Zhang Heng had already prepared to be fleeced, but the Bartender Lady was unexpectedly acting out of character this time. "Since you sampled my masterpiece, I'll give you a warning. If you're thinking of using the Tule Tree Wooden Box to store items in the game, I suggest you give up on that idea."
"Hm?"
"Didn't I tell you last time? Only game items can freely travel between the game and reality. To ensure fairness, you can't bring things from there back into reality, nor can you bring things from reality in. So the Tule Tree Wooden Box can only help you store game items in the real world. As for the other side, you'll have to figure something out yourself."
"Isn't the Tule Tree Wooden Box a game item?"
The Bartender Lady shook her head. "Things that can be called game items are very rare, even the lowest F-rank ones. Still, some game items can serve a purpose similar to the Tule Tree Wooden Box—it depends on your luck. Or you can wait for the year-end auction. There'll be plenty of good stuff then, provided your pockets aren't empty."
Unable to find anything suitable for storing game items, Zhang Heng had no good solution for the time being. There was no rushing this sort of thing. Fortunately, according to the Bartender Lady, most game items activated upon contact. As long as he was careful and wore gloves or something similar, his safety would improve considerably.
If he stayed any longer, he would probably end up drinking something strange again. Zhang Heng decisively left the bar.
He picked an empty booth and sat down. Sure enough, he found a small alarm clock beneath the seat.
Although the extra twenty-four hours during the last Desert Island Survival had put him through hell, he had to admit that his gains had been considerable as well. Compared to other players, having twelve times more game time had given him more opportunities to explore. Considering the serious consequences of game over, he would still need to rely on this ability in future games.
He just hoped this time would not be another uninhabited wasteland.
After setting the alarm to 23:55, Zhang Heng closed his eyes and rested in the booth.
About half an hour later, dizziness washed over him again. It was as though a nightmare had swallowed him whole, leaving him without the strength to move even a finger.
At the same time, that familiar voice rang out beside his ears once more.
Verifying player identity... Verification successful. Randomly selecting the second-round instance for Player No. 07958... Selection complete—current instance: Tokyo Drift "Tokyo—a global metropolis with a population of thirty-seven million, the undisputed political, economic, and cultural center of Japan. By day, it is a playground for financiers and politicians, yet the truly exciting stories quietly begin only after night falls... As an exchange student from China, can you leave behind a legend of your own here?" Mission objective: Win a championship in an underground modified-car race Mode: Single-player Time flow rate: 360 (1 hour in the real world equals 15 days in this game. The player will be forcibly returned to the real world after 60 days.) Friendly reminder: The game will officially begin in five seconds. Please prepare yourself.
Zhang Heng opened his eyes and found himself standing in the middle of an intersection.
Perhaps someone had heard his earlier prayer. In stark contrast to the desolate island from the first game, he was now completely surrounded by colorful neon lights and billboards.
Countless pedestrians streamed past him, speaking a foreign language he had previously heard only in movies and games. A phone rang somewhere nearby, apparently Mika Nakashima's "The Reason I Thought I'd Die." Among the crowd were teenagers riding bicycles, girls in miniskirts, middle-aged men in suits carrying briefcases and hailing taxis, and even quite a few Western faces. Though it was nighttime, the place seemed livelier than daytime.
Not bad. This really was the largest urban area in the world.
After confirming that his surroundings were safe, Zhang Heng first checked his personal status panel.
Name: Zhang Heng Gender: Male Age: 19 Player No.: 07958 Games completed: 1 Current Game Points: 24 Possessions: Lucky Rabbit's Foot (E) Mastered skills: Piano Level 1, Language Mastery Level 1 (two languages at conversational level), Archery Level 2, Wilderness Survival Level 2 Evaluation: This player possesses luck slightly above that of an ordinary person, but has little else worth mentioning. He has some wilderness survival and archery skills. Estimated to be unable to survive past the first five rounds.
Although Zhang Heng had been practicing rock climbing and photography over the past month, neither skill appeared to have broken past Level 0, so neither showed up among his mastered skills.
Besides that, the biggest change was the addition of a possessions tab. At the same time, the Lucky Rabbit's Foot had slightly changed his evaluation. He had finally escaped being utterly unremarkable, but for now, he still looked like the kind of extra who would not survive past episode five.
After confirming his condition, Zhang Heng turned his attention back to his surroundings. The place he was in was extremely bustling. Directly across from him stood a shopping mall, its giant display screen cycling through advertisements for Sony headphones. The surrounding area was packed with shops and signs, with dense buildings and crowds everywhere.
This place... looked a little like Shibuya.
When Zhang Heng was very young, he had once come to Tokyo with his mother for an academic conference. His memories from that time were vague, though. The conference had been long, and he spent most of that week in their hotel room. Only on the final day had he gone shopping in Shibuya with his mother. Before leaving, he had bought a PSP, so he retained a slight impression of the place.
Drawing a game instance set in a civilized society was certainly a good thing, but his current situation was somewhat awkward.
The biggest problem was that Zhang Heng did not understand Japanese Language at all. Japanese did contain many Chinese characters, and he could roughly guess the meaning of some nearby signs, but that level of understanding definitely would not be enough to complete the mission. Besides... they could not just dump him here, could they?
Since the background information mentioned that he was an exchange student, he presumably did not need to worry about accommodations. But it had not stated the name of his school. Tokyo had dozens of national, public, and private universities combined. Asking about them one by one would be the death of him.
At a time like this, he should first see what he had on him.
Zhang Heng began searching his pockets. Just then, a girl in a short skirt ran toward him, panting as she held two ice cream cones. "Zhang, you're here! Thank goodness! You scared me to death. I thought I'd lost you on your first day here."
The girl finally let out a sigh of relief when she saw him, but at that moment, the green light across the street began flashing.
"Ah, no, we're running out of time. Hurry!"
As she spoke, the girl grabbed his hand.
Ah, sorry, sorry. There may only be one update today. I originally wanted to write a little about the Japanese yakuza, since they are part of the culture and hard to avoid, but then I suddenly remembered that anything involving organized crime gets censored. It does not work domestically or abroad, so I revised the outline again. Better to play it safe. ⊙ω⊙
Before you continue