A Red Chicken’S Quick Travel Game Chapter 6

Chapter 6: 1.5 Locked in the Little Black Room.

As soon as Gou Xue shouted, the prison guard walking toward Ji Zai stopped and looked at Gou Xue with a cold sneer.

Gou Xue didn’t know where he got the courage, but he blurted out, “Aren’t you going to be reasonable? Didn’t you see he was kicked out of the line?”

A flash of surprise crossed the eyes of the thin man running in the formation. This newcomer had been very honest since he arrived, not even daring to fart when bullied and going out of his way to avoid the guards. Why was he suddenly acting up? The thin man instinctively glanced at another man in the line; a tall man was currently squinting at Gou Xue. The thin man’s eyes flickered.

Taking this step forward, Gou Xue felt as if he were bathed in golden light, his whole body shimmering with the radiance of humanity. He waited for Ji Zai to cast a look of admiration his way, but to his surprise, Ji Zai looked up and cursed at him, “I have no grudge against you, so why are you looking for trouble for me?!”

Gou Xue froze. He saw the guard walking toward Ji Zai squat down beside him with a baton. The guard bared his teeth in a grin at Gou Xue and said to Ji Zai, “What’s this? You even found an accomplice.”

“Forming cliques is a major taboo here. You’ve broken that rule quite a few times this month, and you know it yourself,” the guard said, hauling Ji Zai up and giving a crooked smile. “What, do you want me to carry you on my back?”

Ji Zai shuddered violently and immediately scrambled on all fours toward the flagpole in the center of the square. Gou Xue couldn’t help but stare, wondering what he was going to do, but the two guards behind him gave him a sudden, heavy shove. “Reasonable? I’d like to see who dares to talk about being reasonable with us here. What are you looking at? Do you want to keep him company?”

Gou Xue wimped out instantly. Although he didn’t know what Ji Zai was facing, he reflexively shook his head like a rattle. “No! But…”

“If you don’t want to, then move—” The guard behind Gou Xue kicked him in the backside. “Are you waiting for me to ask you three or four times?”

“Where… where are we going…” Gou Xue stumbled forward two steps, trembling. Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by the guard, who grabbed him by the collar and grumbled, “Every single one of you sons of bitches only knows how to cause trouble. We should build hundreds of cages and stuff you all inside!”

Gou Xue was kicked along as he walked. As he left the training ground, he couldn’t help but look back. He saw Ji Zai stripped naked and hung upside down from the flagpole, while everyone running laps laughed at him. Gou Xue couldn’t help but shiver, wishing the person who had stood out to play the hero earlier hadn’t been him.

Seeing that he had become much more obedient, the guard didn’t waste much effort and led him into a dark, long, narrow passage. The passage was lined with sheet metal on all sides, and the lights overhead were flickering dimly. Gou Xue’s skin broke out in goosebumps, and his pace began to falter.

The guard gave him a kick, and only then did he quicken his steps. After walking for a short while, the guard opened a small door, kicked Gou Xue inside, and locked it. Gou Xue lunged at the door, only to see a belt appear outside the single narrow rectangular iron window. That narrow window was then immediately shut. The space plunged into absolute, lightless darkness.

Gou Xue wasn’t afraid of the dark, but this total pitch-blackness was too terrifying. He hurriedly pounded on the door and shouted loudly, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’ll never do it again!” At this moment, he didn’t feel like this was a game at all.

“Book! Book!”

In the darkness, that small silver book immediately jumped out, its light illuminating the surroundings. The entire little black room wasn’t even two-thirds the height of a normal person, so Gou Xue couldn’t stand up straight inside. The room was dark and damp, and the floor was covered in the waste left by predecessors; the smell was truly unbearable.

“How many days are they going to lock me up for!”

A line of text appeared on the book: It depends on the readers’ wishes.

Then, two hateful lines of options popped up on the book:

Plot Branch

4. You will be placed in solitary confinement for:

A. One day B. Three days C. One week D. One month

A wave of cold sweat broke out over Gou Xue. “Who exactly are the readers?! Why am I here? I want to go out! Let me out!”

Task Hint

You have one opportunity to choose a prop.

The new words appearing on the small book calmed Gou Xue down.

“What props?”

The words on the small book were quickly cleared. The pages flipped, stopping at a certain page where a table appeared. Inside the table were images that looked like ghost scribbles, but fortunately, there were small words under the images explaining what they were.

“…Backscratcher, air pump, cat scratching board, lighter… what on earth are these things?!!” Gou Xue was furious, but then the small book flipped another page.

“…Armored tank, hand grenade, carrier rocket, aircraft carrier… this is insane! Is there anything useful!!” Gou Xue simply tried to flip the pages manually, but there were no more pages. Although the things on the second page looked powerful, they were completely useless in Gou Xue’s hands. Even with the least powerful item, the hand grenade, given his current situation, he would probably just be throwing his own life away if he used it.

Gou Xue painfully returned to the first page. After looking for a long time, he said, “Lighter!”

In a place of total darkness without a single speck of light, staying for a long time would make a person lose their mind. A lighter could at least illuminate the space and make Gou Xue feel like he wasn’t blind.

It was rare to have a choice he could make himself, and Gou Xue felt as if a weight had been lifted.

He gripped the lighter that had suddenly appeared in his hand and flicked it on. The flame illuminated the narrow space, and the small book automatically disappeared.

There was nothing to do in this place. Over time, the lighter’s fuel would also run out. Gou Xue endured the nausea and moved around the corners of the room in a crouch. He didn’t want to get near the various suspicious mixtures in the corners. There were also terrifying scribbles left by predecessors on the walls. Old bloodstains remained on the walls; Gou Xue could imagine how desperate and helpless the people locked in this total darkness must have been.

As he felt around, Gou Xue suddenly discovered a row of characters. Someone had carved the character for “Zheng” on the wall to keep count.

Who would have the leisure to write “Zheng” characters in the little black room? And how did they know when it was day or night? Gou Xue counted them randomly; there were six full “Zheng” characters, meaning this person had been locked in this sunless place for an entire month.

Gou Xue felt a bit of a chill all over, so he wrapped his clothes tightly around himself. He called out again, “Book!”

The small book appeared again.

“What time is it?!”

A line showing the time appeared on the small book. This made Gou Xue breathe a sigh of relief; at least he could know how time was passing.

Gou Xue flipped through the small book listlessly for a while, trying all sorts of voice commands. He even tried “Balala the Fairies,” but he didn’t discover any new functions. More than an hour later, the narrow window on the iron door was suddenly opened. Gou Xue almost reflexively extinguished the lighter and hid it behind his back, staring at the tiny window with lingering fear.

A pair of eyes appeared outside the window.

Plot Branch

5. This is:

A. Prison Guard B. Thin Man C. Raptor D. Stranger