Chapter 3

The page started off with the large words “Fengxi Town” right on top, followed by the words that everyone heard in their heads before being transported to this place. The rest of the page was entirely blank after that, and it looked like it was purposely left that way. Su Jin turned to the next page and realized that the words “Difficulty Level: B” were written at the bottom of the page.

“Difficulty level? Is that referring to how dangerous this is going to be?” thought Su Jin. There were clearly varying levels of difficulty, but he had no idea what that actually entailed.

He read every word on the first page very carefully, afraid that he would miss something. Liu Yingying had told him that this book would help them to survive, so perhaps there were some details hidden in these words.

“Everyone, take a look at your own Handbooks and see if there are any differences in the content,” said Su Jin to the other three.

They opened their own copy and compared it across all four copies, but the content in all the books was completely identical. Zhang Jing asked Su Jin, “It’s all the same. Do you see anything special in these words?”

“According to the Handbook, something happened to Fengxi Town 50 years ago. It just says that all the villagers disappeared overnight, but it doesn’t state whether they died or not. Every ten years, the extinguished lights of Fengxi Town light up again… does that mean the villagers of Fengxi Town will return? Or does it mean that the thing that caused the villagers to disappear back then is going to appear again tonight?”

“Also, the ‘crazy’ in ‘crazy night’ here definitely refers to the danger we’re about to face, but what does ‘night’ itself mean? Is it referring to the time between sunset and sunrise, or is it referring to an event that happens at night? There are too many unanswered questions here. If we don’t get a better understanding of all these things, we’ll be forced into a lot of unwanted situations.”

The other three who were listening to Su Jin talk, were completely stumped. And of them, Chu Yi said, “It’s just a few lines, but you’re able to analyze them so much? You’re amazing!”

“Oh, I like solving mysteries like these in my free time, that’s all,” said Su Jin with a laugh. When he was a student, he actually set up a club in school with a few other friends who liked these sorts of things. They weren’t great sleuths1, but it wasn’t difficult for them to pick up a few clues from any text given to them. He also figured out that the aloof young man earlier and Liu Yingying had probably discovered these clues pretty easily too.

“So, what do we do now?” Yang Zichen’s eyes were filled with fear as he said these words. And it wasn’t really surprising that a teenager would be scared in such a situation. The fact that he didn’t just burst out crying was already a sign of how brave he was trying to be. Chu Yi was trained in martial arts, so he was a little less timid compared to Yang Zichen.

It was clear that the other three looked towards Su Jin as their leader, but Su Jin was usually the more easy-going sort of person and had never taken up a leadership position before. However, he couldn’t really push this responsibility to someone else since the rest of the people on the team included two teenagers and a frightened young lady.

“Just now, Liu Yingying mentioned that it’s going to start in about ten minutes, so during this time, we’re probably safe. But those ten minutes are almost up, so I think we’d better enter the village first.” Both Liu Yingying and the aloof young man had headed straight for the village ahead, and it was also obvious from the way they spoke that this wasn’t the first time that this was happening to them. In other words, they were veterans. And if the veterans chose to enter Fengxi Town immediately, newbies like Su Jin and the rest should also logically follow in their footsteps.

“Do we really have to go in? It seems safe here, so why don’t we just stay here until daybreak?” After she glanced at the sheaves next to her, the village ahead, which was illuminated with bright lights, terrified Zhang Jing even more. It was as if the village was a gigantic wild beast that was baring its fangs and was ready to gobble up anybody who came close.

Su Jin shook his head and said, “If this place were safe, the two veterans wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to enter the village. I’m afraid that once whatever is going to start, starts, something terrible will happen to us if we remain here.”

And so, all four of them started walking towards the village. The entire place was brightly lit, but there was no sign of life at all. As they walked towards the village, Su Jin said to them, “If 6 am is the time when most people consider the night to be over, then we’ll have to stay here for around eight hours or so.”

“Eight hours? Not six?” asked Yang Zichen timidly after blinking in surprise.

“It was around 10 pm when I got here, so it’s eight hours to 6 am,” said Chu Yi matter-of-factly.

But Yang Zichen replied, “That doesn’t sound right. It should have been around midnight when I got here. I was doing some revision for school and got tired of my textbooks, so I reached for some books on my shelf and ended up with this Handbook!”

“Midnight?! Why do I remember that the time I came here was still only 4 pm?!” Zhang Jing exclaimed.

Su Jin stared at them for a moment, then asked, “We’re all from the same country, right?”

All three of them nodded.

Su Jin frowned and pondered this matter for a while before saying, “Since we’re all from the same country and our country doesn’t have different time zones, then… perhaps the Handbook has the ability to warp time somehow, so even though we were transported here at different times, the time here is controlled by the Handbook and starts running again only when all of us have arrived. That’s why we entered the Handbook’s world at different times but appeared in Fengxi Town at the same time.”

“Or perhaps the Handbook has control over our consciousness, so it makes us lose our consciousness and wakes us up only when everybody has arrived here. But because nobody is able to tell how much time has passed accurately while you’re asleep, we all think that we appeared in this place instantly.”

Su Jin’s explanation wasn’t the best, but at least it was plausible. Besides, what everyone wanted was an answer that could make them feel less worried, and not necessarily the real answer. The unknown is the most terrifying thing, after all.

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