Hourglass Project - Chapter 15

“Maybe we came a little late,” Huang Jijun was the first to enter the inpatient department and took the lead. “The rooms might already be taken.”

“Be optimistic, Junjun,” Huang Yuhan wasn’t worried at all. “Maybe there are exactly five beds left.”

Attitude is everything or perhaps luck is part of strength. As it turned out, there were still several vacant rooms in the inpatient building.

They picked the two rooms at the far end of the third floor. Since all the rooms on that floor were doubles, they pushed an extra bed in from another room.

“Ha!”

Huang Yuhan laughed at her own handiwork.

Looking at the three single beds pushed together, Huang Jijun was speechless.

Huang Yuhan looked at her, raising her eyebrows proudly. “Aren’t I clever?”

“…Very clever.”

Huang Yuhan looked at the three beds again and suggested, “Should I make it look nicer? Like… head-to-head?”

Huang Jijun couldn’t help but imagine the scene…

“You trying to summon ghosts with a ritual or what? Head-to-head?”

Lin Yi’s voice came from the door. The Double Huangs turned to look at her as she continued, “Don’t do weird cult stuff. Looks dumb.”

“Hey, how can you say that?” Huang Yuhan shot back immediately. “Can’t we keep some sense of life in this apocalyptic life?”

“Sentiment in the form of magic?” Lin Yi raised an eyebrow.

“That’s called art!” Huang Yuhan shouted.

Lin Yi let out a flat-toned “hahaha.”

Meanwhile, in the neighboring room, Li Moyao and Tao Luo had already brewed instant noodles and were waiting for the three-minute timer.

“Someone’s coming,” Tao Luo glanced toward the door.

“Mm~” Li Moyao responded with a single syllable, staring fondly at her noodles.

“Is it this one?”

“Damn, smells amazing!”

“Shhh! Keep it down!!”

The eavesdropping voices came through the door, crystal clear.

Two girls were crouched by the doorway. When they saw the two inside, they looked stunned.

“Whoa, beauties!”

“Pretty sisters!”

They turned and shouted in surprise.

“……”

Li Moyao lay on the bed with her back to the door, smiling. “Ooh~ pretty sisters~”

Tao Luo lifted the iron cup that covered her noodles, opened the lid, fluffed the noodles with a fork, and replied, “Yeah, our beautiful Moyao.”

Moyao giggled. “Not as pretty as my baby Luo~”

Lovey-dovey nonsense.

Their peaceful moment must have smelled too delicious because the other three soon came over.

“Who were those two girls?” Lin Yi asked about the ones who had fled earlier.

Huang Yuhan, now slurping Tao Luo’s noodles, casually replied, “Beauties, probably.”

The five of them sat in the hospital room eating instant noodles and discussing things.

They talked about plans to destroy the Hourglass Project. For now, they had two ideas: infiltration and disguise.

Li Moyao had previously attempted infiltration but was discovered due to a short infiltration period.

Disguise naturally meant acting as a spy, but the success rate was only about 10%.

They decided on a middle-ground strategy, Red Hackers’ Infiltration.

The idea was that each of them would act like a red hacker. Instead of attacking from one point, they would attack from all directions, aiming for full-system domination.

Of course, this required them to first breach the system, then control it, and ideally, use it to their advantage.

That was the first plan. The second briefly touched on disguise, starting with an emissary or finding another route. It was a more dangerous option.

In any case, plans were bound to evolve.

By the window, Huang Jijun looked out and said, “More players are arriving.”

Huang Yuhan walked over to look too.

Three players, two men and one woman were heading toward the inpatient building. All had visible injuries, freshly sustained, likely just out of a micro-space zone.

At this pace, the hospital would run out of space in less than ten days, especially since the Admin wasn’t giving a second round of gifts.

Nearby supplies were dwindling as well. If they stayed too long, resource competition would become inevitable.

Right now, the hospital was a warm nest. No one wanted to leave. Even if their supplies were stolen, they’d rather stay than be out in the cold. Everyone just wanted shelter, not comfort.

One day, they might all be sleeping under the sky.

﹉

“It’s snowing…” Huang Jijun watched the falling flakes and murmured, “Haven’t seen snow in so long.”

They had lived in the South, where snow was rare. Watching snow was always a childhood dream for southern kids.

Li Moyao leaned against the window, eyes lazy but smiling. “Feels like Chinese New Year’s is coming~”

Huang Jijun smiled slightly. “I’m afraid we won’t be able to celebrate this year.”

“Mm~ what a shame~” Li Moyao sighed, then grinned.

It wasn’t just a shame—it was scary.

What if the game sends another gift then?

Only the two of them were in the room. The others had gone to the parking lot to fight.

The room went quiet. Huang Jijun’s gaze followed a falling snowflake. It landed on the window sill, melted, and was quickly replaced by another, soon forming a small pile.

Moved by the scene, she opened her mouth and said, “I really miss my parents.”

Li Moyao looked at her and saw her eyelashes drooping. Her calm, beautiful face held no expression, reflected clearly in the window glass.

She continued.

“I don’t even know how they’re doing now.”

Li Moyao reached out to hold her hand, smiling. “It’ll be okay~”

Before the game started, the parents of all five girls had gone abroad on a group trip. Whether they were still alive was unknown, but the concern was always there.

Maybe because she’d seen too much, Li Moyao’s attitude toward her “parents” was different. She’d already accepted the possibility they might be gone.

Experience really numbs you over time.

Huang Jijun looked at her, seeing her own calm face reflected in Moyao’s relaxed eyes. She curled her fingers around the hand holding hers and smiled. “I really want to be like you, Moyao~”

So lighthearted, and so strong.

She laughed a little. “You will~”

Becoming strong just takes time.

Bang!

“Ow~” Huang Yuhan pulled her hand back and looked at the dent in the top of the small car. She turned to Lin Yi across from her and smiled. “Didn’t feel a thing~”

Lin Yi: “…”

A minute later, chaos broke out in the parking lot.

Tao Luo, leaning against a wall, watched the two go fighting with fists, and feet, occasionally using cars to block or hurl at each other. It didn’t take long for most of the nearby vehicles to be destroyed.

Like they didn’t cost anything. Luckily… they really didn’t.

Lin Yi tore off a car door, held it like a shield, and shouted, “C’mon!”

“Heh,” Huang Yuhan sneered, “You think a junky door makes you Captain America? Watch me K.O you in seconds!”

“Then come at me, Hulk!” Lin Yi fired back.

She looked shocked. “Ha… Fvck!”

She pushed off the ground and charged! Faster than before!

Bang!

The car door got dented!

Lin Yi staggered back a few steps and threw the door at her!

Huang Yuhan spun and kicked it mid-air—sending it flying! She grinned proudly. “See that? I’m a badass!”

“Tch,” Lin Yi scoffed. “Show off.”

The two were back at it again in no time.

Brutal and satisfying hand-to-hand combat.

At noon, the three of them returned from the parking lot. When they reached the second floor, they noticed a crowd.

“Whoa damn.”

Seeing what it was, Huang Yuhan and Lin Yi both gasped.

In the middle of the crowd, a disheveled woman sat on the ground, pale-faced, clutching a piece of bread. Next to her lay a man, unconscious and foaming at the mouth.

“What happened?” Huang Yuhan asked someone nearby.

The person glanced at her. “That guy tried to steal the woman’s food. She killed him with her ability.”

“Dead?”

“Yeah.”

The three examined the man carefully, he really wasn’t breathing.

The crowd dispersed quickly. The woman dragged the man’s body into the restroom and left. The second floor returned to normal after a brief buzz.

“Sigh… people are stealing now,” Huang Yuhan said. “Good thing we don’t have much, less trouble.”

“But if we have too little, won’t that seem suspicious too?” Lin Yi said. “I bet it won’t be long before a strong bully shows up, stealing food from weaker players.”

Huang Yuhan pouted. “Won’t the other players gang up to stop them?”

“You think that person won’t have followers?” Lin Yi countered.

“At most, the players will split into two groups,” Tao Luo said. “Might even divide the hospital.”

Incompatible players wouldn’t want to share a building. The five-girl group might be invited to join a faction, but they wouldn’t. They’d stick with their two rooms.

Huang Yuhan sighed again and muttered, “Why can’t everyone just get along, find their own spot? So annoying…”

Lin Yi: “Where there are good people, there will also be bad people.”

Back in the room, the three split up. Tao Luo returned to her room and found Li Moyao fast asleep on the bed.

Her jacket had picked up some snow outside. The melted fabric clung coldly to her skin. She took it off and draped it over a chair, then suddenly looked out the window, catching a flash of movement.

She walked to Li Moyao’s bedside, bent over to pull the blanket up, but the moment it was in place, her wrist was grabbed! A pull yanked her down onto Moyao.

A hand patted her back. Li Moyao’s drowsy voice whispered in her ear, “babe Luo~  go to sleep…”

“I just got back. Aren’t you cold?” Tao Luo asked.

“Not cold~~” Li Moyao dragged out her syllables, hands wandering around Tao Luo’s waist.

“…”

Just as she was freely groping around, her hand was suddenly caught, and her head pushed down. Li Moyao looked over at her.

Tao Luo’s face still held some of the outside chill, but her words were about what happened earlier on the second floor.

After she finished, Li Moyao squinted for a moment, then smiled. “Then… let’s just not mess with that person~”

“…Just go to sleep.” Tao Luo sighed.

A few giggles echoed in the hospital room before it fell completely silent.