The bus is driving smoothly on its path, it is late autumn"s afternoon, and the sunlight is shining through the window of the bus onto Qi Le Ren"s body, truly warm and comfortable. If it wasn"t for the young lady sitting beside him constantly wailing and quarreling with her boyfriend on the other end of the phone, this trip would have been the most pleasant trip he"s ever taken—as if.
Anyone who"s carrying a laptop that needs to be fixed will not feel happy. Qi Le Ren was puzzled, he simply played a game that pretty much had zero requirements needed for PC configuration, but the result was that the screen clearly turned black. It was utterly ridiculous, this laptop was bought just a few months ago!
However, that game…was seriously scary, Qi Le Ren thought to himself.
The name of the game is awfully popular, it"s called "Nightmare Game". Two days ago, he downloaded the game easily while browsing through the game forum. An ordinary name, no screenshot of the game, he had already mentally prepared himself for what was to come while playing, but in the end, the game gave him quite a big surprise.
As a less-enthusiastic fan of horror games, Qi Le Ren did not play too many horror games, but he also did not play too few, he still had basic reviewing skills nonetheless1. Apart from experiencing the game"s storyline, the thing that satisfied him the most about this game was the numerous save points2. His violent display of saving files3 was like that of a professional fanatic"s, there was not a single point that was spared. From beginning to end, it was estimated that there were hundreds of files, but nevertheless, that wasn"t enough to cover all4. In the end, the game once again resulted in the BE outcome, a prompt also popped up from the top right of his screen: "Achievement Unlocked.【Archive Maniac】."
Qi Le Ren"s face was full of black lines5, unexpectedly, it turns out there is also this kind of ghost-like6 achievement.
Immediately after, another notice suddenly popped up in the game: "Do You Want to Re-Start: YES OR NO?"
Qi Le Ren also did not want to select YES, the mouse moved slightly, then the screen turned black. Despite everything, Qi Le Ren could not get it to start up and work, and having no other options, he had to load his laptop into his bag, depressed that he had to go into the city to fix his computer. On the road, he criticized himself, perhaps this happened because downloading a pirated game undermines a person"s moral values.
The girl beside him was still weeping, her boyfriend on the other end of the call apparently yelled something at her impatiently, and she finally broke down, hysterically shrieking: "Ah! Fen! Fen Jiu Fen! Ah! You think I am more reluctant to part with you! I aborted this fetus for you, I will not let you and that s.l.u.t have an easy life!"
Finished, she hung up the phone, burying her face into her hands and bawling out loud.
The atmosphere inside the bus was very awkward, Qi Le Ren neither stayed seated nor did he walk away, instead he fished out a pack of tissues from his bag to hand it over to the girl. The result was that the other side viciously glared at him: "Like I want your fake sympathy8!"
The innocent Qi Le Ren who was shot9, embarra.s.singly withdrew his hand and faced the window to look outside, silently cursing himself in his heart why a single dog like him should get involved in the break-up matters of a couple.
The scenery outside the window rapidly reverted, Qi Le Ren saw a flower before his eyes10, a truck seemed to appear out of thin air, and it rushed towards the bus at an extremely fast speed! There was not enough time to hit the brakes.
A loud bang sounded, the pa.s.sengers on the bus were caught off guard and jerked forward. Qi Le Ren first realized a few seconds earlier, so his hands subconsciously grabbed the front row seat. However, the inertia was too great, he knocked his head against the back of the seat in front. In the midst of screams, everything turned black before his eyes, and then he lost consciousness.
…
…
Qi Le Ren was awakened by the wee woo wee woo11 noise of the ambulance siren sounding in his ear. He drowsily opened his eyes, and he saw an enlarged face leaning in to observe him.
"Woah——!" The two people cried out at the same time, then they quickly shut their mouths.
Qi Le Ren directly sat up, he felt a burst of throbbing pain on his forehead. A doctor sat beside him, he appeared to be the ambulance"s emergency medical doctor: "Are you okay?"
"I"m fine, just a little dizzy." Qi Le Ren touched his forehead, the place above was covered with simple bandaging.
"The bus you were just sitting in was in a traffic accident, you hit your head, and you may have a slight concussion. It"s probably best to go to the hospital for an examination." The doctor said.
Qi Le Ren was not very willing, you have to spend money to go to a hospital, he felt that he just b.u.mped his head, it shouldn"t be that severe. He glanced at the doctor and was startled by the doctor"s face for a moment.
"…can minors also be doctors? Did you graduate from college?" Qi Le Ren hesitantly asked. The person in front of him looked to be a high schooler at most, not any older, in fact he"d completely believe it if anyone said he was a middle schooler.
The doctor glared at him, somewhat irritated: "I"m twenty-seven this year! I graduated with a doctorate! I"ve been working for three years!"
Qi Le Ren was awe-struck12, so it turns out to be a tyrant13!
His head was feeling faint, so Qi Le Ren lied back down and idly chatted with the doctor. The doctor"s surname is Lu, he went to school early and skipped a few grades, at the age of twenty-four he graduated with a Ph.D from college, he then entered X City"s First People"s Hospital, and in two years he transferred to the general medicine department. Because of his delicate-looking face and soft voice, he was often regarded as the hospital"s mascot, he was widely popular among the female nurses—yet to this day he never had a girlfriend. Doctor Lu deeply brooded about this.
Misery truly loves company14 ah, Qi Le Ren compa.s.sionately looked at him, feeling a bit happy.
Soon, a wave of sleepiness struck Qi Le Ren, and he yawned. Doctor Lu also seemed to be infected by him, he leaned against the inside of the car and yawned, mumbling, "So tired."
The rhythmic sounds of the ambulance continued, Qi Le Ren hazily closed his eyes and went to sleep.
…
…
He slept so soundly, he didn"t even have any dreams. By the time Qi Le Ren woke up, he was surprised to find himself lying down on a row of iron chairs, he shivered from the freezing chill that came from the metal chair.
As soon as he sat up, a burst of pain rushed to his head, he also felt some dizziness. It took him a few seconds to realize he should be in a hospital.
That"s right, the hospital.
However, the two words on the opposite wall, "Transfusion Hall", informed him that he was currently in a blood transfusion room instead of the ward. What"s all this about?
The surrounding area was silent, there wasn"t a single soul in sight. Qi Le Ren stood up and dazedly walked two steps. The reception desk was also vacant, pens, papers and notes, and transfusion tools were casually placed on top of the desk. The heated liquid inside the warm cup still emitted steam, as if someone had just recently sat there.
It was too strange.
Qi Le Ren had never seen such an empty hospital, after all, this was X City"s First People"s Hospital! Every day it was overcrowded, there was absolutely never a time where there was a lack of people. Every time he came, there was always a sea of people! Unless it"s the end of the world, it"s impossible for no one to be here.
"Anyone here? Hey, where is everyone?" Qi Le Ren called out a few times, his trembling voice reverberated within the halls. He looked around for a while then headed towards the exit, ready to leave this place.
It was too cold here. With people around, he doesn"t feel it"s much, but now that he"s alone, the kind of eerie, cold sensation the hospital gives off really makes one feel extremely uneasy.
Worst of all, the two gla.s.s doors at the exit were locked. Through the gla.s.s doors, the corridor was also empty, the white walls and ceiling gave people a strange feeling of oppression. Due to the insufficient lighting, the corridor"s compact fluorescent lamps were on, extending all the way from one end to the other end of the hall. It"s clearly daytime, but it"s as if it"s the middle of the night.
Qi Le Ren turned on his heels to walk away. He rolled up his sleeves and was prepared to climb out the window. He swept a glance at the dresser mirror on the wall using his peripheral vision, then his heart stopped—a white silhouette was sitting in the metal transfusion chair, not even a step away from him!
Qi Le Ren abruptly spun his head around, but there was no one in the chair.
The row of metal chairs were neatly arranged, there was also some trash and luggage left behind by some patients, but that was it, nothing else was there. But because of the inexplicable and irrational emptiness, this kind of strange feeling of oppression really affects a person"s senses.
His entire back was covered in cold sweat, Qi Le Ren slowly turned his head and looked to the mirror. The mirror reflected his deadly pale face, his forehead covered in bandages. The seat behind him was perfectly neat and empty, seemingly waiting for an inspection.
No one. It was just an illusion.
Qi Le Ren tried restraining himself from his desire to turn back around, and instead came back to the edge of the window. He opened the window, but the window"s security bars were sealed, it was impossible to move. There was no one outside, only a dense layer of fog. It was abnormal enough to make one tremble.
Qi Le Ren could not help but utter a few curses.
The doors were locked, the windows were barred, the entire place was unusually weird. He forced himself not to recall the white shadow he saw in the mirror. Although he told himself it was only an illusion, deep in his heart there was always a voice echoing his suspicions.
This is practically a horror room escape game!
Just when he processed his fear of encountering unordinary supernatural events, several lines of notices and suggestions unexpectedly appeared in his brain.
【Player Qi Le Ren, Complete Starter Village Quest Step I: Awakening】16
【Unlocked card slot X2】
【Starter Village Quest Step II: Leave the Transfusion Room】
【Reissuing "Archive Maniac" Achievement Reward. Issued skill card "SL Dafa17"】
【Data synchronization countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Synchronization is complete】
Qi Le Ren"s eyes were in pain, as if there were countless thin needles in his eyeb.a.l.l.s. His tears poured out. After the pain reduced a bit, he forced his eyes open. Through the hazy, watery light, he vaguely saw, in that seat, a white figure quietly…sitting there…
It was staring at him!
PS: SL Dafa (SAVE/LOAD大法): To avoid all kinds of dangers by constantly saving and loading is a common game "cheating" dafa.18
1 基本的鉴别能力还是有的 - Jīběn de jiànbié nénglì háishì yǒu de. Not entirely sure if I translated this right…
2存档位 - Cúndàng wèi. Literally: Save/Archive/etc. + Location/Place/etc. I put it down as save point. May alternate between save point, checkpoint (though this one might be incorrect), and even save area.
3存档 - Cúndàng. Previous w/o "location" character. Means to save (files), archive, saved data, etc. I a.s.sume it"s talking about his action of saving files not the save file or save point/checkpoint per se…I really have no idea…I"ll just leave it for now though. I"ll be using archive, save files, saving, etc. for this.
4而且还是不覆盖的那种 - Érqiě háishì bù fùgài dì nà zhǒng. I think it means that he saved so many files, but even then he couldn"t completely finish and cover all parts of the game (because it still resulted in the Bad Ending)? IDK…Feel free to correct.
5You see this in anime a lot, when black lines appear on a depressed character.
6鬼一样 - Guǐ yīyàng. It doesn’t mean scary achievement, more like unexpected, dissatisfying, unbelievable, shocking, absurd, and other negative words one can think of.
7齐乐人想也不想地就选了YES - Qí lè rén xiǎng yě bùxiǎng de jiù xuǎnle YES. I have no idea what this is saying…I tried to understand, but I gave up…
8要你假好心 - Yào nǐ jiǎ hǎoxīn. Direct Translation: "Wantyourfakekindness"
9无辜中枪- Wúgū zhōng qiāng. 无辜 means "innocent". 中枪means "shot by a gun", but it"s a metaphor that means "bad things happened"/ "unfortunate timing".
10眼前忽的一花- Yǎnqián hū de yī huā. Anyone understand? Or have a better translation?
11滴嘟滴嘟 - Dī dū dī dū
12肃然起敬 - Sùrán qǐ jìng. Idiom meaning "to feel deep veneration for somebody".
13学霸 - Xué bà. Internet slang for overachiever, top student, straight A student. Basically, ‘Academic Overlord,’ but I used ‘tyrant.’
14同病相怜 - Tóng bìng xiāng lián. Idiom: "fellow sufferers empathize with each other" or "misery loves company".
15新手村 - Xīnshǒu cūn. Anyone know how to translate this properly? I’m thinking “Starter Village” or “Beginner Village” but I’m not too sure. This word appears in this book several times.
16 SL Dafa (SL 大法): Basically Dafa is derived from Buddhism, specifically Falungong"s 法轮大法. I"m not sure how 大法would translate into English (if anyone has a clue, do share), but perhaps the system"s saying that Qi Le Ren is a devout believer of saving and loading, or that SL (Save/Load) is the "great law"? Here"s a for a better explanation.
17朦胧的水光 - Hazy? Water? Light? Whaaaat?! Okay, so is the light watery because of his tears, or is it that I just can"t understand?
18This is an author"s note, I put it there but I can"t quite understand it lolol. Here"s the original: PS：SL大法（SAVE/LOAD大法）：通过不断存档和读档，避开各种危险，常见的游戏"作弊"大法。
Hey, Taida here! Did you guys enjoy this chapter? I hope many of you did! And if you didn’t, I hope you’ll soon come to enjoy Nightmare Game! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° There might be a ton of mistakes in this chap, but I tried! (シ_ _)シ
Anyways, before any of you continue reading, I just want to ask, you guys do know this is a Horror BL, right??? BL as in “You’re a guy, I’m a guy, but who cares, let’s ****!” And horror as in scary horror, like the “Oh snap, I just heard a baby crying, but I’m alone in the house!” kind, not horror as in the “NOOO! Kawaii shota boy, you mustn’t follow that pedo old man!” kind, y’know? (Or maybe it does have that? Who knows…) Okay then, just making sure everyone here knows. (￣▽￣ )ゞ