The Trial Game of Life – Chapter 136

Table of Contents | Character Guide

Chapter 136: There’s Someone Under The Bed (1)

“Emergency, please give way!” 

Amidst an anxious voice, like a cannonball, a figure smashed the glass windows of a shop on the street and crashed into the room behind. The players hurriedly dispersed and looked over to see that among the broken glass and the wreck of desks and chairs, a babyface with flamboyant pink hair was clutching his waist as he stood up, then he shook off the dust all over his body and picked up the broomstick on the ground. He rushed out with a worried expression on his face.

“Please give way, I’m in a hurry!”

This person was, of course, 10086 Wen Xiaoming, and very soon, some players recognised him. One after another, they tried to guess what had happened. Since Wen Xiaoming was nowhere as frightening as Jin Cheng, someone stepped forward to ask, but they could only see Wen Xiaoming climb onto the broomstick. The words that had almost slipped out of that person’s lips could only be swallowed back.

“Fly!” Wen Xiaoming held on to the broomstick handle, and as soon as he gave the command, the tail of the broomstick spewed blue flames like a gas stove being turned on, sending him to the sky with a loud bang.

The speed was too fast and the brakes weren’t easy to handle, and the most annoying thing was that this broomstick had to be controlled using voice.

“Left, turn left!” Equipment Master Wen Xiaoming was head over heels for Pikachu and Harry Potter, thus he was determined to ride a ‘magic broomstick’ to throw ‘Poke Balls’, but this broomstick was still in the experimental stage, which was very likely to cause traffic accidents.

This broomstick was one that if he didn’t stop it, it certainly would crash.

But since it was an emergency, Wen Xiaoming had to take the risk. In any case, he was used to bumping and ramming into everything. It was faster than walking, not to mention that later, he could ask for reimbursement from the big boss for the materials used.

Moreover, Wen Xiaoming’s location was already at the edge of Zone E, not far from the central area. After crashing once or twice, he could see the outline of the game hall from a distance.

Overjoyed, Wen Xiaoming was about to rush over, but a commotion suddenly came from the southwest. He hurriedly hit the brakes and spun around for a while before the broomstick came to a stop. He hung his head down from the broomstick and took a closer look —

Isn’t that his Tang ge?!

Although Tang Cuo and Wen Xiaoming both came from Zone E, they didn’t go through the same route. At this time, Tang Cuo was running on the top of the building, and under the dark night, his strong build wrapped in a flapping trench coat truly made everyone who laid eyes upon the sight swoon, but their swooning was soon taken over by the sight of Scarlet chasing behind him.

“Scarlet!” Wen Xiaoming felt his scalp go numb when he remembered the cruel treatment he received after being captured just now.

In a flash, he thought of Tang Cuo’s signal flare and the card Zheng Yingying gave him, then he looked at Scarlet who was chasing after him, a bad feeling ringing in his head. 

“Descend!” Since Scarlet hadn’t spotted him, Wen Xiaoming immediately flew down and started flying close to the ground. He couldn’t just rashly show up. Being beaten up was a small matter, but losing the card was a big matter. He had to go to the game hall and wait.

At the same time, Tang Cuo saw that Scarlet was about to catch up, and while jumping from the top of the tall tower, he decisively turned around and tossed out the [Fidget Cube of Dooms].

The [Fidget Cube of Dooms] had six sides, all of which were different. This time, what Tang Cuo triggered was — Flying Ban!

A flash of light flickered and Scarlet quickly plummeted, and the deep red rays that had just been emitted couldn’t aim precisely anymore. Having smoothly escaped, Tang Cuo rolled forward and landed on the rooftop in front of him, then kept running forward for a while.

Scarlet’s speed surpassed his expectations by leaps and bounds. A player who could master the ‘Levitation’ skill was certainly much nimbler when it came to chasing down the target. The difference between the two of them felt like that between a bike and a motorbike.

At this moment, the game hall was already in sight, but Tang Cuo still didn’t dare to let his vigilance down, because after arriving in the game hall, another question would arise — which zone does the dungeon triggered by the card belong to?

The dungeon that produced the 6th Movement, [Before Dawn], was a dungeon in Zone E. Rong Yi was one of the elites in a higher-ranking zone who didn’t hesitate to downgrade to Zone E in order to enter this dungeon.

At this time, it was too late to ask Jiang He, so Tang Cuo could only take a gamble. He gambled that after he entered the mission wall with the card, even if he couldn’t use the card to trigger the dungeon because of the wrong zone, he could enter any regular dungeon with the card to avoid Scarlet’s pursuit.

In this way, as long as the card was with him, he still had the upper hand. The problem was that Scarlet had to be stopped before he could enter the mission wall.

The time limit for the ‘Flying Ban’ was five minutes. Even if Scarlet was forced to land, her speed was still not slower than Tang Cuo’s. Tang Cuo had been running around all day today, and with the ‘Sprint’ skill always on, both his physical strength and stamina had dropped.

But as a warrior who repeatedly jumped at the edge of 0 HP and faced The Warden without a hint of fear, Tang Cuo would only blow up even bigger under more pressure. For example —

He could use ‘Holy Light Shield’ to face Scarlet’s rays.

The rays were powerful, but the shield wasn’t an ordinary shield. It could last for a few seconds in the face of The Warden’s attack, so it shouldn’t be a problem to block a few rays. Moreover, Tang Cuo’s purpose wasn’t to resist the attack at all, but to make the most out of the situation.

Under the powerful impact, his ‘Holy Light Shield’ didn’t break, but Tang Cuo was knocked off. As his figure got rapidly swept through the air, he was supposed to be pushed back with much struggle, but instead, he flew straight in the direction of the game hall.

“Crack!” Tang Cuo hit the steel frame outside the game hall like a meteor, shattering the irregular glass panels embedded in the steel frame.

The players in the game hall all looked up in shock, clueless as to who was there. The players outside gazed at the figure in the black trench coat to find him raise one hand to wipe the blood off the corner of his mouth. For a while, no one recognised him, for exuding from him was nothing but the overwhelming aura of a veteran.

Until Wen Xiaoming, who was hiding in the crowd, exclaimed: “Be careful behind!”

Tang Cuo drew his sword to block, but he didn’t hear the expected sound of metal clashing, instead, his sword was entangled with red threads. The red threads were very thin and almost transparent, looking all very fragile, but his [Sword of Judgment] couldn’t cut through them at all.

As the red threads stretched straight, Scarlet’s figure appeared in front of Tang Cuo almost instantly. Her bright red nails swept right before Tang Cuo’s eyes, almost making him lose his beautiful face.

This isn’t great.

Tang Cuo’s brain was running fast, filtering out all his available equipment and skills one by one. In a blink, he pulled out a pair of small golden scissors.

With a “click”, the red threads broke.

[Golden Scissors]

They were the golden scissors belonging to the young miss of Yu Mansion. They could cut through silk threads but couldn’t cut off a prolonged tragedy.

Wasn’t Scarlet’s red thread also a kind of silk thread?

Scarlet was stunned for a moment, for she really didn’t expect Tang Cuo to take out scissors and cut off her red threads. Following such a stupefying move, Tang Cuo jumped at his chance to throw a [Blast Egg] and jump off the steel frame, planning to escape into the game hall.

“Kaboomz!” The [Blast Egg] blew up, leaving Scarlet behind to wave away the smoke, then she quickly rushed to catch up.

Just a few more steps and Tang Cuo would charge into the game hall.

Suddenly, two players, one ice- and one fire-type ability user, rushed out of the game hall’s door and directly tried to stop him. Tang Cuo’s heart shuddered, and as he took a step back, facing him was Scarlet.

Wen Xiaoming didn’t have the nerve to simply hide anymore, so he hurried over to help.

Brimming the door was sheer chaos, and various attacks were coming one after another, brightly illuminating the area.

Tang Cuo didn’t expect that there were Lawless members lurking in the game hall, and they weren’t weak either. It would be a challenge for him and Wen Xiaoming to get rid of the siege and enter the mission wall smoothly.

What was more terrifying was that Scarlet was pulling out the same trick again.

As the rays swept across, the living corpses appeared once more. Under the continuous consumption of powers, Scarlet gasped hard for air, her face incredibly pale and the corner of her lips starting to drip blood. Her new red dress had gotten dirty and damaged again, but she wasn’t afraid of death in the slightest.

With a chuckle from her, the living corpses all bolted towards Wen Xiaoming — if there was one person who was able to communicate with the little girl and just happened to appear here holding a card, who else could it be apart from him?

Wen Xiaoming gritted his teeth, and as a beam of light flashed in his hand, a silver whistle appeared. He quickly stuffed the whistle in between his lips and blew it hard. With the sharp whistle, the players and living corpses within 15 meters around him were put into a daze, their movements also coming to a halt.

“Tang ge!” Wen Xiaoming yelled.

The two quickly came close to each other, and Wen Xiaoming tossed out a small red ball with a flip of his hand. The ball drew a beautiful arc atop the crowd and descended into the distance. Everyone thought it would explode, but to their surprise, it was a bouncy ball.

“Thud thud!” The ball bounced twice on the ground, and as it bounced further away, the players and corpses who were earlier influenced by the whistle were piqued by the sight, and one after another, they ran after the ball.

The door had become empty, but there were many living corpses that didn’t come under the whistle’s influence because they stood far away, as well as the two Lawless members.

Scarlet’s attack had also come their way.

Tang Cuo bit the tip of his tongue and forcibly activated ‘Holy Light Shield’, blocking the blow again. The battleground finally hit the lobby outside the game hall.

“Freeze!” The ice-type ability user from Lawless touched the ground with both hands, and along with his roar, the ice began to spread around him, chasing closely after Tang Cuo and Wen Xiaoming.

Along with the ice came a huge scythe – the Death God’s scythe that was formed by flames. It reached seven or eight meters in length.

Tang Cuo had consumed lots of powers so his ‘Holy Light Shield’ couldn’t be maintained for a long time. He could only quickly dodge the attack. Wen Xiaoming was stunned upon laying eyes on the scythe and continuously tossed out equipment after equipment, which managed to stop the two ability users but couldn’t hold back Scarlet.

“Clang.” The sound of high heels reverberated as Scarlet walked into the game hall. After her eyes swept one full round, her face revealed a nostalgic expression. She wanted to reminisce about the old times, but then remembering that Tang Cuo was a newcomer, it seemed that she had no old tales to chit chat with him about.

Then let’s end it quickly. If I catch the cat, the cat owner will come to pick it up.

Scarlet stretched out her hand towards Tang Cuo, and countless red threads sparked from her sleeves, turning into a net that wanted to shroud him. Tang Cuo didn’t duck away in the slightest, his eyes incredibly sharp and his eyebrows as sturdy as blades.

“Go into the mission wall!” He pushed Wen Xiaoming out with one hand and raised the other hand slightly to summon the [Black Iron Cage]. 

Seeing the familiar cage, Scarlet’s eyes beamed slightly, revealing a hint of anger. She had no choice but to withdraw the red threads and turn to stop the cage. “Clang —” The cage slammed heavily on the ground, making a loud noise.

The cage didn’t cover him, but it indeed helped Tang Cuo block the blow.

Once again, he had to thank The Warden, Mr. Xiao Tong.

At this time, Wen Xiaoming was already running towards the mission wall. Scarlet couldn’t care less about Tang Cuo and hurriedly chase after him. The two ability users also dragged their injured bodies over to take action, and at that critical moment, a metal arrow whooshed through the air.

This arrow nailed right before Scarlet’s eyes. If Scarlet hadn’t dodged quickly, it could have cut off half of her head. But even with that dodging, her ear was punctured with a huge hole, and even her face was scratched quite a bit.

As her blood trickled down, the pain that surged up in the blink of an eye made Scarlet almost go mad.

“Boss!” Wen Xiaoming exclaimed in sheer surprise.

In the crowd, someone’s eyes also lit up slightly, and the person called out to his teammate to immediately make a move.

“Ah!” The ice-type ability user suddenly screamed and fell to the ground. The rest of the people looked over and saw that a talisman had been pasted on the back of his head, and the bloody-red scripts on it were still shining slightly.

Talisman, script master, Extreme Luck Yu Yiyi!

Yu Yiyi whistled, seemingly very satisfied with the result. Meanwhile, his teammate appeared on the other side and brought down the fire-type ability user, whom he had launched a sneak attack on.

Everyone burst into an uproar, feeling as though their eyes weren’t fast enough to catch the whole scene at all. But, Tang Cuo simply cast a brief glance, then looked away immediately. Yu Yiyi was indeed a person who was extremely good at avoiding risks. He must have been here since early in the morning.

There was nothing wrong with this. How other people made their own choice, Tang Cuo never had anything to say about it.

At this point, Jin Cheng finally appeared at the entrance of the hall, and after several arrows from him, Scarlet was completely put to a stop. A long-distance archer like him was better at pushing back people than Tang Cuo.

Tang Cuo exchanged an acknowledgment with him from a distance. Nodding slightly, he immediately ran towards Wen Xiaoming.

Wen Xiaoming didn’t rush into the mission wall after seeing Jin Cheng’s arrival. As a background support staff, he knew he would be ‘bypassing’ the rules if he broke into the dungeon by himself. Seeing Tang Cuo approaching, Wen Xiaoming immediately handed him the card as well as a bunch of equipment for self-defense.

Tang Cuo didn’t waste any time. Picking up the items, he quickly entered the mission wall. Everything took merely three seconds.

Three seconds later, everything eventually came to an end.

“Ahhhhh!” As Scarlet screamed in rage, Jin Cheng lifted his hand and plucked the bowstring, instantly bestowing her with a sonic explosion in return.

Scarlet suffered so much impact that she spat blood, and with the madness in her eyes finally turning into unquenchable fire, she fought back at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng launched his moves while moving backwards, leading their battleground to the open field outside.

A huge fight was certainly inevitable.

Meanwhile, Tang Cuo, who had entered the mission wall, temporarily escaped the commotion outside. As the familiar bell chimed, the result of this gamble was finally shown in front of him.

“Ding!”

“A special mission item has been detected. Congratulations to the player for triggering the mission [There’s Someone Under The Bed]. This round of game was single-player mode. Please courageously, carefully and earnestly find clues to clear the game and complete the mission.”

“Happy surviving!”

He had won the gamble.

By the time his vision recovered, Tang Cuo found himself lying on a hard bed, and in his eyes was the bottom panel of the bed above him. The light inside the room wasn’t turned on. Only a pale moonlight was thrown past the window to face Tang Cuo, allowing the situation in the room to become clear before his eyes.

This was a dormitory; a male dormitory to be precise. One side of the entrance was the toilet and the other side was the wardrobe, while the room was filled with commonly-seen double-decker beds. There were four on each side, making a total of eight beds.

[There’s Someone Under The Bed] made it sound like a horror dungeon.

Tang Cuo didn’t feel the joy of winning the gamble, at most, he just gave himself a silent compliment in his heart. He sat up from the bed with a calm expression, lifted the dangling bedsheet and looked under the bed.

If there’s someone under the bed, or if there’s a ghost under the bed, maybe I can say hi to him.

Sadly, there was nothing under his bed, but as he was looking down, he caught a glimpse of a mirror on the desk under the window.

He carefully recalled his own image flashing in the mirror and frowned slightly.

The next second, he decisively got up and walked to the table, picked up the mirror and looked at himself in the moonlight — extremely pale complexion, very dark eye bags, with some shade of colour on his lips that was as red as blood.

Then he lifted his hand. His nails had turned black.

It turns out — I am the ghost.