover the other person’s mouth directly, signaling him to use messages instead.
While Lin Zhaoyang lowered his head to reply to the message, Liang Shumo put his right hand behind his back and secretly wiped it on his clothes. It wasn’t out of disgust, the softness of the other person’s lips was different from other places, leaving his palm itching and his body tingling.
Lin Zhaoyang: [Weight limit reached. I can barely walk.]
The two of them acted like they were performing a silent mime, gesturing with their hands while sharing a single objective, getting the other person to look at the messages.
After reading the message, Liang Shumo was puzzled for a moment. He tapped on the other person’s profile to check the stamina stat, fell into silence upon seeing that single digit of 20 points, and closed the message window.
Looking at Lin Zhaoyang’s thin and small build, he thought for a moment before reopening the message window.
Liang Shumo: [If you don’t mind, I can carry you. My stamina is 396, and my weight capacity is too.]
Lin Zhaoyang raised his eyes to look at Mo-ge’s well-defined muscles lurking beneath his clothes, lifting him up with one hand didn’t seem like much of a problem at all.
Although he didn’t understand why he wasn’t going to be carried on his back, Lin Zhaoyang didn’t want to cause trouble for others, so he silently lowered his head to type.
Lin Zhaoyang: [Alright then, sorry to trouble you.]
Liang Shumo: [Just hold onto my neck tightly with your hands later.]
With permission granted, Liang Shumo placed both hands on Lin Zhaoyang’s waist, lifted him so his feet left the ground, and then steadily settled him onto his left arm.
No matter how calm someone looked on the outside, their inner monologue could very well be silently gossiping about people.
Liang Shumo actually wanted to weigh Lin Zhaoyang up and down in his arms, but that felt a bit impolite, so he didn’t do it. The other person was so light that he felt even lighter than his gym equipment. Then again, it made sense, he could wrap his arms completely around the other person’s waist with both hands, so one could imagine how thin he was, with arms and legs slimmer than ordinary people.
What was the use of a boy being this light? He had no strength at all, he wouldn’t even be able to pick up a partner in the future.
While maintaining a calm expression and a steady pace toward the finish line, Liang Shumo’s internal voice was far from quiet, and all of it revolved around Lin Zhaoyang.
Lin Zhaoyang was stunned. No wonder he said he would carry him, he just put him right on his arm like this? Wasn’t he heavy?
Unable to communicate verbally, Lin Zhaoyang had to swallow his confusion, obediently wrapping both arms around the other’s neck and resting his head against him.
Liang Shumo simply figured that the other person ought to be very light, and resting him right on his arm was just right, which was why he held him like this. It was his first time holding someone this way, so many situations hadn’t been anticipated.
For instance, whenever the other person turned his head to look around, his hair kept brushing against his neck, causing an itch, but he felt too embarrassed to stop him and tell him not to move.
He looked like a little figurine, truly so tiny.
Huh? A hammer?
And two nails, beginners should be short on those.
There is a broken mirror here, might as well pick it up too.
A candlestick? It can match the previous candles.
I wonder if wood is needed?
Guess I won’t pick up the stones.
Many people wished they could read minds simply because some individuals kept blank expressions on the outside while their inner worlds were truly rich. If you only looked at the surface, you would never know what the other person was actually thinking.
Lin Zhaoyang only had a tiny bit of murmuring in his heart while this teammate he had teamed up with for the very first time went around picking up junk, thinking, So Level 88 players need this kind of stuff too?
With one hand holding a person and his right hand occasionally picking up items from the ground, Liang Shumo made his way all the way to the finish line just like that.
Along the way, there were incomplete tattered white arrows indicating the direction. Regardless of whether you knew the way or not, following them would lead you straight to the finish line.