The Creatures That We Are

They had to continue the chain for three minutes without making a mistake to end the game. If anyone failed to think of a word, the person would die, and the game would restart.

Every word they said would turn into concrete form or manifest in other unpredictable ways, having an effect on those inside the realm.

It seemed now that the realm was limited in space. If they kept saying words referring to large items, the space would quickly be filled up, which wouldn’t be ideal to them.

“Three, two, one.”

“Cigarettes (xiang yan)!”

Edmond calmly said the word at the last second to minimize the times they had to keep up the game.

Three minutes, that was 180 seconds. If they all uttered the word at the last second, they would only have to chain words 36 times.

Boom!

A pixelated cigarette appeared on the ground, taking up basically no space.

Then the rainbow light flew to Ke Yo.

“Tobacco (yan cao).”

She said the word when the moderator counted down to two. A green plant sprouted at her feet.

The rainbow light moved to Gao Yang, shrouding him. He sensed an irresistible strange power dominating over him. While it wasn’t forceful, it was impossible to fight it.

“Five, four, three, two, one...”

“Straw shoes (cao xie),” Gao Yang said at the last second.

A pair of pixelated straw shoes appeared.

“Shoe box,” Vermilion Bird said after five seconds.

“Boxed rice,” Qiu Qiu said after five seconds.

“Rice ball (fan tuan),” then Can did the same.

“Ah...ah...” Zhou Jing had been panicking, and she stuttered, finally coming up with a word at the last second, “Together (tuan jie)!”

Whoosh!

Suddenly, an intangible force pulled the eight of them together. They pressed against each other with their limbs intertwined like braids, falling on the pixelated sofa.

“Ahhhh...”

“Calm down... Calm down...” Gao Yang squeezed out, struggling.

Like a magnet, Can’s body was plastered against Gao Yang’s back.

Vermilion Bird was in an even worse state. She had resisted reflexively when the force pulled her over. She thus ended up almost upside down as she flew toward the others. As a result, her calves were crossed like a scissor pressing against Gao Yang’s neck, making it difficult for him to breathe.

“...R...r...” Lin Dajian’s mind went on overdrive, “Release!”

“Whoa!”

Instantly, they were released from the invisible power tying them together.

“Five, four...” Before they could take a breath, the countdown mercilessly continued.

“l...” Edmond was stuck.

“Three, two, one...”

“Tie up (shu fu)!” Edmond finally thought of a word.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Instantly, countless zip ties appeared around the eight of them and quickly tied them up, forcing the eight of them back together.

“Ah! Hmph...”

There were pained cries everywhere.

When Gao Yang recovered, Can’s right cheek was pressed to his left cheek, and Vermilion Bird ended up sitting on his abdomen. Their limbs twisted together in an awkward, tangled mess

Ke Yo stuttered while trying to think of a word.

Gao Yang cursed in his head. What’s a possible word chain? I can’t think of any.

“Three, two, one...”

“Shabby abode (fu mao)!”

Boom!

The entire room of the realm transformed into a shabby straw house that was even smaller.

Gao Yang marveled quietly, You’re quite well-learned, thinking of such an obscure word.

The rainbow light jumped to Gao Yang again.

Gao Yang shouted immediately, “Clarity of Mind (mao se dun kai)!”

The first thing Gao Yang thought of was actually mao fang, toilet, but if he did say the word, the space would likely get even smaller, and it would smell terrible.

So Gao Yang went for a four-word idiom as an experiment. If it didn’t work, he would go for mao fang.

It turned out that a four-word idiom was allowed.

He suddenly felt his mind becoming refreshed and stimulated, his brain working better than normal, allowing him to think of more words and four-word idioms.

The others experienced the same thing.

“O...open (kai fang)!” Vermilion Bird, sitting on Gao Yang’s stomach, uttered the word.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The zip ties tying them together were released immediately.

They were allowed temporary reprieve.

“Relief (fang xin)!” Qiu Qiu continued with the word chains. With the help of “clarity of mind”, his thinking became much more flexible.

Conceptual words didn’t take up space and posed no danger, while they could apply buffs on them. Thus, Qiu Qiu decided to go for positive conceptual words.

Indeed, everyone became much calmer, their panic and fear lessening.

After Gao Yang and Qiu Qiu went for conceptual words, Can learned from their examples and shouted at the last second, “Wish (xin yuan)!”

Rumble.

There was a short, low rumble, and the game came to a pause.

A magic lamp embedded with emeralds appeared. From the tapered opening came a puff of blue smoke, which morphed into a glinting blue genie.

It looked at Can and asked with a smile, “Did you summon me?”

“Yes!” Can answered.

“Good. I can grant you one wish.”

“Resurrect Mi Shi! End the game!” Can had the wishes in mind already.

“That’s two.”

“Bring back Mi Shi!”

“What a kind-hearted girl. Hoho, I’ll grant you your wish.”

Puff!

The lamp and the blue genie disappeared. At the same time, the pixels scattered on the ground lifted up and reassembled like time was being rewound.

“Ah...” Mi Shi touched his chest and then his face. “I’m alive! I’m back alive!”

“Five, four, three...”

The moderator droned. The game continued. It was now Zhou Jing’s turn.

Zhou Jing didn’t want to wait even a second. She immediately shouted, “Desire (yuan wang)!”

Rumble.

The game came to another stop.

The rooftop of the straw house got upended by a gust of wind. Outside was the deep night sky. There was a giant divine dragon hovering up there.

It gave off a tremendous presence, its head approaching the topless house, eyes serious, whiskers floating, and breaths swirling. “Did you summon this one?”

“It’s me, it’s me!” Zhou Jing waved her hand vehemently.

“Tell me, what is your wish? This one will grant it.”

“End the game! End this **** game!” Zhou Jing cursed out.

“This one will grant your wish.”

The divine dragon was gone. A gust of wind forced them to close their eyes, sweeping away many of the small objects in the house.

“Is it done?” Can asked quietly.

“Should be,” said Vermilion Bird.

Just when they were going to let out a sigh of relief, the familiar voice of the moderator started counting down again.

“Five, four, three...”

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