P.S. I decided to use “big house” instead of “big building” because it seems more appropriate given the title of their mission

~~~

On the way back, everyone was on tenterhooks, afraid that something would suddenly jump out in the dark. Surprisingly, they managed to make it back safe and sound.

As soon as they entered the house, Luo Mansu immediately lighted up the diesel lantern on the table. Only then did they realize that table was covered with plates of fish that didn’t look at all appetizing.

“There are exactly 13 plates of fish,” counted Xiao Tangqiu. “Who do you think prepared them?”

Their gaze was fixed onto the fish, cautiously inspecting them. They weren’t sure if they should eat the fish or not. Aside from how unappetizing it looked, they were more worried about whether the fish was edible. This fishing village was really weird, who knows if it could be eaten or not.

“It must’ve been the system or an NPC who prepared the fish. We still have to eat in the instance. The system won’t starve us to death.” Luo Mansu offhandedly sat down. Because there weren’t any chopsticks provided, he grabbed one of the plates and started eating with his hands. “It’s up to you. If you want to eat, then go ahead. If not, no one’s forcing you. But I’m guessing we’ll have to stay here for a few more days.”

Xiao Tangqiu frowned. The meaning behind Luo Mansu’s words was obvious. They could only choose between starving or forcing themselves to stomach that unpalatable looking fish. If they chose to starve, they would be physically weak, and in this eerie fishing village, danger lurked in every corner. They could lose their lives at any moment.

Xiao Tangqiu pulled Tang Mianmian to sit down with him. He looked at Tang Mianmian, gesturing for him to eat the fish. Naturally, Tang Mianmian was very reluctant but still picked up a slice of fish to taste. His tastebuds were assaulted by a weird flavor, almost causing him to vomit in disgust.

Tang Mianmian stared at Luo Mansu beside him. How did he manage to swallow down that disgusting taste without so much as a change in his expression?

Luo Mansu laughed, “I’ve had to eat food more disgusting than this. Actually, it’s all the same to me. It doesn’t matter if it’s the head or the tail. It crispy and it tastes like meat.”

Xiao Tangqiu pinched his nose, trying to block out that unpleasant smell as he forced down two slices of fish. Tang Mianmian reluctantly ate another slice as well. There were some who chose to eat and some who’d rather starve.

A while after, the couple entered the house, but what was most surprising was the fact that they carried a watermelon with them.

“Where the fuck did this watermelon come from?” Xiao Tangqiu was completely shocked. Earlier, both he and Tang Mianmian seemed to have ran all over the village but they didn’t see any watermelons.

Lu Xiaotao pointed in the direction of the big building in the middle of the village. “Just now, we went to the vicinity of that big house to find out more about what’s going on. In the backyard of that big house, there’s a huge watermelon tree. Its branches had stretched over the wall. So, we climbed up the wall to pick a watermelon.”

Zeng JinPing snickered at them, “Are you kidding? Watermelons don’t grow on trees; how can there be a watermelon tree?”

“A watermelon tree? Seems rather interesting.” Luo Mansu squinted his small eyes, “Did you manage to find out anything else? We can share what we know with each other.”

They all exchanged information with one another, but there wasn’t anything of value.

When Lu Xiaotao and Yang Bing saw the fish on the table, they were determined not to eat any of it. After all, they still had a watermelon. Lu Dadong put down the fish he was eating and rudely demanded, “Hey, you can’t be so selfish! You should share that watermelon with us!”

Yang Bing used the rusty kitchen knife that he found in the kitchen to slice the watermelon. He coldly refused Lu Dadong, “We picked this watermelon ourselves. If you guys want some, go pick your own.”

Lu Dadong glared at Yang Bing, “Humph! You should share it while we’re still asking nicely!”

“Forget it!” Zeng Jinping pulled Lu Dadong aside, “God knows if there’s something wrong with that watermelon. There’s definitely something weird about that house!”

Lu Dadong stared angrily at the couple but didn’t say anything else.

The atmosphere in the room turned somewhat tense, but it was to be expected. If it wasn’t because they had somehow been inexplicably brought into this God-forsaken fishing village, they would still be strangers. Even now, they were merely strangers who met by chance. On top of that, they had been in a highly strung state ever since coming to this strange place, where danger lurked in every corner. Inevitably, conflict was bound to happen; all they needed was a slight push…….

Their expressions had all turned ugly, except for one person, who seemed like he wasn’t affected at all.

Xiao Tangqiu looked at Luo Mansu, who was still busy scarfing down that nauseating fish. He raised an eyebrow, “Previously you mentioned an instance and the system. What the hell is the game? Can you also tell us more regarding this world and the missions?”

Everyone turned to look at Luo Mansu. Clearly, they wanted to know the answers to these questions.

Luo Mansu casually spit out a fish bone, “You want to know? Pass the game first, then I’ll tell you! What if you die tomorrow? Wouldn’t that just be a waste of my time?”

“Hey! How can you say that!” Lu Xiaotao was a little unhappy.

“Humph! What I said is the truth. You rookies are way too naive.” Luo Mansu seemed to have eaten his fill. He stood up and patted his beer belly, “There are three rooms in this house, and every room has two beds.  It was supposed to be four to five people to a room, but those three didn’t come back yet. I’m guessing they won’t be back. Ding Tiantian, Ding Mimi and I will take a room. What you do with the other two rooms is up to you.”

Xiao Tangqiu had no time to wonder if Luo Mansu had any ulterior motives in sharing a room with the twin sisters because he was shocked by the implication of his words.

“You said they won’t be coming back. What do you mean by that? Are they all dead?”

“Since there are twelve plates of fish left, they should still be alive.” Luo Mansu laughed ominously, “But I can’t say if they’ll still be alive tomorrow.”

Lu Xiaotao hesitated, then opened her mouth to say, “……….. Actually, a few hours ago, Yang Bing and I saw the three of them enter that big house.”

“What?! They went into that big house?” They were all stunned.

Lu Xiaotao nodded her head and turned to look at her boyfriend before continuing, “That big house seems to be called Yun Manor. We saw them knock on the door, and then the door opened on its own. But they weren’t frightened at all, and entered without a second thought…….. Yang Bing and I were a little afraid, so we didn’t follow them in.”

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds, until Lu Dadong broke the silence, “They must be dead then!”

Luo Mansu shrugged and left for one of the rooms in the house. The twin sisters followed after him. Zeng Jinping and his other two teammates picked the innermost room, so Xiao Tangqiu and the remaining three of them had no choice but to take the room closest to the door.

However, it didn’t matter which room they got, since the rooms were equally run-down. There were two narrow, old-fashioned wooden beds in the room; there wasn’t any other furniture but there was a very small window, high up on one of the walls.

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian shared a bed, while Lu Xiaotao and Yang Bing shared the other.

The room didn’t have a diesel lantern, so they could only feel their way around in the dark.  Xiao Tangqiu asked the couple how they got here.

At first, Yang Bing was hesitant to talk about it, but maybe it was because Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian looked harmless, he eventually said truthfully, “Xiaotao and I were playing games at an internet cafe, when the electricity got cut off. Next thing we know, we’re here.”

“Game? What game?” Xiao Tangqiu felt his heart skip a beat.

Yang Bing mentioned the name of a very popular online game, then asked, “What about you guys?”

Xiao Tangqiu left out some of the more important details and said, “We were playing video games too.”

“…….. Why is it related to video games?” Yang Bing looked baffled.

“I’m not sure as well…..” Xiao Tangqiu sighed.

After that, Yang Bing and Lu Xiaotao started to whisper to each other. Xiao Tangqiu also turned to Tang Mianmian and said softly, “Don’t mention anything about ‘Abyss’ to anyone first.”

Tang Mianmian nodded in the dark, and then quietly said, “I’m hungry…..” The fish was smelly and disgusting, and even with his nose pinched, he could only eat a slice.

Xiao Tangqiu searched his pockets and found a milk candy, which he offered to Tang Mianmian. Tang Mianmian hesitated, but Xiao Tangqiu immediately reassured him, “Don’t worry, I have more.”

Tang Mianmian took the candy and quietly ate it.

“Although it feels really dangerous here…..” Xiao Tangqiu lamented, ‘No one died today, so thank God.”

Tang Mianmian sucked on the candy as he mumbled, “Fuck! Can you stop raising Flags?! Don’t you know if you pull a Flag you’ll have to receive it!”

Xiao Tangqiu argued, “But this isn’t a game……….”

He had just finished speaking when they suddenly heard a scream.

“Aaaaaaahhh!”

In the dead of the night, the silence was broken by that blood-curdling scream.