Chapter 340: Separated in Story of Château de Fontainebleau
Once Lin Sanjiu walked through the main door, she found herself in a short corridor that was so dark that she couldn"t even see her fingers. The only light came from the eerie green glow of the exit sign.
After taking two blind steps forward, a shadow appeared from a dark corner of the corridor. The asymmetrically lit shadow transformed into a human figure. A woman with a wide smile suddenly revealed herself and spoke gently to the two people with her raspy voice, "The entrance fee is 6 Stamina points, thank you."
Beep. Lin Sanjiu waved her wrist in front of a device similar to the one she had seen at the b.u.mper Karts station. The woman with the raspy voice smiled, and the corner of the corridor gradually brightened. The outline of two slightly strange-looking movable metal platforms appeared.
That platform was basically a metal board made of wood sandwiched between two metal sheets. It was 3 feet wide and 5 feet long. The wheels of the platform fitted perfectly to the rails on the ground and, clearly, they were meant for the two people.
"The difficulty will be set based on this gentleman," the fair woman said gently. "When we start, the platform will move normally along the tracks. However, please note that if the player"s feet leave the platform for more than one minute, it will be treated as a forfeit. Players who forfeit will have to join one of Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park station and will never be able to leave the amus.e.m.e.nt park."
Lin Sanjiu was startled. She turned to look at Hei Zeji.
"I don"t know. Don"t look at me," the latter lowered his eyes and stepped on one of the platforms, looking rather unhappy. After being silent for a moment, he couldn"t resist commenting, "Maybe, the player will become a Jibakurei".
"Your time travel experience will last for thirty minutes. Please enjoy." The woman smiled as she watched the two players.
After the players stood on their own respective platforms, the track buzzed, the ride started, and the platforms started to move slowly.
Unexpectedly, the platforms moved at a moderate speed. Lin Sanjiu looked up wanting to say something but the platform had already brought them to a turn.
When a strong snowy gale hit Lin Sanjiu, it interrupted all her thoughts. Despite all the training she had merging her consciousness and her body, Lin Sanjiu did not even have the slightest inkling that there would be a blizzard just around the corner!
The howling blizzard winds. .h.i.t her face. For a moment, she couldn"t hear a thing and she couldn"t open her eyes. As she was wearing a tank top, gooseb.u.mps immediately appeared on her exposed skin. When the flakes of snow hit her body, they immediately melted to form cold wet patches on her clothes and skin. Lin Sanjiu s.h.i.+vered as she felt a layer of ice slowly forming on the platform she was standing on.
It wasn"t easy keeping her balance on a platform that was becoming slippery due to the layer of ice on the platform. To maintain her balance, she crouched down and held the edge of the platform. That had the added benefit of keeping her warm.
"It was a cold winter day," a voice suddenly rang out without warning, as the blizzard raged, the voice continued as if narrating a story, "it was on this cold, windy day that our story unfolded."
"Get on with it!"
Hei Zeji"s irritated voice rang out not far from Lin Sanjiu.
"Alright, can all players please choose a character from the name list present," the voice announced unaffected by Hei Zeji"s comment, "After you complete your selection, you will not be able to change your character until the end of the round. Please survive till the end of the round in character.
"Male roles: Francis, Duke of Vendome, Nameless husband.
"Female roles: Gabrielle, Queen Margaret, Vera."
"Who... who are these people?" Lin Sanjiu was stunned. She waited for two seconds but the narrator did not introduce the characters. Noticing that it wasn"t going to do so, she hesitatingly picked a name that made the strongest impression, "I choose Gabrielle."
Her voice was instantly swallowed by the howling blizzard.
She did not know which character Hei Zeji chose as her platform swung around violently after she said that name. The movement was very sudden. Luckily, Lin Sanjiu"s body was no longer as before, otherwise, she would have been flung out of the platform. After she steadied herself, the metal board shot forward like an arrow. In the blink of an eye, Hei Zeji"s shadow disappeared from behind her without a trace.
Lin Sanjiu was flabbergasted.
They entered the arena with the main intention that Hei Zeji could correct her combat techniques. Now that her "coach" was missing, how was she going to learn from him?
She could not leave as she did not have 60 Stamina points. Lin Sanjiu gritted her teeth and calmed herself. She looked forward far into the cold, wintery night.
"Whatever happens, I need to just endure this first round."
As Lin Sanjiu s.h.i.+vered crazily, she sighed inwardly. Even though she had already gone through quite a few pocket dimensions, she could not understand the current circ.u.mstances. She knew she had entered a building. Yet, her current surroundings were just so realistic. It felt as if she was really outdoors. The air current, the sound of the wind, and the scent of the woods were all very real to her.
After the metal board sped along the tracks for some time, the blizzard finally abated.
Lin Sanjiu"s skin was already numb from the cold. Even as she entered her hypersensory state, Lin Sanjiu only felt numbness and nothing else. The tracks were covered with a layer of snow. As Lin Sanjiu looked out into the night, she saw only a blanket of bluish white snow. Stars slowly appeared in the night sky and a lit chateau appeared at the end of the snowfield.
The metal board moved directly toward the chateau.
As the platform got closer, the gothic style arched door of the chateau gradually became clearer. That architecture style was once vogue in medieval France. The door was shut but the platform did not seem to show any sign of slowing down. Maintaining its speed, it headed toward the large door. Just when Lin Sanjiu raised her arms thinking that she would hit the door, the door swung open in an instant.
Light from the flames of a fireplace flooded out and Lin Sanjiu squinted her eyes.
Even though the main hall was segregated by the many tracks on the floor, Lin Sanjiu could tell that the owners of the chateau were wealthy and influential people. The fireplace was decorated with carvings of flowers. There was a strong fire which kept the place warm. The floor was covered by a thick red carpet. There was a table in the hall and there was a set of sparkling ceramic tableware was overturned. A maid, sitting at the corner of the room, was sewing something. She looked up at Lin Sanjiu and stood up before greeting her, "Madam, you back."
From the looks of it, the owner of the chateau was Gabrielle, the character she was playing.
While platform slowly decelerated, Lin Sanjiu was a little confused as to what she should do.
"Oh, you are busy?" she said as she raised her hand. Feeling awkward, she realized that the words she said did not seem to fit the image of a "madam".
As expected, the maid looked at her with a perplexed face before she continued with her sewing. The piece of cloth she was holding seemed small and it was taking on the shape of a sleeve.
"Sister!"
A lively female voice called out from behind her all of a sudden. Just like the blizzard, it simply appeared without any warning. Lin Sanjiu did not even notice when the young fair lady with black hair suddenly appeared at the stairs.
"There is a terrible blizzard out there. You shouldn"t have gone out," the young lady reproached. "You need to take care of yourself now."
Lin Sanjiu stood in a daze when she heard the narrator speaking again, "Hearing the words of concern from her sister Vera, Gabrielle thanked the girl gratefully."
Thankfully, she didn"t have to act out or say any dialogue. Lin Sanjiu let out a sigh of relief. Vera seemed to be one of the characters she did not choose.
"Go call some people to bring the bathtub in," Vera ordered the maid sitting in a corner. "It"s warm here so I want to take a bath with my sister."
The maid immediately stood up and got a few people to carry a four-legged bathtub into the hall. They placed it in front of the fireplace and filled it with hot water. Vera took off her clothes quickly and jumped in. With her head above the water, she smiled at Lin Sanjiu, "Sister, join me."
As a player, Lin Sanjiu naturally didn"t have to enter the bathtub. Lin Sanjiu swept the ice off the platform and sat down. The narrator went on, "Gabriel stepped in the bathtub. She had always taken her baths with her sister and had kept that practice even till today."
There was a bathtub in the middle of the main hall. A fair young lady with black hair sat in the bathtub, immersed. The maid behind her was looking down at her sewing…
Lin Sanjiu frowned. She had a vague feeling that she had seen this scene before yet she couldn"t remember where.
"As she bathed, Gabriel took off her expensive and intricately-designed ring and started toying with it." The narrator"s voice spoke with the same constant speed.
"Soon," Vera said in a consoling manner as if she had seen a glimpse of that ring, "Once the news of your pregnancy had been confirmed, I am sure the king will…"
"What"s the point? Gabriel sighed. Margaret is still around," the narrator continued, "Margaret was the queen. Getting rid of her wasn"t going to be easy."
"From the narration, the story seems to be about some royal harem drama... This Gabriel must be the king"s lover and she is plotting to get rid of Margaret so that she can become the new queen." Lin Sanjiu felt that the names sounded very familiar. However, as these were all foreign names, she wasn"t surprised if she had remembered them wrong…
"Next, Vera told Gabriel about the story between herself and a man called Francis."
Lin Sanjiu didn"t know if it was because of the steam or young lady"s embarra.s.sment, but Vera"s skin started turning red. There was a sweet expression on her face as she said to Lin Sanjiu, "Oh, I really like him very much. When I have the chance to see the king, I will bring Francis along with me."
Lin Sanjiu listened expressionlessly. She found these sort of young lady"s love story extremely boring. The thing which concerned her the most right now was what this "Time Travel" station expected from her.
Unlike the perilous b.u.mper Karts, Lin Sanjiu had to just wait with boredom until bedtime.
The "bedtime" was just a symbolic thing. Lin Sanjiu could not get down from the platform. After she was brought into a bedroom, Lin Sanjiu found herself sitting in the darkness all alone. She waited, somewhat cluelessly, for the next part of the story.
Without Hei Zeji by her side, what sort of combat technique could she learn?
- an earthbound spirit/ghost that is stuck in one place because of their grudge or hatred