Please Stop Pretending To Be a Cute Newcomer!

Three days later:

"Woo~woo~" The roar of the train entering the station snapped the players' thoughts back to the present.

The 19 players withdrew their gazes and raised their heads in unison.

Fengshan South Station¹.

It was a somewhat old station. The four golden words, "Fengshan South Station," on the top had faded and turned black after countless years of wind and rain, rust climbing up them.

The afterglow of the setting sun was blocked and fragmented by the players’ backs, and beamed in mottled patterns on the ground. The station gate was very tall, and there was a desolate silence inside.

Shen Qingcheng and Lu Qi mingled with the 17 other players. Like the others, they took out their terminals to check the details of the copy.

【 Welcome to the horror world. This is the copy "Route of Death". 】

【 Please take the "Harmony" train to the "Tushan²" terminal. Those who arrive successfully will be deemed as having cleared customs. 】

【 This copy is a special copy, and there is no limit to the number of players participating in customs clearance. 】

【 Time Limit: 7 days (Those who exceed the time limit will be deemed to have failed customs clearance). 】

【 Please play carefully and work hard to survive. 】

Special copy.

Shen Qingcheng had come into contact with the concept of a special copy for the first time.

There was no limit to the number of participants, and the only customs clearance method was successfully arriving at the Tushan terminal--the customs clearance method of surviving until the end of the copy time had been removed.

It felt a bit novel, the same kind of novelty as when he had entered the copy and found a bunch of players standing around.

He and Lu Qi were a little apart, separated by several players.

Shen Qingcheng wasn’t in a hurry to go over.

This time there were a lot of players: 10 males and 8 females, and most of them young people. He had no way to identify the gender of the last player.

Because the tenth player was a baby, being held nervously in the arms of a female player.

The female player carried the child away from the crowd. She lowered her head and coaxed the child quietly.

Most of the other players weren’t looking at the female player with friendly eyes, but they weren't hostile either.

In their hearts, those were just two people who were useless and would only hold them back.

Shen Qingcheng also noticed that the luggage that each player brought with them differed in size.

There were many large, bulging woven bags, while only a few players had small shriveled backpacks on their backs.

He glanced at his feet. Not big or small, it was a suitcase of average size.

At this time, the players who had read the copy information began to discuss both loudly and quietly.

"Special copy? Does anyone know what a special copy is? Are they particularly difficult?"

"Look at the time limit yourself! 7 days, wouldn't you say that’s difficult?!"

"This damn³ game doesn't give people a way to survive. I have only passed a few copies of lower difficulty, how could they compare to such a level of difficulty!"

"Don't be arrogant, special copies aren’t as scary as everyone thinks. I’ve encountered it once before, it only limited the customs clearance methods."

"Then you’ve encountered a 7 day time limit?"

"No, it was half a month."

"Then your words are fucking useless⁴. I haven't even passed 5 copies in total yet, so I’m still a newcomer. If a newcomer is matched with this kind of difficulty, can you seriously tell me that it shouldn’t be scary?"

Anyone who hadn't completed 5 copies was considered a newcomer?

Shen Qingcheng thought about himself. His first copy was B-tier, the second copy was A, and the third, the current copy, seemed to be counted as S?

? ? ?

Case solved! This dogshit game was aiming at him, this was proof!

His buffs were sealed and the difficulty increased. Was it his fault that his strength was too high?

Shen Qingcheng's teeth itched with his hatred.

Some players who had been too lazy to participate in the discussion picked up their luggage and walked away. Seeing this, the players finally stopped arguing, and each grabbed their luggage and entered the station.

The copy information said that they could only clear customs by taking "Harmony" to the end point. What if they missed it?

Among them was the player with the most luggage. He had two oversized woven bags at his feet, and dragged them with a grunt, and only walking a few steps before becoming exhausted.

The player, who saw that he was about to fall to the back of the pack, was sweating profusely. In this kind of horror game, breaking away from the group often meant danger.

In a hurry, he opened the two bags and glanced inside.

From where he was standing, Shen Qingcheng couldn’t see what was inside. All he saw was the new player, who had said that he "hadn’t even passed 5 copies in total," decisively throw down a bag, drag the other one, and run.

He raised his foot to the open bag and looked inside, and it turned out to be a bag of bricks.

"Hey, you dropped your luggage!" he shouted.

The player's voice came from a distance, "You want it, you take it!" Then he cursed lowly, "Whoever wants it is an idiot."

Shen Qingcheng raised his eyebrows.

Players who were originally interested in this bag of luggage heard the last word, "idiot," so they had to pass by with a stiff expression and pretend nothing had happened.

For a moment, only Shen Qingcheng and Lu Qi were left outside the Fengshan South Station.

When Lu Qi walked to the woven bag, Shen Qingcheng asked him, "Do you want to move bricks, friend?"

Lu Qi, who saw the items in the bag: "..."

He didn't answer, just switched his suitcase to another hand, and with his free hand he grabbed the strap of the woven bag.

Shen Qingcheng grabbed the man's arm, "That was a question, not an imperative. I mean will the bag have some special use?"

Lu Qi: "Possibly."

Shen Qingcheng: "You’ve experienced it before?"

Lu Qi: "I haven’t."

Shen Qingcheng understood, and also reached out to grab the strap of the woven bag.

The two walked into the station with luggage in one hand and the bag in the other.

The facilities inside the station had an aged feel. Most of the chairs in the waiting room had lost their paint, and a sign was suspended above their heads by two rusted iron wires.

Go left for trains, go right for coaches⁵.

They went left according to the sign, and then they needed to go down a long staircase to the train platform, where they could already see many players waiting.

The train had entered the station, but the doors were still closed.

The vermilion train stopped quietly on the similarly vermilion track, black and brown rust marks beneath its peeling paint.

Shen Qingcheng watched the train stay stationary, "Lu Qi, what do you think the train color looks like?"

Lu Qi: "Blood."

Shen Qingcheng just wanted to give Lu Qi a round of applause: look at this tacit understanding, look at this hero’s like-minded vision!

It was a pity that his hands weren’t free, so he could only smile brightly.

"The scarlet is fresh blood, and the dark brown is dried blood."

After speaking, Shen Qingcheng had a hard time figuring out how to move the bag of bricks down.

A woven bag of bricks was easy to drag on the ground, but not quite so easy to move down stairs, especially since the stairs were very long.

Finally Lu Qi said: "You take your luggage."

Shen Qingcheng wanted to switch with Lu Qi--he was still very clear about his position, if he was hugging his thighs he should look like it.

However, the fact was that he couldn't lift the bag of bricks at all, but Lu Qi could lift it without changing his expression at all.

OK.

Shen Qingcheng picked up the two’s luggage and quickly went downstairs.

He wanted to quickly take it down and go back to help Lu Qi lift the bricks, so Lu Qi could relax a little.

Finally, Shen Qingcheng went down the stairs and arrived at the platform, where the voices of the players on the platform could be faintly heard communicating.

He put down his luggage and looked up.

It was an open-air platform, the train was outside and the platform was inside.

It was getting darker and darker outside at an abnormal speed, but the lights on the roof were not turning on.

Shen Qingcheng didn't know what would happen after it got completely dark, so he turned around and was about to go back.

Lu Qi put down the bag in his hand and saw Shen Qingcheng's movements, "What's wrong?"

It turned out that Lu Qi had already come down, how fast.

Shen Qingcheng: "It's nothing, I originally planned to go back and help you."

"No need," Lu Qi said, and raised his hand, touching his forehead, his tone light, "I'm sweating a little."

Shen Qingcheng: "..."

He glanced at the stairs behind Lu Qi, raised his foot and took two steps forward.

Lu Qi was a few centimeters taller than him, but these few centimeters didn't seem like a big difference to the naked eye.

The distance between the two shrank quickly because of Shen Qingcheng's approach; their eyes met and their gazes intertwined.

Shen Qingcheng: "Lu-dage."

Lu Qi: "En."

Shen Qingcheng: "Guess what I just saw in your eyes?"

Lu Qi: "You."

Shen Qingcheng smiled, "Yep."

But the real Lu Qi wouldn’t have answered him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The weight of a bag of bricks wasn’t heavy for Lu Qi, and he was more worried about whether the woven bag was strong enough.

Fortunately, the bag didn't break suddenly and he got to the platform.

Shen Qingcheng was waiting for him at the foot of the stairs, and when he saw him, he smiled and said, "I was planning to go up and help you."

Lu Qi: "No need."

"Then let's wait here, the door hasn't opened yet," Shen Qingcheng said.

He dragged the two suitcases around, pulled one in front of him and sat on it, and pushed the other to Lu Qi, "Sit and rest for a while."

Lu Qi didn't sit, he looked at the deep blue night, "It's getting dark too fast."

Indeed, they hadn’t been slow. It took at most 10 minutes to get from the gate of the station to the platform, but the afterglow of the sunset had dissipated, and a heavy layer of darkness covered the sky.

Shen Qingcheng walked to Lu Qi's side and looked at the sky with him, "I noticed earlier too. Plus, we don't know when the doors will open."

Lu Qi made an “en” sound and didn't say anything further.

Shen Qingcheng couldn't hold back any longer, "Lu-dage."

Lu Qi: "?"

Shen Qingcheng: "You’re really strong."

As he spoke, he squeezed the man's arm with his hand. While they weren’t obvious, his muscles were very firm.

Lu Qi was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and he felt a cool touch on his arm through the thin fabric. He frowned and grabbed the misbehaving hand on his arm.

Cold hands.

Shen Qingcheng immediately shouted, "Ouch ouch ouch! Lu-dage, take it easy!"

This scene reminded Lu Qi that when he met Shen Meiren, the same thing had happened twice. He had only used two points of effort, but the other party was already screaming in pain.

Too delicate.

He let go of his hand and said indifferently, "Don't move."

Shen Qingcheng rubbed his fingers and complained, "How was I moving? It was just a squeeze of the arm, everyone here is a man, you can squeeze me too~ But Lu-dage’s arm muscles are awesome!"

Lu Qi: "..."

It was getting darker and darker, there was no artificial light, and the naked eye could only see half a meter around.

Shen Qingcheng moved the two people's luggage closer and put it under his nose, so that he wouldn't lose track of it later.

In the night, the wind began to blow. It was very cold, and it was piercingly cold to the people there.

Shen Qingcheng shivered, folding his arms, and approached Lu Qi, "Lu-dage, I'm a little cold."

Lu Qi: "There are clothes in the suitcase."

Shen Qingcheng: "It's too troublesome to open it… You hug me, hug me and I won't be cold."

Seeing that the man didn't reply, he moved his feet closer until he touched the man's arm, and a warm breath came from beside him.

He intensified his efforts, squeezing his body into the other man's arms.

Lu Qi lowered his eyes and looked at the person in his arms.

"Lu-dage~"

The person in his arms adjusted his posture, and the two stood face to face, with his hands crossing at Lu Qi's waist and hugging him tightly.

Lu Qi pursed his lips and pressed his left hand on his⁶ back.

The man's palm was hot and powerful. Shen Qingcheng leaned his head on the man's shoulder, and his lips curved up into a smile.

Puchi.

The black blade pierced Shen Qingcheng's abdomen.

"Woo~woo~"

The horn of the train started to sound, and the ceiling lit up.

"My God, I was worrying about you here, but you were having fun with a man in your arms over there?"

"Lu Qi, are you even human!"

TLN:

¹ Lit. “rich mountain South Station” (丰山南站).

² Lit. “painted mountain” (涂山).

³ Lit. “should die” (该死的).

⁴ Lit. “you’re speaking farts” (那你说个屁).

⁵ Long-distance buses.

⁶ Here the other person is referred to as huairen (怀人), which refers to either the feeling of missing someone who is far away or the person themself. Not really sure how to translate this in a succinct manner.

Moving across the country next week and starting school again the week after that, so updates will be sporadic until I get my footing. Yeah, I know, I should’ve stockpiled some chapters, but the the executive dysfunction really be dysfunction-ing…