The Trial Game of Life – Chapter 5

Table of Contents | Character Guide

Chapter 5: Mr. Clown

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

“Smack!”

“Ouch!”

“Stop it, stop it!”

“I surrender!”

“Help!”

The lights in the corridor shook up and shined at the figure on the wall that was fearlessly attacking the others. The shouting shattered and penetrated the night sky to spread into the distance, but no one would come forward to intervene.

The new players felt uneasy, not because they were freaked out, but because everything in front of them was absolutely beyond their imagination ― someone actually wanted to save Tang Cuo and was bold enough to rush forward, but he ended up staring at a cleaver slamming around so heavily he could even feel a wind blowing at his face.

As the fight was over, Tang Cuo listened to their mumbling and asked: “Still want to come at me?” 

The five people grovelled on the ground and frantically moved backwards: “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Boss, you are our boss, we were all blind. Please have mercy, have mercy…”

Blonde Hair’s face was so swollen that he couldn’t speak. A huge gap was in between his teeth and he looked extremely painful.

Tang Cuo asked again: “Are there any other people above you?” 

In this world, after a hill there would be a mountain, and after that mountain there would be a higher mountain. At this point, after a fierce fight, Tang Cuo’s HP that he worked so hard to raise to 13 dropped to 5, which meant he returned to his original state.

Looking at the number as he opened his Character panel, Tang Cuo’s face couldn’t help but turn black.

Upon seeing this, the five youngsters shivered and shook their heads hysterically, claiming that really there wasn’t anyone else above them. If they were not actually just some weak players, they wouldn’t have come here to bully the most vulnerable newcomers.

Tang Cuo just picked up the plastic bag, stuffed the cleaver inside, and left.

When his figure finally disappeared at the corner of the stairs, the group of five quickly got up and helped each other to flee. The players in the building and on the street stared at their backs and looked at each other.

Tang Cuo directly returned to the room to find the door and windows both open. Looking inside, the clothes he used to tie Zhang Xing had been torn into pieces, and Zhang Xing, who was supposed to still be in his room, wasn’t here.

It was obvious where he went off to.

Tang Cuo put down the plastic bag and walked over to the window to see Zhang Xing slide down the sewer pipe. His shape seemed heavy but his movement was actually quite agile.

Just escape then.

Tang Cuo had no interest in how the gang would deal with each other later. If Zhang Xing didn’t run away, Tang Cuo would have to worry about how to throw him out. But when he was about to turn back to close the window, a luring, teasing voice came from the room next door ―

“I didn’t expect you to be so kind.”

Tang Cuo turned sideways to see a clown face, his brows flicking.

The clown squatted on the window sill, wearing a pair of motorcycle boots and a fringe leather jacket. His hair was pretty long, so he tied it up into a small tug at the back and revealed his forehead. The oil paint on his face seemed to have been applied randomly, his mouth a raised line of scarlet. Seeing Tang Cuo turning around, he lifted one hand and tilted his head slightly: “Good evening.”

Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes. This man was at least 1.9-meter tall with wide shoulders and a narrow waist, so it must be difficult for him to squat on the window sill with a width of only 10 centimeters.

The clown got no response from Tang Cuo but he didn’t give it much care. He pointed to Zhang Xing and said with a smile: “In Zone F, there are at least a dozen gangs like this, each occupying an area. There are many newcomers who were cheated of all their points and had nothing left, then there are also many newcomers who were determined to not be fooled and ended up being beaten to a pulp. They call it the first lesson.”

Tang Cuo: “So?” 

The clown touched his chin and said: “I’m complimenting you, don’t you get it? “

“Oh.” Tang Cuo closed the window straight away.

He was not very interested in chatting with anyone. Having this idle time, he might as well go to sleep. He thought so, and he did so. After covering the bed with the newly purchased sheets, Tang Cuo was ready to wrap up for the night.

“Clang.” Something hit the window.

Tang Cuo didn’t want to be bothered, but the “clang, clang” sound continued one after another, and he had no choice but to walk up to the window again. As he opened the window, something was coming at his face directly. He raised a hand to catch it, then opened his palm to take a look — it was a colourful marble.

The clown who was squatting next to the balcony eagerly threw the marble at him and said: “You actually believe their words that no one else will come to trouble you?”

Tang cuo: “Whether I believe them or not, does it matter?”

The clown spread his hands: “Actually, it doesn’t matter either way. But very few newcomers are as calm as you, so I’m a little curious. How did you die?”

Tang Cuo didn’t answer.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, how about making friends with me?” The clown said: “I happen to live next door. If you just open your mouth, I can lend you some help.”

“No, thank you.” Tang Cuo closed the window without a care.

The clown’s words reminded him that Zone F was incredibly big, so it would be impossible to only have just one small gang. In a place like this, survival of the fittest was the rule, so if Blonde Hair couldn’t hold this area, naturally someone else would come to take his share.

If things went the usual way, Tang Cuo should defeat all of them and become the boss himself, but he wasn’t interested in being the boss at all.

“Clang.” Here it came again.

Tang Cuo’s head hurt.

“Clang.” It wasn’t over yet.

Tang Cuo took a deep breath, opened the window again and smiled: “What’s the matter?”

The clown: “Are you angry?”

Tang Cuo: “Obviously.”

The clown: “Has anyone told you that you look good when you are angry?”

Go away.

“You’re not a newcomer. Everyday people are dying and everyday new people are coming here. Such things are happening every single day. You should have seen a lot of them, why do you want to help me?” Tang Cuo’s glance was sharp, as if it could pierce straight into the other person’s heart: “You can just stand by the side and watch all this drama like before, isn’t it good enough?” 

The clown raised his eyebrows: “How do you know I haven’t intervened before?” 

Downstairs, it became ruffling as more and more newcomers took the courage to step out of their rooms and flocked together in groups of two or three, exchanging their fear uncontrollably.

Of course there were seasoned players, but they were familiar with this kind of scene and usually only gave it a quick glance to determine that it wasn’t of their interest.

The black city was brightly lit like always.

Tang Cuo and the clown looked at each other, the air between them growing more and more like a confrontation.

A strange feeling suddenly rushed into his heart. Tang Cuo looked closely at the man opposite him, but he couldn’t figure out why he had that strange feeling.

“Fine, I won’t bother you anymore.” The clown smiled abruptly. “If you look at me like this, I may have some filthy thoughts and can’t sleep at night.” 

The response to him was an indifferent “bang”.

Tang Cuo felt that something must be wrong with his head for him to bother talking nonsense with that clown.

At the same time, in Zone A.

In a secluded garden, a cobblestone path covered with floating lights that looked like fireflies circled an entire villa. When the wind blew gently, the lights would quietly fall on the treetops, flowers and leaves, and blink like stars. A black mecha bird stood alone at the end of the path, its head held high and a crystal heart glittering in its hollow body.

Suddenly, a cry of desperation came from the house, and all the floating lights shuddered. Even the mecha bird shifted its head.

“Boss was demoted back to Zone F again again again?! He made a fuss in the dungeon again???” The little pink-haired man widened his eyes. He even stood on the sofa to fully express his terror.

The woman who was painting her nails on the opposite side jolted her hand and smeared the paint. She looked up sluggishly: “You use the word ‘again’ too many times.”

Pink Hair spread his hands: “How about I use ‘again again again again’ instead?1This is a wordplay. In the first sentence, he uses the word 又 (lit. means ‘again’). When questioned, he sarcastically asks if he should use the word 叕 (lit. means ‘join together’), which is actually written as 4 times the character 又.”

The woman shrugged and continued to paint her nails slowly, her attitude nonchalant. Pink Hair anxiously said: “Why are you so calm? How many times has this happened already? He has to move up one zone by one zone all the way from Zone F. This isn’t like opening a second account in an MMORPG so you can play both characters at the same time.”

“So what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know what to do, that’s why I’m nervous!”

The woman felt neither nervous nor uneasy. She raised her hands to admire her newly painted black nails ― Uhm, these nails truly suit my hair colour.

Pink Hair withdrew when she saw her smile. Black nails, black dress and black long hair had her look like a dark witch every day. One time after another, she would grow a liking for pink plush toys and force him to dye his hair pink. All this bleaching and dying sent him to tears.

“If you’re worried, go to Zone F to find him.”

“Ssh.” Pink Hair held his arms and suddenly shivered: “He must still be angry, I don’t want to touch him.”

“Then just wait.”

“I can’t wait. The boss said he would take me to the mission this week, but now he is serving his punishment!”

Pink Hair sat down, feeling both worried and angry. He actually wanted to talk about the change of the Blacklist, but now he wasn’t in the mood to mention that, because compared to the player that suddenly appeared on the 99th place, the 1st place was obviously more powerful.

Explosively powerful!

Thinking left and right about it, Pink Hair still decided to secretly go to Zone F to see the situation.

Yong Ye City was a place with rules that were actually no rules. It abandoned all the laws and morals of the world but exercised very strict jurisdiction over each zone. In addition to the central area that can be accessed by all zones, those in the high-ranking zones could walk in the low-ranking zones, but if those in the low-ranking zone wanted to go to the high-ranking zones, they could only do so by earning enough points to level up or getting themselves a temporary pass.

Zone A and Zone F were very close to each other, separated only by Zone G. But Zone G was Yong Ye City’s prison where a very twisted warden resided, so Pink Hair must first rush to the central area then enter Zone F from there.

When he arrived, it was already past 4 AM.

At 4 o’clock in the morning, Zone F was still very lively, with the new players fretting around and the old players growing unbothered from all the experience, like two characters of a stage play that performed on repeat day after day.

Pink Hair hadn’t come to this new player zone for a long time, and he couldn’t help but reminisce. At the same time, he also couldn’t figure out why his boss, who had been staying still for a while now, was punished again today. Besides, the boss had promised to take him to the mission and wouldn’t break his word for no reason.

Forget it, the more I think about it the more I don’t understand. Stop thinking.

Pink Hair travelled along the road, smoothly avoiding the crowd and walking to East Cross Street. The streets here were different even if they belonged to the same zone. East Cross Street was the worst and the weakest place in the entire Zone F. Some people even called it ― a garbage collection site.

Jin Cheng, Pink Hair’s boss, was No.1 on the Blacklist. Every time he was punished, he would be thrown to East Cross Street like garbage, and he always ended up in the same room.

All these years in Yong Ye City, there had been only one person who used that room.

Pink Hair entered East Cross Street with a sullen face, but instead of taking the stairs, he climbed the window. The height of the third floor was almost too easy for him, an elite of Zone A. It was only a matter of seconds even though he was carrying a large bag.

“Bang, bang!”

“Boss! Boss, it’s me!”

“Bang!”

“Boss!”

Pink Hair knocked on the window for a while but no one answered. He had no choice but to bang harder on the window, but the moment he put a little bit more force, with a “clink”, the glass shattered. He looked at the broken glass in horror and cast a terrified look at the person in the room to discover that ―

“Who are you?”

“Who do you say I am?”

Tang Cuo grabbed the cleaver from the bedhead and slammed it on the window frame. “Clink”, the remaining half of the glass shattered. The shards fell like an icy rain onto Pink Hair’s body, feeling as though they could coldly pierce into his heart.

“Big brother, you must calm down, calm down. I’m in the wrong room, really! I’m leaving now!” The instinct to survive overwhelmed his curiosity and Pink Hair turned back to jump downstairs. But just as he was turning around, he saw his boss’ head poke out from the next window.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“What are you doing??” Pink Hair asked him back.

“Well, I’m applying a face mask.”

“Oh, f**king ¥*&!”

Pink Hair fell down with excitement and fell with all his fours pointing at the sky.

Fifteen minutes later, in Tang Cuo’s room.

Pink Hair rested both his hands properly on his knees as he showed the most obedient smile ever. In fact, he didn’t even know why this happened, but anyway, the situation was really strange.

He, Wen Xiaoming, an elite of Zone A, just became the grandson of someone in this garbage building of Zone F. There were two other people in the room. One was his boss who was having a face mask on, his face as white as a ghost; the other was an unknown new player who was sulking, his face as black as a demon.

A round table sat between the three of them. A black cleaver stuck diagonally on the table glowed coldly in the dim light.

Perhaps a name for this situation could be [Two Butchers and A Pig Soon To Be Slaughtered].