Streaks of white light flashed across the plaza of Nanyin County. Within five seconds, ten thousand players materialized across the vast, previously empty square.
System Guide: South of the plaza is the travel agency, north of the plaza is the vehicle dealership, and west of the plaza is the supermarket.
It had to be said that the system was quite considerate; the plaza was as large as a dozen football fields, and running around blindly would waste players a lot of time. But considerate or not, when it came to screwing players over, it never held back. At that moment, every single player had only one question: which fucking way is east?
It was an overcast day without a sun, in an unfamiliar environment—who the hell knew the directions?
It had to be said that this generation of players was the best generation of players; no one complained, and everyone sprang into action. Before long, people began shouting out place names: "Xiyang! Anyone heading to Xiyang, come over and talk!"
"Dongpo folks over here!"
"Nanyue! Anyone for Nanyue?" A voice brought a hush over the surrounding crowd.
Ding Shi recalled the map. If memory served, right next to Nanyin County was Nanyue County, less than forty kilometers away.
Same people, different fates. Though everyone started at the same place, their destinations were worlds apart.
Ding Shi's destination was the travel agency. As he crossed the plaza, he constantly heard players shouting new place names, but not only was there no Beiyang, he couldn't even hear the word "Bei." Although a place with "Bei" in its name wasn't necessarily in the north.
Ding Shi spotted the supermarket first. Using the information that the supermarket was to the west, he corrected his course and reached the travel agency after walking for about ten minutes.
The travel agency was immense. The walls were covered in maps: administrative maps, urban and rural transit maps, train maps, and highway maps. The most bustling area was beneath several walls of train maps, packed with people, all searching for the optimal route home.
After half an hour of sorting things out, Ding Shi planned a route. First, he had to go to Nanying County, which was the exit from the southern mountain region and the largest transit hub for over a dozen surrounding counties and cities. Next, he would take a train to Zhongyin County, transfer to a minibus to Shangyin County, transfer twice more, and reach Beiri County, which was eighty kilometers from his destination, Beiyang County.
Next, Ding Shi began calculating travel expenses: five fen per kilometer, for over three thousand kilometers of railway, costing only 176 yuan.
This wouldn't work. Ding Shi kept studying the maps. He concluded that the Zhongyin Mountains were the biggest problem. One option was taking a vehicle around the mountains, which was seven hundred kilometers shorter than the railway. Another was trekking eighty kilometers on foot across the Zhongyin Mountains.
So tough. Ding Shi scratched his head and continued reading, discovering yet another route. After reaching Nanying County, he could board a passenger ferry; ferry fare was even cheaper than train fare. However, it would have to bypass the Zhongyin Mountains from the west, adding two hundred kilometers over the train ride and taking significantly more time.
Ding Shi started calculating time, only to discover a terrifying fact: he couldn't take passenger ferries or trains, or else he wouldn't make it to Beiyang within seven days. An even more terrifying fact: already strapped for cash, he couldn't even afford the train or the ferry.
A direct flight from Nanyin County to Beiyang County took over two hours and cost 2,400 yuan. A bullet train took eighteen hours and cost 2,000 yuan.
Thinking of this, Ding Shi had a sudden flash of clarity. Having confirmed that he had no ability to make it home, he decided to buy a bicycle and ride it all the way back, going as far as he possibly could. If thirsty, he could drink river water; if hungry, he could gnaw on tree bark.
Mind made up, Ding Shi walked out of the travel agency. He had spent too much time; quite a few players had already left the plaza and set out on their journey home.
Did the supermarket sell bicycles, or did the vehicle dealership sell them? Theoretically, it should be the supermarket, but bicycles were categorized as vehicles, so it ought to be the dealership.
After pondering on the spot for a moment, Ding Shi headed toward the supermarket. At worst, he would just have to walk back around.
Siren wails echoed from the distance, causing players to stop and look around. A minute later, a helicopter and four police cars drove into the plaza. Over a dozen fully armed robots wearing police uniforms and bearing identical faces stepped out of the cars. Pausing for a split second, they sprinted swiftly through the crowd.
Two players bolted out of the supermarket entrance, still holding kitchen knives in their hands and carrying bulging backpacks. Seeing the large squad of robotic police charging toward them, their faces turned deathly pale in panic. Was this really necessary? Did they have to go that far?
"I surrender!"
The robotic cop turned a deaf ear. Its iron fist slammed into the robber's stomach, and as the robber doubled over in pain, a body slam smashed him unconscious. Its comrade stepped forward to handcuff the robber and stuffed him into the trailing police prisoner transport. Once it was done, the robotic officers got into their vehicles and departed, not sparing another player a single glance.
"Are they really that hardcore?" a player finally muttered upon recovering their senses.
Ding Shi was also filled with admiration for his peers. If he had possessed such combat skills back then, Wang Meng and Duan Bi would have been sunk to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean long ago.
Continuing toward the supermarket, Ding Shi spotted a signpost: a piece of cardboard weighted down by a stone, with "Toward Jibei Province" and an arrow written on it.
Ding Shi followed the arrow toward the side of the supermarket, where a large banyan tree stood. Beneath it, over thirty people were sitting or standing. A young woman about 165 centimeters tall held a piece of cardboard high, bearing four large characters: "Heading Far North."
Ding Shi stepped into the crowd. Just as he was about to ask something, someone spoke up: "Should be about enough people now, right?"
Standing on higher ground, the girl said, "Please wait another ten minutes."
Ding Shi was in no hurry. Over the ten minutes, five more people arrived. Seeing that the time had come, the girl gave a signal, and a middle-aged man stepped onto the high ground: "Quiet down, everyone."
The man said, "Hello, everyone. I assume you've all calculated the time needed for railways and passenger ferries. Theoretically speaking, going from Nanyin County to the far north is virtually mission impossible. After racking our brains, we finally found a way to solve the problem: carpooling.
"I spent a long time looking around the dealership, calculating fuel consumption and other factors, and have my eye on a five-seater car and a seven-seater car. Now we still need three or five companions. Don't rush, let me explain the rules first.
"First: everyone's money and items must be handed over in full for me to manage centrally. It will be used to buy gasoline, food, and so forth, with public accounting guaranteed. Second: everyone must obey the captain's arrangements, no complaining, and no spreading negative emotions to others."
Someone asked, "Three or five people—how does that work? What are the conditions to join the team?"
The man replied, "Those interested can register with my girlfriend here and answer a few questions. Please understand, we'll definitely have to pinch pennies along the way, maybe even go hungry. If you're not mentally prepared for that, then forget it."
Ding Shi turned and left immediately. It was high-sounding talk, but in reality, it was just prioritizing rich players. There was nothing wrong with picking that way—it maximized benefits. But the problem was, he hadn't disclosed how much money he and his girlfriend had. Ding Shi deduced that their money was only enough to buy a small car, or perhaps they were pulling off a confidence trick—running a swindle to buy a car using the passengers' pooled money.
Assuming there were five passengers carrying 300 yuan each, that would be 1,500 yuan. After buying a seven-seater car, they would still have 1,200 yuan left. A standard small-displacement seven-seater car with a full load used under seven liters of fuel per hundred kilometers. At four yuan per liter, one hundred kilometers cost twenty-eight yuan, or twenty-eight fen per kilometer.
Calculated over four thousand kilometers, fuel would cost 1,120 yuan, leaving an eighty-yuan surplus. As for food and drink, they simply wouldn't eat, and they could forage some bottles from trash bins to fetch water along the way.
After these calculations, Ding Shi realized that carpooling was the only means by which he could complete the quest of returning home.
Ding Shi didn't register or linger. He entered the supermarket through the side door, only to be told that bicycles were vehicles and were sold exclusively at the dealership.
Ding Shi wandered around and bought discounted toilet paper, a discounted energy bar, and discounted bottled water, spending two yuan in total, leaving him with thirty-eight yuan.
Chapter 39