Ai told a small lie; the backpack she packed wasn’t full of snacks and drinks, but a complete wilderness survival kit, containing everything from food, water, and clothing to medicine, tools, survival gear, and even weapons.
If she could have truly brought that backpack in, even surviving alone wouldn’t have been much of an issue.
But obviously, starting with full supplies is something the Wish Corridor does not allow, which is why she couldn’t bring the items in.
“Ah, this backpack isn’t mine,” Sento responded, squatting down to open it.
At the same time, he recalled the information Ai’s words had just revealed; it seemed that trying to prepare supplies in advance to bring in really didn’t work.
“Oh?
The things in these two backpacks…”
Ai covered her mouth, putting on a look of surprise.
The items in the two backpacks were identical: a set of thermal underwear, a thin jacket and trousers, two packs of biscuits, two bottles of mineral water, and a small box of matches.
The other supplies were the same, but the clothes were slightly different.
Sento took out the brand-new, clean thermal underwear from one of the backpacks and compared it with the clothes in the other, finding that the sizes were clearly different.
“I see, it must be a Newbie Gift Pack,” Sento nodded in realization.
“Newbie Gift Pack?” Ai tilted her head, putting on a cute and innocent look.
A sense of speechlessness washed over Sento.
No, little sister, you’re an expert who can DIY a computer at will; don’t tell me you don’t know what a Newbie Gift Pack means?
But since Ai wanted to play pretend, he’d let her continue.
Once they got closer later on, maybe he could even bring this up to tease her; the thought of it was quite amusing.
“It’s just a benefit prepared for newcomers.
After all, since we can’t bring supplies in, in such a harsh natural environment, without some basic resources, one could die very quickly.
For now, the Wish Corridor doesn’t seem like a place specifically for executing people, so it’s normal for it to provide us with some basic supplies.”
Sento walked toward a corner of the cave with the clothes, saying, “Hayasaka, I suggest you hurry up and put on the clothes too.
With the weather outside, if you don’t dress warmly, I’m afraid you’ll be frozen into a popsicle within two minutes of stepping out.”
“Ugu—that’s true.
Then Sento-kun, no peeking~”
Her tone was cute, but Ai’s speed in getting dressed was more than twice as fast as Sento’s.
Sento had just finished putting on his thermal underwear and hadn’t even put on his jacket when Ai on the other side was already done; she even took the opportunity to straighten her skirt, tucking it into her pants, and put on the sweater tied around her waist.
“Ready?
Then let’s head out.” Sento tightened his clothes, picked up the backpack and slung it over his shoulder, walking toward the cave entrance.
Ai also picked up her backpack and skipped to catch up with Sento: “True, staying here forever isn’t an option.
It’s already this cold during the day; if it were night, this cave definitely wouldn’t be habitable.”
“Speaking of which, what should we do?
Should we find a more comfortable shelter first?”
Although she already had a plan in mind, Ai, not wanting to show it, handed the decision-making power to Sento.
As long as Sento’s answer wasn’t too outrageous, she planned to follow him for now.
Completely unaware of Ai’s thoughts, Sento stroked his chin and responded, “I don’t know if you’ve seen the relevant info, but the worlds we travel to should all be based on games with survival elements.
So I think the most important thing right now is to first determine which game this world is based on.
If it’s a game I’ve played, then—”
“Mm-hmm, and then?” Noticing that Sento, who had reached the cave entrance, suddenly stopped talking, Ai followed up after waiting a few seconds without a continuation.
Stepping onto the edge of the cave entrance, the corners of Sento’s mouth curled up: “Luck is on our side; this really is a game I’ve played.
the long dark, have you heard of it?”
Ai blinked and shook her head very decisively.
This time she wasn’t faking.
Although she was indeed skilled at building computers, proficient with electronic devices, and often scrolled through short videos or even played popular mobile games to ensure she had common topics with the gyaru group in her class.
But a game like the long dark, which required sitting in front of a computer for three to five hours at a time, was still too much of a luxury for a maid like her, who had to spend most of her day at school or with the Eldest Young Lady.
Sento had also roughly guessed this, so he briefly explained the game’s situation to her.
the long dark’s background story takes place during winter in Canada, in an area called Great Bear Island; the people living here have all moved away, leaving behind a large number of abandoned houses and factories.
The game is divided into two modes: a Survival Mode with only the player, and a Story Mode with other NPCs.
Sento couldn’t determine yet which mode the world they were in was based on, but he hoped it was Survival Mode.
After all, humans ambushing from the shadows with guns are much more dangerous than wild animals.
“Wow…
winter in Canada?
Just hearing it makes me feel cold.” Looking at the vast white expanse outside the cave, Ai couldn’t help but complain.
“Alright, let’s talk as we walk.”
“Eh, where are we going?
Sento-kun, do you already have a target?”
Hearing Ai’s question, Sento confidently pointed ahead: “Can you see what that is?”
Ai cupped her fair hands together, making a telescope gesture to shade her eyes and minimize the glare from the surrounding snow.
What entered her vision was a brownish object in the distance.
After staring intently for a dozen seconds, she guessed, “Is that a log cabin?”
Sento nodded, a look of relief on his face: “Although I’ve played the long dark for quite a while, I’m no gaming pro, so there are many map areas in the game I don’t actually know well.
But our luck is good.
Our current location is the newbie map I’m most familiar with in this game, Mystery Lake, and that building in the distance is a landmark of this map—Trappers Home.
It’s precisely because I spotted that place that I can be certain we should be inside the game the long dark.”
As for how he could determine the specific location just by the silhouette of a cabin and the surrounding environment…
it could only be said that Sento had played the Mystery Lake map for so long that he was extremely familiar with it.
Just standing still wouldn’t do.
Although there was no wind and the weather was clear, the few thin layers of clothing they had on couldn’t withstand much cold.
After standing at the cave entrance for only a few minutes, Ai had already started stomping her feet; after all, she was still wearing a pair of small leather shoes.
Walking in front, Sento continued to explain the relevant information to Ai.
“Besides the background story I just mentioned, there’s one more thing that must be said: because of the human evacuation, the number of wild animals in this area has increased significantly.
Common ones include deer, wolves, rabbits, grouse, and so on, while the relatively rare ones that pose a greater threat to us are bears and Moose.”
There were actually Cougars too, but they wouldn’t appear in the early stages, so Sento didn’t mention them.