Chapter 307: Chapter 307: The Cage of Fools (Part 1)_1
[Identity verification completed, today’s work begins.]
After a quiet and peaceful night, Fu Qian woke up feeling quite refreshed.
Feeling in good spirits, he had a simple breakfast and then activated the mark on his wrist to enter the warehouse.
[Warning, containment breach.]
[Name: Fool’s Cage, Code: 3-3119.]
[Today’s task update: Enter the containment scene of 3-3119 and complete recapture.]
...
New breaches came as expected.
Far from being surprised, Fu Qian even felt somewhat relieved—because it was a task beginning with a 3.
Based on past experience, tasks starting with 3 might or might not be difficult, but one generally need not worry about special dangers.
[Entering containment scene 3-3119.]
[Current SAN Points 175, current Inspiration 66.]
[…1%…5%…15%…45%…75%…95%…100%, containment scene loading complete.]
[Growth is always accompanied by growing pains.
Either deceive yourself, or achieve Transcendence.
And on this lonely and perplexing journey, often only your mother’s fairy tales accompany you.
It is a remote country road.
You were driving alone to visit a friend, but the car broke down halfway on this distant road.
It’s not a pleasant feeling, and, given the seriousness of the problem, you’re unlikely to fix it any time soon.
The only consolation is that the road is quiet and serene—even in the dark, rainy night, it remains so.]
This introduction… it seems to say something, but at the same time it says nothing.
The more Fu Qian listened, the more he frowned, and the next moment he felt lighter as his senses returned.
He turned his head around and found he was indeed sitting in a car that had come to a stop.
Looking out the window, he saw that it was as described—a wasteland outside.
A flat road stretched straight into the distance, with the car stalled in the middle of it and looming trees on both sides.
From the interior of the car, it was clear that it had seen better days; the patterns on the steering wheel were almost worn smooth, and the gear positions on the lever were indistinct.
Besides these, the space inside the car was quite cramped.
He wasn’t exceptionally tall, but just sitting there, his head was almost touching the roof of the car.
Whew!
He let out a breath, and before he could express his feelings, everything in front of him became brightly lit.
A twisted bolt of lightning appeared in the dark blue night sky above.
After the lightning came the sound of thunder.
The next moment, large raindrops began to fall, energetically hitting the car windows.
It really was a rainy night!
Only then did Fu Qian let out a sigh, considering the earlier tips and not bothering to try and fix the car.
He shifted the car into neutral, then stepped out and started pushing it while steering.
As expected, due to its diminutive size, the car wasn’t heavy and he pushed it to the side without much effort.
Even so, in just this short amount of time, his upper body was nearly soaked through.
But it was necessary work, as the visibility in such a downpour was quite poor.
Obviously a two-way single-lane road, continuing to stay in the middle could lead to accidents.
After clambering back into the car, Fu Qian didn’t feel relaxed.
He had a feeling, and pushing the car had confirmed it—he hadn’t brought any of his skills or weapons with him.
Now he was nothing more than a young adult male in terms of capabilities.
Clearly, his abilities were limited in this mission.
[Task update: Help Violetta reach her mother’s room.]
Just then, the task update appeared beside his ear.
Violetta, her mother’s room?
Hearing this task objective, Fu Qian naturally thought of the part about fairy tales in the introduction.
It seems the next step is to find this young Miss Violetta.
But is the task to help a lost child return home?
While thinking, Fu Qian searched the inside and outside of the car thoroughly.
Unfortunately, the items in the car were really simple; apart from a few banknotes and cards, there was only a pocket flashlight.
Having tried the flashlight and found it still worked, Fu Qian turned it off and pocketed it.
After all this, the rain showed no signs of stopping, but Fu Qian wasn’t in a hurry and sat quietly in the car waiting.
In such conditions, getting out of the car and groping around was pointless.
After a while, the bright headlights of a car lit up behind him.
Fu Qian didn’t hesitate to open the door, get out, and, flashlight in hand, aimed in the direction of the approaching vehicle.
After flashing the light on and off a few times, the approaching car came to a slow stop beside Fu Qian.
“Got a problem?”
The car window was rolled down a crack, and a rather capable-looking middle-aged man peered out, sizing up Fu Qian and his car.
“Yes, could I get a ride? Just drop me at the nearest town.”
Fu Qian deliberately showed his hands, proving he wasn’t carrying any kind of weapon.
Clearly, this gesture made the driver drop his guard considerably.
“Of course, come on in.”
The man didn’t say much, just pushed the back door open in response.
Fu Qian didn’t stand on ceremony and ducked his head as he got in.
Aside from the middle-aged driver, there were two other people in the car.
One was a woman around his age with a gentle face and elegantly dressed with fine jewelry, sitting in the passenger seat.
The other was a rather delicate-looking young girl, about five or six years old, biting her lip and curled up in the back seat like a cat.
The young girl was dressed in a blue dress with a fine red ribbon tied in her hair, delicate as a doll, her skin white as snow.
And ever since Fu Qian sat beside her, this amber-eyed girl hadn’t stopped staring at him unblinkingly.
At first glance, they appeared to be a family of three on an outing.
However, Fu Qian felt unease in his heart as the young girl seemed somewhat familiar to him.
Su Gao?
After a quick search of his memory, he soon thought of an acquaintance.
There was indeed a resemblance in the eyes and expression.
Fu Qian wasn’t someone who paid great attention to appearances, but having overlooked it once in Rotten Forest, he was a bit more sensitive in this regard.
However, the young girl in front of him looked much more immature than Su Gao had been.
“Quite the troublesome evening, isn’t it?”
At that moment, the woman in the passenger seat turned around and greeted Fu Qian in a friendly tone, then gestured towards the young girl.
“On our way here, we’ve already picked up two people.”
So she wasn’t their daughter?
Fu Qian’s mind stirred, and he looked again at the young girl, smiling kindly.
“What’s your name?”
“I am Snow White.”
The young girl blinked and replied naturally.
…
“She gave us the same answer earlier.”
The woman’s smile seemed somewhat helpless.
“Before the rain started, we found her walking alone on the road, so we let her get in the car with the plan to hand her over to the police up ahead.”
I see.
Fu Qian nodded, turning back to look at the young girl.
“Snow White has a name too, what does your mom usually call you?”
“Mmm… Violetta.”