Xu RenDong walked out of the elevator. This was a dark and narrow alley with a disgusting smell floating in the air like the smell of putrefaction mixed with burning coal. He clutched his nose and walked out of the alley. He found himself in a street with people coming and going. On the streets were all kinds of shops and there were vendors pushing mobile trucks to sell them.
The people walking around him were all blond and blue-eyed foreigners, dressed in British-style olden-day costumes. {I just want to 吐槽/complain about something here, how come when Chinese people imagine/describe Westerners, they're always blonde and blue-eyed? As a Chinese person I don't understand this. There are so many famous Western celebrities in China who aren't blonde and blue-eyed….}
The vendors wore shirts and vests and the gentlemen wore top hats and tuxedos. Ladies wore all kinds of tulle long skirts and they carefully carried the skirts to avoid them being splashed by the dirty water on the ground.
Xu RenDong noticed that the signs of the shops on both sides were written in flowery English. The roar of a huge steam turbine could be heard in the distance and a towering chimney was billowing black smoke. It seems that the world this time was set in Britain during the Industrial Revolution.
But was it actually an open world?
At the same time, Lian Qiao from the left-eye perspective had already begun to head towards the castle on his side.
Xu RenDong was wondering where he should go next and soon heard shouts coming from behind him.
"Hey! You just got off the boat, right? Don't wander around, keep up!"
Chinese?
Xu RenDong looked towards the voice in surprise and found that at some point, a group of Chinese people had appeared on the street. The one at the front was the one who was talking to him. It was a young man with a beret and his expression was a little impatient. He walked up to Xu RenDong and said in a dissatisfied manner: "What are you running around! Hurry up and follow me to the factory dormitory!"
The factory…? It seems that the setting this time was Chinese workers who travelled by ferry to Britain to find work.
Behind the man was a dozen men and women with differing appearances however they were all wearing modern clothes so they were probably his teammates this time around. Xu RenDong joined the group and walked behind the man with the beret.
"How many instances have you been through?" Someone in the team struck up a conversation with him, it was a man in his thirties. His appearance was ordinary, the kind that can't be recognized in the crowd. He seemed very gentle and polite.
Lian Qiao in his left eye suddenly typed three words on his phone: experienced player.
Xu RenDong calmly looked at the man in front of him and cautiously replied: "It's my third time. How about you?"
"Me too." After he said this, he smiled at Xu RenDong. "You look very nervous. Relax, this instance won't be too difficult."
Xu RenDong was a little surprised: "How do you know that?"
The man said, "You can tell by the number of people in our team. The difficulty of the instance is based on the number of people. There are only ten people in total this time, so it shouldn't be too difficult."
Xu RenDong counted the number of teammates surreptitiously and just as the man said, not counting the man in the beret who was leading them, there were a total of five men and five women. There were exactly ten people. Five of them looked upset and had the expression that showed they didn't know what was happening. You could tell at first glance that they were newcomers.
Lian Qiao in the vision of his left eye typed out a line: "This man definitely wants to form an alliance with you."
Since other people were present, Xu RenDong couldn't take out his mobile phone to type a reply so he could only nod slightly to show he agreed.
At this moment, the man seemed to notice something suddenly. A hint of surprise flashed across his face: "Your eyes…?"
Xu RenDong subconsciously covered his left eye with his hand. He said in a deliberately calm manner, "You mean this? It's a congenital deformity I've had since birth. Sorry if it scares you."
"No, I should apologize. I was being too forward, I'm sorry." The man apologized in a gentlemanly manner and asked with concern, "Does it affect your eyesight?" "
Xu RenDong said: "It doesn't affect…" After thinking about it, he added, "It does a little bit but I'm used to it."
"That's good." The man seemed to be relieved, "If you have a physical defect then it'll be harder for you to find someone to form an alliance with."
Xu RenDong: "Oh, is that so?"
The man stared into his eyes earnestly, showing a sincere expression of admiration: "It's so beautiful… it's a pity."
Xu RenDong was taken aback. He wasn't used to being praised so bluntly about his appearance and the other person was also a man at that. Xu RenDong momentarily didn't know what to say but his left eye flashed and, from the other side, Lian Qiao typed frantically.
"Don't answer! Don't answer! Don't answer!!!" (Author's note says this refers to something from Liu CiXin's novel "The Three Body Problem".)
Xu RenDong: "…" You can't hear right? Why is your reaction so big?
After that, Xu RenDong stopped talking and the man also did not continue to talk to him. The group of people followed the beret man to the dormitory in silence. The veteran players were paying attention to the surrounding environment and refused to let go of the slightest clue. The newcomers shivered nervously and it seemed they had been warned about the dangers they were about to face.
As they walked, the original bustling streets gradually disappeared and were replaced by a dilapidated scene. The stall vendors were gone and there were a few broken-down houses scattered on both sides of the street, all crumbling. It was clearly the slums.
The dormitory building was not far from the entrance of the slum. A small three-story building, the exterior wall looked very dilapidated and the windows were also broken. The beret man led everyone into the room and instructed everyone to wait on the first floor while he went to call the doctor. After telling them that, he thumped his way up to the second floor.
There is a musty smell in the house which indicated that it had not been inhabited for a long time. There was dust and cobwebs everywhere and practically no place to go. As soon as the beret man was gone, everyone immediately began to chatter in low voices.
"What does the instance prompt mean this time?" "Did you find any clues?" "Butterflies in the stomach sounds so disgusting…" "The NPC said he was going to get the doctor? Why call a doctor for?"
Xu RenDong was looking around the layout of the house. The first floor of this dormitory building was a lobby. Other than a few crooked tables, chairs and a dusty front desk, there was nothing else special.
Lian Qiao: "There is a wall calendar on the wall with writing on it. Remember to check it out. There may be something in the drawer under the front desk. The electric fan on the ceiling seems to be unstable and may fall off at any time. Try not to go under the electric fan."
… So in Lian Qiao's eyes, there were in fact so many things worth paying attention to? The vision of professional gamers is really different.
Lian Qiao's fingers were still typing words quickly, Xu RenDong took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to him and quietly took out his mobile phone: "Stop focusing on me."
Lian Qiao: "Oh, okay. Let me show you the environment here^^."
The angle of view turned and what appeared in the left eye was a magnificent medieval-style living room. The tables and chairs were all made of leather and there were huge crystal chandeliers on the ceiling. A lot of people were gathered in front of a man who looked like a housekeeper and seemed to be listening to him.
This was the inside of the Gothic castle.
Xu RenDong counted the number of teammates on Lian Qiao's side. There were 22 in total, more than double the number on his side. This showed that Lian Qiao's instance was much more difficult than his.
Xu RenDong typed to tell Lian Qiao to be careful and then the sound of footsteps on the stairs drew his attention back to his side. He saw two men walking down the second floor one after the other. The beret man was the leader and he was talking happily with the person behind him. When everyone saw what the other person was wearing, they were all taken aback.
The so-called "doctor" did not wear an ordinary white coat but instead a white robe like a monk. The robe was attached to a white hood and both of his wrists were tied with ropes. He wore long white gloves on his hands, presumably to facilitate certain operations. What's more noticeable was that he was wearing an exaggerated beak mask. The beak was sharp and long and looked like it could stab people to death. Behind the beak were two dark goggles and it was impossible to see what the person behind the mask looked like.
Everyone fell silent.
Lian Qiao was suddenly excited, and started typing frantically: "Ahhhhh! Doctor Birdbeak! It must be steampunk!!! I just knew that factories and the industrial revolution and bird beak doctors must be steampunk!!! Ahhhh I want to come to your instance too! I don't want to play in the castle. It's so gloomy and boring!!!"
Xu RenDong: "…" He tried to roll his eyes to warn Lian Qiao to calm down but it was a pity that Lian Qiao didn't seem to get it. He can only ignore the words coming from his left eye and tried to focus on his right eye.
The beret man chatted and laughed with Doctor Birdbeak in English. But when he turned his head and looked at everyone, the smile on the beret man's face disappeared instantly. Then he spoke in a weird tone of voice.
"Next, the doctor will conduct a physical examination for each of you to make sure that you are not carrying that damned plague! Now line up for me one by one and come over to this side to be examined!"
The NPC gave an order and everyone lined up obediently. Doctor Birdbeak, holding a stethoscope and a small torch, checked everyone's body one by one. He didn't make any excessive examinations and seemed to be really just confirming if they had any disease. Soon, the last person passed the medical examination without any problem. Doctor Birdbeak nodded to the beret man, picked up his exam kit and left the dormitory.
After their check ups, the beret man arranged rooms and beds for everyone. After placing their luggage down, he then took them outside to the factory.
The factory was located in the suburbs. Fortunately, the slum area is already on the edge of the town. It only takes about ten minutes to walk from the dormitory to the factory. From afar, everyone saw several chimneys towering into the clouds and continuously spitting black smoke into the sky. The sky was lead-grey and it was hard to see whether the clouds were too thick or the sky was just originally this color. There was also a river next to the factory with dark and muddy water. After walking a few steps, you can see a sewage pipe draining waste water into the river.
There were traces of industrial pollution everywhere in this small town which made everyone feel very uncomfortable. The closer you got to the factory, the stronger the smell of burning coal in the air was. Some people even began to choke and cough.
When they finally got to the entrance of the factory, they saw several towering buildings standing in the open space. From the entrance they couldn't see the roof. There were people in guard uniforms guarding the factory gates and the beret man warned everyone that they are not allowed to leave the factory privately during working hours. They were also not allowed to arrive late or leave early. Everyone nodded. It seemed this factory was the main venue of the instance.
As soon as they entered the factory, they felt a wave of heat. Flames swayed across everyone's faces, reflecting everyone's look of surprise. It turned out that at the center of the factory was a huge molten pool. The orange-red liquid was slowly flowing through the pool. The conveyor tracks on both sides continuously poured unknown objects into the molten slurry. There were pipes below to transport the molten slurry to other locations.
Above the molten pool, there were countless huge gears that connected into each other. Steel bars of different thicknesses were connected to the gears. All the steel bars extended to different places and finally disappeared in the darkness. It was unknown where they went. When the gears rotated, these steel bars also worked together at their respective frequencies and angles. The mechanical gear converts the power provided by the steam into mechanical energy, thereby driving the operation of the entire factory, forming an original and sophisticated industrial production line.
Everyone was shocked by the simple and rugged industrial panorama until the beret man yelled at them. After that everyone came back to their senses.
"What are you all in a daze for! Come and say hello to the foreman!"
At that point everyone noticed that there was another small middle-aged man beside the beret man. This man had a foreign face. Although he was small, he has very strong muscles. The clothes on his chest and arms are tight and he looks a lot like a giant mouse that escaped from a laboratory.
The foreman looked fierce. He interrupted the beret man and spoke a few words in English coldly.
Some people in the team couldn't understand what he was talking about and asked nervously. The beret man immediately translated: "The foreman said, now that the contract is signed, to not waste time and go to your workshop to begin working immediately!"
Everyone whispered again.
"What? Start work? Are we really going to work here?"
"It's terrible here, I want to go home…"
"Let's just listen to the NPC and work here for a day. Otherwise, what else can we do?"
Everyone was chattering and arguing. Suddenly, the rat-like foreman drew a whip from nowhere and slammed it against the ground. Snap! A huge whip reverberated inside the factory, shaking everyone's eardrums and immediately silenced them all.
The foreman sneered and glanced around. He cursed in an extremely unfriendly tone. The beret man on the side looked a little ugly but he didn't translate what the foreman said. He just half-heartedly coaxed them by saying: "Okay, okay, don't make a ruckus, go to work obediently."
Everyone looked at each other, feeling speechless. The beret man took a piece of paper handed to him by the foreman and led everyone to their workshops.
There were already several workers working in each workshop. Everyone was shocked at first glance, thinking that there are so many living people hidden here. A closer look revealed that these workers had numb expressions and stiff movements. It turns out that these are not real people but wooden dolls wearing worker costumes!
The clothes on their bodies were covered with black oil stains and their bare fingers and wrists were all spherical joints. They did not respond to the crowd's arrival, but mechanically repeated the simple actions of screwing and oiling.
The jointed puppets worked in silence. Only the rumbling sound of mechanical crawlers could be heard in the workshop and everything else was very quiet. However, the quieter it was, the stranger the atmosphere became.
The girl assigned to the first workshop was a newcomer named Zhang XiaoXiao. When she learned that she had to be alone in this workshop for eight hours, she immediately protested.
"No, no! I'm here for the first time… This is my first time…" She was so anxious that she almost cried, looking at the nine teammates around her. However she didn't know who to turn to for help. "Please, I beg you, don't leave me alone, I'm so scared…"
The beret man waved his hand impatiently, ignoring her cries.
Zhang XiaoXiao immediately slumped on the ground and started crying. However, before the cries even had time to ferment, the foreman on the side suddenly raised his whip and walked towards her.
Xu RenDong couldn't stand it anymore and was about to step forward to help but was suddenly squeezed away. He was stunned and discovered that the man who had chatted to him earlier pushed everyone aside and walked towards the girl.
"Don't be afraid." He first calmed the girl in a low voice and then made a "stop" gesture at the eyeing foreman. He said in fluent English, "Don't do that please, be a gentleman."
The foreman was surprised. Looking at him, he seemed very surprised that a migrant worker could speak English. Fortunately, he did not continue to embarrass the girl but cursed in a low voice and let the beret man handle the matter.
The beret man walked up to the two of them with an unhappy look and stared at the girl: "What are you doing? Weeping and crying! If you want to cry so much, do it when you go back!"
The man who had intervened pulled the beret man over and seemed to be negotiating something with him. The beret man quickly compromised and said impatiently to him: "Then you stay here! The others, follow me!"
The girl was taken aback and looked at the beret man with tears in her eyes. She didn't quite understand what he meant.
The man who had intervened helped her stand up and said in a gentle voice: "I told him to change my work position with yours. There is also a girl in my workshop, so you won't need to be alone."
The girl was very grateful and thanked him profusely. Soon she became uneasy again: "Then what will happen to you if you are here alone? Didn't you say… didn't you say that you could die…"
The man smiled at her: "It doesn't matter, anyway I'm a man. If anything happens, I can run faster than you." He turned his back slightly to everyone and seemed to say something else to the girl but his voice was too soft for everyone to hear. The girl nodded vigorously, her eyes flashing with excitement.
As a result, the man was left alone in this workshop.
Xu RenDong feels that this person was quite gracious and knew how to take care of women and disadvantaged people. He was neither reckless nor cowardly when facing fierce NPCs. He solved things beautifully and tried his best to cooperate with others. At this point, he suddenly remembered that he still didn't know the name of this person but it was a pity that the beret man kept urging everyone forward so he couldn't turn around and ask.
He would just call him: "the gentleman" for now.
Soon everyone was assigned to their corresponding workshops. There wasn't any problem with not knowing what to do, they just had to follow the joint dolls in the workshop. Xu RenDong and a man with glasses were assigned to the boiler room. The task of their group is the simplest. Just monitor the boiler and avoid explosions.
Before the beret man left, he solemnly warned everyone that they was not allowed to leave their workplace during working hours. The foreman would be patrolling everywhere. If he discovered someone being lazy, he would have the whip ready.
After the beret man and the foreman left, only Xu RenDong and the man with glasses were left in the boiler room. Xu RenDong looked around the environment here and discovered nothing special. He was just about to ask the man with glasses for his opinion when he discovered to his surprise that he was actually sitting on the ground with a thick book in his hands.
Xu RenDong said in shock: "What are you…?"
The glasses man pushed his spectacles and said helplessly: "I'm about to take an exam soon and I don't want to fail it. See how I'm so bald? It's because I'm a hardworking medical monk. Take pity on me oh great boss and just let me be a salted fish." {Salted fish = someone that is lazy.}
Xu RenDong discovered that although his appearance was very young, his hairline was already very dangerous thin. He really was only a step away from baldness.
Xu RenDong was speechless for a while. The medical student ignored him and devoted himself to memorizing the book: "Ginseng tastes sweet and nourishes vitality, quenches thirst, promotes body fluids and regulates nutrition… Astragalus… Astragalus…" He looked down at the book and continued to recite, "Astragalus heats up the sweat and consolidates the surface, sore can produce muscle qi deficiency…"
Xu RenDong listened in silence for a while then couldn't help but say: "You study Chinese medicine?"
The medical student said: "You got it. More specifically, it is a combination of Chinese and Western medicine."
Xu RenDong: "Then why don't you prescribe some Chinese medicine to replenish your hair… Uh, nourish your kidney?"
The medical student glowered at him, "Heh, do you think I'm not eating it?"
In the next second, he burst out suddenly. He threw the book in his hand on the ground and stomped his feet: "Isn't it just that the fucking speed of repairing hair that can't keep up with the speed of hair loss! Ah?! Integrated Chinese and Western medicine! God fucking Integrated Chinese and Western medicine! The end of term examinations for the Chinese and Western medicine courses are going to do me in! Fucking Chinese medicine and Western medicine is about to split my personality!" {LOL I feel like this is the author's own thoughts hahahaha…}
Xu RenDong was startled by him. The next second, the medical student bent down again to pick up the book. He patted it briskly and then embraced it religiously. He mumbled: "Forget it, passing is the most important, passing is the most important…"
Xu RenDong: "…" It felt very sincere.
Seeing that the medical student was obsessed with studying, Xu RenDong didn't bother any longer. He directly took out his mobile phone to talk to Lian Qiao. He briefly summarized the information he had so far and asked: How is your situation over there?
Lian Qiao: My side is a battle for inheritance. We play the role of detectives to find the murderer of the old patriarch. The progress is very fast and three people have already died.
Xu RenDong was shocked: Three people have died in just over one hour?!
Lian Qiao: One NPC and two teammates. The teammates ran out by themselves and we couldn't stop them. The butler shot them in the head and they fell into the sea.
Xu RenDong: What about the NPC?
Lian Qiao: It was the housekeeper who was thrown into the sea by my headshot.
Xu RenDong: Your headshot? Where did you get the gun?
Lian Qiao: I snatched it from the housekeeper… Oh, you didn't see it. The scene was a bit chaotic at the time. I was afraid that you would get dizzy so I removed Lamia's eyes.
Xu RenDong: …. Killing the NPC as soon as you go in, aren't you afraid of missing key information?
Lian Qiao: It's okay. When I pointed the gun at the head of the housekeeper, he quickly said everything he could possibly say.
Xu RenDong: …
Lian Qiao: I don't have to be circumspect when questioning other NPCs now. After all, I have a gun.
Xu RenDong: …
He suddenly felt that he was stupid to have worried about Lian Qiao. So he straightforwardly accepted Lian Qiao's kindness and listened to him analyze his instance for him.
Lian Qiao: There is a foreman on patrol… hm, let me think about it. The foreman does not allow you to be lazy at work, so if he catches you during the patrol, then he will whip you. The beret man also only said "You are not allowed to leave your post during working hours" but he did not set a quota for the work you need to complete. Besides that, Brother RenDong, your boiler room position has no output at all so you just need to leave the medical monk to watch over things. So actually you can leave your post to explore the factory, as long as you avoid the foreman. However, there are guards at the gate so you can only explore the inside of the factory and cannot go out.
Xu RenDong: Yes, that's what I think too.
Lian Qiao: It's best to come here to take a look at the factory again at night. If you can escape the guards and enter the factory, you can explore freely without being disturbed.
Xu RenDong was a little surprised. He didn't expect this.
Lian Qiao continued typing: The instance clearance prompt is the "butterflies in the stomach". We already know the literal meaning but we still can't guess what it is exactly hinting out…. But the sound of it makes my insides churn and it doesn't feel good. Brother RenDong, you have to be careful.
Lian Qiao's words were stern. Xu RenDong couldn't help but nod, but then he stopped and calmly typed the word "En" into the phone.
Lian Qiao: Big boss, how is my performance this time! Is it better than the previous two instances?! ~~~~
Looking at the rippling waves, Xu RenDong had already envisioned the appearance of Lian Qiao raising his tail high and begging for praise. Xu RenDong raised the corners of his mouth slightly and there was some tenderness in his cold and handsome eyebrows. The smile on the lips was like spring water and the clearness of the ice melted with a little warmth and sweetness.
The medical student on the side glanced at him inadvertently and suddenly he was taken aback.
Fuck, why is this man so good-looking?
It's over, it's over, he's about to be bent….
The medical student hurriedly buried his head back in the book, beginning to memorize it with his undivided attention and daring not to look up again.
Xu RenDong was unaware of this. After contacting Lian Qiao, Xu RenDong put away his mobile phone and said to the medical student who was sitting on the ground: "I'm going out to explore the factory. You will stay here to watch the place… uh, to memorize your book."
The medical student looked up, startled, and clasped his hands in a solemn thankful gesture. "I am grateful!" He immediately lowered his head and immersed himself in the ocean of knowledge.
Xu RenDong found the Swiss Army Knife from his backpack, held it in his hand, and took a deep breath. As he was about to leave the sultry boiler room, the corner of his eye suddenly caught a figure at the end of the corridor. He immediately retreated subconsciously and closed the door smoothly.
Leaning behind the door of the boiler room, he listened carefully to the heavy footsteps outside, getting closer and closer…
The foreman was coming.