The Trial Game of Life – Chapter 18

Table of Content | Character Guide

Chapter 18: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (12)

While Mr. Crow was violently screaming at the sky, Jin Cheng sneezed in the backyard of the hostel. He touched his nose and looked up at the sky, expecting that some bastard must be cursing him again.

Who is it?

As an elite of Zone A, Jin Cheng understood how the system worked around here. Method one: he must earnestly find the truth before Li Ying Jun killed all players, by which time Li Ying Jun’s strength would be greatly reduced, or method two: he must unleash a critical hit and take Li Ying Jun down completely.

The players had to pick one: either through physical strength or through intelligence.

But the current situation was very unusual. Li Ying Jun’s strength had indeed gone down and he was about to die, but his axe wasn’t here ― this was likely Mr. Crow’s doing.

In other words, at this moment, Li Ying Jun was no longer Li Ying Jun. They had taken all sorts of precautions yet the Boss still managed to swap his body. This was borderline cheating.

And it makes me tremendously upset.

So Jin Cheng killed Li Ying Jun in one arrow.

Qian Wei and Zhao Ping hadn’t come to that understanding, so they were very happy to see Li Ying Jun dead. But after a while, the announcement for clearing the game didn’t come up, and the two finally realised something and turned to look at at Jin Cheng at the same time.

Jin Cheng didn’t waste any words: “Go straight ahead.” 

Two groups of people gathered in front of the sea of ​​fire.

Tang Cuo glanced at the back: “Dead?”

Jin Cheng hugged his arms: “Dead.”

Tang Cuo: “There are two more people, Xiao Yuan and Qu Li, which one do you think it is?” 

Jin Cheng: “It’s too troublesome to try to guess. Let’s just kill them both.”

If Wen Xiaoming was here, he would jump when he heard this. This was the way his boss was. NPCs would be replaced if they died and there would be no impact, but such a method of playing the game was… debatable.

If you’re like this, won’t the system cry?

Tang Cuo refused to give his comment.

Jin Cheng shrugged and said: “Whoever takes the axe is Li Ying Jun. Xiao Yuan goes to the forest likely to find Qu Li, then Qu Li is Li Ying Jun. It’s just that she was in the same new player batch as you, can you kill her?”

Tang Cuo asked back: “Do you think I can?”

That was a good question.

Mr. Crow had laid his hands on this dungeon, and the new Boss must be difficult to fight. With Tang Cuo’s current situation, it was likely that he really wouldn’t be able to defeat her.

But even if Tang Cuo couldn’t kill, he could set a fire.

“An Ning, make the wind bigger.” He said.

“Even bigger?” An Ning wiped her sweat, her cheeks flushing against the heat wave.

“Even bigger.”

“Okay.” 

An Ning bit her lips and used all her strength to send the wind out. To be honest, her wind-type ability so far only made her body lighter and more agile, and she might not be skilled enough to use it in actual combat. Luckily, blasting a wind was a task that didn’t require much skill; she just needed to direct all her power to the front.

“Whoosh ―” The heat wave burst upward and crashed against the forest like a rushing ocean wave.

Crimson fire, black forest. The interweaving of crimson and black looked particularly dazzling against an endless stretch of white snow.

Qian Wei covered for Peng Mingfan and quickly stepped backwards to not be roasted by the fire, and he stared at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo with awe-filled eyes ― aren’t these two big brothers no less scary than the villains?

One killed people, one burnt things. Li Ying Jun, who died in the backyard because he wanted to seek revenge for the burnt forest, now seemed like a hero who died tragically under the arrows of the villain.

Then how tiny are they in those two’s eyes?

Qian Wei glanced downwards and finally found his own position ― the villain’s cannon fodder little brother.

That’s really sad, Qian Wei hugged his sword in distress. Whether he was on the good side or the bad side, he couldn’t afford to spoil his sword. The equipment in Zone F couldn’t handle being repaired, and the repair cost was also very high. Whoever had tried repairing their equipment would know.

But if the big brother made his order, how could the younger brother dare not follow?

Jin Cheng: “Qian Wei, come back to the backyard with me.”

Qian Wei: “Why do we go back?”

Jin Cheng smiled: “The rabbit is about to run out. Let’s go and wait for the rabbit. I’ve seen that your sword is especially useful for slaughtering a rabbit.”

Qian Wei: “…”

A quarter later, the fire had swept through most of the forest. The twisted black branches fell down one by one into the fire, and the strange fragrance mixed with the blowing smoke to fill the entire sky above the mountains and the forests, sending an even more pungent smell into the air.

On the roof of the youth hostel.

Qian Wei wore Jin Cheng’s mask and held onto Jin Cheng’s bow as he faced the wind, the snow and the heat. He felt an overflowing grief in his heart, which was ―

The gross contrast between the little brother and his boss.

The boss’ bow felt especially heavy in his hand, but the boss’ mask was actually smaller than his face!

This is unfair!

He wondered why he, the little brother, still had to stand here to bear such insults. Also, he wasn’t here to slaughter the rabbit, instead, he was a bait to lure it out!

Where was the boss anyway?

Qian Wei glanced to the back. On the sloping roof, Jin Cheng put his hands behind his head and lay on his back towards the main entrance, his face revealing an uncomfortable expression.

“Big brother, do you think this can really fool the game Boss?” Qian Wei felt that the game Boss wasn’t blind either.

“Probably not.” Jin Cheng said slowly.

“Then why???”

“I tried to fool her before and got addicted to it.”

Can it really just be like that?!

Qian Wei couldn’t understand his boss’ thinking, but the boss also didn’t seem like he would change his mind, so Qian Wei gritted his teeth and toughened up. After a few more minutes, a movement was finally heard from inside the forest.

The movement was so impactful that the mask on Qian Wei’s face almost fell off.

Qu Li is riding a bear!

She comes out riding a black bear!

With an axe in her hand!

Where is this? Why do we have an Iron Woman here? 

Oh my god!

“Grrr ―” The black bear roared, but Qian Wei’s inner roar was 10,000 times bigger than that. His legs shivered as he glanced feebly at his boss to ask for help. The boss pulled out another mask from nowhere, put it on his face and told him: “Don’t move.”

As he said so, Jin Cheng took out a small red flag and stuck it at the gap in between the tiles. The wind blew and the red flag fluttered in the wind, the sight of which were caught by the bear and its eyes instantly turned bloodshot.

It recklessly rushed toward the roof but couldn’t fly upwards and slammed into the wall. The wall broke into pieces and the whole hostel trembled.

Only now did Qian Wei realise what his boss meant by “Don’t move”, but the black bear was too big and could reach the height of the second floor when it stood upright, and it seemed like he could crumble the entire hostel with a few hits.

This tiny flag has the ability to provoke others!

Moving at an insane speed, Jin Cheng pulled out Qian Wei’s sword and jumped off the roof. He held the sword in both hands and released his sword aura while jumping down, aiming straight at the black bear’s shoulders.

It was a sword aura as silver as the moonlight, a colour Qian Wei had never seen before in Zone F.

“Clang ―” The long sword was blocked by Qu Li’s axe three inches away from the black bear’s shoulders.

Jin Cheng drew his sword on the dot and fought with Qu Li, who was still seated firmly on the bear’s back, for three rounds. The clanging sound of metal echoed endlessly in the air, but neither of them ended up having the upper hand.

No longer a player, Qu Li the NPC was indeed really strong, her eyes full of resentment and viciousness just like Li Ying Jun’s. She had completely lost her own will.

The tiny flag seemed to have no effect on her.

Jin Cheng waved his hand and swung the sword. Qian Wei’s eyes widened at this move, his mind trying to figure, just what is his boss’ combat style? He even knows swordsmanship?!

At this time, the group of four at the front door rushed over after hearing the attack sound. Although Zhao Ping and An Ning looked extremely fatigued, they immediately stepped forward to help. But Tang Cuo stopped them: “Don’t fall out from the group.”

Peng Mingfan was immediately alerted: “You mean ―”

Tang Cuo didn’t answer and Peng Mingfan didn’t finish the second half of the sentence, but they both perfectly understood each other. In such a scuffle, they might be swapped the moment they failed to pay attention.

Even worse, no one could confirm that the one with the axe now was the real Li Ying Jun.

“Bang!” At the scene, Jin Cheng finally knocked Qu Li off the bear and sent her smashing into a deep pit on the snow-covered ground, but she remained almost uninjured and immediately climbed up.

Her physical defence was terrifying.

The black bear still stubbornly tried to climb to the roof, its eyes fixated on the small flag waving in the wind, paying absolutely no mind to Qian Wei behind the flag.

At this point, Xiao Yuan ran out from the forest, covered entirely in dust. She leaned onto a tree and desperately gasped for air, her throat seemingly drowned in smoke as it let out a long cough.

The whole group stared at her, but before she could react, a deafening rumble shot through the air as the hostel finally collapsed under the black bear’s hits. A mix of smoke and snow flew up the sky and even more haze spread out from the forest, instantly blurring everyone’s eyesight.

This was bad!

Tang Cuo suddenly looked back at Qian Wei, who was supposed to be in the ruins of the hostel, to find that he had suddenly become Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng raised his sword to hold off Qu Li’s axe.

Qu Li was stunned, the fierce look in her eyes fading away.

“How could it be —” 

“Bang!”

Jin Cheng kicked Qu Li out then jumped forward and aimed his sword at her chest. Qu Li turned sideways in a split second, hastily protecting her heart.

She swung her axe forward in anger. Even with such an injury, she still could manoeuvre the axe so aggressively that she almost cut off Jin Cheng’s head.

Right at that instance, Qian Wei was standing at the spot where Jin Cheng was originally at, looking utterly confused. He removed the mask and saw two small words engraved at the lower right corner of the inner wall ― ‘Location Swap’.

There was an even smaller line below the two small words: ‘Powered by 10086’ (T/N: originally written in English).

The truth flashed through him and he understood everything from beginning to end. Regardless whether this 10086 had anything to do with the mobile network1As mentioned in the previous chapter, 10086 coincides with the customer hotline of China Mobile., he now knew that he was deliberately made to stand in such a conspicuous place, deliberately made to wear this mask, then deliberately replaced at the critical moment.

What a crude plan. It was made as clear as daylight that Qian Wei was fake in order to provoke the game Boss, and indeed the Boss totally fell into the trap.

“Does it feel good to be tricked?” Jin Cheng once again knocked Qu Li down to the ground, throwing her body several meters away into the black bear. Without waiting for the opponent to answer, he stabbed down. This suddenly made Qian Wei realise that the boss actually had countless ways to win, but he just felt like tricking her. 

Didn’t this ‘location swap’ trick give the same outcome as Li Ying Jun’s body swap? 

Qu Li spit out some blood and stared at him, but she couldn’t let out any more words. Jin Cheng smiled and drew out his sword. Qu Li was dead. Everyone was silent.

But still no announcement came up.

Qian Wei felt as though he would go crazy soon: “Is Li Ying Jun still not dead?!” 

The other just had a grim look on their face. Seeing Li Ying Jun dying over and over again had stretched their nerves to the extreme. But if Qu Li holding on to the axe wasn’t Li Ying Jun, then who was?

Was it Xiao Yuan?

Everyone’s gaze fell on Xiao Yuan. Xiao Yuan’s expression stiffened as she shook her head repeatedly: “It’s not me, it’s really not me, what are you doing …”

The more she spoke, the more suspicious it felt. Was it really her? Or was it that when everyone’s eyesight became blurred just now, Li Ying Jun had quietly swapped bodies with someone?

Was this person among them?

Doubt inevitably bred in everyone’s hearts. Whether their doubt was reasonable or not, it was difficult to think clearly in a situation like this.

Peng Mingfan: “Do not act rashly!”

No one dared to move.

Whoever moved would look suspicious.

But Tang Cuo moved.

He walked forward, looked down at Qu Li then at the unconscious black bear, which was paralysed after knocking itself against the hostel. It was lying prominently on the ground with terrible wounds all over its body and bleeding badly.

Tang Cuo raised the axe in his hand and slashed its neck!

“Ding!”

“The players have successfully killed Li Ying Jun and completed the mission [On A Snowy Night, He Returns] of the Blizzard Mountain Mansion series!”

“We will begin to calculate the rewards now.”

The backyard went silent again. Peng Mingfan blinked a few times, his eyes sweeping back and forth between the black bear and Qu Li’s body, and he finally understood that perhaps this last body swap occurred at the moment Qu Li hit the black bear.

The one Jin Cheng killed was the black bear.

And the one Tang Cuo killed was Li Ying Jun.

Who would have thought that Li Ying Jun would become the bear?

He could even swap bodies with bears, how outrageous. No wonder Qu Li rode a bear; it seemed that  he planned to do this from the beginning. If it wasn’t for Tang Cuo reacting quickly, they would’ve fallen into endless suspicion and perhaps ended up killing each other.

There was nothing but silence in the air. One by one, each of them sat down on the ground with relief, overwhelmed with different feelings.

Truth be told, this mission was unbearably heavy for players in Zone F. If it weren’t for Jin Cheng, they might not be able to defeat the Boss. But now that they thought about it carefully, even Zone F had many missions which ended with the whole group dying, yet a difficult mission like this one only killed two people.

This was a miracle.

Peng Mingfan pushed his glasses up as cold sweats poured down his back even after this fortunate outcome. He felt that he was too confident in the past; he wasn’t smart enough, and wasn’t strong enough either.

Zhao Ping couldn’t help but think of Li Shuangshuang. Although this girl was a little timid and wasn’t of much help, she never caused trouble. That was why Zhao Ping had been taking her along. He wondered whether the struggle Li Shuangshuang held in her eyes that day before heading to the toilet meant that she also wanted to change and make herself stronger.

Thinking so, Zhao Ping couldn’t help looking up at the wildfire that had spread all over the mountain, his gaze melting into the distance.

Seeing Zhao Ping like that, Qian Wei tried to be thoughtful and patted him on the shoulder, but the others didn’t speak a word. In Yong Ye City, there was always more parting than reunion.

They were lucky enough to leave this dungeon alive.

Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng watched the fire, both their faces devoid of any sentiment from beginning to end.

Suddenly, Tang Cuo asked: “You said that players who failed the mission need to stay in the dungeon and serve their karma. What about those buried in the forest?”

Jin Cheng looked at him for a long moment without saying a word, as if he was waiting for flowers to bloom on his face.

Tang Cuo also didn’t avoid his gaze. He stared straight into Jin Cheng’s eyes, unfluttered. Jin Cheng couldn’t help but smile: “Remember what I said when I first saw you, you are actually very kind. They should be thanking you. If the trees are burnt down, they can leave the place and start serving their karma. The sooner they start, the sooner they will be free.”

Tang Cuo understood.

Although Peng Mingfan and others didn’t know what it meant by ‘serving their karma’, they could roughly understand Jin Cheng’s words. If it was a good thing to burn these trees, let’s burn them.

Li Shuangshuang and Zhang Zhiqiu were also among those. It was, after all, better to be burnt than to have a tree grow above your head.

After a while, another announcement came.

“Mission [On A Snowy Night, He Returns] of the Blizzard Mountain Mansion series, Difficulty: Hard, Initial players: 8, Survivors: 6, Rating: A-, Character points to be earned: 18.”

“You’ve received Li Ying Jun’s Curse, Lasting duration: 7 days.”

“For the remaining personal rewards, players please check the system panel by yourselves.”

“Welcome back to Yong Ye City!” 

In the next second, everyone went dizzy and the familiar darkness struck again. An agitated voice could be vaguely heard from within the darkness ―

“I’m so angry I could die!!!”