The moment this conclusion was reached, Zhou Qi’an felt as if an invisible pair of eyes were scrutinizing him, making him incredibly uncomfortable.
The feeling of being watched intensified, but he tried his best to ignore it and walked towards the desk.
It was a carved wooden desk, haphazardly covered with draft papers, what looked like several bound scripts, a fountain pen, and a small night light.
Zhou Qi’an picked up the draft paper; the handwriting was flamboyant—
A perfectly ordinary afternoon, the bus sped along the highway…
It was Zhong Ming’s first scene, “Bus Murder.”
The manuscript only contained this one scene.
On a separate page, it read: “This is the beginning of the story. What will be the end of the story?” Zhou Qi’an then briefly flipped through the other scripts.
[XX3 year]
[XX2 year]
[XX1 year]
…
The scripts accurately recorded their binding years.
“The King of Drama’s past stories were quite good,” he mused. “The beginning was captivating, and the ending was even more unexpected.”
However, starting from [XX3 year], the King of Drama’s work quality began to decline sharply, arguably a case of a talent running dry. This was understandable; after all, the King of Drama pursued absurd endings, but his talent gradually withered in this deliberate pursuit. His latest work, Zhong Ming, was even less noteworthy.
Zhou Qi’an was about to casually put down the script when he noticed a small, inconspicuous line of text on the back of the first scene’s page: “This will be my greatest masterpiece.”
“…” Dementia, perhaps.
To be honest, Zhong Ming was even worse than his previous, dried-up works.
Zhou Qi’an shook his head, but a hint of confusion lingered deep inside. A person who wrote plays for years shouldn’t lose basic judgment. Why was the King of Drama so convinced that Zhong Ming would be a masterpiece?
Thoughts came and went, but his hands didn’t stop moving.
He further examined the small night light.
It was a rechargeable night light that lit up with a tap. Its surroundings were completely transparent, and when it lit up, a sea of flowers appeared inside.
It also had a matching small rectangular base. Zhou Qi’an fiddled with it and found a thin crack in the middle.
When he pried it open, a letter fell out. He quickly caught the envelope before it floated to the ground.
[Welcome to the great King of Drama’s former residence!
Only the most excellent actors can receive this honor!!
When you are done with your visit and wish to leave, you can go to the ancient city to find the key.]
It sounded like a reward.
Having been brought here inexplicably, Zhou Qi’an suspected he had triggered one of the King of Drama’s unwritten rules.
The ominous feeling intensified.
As he finished reading the letter, he felt an absurd sensation of “growing.”
It was as if, without realizing it, his flesh and blood were overlapping with this space.
He couldn’t control the urge to actively walk to the garden and, like those flowers, grow in the soil, swayed by the wind on sunny days and bathed by rain on cloudy ones. This desire was now about to burst through his chest.
Zhou Qi’an gritted his teeth, barely suppressing the urge to plant himself in the ground. He struggled to step in the opposite direction, directly facing two conspicuous doors.
“Another choice of doors?”
The first door was locked. The lock couldn’t be forcibly broken. Zhou Qi’an held his breath and bent down to inspect it, finding a spot below that could be opened separately, revealing a place to enter a password. In essence, it was a smart lock with a different appearance, but the password box was hidden in a discreet location.
“Key…”
Did the “key” mentioned in the envelope refer to the password to open this door? As he pondered, he began to move towards the second door, several times almost turning to run towards the garden.
Just before the thought of “I am a flower” expanded to its extreme, a click sounded, and Zhou Qi’an’s heart, engaged in a mental struggle, skipped a beat.
He stared blankly at the doorknob; the second door had opened easily. He stepped back slightly and pushed the door open.
Another world appeared.
Vendors bustled, selling goods, tourists happily enjoyed themselves, and the entire street was bustling.
It was the ancient city! Zhou Qi’an sharply turned his head, realizing the door was still there, but passersby seemed completely oblivious, and no one expressed surprise at his appearance. Gradually, amidst the clamor, the door behind him disappeared. He couldn’t help but swallow.
“No wonder the King of Drama could freely travel between the ancient city and the bus station, it’s because of these two doors.”
One led to the ancient city, and the other, Zhou Qi’an was almost certain, led to the bus station.
The King of Drama was responsible for arranging scripts, using the bus station for initial actor selection, then bringing them to the ancient city for other skill training after assessment, and finally transporting NPCs to other instances. What a ruthless, unreasonable, and troublesome industry chain!
After complaining about the unscrupulous supplier, Zhou Qi’an took a deep breath. The most pressing matter was still to figure out how to get back to the bus station.
The scene of Xia Zhi being rejected due to privacy issues this morning was still vivid in his mind. Now, for him to ask for the King of Drama’s home password… wasn’t that ridiculous?
A foul smell wafted by.
A hand grabbed him.
Zhou Qi’an instinctively thought it was Wen Xi and was about to shake it off when he realized it was the tramp he had encountered before.
The latter mumbled with half a tongue, “I see you have good potential. Agree to two conditions, and I’ll teach you to control rats.”
Words similar to those he heard this morning in the ancient city reappeared. Using rats that could dig might be a breakthrough.
Thinking of this, this time Zhou Qi’an didn’t refuse, but asked, “What are the conditions?”
“First, you have to go to the casino and get back my lost half-tongue…”
As the tramp’s mouth opened and closed, Zhou Qi’an surprisingly found his mind wandering a bit.
It seemed deliberately arranged.
While he was lost in thought, the tramp had already finished his demands: besides getting his tongue back, the other was to catch a hundred rats for training.
“I’ll go now.”
The notification sound arrived as expected:
[Side Quest: Tongue Retrieval]
Quest Content: This time, you will help the tramp reclaim everything that belongs to him.
Reward: Sincere conversation with the tramp count *1.
Zhou Qi’an turned around and hadn’t walked many steps before he suddenly looked back. The tramp’s face showed no expectation of getting his tongue back. Instead, he had a malicious smile, and his cackling laughter was drowned out by the rain. Under the strange gaze, Zhou Qi’an quickened his pace.
Passing the casino, he didn’t stop but walked straight to the city gate. The second door most likely led to the bus station.
If the destination was the same, then going back from the ancient city would be the same.
The highway stretched out in the misty rain, lonely and chilling. Zhou Qi’an originally wanted to use a flashlight to illuminate the way and contact others, but his phone had gone black at some point. He tried to turn it on again, but the light was completely swallowed the moment it touched the fog.
After a moment’s thought, Zhou Qi’an switched to a sacred artifact. A golden light pierced through a bit of the mist barrier. After just one glance, he immediately abandoned this most conspicuous “path of life”.
The highway deep in the fog was covered in fresh flowers growing on the asphalt. They were about the same height as the flowers in the garden, swaying in the wind, as if beckoning him.
Retreating to the ancient city, Zhou Qi’an entered the nearest shop:
“Can I charge my phone? I’ll pay.” The shop owner was applying makeup and immediately stood up straight, saying meticulously, “Paying electricity bills in the city is very troublesome. How about this, if you can help me deliver something, I’ll charge your phone when you get back.”
[Side Quest: Delivery]
Quest Content: Deliver a package to a client in the north of the city for signature.
Reward: Charging count *1.
Zhou Qi’an frowned slightly. What was going on? Side quests were blooming everywhere in the ancient city. He didn’t immediately start any side quests, almost aimlessly moving in the rain.
During this time, his eyes subtly lifted, and he noticed everyone on the street staring at him.
What good show were they waiting to see?
Pocket watch, bell sounds…
Zhou Qi’an recalled the previous scene and suddenly stopped. During the wooden man game, players didn’t stay long in the church, but when they came out, it was already five or six o’clock in the ancient city.
Could it be the same now? Just like how it got bright shortly after leaving the church, when he finally left this place and returned to the bus station, a long time might have passed there…
Perhaps, the players had already finished the last scene.
What would happen if he missed the last play? Zhou Qi’an instinctively felt that something would go wrong; otherwise, the King of Drama wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to get him into another scene.
He had to leave this place as soon as possible.
With a clear objective, Zhou Qi’an stopped a passerby: “Hello, could I ask what time it is?” The passerby didn’t answer, instead asking, “My watch is broken. Can you accompany me to the watch shop?”
[Side Quest generated]
Zhou Qi’an sneered. As expected, there were time-wasting quests everywhere. Even if he didn’t consider performing in the last play, if he didn’t rush back to the bus station to clock in before midnight, he would be doomed.
Once he noticed the time anomaly, Zhou Qi’an discovered more unnatural things. As time passed, the NPCs in the ancient city gradually became more sinister, and more and more people asked him for help.
“My house’s water pipe is broken, help me fix it.”
…
“Young man, help me cross the road.”
At first, it was polite requests, but later it became almost commanding. Every time they opened their mouths, a notification would “ding,” adding another side quest.
When he refused an old lady, her benevolent smile vanished, and she immediately performed a face-changing act. The old woman raised her cane and swung it at Zhou Qi’an’s head: “Why did you refuse me?”
“Aren’t you a truly pure and good person? Why won’t you help me!”
Zhou Qi’an expressionlessly raised his staff, and with a thwack, it met the old lady’s cane, splitting it in half. With another thwack, Zhou Qi’an broke it into three pieces.
“…” The old lady’s arrogant demeanor was curbed.
At this moment, a notification suddenly appeared:
“Warning, you have accumulated an excessive amount of side quests.”
“Warning, please clear your quest panel immediately, otherwise all side quest failure penalties will be forcibly activated shortly.”
“Countdown to quest failure penalty activation: 00:29:59.”
Less than thirty minutes remained.
It was Zhou Qi’an’s turn to be silent. This was clearly an attempt to kill him.
Looking through the series of quests, the only one that could be related to getting the key was the unusual beast taming. Should he do it? There was no room for error now.
Once he made up his mind to find the tongue and catch rats, it would be impossible to get distracted by other things in the middle.
Zhou Qi’an’s body was taut, his long robe clinging to him, unsure if it was soaked by rain or by cold sweat.
“There must be an optimal solution.”
The King of Drama could manipulate time and space, but he couldn’t transcend the game rules. Zhou Qi’an’s mind was almost at its limit.
The countdown ticked with every second, making it impossible for him to concentrate. And those residents, they were openly watching the show, like a group of teachers circling a student taking an exam.
Zhou Qi’an had just stepped in one direction. “Ah,” sighed a nearby vendor, as if saying, “Your approach is wrong.”
He walked in another direction. The tourists shook their heads again.
“…”
Under extreme pressure, Zhou Qi’an instead calmed down. He faced the wall, avoiding eye contact with those stares. The eaves blocked some of the rain, and he quietly thought, facing the wall. The letter clearly stated that the key was in the ancient city. After much thought, there were only three possible ways to get it.
“One is to complete the tramp’s quest and use rats; another is to obtain it from a certain location, for example, the key written on paper and hidden; the last is to obtain information through communication with NPCs.”
Currently, the last possibility seemed the lowest. The ancient city residents would refuse to answer anything related to the King of Drama’s privacy.
Changing perspectives. If he were the King of Drama, he would definitely make the most unlikely path the answer.
Thinking of this, Zhou Qi’an suddenly narrowed his eyes.
There was a loophole in this logic: the reason the ancient city residents refused to answer was out of respect for the King of Drama’s privacy. But there was one NPC exception.
That female thief. A thief had no reason to respect others’ privacy, and knowing the King of Drama’s home password would fit her character setting.
He remembered that in the second scene, Pocket Watch, the employer asked Shen Zhiyi to kill the female thief, but Shen Zhiyi killed the employer instead. The thief must not have died, otherwise Shen Zhiyi would have mentioned it, and the other party probably wouldn’t have easily let the thief go.
“Could it be that he imprisoned her?”
Zhou Qi’an had considerable confidence in Shen Zhiyi’s character, and the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Now only one question remained.
Where would Shen Zhiyi hide her? During the free activity time this morning, everyone went to ask NPCs questions. When the college student returned with Shen Zhiyi, he was full of doubt about life. Could it be that Shen Zhiyi went to find Miss Thief at that time?
Zhou Qi’an turned around, recalling the direction they returned from this morning, and that student’s grumble—
“Fortunately, the filming location isn’t at the Grand Theater.”
So, did they go to the Grand Theater then?
[00:26:59]
Without wasting a second, Zhou Qi’an decisively used the acceleration item [Small Wings] he had gotten from Xia Zhi and bolted.
If the ancient city was a giant screen, he was now moving at three times the speed.
The eyes of the scrutinizing ancient city residents hadn’t even turned yet, and Zhou Qi’an had already run to another location. The theater wasn’t too far from here. Zhou Qi’an still had the illusion of racing against death. After reaching a certain speed, his body felt like it was floating. Scenes on both sides flashed by.
He sprinted all the way to the northwest of the ancient city, to a historic theater that had stood there for centuries, unchanging. Just as he reached the entrance, Zhou Qi’an sharply stopped, almost stumbling due to loss of balance.
The moment he entered, his heart sank halfway.
It was too big.
The entire theater had five floors, and once inside, there were countless rooms with different functions. Restrooms, dressing rooms, changing rooms, VIP reception rooms…
According to the directory, there was even a dining area on the top floor. Fortunately, performances were only held at night, and during the day, there was only a sleepy security guard on duty who didn’t even notice someone had entered.
[00:19:43]
Zhou Qi’an first quickly ruled out the first floor.
The lobby had dense human activity, and there were magic shows every night; hiding someone would be easily discovered.
He crouched and slipped to the second floor. There were no lights on during the day, and the entire second floor was shrouded in darkness.
At the entrance, an unlocked door led to a room piled with various discarded props and boxes.
As if startled by the sound of the opening door, a faint sound came from one of the boxes. Zhou Qi’an quickly moved the things pressing down on it.
Squeak!
A large rat jumped out.
“…”
Just checking the boxes and cabinets in the warehouse consumed a lot of energy. Zhou Qi’an was cautious throughout, daring not to make too much noise, fearing he would attract security or other trouble. And this was just the first room. He then successively checked several other rooms. In some old places, the ceiling showed signs of activity, so to be safe, he had to climb up and investigate further. By the time he left the second floor, a lot of time had passed.
The third floor had even more rooms. The theater even had some guest rooms, furnished with adult novelty items, seemingly for audience members or performers who connected at the theater. Even if he were calmer, in this insoluble situation, Zhou Qi’an felt a headache coming on. Unless his luck was incredibly high, it would be impossible to find the target in such a vast place. Luck was precisely the element he lacked most.
Zhou Qi’an walked quickly down the deserted corridor, the countdown in his mind also ticking. He thought of the pocket watch in Shen Zhiyi’s hand. If the sixth act was well underway and he hadn’t returned, Shen Zhiyi might try to turn it counter-clockwise, slowing down the end of a scene.
Unless absolutely necessary, he didn’t want to bet on someone else’s survival probability.
Zhou Qi’an quickly scanned his surroundings. Many rooms on the third floor were locked. He gave up checking the guest rooms and continued upwards, reaching the most ominous fourth floor.
Every tick of the countdown felt like it was squeezing his survival space. No miracle occurred. The fourth floor was similar to the second.
Normally, one might be able to make profound judgments based on where there was more dust or footprints, but now the conditions simply weren’t met. The mist and rain from outside seemed to blow in together, greatly affecting visibility.
“Warning, countdown to quest failure penalty activation is less than ten minutes.”
Zhou Qi’an retreated from another room, still without success.
His heart was pounding, but even at the last moment, he didn’t give up, continuing to rush to the next room. In his almost hopeless search, suddenly, Zhou Qi’an’s pupils dilated as if he had seen something unbelievable.
On the door of the room ahead hung a very conspicuous sign. The words on the small wooden sign were striking even in the shadows—
UNDER MAINTENANCE, TEMPORARILY OUT OF USE.
“…”
__
Author’s Note:
Dreaming back to school & Fengshui Village—
Zhou Qi’an: Found you!
Miss Thief: …
Shen Zhiyi: Qi’an and I, our hearts are in perfect sync.
Their hearts are so connected, Zhiyi is using the right tools. I can’t believe that maintenance sign would save the day😂