Xiao-Mei; xiao-Gang
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At the time and place specified on the report stands Du Heng, who is waiting for the level V Instance to open. This is a largely deserted open ground and many overgrown trees.
Level V Instances will definitely affect an exceedingly wide area. Level IVs might pull from up to a few blocks away, but level Vs are already wide as a city. Therefore, even people kilometres away from the person opening the Instance could be pulled in.
Five more minutes, according to the report from Whitebird, is when people about this entire area is expected to be pulled into the Instance.
He takes a last look at the watch to confirm the time.
“Ge!”
Suddenly, a familiar call. Du Heng, spooked, looks behind him, to find his younger brother waving his hand at him excitedly a few metres away.
Du Yixin runs towards his older brother, and says to his shocked face, “I almost thought I wouldn’t make it. It’s such a pain to get here.”
This empty field is over half an hour from the closest bus station. Du Heng himself drove a car here and paid attention to whether he was being followed. So given his younger brother is here like this, someone must have told him beforehand.
Right now, he is in no mood to investigate who leaked the news to him. What’s more important is to get his younger brother to safety.
“Come with me,” Du Heng drags him forcefully next to his car, saying, “get on.”
After Du Yixin is stuffed inside and his older brother gets onto the driver’s seat, Du Yixin asks, “wait, ge, where are we going?”
Du Heng says grimly, “home,” he’s going to give up on this Instance. There is no way he can let his younger brother in danger.
“Didn’t you say this Instance is important? We’re just leaving?”
“…” Du Heng looks at his younger brother through the rearview mirror, then says, “I want you to explain everything once we’re back.”
He quickly steps on the gas——They would have to get out of range before the Instance opens up.
There’s two more minutes.
The scenery races past them in a blur. Du Yixin himself doesn’t really want to enter Instances himself either. He’s even relieved his older brother is giving up on it. This will be a good chance to for them to talk about it some more later.
Yet, not long after their car started up, it slows back down.
Du Yixin also sees it. The scenery outside has become strange. The blur has given way to an endless white, looking as if it’s all been swallowed up.
“… Ge, are we inside?”
Du Heng furrows his brows. They didn’t manage to make it out in time.
Their car entered with them, but it’s no better than just a husk of steel. It wouldn’t budge, and so he opens the car door to leave.
Du Yixin quickly follows, and as soon as he steps outside, the black sedan behind them slowly fades away and is gone in an instant.
The world around them is all white. The two of them are the only splotch of colour left.
Du Yixin takes a few steps to the front, and mutters, “there’s nothing here.”
Unlike past Instances that at least had a main plot for them to follow, there is just nothing here.
“Don’t run around,” Du Heng pulls his younger brother to the side, and tells him, “let’s wait.”
Du Yixin doesn’t question the veteran Instance operative that is his older brother, and quietly stands in place. Soon enough, silhouettes begin to emerge out of the whiteness.
Not just a few, but dozens. Their forms become visible, then, the once quiet space is suddenly a roarous street market.
“Holy shit?! Where am I? I thought I was sleeping in bed!”
“Uwuwuwuwu, mommy, where are you? I want to go home.”
“The hell is with so many newbies in this one?!”
There’s cries and cusses and yells all over the place, chasing away some of the eeriness of the place.
Du Yixin is watching the restless crowd with awe. It’s the first time he’s seen that many players all at once. There’s dozens of people here. Is this what level Vs are capable of?
Suddenly, he spies a familiar shape within the crowd. There’s a shoulder bag, overcoat, and the iconic hoodie in an imposing physique. He can’t see the face, but he can recognise him with just his back after all their time together.
It’s been more than two months since they last spoke, and Du Yixin is glad to see someone familiar here. He is about to walk that way when his older brother stops him.
“Don’t run around.”
“Ge, I see Ying Sheng!”
Ying Sheng?
Du Heng furrows his brows. That guy’s reputation isn’t for nothing. If his younger brother didn’t see him wrong, then the place is about to get turned upside down. Now he’ll have to take care they’re not targeted by the murderous psychopath besides looking for the perpetrator.
After the brief interruption, Du Yixin can’t see the man anymore. He’s a little saddened, and is thinking about going to look for him later.
Suddenly, the crowd that was quieting down is in an uproar again.
“Look! Over there! What is that?!”
There are more silhouettes emerging from the milky whiteness, but it’s not players anymore, but gigantic porcelain dolls, each over several metres tall, appearing out of thin air one by one.
As soon as they appear, the crowd can only gaze up as they are overshadowed by the looming presences. Each of the clumsy, cylindrical bodies had limbs that seem stuck to their torsos, and their comically oversized heads all had unsettling smiles.
Then, they begin to speak.
“Hello, we are the mascots of this show,” it is a combination of tones merging into a voice. It is impossible to tell age, or gender, or anything else from the jagged tone that sounds like a monstrous entity utterly failing to mimic human speech.
Everyone goes quiet, watching the gigantic dolls speak in front of them.
“Xiao-Mei is really glad to see so many newcomers for this talent show,” the one calling herself xiao-Mei has two ponytails on her hair and two circles of red painted on her cheeks.
“But xiao-Mei, the path to fame and glory is arduous, are they ready for the task?” Another doll answers her. this one is wearing a white shirt under overalls.
Speaking of which, the facial features of all the dolls are the same, and they are only different in clothes, accessories or hairstyles.
“Xiao-Gang, you shouldn’t be so pessimistic,” xiao-Mei says with unmoving lips and soulless eyes, “good luck everyone! Xiao-Mei will be rooting you the whole time!”
“Uwuwu, xiao-Mei you really are too kind,” xiao-Gang says, with an unchanging, equally soulless expression, “then everyone, let me introduce the rules to this talent show.”
“You’re currently staying in ‘the House of Beginnings,’ it’s where all wannabe celebrities stay before they debut! Right now, everyone is blank as a white sheet of paper, untainted by the darkness of reality!”
“And the purpose of our talent show is to allow everyone to debut as soon as possible,” then, xiao-Gang’s right-side arm begins lifting up forcefully. Countless porcelain shards begin raining from the sky because of that, and everyone hurriedly moves out of the way.
There is a six-sided die inside xiao-Gang’s hand.
“You can move forward by rolling a dice. Each square you land on will give you a mission, and you can proceed once you finish the task. The first to reach the goal will successfully debut.”
“Because we only have limited spots for debutees, only the first will succeed. Any others on the way will sadly be informed of their failure to debut.”
Those who are dragged into Instances the first time are all in too much shock to react. Meanwhile, someone asks, “what happens to those who fail to debut?”
“Those who fail can only be stepping stones for the successful,” xiao-Gang says, with that unchanging face of his, and continues, “in simpler terms, their heads will be chopped off to form the road ahead!”
“Hehehe,” xiao-Mei makes a laughing sound next to xiao-Gang, remarking, “xiao-Gang, that’s so funny.”
“!”
After a brief pause, the crowd is in an uproar again.
“Uwuwu, where am I? I want to go home.”
“Is this some kind of joke? Let us out!”
Some are still crying and covering themselves to try to avoid reality, and some are ready to fight back. A tough-looking guy jumps ahead with a wooden bat in hand from who-knows-where. The guy yells, “bunch of damned dolls! Y’think I’m gonna stand still and let you do that to me?!”
He strikes his bat right at the doll’s feet. There is a crashing sound, as the man’s wooden bat snaps in half, but the porcelain did not break.
“Eh, huh?!” The man makes a few steps back, taken aback. All the porcelain fragments from earlier made him think they were all brittle.
“Such an arrogant attitude wouldn’t do for a newcomer,” xiao-Gang says, as the eyeball in his head suddenly falls out of the eye socket.
The man, spooked, turns to run, but it is too late, as the heavy black sphere strikes him right on his head.
Splat.
The now headless corpse falls over while the head cracked like a watermelon and sprayed everywhere. On the ground, a puddle of black, white and red is spreading all over the place.
TL’s notes: A new Instance, and hopefully, a romantic relationship anew?
Oriental Rabbit 