TDU Chapter 365
Chapter 365 Disaster Beyond Remedy
“Player Two’s {wish} completed. Player Three, kindly {draw}.” The broadcast from Terrestrial Dog echoed through the glass chambers.
Lin Qin gripped the table inside her glass room, gritting her teeth as she shakily stood up. Trembling, she reached out and picked up her new {fortune stick}.
She blinked, nearly convinced that the repeated falls had dulled her mind—for the {fortune stick} in her hand was unlike any she had drawn before. It wasn’t a {Default}, but was inscribed with five distinct words:
{Flowers Bloom With Spring Warmth}.
She shook her head, trying to clear the dizziness, and studied the words carefully.
Could it be that the {fortune sticks} the others had been drawing were never just {Defaults}, but all carried meanings like this?
And the arrow pointing right beneath the text—did it mean this {fortune stick} would take effect in the room to her right?
“My luck is just awful…” Lin Qin laughed wryly, cautiously placing this {fortune stick} on the table before placing a {default stick} into the slot.
“Shame I didn’t land on my head; I can still think clearly,” Lin Qin said with a faint smile. She shifted her numb leg slightly; it was likely fractured.
At this moment, her priority wasn’t treating her leg, but to exhaust all her {default sticks} as soon as possible, and accumulate more {wish sticks}. Only then could she have the means to confront {Calamities}, whether through {gift} or {wish}.
A trace of relief passed through Su Shan’s eyes as Lin Qin regained her spirit. She knew well that in this game, if anyone died, it meant total defeat for all.
The four of them formed a {loop} as the {four seasons}, linked end to end, supporting one another.
If there was a break in this {loop}, the rooms on either side of the gap will fall into danger, since a dead person cannot protect the neighboring {Calamities}.
Moreover, even {gifting} would be affected—for example, {summer} cannot skip {autumn} and directly {gift} to {winter}.
…
Qin Dingdong glanced nervously at Lin Qin. Seeing she was alright, her tension eased somewhat, and she began to compose herself, waiting for her next {fortune stick}.
But several seconds passed, and her new {fortune stick} still had not appeared.
“You’ve done well, clearly veterans and experts alike,” Terrestrial Dog remarked in a profound manner. "But you’ve fallen right into my pace."
“What?”
“You all spent an entire year trying to mend the scars left by last year’s {Calamity}. That’s a noble thought. But what will you do about this year’s {Calamity}?”
Only then did the collective truly snap back to reality. Indeed, the {Calamities} would never cease.
As long as Terrestrial Dog, playing the role of the {Nian Beast}, remained, they would remain ensnared in the loop of {Yearly Calamities}.
Terrestrial Dog nodded solemnly, then picked a {fortune stick} from before him, speaking with gravity, “After all these years as an employee, the only truth I’ve come to understand is this—for ordinary people, {blessings never come in pairs and misfortunes never come singly[1]}.”
He inserted the {fortune stick} into the hole on his right, directly facing Zhang Chenze. “Everyone brace yourselves. This round’s {Calamity} is called {Locust Plague}.”
Seeing Terrestrial Dog’s move, Zhang Chenze visibly panicked.
“Locust Plague...? W–Wait a moment—”
Her expression turned to pure terror. Though she had long known she would face a {Calamity}, she never imagined it would be the one she dreaded most.
Before she could even utter another word, a deafening buzzing erupted above Zhang Chenze’s head, as countless creatures swarmed the airspace overhead.
“No…not {Locust Plague}…” Tears welled in Zhang Chenze’s reddened eyes as she cried out in desperation, “Get them away from me…”
With a subtle shift of the ceiling grid, a massive swarm of locusts burst forth, their relentless chirping filling the room as they blackened her chamber like spilled ink.
The horrifying scene forced the other women nearby to recoil a step. They were all city dwellers; none of them had ever witnessed a Locust Plague in such close proximity.
Inside her chamber, Zhang Chenze flailed desperately, but the more she tried to shoo them away, the more they clung to her.
One locust hopped onto her tall nose bridge, locking eyes with her.
Its body was a mottled gray-green, its hind legs thick and powerful.
On its hard, expressionless face, two enormous eyes stared unblinking at Zhang Chenze.
The fear was too much to contain; Zhang Chenze finally broke down as she let out a piercing scream—but before her cry could fully form, a swarm of locusts crawled into her open mouth.
She had never eaten insects before, nor had she imagined that live locusts could feel so cold as they squirmed inside her mouth. Their rigid limbs scraped against every tender surface, painfully against every inch of her oral cavity.
Zhang Chenze could no longer breathe, her stomach churning violently, desperate to expel everything.
“I’m going to die… I’m going to die in the most hideous and agonizing way in this world…”
Zhang Chenze’s mind was filled with hopeless thoughts. She was utterly lost amid the overwhelming swarm, unable to tell which way she faced or where her teammates were.
“Zhang Chenze!!” Su Shan pounded hard on the glass in front of her, shouting at the top of her lungs, “Stay calm! The {locusts} in this {Locust Plague} don’t eat people!"
Unfortunately, Zhang Chenze couldn’t hear Su Shan’s desperate calls.
“Player Four, please {draw}.” Terrestrial Dog turned a blind eye and continued to speak in a cold, detached voice.
Bathed in the cool glow of blue-tinted glass, Qin Dingdong stood quietly. Her lips held a trace of a smile, and instead of reaching for her new {fortune stick}, she studied the lawyer opposite her with a pensive gaze.
She recalled a childhood night spent at her grandmother’s house, when the room was crawling with unidentifiable bugs. Her grandmother had told her that the best way to deal with such pests in a confined space was with {smoke}. That night, her grandmother burned some unknown dry grass, filling the room with an eerie haze.
Yes, {smoke} was the correct solution; it could dispel the {insects} in this game.
If one were to associate {Calamity} with {insects}, then for Qin Dingdong, the answer could only be {Locust Plague}.
That was why she had deliberately used {Dense Smoke Veils Every Direction} earlier, and Terrestrial Dog, just as she had foreseen, unleashed the uncounterable {Locust Plague}.
“This is the sole method to bring out your {Reverberations}...” Qin Dingdong smiled faintly. “Don’t hold it against me. Compared to other things, locusts are really quite tame.”
She pondered for a moment, then looked at the new {fortune stick} she had just drawn: yet another {Default}.
It was uncertain if they’d been blessed or cursed. The crucial {fortune sticks} had already appeared, the rounds ahead would probably be filled with nothing but {default sticks}.
“Su Shan… it’s on you now...” Qin Dingdong inserted a {Default}, then glanced at Su Shan. “Might as well surrender to despair early.”
TL Note: Damn, Qin Dingdong had already figured out the game since round one, she was just playing dumb. I keep forgetting she’s really smart cause she keeps playing dumb so well xD
Footnote:
[1] Blessings never come in pairs and misfortunes never come singly (福无双至，祸不单行) - A proverb that originated from chapter 50 of 'Modern Times (文明小史)', a satire of pseudo-reformers in the Qing dynasty period who found difficulty adjusting to modernization, including its complexities and problems. Basically, it's a metaphor suggesting that blessings rarely arrive in succession, while misfortunes often come one after another.
