48 Hours a Day

The section under the sender was blank, and the subject was login.

Zhang Heng clicked on it.

‘Player number 06992 invites you to form a team to join a new round of game. Please ensure that you are alone in a private space with no one else around. Click on the link below to start the game when you are ready. Have a wonderful time!’

There was no need to mull over it. Even if Why Do You Always Look Unhappy (# O’) was pulling some trick again, he had a mission failure exemption card, ensuring that he wouldn’t encounter too great a danger in the quest.

Zhang Heng clicked on the link at the end of the email.

The next thing he knew, he was hit by that familiar dizziness, and the system prompt echoed in his ears.

[Verifying player’s identity...) [Verification confirmed. Players 06992 and 07958 are holders of component 300501. Connecting players to the quest]

(Extraction complete-Current Quest: Master Builder (Special)]

“An evil ruler is planning to destroy the entire city. The world is at stake and it awaits its savior. This game will not be added to your count. You can exit the game at any time and start again.” [Mission objective: Save the World)

(Mode: Multiplayer]

[Time flow rate: 480]

(One hour in the real world is equivalent to 20 days in this game. Players can terminate the game at any time and return to the real world)

[Friendly reminder, the game will begin in 5 seconds. Player, please get ready.]

It was Zhang Heng’s first time hearing that a quest’s main objective was to save the world. Judging by its description, he thought he would be sent into a dystopian wasteland or to the eve of the apocalypse. When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a train station, surrounded by a bustling crowd.

Everything looked normal... except that everything around him was made out of blocks.

Lego? Zhang Heng raised an eyebrow. Lego, a building block toy, was invented by Ole Kirk Christiansen, father of Lego. The word came from the Danish phrase “LEg Godt”, which translates as “play well.” Food-grade plastic was used to manufacture the parts, with protrusions on one side and corresponding indents on the other. The pieces are assembled according to instruction manuals to form a variety of models, or the player could set the manual aside and build whatever they please according to their own personal preferences. In the world of Lego, nothing was impossible, and the possibilities were endless. Zhang Heng had seen many Lego fanatics build life-size Lego models on the Internet and in exhibits, including a full-scale Bugatti Veyron (engine also made out of Lego bricks, and could be driven on the road at low speed

– no more than 30km/h), all sorts of bricked-out animals, and even houses. In this game he was in, however, he was literally in a world formed by bricks. This was the first time he had seen something like this.

He was standing in a massive railway station, where even the glass roof above, the marble floor beneath his feet, the cake shops, and convenience stores were bricks. Every single detail, from the ticket vending machines to the entrance of the subway station; they were all constructed from millions upon millions of colorful Lego bricks.

In fact, all the passersbys were also brick people. Suddenly, Zhang Heng had a premonition. He looked down at his own hands and, as he suspected, saw that his palms had turned into the classic C-shaped hands of the Lego minifigures.

Just then, someone patted him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw a nerdy girl in black-rimmed glasses, braided hair, and an old-fashioned sweater.

Zhang Heng furrowed his brows. He did not recognize her until she spoke.

“Under normal circumstances, most people would choose to look left in such a situation.”

“Why Do You Always Look Unhappy?”

“Yup. I know I look funny right now. You can laugh at my appearance, but remember; you’re no better than me. You look like a rectangular potato cake. But the good news is, you are yellower, and you’ve still got eyes, nose, and mouth... although they are merely paintings on your face...” While Why Do You Always Look Unhappy (#O’) was trying her best to conceal the excitement in her tone. Zhang Heng could hear that she was in a very good mood, which meant that this wasn’t a prank. Something did happen to her.

“What is this place? Why aren’t you with your family during New Year’s Eve?” Zhang Heng asked.

“Because this is my hometown, and my family is here.”

Zhang Heng’s eyes widened. He was taken aback. “So, you’re actually a plastic block?”

“Who’s the plastic block here?! I meant to say that this place is exactly the same as my hometown. Err... except its all made out of Lego. Anyway, welcome to Guangzhou, the city of flowers! We are now at South Railway Station, and we’ll grab a cab to West Square. Come on, walk first, talk later.”

Why Do You Always Look Unhappy (#’O’) led the way. Together, they hailed a cab, which was also made out of Lego. Except for that, the system ran the exact same way as it did in the real world, whereby taking a cab from a different direction would mean getting dropped at a different area, and passengers still had to line up board the vehicle.

Some Lego minifigures even jumped the queue when no one was paying attention-it was all uncannily similar to real life.

The taxis at the front of the row left one by one, and at the same time, a new batch of cabs took their places. An officer in charge let about a dozen people through, Zhang Heng included, and the passengers freely boarded cabs that were still unoccupied.

Why Do You Always Look Unhappy (#O’). opened the door, sat in the front passenger seat, and said something in Cantonese.

The driver nodded and asked them to put their seatbelts on before pulling away.

“So, you’re Cantonese?” Zhang Heng asked.

“Yes.”

“Why are we going North?”

The driver craned his neck and asked, “North?”

“It’s none of your business. You just need to drive.”

Why Do You Always Look Unhappy (#’O’). rolled her eyes, then switched to English when she spoke to Zhang Heng. “It’s better not to talk about other places in front of them. Even though the place is almost exactly the same as the real Guangzhou, there are still minute differences. They don’t know that there are places outside.”

“But we just came from the train station.”

“Yes, but they only have a very vague idea about the outside.