“It’s a pity that we’re now in this so-called ‘real story’,” Lu Chu laughed and said, “but probably there’s nobody who would want to adapt it.”
Song Gui shrugged, “this really isn’t something to be happy about.”
Listening to their conversation, Yuan Kejie
took out a bag of biscuits and threw a piece in her mouth, and said as she chewed, “to be honest, if I return back alive, I’ll definitely adapt our glorious deeds into a novel, then turn them into movies, which will last forever.”Song Gui raised his eyebrows, “stay alive and return to?”
Yuan Kejie ate another biscuit before she continued, “of course I’ll go back to where I came from.”
Lu Chu raised his eyes and looked in 7’s direction. 7, who was standing some distance away leaning against a tree trunk to guard against their surroundings seemed to have noticed something. He turned his head, looked towards Lu Chu under the night sky, and gave him a slight nod. For them, letting their eyes meet like this, and the small movements between them was a type of unique and tacit understanding; natural, and extremely reassuring.
It was almost impossible for Lu Chu to go back to where he came from.
Because that peaceful and safe town that he was familiar with was actually just something imaginary. A mirage that existed only in an illusion, and it was subject to the cycle of creation and destruction given by the ‘rules’, just like a beautiful and substance-less dream. The moment that dream collapsed, then everything that was beautiful and tranquil would no longer exist, and there would be no way to get it back.
Lu Chu knew that he had lost his way to return a long time ago.
For some time, Lu Chu had avoided the question of where he would go after these seemingly endless games were completely over. Perhaps, the others were motivated to return to their original world which had their family, friends, and enemies. Their world which had a familiar environment, with things or people that they liked or hated. Right or wrong, joy or sorrow, everything was real.
However, as far as Lu Chu was concerned, finding out the truth behind the ‘rules’ and the ‘games’ was his goal.
Now, looking at 7’s firm gaze, Lu Chu suddenly had a vague answer to the question ‘what would happen after everything was over?’ that he hadn’t been thinking about. This vague answer caused him to feel something uncontrollable flowing over his heart like ripples on clear lake water, leaving behind traces of warmth and tingliness in his heart.
This feeling, might just be hope.
Thinking of this, he gave 7 a simple smile.
.
On the other side, Yuan Kejie had already
begun to imagine her bright future. after Song Gui and the rest listened to it, their expression betrayed their lack of interest, and after another moment, Luo Qi was the first one to stand up and silently climb up a nearby tree after she looked around, then closed her eyes to rest. Qian Zhen ate the food he had been given, and walked over to the other side after filling up his stomach without saying a single word, then sat down against a tree, closing his eyes to calm his mind.When Song Gui saw this, he
laughed without giving any respect at all, and ignored Yuan Kejie’s endless speech as he talked to Lu Chu, “Lu Xiaochu, let’s go and rest too.”Yuan Kejie picked up a stone and threw it at Song Gui’s back in anger, then sighed and said in a sullen tone, “you normal people.” Then, after she stopped talking, she ate her food and soon found a flat place to sit down in order to recover her strength.
Lu Chu looked at the people around him, and suddenly felt that this might make a good story.
——————
Lu Chu walked to where 7 was and found a place to sit down, leaning his back against the tree trunk.
7 had no need to rest, and only stood leaning against the tree trunk, standing guard beside Lu Chu, watching warily in the direction of the giant tree.
These multi-handed monsters didn’t seem to have a weakness, and they were already so powerful even when they were just skeletons. Now, some power that they didn’t know gave these monsters flesh and blood, making them look more ferocious and powerful than before, and also more terrifying and uglier.
Lu Chu closed his eyes and said in a soft voice, “after we take a short break, we might have to leave here immediately, those strange skeletons might chase over at any time.”
The rest nodded or responded softly, and didn’t make any more sounds as they rested.
.
The night was a little cool, and with the moonlight as clear as water, the slight breeze blew across Lu Chu strands of hair. Lu Chu frowned slightly, opened his eyes, and sat up.
His expression was guarded as he looked in the direction they came from.
The rest of the people who had their eyes closed to rest their minds immediately noticed Lu Chu’s movement and opened their eyes.
7 stood in front of Lu Chu, and Song Gui asked cautiously, “coming?”
Inside their hearts, they knew what this “coming” meant. To reconfirm, Lu Chu closed his eyes and listened for a while, then he instantly carried his backpack and said to the rest, “let’s run. They’re rushing over.”
When he said that, Lu Chu pointed in a direction.
Hearing that, everyone quickly picked up their backpacks and ran in the direction that Lu Chu had pointed to.
Song Gui shook his head and sighed, “hai, we’ve been running all day. ”
“Who do you think is to blame?!”
Luo Qi rolled her eyes, “you, who had that skill to roll a five, use that same skill to find their weaknesses now.”Song Gui waved his hand, “don’t dare, don’t dare.”
Lu Chu said, “listening to this sound, there’ll be a river in front of us soon. I don’t know its width for now, but this
direction would be the safest for the moment, so we must swim over. Is there anyone who can’t swim?”Luo Qi nodded, “I can.”
Song Gui, “I can too.”
The rest all gave
affirmative answers in turn.“Very good,”
Lu Chu nodded with a somewhat shy smile, “I can’t.”Song Gui staggered and almost fell. The rest of their group also suddenly looked in Lu Chu’s direction with shocked expressions.
Yuan Kejie opened her mouth, “this…… what can be done about it?”
Lu Chu remained calm, “sorry, I’ll try to learn as soon as I can. ”
When he couldn’t see, he didn’t learn how to swim, and from then on, he never had the opportunity to learn. In their last game, 7 had taught him a lot, but due to the restrictions the ‘rules’ had on their range of activities, they could only move within the school.
Since the school in that game didn’t have a swimming pool, he didn’t have the time to get this skill.It seems like he would have to learn quickly.
Luo Qi, who was running in the front, heard him and said, “is this the main point?”
Song Gui kept thinking about ways to solve this problem in his mind.
Then, 7 said, “don’t worry, I’ll bring him over. ”
“No,” Song Gui frowned and looked at 7, “right now, the river would be very cold, and we’re still not sure about how rapid this river is flowing. We just ran for a long time, and it took a lot of our physical energy. It would be dangerous for you to bring a person across the river. ”
After Song Gui finished speaking, he looked at Lu Chu to ask for his opinion.
“It can only be like this, and–” Lu Chu gave Song Gui a reassuring look, and his tone was full of trust, “I believe in Qi Li.”
When 7 heard him, the corner of his mouth curled up.
Although Song Gui still had some doubts in his heard, but he still chose to believe in Lu Chu’s judgement. Because he knew that Lu Chu was different.
Different from everybody here.
Thinking of that, Song Gui looked at Lu Chu from the corner of his eyes, and 7 took note of all of his actions.
As time went by, the rest of the people other than Lu Chu also gradually heard the sound of the river flowing.
At the same time, coming from behind them was an un-ignorable sense of the ground shaking, as if a behemoth was approaching behind them.That feeling of oppression was suffocating.
As they gradually approached the river, 7 went closer to Lu Chu and held his hand.
They may be in a hell game, but Lu Chu and 7 are still sprinkling a nice amount of dog food.
LoL