The Natives of This World Are So Fierce - Chapter 15: A Terrifying Wish
For two days, Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou had holed up at home without going outside.
According to Doudou, he needed to replenish his nutrients and build up wish power. Perhaps because this world's laws were different, his wish power recovered very slowly here.
Meanwhile, Qin Xiaoxia had stayed at his computer, searching through news reports and other information for anything unusual that might suggest something else had crossed over from another world.
It might not accomplish much, but knowing was still better than not knowing.
Unfortunately, reality fell far short of his hopes. There were far more sensational stories out there than Qin Xiaoxia had imagined, and who knew how many had been fabricated.
Two days of sifting through them had yielded nothing.
Besides eating, Doudou had recently become hooked on the internet. Qin Xiaoxia's tablet had practically become Doudou's personal device.
Thanks to Inspiration Sharing, although acquiring knowledge still took time, skills like typing posed no problem at all.
Like a child newly hooked on the internet, he practically forgot to sleep or eat. No, in Doudou's case, he forgot to sleep, but never to eat.
Normally, whenever Doudou played on the tablet in the living room, the television stayed on.
At that moment, it happened to be showing Yue City's midday news.
"On the thirteenth of this month, three public employees from the Kehua District branch of the Yue City Environmental Protection Bureau-Liu Tong, Zhang Hao, and Shao Feng-went out to investigate river pollution in Qing Town. Following a violation of regulations, they have now been out of contact for over forty-eight hours. Local police have begun an investigation. Any witnesses or anyone with relevant information are asked to provide leads to the police... Liu Tong, male, Han ethnicity, forty-two years old..."
Doudou was playing a certain five-on-five mobile battle game and had no time for the news, but Qin Xiaoxia heard it from his bedroom.
He immediately came out of his room, just in time to catch the end of the report.
"Doudou, the last place they were seen before they disappeared was the Crooked Loach River. Do you think it could have something to do with the source of the pollution?"
"Uh-huh..."
Doudou's game was at a critical moment, and he hadn't caught a word Qin Xiaoxia had said.
Qin Xiaoxia hadn't expected any useful answer from him anyway. Just hearing the news had convinced him that something was wrong with that river.
He patiently waited for Doudou to finish dragging his team down that round. Just as Doudou tried to queue for another match, a large hand pressed down on the tablet.
"Stop playing for a moment. How much wish power have you saved up? Can we make a wish yet?"
Doudou tugged twice, but couldn't pull the tablet free.
"It's almost full. A wish shouldn't be a problem. If we had suitable ore, I could even try minting a coin."
"Minting a coin? What materials would you need?"
Qin Xiaoxia was tempted. After all, a gold coin felt wonderfully hefty in the hand. Even without using it for a wish, he could sell it for a tidy sum.
"Gold ore, of course! The golden kind, in big chunks. Preferably also..."
"All right, stop right there!"
Qin Xiaoxia cut off Doudou's explanation.
"Goddammit, using gold ore to make gold coins... If I had fucking gold ore, would I need to dream about getting rich off gold coins?"
Doudou gave him a scornful look.
"And you call me stupid... If you don't use gold ore to mint gold coins, what do you expect to use? Water?"
Smack! Qin Xiaoxia rapped Doudou on the head.
"Let's just make a wish and find out about the Crooked Loach River's pollution."
After their previous experience, making a wish had largely lost its sacred mystique, but it still made him nervous.
"If we ask a question, who answers us? The coin itself?"
Doudou didn't know much about that either.
"I'm still young. By this world's reckoning, I've only lived seventy years. I've never encountered anyone asking a Saroba Sprite a question as their wish, so I don't know either."
Qin Xiaoxia immediately stared at Doudou, eyes wide.
Not because Doudou didn't know what the wish would do, but because this tiny little fellow was actually seventy years old. What the actual fuck!
"Let's just start. Talking won't get us anywhere. We might as well try."
No ritual was necessary, nor any elaborate preparations. The holder of the Wish Coin simply had to state their wish.
Anytime, anywhere.
It was a very convenient way to make a wish.
Qin Xiaoxia laid the gold coin flat on his palm and said to Doudou,
"We wish to know what has recently caused the pollution in the Crooked Loach River."
The moment Doudou heard the wish, he began producing high-frequency sounds.
Unlike last time, Qin Xiaoxia could understand what the sounds coming from Doudou's mouth meant almost throughout the entire process.
Qin Xiaoxia could now speak this language too, which seemed to resonate in both the ears and the heart. He simply avoided using it because it strained his throat and felt awkward.
"Imodo, fiklaolinqi!"
As the final line of the incantation ended, Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou felt the sofa beneath them jolt.
For no apparent reason, Qin Xiaoxia felt as though someone was watching him, though it might have been his imagination.
Thump!
Next came a powerful sensation of being pressed backward, like a car accelerating, forcing both their backs firmly against the sofa.
Then their vision blurred, and the scenery changed rapidly.
The powerful inertia pinning them back made the force of their acceleration unmistakable.
Their surroundings no longer seemed to be their living room. Instead, it felt as though they were sitting on a sofa hurtling through a hazy mist.
It was actually incredibly thrilling, because the physical sensations were completely real. They could even see each other's hair streaming backward.
But with no protection whatsoever during this flight-like rush, Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou stayed plastered against the sofa, not even daring to raise their heads.
Their hearts lurched with every rise and fall of the sofa. They couldn't even muster the strength to scream.
Their emotions soared and plunged on this wild ride. If those feelings had a voice, both would have sounded much the same, roughly translating to: Holy fuck, we're going to die, we're going to die, we're going to die...
The mist around them grew thinner, and the view ahead became clearer.
Their surroundings looked desolate, yet familiar.
"Water, water, water, water!!!"
Doudou screamed and clung desperately to Qin Xiaoxia, who in turn clung desperately to the sofa.
Where the mist parted ahead, they could clearly see that the rapidly flying sofa was approaching a stretch of water.
Their frantic prayers did absolutely nothing.
Splash!
The high-speed impact sent a tremendous spray of water flying.
Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou plunged into the water along with the sofa.
The sofa didn't slow down at all, and the water felt unnervingly real. The current crashing against their faces was agonizing.
Neither Doudou nor Qin Xiaoxia had gills. Both looked terrified, as though they were about to drown.
People couldn't hold their breath for long while agitated. After forcing himself to do so for a minute under threat of death, Qin Xiaoxia was the first to reach his limit.
In despair, he sucked in a breath of... air?
Yes, what rushed into his nostrils still felt like water, but his lungs received the welcome relief of oxygen, and his body felt no discomfort at all.
He exhaled, then inhaled again.
He really could breathe.
Qin Xiaoxia couldn't help feeling his cheeks, checking whether some strange organ had sprouted there.
Amid his overwhelming relief at surviving, he noticed that Doudou's little face had turned purple from holding his breath. His eyes were rolling back as though he were about to depart this life.
Oh shit, I almost forgot how terrified this guy is of water!
"Hey, hey, hey! Doudou, breathe! You can breathe here!"
Sound could apparently travel through this water too, but Qin Xiaoxia was too busy trying to stop Doudou from "killing himself" to think about that. He shook Doudou frantically.