Chapter 162 "If he listens to you, he can only become you"
Pei Hening dislikes unexpected events. Before the concept of "road survival" came about, people had to make reservations in advance if they wanted to invite her out.
After the introduction of the road survival mode, the unpredictable game instances left her helpless against unexpected events.
However, if she had a choice, she would still prefer to have control over her own time rather than have her rhythm forcibly disrupted.
Pei Hening looked around the ski resort lobby. The floor was covered with an unidentified black floor with a faint golden sheen, which vaguely reflected the star-shaped chandeliers on the dome.
The panoramic glass ceiling, tens of meters high, and the glass dome, surrounded by rings of warm lights, offer a clear view of the scenery outside. Large snowflakes are falling, and the white snow covering the mountains intertwines with the warm light of the ski resort lobby, creating a dreamlike and enchanting scene.
In the center of the ski resort lobby is a reception desk shaped like a camellia, cut from dark stone and engraved with dark gold magic patterns, which looks very much like a camellia.
Several staff members wearing the same uniform are patiently serving the players.
Their work uniforms are black and gold. The women's uniforms have a white camellia pinned to them, and the collar and cuff buttons are also camellia buttons. The men's uniforms have large white camellia embroidery.
The staff member had crystal-clear scales that spread up from under his neck, creating a bizarre and indescribable absurd beauty.
The reception desk displays a wide variety of ski equipment, including top-of-the-line skis, ski poles, helmets, and various exquisite ski suits.
She wondered if it was just her imagination, but there was a faint scent of camellias in the air.
Behind the display case is a spiral carved staircase with two small platforms on it, each displaying a crystal camellia coffee table and a camellia chair made of the same material. The staircase leads to the second-floor viewing and rest area.
Have you been here before?
She was referring to Chu Xuange before his rebirth.
Chu Xuange led Pei Hening by the hand toward the reception desk and whispered, "I've been here before. There's an unspoken rule at the ski resort: you can't tell jokes to the ski instructors."
Pei Hening became interested: "Why is there this rule?"
"I don't know which server's player told jokes to make the ski instructor laugh, and the ski instructor laughed so hard that he lost control of his magic, causing the ski resort to suffer too much loss, so this rule was synchronized across the entire server."
Pei Hening: "..."
Sure enough, behind every rule lies an outrageous story.
So... what's with that gas station rule—"Players are prohibited from begging inside the gas station"?
Chu Xuange bought tickets for the two of them at the reception desk and then picked out some ski equipment.
"Use a single-board?"
"Can."
As they were choosing their ski equipment, a middle-aged male skier wearing a black ski suit couldn't help but interject, "Skiing on skis is better than snowboarding. You two should play it safe and not push your limits."
Pei Hening replied politely, "We are more used to snowboarding, thank you for the reminder."
Seeing that she was easy to talk to, the middle-aged male player couldn't help but ramble on: "You young people of your generation just don't like to listen to our opinions, as if we would harm you."
"My son is just like you, very stubborn, and never listens to our experience."
Chu Xuange frowned slightly, not liking him mention Pei Hening, and continued, "Times are changing. If you use your own experience as a yardstick to judge your child, then that yardstick may become an obstacle to his growth. If your child obediently listens to you, then he can only become you. You should be glad that he is rather'stubborn'."
The middle-aged male player had clearly never heard of this concept before, and he frowned in thought.
Seeing that he didn't continue lecturing, Chu Xuange quickly selected his ski equipment and went with Pei Hening to the adjacent private changing room to change into their ski gear.
After changing their clothes, they left the ski resort lobby and headed towards the indoor heated ski area located to the left of the "ski resort".
Pei Hening stood at the entrance of the indoor heated ski resort, looking up at the light screen hanging at the entrance, which displayed two leaderboards.
"Fun Race Leaderboard": 1. Beautiful scenery of the North; 2. Moshi Moshi; 3. WeChat steps are zero; 4. The escaped mermaid; 5. The old invisible man.
"Challenge Leaderboard": 1. Beautiful scenery of the Northland; 2. Escaped mermaid; 3. Lemon tree and lemon fruit; 4. Moshi Moshi; 5. I can bury you in money.
(Note: The "Fun Tournament" and "Challenge Tournament" are held every three days. The rankings will be re-established at each event, and all ranked players can draw ski resort rewards, including but not limited to souvenirs, ski equipment, survival supplies, items, and skills.)
Pei Hening noticed the top player on the leaderboard: "This player named [Beautiful Scenery of the North] seems to be very skilled."
Seeing that her nose was already red from the cold, Chu Xuange led her inside, saying, "You're really amazing. Let's go in and see if there are any matches today?"
"good."
Chu Xuange was deeply impressed by the "ski resort," a unique site on the map that only appears on Blizzard maps.
The site also hosts a variety of small competitions, which often last all day.
From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., anyone who enters the site on the day of the competition can register to participate in the competition; there are not many restrictions.
They were quite lucky; when they walked into the indoor heated ski resort with their skis, they saw two registration points, one for the "Fun Race" and the other for the "Challenge Race".
Both registration points had long lines of more than a dozen people. Pei Hening glanced at them but couldn't immediately tell the difference between the two competitions: "Which one do you want to participate in?"
Chu Xuange pointed to the "Challenge Tournament" registration point: "This one, the rules are a bit simpler."
Pei Hening looked at it carefully again and understood it this time.
The core gameplay of the "Challenge" is to slide from the starting point to the finish line. A timer will keep track of the time, and whoever takes the shortest time wins.
Each player must follow the route and avoid the flag gates. If a player accidentally knocks down a flag gate or deliberately takes a shortcut, their score will be invalid.
Each player has two chances, and the shortest time taken will be recorded as the score.
"Okay, let's participate in this one then, it looks simpler."
Chu Xuange nodded, and the two went to queue up to register. By sheer coincidence, they ran into the middle-aged male skier they had met at the ski resort.
He was carrying two skis, fully dressed, with all his protective gear, and stood in front of the two of them.
The middle-aged male player saw the two of them and, recalling their earlier conversation, felt awkward. He stammered, "What a coincidence! You're here for the challenge too?"
Pei Hening hummed in agreement: "It is indeed a coincidence."
After hesitating for a while, the middle-aged male player finally said, "I think what you two said earlier makes sense. I really shouldn't have used my own experience as a benchmark. Young people's growth environment is different from ours. What children need to grow up in is not inheritance, but transcendence."
Pei Hening paused for a moment, then said, "Your child will be very happy that you think this way."
The middle-aged male player's smile was somewhat forced, and he nodded dryly: "Yes."
Soon, Pei Hening was matched with a middle-aged male player. He noticed his ID, which was [Wind and Clouds].
She felt the ID looked familiar, but couldn't quite place it.
[Light Breeze and Calm Clouds] After registering, I followed the staff's instructions to prepare for the competition.
When it was Pei Hening's turn, she noticed the staff member in charge of registration.
It was an acquaintance—the dwarf woman with dry, yellow hair and two missing teeth that she had met at the "Highway Tax Office".
She was wearing her station uniform, her hair was neatly combed, and although she was missing two teeth, she looked very capable, radiating confidence and charisma.
After the female dwarf introduced herself, her eyes lit up, and she said generously, "Good day, guest."
Pei Hening: "Good day."
After the female dwarf gave her her name, she said, "Good luck, I'll be waiting for your lottery draw."
A female staff member wearing a "ski resort" uniform led the two of them toward the track.
When I arrived at the track, there were still other players challenging it ahead of me.
"There are still seven participants waiting for the competition. Please wait a moment, and the staff in charge of arranging the competition will call you."
The staff then explained the precautions for the competition and left.
Chu Xuange pulled Pei Hening to sit on a nearby bench, leaned over, and whispered, "Do you know that female dwarf from earlier?"
"I ran into her at the tax station before. We were cut in line by goblins together, so you could say we knew each other."
Goblin?
In Chu Xuange's memory, near the end of the second year of his road survival adventure, a serious conflict broke out between the goblins and dwarves.
Thirty-seven dwarves, suffering from the humiliation inflicted by the goblins, acquired a highly lethal weapon to assassinate the goblin king.
The accidental deaths of thirty goblin guild leaders and a dragon cub visiting the goblins caused tensions between the three parties, putting them at risk of war.
In the end, it was Galakh who stepped in to mediate, making several trips to the dragon race to compensate them for their losses and resolve the conflict, which finally eased the situation.
He had considered reconciling relations with the goblins, but the goblin race suffered heavy losses after their businesses were swallowed up by other races, and they refused to accept any compensation, causing relations between the two sides to plummet to a freezing point.
Friction between the two races is escalating, with clashes erupting every two or three days. If it weren't for Gallagher keeping things under control from above, war would probably have already broken out.
Chu Xuange took her hand, lowered his voice, and told her everything he knew about the situation.
Pei Hening carefully recalled the attitude of the goblins towards her and the female dwarf: "The goblins I have come into contact with so far are all very arrogant. Once their long-suppressed resentment is unleashed, it will definitely be uncontrollable."
When fear is overshadowed by another, greater fear, even the most timid and obedient oppressed will take up arms to resist.
——
At that moment, something unexpected happened in the ski resort lobby.
Wang Jingyun took the list and called out each player's name, assigning them to trigger the dungeon.
[The beautiful, frozen lady] came over from the beginner slope carrying her skis: "Sister Jingyun, I'm back, I've come to help."
[The beautiful, freezing lady] smiled broadly on the outside, but was secretly heartbroken.
She was in pain, she was in so much pain!
She never expected to run into trouble while skiing!
In the opinion of [Beautiful Frozen Lady], even if she is not a genius girl, she is a well-coordinated and strong athlete. With a height of 1.74 meters and a weight of 123 kilograms, she is healthy and strong, so skiing must be no problem for her!
The truth is quite the opposite; she felt uncomfortable on the skateboard and even angered the instructor after trying to learn for a long time.
Well, yes, our prodigy and athletic champion has been sent back by the coach.
The coach refused to teach her anything today, and even though she cried, made a scene, and acted spoiled, she was still kicked out.
[The beautiful, frozen lady] felt extremely embarrassed whenever she thought about what had just happened.
"Thank goodness you're back, I've been so busy."
When Wang Jingyun saw her coming, her eyes lit up, and she quickly handed her a list: "Take this list and arrange for these people to trigger the random dungeon at the site. Arrange for ten people each time."
Wang Jingyun said, tapping on her light screen: "I need to call some more people over and help them improve their strength as soon as possible."
[The Beautiful, Frozen Lady] held the list and quickly clicked on ten IDs: "Follow me—"
She had only spoken half a sentence when her face turned deathly pale, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
[Don't touch me, you poor bastard] reached out and pushed her, wanting to see what was wrong with her.
The moment my hand touched [the beautiful, frozen lady], she gripped my wrist tightly and twisted it sharply behind my back.
"Click—"
[Don't touch me, you poor bastard!] Her face contorted with pain. She gasped and started crying. She yelled, "Have you caught mad cow disease? It hurts so much! My hand is broken!"
Wang Jingyun strode over, took out a pink spray bottle, sprayed it on [Beautiful Frozen Lady]'s face, turned to [Don't Touch Me, You Poor Guy] and said rationally, "Don't say anything yet. Wait until she returns to normal. If you upset her, you'll be the one who suffers."
[Don't touch me, you poor bastard] sniffed, her voice trembling with tears: "Sister Jingyun, my hand hurts! It hurts so much!"
Wang Jingyun paused for a moment, then said, "Once she calms down, make her pay for your medicine! She has the medicine!"
Three minutes later, [Beautiful Frozen Lady] finally came to her senses. She released [Don't Touch Me, You Poor Guy]'s wrist, stunned. She asked in a hoarse voice, "Sister Jingyun? I couldn't control myself again?"
"Pay them for their medical expenses first."
Looking at the face smeared with tears, [Beautiful Frozen Lady] silently took out a mid-level healing potion and handed it over: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
"Hmph, I hate you, it hurts so much, it hurts so much, you know that?"
She glared fiercely at [Beautiful Frozen Lady] and said, "An apology that's just a perfunctory 'you didn't mean it' isn't sincere at all! You have to feel the same pain as me to be considered an apology!"
[Don't touch me, you poor bastard!] The words had barely left her lips when [Beautiful, Frozen Lady] grunted, then slammed her left hand against the railing: *crack—*
She said expressionlessly, "Is this alright?"
[Don't touch me, you poor bastard] was startled by her actions, staring blankly at her with a wooden face: "We're not sisters, are you serious?"
Wang Jingyun was also startled by the [Beautiful Frozen Lady's] ruthless and swift movements: "What are you doing?"
[Beautiful Frozen Lady] calmly looked at [Don't Touch Me, You Poor Guy], her brows slightly furrowed: "Not enough?"