Trembling At A High Altitude

"Could the Amusement Gold Coins be on these tourists?" a few black and white people discussed as they walked.

"I think it's possible, should we try searching them?"

"But they said there's an Evil Ghost disguised as a tourist among the crowd, attacking and killing at whim based on her mood and advised us to try not to touch her, or else she'd torment and kill us!"

"The amusement park is so huge, there must be at least a few thousand of these motionless tourists, right? What are the odds of randomly searching one and running into the Evil Ghost?" the black man grumbled.

"Then why don't you search one and find out?" the white man dared the black man.

The black man actually approached a female tourist and tentatively touched her a few times.

The female tourist had no reaction.

Mocking the others, the black man pulled a face and then began to grope the female tourist extensively. She continued to stand still.

After a long while of searching and not finding any coins, even after reaching into her skirt...

"Ah! Ah!"

Suddenly, the black man screamed in extreme terror, startling everyone.

"You really can't touch these tourists! She's the Evil Ghost! She's bitten me!" The black man cried out loudly in agony, struggling desperately.

The others were so scared they even took a few steps back.

"Hahahaha... look at you bunch of cowards! You got so scared!" The black man triumphantly stopped his prank and mockingly laughed at everyone.

"That joke wasn't funny at all." The others voiced their protest to the black man.

The black man didn't find any coins and started searching another tourist, and seeing that he was fine, the others also began to try their luck searching the other tourists.

Unfortunately, after searching dozens of tourists, they all came up empty-handed.

"It seems unlikely that the coins are on the tourists; let's go look somewhere else," the white man said dejectedly to the others.

"What a pity it's made of plastic, sigh..." The black man sighed as he looked at the female tourist.

"You're nothing but a stud donkey." The black woman ridiculed the black man a few times, clearly seeing through what he intended to do.

"And you're a little she-donkey." The black man, drooling, moved closer to the black woman.

"Scram!"

Exchanging all sorts of raunchy talk and insults, the group continued on their way.

"You all seem to know each other quite well, what were you doing before you went to prison? Do you know why you ended up here?" The woman from the Island Kingdom, who seldom spoke, started asking the black and white people, obviously trying to cozy up and fit in with them as quickly as possible.

"We didn't know each other all that well before; we just lived in the same apartment building and recognized each other's faces. As for why we're here, we can more or less guess," said the black man, greatly interested in the woman from the Island Kingdom. When she started speaking, he eagerly joined the conversation.

"And what's the reason?" The woman from the Island Kingdom looked on curiously.

"Our seaside apartment building collapsed, burying us all inside. I was lucky, trapped in a triangulated space with almost no injuries, and right next to me was a box of water and some bags of biscuits.

"I wasn't too worried at first; with such a large building collapsed, there must have been over a hundred people buried, right? The state government was bound to send a rescue team.

"Compared to others, I wasn't injured, and had both food and water; waiting for rescue wouldn't be a problem.

"Later, when I was desperately searching for supplies in that cramped space, I actually found an old-fashioned radio! And the batteries still had charge!"

"So I could finally hear what was happening outside."

"As expected, the state government had already started the rescue operation, they even thoroughly searched three times just for pets. I figured they wouldn't have any problem eventually rescuing us."

"But for some reason, no matter how hard I yelled, I never got a response from the outside."

"Apart from some footsteps, I didn't hear any sounds of moving, or digging through the rubble."

"It was very hot, and even though I rationed my water, in three days I had consumed most of a carton of drinks, and my food was all gone, fear began creeping into my heart."

"Why hasn't the rescue reached me yet? I'm not buried that deep!"

"On the fourth day, I heard a terrifying piece of news on the radio."

"The governor said, to avoid the sea breeze from toppling the remaining buildings, they decided to use heavy machinery to push over the rest of the structures, so they wouldn't collapse due to the wind."

"I was terrified, I screamed out, telling them I was still alive,"

"Unfortunately, no one heard me; no one felt my desperation."

"I heard the sound of heavy machinery."

"Then, they really did push over the remaining structures!"

"Originally, I was unscathed, hiding in that triangular area, even without food, with the few bottles of water I had left, I could have lasted another two or three days."

"But when they pushed over the building, debris rained down, crushing the triangular space I was in, a huge chunk of concrete landed on both of my legs, the pain damn near made me want to kill someone! To kill all those bastards!"

"My body was also trapped by the narrow space, unable to move, I couldn't even reach for those last few bottles of water."

"In the following days, I endured hunger and thirst, and at the same time, the extreme pain,"

"I became more and more desperate, more and more hopeless…"

"Later on, the radio broadcasted the news they were calling off the rescue; they praised the rescuers as being so brave, but all I wanted was to curse!"

"Finally, in extreme pain, hunger, and despair, I passed out."

"When I woke up again, I was in a prison."

"I thought I must have died, otherwise it doesn't make sense to be in good health and in prison. If I can get my sentence reduced and finally escape this prison, when I return, I will kill that damned governor first!"

"No, I will topple his house, to let him experience what it feels like to wait for rescue in the rubble!"

The black man grew more agitated as he spoke, spitting as he ranted.

"This is utterly fucked up! Those goddamn bastards! I wasn't dead either, then they crushed me when they pushed over the building!" the black woman cursed as well.

"I'm the unlucky one, I don't usually live in this apartment, I came to visit a friend. We chatted late into the night and I slept over at her place. Then the building collapsed. I heard this building had problems ten years ago, but the damn governor never did anything to repair it!" the white woman chimed in.

"Watch, this won't be the last building to fall; there will be more collapsing later," the white man added.

"Just like our decaying Federation, crumbling and falling apart bit by bit," the white woman sighed.

"Don't say that, I think you are the greatest. We've always admired your way of life! We wanted to join you and become one of your states," the woman from Island Kingdom consoled everyone.

"Forget it! I used to believe these lies, but now I understand; it's all those politicians full of lies tricking us. I'll never believe them again! Nor will I vote for any of them anymore!" the black man said, clearly displeased.

"Did you see that?" the white woman suddenly pointed in a certain direction and shouted.

"What?" The others stopped and looked in the direction the white woman was pointing.

"I saw a ghost! Dressed in white, with long flowing hair, it just floated by from the intersection up ahead!" The white woman's face showed sheer terror.

"Are you sure you saw clearly?"

"I saw clearly! It was a white-clad female ghost! It could float! And it seemed... it had long claws!" the white woman continued to describe.

"Everyone, be careful not to get separated. I like to watch horror movies, and these evil ghosts always like to kill those who are alone," the white man said to the group.

"We're in a group; the ghost should go after those damn three yellow monkeys," the black man spoke up.

"Ah... oh... I didn't mean you." After saying that, the black man saw the woman from the Island Kingdom and quickly added a few more words.

"I hate my yellow skin too! I've always wanted to become a noble white, a true Western noble." The woman from the Island Kingdom wasn't bothered; she wasn't in fact a native of the Island Kingdom but had studied abroad there and then settled down after marrying a scumbag, successfully changing her nationality.

In the past few years, she had become so proficient in the language of the Island Kingdom that even her tone and accent were flawlessly imitated, making it very difficult for others to discern her original identity and nationality.

Of course, that wasn't something she would disclose.

"Nobles, huh? Heh." The white man let out a chuckle when he heard what the woman from the Island Kingdom said, his expression showing a hint of amusement.

He too once thought that they were a most noble race, but after having the opportunity to travel, the more he saw, the more he felt they resembled a bunch of has-beens.

This experience of being pushed under a building and waiting to die had also completely disillusioned him with his race.

"Hello, would you like to play with bubbles?"

As they were talking, a sudden voice from the side of the road gave them a start.

It was a vendor from an amusement park, carrying an assortment of toys, holding a bubble tube that could produce lots of bubbles.

The group looked at the vendor in alarm, but after saying that phrase, the vendor didn't speak again and, just like all the other visitors, stayed motionless.

"I want to play with bubbles; how does it work?" the black man broke the silence and asked the motionless vendor.

"After night falls, I will come to find you," replied the vendor, his voice as if whispering right into the black man's ear.

"What?" The black man looked at the vendor and the others with some confusion.

"Did you hear him speak?" the black man asked the others.

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

"He asked if we wanted to play with bubbles," the woman from the Island Kingdom answered the black man honestly.

"No, I mean the sentence after that. Something about coming to find me after dark?" the black man shook his head.

"He only said that one sentence..." The woman from the Island Kingdom's eyes widened.

The others nodded in agreement, indicating they also only heard the first sentence.

"Did you just talk to me?" Since he couldn't get an answer from the others, the black man decided to continue questioning the vendor.

The vendor didn't utter a sound.

"Can you tell me where I can find those damn gold coins?" the black man asked again.

"After night falls, I will come to find you," the vendor's voice echoed once more in the black man's ear.

"Can't you hear him talking? He keeps talking to me!" the black man questioned the others again.

"Stop joking around like that; it's not very funny," the black woman obviously did not believe what the black man was saying.

"He said he'd come to find me at night, what do you think he'd do?" the black man looked questioningly at the others.

"I think he probably misses your sorry ass," the white man laughed.

"FUCK!" the black man erupted in anger and, after a fierce barrage of punches and kicks which knocked the vendor over, the large bag of toys the vendor had been carrying also scattered on the ground.

A gold coin rolled out from the bag.

The black man quickly grabbed the coin and discovered it was identical to the initial coin he already had!

"Hahaha... I found a gold coin!" the black man exclaimed in delight, boasting to the others with great pride.

The others didn't expect the black man to be so lucky, to actually find a gold coin among these motionless NPCs.

They followed the black man's lead, kicking and punching at the visitors and especially the vendors as they walked.

They even stopped talking much.

But the others didn't have the same luck as the black man, and as night grew deeper and they felt inexorably tired and sleepy, too weak to continue the assault.

"We need to find a place to sleep," the black man suggested to the group.

"I'm so sleepy," the woman from the Island Kingdom yawned in agreement.

"I'm so hungry! But I want to sleep even more."

"Yeah, let's find a place to sleep."

The others agreed one after the other.

"Wait, everyone! We can't sleep!" the white woman suddenly realized something and stopped the group.

The others looked at her with confusion.

"The rules say that once we fall asleep, we'll never wake up again. Our sleepiness, hunger, exhaustion, they can be relieved by using the Amusement Gold Coins to play at the amusement facilities, and playing once only lasts for an hour, so we have to keep looking for Amusement Gold Coins. How can we look for a place to sleep now?" the white woman explained.

"Right! We can't sleep!" The others came to their senses as if awakening from a dream, breaking out into a cold sweat.

Luckily the white woman remained lucid, reminding them, or else if they had found a place to sleep, they probably would never have woken up.

Each person was given an initial coin, so for now, they didn't need to worry too much. As long as they play at an amusement facility once, they can recover and stay energized for an hour.

Now they needed to discuss and decide which amusement facility to use their game coins at.

"How about the roller coaster next to us? It looks fun," the black man suggested.

"How do we play? It's constantly running, there are people on it, and there's even a line waiting," the white man wondered.

"We could just rush up there, throw the people off, and take their place, right?" the black man proposed a solution.