Ch15 - Explanations

The timer on the bomb was still ticking down, so when Xu Wang randomly appeared out of the ground hollering, all the passengers simply turned their heads to give him a brief glance. No one got out of their seats; in fact, many of them tightened their seatbelts instinctively. The passengers who’d been walking in the aisle quickly retreated to the sides, not caring if they had to sit on someone else’s lap in order to do so.

Following the passengers’ “scene clearing” and the two teams’ swift “battle,” the environment quieted down completely as it became time to determine a winner and loser.

The four people within the purple circle were all male, aged early-twenties to late-twenties. They all had nasty expressions on their faces, but it was still easy to determine their individual traits: tall, handsome, skinny, fresh.

The onlooking team didn’t dare breathe, and the captured team refused to speak first lest they show their weakness. Silent confrontation during a standoff was the greatest test for those who wished to win.

But that was nothing to Xu Wang.

He squatted benevolently and peered down at the round glass window. “Xiao Kuang, Old Qian, the cockpit, go!”

“Understood!” Two voices rang out clearly from the hole that was not supposed to exist.

Four minutes later, a deep, magnetic voice that they’d only heard once before (when the plane was taking off) came over the PA system.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I apologise on behalf of my entire team for the shock you’ve experienced over the unexpected events that transpired earlier. Right now, the four suspects have been detained by the other four brave, young men, and the dangerous object will be dealt with swiftly. Please relax and enjoy the rest of your flight—”

The last sentence came out deliberately and forcefully; rather than sounding like a well wish, it sounded more like a determination to succeed and never bow down.

Applause erupted within the main cabin and several overly excited passengers even started cheering.

As the atmosphere relaxed, the silence broke and the flight attendants seized the opportunity to go down the aisle with the food trolleys, serving beverages so everyone could clink glasses.

Everyone stopped thinking about the “four dangerous suspects” at the back of the plane; after all, they were being watched over by the “four brave young men.”

The eyes of the men in the circle had gotten wider and wider as they listened to the broadcast. By the end, their facial muscles were twitching. Finally, the handsome one of the lot blurted out, “You win, we get it. But trying to take the moral high ground, isn’t that too much?”

Xu Wang maintained his squatting position so that he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them. Even though it looked like he was getting ready to negotiate properly with them, he actually just needed to be in a good position to snap back at them. “You sneaky bastards wanna talk about morals with me?!”

The handsome man refused to back down and was about to retaliate, but the tall one in the group stopped him. He looked to be a couple years older than the handsome one, but even so, he was just about 25-26. Despite that, he emanated steadiness and composure from head to toe. He was also the quietest out of all of them as they were being attacked.

“How did you guys get into the cockpit?” he asked, skipping past the argument and going straight into inquiries. “Did you use an item?”

People like this were Wu Sheng’s favourite. He knelt down without hesitation so that they were at eye-level with each other, but instead of replying, he asked, “Why sneak up on us? Is it because in a shared platform, only one comes out victorious?”

The long-legged man was rendered speechless for a second as a) he didn’t expect Wu Sheng to speak and b) he couldn’t understand what Wu Sheng said.

Xu Wang sighed, then translated: “In stages where both teams are in the same world, is it only one team that’s allowed to submit the task?”

The long-legged man didn’t reply straight away. It didn’t look like he was stumped by the question; rather, he was figuring out a bargain strategy.

The skinny one amongst them looked to be the brightest of the group, and sure enough, as the long-legged man was still mulling things over, his own eyes flashed as he understood the situation they were in. “You all just submitted your first task, correct? No need to deny it, otherwise you wouldn’t have been exposed so quickly.” He folded his legs beneath him and sat up straight. “But we aren’t. While we’re not extremely experienced, at the very least we have more experience than you, and we know more than you. So now, you have the upper hand in physical power, but we have the upper hand in knowledge. How about we each take a step back and make this a double victory?”

Xu Wang imitated him, folding his legs and sitting up straight. “I’m listening.”

The skinny man nodded in satisfaction, as if reveling in Xu Wang’s frank acceptance of reality. “We can tell you guys all the rules of this place. The clear rules, the hidden rules, the unspoken rules. In exchange, you let us out and we have a fair battle.”

“If you make a move on us as soon as we let you out?”

“We would’ve done so earlier if we had the ability, but we’ve used up all our items. Besides, we’re the ones taking the bigger risk. What if you don’t let us go after we give you our information?”

“You can tell us 50 percent, then we let you go and you tell us the other 50 percent.”

“That’s what I was thinking!”

“Then listen, I also have something to say.” Xu Wang tilted his head sideways, elbows digging into his thighs, arms propping his head up. “We ask, you answer. If you refuse, we’ll stab you all and send you back home in Owl’s place.”

The skinny man paled. After a long while, he managed, “You can’t possibly have weapons.”

Xu Wang flicked his wrist with a smile. “But we have our equipment. Do you want to test it out?”

“You ask, we answer,” the long-legged man interjected with his deep voice, “under the condition that you don’t have to let us out, but you can’t send us home.”

“What if I go back on my word?”

“We’re already trapped, you wouldn’t pose a threat to us. It’s unnecessary for you to waste an item like that, and anyway, Earth is round, which means this place is round. We’ll run into each other again, I’m sure you don’t want more enemies.”

Xu Wang nodded. As opposed to the skinny man’s scheming and the handsome man’s impulsiveness, he much preferred this one’s straightforward communication.

“Give it here.” He reached a hand out towards Wu Sheng.

Reluctance was written all over Wu Sheng’s face over having his interrogation opportunity cut short, but still, he handed the piece of paper filled with questions that they’d come up with underground to Xu Wang. After all, it was his own fault for meeting his Waterloo at the very first question.

It really sucked to run into an opponent whose comprehension skills were so bad, he thought to himself, sulking.

“Names.” Wu Sheng’s “interview list” didn’t contain such a stupidly candid question; Xu Wang added it himself.

The long-legged man didn’t seem all that willing to cooperate. “I don’t think names are necessary. This place is its own world, let’s not drag reality into this.”

“Okay,” Xu Wang said easily. “Then I’ll call you guys Long Legs, Little Handsome, Skinny Pole, and Cold Fresh Face.”

The tall one: “…..”

The handsome one: “Sure.”

The skinny one: “…..”

The fresh one: “Whatever.”

“Xu Wang,” he then introduced himself without warning, before pointing to the person next to him. “Wu Sheng. ‘Wu’ as in Wei Shu Wu, ‘Sheng’ as in ‘lutes and woodwind instruments.'”

Wu Sheng: “Why is my name explained in such detail…..”

Without even waiting for the other party to respond, Xu Wang picked up the questionnaire and started the interrogation. The first question was the one they’d asked earlier. “In stages such as this one where different teams can see each other, is it only one team who can successfully submit the task?”

Long Legs: “Yes.”

“How do you guys know?”

“Before we snuck up on you, we were the victims of another team.”

“So in your 1/23 task, it was also just your own team?”

“I imagine everyone’s first task was only with their own team, that’s how we knew immediately that you people just passed the first stage.”

“Were you also forcibly brought to this place?”

“Yup.” Long Legs sighed and tried to smile, but it came out bitter. “This damn place, you can’t escape it, you can’t even find report it to anyone.”

Xu Wang couldn’t stand to see someone so dismal, not to mention he happened to be able to empathise perfectly. His mood wasn’t as bleak as Long Legs, but it was still a matter of frustration. He hurriedly moved on to the next question: “Your first stage was in Beijing?”

Long Legs nodded.

“Do you guys also know about the fact that the geographical coordinates match up?”

“We realised belatedly after going online to check a satellite map.”

“It makes sense that all the teams played separated in the first stage, but since we were all in Beijing, and all received the same coordinates, how come when we bounced back into reality we didn’t run into other teams?”

“Because all of our starting points are different.”

“You guys didn’t guess idioms at the icefall?”

In truth, they’d asked Qian Ai the same question when they were still hiding underground earlier. But according to Wu Sheng, Qian Ai was just one example; they needed the information from these four to receive secondary confirmation.

“Icefall?” Long Legs seemed to be hearing of this place for the first time. He shook his head. “Never seen it. All of us live outside of West Fifth Ring, and the idiom game’s coordinates were nearby.”

“I see, West Fifth Ring Road.” Xu Wang had been somewhat prepared for this. “We were all in North Third Ring, plus we got a new member who entered in Daxing District, and that’s in South Sixth Ring….”

“So how would we have seen each other?” Long Legs let out a helpless sigh. “Beijing is a huge city, there’s more than enough space for over ten teams.”

The first stage went out of its way to separate the teams so everyone was unaware of each other, and the second stage purposely pitted everyone against each other; was there anything more devious?

Fury rose within Xu Wang, but that was neither here nor there. This was Owl’s fault, and everyone here was just a victim. After taking a few deep breaths to regain calm, Xu Wang followed with another question: “How many nights have you guys been attempting this stage?”

Long Legs: “N.”

Xu Wang: “?”

Long Legs: “I don’t even know anymore. N≥20.”

Xu Wang: “Erm, your team’s skills are really…..”

Handsome: “Just ask your damn questions, don’t insult us!”

“Every time we come back in, the characters and relationships of all these passengers changes, so what we gain in our previous attempt becomes useless.” The fresh-looking one, so pale that it looked like he was glowing, spoke up for the first time, although his voice was as monotonous as his face.

But evidently, his words were meant in support of his teammates, because the handsome one immediately followed up with, “Exactly, so each time the challenge refreshes and starts from zero. If it were you guys, who knows how many days you’d take!”

“Sure, sure,” Xu Wang said consolingly, not wanting to waste his breath on them. He turned back to Long Legs with his next question: “How come you made your move so fast? Why not wait until we figured out all the clues or until we found the password to make your move? Wouldn’t that mean you could just sit back and nab the fish from our nets?”

Long Legs: “The prerequisite for that is that you guys can nab the fish to begin with, but we’re short on time. We have more faith in ourselves.”

“…..” Never mind. After all, they were the team that exposed themselves the second they entered the airport, so really, they didn’t have much to say for their abilities either. “If we fail to submit the task, what…” Xu Wang’s voice trailed off. Because his brain first had to translate Wu Sheng’s abnormal use of language into normal human language, and he was also busy working through the thoughts circling his mind, so for a minute he stumbled over a few vocabulary words he’d never thought of before.

After a long while, he finally deciphered the question and asked again, “If we fail to submit a task, what is the punishment?”

Something inexplicable flashed in Long Legs’ eyes for the first time, as if he suddenly recalled an unpleasant memory. It was a long time before he slowly replied, “You go back to the beginning.”

Stunned, Xu Wang asked, “The first stage?”

Long Legs nodded. “Yes, 1/23.”

Suddenly, Wu Sheng cut in with a question that wasn’t on the sheet. “Skinny Pole just said you guys can tell us what to expect in the third stage, which means you’ve been to 3/23 before. So whether it’s this stage or the next, as long as you fail a task, you’ll go back to the first stage?”

Skinny Pole: “Erm, just because I’m not saying anything doesn’t mean I’m okay with that nickname…..”

Long Legs: “Yes, you’ll all go back to 1/23.”

Wu Sheng: “And if you repeat a task and successfully submit it, you won’t get any rewards.”

Long Legs was surprised. “You knew?”

“It’s obvious,” Wu Sheng explained. “N≥20, you start from scratch if you fail. So you spent at least ten days stuck in 1/23. If you were rewarded for submitting the task, your stationery box should be full, we wouldn’t have been a threat to you.”

Long Legs: “…..” This man before him was extremely logical and smart, but he still preferred talking with the other guy!

“What notification do you get when you fall back?” Wu Sheng asked suddenly.

Long Legs sighed. “If you count mockery as a notification, yeah.”

“How do you mean?” Wu Sheng frowned.

“When you fail to submit a task, a single phrase rolls across the top of <Score>.” The corners of Long Legs’ mouth fell downwards as he imitated, “Retreat is the only way out for the incompetent.” The words rang out one by one, clearly but quietly, filled with scorn and disdain. If it weren’t a human speaking but Owl, it would probably have sounded exactly like this—It pissed you off, but you had no comeback.

Wu Sheng had no more questions.

Similarly, Xu Wang had gone through most of the questions on their list, but his heart was ill at ease. He wasn’t capable of listing out such detailed, comprehensive questions like Wu Sheng was, so digesting the answers to so many questions would take him more time.

In contrast, Wu Sheng’s brain was clearly made of better material. While he was still mulling over their newly gained knowledge in his head, Wu Sheng was already up and dusting the dirt off his trousers.

They had learned all they wanted to know, so to Wu Sheng, all that was remaining of this conversation was the last thing—

He placed his hands on both knees and bent over so he was nearly face-to-face with the prisoners in the circle, and let out a genteel smile. “Sneaking up on us isn’t the biggest mistake you made tonight. Not having faith in our ability to beat this stage is.”

A stunned expression overtook the prisoners in the circle, which gradually became something inexplicable.

Xu Wang turned silently to the side, internally asking the heavens from the deepest recesses of his soul why when other people’s “arrogant CEOs” acted arrogant, they looked so cool, but whenever his white moonlight did the same thing, he always resembled a chuunibyou…

And what was worse was he was still so goddamn into him TAT

The author has to say:

It’s always difficult for people to face their own strange tastes lolololol