Chapter 7
“You know each other?” Zhang Yuwen asked.
“We’re friends.” Chen Hong smiled and exchanged glances with A-Chen. Everyone said hello to him, wondering if he might be some experienced player.
“It’s my first time playing this,” A-Chen said.
He took off his fisherman’s hat. His hair was slightly messy, but overall, he was quite handsome. He looked a little younger without the hat, perhaps in his late twenties. He received his firearm and sensor vest and joined Zhang Yuwen and Chang Jinxing’s team.
“I’m Sichen,” he said by way of introduction. “Huo Sichen.”
Zhang Yuwen and Chang Jinxing briefly introduced themselves. Then they put on their off-road jackets and took their submachine guns, which made them look even cooler.
“Take the two of them over!” the owner said to Huo Sichen. “I’ll take the other three!”
“Okay.”
Huo Sichen drove Zhang Yuwen and Chang Jinxing along a winding path to the blue team base. Smiling, Chang Jinxing asked, “Do you come here often?”
“I come here occasionally to fish,” said Huo Sichen. “You’re acquainted with Lao-You?”
Mr. You was the owner of the arena. “I helped him take some photos for a promotional brochure once,” Chang Jinxing explained.
Huo Sichen and Chang Jinxing chatted for a bit, and Zhang Yuwen tactfully declined to butt into their conversation.
This new guy wasn’t exceptionally handsome, and his fashion sense wasn’t all that great either, but despite his casual dress, he was clean and carried himself well.
He had the air of a knowledgeable, mature, and sedate person.
Even his name, Sichen, sounded pleasant.
Perhaps the person who named him was educated and well-read.
Add the surname Huo, and it sounded just like it had been transliterated from another language—very exotic.
Zhang Yuwen took note, planning to steal this name (with a change of surname) for a character in his novel.
“Are you guys from the university dorm?” Huo Sichen asked Zhang Yuwen as he drove.
“Hm?” Chang Jinxing glanced at Zhang Yuwen, ready to spout nonsense out of habit, but Zhang Yuwen laughed and cut him off.
“No, but we’re roommates.”
“I see.” Huo Sichen nodded. “No wonder you didn’t invite any girls.”
“If we had, we wouldn’t come out here to the open country,” said Zhang Yuwen. “It’d be pretty tactless to bring a date somewhere so remote.”
Finding this idea amusing, Huo Sichen nodded again. He stopped as they arrived at the woods. “We’re here,” he announced. “We’ll go up from here on foot.”
The camp was just slightly over a mile away, but the moment they stepped into the woods the place transformed into a deserted wilderness, so silent it was unsettling. The late autumn mountain wind howled through the forest, chilly enough to make them shiver.
“Just follow the markers on the trees,” Huo Sichen said, “and don’t pin your hopes on me. I can’t remember the map either.”
“You’ve played this before, right?” Zhang Yuwen asked Chang Jinxing. “So lead the way.”
“Just once, and I was on the red team. Why is this route so difficult? We have to climb rocks and everything?”
“The red team’s route is usually more challenging,” Huo Sichen explained. “Most of the time, they assign people who’ve played before to the blue team. Also, heads up: You can’t go beyond the areas blocked off by barbed wire.”
Chang Jinxing was starting to worry. He was the one who’d recommended this place, but it was cold and desolate, and so far, it seemed boring. If the others found it dull, then even if they didn’t say anything to Chang Jinxing, they might silently grouse about wasting money.
There was almost no walkable path on the northern side of the hill, but Zhang Yuwen could handle it; he used to traverse terrain like this when he went to look at filming locations with the crew or inspected sites with the director.
They came to a slightly steep slope with no way forward. Suddenly, the three of them were startled when Zheng Weize’s shout rang out in the distance.
Zhang Yuwen laughed. “So the teams are pretty close.”
“I’ll go up and take a look,” Huo Sichen said. He attempted to climb the rock.
Zhang Yuwen was adjusting the electronic submachine gun in his hands when a playful impulse overtook him. He fired a shot at Huo Sichen’s back, triggering a beep beep beep that indicated he’d been hit.
“Hey!” Huo Sichen thought he was being ambushed, but he looked back to see Zhang Yuwen aiming at Chang Jinxing. Chang Jinxing exaggerated a yell and made to retaliate, and Zhang Yuwen darted behind a tree.
“Stop fooling around and get up here,” said Huo Sichen.
Zhang Yuwen leapt and clambered up the rocks, with Chang Jinxing in hot pursuit and looking for revenge. Huo Sichen aimed his gun at Chang Jinxing, who froze, but Huo Sichen was just joking. The two guys pulled him up.
“Watch out for snakes,” Chang Jinxing cautioned.
Zhang Yuwen, scouting ahead, responded offhandedly. “Aren’t they all hibernating this time of year?” From time to time, he pressed the reload button on his gun, making noises that sent nearby birds scattering.
Following Huo Sichen, Chang Jinxing asked, “You work in Jiangdong?”
“Yeah,” Huo Sichen replied. “I work at a foreign trade company. What about you?”
“I do photography.” Chang Jinxing mimicked pressing a shutter, all the while keeping an eye on Zhang Yuwen, who was attempting to navigate a large thicket. Ahead, an open area was visible through the sparse trees.
“Mind your clothes,” said Huo Sichen.
Zhang Yuwen almost got stuck in the middle of the thicket, but he managed to make his way over. Suddenly, he stopped pressing the button.
“I see them!” Chen Hong called out. “Quick, fire!”
All three of them dashed for cover. It turned out the open area had been set up as the battlefront for the red and blue teams. There were plenty of makeshift shelters made up of tires and wooden crates.
Zhang Yuwen quickly ducked behind one and provided cover fire for his teammates.
Huo Sichen raced over, keeping his head down, and from the other side, they heard Zheng Weize yelling.
Chen Hong opened fire as he dragged Zheng Weize toward one of the makeshift forts.
“Don’t bother with Weize!” Zhang Yuwen said. “His aim is off! Watch out for the sniper, Yan Jun!”
With his gun mounted on a crate, Yan Jun took aim at Chang Jinxing as he darted out of the thicket. He fired, hitting him right on target. Chang Jinxing let out another exaggerated shout and scrambled for cover.