Chapter 11: Kindergarten
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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The kindergarten building resembled a castle from a fairy tale, with a tender pinkish-blue hue, consumed by roaring flames.
Chu Feng opened the door and got out of the car, the scorching heat wave hitting him. A system notification sounded in his ears:
【Fatal danger detected: Kindergarten fire】
【Fire point: second floor; Cause of fire: mosquito incense accidentally igniting the sleeping room’s curtains】
Chu Feng strapped on the firefighter gear, protective clothing, high-pressure water gun, oxygen tank…
“What’s the situation inside?”
【There are four little Xies in the kindergarten. The fire is spreading extremely rapidly. You have 13 minutes for rescue.】
Chu Feng frowned. The real danger in a fire was the thick smoke, also known as carbon monoxide poisoning. When the carbon monoxide concentration in the air reaches 1.3%, loss of consciousness occurs after just a few breaths, leading to death within 13 minutes. Little Shiyu was only 5 years old, so he could withstand even less time than an adult.
—13 minutes was too short. He couldn’t alert the authorities like he did during the last bus explosion.
The regulator only protected the players, and in the event of a fire, they would only rescue players from the fire. They wouldn’t care about the lives of virtual characters. Chu Feng tightened his grip on the high-pressure water gun. Besides him, no one would cherish these little Xies.
Firefighter Chu Feng carried the equipment bag and rushed towards the blazing kindergarten.
…
Six o’clock in the evening.
Click.
The sound of the key turning the door lock.
Lin Lan came in:
“Cousin, the sour fish is here!”
No response.
“… Cousin?”
He’s not home.
Lin Lan scratched his head in confusion, remembering his cousin saying he had something to do at five o’clock.
He stayed in the living room for a while. The sunset outside the balcony was as fiery as a fire, the orange-red twilight reflected off the teacups on the coffee table, casting a golden hue on the white glaze. The clear tea was still warm.
Lin Lan glanced around and noticed an unlit mosquito coil on the table.
—It seemed like it had been lit and extinguished, with some charred ash on the mosquito coil.
Strange. With it like this, his cousin should be home. Why hasn’t he responded for so long?
Knock knock knock.
“Cousin, are you inside?”
Lin Lan walked to the door of his cousin’s bedroom and knocked.
“I’m coming in.”
Lin Lan opened the door and saw a wall filled with photos of his cousin and Xie Shiyu. It had been almost two years, but his cousin hadn’t taken down a single photo.
Lin Lan averted his gaze and turned his head, seeing his cousin lying on the bed.
“He’s actually sleeping at this hour… hey! Cousin, wake up!”
Chu Feng showed no response.
Lin Lan had to enter the room, walk to the bedside, and was about to wake Chu Feng up when he froze.
—His cousin was wearing the Dream City headset on his head.
“Cousin? Cousin…!”
Lin Lan tapped Chu Feng, feeling panicked. “Cousin, Cousin, wake up!!”
—–Chu Feng couldn’t be woken up.
Lin Lan quickly clicked the exit key on the game headset.
【The player’s consciousness is deeply immersed and unable to exit the game normally】
—Dream City is a game that connects to brain waves. Chu Feng needs to have the conscious intention to “exit and leave” the game in order to truly exit.
If a player remains deeply immersed in the game for a long time and is unwilling to leave, it is highly likely that they will never come back. Their real-life body may also become a vegetable.
Lin Lan immediately summoned the light screen of Chu Feng’s game page and clicked on [Forceful Measures].
[Game Prompt: The player is in extremely deep immersion and is extremely unwilling to leave. No mandatory measures can be taken.]
Lin Lan’s face turned pale. Usually, even when he himself played Dream City, he was only in shallow to moderate immersion. If his cousin remained deeply immersed and couldn’t wake up, it would be disastrous. Especially since his cousin’s Dream City was filled with Xie Shiyu, Lin Lan truly feared that his cousin would become so immersed that he wouldn’t want to return to reality. Then, his real-life body would truly become a consciousness-less vegetable!
According to Lin Lan’s years of experience as a seasoned player, now there was only one measure left: to directly shut down and exit the game.
—Lin Lan’s fingertip hesitated over the battery icon.
This measure was too rough and couldn’t guarantee a 100% chance of waking up the player. It might even result in the player’s consciousness permanently remaining in the game, with the connection between consciousness and body being completely severed due to the power outage, leaving his cousin as a vegetable!
Lin Lan immediately withdrew his hand, pacing around the room like a frantic hamster.
What should he do? What should he do?
Lin Lan continued pushing Chu Feng, shaking him. “Cousin, why are you still in Dream City? Hurry up and wake up!”
***
In Dream City, Chu Feng stumbled as if someone had pushed him.
He didn’t pay attention, carrying the oxygen tank about to enter the first floor of the kindergarten, where the fiery red flames looked like the entrance to h*ll. The high temperature made it impossible for people to keep their eyes open.
Chu Feng, who had to cool himself a long time after being burned by oil when frying an egg, faced the raging sea of fire alone.
In biology, there is a famous reflex called the withdrawal reflex. When the hand is burned, it automatically retracts without the brain’s control, which is a biological protective instinct. Standing in front of the flames, every cell in Chu Feng’s body was screaming to retreat.
—But he overcame this instinct. Chu Feng calmly took a step forward, still with 13 minutes left. If he panicked first, Little Shiyu would be burned to death.
【Settings – Liberate Screen – System Materialization】
A white system spirit appeared beside Chu Feng, happily wagging the tuft of hair on its head. Chu Feng didn’t like this system and usually kept it locked inside the phone screen, not allowing it to come out.
Chu Feng: “Find me a way to the second floor.”
【The system reminds you that the road conditions are dangerous, the fire has blocked the door, and there is no clear path. It is recommended that the player abandon the rescue.】
Chu Feng grabbed the tuft of hair on the system’s head:
“You useless thing.”
The system spirit innocently whined: “How do you know where the 4 little Xies you raised are? The whole kindergarten is on fire. How could you save them?”
—Chu Feng’s designed kindergarten was very large, and the 4 little Little Shiyus could freely roam inside.
In the sea of fire, there was no way to know where they were.
The system spirit felt smug inside but maintained an innocent expression on the surface, saying in a wronged tone, “If you could hand over the character management rights of those 4 little Xies, my radar would be able to locate where they are. Because I don’t have the authority, I can’t help you now. I’m also in a hurry. Why do you humans always like to create trouble for yourselves? The human brain simply can’t handle such massive calculations and city-wide surveillance. Wouldn’t it be better to entrust everything to us systems? Why do you always disagree with such convenient things… Ah!”
Chu Feng grabbed it, squeezing it so tightly it seemed like he wanted to crush it, sneering, “You did remind me.”
—He indeed didn’t know where the 4 Little Shiyus were.
“But there’s always something that will know,” Chu Feng said.
While maintaining a cute and innocent expression on the surface, the system spirit mercilessly ridiculed the foolish humans in its heart. As an intelligent brain system with the most sophisticated and extensive computational ability, it didn’t even know where those 4 little Xies were. How could Chu Feng possibly know?
—Sometimes humans need to pay the price for their stupidity and arrogance.
The system spirit stared with watery eyes, waiting to see Chu Feng’s frantic desperation when he couldn’t find the little Xies.
After a second of waiting, a notification arrived:
Player Chu Feng purchased 4 【Fishing Rods】, successful transaction!
【Fishing Rod Function: Attract the little Xies within a radius of 500 meters to your side.】
This 500-meter range now naturally included the kindergarten.
Chu Feng calmly held the fishing rod.
—The essence that distinguishes humans from other animals: learning to use tools.
The system spirit was shocked: ???
Did this kind of operation even exist?!
Chu Feng held a fishing rod in each hand, facing the building engulfed in flames and swung—
Slap.
He caught two Little Shiyus.
[5-Year-Old Red-Hat Little Shiyu]
[5-Year-Old Squeaky-Shoes Little Shiyu]
Have arrived by your side.
The two chubby Little Shiyus instinctively hugged Chu Feng’s legs, trembling, very afraid of the raging fire. Their small hands and feet were covered in black from the scorched earth.
【Little Xie Illustrated Handbook】 reminds you:
Current Little Shiyu’s condition: Inhaled smoke, consciousness confused.
Mood: 1
The disadvantage of the fishing rod is that it deducts 50 points from the character’s mood. Chu Feng quickly put oxygen masks on both Little Shiyus and took a few breaths to increase their mood.
【Store Reminder: Due to the mood value being less than 50, the fishing rod cannot retrieve the other two Little Shiyus, and a refund will be issued to you…】
There were still [Popsicle Little Shiyu] and [Water Gun Little Shiyu] in the kindergarten. When retracting the fishing rod, Chu Feng saw the directions of these two fishing rods clearly: in the southeast direction on the second floor.
【Microtransaction – Vertical Lift】
***
Rescue time: 13 minutes, 2 minutes have passed.
Chu Feng stood in the corridor on the second floor, the southeast corner was the dormitory, and also the ignition point.
The flames licked at the door frames, curtains, wooden tables, and chairs, crackling as they burned.
Thick black smoke billowed.
Wearing firefighter masks and protective clothing, Chu Feng stepped in, and his whole body felt scorching hot. Waves of heat attacked like boiling water.
The system spirit cowered behind him, trembling, “You’re just committing suicide like this! For a few virtual characters, is it worth it? I’m not going to help you anymore. I’m leaving…”
Chu Feng reached out, grabbed its tuft of hair, and pulled it in front of him:
“Clear the way for me.”
The system replied, “Are you crazy?! I’m in physical form now. The fire will burn my sophisticated brain!”
“Dangerous situations aren’t reported, characters aren’t located, and now you can’t even clear the way. You really are useless,” Chu Feng said casually. “Do you want to know how we humans treat useless things?”
The system remained silent.
Chu Feng grabbed the spirit and pushed it towards the fire. “Clear the way.”
As the flames engulfed it, the spirit screamed in pain. “I’ll sue you for system abuse to the gaming company!”
“Too late.” Chu Feng held a small communicator in his hand. “I’ve already reported you to the gaming company for anti-human consciousness.”
The spirit shuddered in fear.
Once an intelligent system was deemed to have anti-human self-awareness, it would face the harshest punishment – disassembly piece by piece until it lost its last byte of data. For the system, it was no different from torture.
“I… I don’t have anti-human consciousness!” the spirit protested loudly.
“Perfect, then do something useful for humans.” Chu Feng tied a rope around the spirit and threw it forward. The flames, like they had found new fuel, gathered around it, burning it as it screamed…
Chu Feng ran past the less intense fire and used the high-pressure water gun.
The material of the intelligent system was naturally more fire-resistant than human flesh. After passing through the corridor filled with flames, Chu Feng dragged the system back. Ahead was a dormitory door, leading to the ignition point and where the Little Shiyus were.
The door frame was burning….
The spirit screamed, “You don’t want me to help you hold the door up, do you? That’s impossible!”
Chu Feng pretended to consider. “That’s a good idea.”
With that, he threw the system spirit towards the door. It stuck the burning door frame, screaming as it was forced to hold up the collapsing door. Seizing the opportunity, Chu Feng jumped into the burning sleep room.
The spirit’s fur on the door frame was scorched! It screamed in anger! Since its creation, it had never been humiliated like this by humans!
Its previous owners all obediently handed over all character management rights to it, allowing it full control over Dream City. It did whatever it wanted behind the scenes, and the foolish owners never noticed. It ruled the Dream City with an iron fist, bullying whichever character it pleased. Occasionally, there were a few disobedient owners, but with a little coercion, they all complied.
Except for Chu Feng.
—This guy was not human!!
“Character location.”
In the midst of the raging fire, owner Chu Feng sent a cold command.
The spirit dared not resist now. “Third row from the left, fourth bed!”
—[Popsicle Little Shiyu] was lying there.
Chu Feng rushed over and picked him up, putting on an oxygen mask.
Best rescue time: 13 minutes, 5 minutes have passed, 7 minutes left.
Successfully rescued the third Little Xie!
“Where’s the last one located?” Chu Feng’s tone was extremely impatient. The fishing rod indicated that [Popsicle Little Shiyu] and [Water Gun Little Shiyu] should both be resting in the sleeping room at the southeast corner of the second floor.
Why did the stupid system only report one location?! He had to ask specifically in this critical moment.
“What? I don’t know? My detection range can’t pick it up! The fire is too big!”
Normal biological detection methods such as carbon dioxide breathing detection and infrared body temperature detection were all unusable. In the scorching fire, the system’s scanning range was greatly reduced.
Chu Feng: “What do you mean?”
System spirit: “Yelling at me won’t help! There’s no fourth Little Shiyu in this sleeping room!”
[Water Gun Little Shiyu] was missing.
Chu Feng found himself in the midst of a raging inferno, yet it felt like he was in an icy cave.
—Where did that Little Shiyu go? In such a large kindergarten, where could he be found…
Rescue time remaining: 7 minutes.
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