by N. Heller
“Executive Hai is driving your truck now. As for Professor Bai… While you were unconscious, we found about 20-odd survivors in the rubble. They managed to escape the duoluozhongs. Professor Bai said that she needed to take responsibility for what she’d done, so she stayed behind with Xu Xiaoyang. They intend to build a new refuge for humans, one without any duoluozhongs. However, without the technology from the duoluozhong’s world, I think it will be diff…” Hu Changzai couldn’t help sounding a little emotional at this point, “I’m sorry. Even though the items in the vehicles were yours, I left some of it with them based on my own discretion.”
That wasn’t really a big deal to Lin Sanjiu. However, Lin Sanjiu found herself looking at B.Rabbit when Hu Changzai brought up the subject about food. Somehow B.Rabbit caught her gaze and tilted his head upward with an incomprehensible pride. “Even though I found you both a little violent, but all of you are quite righteous. Besides, your combat skills are really pitiable, so I was worried for you. Thus, I decided to stay.”
Totally unconcerned about B.Rabbit’s image, Hu Changzai blurted, “He’s lying. He is just a rabbit. So, no matter how powerful he is, there will always be someone stronger. Considering the fact that he might be caught and eaten any day… he’s staying with us for his own safety. Plus, he is on good terms with Executive Hai.”
Despite the hardship that they had just gone through, Lin Sanjiu felt a slight urge to laugh when she saw B.Rabbit’s furious face. Since everything was explained, her focus changed to the “pitter patter” sound that she could still hear even though she was fully awake…
She was stunned when she looked through the windows carefully. She couldn’t even speak properly, “It’s… It’s…”
She didn’t notice it previously because the white steam outside fogged up all the windows. She only saw the endless droplets of water lashing against the windows when she looked closer. They converged into a stream of water at the corners of the windows.
Lin Sanjiu touched the windows which were unbearably hot on a normal day, she found what she saw a little hard to believe and asked, “It’s raining?”
“Oh.” Lin Sanjiu still found the rain a novelty and watched it for some time. After a while, she even opened the windows. Just as the rabbit had described, the temperature of the water was only slightly lower than its boiling point. In the past, that temperature would have caused a bad burn but right now, it only felt warm to Lin Sanjiu, and that sensation was quite comfortable.
[The smell of sulfur is really quite strong… Wait? Can’t we treat this like a hot spring?]
Ever since the descent of Hyperthermal Hell, she was covered with perspiration every day, yet she could not take even one proper bath. She felt a sudden d.e.s.i.r.e bubbling in her heart. For the past two months, she felt like she was a wild hog — her skin was covered with layers upon layers of sand and dust mixed with her sweat, so her skin felt extremely rough.
She immediately got Hu Changzai to stop the bus. Then, they called for Hai Tianqing to also park the truck. She quickly rallied the two men and a rabbit to go look for a bucket with her.
Buckets seem like very common things, but when they tried to search for one, it was harder than they thought. This was especially true as all plastic items have already become deformed due to the temperature. They searched their surroundings but couldn’t find any. In the end, Lin Sanjiu rolled up her sleeves and dug a hole with the depth of half the height of a man. Then, she used some reflective sheets and some rocks to cover the bottom and the sides of the hole to prevent water from leaking out. As the rain was quite heavy, the hole was filled to the brim rather quickly, creating a “hot spring tub”.
Even though the water didn’t look that clean, but it was already a luxury.
As for the men, they did not bother digging any holes. As they suddenly got into the mood for a bath, they treated the rain like an outdoor hot shower. Once they walked away, Lin Sanjiu grabbed B.Rabbit without warning and pushed him into the water, laughing, “Come, you should also enjoy!” After she said that, she took her clothes and jumped into the “tub”.
“Wahhh!” B.Rabbit’s head popped out from the surface of the water and complained angrily, “Rabbits don’t need to bathe!”
When he turned and saw Lin Sanjiu’s b.a.r.e shoulders poking out from the waters, only half visible due to the steam, he clicked his tongue awkwardly and turned back to play with his ears. “Actually, I am a male rabbit.”
Even if he knew human speech, Lin Sanjiu only treated him as a cute furry animal, so she did not feel embarrassed at all!
“What’s up with you anyway? Why can you speak and why do you have abilities?” Lin Sanjiu asked casually as she continued to splash water at herself.
“As you can see from how cute I am, I was once a pet rabbit. I am even of a famous breed.” B.Rabbit seemed to have forgotten the awkwardness he felt previously once he starting recalling his memories. He dragged his voice and started to tell his story: “Even though my owner was quite hateable as he always limited my freedom, but, to be honest, he still loved me. I remembered that on the day the temperature shot up, there was nothing in the house. There was no water and no food… Even though my owner was very weak, he left the house to look for food. He returned after one whole day covered with wounds. He had a packet of instant noodles and even managed to get a handful of grass.”
The pet rabbit of an acclaimed breed paused for a moment before he continued sounding a little sad, “When I think back about it, it was really amazing that he managed to find some grass. But I was just a silly rabbit then, so I finished the grass with a few bites. I didn’t think much about it. After I ate that grass, my intelligently gradually increased and I also developed abilities. Unfortunately, my owner couldn’t endure any longer and passed away.”
[That grass must have probably been a special item…] Lin Sanjiu tried to imagine the rabbit’s owner. She felt that he must have been a very gentle person. She sighed and petted the rabbit’s head as if to placate him.
“Since you know that I’m a pet rabbit with a name, you can call me ‘Yo Daddy’,“ B.Rabbit said firmly. The hand on his head immediately pressed him into the water.
After Lin Sanjiu teased B.Rabbit for a while, the rabbit splashed her face with water using his ears. Maybe it was because she had some fun, or because the bath was really relaxing, but she felt a little better. After she felt that she was clean enough and encouraged by her terrible hunger since she had been unconscious for a week, Lin Sanjiu finally climbed out of the hole reluctantly. She changed into a set of clean clothes that she had prepared beforehand.
The scathing rain continued to pour from the sky as if to compensate for the previous dry days. Huge fogs of steam rose from the ground and filled the air. This constant production of steam created a dense fog which blocked their view.
Hu Changzai acknowledged her with an anxious mumble.
“I already said that I’m a male rabbit… It’s alright for me to look at them,” B.Rabbit grumbled.
Once she was certain of the direction, Lin Sanjiu and the rabbit headed toward Hu Changzai’s location. As the white fog was too thick, they couldn’t really see the road, so it was a little tough. [But it was not possible that we haven’t reached him even after walking for 20 minutes, right?] Lin Sanjiu thought to herself.
After she shouted a few phrases in succession and did not receive any reply, Lin Sanjiu stopped. Her expression hardened. B.Rabbit also sensed that something was wrong, “That’s weird. His voice definitely came from this direction, and he didn’t sound this far.”
They exchanged a glance and started raising their guard.
Just as they were about to take a step forward, the sound of a loud gong broke the silence of their foggy surroundings. They were startled! The sound of the gong seemed to come from all around them. “Good afternoon, everyone!” they heard an enthusiastic voice but did not know where it was coming from.
At that moment, people came out from the
fog accompanied by quiet chatter. If those two people standing closest to her didn’t look so shocked — at least they seemed more anxious than her — she would have punched them. The two people were whispering to each other, and they sounded very uneasy.
They could see more and more figures within the fog. They could sense a strange and indescribable pressure gradually building up. Just when Lin Sanjiu was about to grab the rabbit and run, the loud voice boomed again, “So, is everyone present now? I am happy to welcome all of you to the year-end Red vs. White Challenge [2] to ring in the new year!”
TN: [1] As the brown rabbit is going to be a recurring character for a few chapters, his name will be translated as B.Rabbit from this chapter.
Chapter 71 - Rules and Regulations of Red vs. White
It was indeed the end of December. If the New World didn't descend upon their universe, everyone should be busy making preparations to celebrate the new year, but now...
"Oh no! The fog is too thick! The contestants can't see each other… We must just blow it away!" the loud voice bellowed, and subsequently, he huffed and puffed using his own mouth. The thing that weirded everyone out was that the white fog started to move gradually. Most of the fog dissipated, revealing the original surroundings.
[No, that's not right. This isn't our original surroundings...] Lin Sanjiu’s eyes widened when she saw the ground. She was standing in a large circle. There was a line in the middle of the circle, and one half of it was red while the other half was white.
Lin Sanjiu, B.Rabbit, and the four other strangers standing near to her made up a six-persons team on the red side. Meanwhile, the white half of the circle was about 50 meters away, and there were also six people there. She saw two very familiar faces out of the six people in the other team — one of them was the bespectacled Hu Changzai who always looked prim and proper; the other was Hai Tianqing who was so large that the others withdrew from him, forcing his five other members to stand at the sides of the circle.
The three people and one rabbit exchanged glances with each other, finding it a little hard to respond to what had just happened. When Hu Changzai saw the circle on the ground, his mouth moved anxiously, and he started gesturing with both his hands. Watching him a for a while, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t hear him at all. It was as if there was an invisible partition which blocked off the sound from the other half of the circle.
Lin Sanjiu finally reacted when she heard that loud voice again, she turned around and tried to search for its source. Oddly, even though the wind, which dissipated the fog around them, came from the direction where the announcer was standing, the announcer himself remained hidden in the thick fog so she couldn’t make out his face.
"I’m Mr. Dot, the host of this Pocket Dimension. It’s an honor to meet all of you here… Can you see all your team members now? The people who are standing within the same semicircle are your team members, and your opponents are the people in the opposite semicircle! Come on! Before we begin the Red vs. White Challenge, why don’t you introduce yourself to your fellow members?"
As Mr. Dot finished his sentence, a man standing beside Lin Sanjiu immediately retorted, "Hey, are you crazy? This is not the right time to hold such a stupid challenge… I don’t have time to play your games!"
The man looked to be only about slightly over twenty. He had a crew cut, and he seemed to be quite irascible. "Are all of you just gonna stay here?" he yelled out. Since nobody replied, he turned and left, ignoring the others. His silhouette quickly disappeared into the fog.
Mr. Dot appeared to be unaffected by the man’s departure, he remained silent as if waiting for everyone to start on their introductions.
Due to the man’s action, the remaining five people didn't say a word as they stared at the leaving figure. They only started interacting with each other when they could no longer see him. Other than Lin Sanjiu and B.Rabbit, the Red Team consisted of two people, who were obviously a couple, and a middle-aged man. The petite young woman with a straight fringe looked very nervous as she held the corner of her boyfriend’s shirt. Her boyfriend was not very tall, he was very fair and slightly plump; he reminded Lin Sanjiu of a milk pudding — a milk pudding in clothes. At that moment, he was comforting his girlfriend with a gentle voice.
The middle-aged man had a gloomy-looking face, and he stood alone on the side. As the warm rain was still pouring down on them, everyone was soaked. Their clothes stuck to their skins tightly, becoming partially transparent. The round beer belly under the middle-aged man’s shirt could clearly be seen while he leered at all the women in the arena nonstop. This seemed to be a habit he had his entire life, something that wouldn’t change even after the end of the world.
As Lin Sanjiu was wearing a black singlet and baggy camo pants, there was nothing to see; however, the other woman in her team was wearing a cotton burlap skirt. The woman hid behind her boyfriend all this time, she was clearly uncomfortable when the middle-aged man looked over.
When the middle-aged man’s lecherous gaze floated passed the women in the White Team for the fourth time, a woman, wearing a mini skirt which showed off her pair of long legs, couldn’t tolerate that man any longer. She sprinted toward the Red Team, but just as she was about to step on the line in the middle, she revealed an expression of shock before she immediately pulled back, stopping just behind the line. After that, the long-legged woman gave the middle-aged man a vicious glare, her lips pursed into a thin line and she returned to her team members.
[It seems like we can’t cross the boundaries and we also can’t hear our opponents.] Both Lin Sanjiu and Hu Changzai could see the doubts in each other’s face. Lin Sanjiu observed the members of the White Team then she looked at Hu Changzai and shook her head. She did not know if he understood what she was trying to express.
"Hey?"
Just then, a voice came from behind the members of the Red Team, and it instantly grabbed the attention of everyone. Lin Sanjiu looked behind and saw the previously agitated man. He was startled when he realized that he was standing behind the five other members. However, Lin Sanjiu was not surprised
"I must have lost my way…" the brash man mumbled as he turned to walk away still unwilling to give up.
"Don’t waste your effort," Lin Sanjiu couldn’t stand it any longer, so she finally called him to stop. "If we are in a Pocket Dimension, no one can get out unless we complete the given tasks."
Once she said that, all the members of the Red Team were stunned.
Just as she had expected, the people here were all original survivors of Hyperthermal Hell so they had probably never heard of the thing called Pocket Dimension. This was also the first time that B.Rabbit had heard about this matter.
As the subject on Pocket Dimensions sounded quite outrageous, Lin Sanjiu tried her best to simplify her explanation. Despite that, the other members still held their misgivings. Instead, when B.Rabbit spoke, they looked even more shocked. Regardless the uncertainty and doubts they had, everyone stayed behind after some commotion.
After five minutes, they heard clapping sounds coming from Mr. Dot’s direction, this ended the conversations within the two teams. "I am glad to see that all of you are getting along quite well with your team members," Mr. Dot said this with a light-hearted tone as he laughed. However, his next sentence made it difficult for anyone to relax: "But, one of the members of the Red Team did not comply with my suggested course of action and even tried to leave on his own accord. I regret to inform all of you that I have to deduct one point from the Red Team even before the games begin…"
After he said that, a "-1" appeared in mid-air above the ground near the boundary line on the red side, it was even glowing faintly. They did not know how the -1 would affect them, but the expression of all the members of the Red Team turned grim because they had some sense that it wasn’t something good.
[If we don’t comply with his suggestions, he will penalize us by deducting points from our scores?] Lin Sanjiu considered this feeling a little troubled. T
hey didn’t really talk much with each other just now, and she didn’t even get to know their names. She only secretly gave them each a nickname.
[Does this already count as an introduction?]
She was still pondering about the matter when the host spoke again: "Luckily, one of the members of the Red Team provided her own team with some basic information on Pocket Dimensions. Thus, the Red Team can get one treasure c.h.e.s.t!"
This immediately roused a quiet commotion within the Red Team. Even though no one knew what that treasure c.h.e.s.t was, it was clearly something beneficial. They all thought that this would perhaps close the gap between both teams, so their faces seemed to lighten a bit but Mr. Dot continued, "For the same reason, the White Team can also get one treasure c.h.e.s.t!"
"All of you might be wondering: what’s the use of a treasure c.h.e.s.t? So, now I will list out and explain the rules of today’s challenge!"
[Year-end Red Vs. White Challenge]
Number of contestants: 6 people in each team, 12 people in total.
Rules:
1. Mr. Dot will decide on four games. Not all team members are required to compete in each game. Each team only needs to send out the minimum number of required contestants for each game. In addition to that, the number of contestants sent out from each team must be the same.
2. There is no limit to the number of times a member can join a game, but every member must join at least 2 games or face a death penalty.
3. The contestant for each game must be voted by the team, a member can only be a contestant if they get a majority vote from their team.
4. Some games will provide you an additional opportunity to gain points. If a contestant manages to discover and gain the additional point in the game, the team will be awarded +1 points. Winning a game will gain you +1 points. The team with the highest score will win.
5. Similarly, there is also a risk of losing your points in a game.