Volume 1: Days Moving Bricks at the Construction Site
Whistle Sound
It seems like there is a person by the poolside.
Xiaolou: “…”
Shen Maomao threw the things outside and excitedly went to grab her hand: “Sister Lou, why haven’t you left?!”
Xiaolou swiftly dodged her intrusive hand and said lightly: “To see if you have any intention of risking your life.”
Shen Maomao was still very hesitant: “This… I still want to consider it more.”
Xiaolou frankly said: “I hope you can stay alive until the time you come to trade with me.”
Shen Maomao: “… Thanks for your auspicious words.”
As the two were talking, Golden Retriever wiped his tears and walked out from the room. He looked at the two outside and mumbled: “Thank you…”
Xiaolou said: “At least, you’re better than the one with glasses.”
Her meaning was that, after waking up, Glasses didn’t even ask who dragged him in, showing no gratitude at all.
“Did you hear that? Sister Lou even praised you.” Shen Maomao said with a smile. She didn’t care much for others’ gratitude, but a thank you from Golden Retriever, this brat, was quite rare.
Xiaolou: “??” Who praised him?
Shen Maomao turned off the canteen’s light, then closed the door, and the three of them walked back side by side under the night sky filled with stars.
Golden Retriever was still somewhat afraid of the things outside the wall and absolutely refused to walk on the outside. Xiaolou didn’t want to stay next to Golden Retriever either, so Shen Maomao had to walk in the middle.
The night was especially quiet; even the bugs that were active in the afternoon seemed to have agreed to fall silent. Shen Maomao recalled the night before entering the game and suddenly felt chills down her spine.
On the construction site, only the “rustle” of three people walking on the sandy road could be heard. Shen Maomao couldn’t help but grip Xiaolou’s hand tightly.
Xiaolou struggled a bit but still couldn’t break free, so she simply rolled her eyes and let her be.
“Why am I so unlucky…” After walking a short distance, Golden Retriever suddenly spoke, startling Shen Maomao, who jumped directly into Xiaolou’s arms.
Xiaolou, annoyed, said: “Such cowardice!”
Shen Maomao awkwardly came out of her arms, pushed Golden Retriever, and scolded him to relieve her awkwardness: “You still dare to speak, hitting someone without apologizing?! Can money compensate for people’s losses?! Clearly, you made a mistake! You still act all high and mighty, if not to catch you to repent, then who?! Who?! Who?!” Each “who” was accompanied by a relentless punch.
Golden Retriever, feeling aggrieved, couldn’t stop: “Although I drank a little that day…”
Shen Maomao raised her voice: “You were also driving under the influence?!”
Golden Retriever, covering his shoulder, retreated repeatedly: “I just took one sip! He was the one who bumped into me! The dashcam recorded everything! I only gave money because his son and daughter were crying so pitifully!”
Shen Maomao was momentarily stunned, and Xiaolou’s steps also paused.
The more Golden Retriever thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt, and he burst into tears: “Why am I so unlucky!”
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Xiaolou unusually fell silent and didn’t retort, and Shen Maomao’s mood was also somewhat complex.
… How exactly does this game judge whether a person is guilty or not? Is its standard truly reliable? Are the people it selects necessarily guilty?
Golden Retriever cried as he walked, and soon he had escorted both women to the entrance of the dormitory. He wiped his tears and said to the two women: “You should quickly go in, I’m heading back…”
“Okay…” Shen Maomao responded, just about to head towards the room when Xiaolou pulled her back.
“We’ll walk you back.” Xiaolou said in a deep voice.
Shen Maomao: “?”
Golden Retriever also said: “No need, you two young girls, I’ll go by myself…”
Xiaolou glared at him fiercely.
Golden Retriever, a bit timid in front of this older sister who doesn’t say much, immediately changed his tune under her glare: “I’m a little scared… can you two walk with me for a bit?”
Shen Maomao couldn’t understand why Xiaolou wanted to take this extra step, but she surely had her reasons, so she agreed: “Then let’s go.”
This construction site is rectangular; looking from the main gate, it is long horizontally and short vertically, and the male and female dormitories are quite far apart.
Since there were no clocks nearby, Shen Maomao didn’t know what time it was.
Outside the wall was a void; the tall city buildings that could be seen clearly during the day had disappeared without a trace, leaving only the thick fog that rolled continuously. Occasionally, a few pitch-black shadows would rush past within the fog.
She quickly withdrew her gaze, not daring to look outside again, but in her heart, she couldn’t help but feel a bit curious.
Was that thing in the fog what Golden Retriever saw? What exactly was it that could scare Golden Retriever like this?
Xiaolou seemed to see through her thoughts and quietly said: “Do you want to know?”
Shen Maomao repeatedly waved her hand: “No need, no need, I’m already scared.”
Xiaolou let out a cold laugh and urged: “Walk faster, haven’t you eaten enough?”
The three of them quickened their pace and soon arrived at the handwashing station in the middle.
There were no streetlights on this side of the handwashing station, and Shen Maomao squinted her eyes, trying hard to see. She felt like there was someone by the pool, facing away from them and doing who knows what.
In the middle of the night, besides the three of them, was there actually someone out here seeking death?
Just as she was about to say something, Xiaolou covered her mouth. The sound of splashing water came, and the person by the pool started to whistle. A breeze carried a trace of a bloody smell to the noses of the three, and at the same time, there was a creepy “creak creak” sound.
Xiaolou loosened her grip on Shen Maomao, waved her hand to the two, signaling them to stay quiet and hurry up.
Golden Retriever was almost scared to the point of wetting himself, his legs shaking uncontrollably as he struggled to move forward; Shen Maomao’s back was also covered in a layer of cold sweat, trembling as she followed behind Xiaolou.
The three of them cautiously walked past that person without attracting his attention.
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Once they had distanced themselves from the pool, they immediately began to run for their lives, not stopping until they saw the lights of the boys’ dormitory.
Golden Retriever was so grateful that he almost knelt down.
If he had walked back by himself just now and encountered a person washing things who smelled of blood, he would have probably been too scared to move.
Xiaolou impatiently urged him to hurry inside, and finally added, “It’s best not to go out at night; hold it in if you need to urinate.”
Golden Retriever responded as if he were listening to an imperial decree: “Okay, okay, okay, I will definitely hold it in. Thank you, thank you, thank you two elder sisters…”
He said this while opening the door and walking in, leaving only the two women outside.
Shen Maomao felt hopeless at the thought that they still had to walk past that person again. Xiaolou looked up at the stars and said to her, “Let’s go, be careful on the way.”
The two of them did not run, partly because running would make too much noise and risk being discovered, and partly because they were unsure if the person by the handwashing pool would come this way. Running would expend energy, and if they unfortunately ran into that person, they needed to save their strength to escape.
Shen Maomao was on high alert, her eyes wide open as she peered into the darkness. She was genuinely a bit scared, feeling as if something was behind her.
But she didn’t dare to turn back and look. There is a common saying that a person’s shoulders have two flames; as long as they burn, ghosts and spirits do not dare approach. However, if one turns back while walking at night, the flames on the shoulder can be blown out…
As she remained highly tense, she was suddenly grabbed by Xiaolou on the wrist, startling her. She showed a puzzled expression, only to see Xiaolou reveal a rare smile to her and open her mouth to say—
“Are you willing to sell your life?”
Shen Maomao: “……” Big sister, you really never forget to promote, no matter the time.
It was impossible to sell her life; she didn’t even know what life really was. What if she sold her life and then suddenly died as soon as she exited the game? She wouldn’t have to live in fear within the game.
However, being interrupted by Xiaolou like this made her feel less scared than before.
The two of them walked forward together for a while, and the closer they got to the pool, the stronger the bloody smell became. By the time they reached the area near the pool, that smell could already be described as “pungent.”
The physiological fear and psychological disgust made Shen Maomao feel a bit nauseous. Fortunately, the figure washing things by the pool had vanished, and the faucet seemed to still be running because she could hear the constant sound of flowing water in her ears.
Neither of them wanted to conserve water and unconsciously ignored the splashing faucet, quickening their pace toward the girls’ dormitory.
Once they had left the central area, the bloody smell faded significantly, and Shen Maomao finally let out the breath she had been holding. It was only at this moment that she realized her back was completely soaked, with sweat pouring down like rain.
The dormitory door was not far ahead, and the light inside was still on. The shadows of the two of them were reflected on the curtains behind the plastic steel glass window.
Seeing the dormitory felt like reuniting with family, and Shen Maomao lifted her leg and rushed toward the dormitory.
The change began at this time—
Suddenly, many noisy sounds appeared on the originally quiet construction site: men talking, children crying and fussing, people drinking and playing cards… Amidst these noisy sounds, the whistle of the person by the pool was mixed in. It was a very slow little tune, consisting of eight lines in total, with two lines corresponding to each other. The first half of each line was almost the same tune, while the second half had slight variations.
Shen Maomao seemed to see the once bustling scene of this construction site, but now before her eyes, it was completely empty…
Xiaolou suddenly shouted loudly: “Hurry up!”
After saying that, she didn’t care whether Shen Maomao was following or not and directly ran toward the dormitory door.
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Still with her ears perked up, trying to listen to what they were saying, Shen Maomao was suddenly jolted awake. At the same time, the indistinct noisy sounds became sharper and sharper, the speed of speech increasing, transforming from originally peaceful to strange and terrifying, sharp enough to pierce her brain. Only the whistle continued to blow at a steady pace, but the sound was getting closer and closer…
Shen Maomao screamed, covering her ears and running forward: “Wow QAQ! This is just too f*cking unpleasant to hear!”
All the sounds abruptly paused, then began to distort as if the tape had gotten stuck.
It felt as though countless people were whispering in their ears, and the whistle began to lose its melody, causing them immense mental distress.
If these sounds had a soundtrack, it would surely be a chaotic and disordered cacophony.
Shen Maomao tightly grabbed her own hair, her head aching as if it were about to explode. Her facial features appeared especially grotesque due to the pain, and tears flowed uncontrollably down her cheeks.
Xiaolou was a step ahead of her, already inside the dormitory, but she hadn’t closed the door, presumably waiting for her to enter.
Clearly, the hope of survival was right before her eyes, yet she could not lift her own leg.
It was too painful… really too painful… Both the pain and fear made her wish she could just faint, regardless of whether she would be dead or alive afterward…
The distance from outside the door to crossing the threshold was so close, yet felt so far and unreachable.