Xu Xi did not know his live stream was being watched by a large number of people right now, nor did he realize some viewers were mocking him in the chat because he kept quiet.
He leaned against the backrest, thinking that this instance’s opening seemed relatively friendly so far, and he hadn’t encountered any obvious death rules.
It wasn’t like the last instance, where he died within minutes.
Of course, it was also possible something big was coming later.
"Fasten your seatbelts, we're moving." Tan Xingyun gave a reminder, then started the vehicle.
As the car kept moving forward, the view outside the windows slowly retreated.
There wasn’t much to see anyway, the areas beyond the road were covered in thick fog that hid everything, making it impossible to make out anything inside.
Staring at it for too long made one unavoidably drowsy.
Xu Xi was jolted awake by that drowsiness and realized he had been staring at the white fog for a long time.
Suppressing the aftershock, he quickly turned his head and avoided looking outside again.
Just now he had been thinking there were no death rules, and then almost fell victim because he wasn’t paying attention!
He had a strong premonition that if he had looked for two more seconds, he probably wouldn’t have woken up.
Cursing silently in his head, Xu Xi turned to look at the other teammates in the car.
Tan Xingyun in the driver’s seat kept his eyes focused on the road ahead, occasionally adjusting the steering wheel. Xu Xiuman in the passenger seat quietly reminded him about conditions outside, while Li Kang was snacking.
Noticing Xu Xi’s gaze on him, Li Kang awkwardly wanted to scratch his head, but because he was holding the snack bag he couldn’t move freely, so he simply offered an embarrassed smile and explained, "When I get nervous I like to eat."
He quickly extended the snack toward Xu Xi, "Do you want some?"
"…" Xu Xi shook his head and politely declined Li Kang’s offering.
Fine, it seemed he was the only one who got bored and stared at the fog long enough to almost get wiped.
Feeling annoyed, Xu Xi closed his eyes to rest and refused to look anywhere.
[Did Xu Xi just discover something?]
[Hey, why isn’t he being called 2 minutes 48 seconds anymore?]
[Too long, typing it each time is a pain]
[He was staring out the window for a long time just now, when he snapped out of it his face looked bad, is there something dangerous outside?]
[Then why didn't he tell the others, he just closed his eyes right away]
[Maybe it's inconvenient to say? I saw him glance at everyone earlier, maybe he relaxed only after not finding anything unusual]
[Could be, maybe if he said something the others would pay attention and that could cause danger, some instances use that trick]
Even though some viewers in the chat mocked Xu Xi’s silence and aloofness, he still carried the halo of having speed-run the instance. So whenever he made an extra move, netizens would analyze its deeper meaning.
One could even say that because Xu Xi wasn’t the sharp, ostentatious player they expected, viewers watched his every move more seriously and amplified the significance of his actions.
"Up ahead… that must be Daoji Highway!" Xu Xiuman’s voice suddenly sounded inside the car.
Xu Xi immediately opened his eyes and, along with Li Kang who had also paused his snacking, looked out through the windshield.
Not far ahead stood a road sign that indeed read Daoji Highway.
"Looks like it. Get ready, we’re about to enter it." Tan Xingyun’s tone carried weight; his tension was obvious.
Xu Xiuman gripped her seatbelt until her fingertips went white.
Li Kang clutched his snack bag tighter and swallowed repeatedly.
Xu Xi also sat up straight, ready at any moment for an emergency.
[This is making me so nervous ahhh]
[Here's a tip: cover your eyes with your hand, then peek through your fingers]
[Does that help?]
[No idea, but that's exactly what I do]
[…]
At least the chat could lighten the atmosphere with jokes. The four in the instance could only choke down their fear and enter the road rumored to lead to the underworld.
"This road is pretty bumpy!" Shortly after entering the highway, Tan Xingyun couldn’t help commenting.
Xu Xi felt nauseous from the jolting; he was already prone to motion sickness and this made it worse.
"Holy—there are so many graves by the roadside!!" As Xu Xi struggled to suppress the bile rising in his throat, Li Kang shouted and nimbly scooted close to him, pressing against him.
He turned to look out the window and saw countless burial mounds lining both sides of the road, appearing as if they had materialized out of nowhere. More importantly, each grave had a lot of paper money and burning incense candles in front of it, as if someone were performing a ritual.
As if to confirm Xu Xi’s suspicions, the next moment figures suddenly appeared before those once-empty graves. They wore different clothes, but each wore a strange smile and their gaze uniformly locked on the black sedan in the middle of the road.
The closer the car drove, the closer those spectral figures drew to them.
"Do we keep going?" Xu Xiuman asked with a pale face.
The graves and the spectral crowd triggered her fear of dense clusters.
"We have to go." When he saw the many burial mounds, Tan Xingyun had already slowed the car down, and even with cold sweat in his palms he answered the denim skirt woman's question without hesitation.
"No, I mean—look, there’s a lot of scattered paper money in front of those graves. Didn’t we buy some from that funeral shop? Should we use them here?" Even though she was scared, Xu Xiuman forced her voice to remain organized.
It was obvious these specters were coming for them.
As they moved forward, the specters closed in. At this rate they’d be surrounded.
Xu Xiuman’s idea made the other three pause and think.
"You have a point. Let’s throw the paper money out and see." Tan Xingyun soon agreed to the plan.
Xu Xi and Li Kang had no objections.
Except for Tan Xingyun who had to drive, the other three took turns tossing paper money out the windows.
The good news was the paper money did slow the specters down.
The bad news was they simply did not have enough paper money to push the car completely out of the grave-lined stretch.
[Not watching anymore, it’s hopeless]
[Don't be so sure, nobody knows if a miracle won't happen before the end]
[I thought this newcomer Xu Xi was some hotshot, but looks like that first instance was just luck]
[Sigh, the higher the expectations, the deeper the disappointment]
Unlike the pessimistic chat, Tan Xingyun clearly still wanted to fight. Gritting his teeth he said, "Sit tight, I'll try to rush straight through!"
Xu Xiuman and Li Kang showed despair on their faces, eyes full of unwillingness and fear.
They weren’t ready to die.
Xu Xi clenched his fists and watched the specters draw ever closer, knowing they couldn’t break through.
This second instance was about to be the first time he died.
Before his consciousness completely vanished, Xu Xi resigned himself.
Fine, restart.