Volume 11: The Days of Traveling on a Train
Puck1
Day One
Ning Jingzhiyuan’s2 expression cracked for a moment, as if she’d been stunned by Shen Maomao’s on-the-spot attempt to claim her as a relative.
Shen Maomao blinked at her.
On the way here, she had seen at least thirty little red hats. A single game was far from needing that many players, so for now, players and npcs had to be mixed together.
She had only entered a an instance with this kind of setup once before—the one where she was backstabbed by Ren Yue. Therefore, she had reason to suspect that there was a Scavenger3 in this an instance.
She had only recently learned that there were level disparities among Scavengers. The more an instance they had team-wiped, the higher their level, and the greater the assistance the an instance would provide them.
For instance, in the elementary school an instance, they couldn’t distinguish between players and npcs, appeared using their real names, and had no Guides4 whatsoever. This indicated a very high-level and extremely vicious Scavenger. Alternatively, in an ancient-era an instance where everyone still lined up to enter the game normally and had npcs explain the plot to them, it meant the Scavenger in the an instance was low-level or had just changed professions.
She had cleared nearly thirty an instance of varying levels, but she had only encountered Scavengers twice. Now, she might be about to face her third.
So, she decided to first take Ning Jingzhiyuan and disguise themselves as npcs to confuse the Scavenger’s sight and hearing.
Ning Jingzhiyuan received her signal. Although she didn’t quite understand, she still played along with her performance. “That’s right… It’s my first time on a sleeper berth,5 and I always feel flustered without my daughter by my side. I can’t quite catch my breath…” As she spoke, she kept patting her chest, looking quite the part.
The tour guide had just spoken too quickly and was now a little in the wrong—after all, the elderly were quite superstitious about such unlucky words. So, he didn’t refuse. He just glanced at his watch and first tried to shirk responsibility. “You didn’t say before that you wanted to stay together. The train tickets were all bought in the order of your ID card numbers…”
But he didn’t completely shut the door. After expressing that “this has nothing to do with me,” he added, “How about this? I’ll take a loss and switch with you. Which bunk are you in?”
Shen Maomao said, “Number six, middle bunk.”
The tour guide sighed. “Ah, a middle bunk…”
Ning Jingzhiyuan went to get her wallet. “We’ll compensate you for your loss…”
The tour guide quickly cut her off. “No, no, no, it’s a small matter. You’re our guests, so it’s only right to meet your needs. Don’t be embarrassed…” He looked at Shen Maomao.
Shen Maomao said, “Just call me Xiao Shen.”
The tour guide said, “Ah, Xiao Shen, go ahead and bring your things over. We’ll just swap tickets.”
Shen Maomao wasn’t afraid of what he might do with her ticket. After all, if the tour guide was an npc, he should know her registration information. If he was a Scavenger, he would be one clear, two distinct6 about the an instance’s situation. Handing over the ticket openly and without hesitation would actually make her seem more like an npc.
She passed her ticket over, and he handed his to her.
The two of them took each other’s tickets without a second glance and went to pack their respective luggage.
On the way back, some people were busy with their own things, while others watched her inquisitively. Shen Maomao ignored them all, avoiding any eye contact, and went straight back to her window to start packing.
The person in the number six bottom bunk suddenly asked, “Where are you off to?”
Shen Maomao said, “I switched bunks with the tour guide. I’m going over there to be with my Mom. She’s older, so I need to take care of her.”
The person on the bottom bunk said, “Oh,” and asked no more questions.
She had one bag on her, a hat on the table, and a bag of snacks on the bed. Given that the train ride alone was seven days, she deduced she should have a suitcase as well. And since she was the only woman in the row of three bunks at number six, she inferred that the little pink suitcase with its corner peeking out from under the bottom bunk was probably hers. She tried crouching down to pull it out.
The other people didn’t react, so she confidently slid the suitcase out, placed the snacks on top of it, put the hat on her head, and pushed it all forward.
The tour guide also came out carrying his luggage. Seeing Shen Maomao bent over pushing her suitcase, he stepped back to let her pass first, then took his little red flag to the compartment between five and six.
Shen Maomao stuffed the suitcase under the bed, sat down, and started fanning herself with her hat. With her other hand, she pulled the tour guide’s ticket out of her pants pocket.
The tour guide’s name was Zhan Zhi.7 Shen Maomao suspected he might be the Scavenger, but she couldn’t be sure.
After all, every actor in that little scene just now was Oscar-worthy. No one revealed their flaws, and no one saw through the other’s weakness. They could only call a temporary truce and wait for another opportunity to clash again.
The game had just begun, so Shen Maomao wasn’t in a hurry. She leisurely opened a bag of snacks, ready to “chomp chomp chomp” along with the rhythm of the train.
She pulled out a pack of spicy strips8 and asked Ning Jingzhiyuan, “Do you want some of this?”
Ning Jingzhiyuan said, “No, thanks. You should eat less junk food, too. This stuff is full of gutter oil,9 and eating too much is bad for your health. I heard from someone on WeChat10 that some kid got leukemia from eating spicy strips. It’s so scary.”
Shen Maomao was speechless. …Well, there’s a generation gap.
She tore open the spicy strips, held up the bag, and stuck one in her own mouth before saying, “Eating it once in a while is fine. We’re finally out here having fun, right? Eating it here has a different meaning than eating it at home. It’s a waste not to eat it. You have to try everything. How will you know if you like it if you don’t try?”
Ning Jingzhiyuan paused for a moment, seeming to understand the hidden meaning in her words. She proactively reached out her hand. “Then let me try one…”
Shen Maomao smiled and tossed her a brand-new bag. “I’ve got mineral water and drinks here, too. If you think it’s too spicy, just drink some water.”
Ning Jingzhiyuan nodded and began to try the new experience that was spicy strips.
Perhaps due to the age difference, Shen Maomao actually felt quite awkward when interacting with her. But after a bag of spicy strips, they both became much more natural. Shen Maomao carried her snacks over to Ning Jingzhiyuan’s bunk, sat down, and qiaomimi11 showed her the tour guide’s train ticket.
Ning Jingzhiyuan showed her own ticket in return, and only then did Shen Maomao learn that this Auntie’s real name was Ning Jingyuan.12
It was only Auntie Ning’s second time clearing a an instance, and she had never encountered a situation like this before. The forums wouldn’t detail what each person’s an instance was like, so she didn’t feel like anything was wrong. On the contrary, she was calmer and more at ease than some of the more experienced players.
Using the excuse of going to the bathroom, Shen Maomao walked back and forth in the corridor twice. She was already able to identify a few players and also saw two other tour guides carrying red flags, a man and a woman.
Afterward, she went to check the other cars. Theirs was car number five. The four cars in front of it were all hard sleepers,13 as was car number six behind them. But car number seven further back changed to a soft sleeper,14 which would probably be locked tight at night, preventing people from the hard sleeper cars from entering.
In other words, their range of activity was likely the six cars from number one to number six.
After looking around and getting a general sense of the environment, Shen Maomao turned to head back, just in time to run into a rushing Zhan Zhi.
The moment Zhan Zhi saw her, he immediately rushed over and grabbed her arm, saying urgently, “Where did you run off to? It’s ticket inspection, and we were just waiting for you!”
Shen Maomao quickly apologized. “Sorry, sorry. I felt a bit stuffy, so I went for a walk where there were fewer people.”
Zhan Zhi said, “Never mind that, hurry up and come with me.”
Shen Maomao said, “Let go of me and I’ll walk on my own. I can’t walk like this.”
“Fine, fine, let’s go quickly.” With that, he turned and led the way.
Zhan Zhi seemed to have a rather impetuous personality, doing things in a hasty manner. He walked at a flying pace, as if he wished he could sprout wings. The aisle of the sleeper car was already narrow and was filled with people during the day. He ran the whole way, bumping into people and apologizing as he went. Shen Maomao frowned as she watched, beginning to doubt her own speculation.
Could such a blunderer really be a Scavenger? His acting skills would have to be far too good.
But besides him, there were two other tour guides. Shen Maomao mentally minimized her suspicion of him and began to consider which of the other two was more likely to be the Scavenger.
Scavengers were extremely familiar with the game. Perhaps if she could just find the Scavenger, she could get a taste of what it was like to reap without labor.15
With that thought, her feet didn’t stop moving. She followed him back to their car with light-footed steps, then obediently exchanged her ticket for a sleeper card16 with the train attendant and thanked Zhan Zhi again.
Zhan Zhi said casually, “Alright, it’s really all settled this time. You can go wherever you want.”
Shen Maomao turned and left. Zhan Zhi thought she was just going for another walk, so he sat down on the bottom bunk and started playing an offline game on his phone. But less than a minute later, someone tapped him on the shoulder and stuffed two bags of snacks into his arms.
He looked up in surprise to see Shen Maomao smiling at him. “The trip has just started and I’ve already caused you trouble. I’m sorry about that. Please have these. I hope you’ll please take care of me in the future.”
Zhan Zhi glanced at her, then at the snacks in his arms, and his face couldn’t help but turn red. “You don’t have to give me these. It’s what I’m supposed to do. Take them back!”
Did Shen Maomao lack this little bit of food? Of course not. What she lacked was information, information, information. Naturally, she wouldn’t take the items back. “You keep them. A girl can’t eat so many snacks; she’ll get fat.” She turned and walked away, not waiting to see his reaction.
The man sitting next to Zhan Zhi laughed and teased, “Yo, brother,17 your luck with women isn’t shallow. Has she taken a fancy to you?”
Zhan Zhi said with a red face, “Don’t talk nonsense. We just met.”
…
Shen Maomao had no idea that just giving away some snacks could cause others to yy.18 She sat on her bed scrolling through her phone, trying to see if she could glean any information from it. Auntie Ning scrolled with her, and they both found some screenshot flyers for this “Paradise Island Tour Group” in their phone albums.
This travel agency had just opened not long ago. It seemed they had only ever done domestic tours before. Later, for some unknown reason, they obtained a channel and started organizing tours to Russia. The registration fee was not low, yet they chose the train as the mode of transportation.
Judging from the flyer, the travel agency had deliberately chosen this train. The entire journey was seven days, passing by many beautiful landscapes. The agency used the banners of “The Longest Journey” and “Purify the Soul,” promoting the slogan “Say goodbye to your phone, elevate yourself,” and managed to attract over sixty big-headed suckers.19
Big-headed sucker Shen Maomao opened her phone, first glancing at the single bar of signal, then flipping through the six small offline games and dozens of pre-cached variety shows on her phone. She couldn’t help but fall silent.
There’s no way to say goodbye to this at all!
But this was just the travel agency’s gimmick, nothing worth referencing, so she closed her phone again.
Auntie Ning was still reading that book from before. Shen Maomao glanced up and saw that she was reading Shakespeare’s 《A Midsummer Night’s Dream》. In such a short time, she had already read a good portion of it.
With so many people with loose tongues around, they couldn’t discuss the plot if they wanted to pretend to be npcs. Shen Maomao simply told Auntie Ning, then burrowed into her blankets and closed her eyes to feign sleep, starting to think about the Scavenger.
Currently, she could confirm four players. Their positions were not far from hers, making them easy to observe. They didn’t know each other, were all extremely anxious, and couldn’t stop themselves from watching others… Of course, that alone wasn’t enough for her to be certain. What completely exposed them was the unconcealable fear in their eyes.
What’s a normal person afraid of on a train?
Even she could see something was wrong. The person hiding in the darkness must be able to see it even more clearly.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but glance at Auntie Ning, who was as steady as an old dog,20 and felt a bit fortunate. Could it be that God knew this was my first time being a substitute player21 and picked an easy-going boss for her? No, that’s not right. If he was really looking out for her, why would he find a Scavenger to disgust people!
She closed her eyes again and began to think about what might happen on the train.
This an instance had limited space but a lot of people. Adding up the npcs and players, there had to be several hundred. With so many people crammed together, if something really happened, there would be no telling how to escape.
And she was absolutely not just spouting dangerous words to startle the listeners.22 This was a fucking horror game. It would be like seeing a ghost if nothing happened, okay?!
《Train to Busan》, 《Murder on the Orient Express》… One after another, movies set on trains flashed through her mind. Her thoughts began to leap, from the train to a car full of zombies, from zombies to a sealed room, and then to the faces of the three tour guides and the four players, until someone tapped her, startling her awake.
She threw back the covers, deliberately putting on a dazed expression. She only relaxed after seeing that the person who had tapped her was Auntie Ning.
Auntie Ning said, “Guide Zhan said we can go to the dining car to eat in a bit, or we can buy food to bring back. Do you want to go over or have it brought back?”
Shen Maomao’s main goal was to find out who the Scavenger was, so she was determined to stick close to the three tour guides. She said, “Either is fine with me. Let’s see where everyone else eats then. Following the crowd is never wrong.”
Auntie Ning put down her book and sat at the foot of the bed, looking out the window. “You know,” she said with emotion, “the scenery outside is actually quite beautiful…”
Shen Maomao followed her gaze outside.
The train was traveling across a vast wilderness, yet the small square window offered a view that stretched far into the distance.
Small villages were hidden among the distant mountains. As the setting sun descended in the west, the entire sky was dyed gold. Cooking smoke curled upwards, swallows soared with outstretched wings, and the green rice paddies were thriving and flourishing. The colors were bright and magnificent, like a beautiful oil painting.
The female tour guide passing by smiled. “Of course! And there will be even better views to come!”
Then she turned and waved her little flag to call the people in the next few compartments. “Alright, everyone from 1 to 8 who wants to go to the dining car, follow me. Those who don’t want to go can wait here for the staff to come by with the food cart. We have half an hour. After half an hour, whether you’re finished eating or not, you have to leave to make room for the rest!”
Following this order, they should be the last group.
Zhan Zhi ran over from the front and stopped at their compartment. He asked her, “Do you want to go with them? Normally, you should be in that group.”
Shen Maomao looked at Auntie Ning and refused. “It’s okay, I’m not hungry yet. Besides, I want to go with my Mom. Would that be a bother for you?”
Zhan Zhi blushed and shook his head. “No bother, no bother at all. I’ll come back to get you in a bit.”
Shen Maomao thanked him.
After he was far away, Auntie Ning whispered to her, “This Zhan Zhi… I’m afraid he’s interested in you.”
Shen Maomao was shocked. “How can you tell? That can’t be right. We’ve only known each other for less than two hours…”
The girl in the bunk above her poked her head out and said, “He blushes whenever he looks at you. He definitely doesn’t blush when he looks at me.”
Shen Maomao was stunned. “No way… This… Uh… a zhe… It’s not that fast to develop a crush on someone, right?”
The girl smiled. “It must be one glance, center feelings.”23
The Big Brother24 in the middle bunk across from them also chimed in. “That kid is pretty handsome. A tour guide’s monthly salary is quite high, and he gets to travel everywhere. You’re in for a blessing.”
Everyone around them showed kind smiles, but Shen Maomao, at the center of the vortex, only felt it was strange.
Couldn’t he just be naturally shy? Or maybe he was drunk on fake alcohol? If they all said this and turned out to be wrong, wouldn’t it be really awkward for her? The other person would definitely be embarrassed too!
Thinking about it from another angle, if Zhan Zhi really did inexplicably fall for her… that would be even stranger.
Why would he develop feelings for someone he just met? Why were the onlookers’ attitudes so matter-of-fact? Just because he likes me, I have to accept? What kind of damn blessing is that? What’s the standpoint of the person who said that?
She gave a dry laugh, a vague sense that she had seemed to have realized something.
Half an hour later, the female tour guide returned with a dozen people and handed things over to the male tour guide. “The remaining six are slow eaters, so I left them there. Remember to bring them back.”
The male tour guide made an “OK” sign to her and left with his group.
After waiting a while, it was finally their turn. Zhan Zhi held his little red flag and organized everyone into a line.
Shen Maomao shouldered her bag and followed the main group forward, supporting Auntie Ning’s shoulder.
The dining car was a bit far, requiring them to cross four soft sleeper cars to get there.
The train had box lunches,25 and the price was crazy expensive, but it was included in the tour fee, so they didn’t have to pay.
Shen Maomao found a seat for Auntie Ning and had her wait while she queued up in the aisle for a box lunch.
No matter how good the food on a train was, it couldn’t be that great, but Shen Maomao wasn’t picky. She took two boxes, went back, unwrapped the chopsticks, and started eating.
As she was eating, someone sat down next to her. She looked up and saw it was Zhan Zhi.
Zhan Zhi looked at her like a tour guide concerned about a tourist and asked if she was getting used to the food.
Shen Maomao was a little awkward and said perfunctorily, “I’m used to it, I’m used to it.”
Zhan Zhi pulled a pack of dried tofu26 from his pocket and stuffed it into her hand. “Shh—a little side dish for you.”
Shen Maomao didn’t want to accept it, but he said, “Just consider it a return for the snacks you gave me. This isn’t worth much, no need to be embarrassed.”
Now, it felt wrong to accept it, but it also felt wrong not to.
She could only say thank you, then, under his expectant gaze, she tore open the dried tofu and poured it all out for Auntie Ning.
Shen Maomao said, “Perfect, my Mom likes spicy food. Thanks.”
Ning Jingyuan thought, “…Actually, I don’t.”
Zhan Zhi’s expression darkened for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal and smiled. “You two enjoy. I’m going to go check on other places.”
Shen Maomao watched his retreating back with a deep frown, an indescribable feeling washing over her.
Auntie Ning glanced at her and said, “What’s wrong? Is something not right?”
Shen Maomao said in a low voice, “No… I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s best to be careful.”
Auntie Ning said, “Do you think he looks like he’s had flower juice dripped on him by Puck?”
Shen Maomao asked, “What? Poker?”
Auntie Ning said, “The mischievous little elf from 《A Midsummer Night’s Dream》.”
Shen Maomao vaguely recalled something. “Is that the comedy by Shakespeare? I have a vague impression of it.”
She seemed to recall that it involved a flower juice that, when dripped into a person’s eyes, would make them fall madly in love with the first person or animal they saw upon waking.
She rubbed her chin. “Let’s wait and see. I hope that’s not the case.” She hated an instance with this kind of mental pollution the most, because sometimes you could fall into a trap without even realizing it, completely unaware that you’ve started to become abnormal.
After dinner, everyone gathered to play poker. Auntie Ning didn’t know how, so she didn’t join. Shen Maomao played with a group for a while, observing their reactions.
But everyone was an old drama bone.27 After observing them qiaomimi for a bit, she chose to give up, handing her spot to one of the onlookers. She returned to her bunk to play on her phone.
The sky gradually darkened, and the world outside the train window was pitch-black, without a single point of light.
The sound of the train moving echoed in her ears, and the ground beneath her feet swayed, but if you ignored all that and just looked out the window… it was hard to tell if the train was just shaking in place or actually moving forward.
A vendor pushed a small cart through the corridor, calling for people to lift their feet and make way. Shen Maomao checked her wallet, found several hundred-yuan bills inside, and was immediately tempted.
When Auntie Ning returned from the washroom, she saw another pile of snacks on her bed. “This is…?”
Shen Maomao said, “It’s a waste not to eat.”
Auntie Ning didn’t know what to say.
Shen Maomao smiled at her, sitting on the bed eating and playing. She took big gulps of her fat otaku happy water,28 completely unconcerned about gaining weight or being unhealthy.
“Sigh…” Auntie Ning sighed. “You can’t eat like this when we get back. It’s not healthy…”
Shen Maomao readily agreed.
After a while, Auntie Ning couldn’t hold on any longer and lay down in her blankets to sleep. Shen Maomao planned to stay up until lights-out, so she didn’t move.
The poker game hadn’t broken up yet. Zhan Zhi came to find her again and said, “Go to sleep early after lights-out. People will be boarding the train around four in the morning, so it might get a little noisy then.”
The author has something to say:
The Start of Autumn29 is here! It’s going to cool down!!
Celebrating by sending red envelopes to the first hundred comments on this chapter!!
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