The Trial Game of Life – Chapter 19

Table of Content | Character Guide

Chapter 19: You Whom I Used To Know

Opening his eyes again, Tang Cuo found himself back at the room on East Cross Street, with his Character panel hanging in front of him.

[Character]

No. K27216: Tang Cuo

Character score: 18

Strength: -8

Intelligence: 0

Charm: 0

Rating: A- 

HP: 16

Li Ying Jun’s Curse: Defence against fire is reduced by 80.

[Survival is not easy, please never stop trying.]

Tang Cuo saw the description of the curse and didn’t care much. He immediately added 8 character points to his Strength to clear the negative score, but didn’t touch the remaining 10 points.

As the negative score was cleared, Tang Cuo’s Rating immediately changed from A- to A.

As he switched to the Skills panel, three small squares with item icons on them immediately popped out, which seemed to be the personal rewards the system mentioned earlier. Tang Cuo fixed his gaze on one of the squares and the item information appeared right below.

[Black Bear’s Fang]

Classification: Material

Quality: Common

The [Black Bear’s Fang] was actually brought out of the dungeon by Tang Cuo. Perhaps it could be used as materials to make equipment, or to make medicine?

Tang Cuo thought about it for a bit, then looked at the other two grids. The ones in these two grids were not items, but skill scrolls.

[Sprint]

Classification: Skill

Quality: Common

Description: Running speed is increased by 20.

[Fireball]

Classification: Skill

Quality: Garbage

Description: Fireballs with a radius of 2.5 centimeters are launched at a rate of one every two seconds for ten seconds.

Tang Cuo was speechless.

Wasn’t this Fireball skill deliberately put here by the system? Giving him the ability to launch five small fireballs in ten seconds like a Peashooter1A plant in the casual shooting game Plants Vs Zombie which has the ability to shoot peas at zombies. must be to mock him for using this Fireball skill during the dungeon. On the other hand, the Sprint skill, though common as it was, looked like it could save lives at a critical moment.

Tang Cuo reached out his hand without hesitation and the two skill scrolls turned into two streams of light and entered his body.

He looked at the system panel again and there was already a Sprint icon and a Fireball icon under [Skills]. At the same time, Tang Cuo found that a Material Box had appeared below the stand-alone Inventory Bar, also with ten slots.

There was only one Survival Assessment Report in the Inventory Bar.

There was only one [Black Bear’s Fang] in the Material Box.

“Knock, knock.” Someone was at the door.

Tang Cuo knew who it was without even thinking, so he didn’t plan to open the door. In a flash, he slipped out of the broken window and reached the street downstairs. He had no idea where to go, so he didn’t walk fast and just wandered around aimlessly.

The breakfast place was still open with the one-eyed lady boss napping inside. Tang Cuo looked at his empty wallet in humiliation, but he remembered that points could be exchanged for money, so he planned to first exchange 1 million RMB to spend.

But where can I go for exchange?

Tang Cuo made an observation of the roads around him and combined it with the information obtained during the two previous trips. He could roughly conclude that any functions related to the system would be located in the central area, such as the game hall. The shops in Zone F were mostly opened by players, including the hot spring bath, the breakfast place and the small tavern on the street.

He kept watching as he walked, and halfway down the road, he saw an acquaintance ―

10086.

On this wide commercial street, Wen Xiaoming was wearing a large black trench coat, loose pants and slippers, together with exaggerated sunglasses and a fisherman’s hat, sneakily setting up a stall by the roadside. Usually, Tang Cuo wouldn’t recognise him if he was dressed like this, but his pink hair was too dazzling and even the wide-brimmed hat couldn’t hide the pink strands that were stubbornly poking out.

He was discussing business with a passing player, holding something that looked like a [Smoke Egg] and trying to hide it behind his trench coat. If Tang Cuo didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought Wen Xiaoming was selling pirated CDs.

The player said a few words before taking his leave, and Wen Xiaoming still yelled from the back: “I’ll give you a 10% discount! Wait, 20% discount! Can’t be any less!”

The business didn’t happen in the end, and Tang Cuo made a stop, then walked over. As he came closer, he found that Wen Xiaoming was wearing two exaggerated cloth earrings, one embroidered with ‘Honest business’ and the other embroidered with ‘Guaranteed no cheating’.

Quite a genius, isn’t he?

“Friend, do you want to ―” Wen Xiaoming spoke as he saw a pair of long legs standing in front of him, then he stopped halfway to pull down his sunglasses and look at Tang Cuo in astonishment: “It’s you!”

Tang Cuo put both hands in the pockets of his trench coat and didn’t speak.

Wen Xiaoming was still very delighted: “Is the mission over? Then my boss is back, where is he? Hey, I tell you, I’m here everyday and have already seen several fights. Zone F is very lively.”

Tang Cuo Tang asked suddenly: “Is your boss called Jin Cheng?”

“He sure is.” Wen Xiaoming gave him a strange look. They went on the mission together and he still needs to ask for the boss’ name? But Wen Xiaoming wasn’t stupid either, then he thought of the time Jin Cheng asked him for a mask and instantly became enlightened.

F**k, they have a history. Who could make his twisted, forever-alone boss wear a mask and carry a fake name? But it was too late to take back what he had just said, and he watched the corner of Tang Cuo’s mouth tug up into a smile that sent chills down his spine.

He had screwed up.

Wen Xiaoming loved to gossip, but he contemplated the consequence of screwing up his boss’ business and immediately decided that he should close his stall to escape for good: “Well, I suddenly remember that I still have something to do and won’t go find my boss. Don’t tell him you saw me here!”

Saying so, Wen Xiaoming threw the bag on his back and ran away.

Within three minutes, he ran back again, looking all flustered, then dragged Tang Cuo with him to hide inside a tavern on the street. The tavern was full of noise and several drunk guests were arguing, but the waiters completely turned a blind eye to the whole mess.

Wen Xiaoming walked briskly through the drunk crowd and found a perfect spot in the secluded corner. He threw a stack of money on the table and ordered two large glasses of rum.

“Did you see Jin Cheng?” Tang Cuo asked.

Wen Xiaoming couldn’t help giving him a thumbs up for being able to guess it: “Big brother, let’s have a deal. Don’t tell my boss that I told you, I’ll treat you to a drink.”

Tang Cuo: “Are you very scared of him?”

Wen Xiaoming: “Well, I’m not scared of him, but he’s very scary!”

What logic is this?

Tang Cuo got up and was about to leave but Wen Xiaoming quickly grabbed him: “Big brother, don’t be like that, let’s sit down and chat for a while. You see, the booze is here.” As his words fell, the waiter in the jacket really came forward with two large glasses. With an agitated face, she slammed the glasses on the table, spilling the rum yet not bothering to wipe it off.

Wen Xiaoming seemed to be accustomed to this and wasn’t at all angry.

Tang Cuo thought of the lady boss of the breakfast shop and asked: “Do these waiters need to do missions?”

“Yes.” Wen Xiaoming took a big sip of rum and hiccuped contentedly before replying: “The ones who signed the contract with Yong Ye City is the tavern owner. The waiters are just employees. Some players have neither money nor points so they can only use their spare time to work, otherwise they can’t even afford to eat.”

So it’s like that.

Tang Cuo asked: “Where can I exchange the points?”

Wen Xiaoming continued to drink: “The ATM, but withdrawing money from the ATM will cost some handling fee. If you don’t want to pay the handling fee, you have to go to the bank in the central area. The express delivery shop is next to the bank, so if someone burns paper money for you in the future, you can get it from the pickup point.”

Tang Cuo had to admit that Yong Ye City’s services were rather complete. He wanted to ask whether the express delivery was one-way or two-way and whether he could send things out, but after thinking about it, he didn’t have anyone back there to send letters to, so he abandoned the thought.

He turned to take out the [Black Bear’s Fang]: “You make equipment, right? What can this do?”

Wen Xiaoming took the fang and looked at it closely. As an elite of Zone A, he had seen even the best equipment, so naturally, he wouldn’t treat a small black bear’s fang any differently: “Well, it’s a weapon accessory, perhaps it can be used for making medicine. But having only one is useless, so it’s better to sell it. Yong Ye City has a lot of equipment stores, some opened by the city and some opened by the players. The official stores sell things at the most reasonable prices, but it’s tough to get a good price by selling things to them. If you want to try your luck, you still have to go to stores that are opened by the players.” 

Saying so, Wen Xiaoming cryptically pointed to outside: “Three blocks from here, there’s a place called Black Hat Miscellaneous Store, which is a franchise with stores across all zones. The owner has a weird temper, if your items catch his eyes, you can name any sky-high prices and he’ll gladly accept.”

But Tang Cuo thought that a [Black Bear’s Fang] was, after all, not a rare item.

He asked: “Why don’t you sell your things there?”

Wen Xiaoming: “Well, he and I have some grudges. No businesspersons in Yong Ye City are eviler than him, even our boss is too kind compared to that man.”

Speaking of the devil, Jin Cheng happened to be outside the tavern at that moment.

Wen Xiaoming looked as if he was a mouse that caught sight of the cat, then immediately shrank his shoulders and tried to hide his face. But it was Jin Cheng, a man likely born with a radar, so he saw them as soon as he turned his head.

Their eyes met and Tang Cuo didn’t try to avoid the gaze, but his expression was cold.

Jin Cheng smiled, turned around and walked into the tavern.

The drunk guests were still arguing, their voices hoarse and their saliva flying everywhere. The quarrel gradually escalated into a brawl. A wine bottle was slammed down yet no one’s head was cracked, rather, a table ended up split in half.

Jin Cheng tilted his head to avoid a flying shard of the broken bottle, but he ignored the chaos and headed straight for his target. He grabbed Wen Xiaoming by the back of his collar and lifted him up.

Wen Xiaoming turned completely white: “Boss, boss, what are you doing?”

Jin Cheng said irritably: “You’ve taken my place.”

“You never warned me!” Wen Xiaoming quickly pulled out a chair for Jin Cheng and asked him to sit down, looking all respectful and courteous, then he moved his own chair away, looking all lovely and sweet.

Jin Cheng still stared at him.

Wen Xiaoming blinked.

A few seconds passed by in utter silence.

Wen Xiaoming asked hesitantly: “I — should I go under the table?”

Jin Cheng folded his arms: “Why don’t you go straight to Heaven?”

Wen Xiaoming scratched his head and smiled earnestly. Nope, you can’t be like that. Jin Cheng thought Wen Xiaoming looked somewhat like Li Ying Jun, so he chased the poor fella away to fetch more liquor to get rid of this annoyance.

Opposite him, Tang Cuo’s expression remained icy cold, as if he had been kept frozen in a cold room, or perhaps he hadn’t recovered from the frosty blizzard in the dungeon.

“You’ve recognised me?” Jin Cheng asked.

“Is it so difficult to guess?” Tang Cuo asked back.

“Then why didn’t you expose me in the dungeon, but avoid me when we’re back in Yong Ye City?” 

“Do you have a problem with that?”

The showdown was finally here.

This was the scene Wen Xiaoming saw when he came back: The two persons were leaning on the chair’s armrest, their arms folded and their legs crossed, one with indifferent eyes and the other with a delightful smile, their aura enormously overwhelming.

For a split second, Wen Xiaoming suddenly felt that these two persons were very much alike.

Jin Cheng: “You’re still so not cute. There were even naughtier kids back then, but you were the only one who never complied with me.”

Tang Cuo declined to comment.

Jin Cheng delightfully looked at the stern face that had vaguely tensed up, then he raised one hand to take off the mask. Below the mask was a captivating face with eyebrows as sharp as knives and features more exquisite than a movie star.

As long as you’ve seen this face, you would never forget it. But there was also a 3-centimeter-long scar on his right cheek, which unavoidably added a tinge of ruggedness and wildness to him.

“It’s been a few years and you won’t even greet your military instructor?” Jin Cheng smiled lightly, but his manner felt extraordinarily imposing.

Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes, but still didn’t answer.

Wen Xiaoming was surprised by these words, Instructor? What instructor? He knew a little about the boss’ past, which made him even more curious, so he couldn’t help but ask: “What is your relationship in the end?”

Tang Cuo: “We spent some time at the grave together sort of relationship.”

Wen Xiaoming: “What? What together? In bed together sort of relationship?!”

Because he was so shocked, Wen Xiaoming’s voice was raised incredulously high. Everyone in the tavern heard his words and looked over.

The drinkers stopped drinking and the fighters stopped fighting. All eyes followed Wen Xiaoming’s gaze to look at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, and they were all shaken to the core ― even in Yong Ye City, things like this didn’t come by often!

Tang Cuo’s face turned black.

Jin Cheng couldn’t help but laugh. He turned to look at Wen Xiaoming and really wanted to applaud him. Why didn’t he know that Wen Xiaoming’s usually defunct ears could be so superb?

“Come here.” Tang Cuo looked at Wen Xiaoming.

“You, what do you want to do?” Wen Xiaoming knew he was in the wrong, but he didn’t mean it. As soon as he heard ‘together’, he subconsciously thought of that thing, and he also had an unmendable issue of his mouth operating faster than his brain.

He blinked, pretentiously trying to be all adorable to get away with his crime.

Tang Cuo of course didn’t buy it one bit and said ―

“Come here, I’ll kill you.”