CH 28

The meal its last threads of conversation were finally brought to a close as the time neared nineteen o’clock. Eventide’s perpetual sunset made it quite hard to tell the time, making the distant chiming of a clock and SuHe’s pocket watch their only source of such information.

“I’ll take you to the marketplace first,” SuHe told them as he paid for the meal. “You won’t be able to afford any of the cards or items they offer, but you can apply for an empty house to stay in. After that we can drop by the quest hub so I can show you how to take quests and the rest will be up to yourselves.”

“You’re leaving?” XueYingying grew uneasy at the implication in his words. QiLeren watched SuHe with apprehensive eyes.

“I need to return to Aurora soon, but you can’t go there yet. It’s mostly NPCs living in the village right now since to unlocking it requires the completion of a chain of quests.” SuHe stepped outside the restaurant and into the gentle shower of twilight with the three newcomers in tow. Nightfall Island around them was illuminated in a dreamlike haze, as if even the most fantastical of fantasies had their place here. “I’ll be staying here for a day or two before I leave. I hope to see you in Aurora one day – I believe in you.”

The sunset pulled at SuHe’s shadow, leaving behind an silhouette that would stay in QiLeren’s mind until the end of time.

The trio settled in at Eventide with SuHe’s help. Their allocated homes were spread out across Nightfall Island, but the island itself was small enough to travel across with ease.

QiLeren was the last to be bid goodnight by a good-natured SuHe, who had walked him to his home as it was located near SuHe’s accommodation on the west coast. He stared at the house that strangely reminded him of Hobbiton, hesitating – and unlocked the door to his new home.

Judging by the complete mess inside, the previous owner was evidently not one for order. QiLeren firmly reminded himself that defamation of the dead was a rude thing to do before sluggishly setting about to tidy up the bedroom.

The flower on the windowsill was long dead. A thick layer of dust had settled over the bed. When QiLeren rolled up the bedding to throw into the floor and promptly burst into a fit of coughing, he discovered that the thick layer of dust in fact covered the entirety of the room.

He managed to uncover a reasonably clean bedspread from the closet, though his sleep-addled brain could not care less at that moment. Nearing almost twenty-four hours of wakefulness, QiLeren threw himself into the shortest shower he could manage before collapsing onto the bed.

He was out almost immediately, falling into an oblivion so deep that not even dreams could reach.

QiLeren woke a warm sunset and confusion. He blinked; this wasn’t his apartment.

Oh, right.

He was in another world. A world where danger lurked around every corner, where every second spent was a second burned off his life. He aimed a cursory gaze at his remaining lifespan – nine days, seven hours and twenty-eight minutes.

Well, that was his good mood gone. QiLeren ran a hand through his hair as he reluctantly pushed himself up and reflected upon his situation.

Despite their inability to afford any cards, the staff member at the Trading Centre had informed them of the room allocation system with amicable professionalism. Places of permanent accommodation on Eventide operated on a lottery system; every newcomer was to be granted a place to stay until their death, where their home would be given to another newcomer. Any special requirements for accommodation can be acquired through trading and other means of exchange.

In fact, it wasn’t restricted to houses; food, weapons, skill cards, item cards and the like were all able to be traded between players. Trading itself, however, was an activity that was strictly monitored for justice. Robbery under the guise of ‘trading’ was not tolerated and will be met with both punishment for the offending party and reversal of the contract.

The meal with SuHe came to mind. The currency he used to pay was not money but time – a total of six hours and seventeen minutes to be paid upon signature, from what QiLeren could recall. The restaurant was a legal business, so the transaction was established as soon as SuHe pen left the paper.

On the opposite end of the spectrum were the fugitives on the airship. Using a ‘contract’ to trade for others’ lifespans was a transaction that never should’ve been established, but they achieved it anyway through demonic power. To illegally obtain lifespans of other people in such a way was undoubtedly dangerous.

QiLeren dug through the mess to find an old notebook from the previous owner and seated himself on the bed as he recorded what he could remember of the game’s plot.

The background lore was more or less the same as SuHe’s explanation. He had found what seemed like the main quest during his playthrough, which led him to the Holy City and triggered his first and final bad ending. He had, however, undertaken a number of sidequests before then. If this world was the same as that of the game, then maybe the sidequests would be as well.

It was only yesterday that SuHe had told them of the two types of quests: quests concerning the nightmare world and quests that take place in instance dungeons. The first type had the ability to change the course of the world itself – rumour has it that the second demon invasion three years ago contained the handiwork of players.

For QiLeren though, such matters were only faraway concepts. His primary goal for now was to take as easy of a quest as he could get for bit more lifespan. Only then could he afford the luxury of mulling over returning home.

Having finished recording what he could, QiLeren put away the pen and paper and lied back pensively.

Why had they been chosen for this game? Was there a criteria that everyone had to meet to be chosen in the first place? When they asked SuHe about this the night before, QiLeren felt a twinge of guilt; what if it was because he’d played the game and everyone else, including those who died, was simply wrapped up in it all?

“Another difficult question,” SuHe had sighed with a shake of his head. “I don’t believe anyone truly understands why they were chosen. If I were to take a guess from the player demographics though, most of the players are promising young adults with a high tolerance for stressful conditions who’ve arrived in waves; which is to say that at a certain point in time, a certain location will become a tutorial village – in your case, the hospital – and a portion of the people within that location will be chosen to enter the corresponding tutorial village. These people have now become the newest wave of players to enter this world. It seems so far that places dense in population like schools, hospitals, stations and malls are especially likely to spawn such instances.”

“And what of our bodies? Did they come with us inside the game or get left behind outside? Are we made up of lines of code right now?” As a doctor, Dr Lu was much more interested in this.

SuHe shook his head again. “I’m afraid I can’t answer that question either. There are many skills in that defy logic – turning reality inside out, rising from death – that I trust you’ll form your own thoughts on when you witness them in the future. And as to whether it’s real, I will ask you this: to mortals who are struggling to live another day – does it truly matter?”

The discussion with SuHe had opened the newcomers’ eyes to the reality around them, to the overwhelming pressure that followed them as they walked, never to be escaped from.

QiLeren was still unsure of whether he was alone in having played «The Nightmare Games», nor did he want to risk finding out. Not even to SuHe, whom he trusted, did he dare to reveal even the slightest of hints.

Not to mention that SuHe was leaving soon, anyway.

Despite their short acquaintance, SuHe had truly left an everlasting impression in QiLeren’s mind. His mystique, his unwavering calm, his intelligence – they were just the icing on the cake that was his immense power. For such a person to remain and guide them in return for a single rescue (that wasn’t even needed) was already enough to drive QiLeren to the height of gratitude, much less ask for anything else.

And anyway, SuHe had said that they’d meet again in the future, had he not?

Maybe, just maybe, QiLeren will have grown to be as powerful as him when the day comes.

QiLeren didn’t spend much more time dwelling on the brief introspection and pushed himself to clean his new home to an acceptable standard. He wasn’t particularly good at housework, but years of living alone had honed his speed to a fine point.

Surveying the now habitable quarters before him in satisfaction, QiLeren felt his stomach rumble and headed to the kitchen, which held some food left over from the previous owner…

…all of which were mouldy to the point where QiLeren suspected that simply looking at it could cause food poisoning.

Perhaps it was best to hunt for food elsewhere. He could drop by the Quest Hub and have a look for a beginner quest while he was at it, ideally something with good rewards.

The now familiar sight of a dazzling sunset greeted him as he stepped outside and took a deep lungful of the salty, engine-oil infused air. The machines around him hummed to the rhythm of human civilisation, to the power of survival.

And him? He was going to survive!

The moment was somewhat ruined when his stomach gave a grumble in protest. Maybe he should go get something to eat first, QiLeren thought as he patted his stomach in resignation.