Chapter 17 Otaku Town

The mist in the town was thinner than on the highway, but it was still in a misty state.

As soon as Feng Bujue got out of the car, he was enveloped in a damp, cold air.

"Visibility has increased to twenty meters, but the temperature is only about two degrees, and the humidity is ridiculously high..." Before Jue-ge even closed the car door, he was already missing the air conditioning inside the car, "If this script calculates stamina based on the character's actual physical sensations... during this 'whole day,' I'll have to drink, eat, and rest appropriately... otherwise, I'll definitely run out of energy."

While thinking about these issues, Feng Bujue had already left the car and walked towards a gas station a dozen meters away.

He didn't try to repair the car himself for two reasons: first, he couldn't; second, he felt that this breakdown was arranged by the system and couldn't be fixed in a short time.

Therefore...

He decided to find a professional to help.

"The gas station is conveniently located at the entrance of the town." Feng Bujue walked quickly towards the gas station, thinking to himself, "Given the usual nature of the game world, there's probably a side quest here or something..." Jue-ge's brain never stopped working, and he immediately imagined a possible plot, "For example... the gas station owner says that to repair my car, he needs a total of four parts: A, B, C, and d, but he only has two. Because there are too few employees at the gas station, he gives me a quest to buy the parts myself from the owners at points e and f in the town... And when I find the owners at points e and f, they ask me to help them collect four things: g, h, i, and j, otherwise they won't sell me the parts... And those four things are scattered in the four areas of the town: k, L, m, and n, with corresponding mini-bosses to defeat in each area..."

Just as Jue-ge was using his "Zelda-style logic" to speculate about the upcoming plot, suddenly...

"Go back."

Faintly, he heard a voice...

It was a woman's voice, sounding ethereal and distant, but her tone was very firm.

"Who?" Jue-ge reacted quickly, turning his head sharply, but he didn't see a ghost of anyone.

"Along the highway, go back to the other side of the bridge! While there's still time..." After a few seconds, the voice came again from the distant mist, but still only the voice was heard, and no one was seen.

"Tch... you think I don't want to..." Feng Bujue complained in his heart, "If the main quest is [Escape from Otaku Town], I'd get out of here without you telling me."

Despite his thoughts, he didn't ignore the voice. "Who are you?" he shouted in the direction the voice came from, "Why are you telling me to go out? Why do you say there's still time..."

Rumbling—

At this moment, a violent collapse came from the direction of the bridge, instantly drowning out Jue-ge's shout.

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue's mouth twitched twice, "I see..."

Although this standard development was obvious, as a meticulous person, Jue-ge still chose to go and confirm the situation with his own eyes.

He jogged back in the direction he had come from, passed the broken-down car, walked out of the town entrance, returned to the highway, and ran for dozens of meters.

Then... the broken bridge appeared before him.

The gap was about eight meters wide, clearly a distance that ordinary humans could not jump across. Perhaps finding a ladder more than ten meters long and placing it over the gap would allow people to cross, but it was unknown whether such a prop could be found in this town...

"This kind of setup... isn't very good..." Jue-ge looked at the deep valley below the bridge and muttered, "If this is the only passage connecting the town to the outside world, then I definitely can't get out..."

"It's too late." Suddenly, the ethereal female voice sounded again.

Jue-ge looked in the direction of the voice and finally saw a blurry figure on the other side of the broken bridge.

"Is there something wrong with this town?" Feng Bujue immediately shouted to the other party.

He didn't repeat the questions he had asked before because he knew... whether in horror movies or horror games, these type of hint-giving NPCs had several distinct characteristics: first, they only spoke halfway, and they liked to answer questions irrelevantly; second, when you asked a key question, they would immediately become deaf or disappear, but when you asked some vague, meaningless questions, they could hear you again; third, they would only approach you when you were near death or delirious, and when you were conscious, they wouldn't even let you see their true faces; fourth, they would only give you substantial help after you had been tricked, injured, or fallen into despair; and fifth, they could usually give seemingly reasonable and unverifiable explanations for the above four behaviors.

In conclusion... they were a bunch of very punchable guys.

"Now, you only have two choices left." Sure enough, the figure ignored Jue-ge's question and said to itself, "First, become a 'Postman,' second, become one of 'Them.'"

After saying that, before Feng Bujue could respond, her shadow disappeared into the mist...

"Hey~ hey—" Feng Bujue also knew that the other party probably wouldn't pay attention to him anymore, so he just shouted twice symbolically, then turned around and sighed, "Ah... is the purpose of this plot to give me a few suspense points that I can't solve in a short time..." But the next second, a smile appeared on his face again, "Hmph... it suits my taste..."

While thinking, he had already started walking and heading back towards the town.

In less than a minute, he returned to the front of the gas station.

"Hmm... even if this kind of gas station in a small town doesn't need to be open twenty-four hours..." Jue-ge looked at the empty parking lot and the closed roller shutter door in front of the store, and said helplessly, "But it's already eight-thirty in the morning... it's not reasonable for the door to still be closed..."

That was true, but he couldn't change the facts before him...

"In other words... looking for someone to fix the car... was me overthinking it." Jue-ge stroked his chin and thought, "The plot arrangement here is fixed... abandon the broken-down car and head straight to the destination."

With that in mind, he quickly turned around and took a few steps back to the sign outside the gas station.

In fact, he had already noticed this sign, although the patterns and writing on it were mostly covered in oil stains, it could vaguely be seen... this should be the map of Otaku Town.

"This isn't a coincidence, is it..." Feng Bujue carefully observed the visible parts of the sign, "The road from the town entrance to the 'Town Square' is basically still clear, while the other places are basically invisible..." He only spent ten seconds using a graphic memory method to clearly engrave the pattern on the sign in his memory, "Is this telling me—'Don't run around before arriving at the post office'..."

"Hmph... never mind... after all, I have to arrive before nine in the morning, and the time isn't too generous. If I encounter any other troubles along the way, things will be difficult... I'll just follow the main quest for now." As Jue-ge said, he stepped onto the main road beside him.