Chapter 3: Waking Up in a Prison? Seriously?

Under the dim light, the unfamiliar ceiling, bare bed, and Spartan room all seemed to foretell an unpleasant reality.

As Feng Xue turned his head and saw the wall replaced by metal bars and a similarly caged room opposite his, a realization dawned upon him—

This was a prison.

"Did I transmigrate into a prisoner?" Feng Xue tried to search his brain for relevant memories but came up empty. Well, not entirely. There was a faint memory that the original owner of this body had been an orphan abandoned on a snowy night.

"Wait!" Feng Xue's brow furrowed, then it clicked—

"So, the things in the meat pigeon game were actually experiences of my predecessor? Does that mean if I complete the meat pigeon game, I could recover the predecessor's memories? Or, maybe it's the other way around—perhaps the actions within the game decide the past experiences!"

Thinking of the simulator-themed novel he had outlined before transmigrating, he paused again as he remembered the name of that rare resource—"Hope."

"So, does that imply it's the legacy of my predecessor?" Having played Sword Essence Scrolls, Feng Xue was sensitive to the term 'Hope'. Combining this with the power to manifest thoughts into reality he experienced in the game, he spread his hands out.

Considering he was in a prison, he didn't dare to conjure flames or anything of that sort. Instead, he tried to simply imagine a small cube, but despite his best efforts and eye strain, nothing appeared.

"Is it a special mechanism of the meat pigeon game? Or do I need to use Hope to unlock abilities in reality? Or perhaps, is it this prison?"

Feng Xue glanced at the sleeping prisoner across from him and then looked at his own hands. Around his wrists were sci-fi-looking metal bracelets—possibly handcuffs or some sort of identifier. Although he couldn't see his ankles, they felt like they had similar restraints.

His skin was in good condition, suggesting he was not very old. His body had smooth muscle lines without noticeable scars, though he could feel some calluses, which didn't seem like they were from rough work or martial arts. His skin was the weathered tan of someone frequently outdoors.

This profile didn't fit the image of a typical prisoner—had he offended some powerful woman?

Of course, as an orphan, it wasn't uncommon to get involved in petty theft or even join a gang and take the fall for someone else's crimes, but the real puzzler was—

He was in a single cell!

Not a solitary confinement cell, but a genuine single room that, aside from its austerity, wasn't much different from a studio apartment, likely even having its own bathroom judging from the door in the corner.

Who in prison gets a single cell unless they're a big shot?

Feng Xue wasn't sure, but he knew it wasn't a place for petty criminals.

"Please don't let it be that I'm about to be executed!"

A sense of urgency welled up in him. He shifted uncomfortably on the not-too-comfy hard bed and focused again on the small icon in the upper left corner.

This icon resembled the meat pigeon icon from the night round car game, forming a diamond shape made of lines. Tapping on it would bring up a small list, but now, the list showed only a dim prison banner with the clear words [Continue Exploration].

"Ugh…"

Feng Xue's frown deepened, and the lack of understanding about his current state made him desperate to learn everything about his predecessor.

With that mindset, he tapped on the prison banner, and as his consciousness blurred, he once again plunged into the murky dreamscape.

[The brilliance of the stars has faded, leaving everything dimly lit in the eve of dawn, and all is eerily quiet.]

Again, that soft, emotionless narration played, but this time, Feng Xue wasn't as affected by the dream's rationality patch. He began to ponder the pretentious-sounding introduction but couldn't make much of it, ultimately refocusing on the fishbone diagram.

The stage, named [Dawn Approaches], had five nodes, but only the current one was clear—the rest were shrouded in fog without even a basic hint.

And in the visible cell, the options were all [Unexpected Encounter].

"Going blind into the next cells is a sure way to step on a mine, and I wonder if there's a way to see further ahead…"

Feng Xue didn't ponder for long. Trusting his instincts, he chose the path below and opened the next block—

[A random choice may bring new possibilities, but remember, every gift fate offers has its price secretly marked.]

The icon slowly expanded, and as the text materialized, Feng Xue barely had time to digest the potentially ominous words before finding himself standing in a classroom.

The classroom wasn't very large, surrounded by about a dozen three to four-year-old children who were enthusiastically doodling on paper with pencils.

Feng Xue tried to move but found himself immobile, realizing this was just a transitional scene.

Accompanying this realization, a series of options appeared in his mind—

[Three years old, you were given paper and pencils. What do you draw?]

1. Draw a person.

2. Draw a landscape.

3. I don't draw.

"Ah, really…" Seeing the options, Feng Xue fell into thought, "Isn't there any hint? Even integrated strategies tell you what you'll get after choosing!"

Glancing at his SAN value, he noticed it wasn't slowly decreasing like it had during the Orphan of the Snowy Night. He started to think more deeply.

The last option, not drawing, probably equated to "mind your own business" or "better safe than sorry," akin to opting out and skipping the node altogether, which might also trigger additional choices in later stages.

While it seemed the safest, it was essentially a wasted node.

And in a situation where nodes are clearly limited, every wasted node could lower the chances of a successful outcome.

But without any hints, even the "Unexpected Encounter" options weren't safe, possibly triggering an emergency operation or something similar.

But then…

"In an orphanage, no matter how urgent, it couldn't be too dramatic, right?" Feng Xue noticed that many children had already completed their doodles and handed them to the teacher. Considering the implicit time limit and thinking about a group of three-year-olds, even if an orphanage bullying scenario was triggered, it shouldn't be too severe. He focused on the options—

Between portraits and landscapes…

For Feng Xue, who had no significant accomplishments in art, portraits were definitely harder to draw than landscapes. But what effect would the difficulty of drawing have on his choices?

Would drawing well attract praise from the teacher and jealousy from others, leading to bullying? Or would a poor drawing lead to ridicule and isolation?

After a glance at the doodles of the children around him, he dismissed the latter possibility and resolutely chose the more challenging option of drawing a portrait.

As the choice materialized, "his" young hands picked up a pencil and swiftly sketched lines on the paper. About twenty minutes later, a half-body sketch was handed to a man who seemed to be a teacher at the orphanage. Just in time, text appeared—

[Precocious, you didn't doodle like the other children. After observing your surroundings, you decided to draw a sketch of the teacher. Although the strokes are still rough, the details are quite well depicted. However, you didn't notice that the teacher's expression seemed a bit odd.]

[You have obtained Casual Sketch (White).]

Name: Casual Sketch

Category: Survival Aid

Quality: Common White

Effect: Hope +4

Note: A hastily drawn portrait sketch, yet the nearly photographic precision of the strokes seems to tell of the artist's particular obsession.