After cleaning up, Xiao Xingzhi came in. Seeing Zhang Xiangyi looking at her phone, he asked, “Have the authorities said anything yet?”
Zhang Xiangyi shook her head slightly and asked, “Do you know what a survival game is?”
She’d never played games and didn’t understand them, but that didn’t mean everyone else was the same.
“One level after another, you just play through. There are all kinds of dangers inside…” Xiao Xingzhi gave her a quick rundown, then shrugged. “If that’s all it is, then as long as you don’t do anything reckless and just try to survive, it should be fine.”
Zhang Xiangyi fell into thought. With a rough idea of what it was, she finally felt a little more grounded.
“Hey, Zhang Xiangyi, does your family—”
Zhang Xiangyi corrected him seriously: “My name is Zhang Xiangyi, Xiang in the first tone, as in the line ‘whether in light makeup or heavy, she is always becoming’ (淡妆浓抹总相宜) [1] a famous couplet by the poet Su Shi comparing West Lake to the legendary beauty Xi Shi, her given name is drawn from it jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2691966_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2691966_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. Not the fourth tone. Thank you.”
“You’re pretty cultured.”
Zhang Xiangyi: …Getting into Jiangcheng University’s computer science department, do you think the cutoff is low?
Besides, the only reason the two of them even had ship fans was that they’d both topped the college entrance exam. Not only had they scored identically, but at school they were both the type no one ever saw outside of class.
Their schoolmates called them “the two kings who never meet.”
Pretty cringe.
“I’m hungry…”
Xiao Xingzhi rubbed his stomach, and it obediently growled a couple of times. “It’s not my fault. I was working outside today, and that jerk actually tried to stiff us temp workers and pay less. Of course I wasn’t having it, right? I had no money anyway, so I argued with him. I won in the end, but I missed mealtime. Then the zombie outbreak hit, and I didn’t even get a sip of water. Seriously… I’m super, super, super hungry!”
“…”
“But I really am hungry. And considering there are rumors about us…”
“If you keep talking, you won’t get to eat!”
Xiao Xingzhi finally went quiet. Zhang Xiangyi sighed in relief, opened the storeroom door, and tossed him the instant noodles she disliked most. “Boil your own water in the kitchen.”
“Old Duck Soup noodles? Why do you even have such disgusting noodles? Don’t you have the pickled-pepper flavor? Now that one’s good!”
“Eat it or don’t.”
Zhang Xiangyi slightly regretted letting this person in. His mouth was just too noisy.
Handsome, tall too, but that mouth ruined his whole face. She couldn’t help thinking of the netizen quip about a “mute hunk” [2] a guy who’s gorgeous right up until he opens his mouth jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2691966_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2691966_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, Xiao Xingzhi was exactly that type.
Xiao Xingzhi went into the kitchen and found a metal basin and an electric kettle. Before long he came out carrying a covered basin. “You really prepared thoroughly. You even stored this much water.”
“Oh, right, the water you just used in that basin, remember to pour it out outside. And wash the basin properly before refilling it.” Zhang Xiangyi gave him a cold glance.
Xiao Xingzhi: …
The noodles had just finished cooking when a wave of dizziness hit them both. By the time they came to, they were already in a room that looked highly futuristic.
Zhang Xiangyi instinctively scanned her surroundings. Aside from the chair she sat on, the only other thing in the room was a wall projection of a small rabbit. Xiao Xingzhi wasn’t here?
The rabbit was cute, but Zhang Xiangyi was in no mood to admire it. Anyone suddenly hauled into a place like this wouldn’t see that rabbit as harmless.
「Hello there, I’m Rabbit.」
Zhang Xiangyi: …Yeah… I can kind of tell.
「Welcome to the survival game. Players who clear the game survive. Please enter your nickname.」
As the rabbit finished, a screen appeared before Zhang Xiangyi with just a nickname field and nothing else.
Without much thought she typed “Rich.” She didn’t have many goals in life, she just wanted to be rich. Although the school had waived her tuition and even given her a scholarship, she was still very poor.
「Nickname set successfully.」
「Searching for beginner instance—」
「Instance selected—」
「Instance name: Apartment 44 (Beginner Instance)」
「Instance type: Puzzle」
「Difficulty: One star (Hard)」
「Instance mode: Solo」
「”Why did someone jump from the apartment building?”」
A flash of light. When Zhang Xiangyi opened her eyes again, she saw Xiao Xingzhi sitting across from her, a bowl of freshly cooked Old Duck Soup noodles in front of him.
Is this reality or the game?
She didn’t ask aloud. The room was warm and cozy, full of plush toys, flowers, and assorted decorations, nothing like her own home. Standing up to look around, she saw there was no cabinet blocking the front door and the balcony window was open. That was enough to confirm they were inside the game.
Meanwhile, Xiao Xingzhi looked like a man who hadn’t eaten in a century. He was already wolfing down the noodles, finishing in just a few bites. Wiping his mouth, he said, “I thought I wasn’t going to get to eat these. Turns out they really do taste best fresh, soak them too long and they’re just not as good.”
Once he’d finished, he got up and started trailing Zhang Xiangyi around again. “I figured our instances wouldn’t be the same. Didn’t expect us to land in the same one after all. Say what you want, but this really is fate.”
“Oh right, what nickname did you pick?”
“I called myself ‘Tall, Rich, and Handsome.’ [3] 高富帅, the stereotypical “perfect catch” boyfriend: tall, wealthy, and good-looking jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2691966_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2691966_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); Sounds rich just hearing it, doesn’t it?”
“Hey, why aren’t you saying anything? You’re making it look like I’m the one who talks too much.”
“Shut up!”
Xiao Xingzhi: …
After checking the room, Zhang Xiangyi finally said, “The layout’s the same, but everything inside is completely different.”
“Of course. Look how cozy it is here, then look at your place, basically empty.”
“Doesn’t look like a girl’s home at all…”
Zhang Xiangyi didn’t respond. Her home had only the bare necessities, nothing extra. The reason was simple, two words: no money.
Seeing her silence, Xiao Xingzhi could only sigh. “When we first came in, the game said, ‘Why did someone jump from the apartment building?’ Should we go take a look?”
“Bring a weapon first.” Zhang Xiangyi handed him a fruit knife and took a kitchen knife for herself.
Xiao Xingzhi swallowed and wiped away nonexistent sweat. “This doesn’t look like ‘going to take a look,’ it looks like ‘going to kill someone’…”
Zhang Xiangyi glanced at the knife in her hand and said nothing.
Xiao Xingzhi took the kitchen knife from her and handed the fruit knife back. “You keep this. I’m fine fighting.”
The two of them quietly opened the door, or more precisely, Xiao Xingzhi did it alone.
He held the knob and poked his round head out to scan the corridor, only to find several other residents doing exactly the same thing. From every door, a round head peeked out.
“Game?”
“Apartment?”
“44?”
“Jumping off?”
After confirming the “password,” they all swung their doors open. Some even rushed out anxiously.
“What are we supposed to do? They didn’t explain a thing! I haven’t studied in a century, I’ve only got a grade-school education, and this game is going to be the death of me!”
“How do we clear this?”
“And what kind of name is ‘Apartment 44’? Just hearing it already feels unlucky.”
“I’m thinking, do we really have to do this? What happens if we don’t?”
“You can try it and find out.”
The group was noisy and bickering. Zhang Xiangyi stood behind Xiao Xingzhi, watching them. Some had come out in pairs, others alone.
After everyone gathered in the middle of the corridor, Zhang Xiangyi counted, six people in all, including her and Xiao Xingzhi.
One floor had four units, which lined up as 2211.
“The game said—”
「Warning! Warning!」
「Player behavior detected as OOC. Please correct it!」
「Failure to correct within one minute will result in immediate elimination.」
「Warning! Warning!」
The mechanical countdown echoed in every player’s mind like a death sentence.
The instant Xiao Xingzhi heard it, he grabbed Zhang Xiangyi and bolted back. In a few seconds they were inside their room with the door shut. The other players reacted the same way.
The alarm in their minds cut off the moment they stepped inside.
The two exchanged a glance. Neither dared say much. One went into the bedroom, the other started searching the living room. Their coordination was unusually smooth.
When Zhang Xiangyi opened the bedside drawer, she found a box of condoms inside. For a moment her soul left her body. Identity?
No need to spell it out.
A couple, or a married pair, most likely a couple. OOC [4] out of character, behaving unlike the role you’re meant to be playing jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2691966_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2691966_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); meant the game expected them to act the part.
“Babe?”
“Darling?”
“Hubby?”
She couldn’t bring herself to say a single one.
“Did you find anything?” Xiao Xingzhi hadn’t found much. The moment he came in and saw what she was holding, he too fell silent.
Right, it was just a bedroom. A man and a woman, what else could they be?
“Babe, shall we go out for a stroll? Just to help our food settle?” Xiao Xingzhi put on a fawning smile. His ears slowly went red, but he pretended nothing was wrong. He walked over, took the item from her hand, tossed it back in the drawer, and closed it. “I’ll… make it up to you tonight.”
Zhang Xiangyi clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and walked ahead.
This was exhausting.
This game had better not be anything else.
Xiao Xingzhi shamelessly stepped up and slid an arm around her waist. Just as she was about to detonate, he quickly said, “Babe, I was wrong.”
Zhang Xiangyi took another deep breath, thinking that the alumni forum’s read on him was nothing close to accurate.
When the two of them held their breath and opened the door again, the warning in their minds didn’t come. Their nerve grew a little.
“It said something about why someone jumped, but no one’s actually jumped yet. Don’t tell me there’s still a whole storyline to get through?”
“This building has seven floors. If someone wanted to die by jumping, they’d have to go to the rooftop. Should we take a look?”
“Climb all the way to the rooftop just to help our food settle?”
“You’ve seen the rooftop photos people take, right? They look great. Babe, let’s go. I’ll take some for you too, guaranteed to blow up your Moments [5] one’s WeChat “Moments” feed, where friends post updates, like a social-media timeline jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2691966_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2691966_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.”
Zhang Xiangyi had no idea how this person could talk and think this much, but it was obvious that having Xiao Xingzhi around did make things easier.
When they reached the stairwell and saw a big “F4,” Xiao Xingzhi suddenly asked, “What was our unit number again?”
Zhang Xiangyi answered calmly, “4-4.”
Xiao Xingzhi pressed his lips together. “That’s really… something.”
They climbed to the rooftop, or more precisely, the 8th floor, except there was no roof over it.
“The door’s open too? And it’s so empty?”
The rooftop wasn’t large, you could take it all in at a glance. There was little cover either, except for a clothes rack with a blanket hanging on it.
Xiao Xingzhi fiddled with the door and looked at Zhang Xiangyi very seriously. “What do you think would happen if we locked this place up?”
“Lock what?”
“The shop?”
Zhang Xiangyi tilted her head. Where did that even come from? Didn’t he know what you could buy in a shop?
The real question was whether they could even buy anything right now.
“Didn’t we just check the food at home? There isn’t much. We can’t last a day or two, we’ll definitely have to go out and buy groceries, so…”
“Let’s go take a look,” Zhang Xiangyi said, not expecting much.
When the two of them reached the entrance of the apartment building, an invisible force suddenly shoved them back, sending them stumbling to the ground. At the same time, the familiar voice echoed in their minds.
「Warning! Warning!」
「Players may not leave the map area!」
The two exchanged a glance, got up slowly, brushed the dust off their clothes, and looked around.
“Since we can’t get out, and there are so many buildings here, there must be plenty of residents.” Zhang Xiangyi looked at the scenery, identical to her real housing complex. She stepped forward, hooked her arm through Xiao Xingzhi’s, leaned into him with a sweet smile, and lowered her voice. “Since we’re neighbors, borrowing a lock shouldn’t be a problem.”
“The neighbors here are probably pretty dangerous.” Xiao Xingzhi instinctively wrapped an arm around her in return. Feeling the softness under his hand, his mood instantly lifted and his ears turned red.
“Aren’t you good at fighting?”
“I only fight humans,” Xiao Xingzhi replied.
“Even better if they’re not human, right? You wouldn’t have to worry about killing someone or going overboard in self-defense.”
“…”
Xiao Xingzhi had no comeback.
Zhang Xiangyi dragged him forward into their apartment building. They decided to start on the first floor and work their way up, just to figure out what was going on, and who had jumped.
1-1, no answer.
1-2, they got cursed at.
1-3, they heard sounds that couldn’t be described.
1-4, with both of them braced and tense, the door finally opened.
References[+]