Volume 2: The Days of Playing with Monkeys in the Village
Fog
No matter what happens, don’t let go.
The man’s speed wasn’t fast, giving them enough time to catch their breath, but he consistently followed behind them in a straight line. Lou Jingmo observed for a while, then led people to try to avoid the man’s direction of advance, standing not far away to watch him slowly approach.
As expected, he seemed not to see them at all, heading straight for the village.
Zhang Aiguo became a bit anxious: “What’s he going to do in the village? This won’t do. I have to go back and notify everyone. I can’t accompany you up the mountain anymore.”
This couldn’t have been better. With him around, they were clumsy and inconvenienced, finding it difficult to do anything.
Zhang Aiguo apologized to them, then sped past the man at an incredibly fast pace, running into the village ahead of him.
Shen Maomao asked Lou Jingmo, “Are we still going in?”
The emergence of something resembling a walking corpse from the mountain further proved the dangers within. Lou Jingmo suggested, “Why don’t you go back first, and I’ll go in alone?”
“I’ll come with you!” How could Shen Maomao possibly leave her meal ticket alone? Besides, sticking with her was the choice with the highest survival rate.
Lou Jingmo didn’t express her opinion, only nodding slightly: “Let’s go then.”
The two returned to the foot of the back mountain, advancing along the path from which the man had emerged.
The fruit trees on the back mountain were numerous and tall, growing without any discernible pattern. Weeds flourished at the base of the fruit trees, and other types of trees surrounded them, making it look more like natural growth rather than human cultivation. In order to absorb enough sunlight, the fruit trees strained upwards with all their might. Shen Maomao tried to stretch her arm straight up, but there was still a considerable distance to the lowest branches.
Even during the day, cool breezes wafted through the mountains, birds sang their long calls, and insects chirped incessantly.
The lush, leafy trees blocked out the sky, casting the forest in a dim light. As the gentle wind blew, the leaves rustled noisily.
Shen Maomao heightened her vigilance. Her feet trod on the soft, damp soil, involuntarily reminding her of the moist earth beneath the pond. This made her feel somewhat uneasy.
“Squeak squeak,” some animal quickly passed through the bushes near them, making a strange sound. Oddly enough, it sounded a bit like… a monkey?
Shen Maomao didn’t pay much attention to it; it would be stranger if there weren’t any animals on such a large mountain.
After walking a bit deeper into the forest, Lou Jingmo, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Shen Maomao, who had been looking around, bumped into her back. She rubbed her forehead and peered around Lou Jingmo’s side: “What’s wrong?”
Lou Jingmo said, “Fog has set in.”
Shen Maomao suddenly became aware, only now realizing that they had been enveloped by a thick fog at some point. Looking around, all she could see was white mist in every direction. The visibility was extremely low, to the point where it was truly impossible to distinguish between people and animals beyond five meters.
“When did the fog set in?!” she asked in panic. “Why didn’t I notice it earlier?”
Lou Jingmo stood still, not moving: “I didn’t notice it either.”
This fog hadn’t appeared suddenly, yet they didn’t know why they had ignored it and continued deeper into the back mountain.
The thick mist spread out, creating an almost ethereal scene. It was noon, and Shen Maomao could still feel the wind brushing against her cheeks and the tips of her hair. It shouldn’t have been possible for such a large expanse of fog to gather and linger like this.
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In the game, there were many phenomena that defied natural laws. The current situation wasn’t suitable for moving around recklessly. Advancing in the mist would not only cause them to lose their way but might also lead to falling off a cliff. Lou Jingmo simply sat down on the ground and pulled out a bottle of cool boiled water she had filled at Zhang Jianshe’s house from her backpack. She gulped down a few mouthfuls, not showing any signs of urgency.
Having walked for quite a long time, she was feeling a bit thirsty too. But before setting out, she hadn’t even thought about bringing a bottle of water, and Lou Jingmo hadn’t reminded her either.
“Want a drink?” Lou Jingmo waved the water bottle at her.
Shen Maomao nodded.
Lou Jingmo simply tossed the bottle to her, and Shen Maomao caught it in a flurry of movement.
This bottle… her goddess had used it, you know.
She reverently unscrewed the bottle cap, sharing an indirect kiss with her goddess.
She wasn’t sure if getting to know her goddess through the 《Confession Game》 was fortunate or unfortunate…
Just as she took a mouthful of water, Shen Maomao heard Lou Jingmo say, “It looked like there was someone behind you just now.”
“Cough, cough, cough…” She nearly choked to death from the shock of those words.
Shen Maomao whirled around to look behind her, but could only see the increasingly thick fog, a vast expanse of white where nothing was clearly visible.
“It’s gone now,” Lou Jingmo took back the bottle and held Shen Maomao’s hand. “Staying put is more dangerous. Let’s head back.”
Discerning direction in such thick fog was a difficult task. Shen Maomao was as good as blind, unable to make out anything.
When visibility is poor, the human central nervous system can’t calibrate its target through sight, making it easier for people to walk in curves while believing they’re going straight. This is the principle behind getting lost in a repetitive loop.
After walking for a while, she felt that the path beneath her feet seemed somewhat different from when they came, yet she couldn’t pinpoint exactly how it differed. She only knew that they weren’t going in circles, but were constantly moving forward.
Lou Jingmo furrowed her brow and suddenly turned to walk back the way they came.
Shen Maomao was stunned for a moment: “Sister Lou?”
Lou Jingmo said in a deep voice: “We were just going up the mountain.”
Despite it being broad daylight, Shen Maomao couldn’t help but shudder.
Lou Jingmo instructed her: “No matter what happens, don’t let go of my hand!”
“No matter what happens?”
“No matter what.”
No one knew where the thick fog had come from. Shen Maomao held Lou Jingmo’s hand tightly, following her footsteps without letting go for even a moment.
Soon the fog became so dense that she could barely see her own lower body, let alone Lou Jingmo walking beside her. She could only make out a section of Lou Jingmo’s wrist extending from the fog, with the rest appearing as a vague, blurry human shape.
Lou Jingmo wasn’t moving forward very quickly, perhaps because she, too, wasn’t entirely sure of the direction.
Shen Maomao felt very anxious and could only confirm Lou Jingmo’s presence by her voice: “Sister Lou… can we keep going?”
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“Of course we can.”
Her confident tone made Shen Maomao feel considerably more at ease. The two of them groped their way forward continuously, walking for who knows how long, yet never finding the path out of the back mountain.
“This mountain is really bullying us, isn’t it?” She couldn’t help but complain, “Why did Yun Shengjin and his group come in without any problems? Why do we have to be toyed with by this fog as soon as we enter?”
Lou Jingmo replied, “Maybe because we’re women.”
Women are associated with yin energy, making them more susceptible to attracting impure things compared to men.
Shen Maomao deliberately misinterpreted her words to boost her own courage: “Do ghosts practice gender discrimination too?! I strongly demand that the developers fix this discriminatory bug, ensuring equal ghost-encounter rates for male and female players. Let’s not have these spirits picking on the weak and fearing the strong!”
Lou Jingmo: “??” Are you getting too cocky?
Shen Maomao wanted to put her hands on her hips in a show of bravado, but the current situation didn’t really allow for it.
After being trapped in the fog for who knows how long, Lou Jingmo suggested they sit down and rest for a bit.
Shen Maomao naturally had no objections.
The two of them sat on the ground, still holding hands. Lou Jingmo struggled to open her DSLR camera with her free hand, then raised it to look around in all directions.
Looking through it, the fog was still visible in the camera lens. This meant that all of this was genuine mist, and they hadn’t fallen into some illusion.
Shen Maomao truly feared that they might waste an entire day on the mountain. The night in the game world was always far more terrifying than the day.
Lou Jingmo used her other hand to pass the mineral water to her: “Drink some water, then we’ll continue walking.”
Shen Maomao nodded.
After resting for a while, the two continued to search for a way out under Lou Jingmo’s lead, their hands remaining clasped together the entire time.
As they walked, Shen Maomao felt the temperature around her seemingly drop. A cold wind blew past, making her shiver uncontrollably.
“Sister Lou…” she said, “your hand is so cold. Are you feeling really cold too?”
For a long while, no answer came.
Shen Maomao’s body stiffened, her hair standing on end. She stopped in her tracks and asked again: “Lou… Sister Lou? Is that you?”
Still, there was no sound.
Shen Maomao was on the verge of tears: “Damn it, why are you doing this to me… Sister Lou, please say something, will you?”
The hand she was holding felt like a block of ice, chilling her to the point of shivering. She tried hard to look to her left, but still couldn’t make out anything.
Was the thing holding her hand still Lou Jingmo? Why was her hand so cold? Why wasn’t she speaking? Was she afraid that if she spoke, she wouldn’t be able to keep up the pretense?
She wiped away the tears that had welled up due to her extreme fear with her other hand, and attempted to reach out to Lou Jingmo’s arm.
Even though it was covered by clothing, the touch still felt ice-cold to the bone. Trembling, she felt her way up, past the elbow bone, up to the shoulder, and finally, following the shoulder to her face. That person just stood there, motionless, allowing Shen Maomao’s intimate touch.
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She could feel it was a person, but she wasn’t sure if it was Lou Jingmo.
Should she quickly escape…?
In such thick fog, if she just let go, she could instantly disappear from this person’s sight. Lou Jingmo’s hand wouldn’t be this cold, nor would she allow her to touch her for so long without any reaction. There was an 80 percent chance that the person standing beside her wasn’t Lou Jingmo.
But what about the remaining 20 percent? As she had said, in such dense fog, once she separated from Lou Jingmo, it would be very difficult to reunite. The possibility of her getting out of the back mountain on her own was zero. She didn’t dare take the risk.
She then remembered Lou Jingmo’s instruction, telling her not to let go no matter what happened.
Looking at it this way, the problem seemed quite solvable. If she let go, there was a 99 percent chance of failure, with the remaining 1 percent being a lucky stumble upon the exit and successful escape. If she didn’t let go, there was a 40 percent chance of being killed on the spot, another 40 percent of being taken away and killed, and the remaining 20 percent chance that the person beside her was indeed Lou Jingmo, who would lead her out of the mist and together they’d build a happy, harmonious home.
Naturally, Shen Maomao chose the option with the highest survival probability.
She carefully felt her way to interlock her fingers with that hand. The icy touch made her fingers ache with cold, but she still held on tightly, feeling both scared and reassured.
The most terrifying part is always the process of making a decision. Now that she had decided not to let go, she was willing to face whatever outcome lay ahead.
The moment she made her decision, she felt a pull from the interlocked hand. Shen Maomao simply closed her eyes, entrusting herself to fate.