SWBG - Chapter 20

Volume 3: Escape from the Abandoned Hospital

Back home, Gu Jing Sheng had one hour left before returning to [Happy Board Games].

...At least half of that time was spent in hoarse self-clarifications like "I'm not jumping anymore, no, I never planned to jump in the first place!"

Gu Jing Sheng turned on her beloved phone—though theoretically, this phone that never left her side except for charging should have, along with herself, turned into spring mud to nurture flowers under the meteor impact before even entering the game.

"?"

Gu Jing Sheng's gaze suddenly fixed. Her original intent was to check if Xia Xiao Yun or Wei Jia Shi had sent any messages, but she discovered another, higher-priority issue.

—The time was wrong.

Although the year and month matched her memory, the date showed that over a day had passed since the meteor struck. Gu Jing Sheng searched further and quickly concluded from the clues—all information that could prove she had gone out and reached the meteor site had been completely altered into entirely different content.

This is the information age: "Every contact leaves a trace." Swiping cards for buses, subways, real-name verification for high-speed rails and planes, even registering websites requires phone number verification—so if some unknown force could completely alter all these residual traces, did it also mean those past experiences had been subtly modified too?

"Meteorite fall" had indeed made the news, but no reports mentioned any casualties.

Gu Jingsheng turned to search for 'Cao Wanyan' and 'Liu Hanru', and felt relieved that neither of their names contained 'zi' nor 'xuan'. After eliminating various misleading pieces of information, she finally found a clue on ** School's campus forum.

The forum was tinted gray, all images were black and white—"Major Traffic Accident on *** Highway, 47 Students from Our School Killed."

A pinned post listed the classes and names of each deceased student in detail, followed by messages of mourning from teachers and students.

Class 7, Grade 2: Cao Wan Yan.

Class 9, Grade 1: Liu Han Ru.

Unexpectedly, the two kids she met in the instance were schoolmates. Gu Jing Sheng looked at Cao Wan Yan's smiling face in the black-and-white photo; the memory of this little girl lying bloodied in the grass slowly faded from its original vividness.

Gu Jing Sheng also wanted to search for others. She looked up "Yao Ruo Ling," but after encountering the seventeenth "Yao、Ruolingling" posting singing and dancing videos on Douyin, she had to give up for now.

—If Xia Xiao Yun and Wei Jia Shi’s situations didn’t conflict with hers, it would prove that if provisional participants successfully advanced to full participants, their previous death experiences would be corrected.

While browsing, Gu Jing Sheng tucked her hair behind her ear. Her left sleeve slipped down, revealing the card slot pouch tied to her wrist.

Just like the black brick phone designated by [Happy Board Games], the card slot pouch couldn’t be seen or touched by anyone except its owner.

Gu Jing Sheng opened the pouch, hesitated, then pulled out a card. Moments later, a water-stained brush materialized on the desk, its accumulated water soaking the mousepad.

"..."

Since cards could be materialized, did that mean—

With a slight thought, the balcony became filled with dense black thorns.

Her pocket vibrated twice right on cue.

[From: Happy Board Games

In public settings, remain low-key. Participant, please be careful not to violate the game rules.]

Seeing the expected warning, Gu Jing Sheng once again felt the malice of [Happy Board Games]—the text message was less of a deterrent and more of a hint.

The game's cards had the same effect in real life, as long as one was careful enough when using them and avoided notice.

With the voucher's time about to run out, Gu Jing Sheng hastily grabbed some things, stuffed them into her backpack, and chose to return 15 minutes early.

When she opened her eyes again, Gu Jing Sheng was standing in the center of the 08321 lobby, exactly where she'd been before leaving. Almost simultaneously, Xia Xiao Yun and Wei Jia Shi also appeared in the lobby.

Gu Jing Sheng confirmed: "You returned only after the time completely ended?"

Xia Xiao Yun understood her meaning: "How early were you?"

Instead of asking whether she returned early, he asked how early—Gu Jing Sheng felt that her tacit understanding with Sister Xia was gradually growing.

"Fifteen minutes... The time outside was ****, about a day later than when the meteor hit. This proves the game room's time flow is different from the outside world's. Yet I returned 15 minutes early and appeared in the room almost at the same time as you."

Xia Xiao Yun thought for a moment: "You think the time flow ratio between here and outside isn't fixed?"

Gu Jing Sheng shrugged: "It's also possible that time in the room stops after we leave."

Xia Xiao Yun: "Unfortunately, there's too little data now."

Gu Jing Sheng: "Indeed."

Wei Jia Shi looked at Xia Xiao Yun, then at Gu Jing Sheng, and said sincerely: "Actually, you two are professional players, right? The kind who write strategy guides professionally."

Gu Jing Sheng shrugged. “Spend more time online, see more of the world—doesn’t matter which dimension we end up in, we’ll be ready for it.”

Wei Jia Shi: "..."

Gu Jing Sheng asked again: "Were your death experiences also altered?"

Xia and Wei both nodded.

Gu Jing Sheng's gaze swept over their faces, lingering a bit longer on Xia Xiao Yun, and smiled: "It seems [Happy Board Games] is even more powerful than we imagined."

—Gu Jing Sheng and Wei Jia Shi's deaths were accidents, but Xia Xiao Yun was hacked into the hospital by her ex-boyfriend and subsequently died.

Xia Xiao Yun said expressionlessly: "I remember he was already arrested before, but when I checked outside, everyone had forgotten about it."

Wei Jia Shi sighed: "My traffic accident was also erased by [Happy Board Games]. Well, strictly speaking, only half—I'm still alive, but the unlicensed motorcycle driver who was giving me a ride still had the accident."

Gu Jing Sheng summarized: "So, aside from the death becoming an accident, our lives are no different from before..."

She trailed off mid-sentence—Xia Xiao Yun and Wei Jia Shi were looking at her with sharp eyes, as if gazing at an idle... unemployed loafer ╮(￣￣)╭.

Xia Xiao Yun: "There is a difference—I skipped work."

Wei Jia Shi added: "I skipped class too!"

Gu Jing Sheng paused for a moment, then had to admit to her persona: “I guess you could say I’m a third-generation rich person. Since I don’t have to worry about making a living, I just went freelance.”

Xia Xiao Yun: "Writer?"

Gu Jing Sheng smiled: "Photographer."

Wei Jia Shi's eyes lit up: "How's your photography skill? Can your monthly income cover a mortgage?"

Gu Jing Sheng admitted honestly, “Of course not. I majored in financial management, which is worlds apart from photography. Right now, I’d have to pay people just to use my photos. To be honest, yesterday was my first time going out for a shoot; otherwise, I wouldn’t have ended up running into nature’s embrace and getting struck by a meteor.”

"..."

Wei Jia Shi felt that in the future, when introducing her profession, Gu Jing Sheng should avoid saying photographer. It's better to mention it when someone asks about her dreams.

Xia Xiao Yun said: "I've already submitted my resignation to the company."

Wei Jia Shi continued: "As for me, uh, I was dragged by my advisor to the office and lectured for half an hour."

Gu Jing Sheng and Xia Xiao Yun turned to look at Wei Jia Shi together: "..."

Wei's expression looked like he wanted to cry: "Then I was watched as I went to class—until the very last second before returning, I was scribbling away in the classroom."

He rarely skipped class, so missing the check-in yesterday was entirely due to uncontrollable circumstances. However, Wei Jia Shi couldn’t be honest with his advisor about the real reason—after all, everyone remembered him as the guy who stayed in the dorm scrolling through Weibo and lost track of time.

Gu Jing Sheng sighed and gave the youngster some advice from experience: "Next time, bring more books when you go out. During game breaks, squeeze in some time to review old knowledge and learn new—just treat it as work-study."

Wei Jia Shi looked at her with despair.

Gu Jing Sheng: "Not studying is fine too. Just see whether being eliminated by the game or successfully reviving but not getting your diploma is scarier."

Xia Xiao Yun: "Things from outside can be brought in?"

Gu Jing Sheng opened her backpack: "Yes."

Wei Jia Shi looked down at the contents of Gu Jing Sheng's backpack with complicated emotions.

Gu Jing Sheng explained: "Time was tight, there was no chance to carefully select. I could only grab some daily necessities."

Ping pong paddles counted as weapons; biscuits, candy, and water counted as food—these two categories were within Wei Jia Shi's understanding. But the remaining face masks, hair oil, sunscreen, body lotion, day cream, eye cream, night cream, and unidentifiable bottles gave Wei, who currently had no partner, a deep appreciation for the fearsomeness of female compatriots.

Gu Jing Sheng: "Some things are missing. It seems bringing items from outside into the game room isn't without restrictions."

In Room 08321, aside from Gu Jing Sheng, both Xia Xiao Yun and Wei Jia Shi had only obtained 24 hours of rest time from the game—the two hours returning to real society didn't count.

Gu Jing Sheng had asked Happy Board Games; they could enter games as a team or in separate batches, each doing their own instances.

"Let's go together first," Gu Jing Sheng said frankly. "To each other, we're at least more trustworthy than strangers."

[From: Happy Board Games

 Welcome 08321-6 to begin the game [Escape the Abandoned Hospital] in [Team State]

 Game Difficulty: Normal

 Number of Players: ?

 Note: When away from home, please obey the game rules.]

...

[Game Environment Loaded Successfully]

Aside from the message indicating entry into a new instance, Gu Jing Sheng's field of view was completely dark. Unlike last time, she didn't immediately log into the new instance.

Gu Jing Sheng frowned slightly and quietly waited for what came next.

[How terrifying, this is truly the most unfortunate tragedy!

"Rosemary" Sanatorium is a special treatment facility located in the southern part of the Forest Kingdom. The surrounding scenery is quiet and pleasant, 20 kilometers from the nearest town. Locals privately call it the "Madhouse."

The hardworking doctors diligently strive to alleviate patients' symptoms. They've exhausted all known therapies and some methods without definitive conclusions, yet unfortunately, Rosemary's discharge rate continues to decline yearly.

Despairing patients gave up on endless treatment and decided to change things with their own strength! No one knows how these irritable patients evaded security. By the time the doctors noticed something wrong, patients had smashed the restraint room doors and seized all the lethal treatment equipment.

—The above is an excerpt from "Forest Daily".]

"These are... the backstory?"

Her vision began to brighten from darkness. Gu Jing Sheng faintly heard mechanical operation sounds and the cold closing of elevator doors.

The beginning of a new arc...