《Doomsday Cruise》


 CH 1

    Mo Xiaoyao never thought that her life might stop at the age of 24.


    The old people like to say that the natal year* is a hurdle, and this year will not be too smooth. Mo Xiaoyao didn''t believe it at first, but in the moment before her consciousness dissipated, she believed it.


    *natal year in Chinese zodiac is a year where a person''s age equal to a multiple of 12.


    She just didn''t know if this year would also be the natal year of the Mother Earth.


    Three minutes ago, at the moment when the sun set, the earth finally got tired of the parasites on her body who only knew to get what they wanted but did not know how to return it.


    At that time, Mo Xiaoyao had just gotten off work. She was walking with high heels and felt a violent shaking under her feet. She squatted down subconsciously to keep steady, and then saw that the stone bricks on the sidewalk were cracked to their original shapes.


    People''s exclamations came one after another, and the high-decibel cries and screams stimulated Mo Xiaoyao''s eardrums. At this time, she stepped on two hexagonal stone bricks of different colors with her feet on the left and the right. Looking down, the gray-brown soil has been opened by an unknown force, revealing a deep, invisible underground world.


    For a moment, Mo Xiaoyao thought she had seen the core magma.


    The screams in her ears were now much less, and the noisy car horns stopped. Mo Xiaoyao was surprised, why was she so calm after such an incredible thing happened.


    She even leisurely looked at the torn atmosphere, looking up at the real universe with the filter removed, and watching the cracked crust under her feet...


    eh?


    Mo Xiaoyao suddenly realized that, if her body had been torn apart, why was there no pain at all? Could it be the last mercy given by Mother Earth?


    After thinking for a while, but couldn''t understand, Mo Xiaoyao felt like she was out of her body, attracted by the atmosphere that split the sky. The higher she floated, the wider her vision became.


    She saw the solid ground under her feet disintegrate, and also saw the collapse of buildings that displayed human civilization. The humans who thought they were standing at the top of the food chain either fell or were torn apart... The expression on their faces were mostly fixed in panic and bewilderment.


    Mo Xiaoyao felt that her brain was getting slower and slower, and it was even more difficult to gather any emotions. She was like an alien who stayed out of the matter, watching her home die indifferently.


    They were going to die anyway, so it''s also very good. Everyone could still be a companion on the road.


    Weird thoughts came up, but she couldn''t get rid of them. As if instinctively, Mo Xiaoyao looked up and looked around, trying to find out if there was someone of her kind who was in the same state as her.


    Then, she saw a piece of shard-like colorful glass floating in front of her eyes.


    The shards are about the size of a palm, and they were irregular strips, like fragments that fell from a broken mirror. It was just a flash of brilliance, which was very eye-catching.


    Like a greedy person smelling the mellow wine, and like a drowning person who saw a life-saving straw, involuntarily, Mo Xiaoyao reached out and grabbed the piece of debris that was floating in front of her.


    The next second, she found herself standing on a flat avenue surrounded by heavy fog. Her body returned to her position, her mind returned to the cage, and Mo Xiaoyao became the Mo Xiaoyao who dared to fight the world.


    After taking a long breath, Mo Xiaoyao stabilized her mind and carefully observed the surrounding situation. She lowered her head and looked. Taking the place where she was standing as the center, about 3 steps away, there was a circle composed of a black halo surrounding her.


    Mo Xiaoyao tried to move a bit, and encountered no obstacles in the circle, but she was unable to step out of the black circle that was only a bit higher than her feet.


    This made Mo Xiaoyao feel a little uneasy. She changed direction and tried several times, only to confirm in frustration that she couldn''t go out.


    Forget it, she had came here somehow, she couldn''t be trapped in the circle for a lifetime. Thinking of this, Mo Xiaoyao began to look around again.


    The ground was light orange, visually flat, and strong enough. There were seven solid white lines extending from near to far on the ground, dividing the entire road into eight long and narrow sections, which look similar to racing tracks.


    About 20 meters away from Mo Xiaoyao''s right hand side, there is a thick white line running horizontally. At the inner end of the line, Arabic numerals 1-8 are written from left to right on each narrow and long road.


    It must be some kind of track.


    Mo Xiaoyao guessed, and then looked to her left. She saw that many people were standing in the same place and looking around. Like herself, there was a black halo circle under their feet, which restricted their activities'' scope.


    Among those people, some were alone like her, and there were also some with two or three companions. The most exaggerated thing was that there were eight people standing in a circle, but the circle did not expand, and they could only squeeze awkwardly. Together, there were two people who looked a little more introverted, embarrassed to touch others, but they couldn''t get back to their side, so they had to stretch out their tied hands into the air.


    This seemed ridiculous, but Mo Xiaoyao was not in the mood to laugh. Before those people noticed her gaze, she turned her head away. There was so much to observe here, and there was no need to waste it looking at creatures she had long been familiar with.


    Even if it was her compatriot.


    But the earth had been blown up, compatriots and so on, in theory, did they exist?


    Shaking her head gently, Mo Xiaoyao drove this strange thought out of her mind, just like she often raised her hand to drive away uninvited flies in summer, very natural.


    Did she stand for about 5 minutes? Or 10 minutes or more. The mobile phone in her pocket was off no matter how she pressed it. She didn''t know if it was out of power, or it was disturbed by some strange magnetic field.


    The small lady''s watch on her wrist was still turning, but it was limited to the second hand. The minute and hour hands seem to be rusted on the dial. No matter how many times the second hand rotates, they remained motionless.


    "My watch may be ''March Hare''s*." Mo Xiaoyao muttered and sighed, she suddenly felt tired from standing. In the eyes of many female colleagues, the pair of high-heeled shoes under her feet were almost the same as flat heels, but for Mo Xiaoyao, it was already her limit.


    *March Hare, a fictional character in Lewis Carroll''s 1865 book Alice in Wonderland. I''m not very familiar with the story


    Squatting down without an image, Mo Xiaoyao rubbed her calf and glanced at the road again, and found that there was nothing to see, so she kept her squatting posture and turned her body in another direction.


    That was, the direction of the mist on both sides of the road.


    It was a kind of mist that was disturbing to look at. It was a bit like the special haze in northern winter, but it was much thicker than that, and even light could not penetrate it.


    The black circle under her feet not only limited the range of people''s movement, but also blocked all sounds in the circle. Mo Xiaoyao slowly stood up and took two steps towards the mist. The high heels under his feet were stepping on the road of unknown material, making a crisp "click" sound.


    Mo Xiaoyao''s voice of swallowing saliva was clearly discernible in the silent fog that could not be seen through. She stared at the mist for a long time, her whole body seemed to be fascinated by being sucked in. She knew that she should not continue to watch, but she couldn''t move her eyes.


    It''s like that kind of morbid picture. She knew in her mind that she shouldn''t continue to look at it, but her eyes couldn''t look away.


    Horrible infatuation.


    What saved Mo Xiaoyao''s spirit was a harsh whistle sound. She immediately turned back to her body and took a deep breath. She was afraid that she had lost control just now, and decided to never look at the mist again.


    "Welcome all the racers to the Misty Track, the exciting round-the-island rally is about to begin!"


    After the flute, a mechanical voice narrated what should have been an enthusiastic opening remarks in an unwavering tone.


    Mo Xiaoyao stood up straight and listened intently to the voices coming from somewhere in the air. There were also a few other people in the black circle who acted just like her. More often, they looked around in panic, or kept opening and closing their mouths, and if anyone could read their lips, they could see that they were begging for mercy, questioning, and yelling meaningless things.


    The mechanical voice obviously couldn''t hear these, or didn''t care if it heard it, because it almost immediately started to tell the next paragraph.


    Glancing at the situation in the other circles, Mo Xiaoyao suddenly felt fortunate that the black circle was soundproof, otherwise she might have missed important explanations because the surroundings were too noisy.


    "Please get on your cars as soon as possible, and stand by after the starting line. The race will officially start in 3 minutes."


    "The first three groups of competitors who reach the finish line will win the championship and Asian season championship prizes!


    "Players in group 4-10 will receive the Finalist Award!"


    "The players in group 11-20 will receive the consolation prize!"


    "The players after the 20th group will be completely wiped out!"


    "The 3-minute countdown begins, please cheer up all the racers, try your best to rush forward!"


    "Fweeeet¡ª¡ª"


    After the whistle sound, Mo Xiaoyao''s eyes flashed, and many strange-shaped things appeared scattered in the starting line at the same time. At the same time, she found that the black circle of light under her feet was gone, and immediately tried to step forward and ran to the item closest to her position.


    Mo Xiaoyao, who had read too many similar novels, did not dare to hesitate at all. The earth was blown up, what else could happen? Anyway, Mo Xiaoyao consciously cherished her life. Even if the livable home planet was gone, if she could find another foothold, she didn''t mind going to an agency to rent a house.


    Mo Xiaoyao thought very clearly that the rules of this competition mainly have two points, one was to grab the so-called "car", and the other was to reach the finish line as soon as possible - at least within the top 20, otherwise the competition would be meaningless.


    And when she was bored, she calculated that the number of people in this opening was far more than 20, almost more than 200 people. However, the number of cars on the field was about 20.


    Even if some of them were obviously large enough to accommodate 5 or 6 people, it was impossible to squeeze 200 people up.


    Considering the consequences that she might get nothing if she chose to go far, Mo Xiaoyao tried her best to rush over to the one closest to her. No matter what it was, getting into the car first would guarantee at least half of her safety.


    Therefore, she was relieved when she used her heels as a price to get on the vehicle with a single stride.


    Then, she realized that there was no steering wheel in front of her, but drums, bass, guitar, keyboard, and... a microphone.


    Mo Xiaoyao: Excuse me? Is it still too late to go down and choose again?

 CH 2

    Mo Xiaoyao had only hesitated for 3 seconds before another person came up from the bottom. It was a man about 1.8 meters tall. His face was above average. He was quite thin, with short hair and a few blond hair highlights near his forehead. The most striking thing is that on his left auricle, there are three silver earrings hanging from top to bottom, giving a different kind of feeling.


    He was wearing a pair of washed-white jeans, and there were several holes in his thighs near the knees, revealing the not-white leg flesh inside. The upper body was wearing a black long-sleeved T-shirt with some overlapping letters randomly printed on it, and there was no way to tell what the word was.


    When Mo Xiaoyao looked at him, he was also looking at Mo Xiaoyao. Probably because he felt that this woman was no threat to him, a few seconds later, the man put the thumbs of both hands into the pockets of his jeans, stretched out one leg diagonally for a small step, showed a bright smile at Mo Xiaoyao, and opened his mouth to say hello.


    "Yo, girl, it''s fate to meet in this place."


    However, Mo Xiaoyao didn''t want this kind of fate at all.


    The man didn''t care about Mo Xiaoyao''s indifference, and introduced himself familiarly: "My name is Yue Yin, what about you?"


    "Mo Xiaoyao." Mo Xiaoyao''s voice was as clean and crisp as her style of doing things.


    "Well... do you want me to call you Xiaoyao, or Miss Mo?" Yue Yin''s left hand left his trouser pocket and reached out to his forehead to play with his two locks of hair.


    "Mo Xiaoyao."


    "...Okay."


    Seeing that Mo Xiaoyao had no intention of getting close, Yue Yin shrugged, turned to look at the car he just jumped on, and was stunned by the facilities above.


    "F*ck, can this thing be driven as a car?"


    Mo Xiaoyao nodded with heartfelt, and finally didn''t put on the expression of refusing to be thousands of miles away. Judging from this, Yue Yin and herself must have be in one group, and they had to cooperate. Although it is unnecessary to talk about private matters, it was still possible to talk about business.


    "Can you?" Mo Xiaoyao walked to Yue Yin''s side. The shoes without the heels made her walk a little unsteady. She accidentally stepped on something, and when she looked down, she realized that it was the pair of fluffy slippers on Yue Yin''s feet.


    The brown yo-hee monkey* shape was quite hilarious.


    Brown yo-hee monkey


    Although Yue Yin feet hadn''t been stepped on, he could still feel his shoes being stepped on. He also glanced down, then silently pulled his two feet out of his shoes, took a step back, and stood barefoot on that small stage.


    Mo Xiaoyao looked up at him, puzzled. Yue Yin didn''t care about her indifference at all. He pointed to the shoes without heels on the other side''s feet, then pointed to his own large slippers, and said, "Don''t wear those shoes of yours. If you don''t dislike it, wear mine. This is a racing competition. I don''t think there are any seat belts here. If you can''t stand still and got thrown out, it will be troublesome."


    "...Thank you." Mo Xiaoyao was silent for a few seconds, accepted the kindness of Yue Yin, and squatted down. After that, she undo the buttons and take off both of her shoes. She hesitated for a while, and finally decided not to throw it away, but just kicked the shoe to the side. After all, this was a new model that she spent several thousands on last month. Even if it was broken, it was good to have a few more glances.


    Standing barefoot on the stage, it was a bit cold. Mo Xiaoyao didn''t bother to think about whether other people''s shoes were dirty, whether there were any strange diseases, etc., so she immediately stepped forward and put both feet into the pair of cartoon slippers. Then she scurried inside and found the most suitable place to wear it properly.


    Mo Xiaoyao, who regained the temperature of the soles of her feet, moved her toes comfortably a few times, and then looked up at Yue Yin: "Are your feet cold?"


    Yue Yin shook his hair carelessly: "It''s okay, I''m used to it."


    "Speaking of which, how did you come here?" Mo Xiaoyao had no choice but to put away the cold face after receiving the favor of his slippers. Besides, she also had something she wants to ask for proof, "Outside, is it already..."


    Yue Yin picked up the drumstick, fiddled it back and forth in his hand, and looked down at his hand: "It''s the end of the world... I slept all night last night when I got home. In the morning, I just woke up and wanted to get something to eat, then I came here."


    "Sure enough..." Mo Xiaoyao felt deep in her heart that all this was so unreal. For hours, she was still working hard for this year''s year-end bonus, but as a result, not to mention the company, not even the earth was there.


    "The end of the world or something, it doesn''t really matter."


    Yue Yin threw the drumstick into the air, and after catching it, the thumb, index finger, and middle finger of the right hand naturally pinched a third of the drumstick, and the ring finger and the little finger were lightly put close together. He turned his head and continued to speak to Mo Xiaoyao.


    "For me, the dissolution of the band, the end of the world, they''re no different. It doesn''t matter if it happens, it saves me having to think about what to do in the future."


    After he finished speaking, he waved the drumsticks in his hands and tapped on the drum set in front of him. It seems to be random, but the rhythm was very strong, and it could be seen that a lot of effort has been spent on this.


    Seeing this, Mo Xiaoyao didn''t bother him, and turned to observe the situation around her. At this time, there were already people in all the cars, the difference lies in the number of people.


    On single-person vehicles such as bicycles, brooms, floating manhole covers, and pterodactyls that keep flapping their wings. After getting on, a red barrier had been raised, preventing the possibility of others to also got up.


    And the stage-like type under Mo Xiaoyao''s feet flashed blue light, obviously indicating that it was not full and could accommodate more people on board.


    Mo Xiaoyao looked around and saw that there were many vehicles of this type, such as the off-road vehicle about 120 meters in front of her left, and the electric tricycle about 50 meters behind her right, both with only two people on top.


    Of course, under them, several people had already scuffled into a ball. Just as a person was clinging to the car door to get in, his legs were pulled tightly by the people behind him and he couldn''t move. The other, trying to avoid the crowd and turning in through the car window, could not succeed at all because he was stared at by many pairs of eyes.


    Mo Xiaoyao was speechless when she saw it, and couldn''t help but whisper: "There are so many available, why are you staring at the ordinary car... It''s too unimaginative."


    Of course, she would not admit that she chose this small stage because there was no car around.


    "At least they know how to drive those cars. And if you continue to waste your time observing others, I''m afraid that after one minute, you can only stand here and be jealous of their good luck."


    Mo Xiaoyao was startled, When she turned around, she saw that at some point, a man had already entered the small stage and was standing about half a step behind her.


    His height is also about 1.8 meters, but he was half a head shorter than Yue Yin''s height. His eyes are deep, his facial features are three-dimensional, and his stature was not as thin as Yue Yin''s. Instead, it gives people a feeling of strength.


    Mo Xiaoyao felt that this man should be the legendary type who looked thin when he was dressed and beefy when he undressed. At least he looked quite eye-catching and had good fashion taste.


    The man wore a navy blue turtleneck thin sweater, with a light beige red and blue line and a large square vest outside, a pair of dark brown casual trousers, and a dark gray cashmere coat to keep warm. This achieved an aesthetic effect of both casual and comfortable.


    If Yue Yin is the boy next door, then this was obviously the president next door.


    The man''s deep eyes looked at Mo Xiaoyao from head to toe, and stayed on the pair of slippery slippers for a while. After all, he remembered the motto not to criticize women''s clothes easily, and said insincerely, "...good taste."


    Mo Xiaoyao''s face was cold: I''m not, I don''t, don''t talk nonsense.*


    *some kind of meme in China that was popular around 2017, have a meaning of being misunderstood and denying it strongly.


    The man didn''t seem to have any desire to introduce himself. He raised his left wrist and glanced at the dial, and said lightly, "There are still 1 minute and 45 seconds until the announcement starts. Who knows how to control this thing?"


    Mo Xiaoyao walked over silently and took the bass in hand, the fingertips run across the strings, and a string of pleasant notes jumps out: "The bass or guitar is in charge of direction, the drummer or keyboard player is in charge of forward, and the mic is in charge of attacking - as soon as I step on, the sound is explaining it in my mind - don''t you hear it?"


    Yue Yin also stopped at this moment and shook his head: "Nothing."


    The man crossed his arms, walked to the keyboard and stood still, tapping his fingers on it nimbly, producing a section of a certain piece of music. Then, he turned around and said, "Neither do I."


    "That''s the privilege of the first person to come up." Mo Xiaoyao came to a conclusion. After she glanced sideways at the crowd trying to get into the normal car, she turned around and raised the bass in her hand to the other two, "I declare in advance that I can only play this, still an amateur, and all I know are old songs."


    "Although this band is third-rate, it is still a band, so I can cooperate with you." The man tilted his head and smiled: "I haven''t heard too many popular songs. But if it''s symphony and familiar old songs, maybe you can try."


    Mo Xiaoyao and Yue Yin looked at each other, and even though they only met in the first 2 minutes, they understood each other''s meaning from their eyes.


    Symphony? Sorry, no.


    "Then, why don''t we try old songs?" Yue Yin didn''t want to admit defeat in the only field he was good at. He tentatively proposed many songs that he thought couldn''t get any older, but the two in front of him, one smiled and said nothing, while the other just shook his head.


    Yue Yin felt that he might have to worry about his hairline... Of course, it was more likely that his corpse would get cold first, and then he wouldn''t have to worry anymore.


    Seeing that there was only one minute left, Yue Yin''s heart slammed, and he closed his eyes and made the last proposal: "Let''s Swing the Oars, you should know this?"


    Mo Xiaoyao was relieved: "Yes. Not only this, but also Mother Ducks and Ducklings." It was hard to say why all the songs were for children, and she didn''t want to recall her painful experience when she was just learning bass.


    This was one of the reasons why she gave up halfway. Who would be happy to hold the bass, but only play the Mother Duck and the Ducklings?


    When Yue Yin heard Mo Xiaoyao said she would, he hurriedly looked at the man, for fear that something might go wrong on his side: "Da ge*, do you know? Also, my name is Yue Yin, her name is Mo Xiaoyao, what is your name?"


    *Da ge=big brother. I prefer to translate the way of calling people is as it is in pinyin.


    "Jiang Yan." The man frowned with disgust on his face, "Is there really no other choice?"


    Children''s songs seemed to have opened a door for Mo Xiaoyao, and many songs that had been sealed in memory spewed out. She lifted her eyelids and glanced at the reluctant Jiang Yan, then Mo Xiaoyao said calmly: "Two Tigers is also fine, you can choose."


    "Then Let''s Swing the Oars." Jiang Yan made a decision immediately. He now regretted getting on this pirate ship. He always feel that he would be pulled into a stranger abyss by these two people.


    If he had known this, he might as well have exploded with the earth.

 CH 3

    "The countdown has begun, please gather near the starting line!"


    "30!"


    "29!"


    "28!"


    ...


    Mo Xiaoyao found that a red barrier was slowly rising near the starting line, and the blue barrier around the small stage where she was standing was gone. In the place where people climb up, several metal fences slowly rose, and stopped at about her waist, enclosing the entire small stage.


    Yue Yin held the drumstick in a standard way. Jiang Yan also put two slender and powerful hands on the keyboard. Mo Xiaoyao pursed her lips, put the bass strap around her neck and pressed it against her black and white plaid cotton shirt.


    Tentatively, the music beat a most basic rhythm, and the three felt their feet move. The small stage began to slide to the left front at a speed of no more than 5 miles per hour.


    Yue Yin said the truth: "This speed... I''m afraid we''re finished."


    Mo Xiaoyao lowered her head and fiddled with the bass in her hand, pressing her fingers on the four thick cold strings, feeling a little dazed. She hadn''t touched this thing for about 6 years, and since her parents said that she was 18 years old and should be responsible for her future life, she never returned to that so-called home.


    Of course, she never touched the bass that had long since become her younger brother and sister''s new toy.


    After trying to play the first part of "Let''s Swing the Oars", Mo Xiaoyao found that the front of the small stage, where the microphone was, turned to the direction of her bass position.


    Turning around, the bass position was facing to the right, and the stage rotates with it. Apparently this was how the so-called bass/guitar player controls the direction.


    "15!"


    "14!"


    "13!"


    ...


    There was already a noisy roar on the track, and all those who could drive, those who couldn''t drive, those with vehicles, and those without vehicles gathered near the starting line.


    With Yue Yin and Jiang Yan''s attempts, the small stage also floated past, but it didn''t get a good position and stopped in the middle of the outer ring.


    Behind the more than 20 cars, there were a group of people walking by on their own two legs. They either cursed in resentment or cried in despair. Only a few people still try to climb into the cars that didn''t seem to be full.


    A woman was squeezed beside Mo Xiaoyao, holding a child who looked only 3 or 4 years old in her arms. At this time, the small stage floated up a certain distance because there was no restraint. It was around the position of the woman''s shoulders. She obviously couldn''t climb up by her own strength.


    "Please, help me." The woman begged, holding the child over her shoulders, hoping that the people above could help.


    The closest person was Jiang Yan, but the man just stared intently at the keyboard in front of him, not even looking at the woman. Yue Yin''s position was troublesome, he had to bypass Jiang Yan to get close to the woman, so he turned his attention to Mo Xiaoyao for help.


    Mo Xiaoyao couldn''t bear the pleading eyes of the Golden Retriever warm man* for a long time. She stepped on the large cartoon slippers given to her by Yue Yin, and hung a heavy bass (on her). With a little effort, she walked to the woman''s side and stretched out her hand to the lifted child, and then stopped after her fingertips touched an invisible barrier.


    *Golden Retriever is docile, well-behaved, and caring, often called ''ůÄÐ'' aka warm man


    The woman looked at Mo Xiaoyao in puzzlement, and then pushed the child up with all her might, her tone was full of anxious pleading: "Sister, help me, pick up the child first, the time is drawing near."


    Mo Xiaoyao half bent over and looked at the woman. The bass was still affected by the gravitational pull of the earth, which no longer existed, and swayed back and forth in front of her chest: "There is something blocking me, I can''t take this child. You can try it yourself." After speaking, she straightened up and walked back to her original position, ignoring the stunned and panic-stricken woman and her child.


    If Yue Yin hadn''t lent her the comfortable shoes first, Mo Xiaoyao would have ignored Yue Yin''s request for help, let alone approached the woman, even if she looked pitiful.


    When Mo Xiaoyao was still full of blood*, she helped a person who had nothing to do with her out of sympathy, but as a result, Mo Xiaoyao lost her most important friend and suffered from mild PTSD, the post-traumatic stress disorder.


    *passionate, full of spirit, enthusiastic


    To put it simply, after that, her interest in participating in important activities decreased significantly, she distanced herself from the relationship with unfamiliar people, and did not even look forward to her future life.


    She was fine with her former friends and colleagues, she could still communicate with others normally, and she looked no different from normal people. But outside, especially on commuting vehicles, she was completely against communicating with a stranger.


    Fortunately, the society was developing rapidly. There were many restaurants that had mobile phone ordering. Mo Xiaoyao could complete her eating schedule without talking to anyone.


    She also went to see a psychiatrist for this, and received several courses of treatment, but the results were minimal. The biggest gain was that Mo Xiaoyao realized something.


    If she was sick, then she was sick, she wouldn''t die. Wasn''t it just that she didn''t take the initiative to talk to strangers? It couldn''t even reach the level of social anxiety. It was not that she was afraid of talking to strangers, but she had no interest in talking to strangers at all. Though, as long as the other party showed her kindness first, she could accept it without any burden, and no longer put them in the range of strangers.


    Such as Yue Yin, who had let her wear his own shoes before.


    Mo Xiaoyao''s voice was not loud, but everyone heard what she said just now. Jiang Yan immediately raised his head and walked to the edge of the small stage to try, while Yueyin had a tangled face - he never thought about the possibility of Mo Xiaoyao lying to him, but he felt pity for the mother and son underneath.


    "5!"


    "4!"


    "3!"


    ...


    As the countdown approached, the woman frantically wanted to bring the child up, but no matter how much she tossed, the invisible barrier kept blocking her behavior, and anything she did was useless.


    Jiang Yan, after testing the existence of the barrier, had already walked back to his position, waiting for the final start.


    "2!"


    Jiang Yan put his hands on the keyboard.


    "1!"


    Yue Yin clenched the drumstick.


    "The game begins!"


    With a piercing whistle, the red barrier on the starting line instantly shattered into particles and dissipated in the air. All kinds of strange-shaped cars rushed forward, lest they be squeezed by someone and accidentally pushed behind.


    Mo Xiaoyao''s small stage was the one that fell behind, only a little better than the person who runs forward on two legs. She even saw that the woman with the child also ran past them and looked back. There was undisguised happiness in her eyes.


    ...Is it fortunate that the barrier blocked her, so she didn''t get on this classic snail car?


    Mo Xiaoyao didn''t know what the woman was thinking, but she knew that they should hurry up.


    Fortunately, this embarrassing situation only lasted for more than 10 seconds, and Yue Yin and Jiang Yan found a way to cooperate and move forward. The speed of the small stage suddenly accelerated, quickly outpacing those doomed to be eliminated.


    The original track was flat and wide, with some ups and downs at most. As the cooperation between the two became more and more proficient, the speed of the small stage also reached a new level.


    She estimated that it was around 120 miles per hour. Mo Xiaoyao thought while staring at the road ahead. She could be said to be the most leisurely among the three now. The flat road seems to have no boundaries. If it continued like this, she felt that this thing did not need a bass player that could control direction at all.


    "Don''t be careless." Jiang Yan said suddenly, his fingers mechanically playing the song "Let''s Swing the Oars" on the keyboard, but his eyes were fixed on the front.


    "Yeah. We should practice more." Mo Xiaoyao replied and also reminded. Her fingers skillfully fiddled with the strings, and the rhythm and melody of the keyboard and drums echoed with the bass caused people''s souls to tremble.


    Even without Jiang Yan''s reminder, Mo Xiaoyao also knew that in this game, it would not be so easy to outpace others. After she was too lazy to communicate with others, she spent almost all her spare time on watching dramas and playing stand-alone games.


    Mo Xiaoyao had enough reasons to suspect that this flat road was similar to the novice teaching level in the game, in order to allow the racers to better familiarize themselves with their cars in order to deal with the subsequent official levels.


    So she tried it just now. If she stopped after a song part, she could control the direction for about 20 seconds. But if she kept playing uninterrupted, in addition to being in control all the time, she would feel very flexible.


    Flexible enough to even play with the brakes to drift.


    Mo Xiaoyao thought about it. Anyway, these two people took the initiative to talk to her, and they were grasshoppers on a rope*. According to this relationship, they should be regarded as colleagues, not strangers.


    *A Chinese proverb. The meaning of it is that they are all on the same side and tied to each other. If one failed, the other would also fail. If the rope breaks, both grasshoppers will die.


    Yue Yin''s eyes lit up immediately: "Try it!"


    In his heart, Jiang Yan calculated the distance with the team at front and the team behind them, and agreed with this proposal (to practice).


    Then, in a strange way, the little stage began its performance practice on the flat road.


    After four minutes, Jiang Yan called off the practice, and when he looked back, he could already see that people who were good at running were already catching up. Fortunately, at this time, the three of them had already figured out the way and had a standard code for cooperation. Later, they could use it if they really needed to.


    Then, Yue Yin and Jiang Yan buried their heads in time to hurry, and once again put away some distance to the team behind them. Just as they could see the end of the line of cars ahead, a screeching sound that caused goosebumps all over suddenly came from the fog beside the road.


    Immediately afterwards, a monster about one meter tall unexpectedly sprang out from the left rear of the small stage.


    Its skin shone with a metallic sheen, and its head was triangular. They couldn''t see where the eyes were, only a mouthpart full of sharp teeth which opened and closed with a hissing sound.


    After the monster came out, it immediately locked on the small stage closest to it as the first target, and then landed on all fours, running in an extremely fast zigzag way. After a triple jump, it then caught up with Mo Xiaoyao and the others.

 CH 4

    Chapter 4: Misty Track (4)


    "Be careful!"


    Mo Xiaoyao''s pupils shrank, her hands did not dare to stop playing, and hurriedly turned the handle sideways, and only then did they escape the monster.


    Her heart was beating violently in her chest. Just like the rhythm of a musical drum, Mo Xiaoyao''s nerves were tense like the strings in her hand. Her eyes were fixed on the monster without blinking, waiting for its next attack.


    "What the hell is this!" Yue Yin couldn''t help swearing. He was standing with his back to the back (of the vehicle). If it wasn''t for Mo Xiaoyao turning around, he wouldn''t even know what happened.


    At this time, seeing the appearance of the little monster, he was so frightened that he almost threw the drumstick in his hand. If it wasn''t for Jiang Yan who was next to him and grabbed him with a quick hand, he would have really done that.


    "Concentrate!" Jiang Yan pulled the person with one hand, and the other hand was still flying up and down the keyboard like clouds and water, as if using two hands for such a simple song to him was a waste.


    "Thank you, thank you." Yue Yin calmed down and rejoined the rhythm with his neck shrunk. He didn''t dare to look back, he just hoped that the small stage he was on would get faster and faster so that they could get rid of the monster behind him.


    It was a good idea, but the reality was not.


    The little monster with metal skin is surprisingly nimble. It didn''t run on the ground like a normal four-legged mammal, but from time to time jumps into the fog on the outer edge of the track, and a pair of sharp claws penetrates deep into the mist.


    At this moment, it made a sharp hissing sound. The mist seems to have substance, and could become a temporary foothold for the little monster.


    The little monster''s claws seemed to grab something in the fog, and that became its leverage point. When the two strong hind legs also stepped on it, the next second, it jumped into the air. With a nearly 20 meter''s jump, it quickly shortened the distance between it and its target.


    "It''s catching up!" Mo Xiaoyao turned her head to look back at the little monster, but she didn''t dare to keep looking back. The road in front of her had begun to curve, and she predicted that there would be more (curves) in the future.


    She couldn''t let the small stage crash into the mist! Although she couldn''t see what was inside, her intuition told her that the consequences of going in must be miserable.


    Yue Yin hurriedly repeating the rhythm of "Let''s Swing the Oars". While thinking of something, he hurriedly asked, "Doesn''t our car have a protective cover? The woman couldn''t get on just now, did she¡ª"


    "Zla!"*


    *I''m not quite sure, but I think it''s a sound? The original hanzi was ×ÈÀ­ aka Z¨© l¨¡, somehow it means ''here pull'' but it did not make sense, so I think it represent a sound.


    A jet of blue saliva spurted out of the monster''s open mouthparts and landed on the floor of the small stage, corroding a small hole.


    Yue Yin''s face was ugly. It was originally aimed at him. Thankfully, Mo Xiaoyao happened to turn her head and use a posture that almost strain her waist* to control the small stage to change positions flexibly. If it wasn''t for her, even if Yue Yin didn''t die, he wouldn''t be much better off.


    *ÉÁÑü somehow got translated into ''flashed waist''. Scientifically it is known as acute lumbar sprain, mainly caused by excessive weight-bearing of the limbs, incorrect posture, etc.


    "We can''t just dodge, we have to fight back." Jiang Yan kept going, making up for the mistakes made by Yue Yin because of the fright.


    With Jiang Yan''s reminder, the flustered Mo Xiaoyao gradually calmed down, and immediately remembered the attack method the system told her.


    "Microphone!"


    The small stage during high-speed driving was not so stable. In addition, Mo Xiaoyao had to pay attention to control the direction and pay attention to whether the curve was coming in advance. She was almost focused on three purposes, and quickly approached the microphone in front of the stage.


    "Ooooooooo!!" She tentatively shouted into the microphone to see if it was a sonic attack as she imagined.


    The attempt worked, a circle of wind blade-like things common in anime spread out with the small stage as the center. One of them happened to be swept to the little monster who was chasing after him.


    Beneath Jiang Yan''s expectant gaze, the little monster just stumbled and slowed down a little, but there was no substantial damage. On the contrary, this painless attack irritated it even more.


    The little monster hissed loudly, with a different frequency than before. It sounded a bit like the howls used by wolves to find partners. Immediately afterwards, its speed increased again, and its claws scratched the stage several times, leaving terrifying scratches on the edges.


    According to Murphy''s Law, if there was a chance that things would go bad, no matter how small the chance, it would always happen.


    Within a few seconds after the howling of the little monster, responses came one after another from the fog. For some reason, the fog seemed to be thinner at this time, and they could see several shadow figures that were the same as the little monster.


    "Sing again!"


    Jiang Yan''s expression also changed. He got the exact time of death notice from the doctor half a year ago. He wanted to take a look at the great rivers and mountains of this world while he could still walk...


    Who knew that the earth would suddenly explode?


    Just before he died, he grabbed a piece of debris that he thought was amusing, and then entered such a place - it doesn''t matter if he died, but a tragic death? Just forget it.


    In fact, before Jiang Yan could speak, Mo Xiaoyao was already shouting in front of the microphone.


    "Oooooooooo!"


    *from here there on, there will be a bunch of power shouting from anime, games, novels, and other works. I tried editing it as best as I could, but there are many references that I don''t get, so I''m just going to cite where it''s from... Consecutively, it''s from: Saint Seiya, martial arts novel, Giant of the Universe Seaman, Dinosaur Corps Koseidon, Crayon Shinchan/World of Warcraft, Tang Bohu''s Autumn Fragrance, Mashin Hero Wataru, Game for Peace, Calabash Brothers, and Journey to the West.


    "Perish together!"


    "Flick of the finger!"


    "Give me strength, I''m Seaman!"


    "Human cannon, fire!"


    "Dynamic light wave!"


    "Give me back my fist!"


    "Dragon warrior!"


    "One ear, where to run!"


    "Goblin! Return my grandfather!"


    "I''ll call you, do you dare to agree!"


    ...


    Mo Xiaoyao shouted whatever came out of her mind, but with little effect. The wind blade was still fired according to the voice she made, shouting once and making a circle, the power was similar to before, and it did not change because of the volume of her voice.


    Jiang Yan was speechless. If it weren''t for the time crunch, he would have rushed over to pry open the girl''s brain to see what was inside.


    However...


    Looking down at his own hands, who were still subconsciously playing "Let''s Swing the Oars", Jiang Yan suddenly felt that he didn''t seem to have any position to call others naive.


    The nimble, ugly, and chasing deadly killer was confronted by the Chuunibyou* girl who shouted "Pikachu, it''s up to you!". The drummer over there began to learn to use drumsticks to hit the skulls of the enemies while beating the drums¡ªall of which seems so harmonious to the lively accompaniment of "Let''s Swing the Oars".


    *I don''t think I need to explain this, but just in case. The original words should be translated as ''second-grade syndrome'', but it''s  more commonly known as ''chuunibyou''. To quote Wikipedia, it''s a Japanese colloquial term typically used to describe early teens who have grandiose delusions, who desperately want to stand out, and who have convinced themselves that they have hidden knowledge or secret powers.


    ¡ª¡ªJiang Yan''s conscience hurt so much that he couldn''t make it up anymore.


    Yue Yin had been relieved from the initial tension, especially when he subconsciously tapped the little monster''s outstretched claws with a drumstick at a certain emergency, and successfully hurt it, it was like opening a new door. The drumstick in his hand was no longer an ordinary drumstick, but a Frostmourne* drumstick from the distant icy land.


    *The original words were ˪¹Äé³°§ÉË, literally ''frost drumstick sorrow''. Not sure, but it''s most likely a weapon from the game World of Warcraft, Frostmourne (in Chinese ˪֮°§ÉË).


    Mo Xiaoyao already felt that she was crying from the lack of oxygen, but the power of the wind blade sent out was still scum*.


    *Õ½ÎåÔü, the scum with only five combat power, a quote from Dragon Ball that''s now used as slang that just means it sucks. Badly.


    She even felt that the two high-heeled shoes she threw out just now were more lethal than the wind blade. At least when the money-losing shoes hit the little monster''s head, it staggered.


    Jiang Yan looked at the little monster chaser who had turned into three, and then looked at the more and more scratches on the back of the small stage. He suddenly had an idea and said to Mo Xiaoyao: "Try to sing a song, after all we are a band."


    Mo Xiaoyao was refreshed and felt that Jiang Yan''s words were very reasonable, and hoped that it gave her great strength, cleared her throat, and moved to the microphone to start a new round of her performance.


    Before the phone booth-like mini KTV on the street came out, she had a glorious record of 4 hours of solo singing in a small private room.


    But what should she sing now? The gentle and lyrical estimation was not applicable, so a rough one had to come. Mo Xiaoyao quickly selected the first eligible song that popped up in her mind, and shouted into the microphone again.


    "The river flows eastward!! Stars in the sky are in the north!!"


    "Say, go, let''s go. You have I have it all, wow!!"


    "See injustice on the road and roar! Just shoot wow!!"


    "When it''s time to shoot, shoot wow!!"


    "Wind and fire into Jiuzhou wow!!"*


    *Hao Han Ge ºÃºº¸è, translated to Heroes Song, made popular by Liu Huan.


    ¡­


    This time, the strength of the wind blade launched by the small stage has indeed increased, and the speed has become a bit faster. If it was a scum with combat power of 5* just now, then at least the combat power had increased to 15.


    *refers to earlier slang, a scum with only five combat power.


    Of course, it was still useless.


    There were more and more curves on the road ahead, more terrifying than the ultimate track of any racing game she had ever played. Just a few seconds ago, she was screaming "Heroes Song" while seeing with her own eyes that a car veered off the track because it was going too fast and rushed into the fog on the side of the road.


    A few seconds later, short and shrill screams came from the fog, and after two or three sounds, it stopped abruptly, perhaps because the monster strangled the throat, or maybe they lost their lives.


    No matter what it was, Mo Xiaoyao didn''t want to experience it for herself, her curiosity was not that heavy, really.


    The pedestrians who didn''t grab the car were completely invisible. She didn''t know if they were left behind because the speed was too fast, or were these eaten by little monsters rushing out of the fog as their meal. Even if they were lucky enough to survive, it would be useless. After 20 groups, they would all be wiped out. From the very beginning, those who did not grab the car were destined to be eliminated.


    Unless, this person miraculously made it to the end, and the remaining number of the car in front was less than 20. But this probability was not much different from the winning a 5 million yuan jackpot*.


    *¸úÖÐ500w. I can''t find what it actually means, but there are several articles related to winning a lottery, so that''s what I assume it means. It''s an amount around 745,000 USD.


    Mo Xiaoyao had been unable to sing for several times. She was engrossed in staring at the bend of the road in front of her, and adjusted the position of the handle in time. The strings are already being pulled randomly, and it was completely out of tune. If it was not necessary to play something so she could steer more flexibly, she would long since stop playing.


    Jiang Yan saw all of this in his eyes. He was now the most leisurely person in the entire team, and the one who had the most time to think about countermeasures.


    He analyzed the current situation very clearly. Without getting rid of the three little monsters behind them, they would never reach the finish line smoothly. Looking around, behind each car, there were little monsters chasing after them, and the number is distributed extremely fairly, no more and no less, three behind one car.


    This should be one of the conditions for passing the level. Either get rid of it or kill it. In short, it was impossible to reach the end with it. Just now, another car crashed and died. This time, instead of rushing into the fog, it was overtaken by monsters and got attacked.


    When the small stage passed them, Jiang Yan glanced at them. The people in the car were already bloody, and he couldn''t even see where their heads and limbs were. And the three little monsters just enjoy their delicious meal, not chasing other contestants.


    This made Jiang Yan more certain of his thoughts, and he preferred a once-and-for-all approach rather than just throwing off the enemy.


    "Get the microphone to my side!" Jiang Yan shouted to Mo Xiaoyao.


    Since Mo Xiaoyao couldn''t sing anymore, and her power was just that big, he might as well try it himself.


    Mo Xiaoyao heard his call. Seeing that the track in front of her was relatively stable, she then turned around and kicked the stand with the microphone plugged in towards Jiang Yan.


    Jiang Yan freed one hand to catch the microphone firmly, and then he sang the sentence "The river flows eastward", which was out of tune to the south pole.*


    *the tune just... run from north pole all the way to south pole, I guess. I can''t find the exact explanation.


    The small stage trembled for a while, and then used a kind of "fruit ninja" speed frenzy effect to both sides, firing colorful wind blades in all directions.


    The knife sees blood*, the power is MAX!


    *µ¶µ¶¼ûѪ: a Chinese idiom, a metaphor for great, ferocious, intense.

 CH 5

    Chapter 5: Misty Track (5)


    Mo Xiaoyao and Yue Yin were both stunned!


    They watched helplessly as the little monsters who seemed to be invincible and entangled to death just now were hit by the wind blade and let out a whimper of "woohoo".


    Blue blood burst from their bodies, dripping on the track, corroding small pits one by one. Only then did they know that the first spit to them was not saliva at all, but their own blood.


    Poisonous!


    For a second, the thoughts of the three were almost in sync.


    In Jiang Yan''s terrifying sonic attack of "injuring one thousand enemies, lose eight hundred", the small stage was like it just took drugs, shivering while continuing to fire wind blades in all directions.


    *injuring one thousand enemies, lose eight hundred. A Chinese proverb meaning that you win to kill a thousand enemies by sacrificing eight hundred soldiers.


    In other words, this was actually a sonic blade, right?


    Under the full firepower of the small stage, the three little monsters obviously couldn''t stand it. They didn''t seem to have the option of retreating in their minds. While whining, they continued to attack them.


    From the large and small wounds cut by the wind blade, blue blood continued to flow out, sliding across the metallic skin of their bodies, drop by drop, following the rhythm of their bodies running¡ªthen, they shook their bodies at a certain time. At that time, like a sharp arrow, the blood shot at the three people standing on the small stage.


    Fortunately, Mo Xiaoyao knew the meaning of "the trapped beasts still fight", and she didn''t dare to relax at all, for fear that the boat would capsize in the gutter and they''d die from the last bullet.


    *À§ÊÞÓ̶·, trapped beasts still fights. The original meaning of this idiom is that a beast under siege will struggle and fight to the end since they are in a desperate situation and have nothing to lose.


    Òõ¹µÀï·­´¬ËÀ, Chinese folk sayings that "the ship capsized in the gutter", which metaphors that something went wrong in the most sure place, and it is a mistake that shouldn''t have been made at all.


    Under the control of Mo Xiaoyao, the small stage showed agility that was completely inconsistent with its figure, dodging left and right, and flying up.


    Yue Yin tapped the drum with one hand, and grabbed the fence behind him with the other. He couldn''t help complaining: "Sister Xiaoyao, be steady, I''m about to vomit."


    Mo Xiaoyao replied indifferently: "You spit it out. Can it be as powerful as what they spit out?"


    Yue Yin shook his head: "I''m a human, not a monster."


    Mo Xiaoyao: "If you don''t want those things to smear your face, just hold back and don''t vomit. The speed is just faster for a while."


    Yue Yin: Okay, at this time, people with motion sickness have no human rights.


    Fortunately, Jiang Yan was very powerful. Under his terrifying sonic attack, colorful wind blades shot out one after another. No matter which corner the little monster jumped to, or even when they stretched their claws into the fog again, the wind blades were all shot. The attack could cut them accurately and made them bleed blue blood again.


    As the blood on their bodies gradually became less and less, the movements of the little monsters also slowed down, as if it was not only blood, but also energy similar to gasoline. They didn''t run as fast anymore, and even if their claws grab the edge of the stage again, they couldn''t do the same damage as before.


    Occasionally, a few drops of blood splattered on the floor of the small stage, and the damage caused was only a shallow layer. It still had a corrosive effect, but at least it was not fatal.


    When Jiang Yan sang "Shoot when it''s time to shoot-" for the fifth time, the last little monster reluctantly fell under the attack of the wind blade, whining and fell down. The three of them got rid of this seemingly endless pursuit, and they all heaved a sigh of relief.


    "Then what, let''s slow down first." The first one who couldn''t hold anymore was Yue Yin. His position was always behind everyone, and he was the one closest to the danger. He admired himself for being able to shout out without gaffe along the way. Coupled with motion sickness, he now wants to throw his drumsticks and sit on the ground to take a good rest.


    "You rest first, and I''ll replace you for a minute." Jiang Yan agreed with his suggestion. It was good to have a good degree of relaxation.


    Of course, the most important thing was that in addition to the two damaged cars before, the other cars within his sight are still struggling to deal with those little monsters. Therefore, they only had to concentrate on driving and overtaking happily.


    Yue Yin sat down, panting heavily, holding two drumsticks in his left hand and with his right hand, he fanned himself with his collar. It was obviously winter and he wore so little, but he was sweating profusely. It was so hot that he couldn''t stand it.


    Mo Xiaoyao''s pressure was suddenly relieved by not having to always avoid the surprise attacks of the little monsters behind her, but she couldn''t rest yet and had to continue to focus on the track ahead.


    Then, she wanted to swear.


    Bypassing a flying carpet that had been dyed red with blood, Mo Xiaoyao didn''t even look at the people who were fighting to the death with the little monster, and turned to ask her two teammates.


    "Do you like roller coasters?"


    "Huh?" Yue Yin who was sitting on the ground looked up blankly. He couldn''t see anything because the drum set blocked his view.


    Jiang Yan calmly raised his toes and tapped the drum kit: "It''s been a minute, get up, change shifts." He saw it too, but he couldn''t hide, so what else could he do?


    "Oh, wait for me to get up." Yue Yin didn''t count the time, and felt that he could still sit down, but he didn''t have the heart to stay still at this critical moment of life and death. With both hands on the floor behind him, Yue Yin''s legs changed slightly from a sitting position to a squatting position, and slowly stood up.


    Then, he fulfilled Mo Xiaoyao''s wish to spout a foul language: "Fuck!"


    For the three of them who had gradually adapted to high-speed driving, continuous S-shaped sharp turns are nothing. Those cars that are fighting against the little monsters that cause them to drive in a twisted way are nothing - but what about the single width huge roundabout that was visible to the naked eye?


    "Is this what you mean by roller coaster?" Yue Yin''s voice changed, trembling. It was so thin that it seemed like a special creature that came out of a certain place.


    "Otherwise?" Mo Xiaoyao glanced at him calmly and helplessly, "Don''t stop, we have to speed up, or we won''t be able to go - have you ever played a mini 4WD? When the battery and the motor didn''t work, they just fell out of the air."


    *ÃÔÄãËÄÇý³µ, mini 4WD, the mini wheels racing car toy


    Yue Yin nodded, and hurriedly prepared to start work. After hitting the first note, he gave a surprised "Huh".


    Jiang Yan just took the opportunity to rest for a while. "Let''s Swing the Oars" temporarily disappeared from the ears of the three of them, and the small stage moved forward by inertia. And because the previous speed was very fast, even if it was coasting, it didn''t slow down much, and it still maintained a speed of about 120 miles per hour.


    But according to Mo Xiaoyao''s previous 20 seconds experience, there were only a few seconds left before a complete stop.


    Seeing that Yue Yin had started to play the drums, Jiang Yan was not in a hurry to start his performance. He crossed his hands and slowly turned his wrists, moving his fingers that were stiff due to long and high-intensity playing.


    "What''s wrong?" Jiang Yan stood up and approached Yue Yin. He didn''t see any clues. The drum kit was still the same drum kit, but the drummer''s expression changed a bit.


    Also the rhythm of hitting was different.


    "I''ve entered a song game here!" Music Yin''s voice was full of ecstasy. Wasn''t it great? He had been wanting to change the song after playing "Let''s Swing the Oars" on loop for a long time.


    "We can''t see it here, you can describe it." Jiang Yan was still very calm, and he circled around Yue Yin''s drum, and soon found out that although he was the only one hitting, the small stage''s speed was the same as when the two of them played together before.


    Yue Yin kept his hands and didn''t even look at Jiang Yan. His eyes were condensed about 15 cm above the drum set, as if there was an invisible screen there, constantly refreshing the notes and positions he wanted to hit.


    "It''s just a song-playing game." Yue Yin''s drumsticks beat continuously on the drum kit, hitting a very emotional rhythm, "A cursor will come along the track, and the cursors on different tracks represent different drums. After that, as long as you hit the beat accurately, people who don¡¯t understand music can also play well.¡±


    Jiang Yan raised his eyebrows and seemed to understand. He had seen something similar to the description on his little nephew¡¯s mobile phone. Without wasting any more time, the man slowly* walked back to his position, put his hands on the keys, and pressed a note at will.


    *Original text is Ê©Ê©È», shi shi ran=go slowly; be immensely proud. This describes a person who walks slowly and calmly or complacently.


    Then, in front of him, appeared a light screen similar to what Yue Yin said. Compared with his description that lacked logic and beauty, he still felt that this intuitive display was better.


    Trying to press the keys according to the colored note given by the light screen, Jiang Yan''s eyes narrowed, and he immediately felt a completely different feeling than when he played before. After the first few notes were missed because he was unfamiliar with the game, his movements became more and more proficient, his techniques became lighter and lighter, and the speed of the small stage took another step.


    Under the control of Mo Xiaoyao, the small stage successfully turned the last S-curve. In front of it was a straight and smooth road with a length of 500 meters. At the end of the road, it was the entrance of the big roundabout.


    Obviously, these 500 meters road was where they could speed up.


    "You two, find a place to fix yourselves, we''re almost the entrance." Among the three, only Mo Xiaoyao did get any light screen to play a song game. She guessed that it was because she was the helmsman. The light screen, speed, and road could not be completely synchronized.


    "There are two groups of people in front, all of them are not followed by monsters, and the speed is very fast." Mo Xiaoyao took a few steps to the front of the railing, grabbed it tightly, and let the dark bass on her chest swayed back and forth, "I guess your light screen is related to monsters. If you can''t kill it or get rid of it, you can only keep it as it is, and you can''t accelerate it."


    "What you think is quite reasonable." Jiang Yan agreed with this speculation, "My song here is nearing the end, and it can be finished before entering the track. I estimated that it will depend on the current forward inertia and our gravitational acceleration."


    Mo Xiaoyao nodded and didn''t speak, the knuckles of her hand clutching the railing had turned white. God knows, she had always stayed away from the entertainment of roller coasters. When she was dragged by friends, she only acted as a luggage watcher below, and would never go up by herself.


    Who would have thought that for the first time in her life, she would risk her own life on a roller coaster?


    "End!" Yue Yin finished his song a second before the small stage was about to reach the entrance, then he dropped his drumsticks and quickly sat down facing the railing on the ground.


    Extending his arms to the railing in front of him, he inserted his hands into the horizontal railing in a pull-up position, and then held onto it tightly. The two legs also protruded from the gap, hanging vertically below the small stage in mid-air.


    If Yue Yin was not at the back of the small stage, in the position he was now, it was okay to be a bulbous bow* on a ship.


    *I honestly have no clue, because the original text is °ËצÓã´¬Ê×Ïñ and machine translation said it''s a "octopus head bow" but that doesn''t make sense. The closest thing I can found is a bulb shape on the bow of a ship, known as bulbous bow. I mean... It kinda looks like an octopus head?


    Jiang Yan had fixed himself on a position a long time ago. He went to the other side of the railing where no one was there, and looked forward with deep eyes. He had already done everything he could, and so did his companions. Destiny was now left to the small stage under their feet.


    Life, or death, was just a matter of ten seconds in the future.


    With a "click", the small stage maintained the previous speed and inertia, entered the orbit of the big roundabout, and rushed to the top of the highest point along the established trajectory, shouldering the fate of the three people.


    Bonus pic:


    I personally never went on a roller coaster. Look at that thing. Why would anyone, any sane, normal humans, would want to go on that thing and challenge death? (Just kidding. Go ride the roller coaster if you want to, you thrill-seekers. But still, damn, that''s heart-stopping.)

 CH 6

    Chapter 6: Misty Track (6)


    The waiting time was always long, but not this time, or in other words, fortunately not.


    If the speed was too slow, they were destined to not go very far on the track, and it would slide down the original road. If they had average speed - that was the worst, they''d stop near the top and either back off or fall off.


    Mo Xiaoyao''s small stage was very fast. The oncoming wind almost made her unable to open her eyes and her nose could hardly breathe, so she could only kept her mouth open. She had never been on a roller coaster, so she can''t compare whether the current speed was normal or abnormal, she could only make a judgment based on her feelings.


    Forget it, she had already opened her mouth. It would be a waste to not scream.


    ¡°Aaaaaaaaa!!!¡± Amidst the screams, the small stage was moving fast on the roundabout rails. Mo Xiaoyao couldn''t care about counting anymore, and condensed all the shouts of the three people by herself.


    Then, she found that the small stage had reached the top. Like Yue Yin and Jiang Yan, she was now hanging upside down.


    The postures of the three people were similar, they all put their arms through the horizontal fence in a pull-up position, and then grasp the most easily grasped rail next to their heads.


    Because they were upside down, their feet were now bent back at 90 degrees, clinging to the opposite (bottom) side of the small stage floor, using the strength of their legs to ease the pressure on their arms.


    Mo Xiaoyao tried her best to hold her waist, so that her body was attached to the railing. Her arms were slightly relaxed, so that the railing was horizontal to her two arms, and with the help of the strength of her limbs, she let herself hang like a koala on an upside down small stage.


    They had been hanging here for at least 3 seconds. Mo Xiaoyao''s heart was beating wildly, and her face became flushed because of nervousness and congestion in her brain.


    She looked at Jiang Yan, who was in a similar state to hers. Obviously, he usually didn''t like sports very much. At this time, he was hanging here, and she could see at a glance that he had put a lot of effort into it.


    So, how long would they hang? If they keep hanging like this, they might as well just let go and drop down.


    Of course, after thinking about it, Mo Xiaoyao''s arms and legs were still working very hard to fix her body, so she could still hold on.


    At this moment, a dark shadow flew in front of them, blocking the light source emanating from somewhere in this space.


    Mo Xiaoyao''s first reaction was that those little monsters were chasing after them, but after a closer look, she realized that it wasn''t them. It was a person who was grabbed by the shoulders of the pterodactyl, and stopped on the opposite side of the small stage where they were hanging upside down.


    It should be a single person vehicle. Mo Xiaoyao thought she had seen this thing in her memory, but because it was too far, she had no plans to run there at all, and she still thought about who was so lucky to get a flight mount.


    Looking at it now, Mo Xiaoyao was not envious at all. The person who was grabbed by the pterodactyl¡¯s shoulder was already dripping with blood, and his shoulder was directly penetrated by the two sharp claws of the pterodactyl. It would be better to say that he hung him on his paws like a piece of dried bacon.


    The man''s hands and feet were gone, the wound was hidden in the tattered clothes, and the blood-soaked clothes were sticking to the wound again. It was completely impossible to see how it was caused from the outside. But looking at this miserable appearance, she could guess that this person must not had been like this when he came in, he must had been injured just now.


    She just didn''t know if it was because the little monster, or the pterodactyl holding him. Mo Xiaoyao had a vague guess in her heart. She was secretly glad that the car she picked was good, at least there was no such big trap.


    The man''s facial features were distorted because of the pain, but he couldn''t say a word. He could only open his mouth to them, looking like he was asking for help, but unfortunately the three of them were too busy to take care of themselves and were powerless.


    In other words, only Yue Yin had this enthusiasm, and the other two had no intention of saving others.


    Time passed by a little bit, and about 10 seconds later, from the entrance of the track, several cars came up one after another. When everyone thought they would collide, they lined up in order. Because the big roundabout was a circular arc, the people in the cars who haven''t reached the top don''t have to hang it so hard like Mo Xiaoyao and the others.


    Mo Xiaoyao glanced at it and found that these vehicles were all ground mounts. The broomsticks and mini helicopters that she had seen before were gone.


    Why was this?


    Waiting, waiting, Mo Xiaoyao raised her neck subconsciously. Her eyes easily turned to the sky that was also covered with mist, and then she was stunned, as if she had understood something.


    If those people thought that they had grabbed the flying mount, they would have pulled it up to a height that they should not have gone to, then she was afraid that they had been swallowed up by this strange fog to the point where there was no bones* left.


    *Ôü=zh¨¡, dregs, residue, or also synonymous with slag/scummy behavior. I took liberties to change it to ''bones''.


    As for why the man held by the pterodactyl was fine, it might be because the pterodactyl has an independent life consciousness. It was likely to know what height in the sky was not safe, and it would avoid that height for its own sake.


    Others with flying mounts are all dead objects that need to be controlled by people. If they rush forward without observing their surroundings, they couldn''t even blame others.


    In her thoughts, Mo Xiaoyao still stared blankly at the sky, and when she regained her senses, she found that the mists began to move again, and it was faintly started to disperse. She was stunned, and hurriedly looked away, and turned to look at her partner Jiang Yan.


    Jiang Yan has also been observing for a long time. At this time, he just turned his eyes to Mo Xiaoyao. The two eyes met each other suddenly, both of them were stunned for a while. After looked away and moved back, she met his eyes again.


    Just when Jiang Yan wanted to say something, the man grasped by the pterodactyl suddenly struggled violently. His face was full of horror, and in addition to despair, there was deep fear and resentment in his eyes.


    In the next second, the pterodactyl lowered its long pointed mouth and engulfed the man''s head in one bite. With a crisp "click" sound, its prey became a creature with no hands, no feet, and no head.


    Looking up, the pterodactyl''s sharp mouth opened and closed a few times, as if it was randomly chewing the head that had just been swallowed by it.


    Everyone silently watched the terrifying scene in front of them, covering their mouths and closing their eyes timidly, but more people stared there without blinking. They were guarding, because if the pterodactyl wasn''t full enough, it would attack on their own side.


    Under the watchful eyes of people, the pterodactyl raised the throat on its neck and slid down, swallowing its food. Then, it flapped its wings and made a few high-pitched screeching sounds, with its unfinished spoils still hanging from its claws, and fluttered in the direction from which it came.


    After the back of the pterodactyl was nowhere to be seen, the racers hanging on the big roundabout breathed a sigh of relief. Just when they were speechless and wanted to do something to ease their tension, a burst of machinery sound suddenly came from under their feet.


    "One minute is up, the first group will be released."


    As soon as the voice fell, the small stage that was at the front moved, and quickly slid down along the second half of the track at a speed that violated the common sense of physics.


    This speed was faster than the climb before. With the wind blowing, Mo Xiaoyao can''t open her eyes at all. She let go of a hand holding the railing and hugged the bass again, but found that the small stage was very unstable now and she couldn''t get up at all.


    Just when she thought about whether to wait for stability before speaking, Jiang Yan''s urgent and serious roar suddenly came from the side: "9 o''clock, hurry up!"


    Without hesitation, Mo Xiaoyao subconsciously followed Jiang Yan''s words and turned the bass''s position towards 9 o''clock.


    "7 o''clock!"


    "12 o''clock!"


    "8 o''clock!"


    "9 o''clock!"


    "1 o''clock!"


    Jiang Yan''s instructions came one after another and she adjusted the direction coordinatingly. With the cooperation of Jiang Yan''s piano playing, the small stage made many beautiful drifting and tail flicks in a row.


    Mo Xiaoyao seriously thought that now that the speed of the small stage had reached the speed of the intercity high-speed rail. She was just an ordinary person and couldn''t really hold on*.


    *the original text is the English word ''hold''. "hold²»×¡" apparently means you can''t control the situation and don''t have any strength left, the hold coming from the English phrase ''hold on''. It''s an internet term in China.


    As for Yue Yin? That guy has already vomited into the dark. It was fine as long as he could hold on to the railing and didn''t throw himself out, he wouldn''t hold everyone back.


    Fortunately, this situation did not last long. According to Jiang Yan later, it was 30 seconds at most, but in Mo Xiaoyao''s view, it was as long as 30 minutes.


    On the way, they also saw a wreckage at the corner. It should be one of the two groups in front, but they could not see a trace of the other group. They didn''t know whether they had reached the end or could not control it and rushed into the mist.


    The speed of the small stage slowly dropped, and the end of the track was already in sight. On the ground at most 500 meters away from them, there were black and white grid signs commonly seen on racing tracks. A very thin line of colored light was pulled straight by the chirping red gnomes on the left and right, just waiting for someone to rush over from here to win the championship.


    "Do we have brakes?" Mo Xiaoyao suddenly asked this question, "I think it''s best not to rush over."


    Jiang Yan was a little surprised by Mo Xiaoyao''s observation, but he didn''t say much. He just stopped playing and nodded in agreement: "There is no brake, we just have to stop accelerating."


    The car behind Mo Xiaoyao and the others passed them like a whirlwind, and (one of its driver) left a mockery that would madden any competitor.


    However, the three people on the small stage ignored him. Mo Xiaoyao had an indifferent expression on her face and didn''t even look at him. Jiang Yan sneered with a sneer on his lips, but waved to the man in a good mood.


    As for Yue Yin... well, he still vomitted his stomach out, he hadn''t recovered from the dizziness.


    The car was a multi-person car, but now there were only two people sitting in the front and co-pilots, a man and a woman, who say a few words from time to time, looking like a couple in love.


    At this time, the two were only a few dozen meters away from the finish line that symbolized the championship, and the front was wide open without any obstacles. The man turned his head and said something to the woman, which attracted a charming smile from the woman, brought their lips together, and kissed the man''s outstretched mouth.


    Then, a red light burst, and two headless corpses crossed the finish line in their cars. Their heads were cut off by ribbons as sharp as nanowires, and the two heads remained in a kissing position before falling to the ground.


    In the dozens of seconds after the accident, the small stage pressed half of the black and white grid signs on the ground at an extremely slow speed, and stopped right in front of the very thin colored line.


    At this time, Mo Xiaoyao was still standing at the front. She turned her head to confirm with Jiang Yan, then reached out and touched the line lightly with her fingertips.


    Immediately, a burst of dizziness struck.


    When she regained consciousness again, she found herself standing on a pier with a gangway in front of her, and the place where the gangway led was a huge luxury cruise ship with 13 floors.


    A man in the uniform of the first mate stood by the gangway and bowed to her in a salute, and as he spoke, something that looked like the tentacles on the face of an octopus swayed: "Ma''am, please show your ticket."


    Only then did Mo Xiaoyao realize that there was something in her right hand. She opened her hand and looked at it. It turned out to be a card made of unknown material. It was black, and something was written in blood red font:


    Name: Mo Xiaoyao


    Cabin: 8019 on the 8th floor, sea view


    The entire crew wish you a happy life aboard Doomsday Cruise.


    Happy life? Mo Xiaoyao thought, impossible.


    T/N: And we finally arrive at the synopsis!

 CH 7

    Chapter 7: Cruise Ship First Boarding (1)


    Mo Xiaoyao thought that the octopus-faced first mate would take away the ticket, but the other party just looked at it, swept it on it with something similar to a ticket checker, and gave it back to her.


    The octopus-faced first mate''s Mandarin words were eloquent: "Welcome to the Doomsday Cruise. Please board the ship, and I wish you a pleasant journey."


    Mo Xiaoyao swayed between active inquiries and stranger phobia. In the end, under the silent watch of the octopus-faced shipmate, she climbed the gangway step by step. They''ll be fine for sure, all three won at the same time, and there''s no reason why she should be on the ship alone.


    The gangway was wooden and connected the pier to the cruise ship, and the road beneath it sloped slightly downwards, leading to the first level of the cruise ship. Every time Mo Xiaoyao took a step, she felt that her body was not the same as before. It was a very subtle change, but she could still detect it.


    Halfway through, Mo Xiaoyao stopped, looked down at her open palm thoughtfully, tried to make a fist, and slammed the air in front of her with force.


    Her punching speed has become faster. Compared with the fluffy punches and kicks* before, her current state was as if she had practiced boxing for a long time, at least.


    *»¨È­ÐåÍÈ (hu¨¡ qu¨¢n xi¨´ tu¨«), literally flower fist and embroidered legs, is a metaphors only do things that look good on the surface and are actually useless. Took a bit of liberties here.


    Withdrawing her fist, Mo Xiaoyao tried her leg again, and she easily kicked to a height that she had never experienced before. For someone like her who did not stretch her muscles or legs, this was nothing short of a miracle.


    It seems that after the dungeon, her physical condition had improved, but it could only be stimulated by walking on this gangway. Mo Xiaoyao squinted her eyes, and suddenly understood why she was the only one on the pier - this was probably when the settlement was done separately, and everyone had a separate space to prevent each other from snooping.


    After she figured it out, the rest of the way was better. Mo Xiaoyao continued to move forward calmly. When she finally left the gangway and stood on the cruise ship, her physical fitness had been comprehensively strengthened, and at the same time, a large amount of information has been added to her mind.


    She was not in a hurry to organize the things in her mind, she wouldn''t lose it, and it was not suitable to be done in public. Mo Xiaoyao turned back, the gangway behind her was gone, and the hatch was slowly closing. As the ship moved, the pier covered in mist gradually disappeared from her field of vision.


    Looking back, the originally empty cruise ship suddenly became lively, and NPC crew members in uniforms of different colors could be seen everywhere.


    Why could it be seen that they were NPC crew members? Of course it''s because they all have an octopus face.


    Before Mo Xiaoyao could observe the place carefully, she heard a familiar voice greeting her, and following the voice, her heart calmed down inexplicably.


    It was Yue Yin and Jiang Yan, standing side by side, waving to her.


    The smile automatically climbed onto her face, and from the inside out, Mo Xiaoyao pulled the slippers that didn''t fit her feet and ran towards them.


    "It''s so slow." Jiang Yan said in disgust, but his expression was different. Obviously, he was very happy that the three of them could meet safely.


    Mo Xiaoyao admitted frankly: "Well, I tested something on the road."


    Yue Yin was very excited. The discomfort caused by vomiting just now disappeared, and the whole person was as excited as a golden monkey with a whole bunch of bananas.


    "Sister Xiaoyao, let me tell you, I got it¡ªOw! Why are you stepping on me!"


    Mo Xiaoyao silently retracted her foot and looked at Yue Yin seriously: "Don''t say it here. It''s better to not say it at all. This was not the world we used to be, not all secrets have to be shared with friends."


    Yue Yin was stunned, not quite understanding what Mo Xiaoyao meant, but Jiang Yan patted him on the shoulder and spoke earnestly: "You should be more cautious."


    "No, I said¡ª"


    Before Yue Yin could finish speaking, 5 people who were dressed differently from the NPC crew walked over to them. The leader was a middle-aged man with a good figure and appearance. At least he was neither half bald nor beer belly. The facial features and expressions on the face also did not look greasy.


    There were three men and one woman behind him. There was nothing special about it. They belonged to the type of people who would not be noticed when they were thrown in the crowd. The clothes of the four of them are relatively similar, a bit like the kind of formal clothes worn by office workers.


    "The three are new, right?" The middle-aged man stopped near them. It was the kind of distance that would neither make the other party feel squeezed nor feel too alienated. It was obvious that he was an experienced negotiator in the business field. He inadvertently could brush up the other party''s favorability, "My surname is Su, Su Wanfu, I came to this ship a few days earlier than everyone. If you don''t mind, I will act as a tour guide and take you to the lobby to meet the shipmates?"


    Yue Yin intuitively looked at Jiang Yan, Jiang Yan did not speak and was thinking, Mo Xiaoyao... Mo Xiaoyao had a phobia of strangers and refused to speak.


    Su Wanfu glanced at them and immediately came to the conclusion that Jiang Yan was in charge of the three, so he invited him again: "Besides you, there are 1,953 people on board, and this cruise ship has a capacity of 2,500. No one knows how long it will take for the new crew to arrive, everyone will gather together to exchange information, why don''t you come and have a look?"


    This time, Jiang Yan put a smile on his face, and nodded to Su Wanfu: "Hello, we meet for the first time, I am Jiang Yan. Please, Mr. Su, lead the way."


    He didn''t mean to introduce Yue Yin and Mo Xiaoyao, and Su Wanfu didn''t ask. He probably regarded them just like the four people behind him, just followers, and they didn''t matter.


    Didn''t the attendants need names? In some people''s eyes, yes.


    Since someone had done the clich¨¦ chatting and greeting, Mo Xiaoyao was so happy that she didn''t need to think about it. She could not walk fast in those slippers, so she wanted to give it back to Yue Yin. She would also feel more comfortable barefoot.


    Yue Yin scratched his head, thinking that Mo Xiaoyao was being polite to him: "No, you can wear it, I''m not cold, you can see that the floor is full of carpets, it''s quite warm."


    Mo Xiaoyao silently put both feet from the ground. She stretched out his slippers, stepped on the soft and warm carpet, and said to Yue Yin with great earnestness, "I think so too. Besides, your shoes are big and my feet are small, so I''d better not wear them."


    "Oh... Oh!" Only then did Yue Yin suddenly realize, and put on his shoes a little embarrassedly, then felt Mo Xiaoyao touched his arm, looked sideways, and received a very sincere thanks.


    "Thank you." Mo Xiaoyao sincerely thanked Yue Yin. There are really not many bad people like him this year. Rare species must be protected, so she stopped Yue Yin from blurting out the words just now, even if it would be very beneficial to her.


    "Small things, small things, you are too polite, Miss Xiaoyao." Yue Yin was very embarrassed, and he said to her, "I didn''t take a closer look just now, this place is quite beautiful."


    Mo Xiaoyao: ... Except for the decorations in the hall that was obviously reserved for queuing up and getting on and off the boat, the rest are all cabins. What''s so beautiful about it?


    Yue Yin was quite sad. The first cruise in his life was this kind of doomsday cruise. But since he didn''t say it, Mo Xiaoyao, as a bystander, could only see through it but not speak.


    It was a beautiful virtue that every survivor should possess.


    The layout of the cruise ship was not very complicated, and it was obvious that passengers do not want to travel in circles in the labyrinth with large and small bags. So soon, under the leadership of Su Wanfu, they successfully boarded the elevator and went straight to the theater that can accommodate 2,500 people at the same time in the atrium on the third floor.


    "This cruise ship is similar to an ordinary cruise ship. There are activities from the third floor, duty-free shops, cafeterias, gyms, etc., everything. After you go back to your room, you will see a brochure on it. It''s all about the introduction of the facilities on the cruise ship, so I won''t say more."


    The first time Mo Xiaoyao stepped into the theater, she was attracted by the huge sea map hanging on the stage curtain, and she ignored Su Wanfu. After hearing the chatter about the introduction, she walked straight over, stopped about 3 meters away from the chart, and looked up slightly.


    The entire sea map is about 10 meters long and 8 meters wide. Most of the territory was covered by the familiar fog, and it was difficult to see what was there. Its lower left and upper right corners were the only two clearly visible places on the chart.


    There was a red dot in the upper right corner, next to it was marked [Ultimate Paradise], which looks like the end of the journey of this doomsday cruise ship.


    The lower left corner was the starting point of the journey. A dot marked with [Earth] has turned off the light and turned into a black symbol of the past.


    After the earth was a red dot with the word [supply station] written, and there are 2 other [Supply Station] of the same type, listed at the back at the same distance. And after the three [Supply Station], there was a red square with the words [Sightseeing Station] written on it, which looks so different.


    Between [Earth] and the first [Supply Station], there was a scaled-down image of a doomsday cruise ship dangling on the chart. Where it passes, a gray track composed of line segments was pulled out, and it seemed to be heading towards the first [Supply Station].


    Here Su Wanfu had also mentioned this chart: "...The boat was driven by entering the dungeon, you know the dungeon? I heard that people will die there. But whether to enter or not, you will still be alive. The name of the end point looked pretty good, but who knows how long it will take us to get there? This chart is full of fog, and you can''t move it with your hands. Why don''t you just stay on the boat. There''s food and drink on it, and you don''t need money, enough for the rest of our lives."


    Jiang Yan looked at the chart and asked Su Wanfu calmly: "What you said is everyone''s idea?"


    "Yeah, everyone has studied it, it is better to hang out on the boat than to enter the dungeon where you might die. It''s better to eat and wait to die." Su Wanfu turned around and pointed to the outside of the theater, "There are four restaurants on this ship, except for the most upscale one, you can''t enter, the rest are all eaten casually - we have all eaten here for 5 days, from the most high-end restaurant. From the first 1,500 people, to more than 1,900 people now, there has never been a shortage of food."


    Jiang Yan smiled and didn''t answer. What was the supply station on the chart for? Was it there just because it looked good?


    But he wouldn''t say it. Some people were like this. When the facts didn''t hit them and they didn''t see the interests of their own survival, they were willing to be blind.


    Since they couldn''t get anything else useful from them, Jiang Yan wanted to say goodbye. As a former terminally ill patient, his time was precious, every minute and every second.


    Even if his body had recovered, he had regained his health, and he had a lot of time to squander, he didn''t want to waste it on such a boring person.

 CH 8

    Chapter 8: Cruise Ship First Boarding (2)


    Su Wanfu didn''t keep them. He just suggested that they went to have a good rest, and then met in this mini-theater at 7 o''clock in the evening, before leaving with a smile on his face with his men.


    Yue Yin said with emotion: "This Su Wanfu is quite enthusiastic, it would be great if everyone else was like him."


    Jiang Yan patted his shoulder and walked out: "I don''t know if Su Wanfu is really enthusiastic, but I know you''re really stupid."


    "Huh?" Yue Yin turned to look at Mo Xiaoyao, hoping she could help explain.


    Out of the spirit of caring for rare animals*, Mo Xiaoyao kindly explained to him: "Not everyone is as kind as you. This Su Wanfu doesn''t know us at all, how did he know that we got on the boat at that time? If I know, how did you know? If you don''t know, he doesn''t look like we met by chance."


    *since this kind of na?ve good guys are really rare, like an extinct animal.


    Yue Yin thought for a while, but still didn''t understand. Because of his trust in his teammates who had a life and death friendship together with him, he decided to follow Jiang Yan and Mo Xiaoyao to leave.


    "Then what are we going to do now?" Yue Yin asked, reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, and took out a black card, "I''m 8003 on the 8th floor, sea view room."


    Jiang Yan took out the pocket of his coat. Yue Yin also took out his card, and said concisely: "8027 on the 8th floor."


    Yue Yin looked at Mo Xiaoyao, saw that the latter had also taken out her card, and leaned over and read: "8019 on the 8th floor - great, the three of us are on the same floor."


    "Let''s go then." Jiang Yan walked out of the small theater, turned around, and saw the sightseeing elevator near the atrium bar, "Go back first to find out what clues are in the room, you can''t just listen to that surname Su''s one-sided words."


    Mo Xiaoyao had no objection, and Yue Yin had no objection. After the three of them left the small theater, they walked along the red carpet on the ground and walked to the observation elevator. Jiang Yan pressed the up button and waited for the elevator. arrival.


    Behind them, separated by an aisle, was a slightly wider and small waiting hall. There are four elevators on the left and right sides, which are used by guests to prevent the inconvenience of getting up and down due to the large number of people.


    Now was not the peak period of what was called an elevator. After a few seconds, the sightseeing elevator stopped on the third floor, and the door opened with a "ding dong" to welcome Mo Xiaoyao and the others.


    The appearance of the elevator was no different from the ones that Mo Xiaoyao saw in the shopping mall, except that it was larger, and the entrance was narrower, in the shape of a narrow-mouthed big-bellied bottle*. There are only the three of them in this elevator now. Naturally, they all chose the side close to the glass, waiting to ascend while watching the outside.


    *here is a random image of a "narrow-mouthed big-bellied bottle" from Taobao:


    The glass side of the sightseeing elevator was against an atrium area with a bar, which was quite spacious and can accommodate more than 100 people on the dance floor at the same time. The tones were not dull either. Compared with the horror of the doomsday cruise ship in the imagination, it was more like an ordinary cruise ship, with lanterns and colorful decorations.


    The NPC bartender stood at the bar and provided services to customers from time to time. If she ignored his octopus face, Mo Xiaoyao would almost think that she was actually on an ordinary cruise ship.


    It took 20 seconds to go from layer 3 to layer 8, with an average of 4 seconds per layer. The elevator door opened, and Mo Xiaoyao followed the others out. Looking around, she found that this floor seemed to be only for cabin, and there was no entertainment venue.


    On both sides of the elevator door, there was a connecting corridor each, and on the opposite side of the elevator door, there was also a connecting corridor passing through a waiting room with an area of about 30 square meters.


    The three of them walked in three different directions in tacit understanding, looking for the location of their room number.


    The side Mo Xiaoyao chose had a sign with 8081-8120 written on it. She turned her head to look at Jiang Yan on the other side of her corridor, and the other party shook his head.


    "8121-8160." Jiang Yan said, stepping on the carpet under his feet and walking towards the opposite corridor, "It seems that there were 160 rooms on this floor."


    Mo Xiaoyao did some calculations in her own mind, and felt that it was a bit strange. When she wanted to say that the number of cabins might not match the number of people on board, they heard Yue Yin call them from the opposite side.


    "8001-8040, this way." After Yue Yin finished speaking, he walked in first.


    The corridor was very quiet, no other guests came out, and there was no way to hear the movement in the room through the cabin door, so there was no way to confirm whether they were empty or if there were people.


    "This is me." Jiang Yan stopped after walking a few steps. The room numbers were ordered from the bow to the stern in odd and even numbers. 8040 was the first room in the corridor. To reach his 8027 room, they just needed to take a few more steps inside.


    Mo Xiaoyao nodded, her room was 8019, and she had to go a few steps further: "See you at 7." She said, and walked past the cabin of 8027.


    The other two continued to walk forward on the soft carpet. Yue Yin''s fingers slid all the way over the light yellow wallpaper on the wall, and accompanied Mo Xiaoyao to the outside of her room: "Hey, you two only have to walk this far, then I have to continue to go there (alone)."


    Mo Xiaoyao ignored Yue Yin''s complaint, opened the door with the boat card, then walked in, and left a sentence: "See you at 7 o''clock" to Yue Yin, and closed the door under the reluctance in the other party''s eyes.


    After being alone in a room, Mo Xiaoyao was really relieved, and the whole person relaxed.


    She was in a sea-view room with a square window with rounded corners and sky blue curtains hanging on both sides. It couldn''t be opened, and there was no balcony, but at least it was much better than the inner stateroom where the light was turned off.


    The room was not big, the initial estimate is about 20 square meters, a large bed of about 1.5x2m is under the window, covered with white sheets and a colorful striped bed towel.


    Next to the bed was a small bedside table with a regular lamp standing on it. On the side of the bedside table was a blue two-seater sofa, and in front of the sofa is a mini coffee table, on which was placed a white porcelain teapot, two white porcelain tea bowls, and a welcoming glass of orange juice.


    Opposite the sofa, there was a corner-style cabinet that makes perfect use of the corner space in the cabin.


    There was a TV on the cabinet, and some remote control and other messy things. Mo Xiaoyao walked over and opened the drawer to take a look. It was empty inside. After opening the bottom door, she found a small safe, which could be set with a password or swiped with a ship card.


    Behind the corner part was the washroom, which was on the left-hand side after entering the door. It''s quite small, but the sink, shower and bath amenities, towels, slippers, etc. were all complete.


    On the right-hand side after entering the door, there was a wardrobe with a sliding door. After opening, an orange light will light up at the top of the wardrobe, which made it convenient for guests to choose clothes.


    Of course, it was also empty now.


    In the position between the wardrobe and the sofa, there was a table about 80 centimeters long, on which are placed a copy of "Instructions for Tourists" and a copy of "Introduction to Cruise Ships", which was what Mo Xiaoyao needs most now.


    Picking up both pamphlets, Mo Xiaoyao fell directly on the sofa, and started to read slowly from "Introduction to Cruise Ships".


    The booklet is very thin, including the front and back covers, there are only 5 pages in total. A lot of official welcome words are written on it, and then the basic facilities and layout of the cruise ship are introduced, and the opening time and precautions of various facilities were written there.


    In short, from this cruise ship, there was hardly any remarks about doomsday. If you get it on the earth before the explosion, it can be used as a normal brochure and put it on the newspaper racks of major travel agencies for interested tourists to take.


    After silently memorizing the plan of the cruise ship and the opening hours of the facilities, Mo Xiaoyao thought about it, and instead of throwing the booklet into the trash can beside the coffee table like what she initially plan, she threw it back on the table. Let''s keep it for now, in case there was a mistake or she couldn''t remember, at least there would be a reference.


    Then she opened that "Guide to Visitors" and saw what she really wanted to see from it.


    Notes for tourists


    1. Tourists must abide by the rules of the cruise ship and are not allowed to disembark at will. Violators will be directly obliterated.


    2. Tourists can use the cafeteria for free, as well as general facilities including ordinary duty-free shops, gyms, swimming pools, libraries, cinemas, casinos, mini-theaters, hospitals, etc.


    3. Special supplies and facilities will be prompted before use, and the charges are open and transparent, so customers do not need to worry about being deceived.


    4. The room of tourists is of absolute security level, and no one can hurt the owner of the room in the room. To this end, each visitor needs to pay a daily service fee, which varies according to the class of the cabin. The first three days for new passengers to board the ship is a special offer period where service charges are waived.


    5. For the inner cabin, 1 gold per person per day, 3 gold for sea view room, 5 gold for balcony room, and 10 gold for suite. Gold coins can be obtained by completing daily bounty tasks, which can be accumulated and exchanged, and will not be cleared except for death.


    6. Every 15 days, a Game Today will appear in the room, which will introduce at least 5 games. Each game has a limit on the number of people, and tourists sign up voluntarily, but the game will only start if the minimum number of people is met. If the minimum number is not met, the game won''t start and will be restarted in the next issue of Game Today.


    7. The cruise ship will continue to move forward only if each game is activated, that is, "all games meet the minimum number of registrations", otherwise the ship will continue to drift in the sea of fog and never dock.


    8. Every once in a while, the cruise ship will stop at the sightseeing station. At that time, all tourists must obey the arrangement of the tour guide and disembark for sightseeing. Unless there is an exemption card issued by a doctor, tourists who refuse to disembark over time will be directly obliterated.


    9. If you have any questions about the above, please consult the information desk in the atrium on the 3rd floor.


    10. Wish you all a pleasant journey and arrive at the end of the cruise as soon as possible.


    Mo Xiaoyao lay on her back on the sofa, holding the "Instructions for Tourists" in one hand and behind her head in the other, frowning in thought.


    Obviously, some things here were not clearly written, such as this daily reward task for gold coins, what time is it, and where is it awarded? Is it a random choice, or is it designated by NPC? Is there any danger, what type? This was not written on it, it seemed that they need to go to the information desk to find NPCs, or explore on their own.


    Also, this Game Today was also very suspicious, and the fact that they were not forced to enter the dungeon itself was not normal during doomsday like this.


    *I put Game Today on italic because it is originally written in English.


    There was no free lunch in the world, and Mo Xiaoyao felt that it was impossible for this cruise ship life to be like what Su Wanfu said, that you can just eat and wait for death, that you can spend time safely.


    In short, this matter must be mentioned with Jiang Yan and Yue Yin, and it was best if they could discuss a solution.


    But now... Mo Xiaoyao looked at the pair of socks with yellow stripes and a bear pattern on her feet, and decided to go to the duty-free shop that wouldn''t cost money to find a pair of suitable shoes.

 CH 9

    Chapter 9: Cruise Ship First Boarding (3)


    She brought the room card, pushed open the door and went out, then the door automatically lock with a "click" behind her. Mo Xiaoyao walked in the quiet corridor wearing socks, hesitated when passing Jiang Yan''s room, and finally decided to not bother.


    When she came to the elevator, Mo Xiaoyao saw that the sightseeing elevator that had brought them up was still there. She didn''t know if someone had come out from there again, or if no one called the elevator at all.


    Mo Xiaoyao walked over and pressed the down button, then the elevator door opened. She took a step forward and went in to the door, poked the button with the number "4" with her index finger, and stood by the door.


    She remembered that the ordinary duty-free shop was in the atrium on the 4th floor. In addition to this, there was the indoor swimming pool at the bow and the B restaurant at the stern.


    The Doomsday Cruise has 13 floors and 1,111 cabins, including regular cabins, ocean view rooms, balcony rooms and suites. The room was allocated by contribution, and now Mo Xiaoyao doesn''t know what it was, guessing it might be related to the copy on Game Today.


    In addition to the basic cabins, there are a total of 4 formal dining rooms at the bow and stern of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th floors. In addition, there is an outdoor BBQ at the bow of the 7th floor, and there is a special duty-free shop at the stern of the 7th floor, which requires tourists to spend gold coins.


    The ordinary duty-free shop in the atrium on the 4th floor does not require money, and it is also the place where Mo Xiaoyao is going to get herself an outfit. Considering that she will participate in similar dungeons in the future, she wants to find herself a pair of comfortable sneakers.


    After getting off the sightseeing elevator, Mo Xiaoyao walked along the corridor on the left, and turned left at the corner. As far as she could see, there were open stores one by one, and each store was guarded by NPC crew members. The store clerks looked different from those with octopus faces.


    They might be female, Mo Xiaoyao guessed. After all, although their skin is also that kind of weird gray-blue, at least their faces don''t have their arms and legs twisting randomly.


    Well, their arms and feet were changed to their hair, and every now and then a small section poked out of their uniform red hats, and then, under the polite smiles of the NPC crew, they were casually stuffed back in.


    She had no interest in sizzling squid in her life.


    The store was brightly lit, and the goods were placed in a random pattern on the shelves and counters. Mo Xiaoyao glanced at it and saw that many of the store signs were written on internationally renowned luxury brands. Everything from cosmetics to clothing and bags.


    Mo Xiaoyao was not very sensitive to fashion. She couldn''t tell whether the goods inside were the latest of the season, and she was not very interested in them.


    When a crisis comes, can carrying an expensive bag save your life? Might as well get a canvas backpack, at least you can hold two more bottles of water.


    When passing by a perfume shop, Mo Xiaoyao stopped for a while. In addition to the NPC crew members, there was also a woman who clearly belonged to the category of human beings.


    That woman had a beautiful face and an enchanting figure. Every move of her hand and every move she made showed an elegance that Mo Xiaoyao could never learn in this life.


    At this time, the woman was sniffing the smell on her wrist. She should have tried a certain bottle of perfume before. She accidentally raised her head to see Mo Xiaoyao, smiled politely, and then looked down at the other perfumes on the shelf.


    So lovely.


    This was the first thought that popped into Mo Xiaoyao''s mind after the woman laughed. Even someone like her who had a problem talking to strangers couldn''t help but want to talk to her, not to mention those men.


    But a (socially anxious) patient was a patient after all, and Mo Xiaoyao just froze for a few seconds before walking forward until she came to a sports brand store.


    After choosing two pairs of comfortable sneakers for herself, Mo Xiaoyao went to the shelf and picked out a few T-shirts and casual pants at random. She had to have a few replacements (to change) anyway, didn''t she? Oh, she had to look for an underwear store for a while, otherwise it would be embarrassing.


    As for feminine hygiene products, she didn''t even think about it. The appendix of "Instructions for Tourists" stated that the woman''s closest relative* would not be seen again unless the cruise ship arrived at the destination.


    *women''s closest relative, you know, menstruation


    In other words, the women on board have lost their ability to ovulate and will have no more children.


    Mo Xiaoyao doesn''t know what other people think, and she doesn''t care about it. Since she has such traumatic sequelae, she had never planned to harm others in her life.


    But in this way, not having children becomes force majeure, a compulsion. She hoped the spirits of parents in heaven could forgive her.


    Even while thinking wildly, Mo Xiaoyao didn''t delay the speed of picking up the clothes. After picking out a few more pleasing clothes, plus a few sports vests, she carried the clothes to the front of the cashier, and put everything on the counter.


    Miss Squidhead reached out to her. Mo Xiaoyao reacted, and then remembered the procedure for purchasing items in the introduction, reached into her pocket, took out the room card and handed it to the NPC. After being tested by the other party, her hands were directly on her chest. There was a cross in front of it, indicating that it cannot be used.


    Seeing Mo Xiaoyao''s confused look, the NPC Squidhead Lady didn''t speak. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. Soon, an octopus-faced crew member came outside the store.


    "Ma''am, do you need help?" The octopus-faced crew bowed to Mo Xiaoyao first, then took the boat card from Miss Squidhead, glanced at it, and said, "Your boat card has not been identified yet. Binding, please bind it before using it on the ship."


    Mo Xiaoyao pursed her lips and remembered that it was mentioned in the introduction of the cruise ship, but she thought that it would be bound after she opened the room, so she didn''t read more. Now, looking at the meaning, there should be other procedures.


    The octopus-faced crew member asked, "Do you need me to take you to bind the card?"


    Mo Xiaoyao nodded, then turned her head to look at the clothes she had selected on the counter.


    The Squidhead clerk took out a blue plastic basket commonly found in supermarkets from under the cashier, swept everything on the counter, and raised her scaly thumb, expressing that she would keep it for Mo Xiaoyao.


    Mo Xiaoyao was very satisfied with this way of communication, and felt that in this way, shopping would not be a problem in the future. Then she happily followed the octopus-faced crew to a machine on the other side of the atrium, directly opposite the glass of the observation ladder.


    According to the instructions on the machine, Mo Xiaoyao first pressed her left hand on the table, took back the black boat card with her right hand from the octopus-faced crew member, and swiped hard on the card slot of the machine, and then felt that there was something pressing on her left palm. Then, looking at the right hand, the black ship card has disappeared.


    The words "operation completed" flashed on the screen of the machine. Mo Xiaoyao withdrew her left hand and stretched out her palm to look at it. She found that there was a small square card miniature at the bottom of the palm near the tiger''s mouth*.


    *Tiger''s mouth is an acupuncture point which is located on the fleshy mound between the thumb and first finger.


    Mo Xiaoyao thought about it, and the card suddenly appeared in the palm of her left hand. After thinking about it again, it disappeared out of thin air. After tossing it back and forth a few times, Mo Xiaoyao felt that this method was good. The card would not be lost when she carried it with her, so she was not afraid that someone would steal or directly snatch the room card.


    When Mo Xiaoyao was testing the card, the octopus-faced crew kept his hands folded in front of him and waited quietly, without the slightest impatience. When Mo Xiaoyao stopped tossing and turned to look up at him, he bowed slightly and spoke again.


    "Your room card has been bound successfully, ma''am, as long as you show your room card when entering or at checkout, you can fully use the facilities of this cruise ship. Do you have any other needs? If not, I will stop here, I wish you a good time on the cruise."


    Mo Xiaoyao waved her hand and watched the octopus-faced NPC walk away from where they came, and then slowly prepared to go back to the shop and pick the one she selected. The clothes are packed and brought back.


    When Miss Squidhead saw Mo Xiaoyao come in, she smiled at her, then took out the basket of clothes, and spread out her hands to ask her for a room key.


    Mo Xiaoyao took the room card out of her left hand and handed it to the NPC, only to find that even the palm of her outstretched palm was covered with scales, but it was a bright pink color, small and cute, which would only make people feel that it looked good, and does not cause uncomfortable symptoms such as intensive phobia.


    The NPC''s checkout speed was very fast and very special. She first inserted Mo Xiaoyao''s room card into a shell-shaped machine, then picked up a conch and sucked the clothes in the basket. After all the clothes were sucked into the conch, she stopped, took out the room card and returned it to Mo Xiaoyao, with another smile.


    Mo Xiaoyao took the room card back into her body, tilted her head to look at Miss Squidhead, and waited for her to take her clothes out of the conch, or simply give her the conch storage.


    But the NPC seems to have no concept of paying with one hand and delivering with one hand. Seeing Mo Xiaoyao tilting her head to look at her, she also tilted her head to look at Mo Xiaoyao. There was suddenly a "Pfft" laughter.


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to." The slightly hoarse voice didn''t make people feel uncomfortable, on the contrary, it had a hazy beauty, like a beauty covered in veil, like a dream.


    Mo Xiaoyao turned around and saw the woman in a red dress with wide sleeves walking in just now, with a smile on her face and pure curiosity in her big sly eyes.


    "I take the liberty to ask, what are you doing? It looks interesting, can you bring me one? Of course, if it''s a secret, you don''t have to tell me, I''m just curious and ask casually."


    Mo Xiaoyao wanted to look good with this elegant young lady approached, but she just couldn''t do it. There were thousands of ways to say hello in her heart, but she couldn''t say a word.


    So she walked to a shelf, grabbed a pair of socks, handed them to the NPC, and then took the initiative to hand the card to her. Then the scene just now reappeared. Mo Xiaoyao pointed to the conch, spread her hands, and motioned for the young lady to watch it for herself.


    Then the xiao jiejie* smiled again, her eyebrows were curved, and she became more and more beautiful: "Xiao meimei, is this your first time buying something? After you swipe your card, the things will automatically go to your room. She doesn''t give this conch, even though I do want one. Let''s get to know each other, my name is Yu Bing, how about you?" Xiao jiejie is so cute! She wants to make friends! But can''t speak! Sure enough, under normal circumstances, it was not like the thrilling moments on the small stage, where she felt more open-hearted.


    *something like miss, young lady. Literally ''little big sister''. I prefer to use xiaojiejie. Xiaomeimei is the exact opposite, just means little sister.


    Although the thoughts in her mind turned around a dozen times, from the outside, Mo Xiaoyao was always silent.


    Yu Bing smiled again, disregarding Mo Xiaoyao''s indifference: "It''s alright, don''t say it if you don''t want to. In this world, you should be cautious. Then, I''ll go first, and I''ll see you later."


    After speaking, she glanced at Mo Xiaoyao''s waist, waved her hand, and turned to leave. Mo Xiaoyao was a little anxious. She didn''t want to leave a bad impression on the good-looking young lady. She looked around and finally found a way.


    Picking up the pen that the NPC put on the cashier counter, Mo Xiaoyao wrote down her name and the reason why she couldn''t speak as fast as she wanted to. She chased after her in three steps and went around to Yu Bing, slightly startling by the other party. Under her eyes, she shoved the note paper to her, and then ran away.


    Yu Bing stared at the back of Mo Xiaoyao who ran away for a while, then looked down at the words on the note, and suddenly laughed.


    It had been a long time since she met such an interesting xiao meimei. When they meet again next time, if she still needs help, might as well help.


    Should be soon, right? There was a welcome party at 7 o''clock today.


    Ah, she was really looking forward to it all of a sudden.

 CH 10

    Chapter 10: First Boarding Cruise (4)


    Running around the corner, Mo Xiaoyao covered her heart, which was still beating. She leaned back against the wall that was also covered with beige wallpaper, the shy flush on her face subsided a little.


    Then, she felt something was wrong.


    No matter how much she liked that young lady, she shouldn''t be as shy as she was just now, and she wouldn''t take the initiative to reveal the deepest secrets in her heart so easily.


    His eyes darkened. Mo Xiaoyao walked aimlessly along the corridor, and soon came to the bow, and saw the indoor swimming pool with the sign "Bi Bo Tan".


    *individually translated for each word, Bi Bo Tan means ''Blue Wave Pool''.


    Through the two clean glass doors, Mo Xiaoyao can clearly see that there are four swimming lanes inside, and the water quality was extremely clear. Shaking, sparkling, looking very attractive.


    Mo Xiaoyao pushed the door open without hesitation and walked in. She likes swimming, but there were always many people in the swimming pool near her house. Unless she got up very early, she will never be able to swim in the swimming lane to the other side.


    In the current pool, there was only a girl in a goose-yellow floral one-piece swimsuit, who is swimming hard in the middle of the second lane with a standard butterfly stroke. The girl was facing Mo Xiaoyao, her hair was hidden in the swimming cap, and she couldn''t tell how long or short her hair was. Her face was immature and she didn''t look more than 14 years old.


    Mo Xiaoyao, who was not very interested in strangers, only looked at the girl for a few moments before withdrawing her gaze. She walked towards the counter on her right hand side, and selected a light green one-piece that was easy to see from among the many swimsuits. After deftly taking out the card to pay, she stopped another squid-bearded NPC lady from putting the swimsuit into the conch, and carried herself to the locker room with the word "Female" written on it.


    After changing into her swimsuit and wearing her swimming cap, Mo Xiaoyao chose the fourth swimming lane that was closest to her after coming out. She dove down head-first from the platform, and the moment she felt the clear and odorless water submerge her body, she was completely relaxed.


    Mo Xiaoyao had been learning swimming since she was very young. She once attracted the attention of the city team''s coach, who hoped that she could join the team and bring glory to the city. At that time, her parents had not yet divorced, without the burden of their respective families, and they still loved her only child wholeheartedly. They felt that this was just a hobby, and they did not want to force their daughter too much, so Mo Xiaoyao made her own decision.


    What was she thinking at the time? Mo Xiaoyao paddled flexibly in the water, and her breaststroke posture was standard and relaxed. Oh, by the way, because her good friend Fang Qiqi who was in the same class as her. She said that if she (Mo Xiaoyao) went to the city team, she would definitely go to the sports school, and the two of them wouldn''t be able to go to the same middle school.


    Therefore, she chose to give up in order to be in the same school with her best friend. Mo Xiaoyao still remembered that the two of them naively hooked their fingers and said that they would be friends for life. When they were too old to walk, they would let the children in the family move the rocking chair to the yard. Then they sat side by side, chatting under the sun...


    Liar! Fang Qiqi, you big liar!


    Mo Xiaoyao''s fingertips touched the wall at the end of the swimming lane, then curled up, kicked the slippery swimming wall with the soles of her feet, and swam back again in a backstroke posture.


    She didn''t want the water in the pool to mix with the tears on her face. It would make her feel like she betrayed her best friend.


    As promised, they went to the same middle school, the same high school, and the same university. Everything was fine until 2 years ago.


    At that time, she and Fang Qiqi were about to graduate. They were busy with graduation thesis and looking for jobs. Living in a dormitory with access control became a pain. So they researched it and decided to move out and rent a house.


    That is, 3 months and 7 days after moving out, Fang Qiqi died.


    The reason for this incident was that the two of them, out of good intentions, opened the door to let a woman who suffered domestic violence enter the house to escape. Unexpectedly, that woman teamed up with her husband who beat her the next day, cooperating inside and out, and when Mo Xiaoyao got up early to go out for an interview and Fang Qiqi was the only one at home, they raped and killed her.


    The reason that came out afterwards was just because he wanted to teach the nosy people a lesson, but he accidentally used too much force and committed manslaughter.


    Mo Xiaoyao collapsed. Even though Fang Qiqi''s parents didn''t blame her, she still felt that it was all her fault.


    If she had blocked rather than agreed, wouldn''t that woman have come into their house?


    If she didn''t provoke that man, Fang Qiqi would be fine and she would live forever. They agreed to choose a wedding dress together, hold a wedding together, and live happily ever after.


    After receiving the last course of psychological counseling from the psychiatrist, Mo Xiaoyao had returned to normal on the surface, but only she knows how much she was afraid of coming into contact with strangers. But for Qiqi''s sake, Mo Xiaoyao did not allow herself to be weak. She worked hard to overcome all discomfort and slowly reintegrated into the society.


    Her parents have their own families, and they have long said that they don''t need her support but they don''t want to care about her anymore. Mo Xiaoyao doesn''t mind that she was not needed, because she still has Qiqi''s parents to support, she must work hard and live!


    Her fingertips touched the wall again, but Mo Xiaoyao didn''t continue to swim. She stood up straight, holding the edge of the swimming pool with her right hand, and picked up a handful of pool water with her left hand, washing away the tears on her face.


    The little girl in the second swimming lane had stopped swimming and was standing by the pool curiously looking at Mo Xiaoyao, but she didn''t speak, as if she thought it would be rude to talk rashly.


    Mo Xiaoyao waited for her emotions to calm down, and then returned to the water. After swimming back and forth quickly with freestyle, she got up and went ashore without looking at the little girl again.


    After changing her clothes, taking off her swimsuit and wringing it dry, Mo Xiaoyao carried the wet swimsuit and walked along the cabin corridor on the fourth floor to the elevator.


    She could now be sure that Yu Bing must have some secrets, and it was the type that will increase the goodwill of strangers. Even people like herself who are both same-sex and strangers can be attracted, not to mention those who are originally just normal men with emotions of youth.


    Mo Xiaoyao also had her own secrets. When she took the first step on the cruise ship, the same mechanical sound as in the mist sounded in her mind, and she settled her previous rewards in the game.


    [The dungeon Misty Track is completed, settling the rewards...]


    Gold coin reward: 50


    Novice level Gold coin bonus: 50


    Obtained special reward: Champion''s Gold Medal x1


    Obtained items and equipment: None


    Complete the main task: A Beautiful Race Track


    Complete the side task: None


    Complete hidden mission: None


    Unscripted Clearance Reward: Fortune Cookie x3


    First Clearance Reward: 4-Grid Canvas Bag x1


    Novice Pass Additional Reward: Random Skill x1


    [The settlement is completed, please collect it in your mind]


    Mo Xiaoyao believed that Yue Yin and Jiang Yan also have these rewards. They were in the same group, there was no reason for them to be treated differently. But just as she stopped Yue Yin from blurting out the words at the time, she didn''t want to know about others, and she didn''t want to share her extra rewards with others.


    At least not now.


    In her room just now, after reading "Instructions for Tourists" and "Introduction to Cruise Ships", Mo Xiaoyao received the reward in her mind. A thing like a virtual screen appeared directly in front of her eyes, on it were 4 icon.


    A small stack of gold coins with the words x100 in the lower right corner.


    A grey bag.


    A golden folded biscuit with two corners bent back, with the word x3 in the lower right corner.


    The last one is directly written with the word "skill".


    Mo Xiaoyao clicked down one by one and pocketed all the rewards. The gold coins in it were directly converted into data on her ship card, the skills entered her body, and the remaining bags, gold medals and fortune cookies appeared on the coffee table next to her sofa.


    Mo Xiaoyao picked up the gold medal first, and then the introduction and instructions automatically appeared in her mind.


    Name: Champion''s Gold Medal (Excellent)


    Introduction: In competitive competitions, there will always be a champion, perhaps one, or many.


    How to use: Crush before use, and for the next 1 minute, say your choice aloud.


    Function: have priority at any moment.


    Note: The champion is the first.


    "Priority?" Mo Xiaoyao pondered and put the gold medal aside. Since it is a reward for champions, although it can be obtained repeatedly according to the introduction, since it is of excellent quality, the effect should not be too bad.


    Afterwards, she picked up the bag that was grey and felt like a canvas, and another string of instructions automatically appeared in her mind.


    Name: 4 Grid Canvas Bag (Fine)


    Introduction: Always bring a bag when you go out on a trip, otherwise, where do you put your souvenirs?


    How to use: After binding, it can be reduced to 5x5cm size and can be attached to any place on the body. Just touch the object with both hands or feet when putting it in, and you can put it in mindfully. When taking out, you need to touch the bag anywhere with your hands or feet before you can take it out with your mind.


    Function: Four items or weapons are allowed to enter the game dungeon. Please explore the specific types that can be carried. Except for the bound person, others have no right to use it, and it will be automatically unbound after death. Waterproof and dustproof, reliable adsorption, self-cleaning effect.


    Remarks: Baike brand backpack, you deserve it.


    After reading the instructions, Mo Xiaoyao immediately bound the backpack to herself. After thinking about it, she hung it on her waist at will, and then stuffed the gold medal into it, occupying a grid.


    From the outside, fortune cookies are the kind of things that the legendary Chinese restaurants in Country M (T/N: America) serve. They are golden and crispy cookies, folded in half and then bent into a curved shape. They looked very cute.


    Fortune Cookie (Ordinary)


    Introduction: If you eat it, good things will happen~


    How to use: Eat me.


    Function: Randomly enhance a little physique.


    Note: Is the small note useful? useless? Whatever you think~


    Mo Xiaoyao hesitated for a while, but she still took a piece and broke it open, closed her eyes and ate it. Unexpectedly, the taste was not bad, crunchy and a little sweet.


    Immediately following, Mo Xiaoyao felt a heat flow in her lower abdomen, and when she opened his eyes again, she felt that she could see more clearly, and her eyesight seemed to be better than before.


    Since it was really a good thing, she won''t keep it or share it with others. Mo Xiaoyao calmly broke apart the remaining two pieces, threw them all into her mouth, chewed them carefully and swallowed them.


    It was still the same heat flow, but this time Mo Xiaoyao only felt that there was a change in her body, but it was not as obvious as before.


    After the three cookies were eaten, three lucky notes were left. Mo Xiaoyao opened them one by one and tugged at the contents of one of them.


    "You will have good luck today!"


    "You just broke a fortune cookie."


    "Help! I''m locked in the factory that makes fortune cookies, who will let me out!"


    After thinking about it, Mo Xiaoyao gave up the idea of ??throwing them away. She folded the strips of paper in half and threw them into the second compartment of the canvas bag.


    Let''s keep it for now, it''s empty anyway. Mo Xiaoyao thought about it, and clicked on the random skill with the good idea that she just opened the lucky note saying that she would have good luck.


    And then¡ª¡ª


    The hard working life of an African chief.*


    Hehe.


    *Machine translation translate the sentence as "Krypton''s African Chief". Krypton refers to an internet slang where players began to use Krypton Life to describe the unreasonable continuous planning of game activities in a gacha game to chase after Krypton gold. If you play gacha games, you''d know... While African Chief - as opposed to Ou Huang aka European Emperor, Fei Qiu aka African Chief is a Chinese internet slang to describe people with very bad luck. Sounds a bit racist tbh but since CN people usually see white skin as a blessing (people with white skin is because they have a good life don''t have to work outside under the sun etc), black means unlucky, I guess. All in all, it just means that Mo Xiaoyao is unlucky.