Life Game In Other World
Chapter 731: Whispering in the Night (Super-Sized - for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 731: Chapter 731: Whispering in the Night (Super-Sized Chapter for Monthly Pass)

He Ao’s gaze turned to the opened gate; perhaps because it was already deformed, the gate did not fully open and was only partially ajar.

Three men draped in furs huddled behind the door, looking at He Ao and his companion with surprise, bewilderment, and a touch of fear.

As they sized up He Ao, he was doing the same to them.

The three men all bore distinct features characteristic of the people from Newland City-State.

In contrast to their crude fur garments, each of these men clutched a weapon resembling a Gauss Rifle, clearly not a creation within the capabilities of the main world’s science and technology.

Features of the modern man, attire of the primitive, weaponry of the future.

This bizarrely magical combination somehow seemed to make unexpected sense here.

Moreover, the leader of the men emanated an unstable aura of a Transcendent.

"Hello, may I ask which city you come from?"

The lead man, speaking Tia language with a hint of respect, asked He Ao and Feiya.

Feiya looked up at He Ao.

"Before we came in, we were in Newland City-State."

He Ao replied softly, then glanced at the shadows of one or two figures peeking out from behind the half-open, deformed gate.

Then he looked down at the monster corpse on the ground before asking, "Can you tell us what has happened here?"

"It’s a bit complicated,"

The man’s furrowed face noticeably relaxed upon hearing the mention of ’Newland City-State.’ He hesitated, glanced around the dark corridor, and then said, "You come in with me and talk."

With that, he and the men behind him stepped aside, signaling for He Ao and his companion to enter through the gate.

He Ao and Feiya exchanged a glance.

Then, He Ao leading and Feiya following, they cautiously stepped through the gate one after the other.

Upon entering the gate, the first thing that struck them was a rather spacious hall.

Several ceiling lights hung in a row from the top of the hall; although nearly half of them were extinguished, the remaining lights still provided ample illumination.

At the front of the hall, close to the gate, were several metal chairs that seemed to be for resting. At the moment, the chair closest to the gate was occupied by a man in a denim jacket nursing an arm injury, with another person akin to a nurse treating his wound.

And that was the only open region of the hall, covered with these metal chairs.

Beyond the metal chairs were ’rooms’ separated by various metal sheets.

Pair after pair of eyes peered out from behind the metal sheets, watching the newcomers with cautious, curious, and slightly fearful gazes.

Click—

The leading man pulled a ring by the gate, and the sound of the gate closing slowly followed.

He Ao glanced at the ring. Next to it was a small screen showing the scene outside the door.

It seemed that these people were hiding behind the door all along, watching the scene outside as it unfolded.

Their fear and vigilance, as well as the lead man’s respectful attitude, were probably because they saw what He Ao was capable of on that screen.

"There are so many of you here?"

Feiya was the first to break the silence, looking around with surprise at all the pairs of eyes, "Did you all come in today?"

"Today?"

The lead man, not far from He Ao, shook his head, "The earliest of us have been here for almost a year now."

"Ah?"

Even Feiya, who had remained calm and composed, was slightly taken aback.

He Ao merely glanced at the man’s cheek and asked softly, "Are you Kalin?"

"You know me?"

The man was startled.

"I’ve seen your files," He Ao continued calmly, "you were one of the first group of people to go missing from Newland City-State, disappeared on Wenlan Island about a year ago, and had been an informant for the Research Institute."

"The Research Institute..."

Upon hearing He Ao’s words, Kalin was taken aback, then let out a low exclamation; his initial wariness and fear dissolved significantly with He Ao’s identification, "You’re from the Research Institute, huh? Those are distant memories. Living here for so long, it feels like I’m almost forgetting all that."

Feiya turned to He Ao, somewhat bewildered, blinking.

Although Newland City-State lay within Moonlight’s domain, she, as the person in charge for Moonlight, seemed like an outsider, oblivious to everything.

He Ao glanced at her and whispered a reminder, "The missing cases."

Feiya quickly caught on, then appeared somewhat dazed, "Weren’t those missing cases all the work of Wester?"

"Most of them might have been Wester’s doing, but Wester mainly targets Transcendents. It’s impossible for him to personally capture ordinary people; he would most likely delegate that to his subordinates. And these ordinary people are the main body of the missing cases,"

He Ao shook his head, "The Research Institute alone, in its previous investigations in Newland, uncovered hundreds of missing cases, and the majority were ordinary people. Not all those people might have been ’taken away’ by Wester’s men; there’s a possibility that true ’missing persons’ got mixed in as well."

After all, the Research Institute is not an official organization of the Newland City-State and doesn’t have access to detailed case files, so the missing cases they uncovered are just the tip of the iceberg.

However, the detailed information about all the disappearances was probably completely covered up by Wester, who was in charge of the Newland City-State at the time.

"You mean," Feiya realized, looking at He Ao, "’The Door’ was opened a long time ago?"

"The approach of space may have a gradual process, right?"

He Ao nodded gently.

In fact, he initially just speculated that there was such a trap, and could not be certain.

It was only after seeing these people who stayed here that he could be completely sure that some of the ’disappeared’ had passed through ’The Door’ and arrived at the Underground Palace.

The convergence of the two worlds was not instantaneous but was a gradual process. During the approach, naturally, some ’Doors’ would open, though the number and quality of these ’Doors’ might not be as abundant as the current state of full opening.

The earliest ’Door’ might have opened a year ago.

Putting Wester at the forefront was indeed a clever move by those behind the scenes, not only to help them muddy the waters but also to shield them from fire.

Without Wester arresting people everywhere, those who first disappeared through ’The Door’ would have become particularly conspicuous.

However, every advantage has its disadvantage, and if Wester had not stolen from the Research Institute, He Ao would not have been drawn here.

Of course, by that point, Wester had no other choice.

The people behind the scenes pushing Wester to the forefront did not necessarily do so just to have a scapegoat.

"If you are talking about how we got here," Kalin interjected cautiously from the side, "almost all of us walked through a door, then suddenly found ourselves here."

"Can you tell us about what happened to you here?"

He Ao looked at Kalin.

"Of course,"

Kalin nodded and led He Ao and Feiya to the row of seats in the front, speaking in a mellow voice, "Where do you want to start?"

"How about we start with this ’settlement’?"

He Ao glanced at the densely packed metal partitions that seemed to be somewhat aged in the hall, "Did you guys transform it into this?"

"Strictly speaking, no,"

Kalin shook his head, looking over at the metal partitions, "These partitions, including the chairs we’re sitting on now, were all here when we first discovered this place. All we did was make use of them."

"So," He Ao looked at those metal partitions, "there were people ’settled’ here before you?"

"Yes,"

Kalin nodded, "That’s our guess as well."

"Then," Feiya asked softly, "when you discovered this place, did you meet anyone living here?"

Although she knew it was unlikely, she still asked the question.

"No,"

Kalin shook his head straightforwardly, "When we discovered this place, it was covered in dust with some decayed remnants of uneaten food scattered on the floor, the bunks were covered with messy bedding of an unknown material, there were traces of human life everywhere, but no ’people’ left behind, and we found no remains or bones,"

"The people who once lived here seemed to have left hastily for some reason and never came back."

"Is it because there was not enough food?"

Feiya asked in turn.

"I don’t know what the situation was like back then,"

Kalin pondered, "but I think their food supply should have been sufficient, at least not so lacking that everyone had to leave."

"Why?"

Feiya looked at him, puzzled.

This question made Kalin think for a moment, then he slowly got up, "Follow me."

The two followed as he led them through the ’corridors’ between the metal partitions.

At this point, He Ao also saw inside the partitioned ’rooms’, mostly occupied by a simple metal bed that seemed to be converted from a table, filling most of the space of the cubicle, with some fiber bedding of unknown material laid out on it.

Most cubicles were unshielded.

A few somewhat frail-looking people stood by the beds, warily observing He Ao and Feiya.

He Ao’s gaze swept over their cheeks, finally resting on a couple who looked significantly healthier than the others, then he withdrew his gaze.

"How many people do you have here?"

He asked casually.

"76," Kalin paused, "That’s the number of survivors."

He didn’t know how many people had entered this place, but only seventy-six were alive here now.

Their footsteps were quick, and in a short time, they had crossed the cubicle area and reached the back of the hall.

There, two huge machines, each about five or six meters in width, were placed.

He Ao glanced at the words on the machines.

As he had expected, the machines were still labeled with instructions in five different languages.

He Ao easily found the script for the second zone and learned the names of the two machines.

[Synthetic Starch Nutrient Bar Production Machine (carbon dioxide fixation type)], [Synthetic Meat Production Machine (pollutant removal type)]

At that moment, both machines were displaying red lights, indicating a lack of "synthetic vitamins," "minerals," "biodegradable packaging plastics," and other consumables.

"We don’t know what these two machines are for,"

Kalin approached the machine on the left and pressed the most conspicuous green button on it.

Boom——

With a loud roar, a silver opening at the front of the machine swung open, and a white, stick-shaped object fell out from inside.

"What is this?"

Feiya’s eyes widened in amazement at the miraculous scene.

"Food,"

Kalin picked up the stick-shaped object and gently pried it open, revealing an inside that resembled osmanthus cake, "It’s sort of like a confection made from rice flour. It’s edible, and we survive on these."

"How is this possible?"

Feiya was clearly struggling to keep up, gazing at the large machine, "Does it store food inside? How can it last for so long?"

"I don’t know,"

Kalin shook his head, "There’s always been an abundance of food inside, producing so much every day, as if it’ll never run out."

"It might actually be able to produce food on its own,"

He Ao glanced at the machine and casually remarked, "Like fixing carbon dioxide from the air into starch."

When he said this, both of them were momentarily stunned.

It wasn’t that the two were enlightened by He Ao’s perspective, rather, judging by their blank expressions, He Ao felt they might not have understood.

He Ao thought for a moment, organized his words,

"The strict definition of photosynthesis in plants is the process of fixing water and carbon dioxide into glucose, starch, and other organic substances. The flour and rice we eat are ’produced’ through photosynthesis like that,

"This machine might be one that can obtain its own raw materials from the air and produce flour."

"Oh! So that’s how it is!"

Feiya clapped her hands, her light brown eyes shimmering with intelligence behind her thin glasses, "Let’s take a look at the machine next to this one."

"Cough."

Kalin coughed, having not fully understood but grasping the ’analogy’ He Ao made later, realizing that the machine they had relied on was perhaps a lifeless ’plant.’

At that moment, he saw that He Ao’s attention had also shifted to the adjacent machine.

So he walked over to the machine on the right and explained, "This machine is different from the one here. It can’t produce food on its own, but if we throw in the toxic flesh of those monsters outside, it can produce ’meat blocks’ that we can eat."

"Sounds like a machine that can remove some kind of harmful substance,"

He Ao glanced at the ’decontamination’ note on the machine and then continued speaking to Kalin, "Doesn’t this mean you have to go out and ’hunt’ yourselves?"

"Yes."

Kalin nodded, lifting the Gauss Gun he wore across his chest, "This is a weapon we found in this hall; though we don’t understand the principle, it has a long range and is powerful."

Following that, he sighed, "When we first found this place, there were only a few people, and eating those white starch blocks with occasional hunting was enough to live by, but now more and more people are coming, especially in the last month, starch blocks aren’t enough, and we have had to go out and hunt every day."

"Hm."

He Ao looked up at the two machines.

With these two machines here, indeed there would be no food shortage, at least not one severe enough to force everyone to leave.

The gate could also withstand the impact of C-level peak monsters.

So why did those ’remnants’ who once stayed here collectively leave?

Noticing He Ao seemed lost in thought, Kalin glanced at Feiya beside him and asked softly, "We still don’t know your names. What are they?"

"Feiya."

Feiya introduced herself.

"He Ao,"

He Ao lowered his head and introduced himself, then looked at Kalin’s body, pondering before asking, "Have you become a Transcendent?"

In the Research Institute’s records, Kalin was an ordinary person.

"Yes,"

Kalin seemed to recall something, let out a slight sigh, "When I first came here, before finding this hall, I was very hungry. I encountered an injured monster and ate some of its flesh and blood, thinking I would surely die. Unexpectedly, I survived and even gained some Transcendent powers, though the process wasn’t very pleasant."

It appeared that Kalin might have eaten some main material of a Talent Sequence from the monster’s body. Compared to advancement through Secret Medicine, this direct consumption of ’main material’ could also lead to ascension, but with a much higher mortality rate and less stability.

Kalin was strictly speaking, a capable person with a sense of morality.

This ’habitat’ already bore slight traces of a Wilderness Wanderer tribe from the Copy World. In such a dangerous environment, order and humanity are the least resistant to testing.

If someone else were managing this place, not as many people might be able to stay alive here.

And those who are alive might not be able to stand like humans.

"By the way,"

After a brief pause, Kalin took the initiative to ask, "Did you also come through ’the door’? Has our ’disappearance’ been discovered outside?"

He paused, then posed the question he had been wanting to ask, "Is there a way for us to get back?"

This question attracted the attention of everyone in the ’settlement.’

"Now, there are doors that have opened all over Newland City-State,"

He Ao thought for a moment and organized his words, "We came in to investigate this matter; to be able to go back, we must resolve the underlying issue, and in this regard,"

He paused, looked at Kalin, "We might need your help."

"What do you need us to do?!"

Kalin immediately straightened up.

"You often go hunting nearby, are you familiar with this ’Underground Palace’?"

He Ao continued to ask.

"Underground Palace? That’s a good name. We have guessed that the area we are in is underground,"

Kalin thought for a moment, then nodded,

"As far as we know, this ’Underground Palace’ has more than one level. Our main hunting area is on this level, which seems to be the topmost and largest layer. We usually call this the first underground level.

"The monsters on this level are not strong. A few of us working together can kill some small monsters. Those creatures you killed just now, the ’Ram Demons,’ are actually the ’overlords’ of this level. We usually avoid them. Under normal circumstances, as long as we’re not injured, they don’t seem to take notice.

"This time, it was because a newcomer had been attacked by a monster before coming here and happened to pass by us, and then we saved him. That’s why we encountered the Ram Demons."

The newcomer Kalin mentioned must be the person He Ao saw on his arrival, the one sitting on the bench by the door with an injured arm.

His entrance to the Underground Palace was just a little in front of where He Ao had entered.

Kalin didn’t elaborate on the man’s situation. Dwelling on it now could easily lead to the new person, who had brought misfortune, being ostracized by the elders, so he merely mentioned it briefly and continued,

"If you go straight down the corridor at the entrance of our settlement and turn a few corners, there is an area that looks like a shopping zone. There, you can find some ’medicines’ and packaged compressed food. We have pretty much explored the entire first underground level,"

He looked at He Ao, "If you want to investigate the truth, you might have to go down a level. Next to the shopping zone, there are stairs and an elevator that lead to the second underground level.

"But the further down you go, the stronger the monsters get. The second underground level has many large plant-like creatures, and the active monsters are very strong. I’ve only been there once and nearly lost half my life, but your strength should make it easy."

"Is there only two levels here?"

Feiya asked from the side.

"No, there’s actually a third underground level,"

Kalin shook his head, "You come out of the stairwell on the second underground level, move forward for a few dozen meters, and after passing a half-closed sluice gate, you can see a destroyed elevator and a stairwell door that have been burst open. Perhaps they lead down to the third level, but I’ve never been there,"

Then he glanced at the sluice gate, "The damage to the stairwell door on the third level looks a bit like it was caused by a ’Ram Demon’ collision. It might be very dangerous down there."

"So, you’re saying the Ram Demons might have come from the third underground level?"

Feiya added.

"Yes," Kalin nodded, "That’s as far as our exploration of the ’Underground Palace’ goes. As for whether there are more levels below the third, we don’t know."

"Hmm,"

He Ao pondered and nodded, looking at Kalin, "Could I trouble you to send someone to guide us to the stairs between the first and second underground levels?"

"I’ll bring some people with you,"

Kalin paused briefly then quickly added, "We need to go out hunting anyway."

"Great," He Ao smiled, "Then we’re in your hands."

----

Newland City-State·Wenlan Island

"Due to the influence of a special astronomical phenomenon, the entire Newland City-State is now closed. Please stay at home, do not go out, do not open any doors that are already closed, and do not close any doors that are open. Please do not casually open any closed doors, I repeat, please do not casually open any closed doors..."

The serious voice of a woman came from the radio, the clock on the wall hit 15:00, and the elderly, with grey hair, looked up at the tightly shut window outside.

The sky was still dark as night.

Tonight seemed particularly long.

"Grandma,"

The little girl suddenly called out softly, tugging at the old woman’s clothes, her eyes intently fixed on the old woman, "I think I heard Mom and Dad’s voices."

"Hmm?"

The old woman turned her head in confusion and looked at the little girl.

"They seem to be saying..."

The girl’s gentle voice slowly rose in the still darkness, "Hurry up and open the door."