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Huang Shaotian woke up to the sound of his morning practice alarm. The room was brightly lit up already and Yu Wenzhou was nowhere to be seen by his side on their shared queen-sized bed.
“Strange,” thought Huang Shaotian, “but he might as well be in the bathroom …”
Huang Shaotian entered their en suite bathroom, but no one was there. He then tried to search for his captain in the practice room, the canteen and the gym. He even checked the other bathrooms just to make sure. Once again, Yu Wenzhou was in neither of those places.
“Where can he be?”
The last thing that came into his increasingly anxious mind was to check the meeting room. Huang Shaotian snooped into the empty meeting room. On the table in front of him was a laptop with the Blue Rain logo. Tired, yet curious about the laptop, he decided to open it and turn it on.
The laptop screen displayed the apps Huang Shaotian normally used. All, but one in particular. A gaming app that went by the name “Discovery Island.”
Desperate to numb his worries, he clicked on the game. Seconds later, the gaming window popped up on the screen, showing the following:
DISCOVERY ISLAND
Before it was followed by the other:
JOSHUA CHADSTONE - THE VANGUARD
CLYDE CHENG - THE OUTLAW
PETER FOX - THE KNIGHT
LUKE PASTEUR - THE MEDIC
With only two choices provided, Huang Shaotian quickly clicked on the third avatar. The game soon proceeded as normal ... until he saw the particles that of his hands getting sucked into the laptop. He could only gasp in horror before he too disappeared.
He later found himself in an unfamiliar place, filled with ruins overrun by thick jungle vines. He looked around confused before someone fell on him hard.
“Ow, you fucking squished me, get the fuck off me, are you a blind moron, huh, don’t you see I am hurt!?” Huang Shaotian hissed.
“Shut up, Shaotian!” a female voice gritted. “I’m not blind, and I’m about to get off.”
After both of them got off and stood up, they saw a man approaching them. Huang Shaotian and the woman exchanged confused looks at each other.
“Who the hell are you, why are you here, how did you know me?”
The woman cleared her throat and said, “First of all, I’m Zhang Xinjie, Tyranny’s vice-captain. I happened to be the one playing Salome Ender, which is why I am a woman here.”
“Wait …” Huang Shaotian stared at his muscular body before touching his head and face. “Does that mean I’m Mark Sampson right now, and why do I not have my sword or any cool weapon with me?”
“Well,” the man answered, “you are the hitman.”
“What, I thought hitmen are supposed to have weapons, and who are you in the first place?”
“Wow, you don’t know me? I am Ye Xiu, and I am Joshua Chadstone here.”
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, you haven’t answered my question, why is it that hitmen don’t have weapons, they always have the coolest weapons in movies!”
“Silence!”
Huang Shaotian, Ye Xiu and Zhang Xinjie glanced towards where the sound came from. They saw a man carrying a sword and a box standing before them. His stern gaze at them indicated that he was not here to play around.
“Who is he?” Huang Shaotian whispered to Ye Xiu.
“Captain!?” Zhang Xinjie gaped at the man, coming upon the conclusion that he was indeed Han Wenqing.
It was not long until everyone realised who they were in the game that they were now stuck in.
“We have a mission to accomplish,” Han Wenqing said before opening up the box.
Welcome to Discovery Island. If you are wondering why you are called here, Discovery Island is under a curse placed by a cruel tyrant known as “The Orange King” of Ochirej. To lift up the curse, you are to defeat the tyrant and return this jewel to its rightful place. To add, you each only have one life. Use it wisely.
- Noah Arhen
“Shit, this is a cursed game, are we going to be stuck in here forever, and by the way, where is my captain?”
“Be quiet, Shaotian! Stop complaining,” Han Wenqing snapped.
Zhang Xinjie picked up a blue jewel from the box and asked Ye Xiu, “Where should we be going now?”
“Guess we need to go through the bridge first.”
They decided to pass through the bridge that was in front of them. Together, they traveled through jungles, swamps, meadows, and beaches. They endured through several dangers, like being chased by a three-headed hippopotamus, swarmed by thousands of scaly geese and crossing rivers full of giant crocodiles. They even encountered undead humanzees that stole the jewel from Han Wenqing and almost choked him to death. Luckily, Ye Xiu saved him and the jewel just in time and the group managed to escape from those hopeless brutes.
They eventually arrived in a small town. They were hungry and chose to buy food from the marketplace. While waiting in a queue for their food, a band of armed robbers emerged from their hiding places. They plunged themselves into the scene and started to attack the group. Though the four travelers fought back, it was too much for them until the robbers unexpectedly dropped dead in an instant.
Huang Shaotian was shocked and wondered who could be behind all this.
“Who could this man be?” he muttered in amazement.
A man walked towards the group, wearing a calm smile despite the recent chaos.
“Come, follow me,” the man said before the others followed him.
They went through an underground tunnel to escape before ending up in another jungle. The man later revealed himself to be Yu Wenzhou, who was playing as Luke Pasteur.
As they continued their walk in the jungle, an eerie hiss could be heard not far from them. Zhang Xinjie looked to his left and right, his front and back.
“Guys, there is a snake near …”
Suddenly, a half-eaten anaconda slithered on Yu Wenzhou’s back, binding him with its body. The rest could only watch him with fear as it repeatedly bit him. It was not until Han Wenqing ran towards the scene and challenged the snake to a fight, in which he killed it by chopping its head off. Everyone was relieved, but such relief was only short lived.
“A snake bite,” Yu Wenzhou looked at his arm before he collapsed to the ground.
“No, no, no, no,” Huang Shaotian immediately rushed to see his fallen comrade. “He’s dying, is there a goddamn medic over here, does anyone know how to do CPR!?”
“Put your hands on his sternum and interlock your fingers before you do the compressions,” Zhang Xinjie answered.
Huang Shaotian did what the mystic had said.
“How many chest compressions should I do?”
“Give him thirty chest compressions before you give him two rescue breaths and then repeat. If you do so, he might as well live.”
Huang Shaotian pressed his hands onto Yu Wenzhou’s chest until he reached the count of thirty.
“How do I give the rescue breaths again?”
“Tilt his head backwards, open his mouth and take a breath before you seal your mouth with his. From there, give him two breaths.”
Huang Shaotian paused as his face was blushing red. Yes, he had a hidden crush on Yu Wenzhou for years, but he always shied away whenever the idea of making the first move popped up in his mind. He instead covered them up with his habit of trash talking whenever they were around together.
But time kept on ticking and there was not much of it for Huang Shaotian to waste.
He tilted Yu Wenzhou’s head backwards and opened his mouth. Taking a deep breath in, Huang Shaotian lowered his head down before locking lips with lips with him. It felt awkward at first, but soon Huang Shaotian melted into the soft sensation of his captain’s lips. To him, it was heaven in the hellhole that this game was.
Fortunately and unfortunately, Yu Wenzhou coughed out some air, cutting short of this moment.
“Captain, you’re alive, I’m very worried about you, why did you not wake me up in the morning for practice, you nearly scared me to death!” chastised Huang Shaotian.
“Wow Shaotian, such a shameless kisser,” Ye Xiu remarked with a smug smile.
“Old Ye, shut up, how am I shameless, is it because I …”
“Shaotian, you are not a bad kisser for a first kiss,” Yu Wenzhou complimented. “Thank you for saving me.”
Huang Shaotian could not come up with any more comebacks, speechless from the embarrassment he felt firsthand. He remained silent for a good amount of time until Ye Xiu spoke up.
“Alright, so we are now going to climb the volcano and then head to the fortress. When we are there, we will be splitting up into two groups.”
“Sounds like a great plan,” Zhang Xinjie commented before they continued on their journey.
As soon as they arrived at the fortress gates, Ye Xiu went with Han Wenqing and Zhang Xinjie, while Huang Shaotian stayed by Yu Wenzhou’s side.
“Why are we staying outside, captain!?” Huang Shaotian asked.
“Watch and listen,” Yu Wenzhou replied as they spied the interior through the windows. They could hear conversations between Ye Xiu and the “Orange King” from the throne room.
“Ye Xiu, I believe you have something that belongs to me.”
“Sorry, what are you implying, Muqiu?” Ye Xiu chuckled. “Are you talking about me?”
“Yes,” the royal gritted. “I have saved you from certain death, while having to sacrifice my own. How shameless could you be?”
Huang Shaotian was shocked that the “Orange King” was Su Muqiu, the one who had chosen Clyde Cheng as his character. Nevertheless, he went to smash the window with his hands and pounced on the tyrant. They fought, but Su Muqiu hurt him in the process.
The others sprang to action and fought the “Orange King” in intense skirmishes. Though they struggled at first, they later took advantage of the fact that the tyrant was weak to hibiscus flowers. Ye Xiu collected some of the hibiscus seeds from Yu Wenzhou and repeatedly shot them at Su Muqiu.
In a matter of seconds, Su Muqiu coughed up blood and hibiscus petals before he fell to the floor. No one moved before they were certain that the tyrant was no more.
Ye Xiu walked towards Huang Shaotian, carrying the jewel with him.
“Shaotian, please do this for the sake of us,” Ye Xiu said before giving it to Huang Shaotian.
Huang Shaotian immediately ran in search of where to put the jewel. He later found a well outside of the throne room and put the jewel on the forefront of it.
In an instant, the sky darkened and the sun became pitch black. Huang Shaotian could not see, smell or feel anything in this dreamless void until he heard the faint sound of his alarm ringing. Though he could not bother to open his sleepy eyes, his fingers soon felt something silky and smooth. Could it be a blanket or something more?
A ray of sunshine passed through the blinds and pierced his eyes, forcing them to open. Huang Shaotian groaned at that moment, wishing he could sleep more. However, it was only then that Huang Shaotian realised that it was none other than Yu Wenzhou by his side, sleeping peacefully as he did when he was supposed to die in that cursed game. Huang Shaotian’s lips curved into a smile, relieved that they both made it.
Listening to his captain’s cute snore, Huang Shaotian could not resist, but to place his right hand on his beloved’s sternum and planted him a soft kiss on the lips, reliving the CPR moment.
“I love you, even if it means I have to give up my life for you.”