Chapter 1: Departure

Chapter 1: Departure

In an utterly ordinary little house, a woman's impatient voice echoed incessantly.

"Aunt Wang introduced you to so many fine young men, yet none of them caught your fancy? Why is that?"

The woman speaking narrowed her eyes dangerously. "You're not following some trend and deciding to stay single, are you?"

Her slightly curly hair moved mysteriously even without the wind, as if it were a nest of wriggling snakes.

Zhou Qian was at a loss as to how he had come up with such a ghastly metaphor for his mother who had raised him. He forced a smile, "How could I?"

His mother was growing impatient, "Then what kind of person are you looking for exactly?"

Zhou Qian candidly shrugged, "Someone who can grace the halls and tend to the kitchen, someone who will cook for me no matter how late I return, tirelessly and selflessly enduring all hardships... Someone who never questions my relationships with others, even if they're ambiguous."

Just then, his boss's call came in. Zhou Qian answered it immediately, his tone ingratiating, "Hello, Boss..."

"The client still prefers the first version of the plan. To be safe, create another version over the weekend. Send both on Monday to demonstrate our utmost sincerity. That way, they won't have any complaints..."

Zhou Qian hastily agreed, finally ending the conversation with his boss, and continued to his mother, "In short, if you find someone who meets those conditions, I'll settle down immediately."

Having said that, without bothering about his silent mother standing there, he turned around and went back to his room.

Once inside, Zhou Qian let out a long sigh of relief.

A normal girl would be lucky not to bash her head in after hearing such demands; how could she possibly come for a blind date?

After such a scoundrel's speech, things should calm down for a while.

Zhou Qian was indeed a proponent of celibacy, and his mother had sensed this in the past; yet both had tacitly avoided the subject.

But since a heavy fog three years ago, everything changed. Those once tiny hopes were magnified into obsessions. To defy these obsessions of certain people...

Zhou Qian couldn't help but shudder, trying to prevent certain memories from surfacing in his mind.

Fortunately, according to his observations, only a select few behaved this way, with most citizens remaining normal.

At night, Zhou Qian worked overtime on a plan. Around one o'clock in the morning, there came a knock at his door.

Zhou's mother entered with a cup of warm milk, smiling, "Hard work on the overtime, dear."

Zhou Qian had just picked up the milk cup.

"Your ideal partner, your mother has found for you."

"Cough, cough..." Zhou Qian nearly choked, subconsciously checking the time—it had been less than five hours.

Zhou's mother: "Get some sleep early, and find time tomorrow to tie the knot."

Casually as if the boss had just announced overtime for the weekend.

Just as Zhou Qian was about to speak, his mother gently interrupted, "The other party has no objections, so let's go ahead with the banquet. I'll collect all the 'molecular money' I've given out over the years."

"Marriage isn't a game..."

At that moment, another person entered the room - Aunt Wang, a good friend of Zhou's mother. She lived downstairs and often chatted with Zhou's mother late into the night.

Aunt Wang looked at Zhou Qian, her words carrying a deeper meaning: "Qian, getting married early would fulfill your mother's greatest wish."

Zhou Qian instantly understood the other party's implication.

Once married, would his mother's obsession be resolved and things return to normal?

Anyway, without registering the marriage, he could discuss with the woman to see if she would cooperate for a performance on that day for hire.

Thinking this way, Zhou Qian agreed to this absurd marriage.

Before sleeping, he couldn't help but wonder, which girl in her right mind would agree to marry him after he had put forward those conditions?

The groom was informed about his wedding only in the evening, and all the guests received their electronic invitations past two in the morning. As for the bride... Zhou Qian didn't even get to see her when she arrived at the venue the next day.

To put it nicely, it was a hotel, but in reality, it was merely a larger restaurant. Neither its decor nor facilities met the standards of an actual hotel.

"Could there be a more haphazard wedding than this?"

In the worn-out little room, Zhou Qian, dressed in a sharp dark suit, muttered to himself.

The mirror reflected a face tinged with resignation.

The young man inside had brows like distant mountains and long hair of a silver-blue hue—a color that might seem odd on most people, but paired with his pale, slender frame and tall stature, it suited him remarkably well.

His eyes were the finishing touch; upon closer inspection, they seemed to contain faint ice crystals, imparting a sense of detachment from the mundane world.

"Qian, hurry up, the wedding is about to start." A voice urged from outside the door.

Zhou Qian heaved a sigh, binding his hair with a tie, then concealing the peculiar silver-blue strands with a wig. Finally, he donned glasses with thick lenses.

The fake bangs were long, almost covering half of his eyebrows, and his thick eyelashes were habitually drooped, making him appear listless overall.

In an instant, the image of a demonic youth was replaced by that of a humble salaryman.

Zhou Qian tried to curve his lips, giving an innocent smile to the mirror.

After the heavy fog three years ago, he wasn't entirely unchanged; for instance, his hair often grew wildly, and its color had altered too. Zhou Qian once disguised himself to undergo a medical check-up at the hospital, and the report showed all indicators to be normal. In the end, it could only be attributed to a postnatal mutation.

"Mom," Zhou Qian opened the door, asking with a standard smile, "Isn't it a bit too early?"

Who gets married at seven in the morning?

This isn't just being eager; it's chasing the wind and pursuing lightning.

"I specifically had someone calculate it, they said this is the auspicious hour."

A twitch appeared at the corner of Zhou Qian's mouth.

On the bright side, marriage isn't entirely without benefits—at the very least, he can take a honeymoon leave. God knows he hasn't taken an annual vacation in three years.

He had also sent an electronic invitation to his boss, praising the latter's busy schedule and implying that there was no need for him to make a special trip to attend. It was a subtle hint that his presence wasn't required, just his contribution and some time off.

You get what you pay for, and if it's your own wool, you might as well shear back as much as you can.

"Is the bride done with her makeup?" Zhou Qian asked.

Zhou's mother had previously mentioned that the bride was a bit shy and there was no need for him to pick her up for the wedding.

"Of course," said Zhou's mother. "I personally helped her with her makeup."

She led Zhou Qian down.

Three minutes later, Zhou Qian stood in the banquet hall, where directly ahead of him, a hotel pillar had lost a layer of paint, revealing its grayish-white lime beneath. A few waiters were lazily arranging tables and chairs. Not far from the pillar, Aunt Wang had set up a small table in front of her, responsible for registering guests and collecting wedding contributions.

There was still an hour to go before the wedding, and hardly any guests had arrived. Only one colleague, fresh off the night shift from the company, had come over to congratulate him with dark circles under his eyes.

"Happy wedding, where's the bride?" The colleague looked around.

Good question.

Zhou Qian also had questions, so he looked at his mother with the same doubt.

Mother Zhou: "It's on the table."

The only things on the table now were some jerky and other small snacks. Zhou Qian and his colleague both had a sudden jolt of realization, and his colleague was instantly sobered by the shock.

Mother Zhou pointed to the round table at the front.

All the wedding chairs had bows tied with white gauze behind them, so when Zhou Qian first saw something with white gauze tied to it, he didn't think much of it. But upon closer inspection, there was actually a rice cooker draped in a wedding gown in the front row.

Out of place and comically so.

The colleagues were speechless, whose wedding has a rice cooker on the table?

Zhou Qian's expression flickered several times, as if recalling something, he strained to open his mouth: "Mom, that can't be..."

Mother Zhou nodded: "The bride."

Zhou Qian's countenance shifted slightly: "Are you joking?"

Mrs. Zhou suddenly turned serious, repeating verbatim what he had said last night: "How can something as significant as marriage be taken lightly?"

"But you can't marry a rice cooker either!"

Mrs. Zhou remarked calmly, "You're not the first to marry a rice cooker in this world, nor even among the top three. Our mortgage won't be fully paid off until thirty years from now, and with all the demands you've made, who else could meet them but it?"

Zhou Qian argued on principle, "It's a cooker, and I'm a human being."

"So what?"

"..."

His audacity left his colleagues so startled that they swallowed hard.

Mrs. Zhou's amiable gaze shifted: "Young man, don't drool over someone else's bride."

Colleague: "Apolo... apologize."

After a few words of advice, Mrs. Zhou continued to greet the guests. The colleague tugged at Zhou Qian's sleeve, his first reaction being: "If the boss sees your bride, we're doomed."

It all seemed like a farce, and for such a farce, the boss was even expected to contribute his share of the money.

The two employees were actually prioritizing their superior's thoughts first.

Zhou Qian looked at the rice cooker with two red cheeks painted on it, his eyelids twitched: "The boss probably won't come."

Colleague: "…But I saw his step count keep rising."

That meant he was on his way over.

Having worked in the service industry for so long, his colleague had seen it all, except ghosts. Calming down, he suggested, "Why don't you just elope with your 'bride'?"

"..." To elope with your own bride at your wedding venue, you're quite the little genius.

At this point, several guests began to arrive, discussing the bride with Aunt Wang as they took out their gift money.

"Why aren't there any photos hung outside?"

"Old Wang, didn't you say Xiao An didn't have a girlfriend at the beginning of the year?"

"How stunning must she be, to have bewitched such a composed young man into a hasty marriage."

Aunt Wang, feeling guilty, said, "She's not exactly beautiful, but she cooks very well."

"Oh, that's impressive! Many young people these days don't even step into the kitchen."

"..." Zhou Qian finally walked silently over to the rice cooker. "Perhaps we should just go through with it."

At worst, it would be rumored that he disappeared on his wedding day. That would be far better than him leading a rice cooker onto the stage in front of everyone, only to bend down and slip a ring onto the power cord.

As for his mother's "illness," Zhou Qian felt it was beyond cure.

The other party had not only crossed gender but had directly leaped across species. This obsession was absolutely not something that could be rectified by him getting married.

Just as Zhou Qian was contemplating how to escape with the rice cooker without anyone noticing, a faint scent of blood wafted in from outside the window. The unique stench of a seafood market almost made him gag.

The hygiene in this hotel was truly terrible.

His colleague suddenly stood ramrod straight, staring out the window in surprise and saying, "It's fogging up."

Zhou Qian also looked up.

The mist wasn't a normal color; it seemed as if some special fluorescent agent had been added to the air, creating an unnaturally overexposed atmosphere.

Because the smell was truly unbearable, the waiter hurried to close the windows.

However, the fog moved much faster than the waiter.

In an instant, the entire banquet hall turned into a sea of white.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know, who's going to turn on the lights?"

"What good will turning on the lights do?"

Initially, Zhou Qian could still hear people panicking and asking what was happening, but later, these sounds eerily vanished.

The world was terrifyingly quiet.

He was like a person with night blindness, feeling his way forward through the fog. Gradually, he couldn't even touch the tables and chairs anymore. The mist enveloped his entire body, and the further he walked, the more he felt a sense of weightlessness.

Something even more absurd than marrying a rice cooker had happened: getting lost at the wedding banquet.

Stumbling blindly, he didn't know how long he had walked until the situation finally improved slightly—the fog had dissipated somewhat. Zhou Qian sighed in relief and tentatively called out, "Mom, Aunt Wang... where are you..."

"Mom—"

Not long after calling out the second 'mom,' a voice suddenly came from above:

"Whose mom? I'm male."

A giant rabbit face appeared before him.

Zhou Qian stumbled back, nearly falling. He bit his tongue to stay alert, squinting his eyes and trying to look through the dense fog at the strange creature that had suddenly appeared.

Before him, there was now a man in a tuxedo with a rabbit head, standing over two meters tall. After bending down to look at Zhou Qian for a few seconds, it grinned, revealing its teeth. "Look, the last lucky player has arrived."

As soon as it finished speaking, the fog completely dissipated.

Zhou Qian's first thought was of the peculiar rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

Reality was clearly not a fairy tale.

Apart from the oddly shaped rabbit person, there were five others who looked human, not counting himself. Three of them seemed calm and collected, while the other two, one sitting on the ground and the other struggling not to tremble.

"Huh, doesn't seem too shocked. Is this new guy scared stiff or genuinely so calm?"

Zhou Qian followed the sound of the voice. The speaker was one of the calm ones. According to the peculiar rabbit, let's call him a player for now.

It hopped to the center of the area, bowing elegantly. "This instance has three new players and three old players."

"As a qualified veteran, I'll explain the rules to the new players first. Let me introduce myself; you can call me Mr. S."

"Rest assured, all instances I participate in are full of joy!"

It comically spread its noodle-like, slender arms wide. "I am dedicated to bringing everyone joy."

"There are many staff members like me in the instances, but we have different focuses..."

"Some of my colleagues are enthusiastic about joy, some prefer sorrow, and some... are only interested in the aesthetics of violence... They will continuously increase the difficulty of the instances."

Zhou Qian listened quietly, summarizing point by point amidst Mr. S's exaggerated tone:

Firstly, he had been selected to participate in a game;

Secondly, every instance would be equipped with a staff member;

The themes of the instance content could be summarized as sadness, joy, and a mix.

"You entered during the hour of the hare, so I'm in charge."

The theme elements of the instance depended on the time the players entered.

Players entering during the hours of the rat, ox, and tiger would participate in instances primarily focused on sorrow, while those entering during the hours of the hare, dragon, and snake would experience the opposite. If a player entered during any of the hours of noon, goat, or monkey, the instance content would have both sorrow and joy.

The first nine hours were fine, as the concepts of sorrow and joy were not fixed. However, if someone entered precisely during the hours of the rooster, dog, or pig, they would be extremely unlucky, as the difficulty of the instance would be raised by a level.

The twelve hours represented a day, which referred to the game's short name—"Day."

Zhou Qian's lips twitched; he should have known that getting married at seven in the morning was unreliable!

The auspicious hour had indeed arrived.

The peculiar rabbit's large red eyes scanned over the three new players. "Being chosen to come here proves that you are qualified individuals, and it is also your honor."

The latter half of the sentence was debatable, but the first part was true.

If a normal person suddenly appeared in such an unfamiliar place, someone with a slightly timid nature might break down from fear. But the three new players had at least managed to remain relatively calm under the circumstances.

Mr. S said with a smile, "New players will receive a grand welcome package!"

When he said this, Zhou Qian keenly noticed that the expressions of the old players changed in various ways; some wore mocking smiles, others looked gleeful at the misfortune of others, and still, others seemed to be watching a show.

Among the old players was a brother-sister pair. The sister, who was tying her hair, whispered, "Brother, there are so many new players in this instance. How nice."

The old players knew what the phrase "how nice" truly meant—it implied that when necessary, they could push the new players out to take the hit.

Using new players as shields had proven effective time and again.

Mr. S bowed again, his long arms gathering the three new players together. "The choice you make next will directly determine how much newcomer benefits you will receive. Remember, you must give up something to gain something."

He then said, "The three joys of life: meeting old friends in a foreign land, the wedding night, and being listed on the imperial examination results... You have all recently experienced the happiest moments of your lives."

He looked at the middle-aged man and said, "If you were to abandon your old friend..."

The middle-aged man's expression changed, and Mr. S then looked at the college-bound student. "If you were to sacrifice your mentor..."

The college-bound student clenched his fists tightly.

Finally, Mr. S looked at Zhou Qian. "If you were to kill the bride..."

"I'm willing."

Without even listening to what the choice would entail, Zhou Qian answered immediately.

Mr. S was taken aback, and for a moment, even the old players looked over.

Zhou Qian looked as solemn as if he were exchanging marriage vows before a priest. When he didn't receive an immediate response, he repeated himself.

"I wouldn't mind dismembering her either."

The college-bound student and the middle-aged man, who had probably never seen someone so ruthless, were stunned, their jaws hanging open.