Chapter Twelve: A Fortunate Day

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“Game Assistant, why are everyone else’s account names Player followed by a number, while he was able to change his?”

Whenever there was something she did not understand, Liang Yi naturally asked the Game Assistant.

“Beginning with this stage, all players may choose to use the names provided by the system, create their own names, or even use their real names.”

The Game Assistant answered, then guided Liang Yi’s attention toward the main interface of the game section. In the upper-left corner, the word “Announcements” had changed from black to red and was flashing repeatedly.

Liang Yi glanced ahead. Still showing no intention of moving forward, she tapped on “Announcements” to take a look.

There were four announcements in total.

The first welcomed players to the game.

The second contained the rules recited by the mechanical voice when they had first entered the game.

The third had been posted at seven that morning. It stated that players could change their account names and avatars at will.

At the bottom was a tutorial explaining how to make the changes.

The fourth was the set of rules for the second stage of the game, which had just been posted.

Liang Yi looked at the other players. Very few had chosen to change their names, and none of those who did had used their real names.

“I’m the Best at Games: I’m charging in. Anyone who’s scared can follow behind me.”

“Player 25648: Boss, I’ll follow closely in your footsteps.”

“Player 5632: I think charging straight in shouldn’t cause any problems.”

…

After some thought, Liang Yi decided not to change her name after all. She would remain a completely inconspicuous nobody.

“I’m the Best at Games: Where are you all? Why aren’t you following me?”

“I’m the Best at Games: Wait, where did the road behind my car go?”

“Player 25368: What’s going on? The boss’s car actually drove straight through!”

“Player 123: I understand now. Everything ahead of us is an illusion.”

“Player 1234: Could the people in front hurry up? I want to see what’s actually happening.”

“Player 26583: Charge! If we don’t, we’ll die waiting here anyway.”

…

Before long, the vehicles ahead began to move slowly.

It took more than an hour before the cars in front of Liang Yi showed any sign of movement.

She gently twisted the throttle, and her vehicle began to roll forward.

Beside Liang Yi rode a young woman on a bicycle. She had long, voluminous, wavy hair and stood at least five feet seven inches tall. Her long legs idly pushed against the ground again and again.

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When the woman learned that names could be changed, she had immediately changed hers to Rose.

The first thing she asked Liang Yi upon seeing her was whether she had any cosmetics.

When she learned that Liang Yi did not, she let out a regretful sigh.

At the same time, she forcibly befriended Liang Yi through the channel, acting as though they had known each other for years. Her purpose was to have Liang Yi contact her immediately if she ever found cosmetics or anything similar, so they could trade.

Liang Yi agreed.

While they waited, Liang Yi browsed the profile of the second person she had befriended in the game.

Rose’s profile contained three posts in total, each one seeking to purchase cosmetics.

The result was predictable. Not a single player offered her any cosmetics. Some even commented beneath her posts, asking whether she had something wrong with her head—how could she still care about making herself beautiful at a time like this?

Rose, however, refused to put up with them and replied to each comment in turn.

“Rose: What’s wrong with loving beauty? None of your damn business.”

“Rose: Stop yapping. If you’ve got the guts, challenge me to a one-on-one fight offline.”

“Rose: I dress up to make myself look good, not to please any of you. Don’t flatter yourselves. You’re not important enough to deserve that much attention.”

…

After reading those brazen comments, Liang Yi looked again at Rose, who was idly flicking the bell on her bicycle’s handlebars.

The skin on Rose’s hands was nowhere near as smooth as that on her face. Instead, they were covered in calluses and fine lines, with thickened skin even across several knuckles.

Her fingernails, however, were painted a vivid crimson. Time had taken its toll, and the polish was now chipped and peeling.

Rose clearly noticed Liang Yi looking at her. She turned around, smiled, and waved.

“Beautiful, don’t forget what I told you!”

Liang Yi nodded.

As the forest drew nearer, Liang Yi finally noticed what lay ahead.

The trees stood pressed together, forming an impenetrable wall. It seemed that even a mosquito could not have flown through.

Yet the vehicles at the very front continued driving forward one after another. Instead of crashing and breaking apart as expected, they seemed to be swallowed by a black hole surrounding them.

Once the vehicles had all entered, the forest closed up again.

Liang Yi stared in astonishment before driving forward herself, carefully making her way through the dense woodland.

At first, she thought she would need to exert considerable force. But before her vehicle could strike the trees, a passage more than a yard long appeared ahead.

Liang Yi twisted the throttle and continued forward.

Once the vehicle had completely entered, she looked back and saw that the dense forest had closed behind her once more.

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Behind her, rather than a solid wall as Liang Yi had expected, there was a road.

Or rather, it was the road she had traveled after entering.

Trees of all kinds still surrounded her on both sides, but compared with the forest outside, they were not nearly as dense.

Where the vehicle passed, there was a path more than six feet wide.

The ground was covered with pebbles, along with countless grasses and ferns.

What amazed Liang Yi was that when the vehicle drove over them, it did not cause the existing terrain any damage. Even the grass was not crushed beneath its wheels.

After following the road for more than a hundred meters, Liang Yi looked back and discovered that the path behind her had not vanished completely, as she had imagined.

Instead, more than twenty meters of road remained. Only beyond that did it gradually disappear, transforming into trees and undergrowth as though no one had ever passed through.

Liang Yi was astonished.

She began experimenting, steering the vehicle left and right. Yet no matter how she changed direction, the road behind her remained exactly as it had been before.

The only problem was that the vehicle could not move directly backward.

Within the dense forest, the only sounds were the hum of Liang Yi’s vehicle and the calls of various insects.

She continued forward for more than ten minutes without encountering any danger.

Luck seemed to be favoring her especially generously that day. Not far ahead, she spotted a Level One treasure chest.

Excited, Liang Yi opened it. Inside were a five-hundred-milliliter bottle of mineral water and two loaves of bread.

She took out the bread and began stuffing it into her mouth without hesitation.

The vehicle had not gone far when she spotted another chest, this one Level Two.

With hopeful anticipation, she opened it and found, to her surprise, a bottle of mosquito repellent.

She checked herself. Since she had not yet been bitten, Liang Yi placed it in the vehicle compartment and continued onward.

Half an hour later, she still had encountered no danger, and the tension in her heart eased slightly.

“Game Assistant, isn’t this supposed to be a survival game? Why hasn’t there been any danger at all?”

At first, Liang Yi had assumed the forest would be a maze, forcing them to search for a route by vehicle, or that it would be filled with traps.

Otherwise, why would a journey of only two hundred kilometers require five days?

Yet contrary to her expectations, aside from being unable to travel backward, she could go anywhere she pleased.