The Trial Game of Life – Chapter 98

Table of Contents | Character Guide

Chapter 98: Realm of Mortals (1)

The Warden of Yong Ye City was neatly dressed in a black military uniform, a military cap and military boots, his slender figure making quite a sight.

The shadow cast by the brim of his hat covered his eyes. He walked with a speed that was neither too fast nor too slow, and the stick in his hand was swinging along with his steps. As he stretched out his stick, it banged hard against the steel frame then retracted again.

“Bang!” 

With every tap, the jumbled-up figures on the wall trembled.

“Bang!”

This was perhaps a warning from the Death God, yet it also seemed to be a sort of urging. Amidst the sound, Tang Cuo also caught a clear, crisp echo of bells. It was the chime of several small bells hitting each other, sounding all very, very soft.

When Xiao Tong approached, Tang Cuo saw a string of pearl-sized golden bells hanging on his right wrist that was holding the stick.

The bells rang every time he flicked his wrist. As The Warden slowly walked out of the darkness, he slightly raised his head to reveal his upturned eyes hidden under the hat brim, and the curled up corners of his mouth perfectly delivered the meaning of the three words — a gentlemanly bastard.

“What a rare guest.” He looked at Jin Cheng.

“The great warden didn’t pick me up outside, so I came in by myself.” Jin Cheng stepped forward, placed his hand on his chest and saluted: “Long time no see.”

Xiao Tong: “I thought you wouldn’t dare to come again. “

Jin Cheng smiled: “Thank you for the compliment.”

Xiao Tong felt his hand getting itchy and he whisked the stick again, but this time it didn’t bang against the steel frame. He shook it rather gently, and his tone became lighter: “I did say that as long as you dare to step in here again, you have to be prepared to never go back.” 

When this sentence came out, not only Tang Cuo, but even Leng Miao was showing a hint of astonishment. After three years of dealing with Jin Cheng, he never knew that Jin Cheng also had issues with Xiao Tong.

How does this person manage to piss off people everywhere?

“Before you strike, let me ask the great warden a question.”

“Chong Yanzhang?”

“No, a bald girl.”

“You have something to do with her?”

“Well.” Jin Cheng smiled: “She owes my man a life, and I want to get it back.”

“Your man?” Xiao Tong glanced at Leng Miao’s face, shook his head, and finally stopped at Tang Cuo’s face. Only then did he show a look of scrutinisation, but it was impossible to know whether he was pleased or displeased.

Tang Cuo was expressionless. It wasn’t like he was seeing Jin Cheng’s parents anyway.

“Let’s do it this way.” Xiao Tong shook his stick and pointed at Tang Cuo: “You leave him with me for three days, and I’ll tell you.”

With absolutely no hesitation, Jin Cheng turned him down: “Certainly not. We’re in a ‘we live and we die together’ sort of relationship. We weren’t born in the same year, month and day, but we must die in the same year, month and day. My great warden, even you won’t be able to separate us. “

Shut up or I’m seriously beating you up.

Leng Miao put up a very strange expression, raising his eyebrows to look at Tang Cuo then Jin Cheng, as though he hadn’t realised that they were in that kind of relationship. He seemed even a tad more surprised than when he learnt that the little girl wasn’t a simple person.

At this point, a loud noise came from the distance. Perhaps some prisoners used large-scale explosive weapons to blast a big hole into the wall.

In a blink, smoke and dust filled the air, and everyone’s eardrums were attacked by piercing sounds of footsteps and curses.

“She’s here!”

“She’s coming here, run!”

“Who is stopping her?!!”

“F*ck! It’s just a little girl, why are you all scared out of your wits %#￥＋*^ …Don’t come here!”

“Faster, faster!”

“……”

She? A little girl?

Tang Cuo’s eyes were slightly lit up and he immediately turned to chase after the noise. As soon as he turned around, Jin Cheng automatically stepped forward to block Xiao Tong, his and Tang Cuo’s coordination perfectly in sync. No matter how powerful Xiao Tong was, it was impossible for him to throw Jin Cheng to the ground in just one strike and catch up with Tang Cuo.

Not to mention, Jin Cheng also brought his aid.

Leng Miao consciously stood beside Jin Cheng. This was why, despite the fact Leng Miao joined in the East Cross Street incident, Jin Cheng could still calmly look for his help.

Because Leng Miao had basic decency.

Since Leng Miao and Rong Yi were friends, it meant they must have something in common.

“Do you think this can stop me?” Xiao Tong asked with a smile.

At this moment, Tang Cuo had disappeared from all three’s line of sight. After the increase of points in his Strength, Tang Cuo’s speed was a little faster than before, plus the fact that he had spent all his time in the training ground for the past few days. It was no wonder that he became much more comfortable with the different skills that he possessed.

After turning left and right in this complex prison, he reached the spot that blew up earlier.

The players infected with BS055 still had bloodshot eyes, looking almost like rabies patients. They were unable to restrain the killing intent in them and were fiercely fighting each other, no one still having a clear head. But when Tang Cuo looked closely, he found that they were all subconsciously moving away from a certain direction, with a trace of terror hidden in their expressions.

Tang Cuo looked over but only saw a corner of a red cloak, which quickly disappeared behind the corner.

He chased after that figure, but those prisoners quickly rushed to fight him and blocked his way. If he made a fatal move here, they would really die. Tang Cuo had no grudge against them, and he knew that they were like this because of BS055, so he obviously wouldn’t deal a lethal blow to them.

Standing opposite those prisoners on a narrow path, Tang Cuo leapt up and grabbed the steel frame on top, then he stepped on the shoulders of the person in front of him and quickly stroked past them all. Immediately after jumping off, he turned around and kicked one person, which landed a domino effect and brought them all to the ground.

“Ouch!”

“I… &$*＋％#÷…” 

The group groaned in shock, but Tang Cuo didn’t stop for a second. “Clang, clang”, amidst the echo of footsteps in the long corridor, he saw the red shade of someone’s cloak as the person once again disappeared at the corner.

After hesitating for half a second, Tang Cuo continued to give chase.

On the other side, Jin Cheng’s group still hadn’t started fighting yet, because Xiao Tong smiled judgingly at the other two before making a sudden remark: “You’re not here for Chong Yanzhang, but for the [Twelve Movements], right? “

Warden Xiao Tong really had eyes that could see through people’s hearts.

Jin Cheng wasn’t surprised by this at all, and he wasn’t hoping to keep hiding it either. As his heart thumped slightly in his chest, Leng Miao cast a gloomy glance at Jin Cheng, but his expression remained indifferent.

Xiao Tong watched the reaction of the other two with interest, but seeing that they didn’t get into a fight, he was a bit upset.

“In that case, let’s play a game. “

Finally — The Warden’s game time.

Jin Cheng and Leng Miao couldn’t help but brace themselves. Jin Cheng even glanced at the direction where Tang Cuo had left — He wondered how it was going over there. Although the little girl surely couldn’t be compared to even Xiao Tong’s finger, she seemed rather wicked. Jin Cheng was a little worried to let Tang Cuo confront her alone.

“Let me think about what game we’re going to play.” Xiao Tong started to swing his extendable stick again, and finally, using it like a teaching ruler, he patted it on his palm. With a “smack”, the conclusion was reached.

“You come from the mortal realm, so let me send you back there. Didn’t our little friend who ran away earlier just left that place? I think he misses it very much. “

“Ding!”

“Congratulations to the players for successfully triggering the dungeon [Realm of Mortals]. This is a multiplayer, multi-time limit survival game, having a total of 96 players. All players please take note, there are two ways to clear the game. One, if you survive for six hours; or two, if the number of survivors is less than six.”

Happy surviving!”

Hearing the announcement, Jin Cheng felt a tinge of fear creep into his heart. Before the scene in front of him changed, he looked at Xiao Tong for the last time and saw Xiao Tong wave at him with a spiteful smile.

A multiplayer survival game with multiple time limits and 96 participants, which meant that prisoners who were still alive might have been pulled into this dungeon. The two clearance methods proved that the game was by no means simple, and the second method was full of malice, because —

Players could kill.

As long as you killed the others and made sure you became one of the remaining six, wound’t you be able to clear the game?

Looking around, they had arrived at a fork in the road.

A Y-shaped intersection suddenly appeared in the wilderness, diverging into two solitary roads that were as straight as an arrow. Two street signs stood on the left and right, but there were no road names on them, only two familiar symbols.

Male and female.

“The branching of life?” Jin Cheng pondered and gazed back and forth at the two signs, then he  glanced at the other players who had turned up here.

These players also heard the system announcement when they entered the dungeon, but they were, at the same time, dumbfounded and surprised at everything in front of them. Looking closely, the crimson shade in their eyes was slowly fading. It could be seen that them entering the dungeon had scrubbed off the effect of BS055.

“What’s the matter? Aren’t we in jail? Why did we trigger the dungeon???”

“What should we do now? What kind of dungeon is this?”

“Over there, is that Jin Cheng?!”

“And —”

“F*ck!”

 “…”

As expected, Jin Cheng and Leng Miao were instantly recognised, for the scar on Jin Cheng’s face was truly eye-catching. The famous scarred beauty of Yong Ye City — as soon as you saw him, you would know him.

Leng Miao still wore a cold expression, emanating an indifferent air to other players. Without even discussing it with Jin Cheng, he straight away stood in front of the ‘male’ symbol.

Jin Cheng thought for a moment, then thought for another moment, and eventually, with the corner of his mouth tugged up, he walked towards the ‘female’ path.

Leng Miao looked at him, his icy cold face showing an expression that was difficult to describe — Is something wrong with your head?

Jin Cheng shrugged: “Don’t underestimate Yong Ye City’s wickedness. A simple-looking game may not be so simple, while a tough-looking game may allow us to survive against all odds.”

What hardships would a man or a woman encounter on the path of life? This was a topic that had been discussed for thousands of years.

Which one was more challenging? You would only know when you actually walked on it.

Leng Miao didn’t speak. Seeing that the two big bosses were having a disagreement, the prisoners didn’t know who to follow. Besides, among them, male players accounted for the majority, while among those who still remained in Yong Ye City, male players also accounted for the majority. So in theory, it seemed easier to choose the ‘male’ path.

Everyone eagerly wanted to go to Leng Miao, but as soon as the few people at the front made the first steps, they saw Leng Miao walking towards Jin Cheng.

Everyone’s eyes opened wide in horror. Boss, you betrayed us?!

For a while, the male players didn’t dare to move. They wanted to tail behind the big boss but didn’t want to take that path. The female players breathed a sigh of relief and quickly followed him.

Seeing them walking towards him, Jin Cheng slightly pulled back his cheeky expression, glanced at the pink female symbol again, then brazenly took a step forward.

The male players looked at each other and were reluctant for a moment, then they gritted their teeth and followed suit. It was just that in their hearts, this felt more like a path of no return, where they could only walk on with much uneasiness.

As Leng Miao walked at the very end, he silently counted the people present here — there were a total of 28.

At the same time, Tang Cuo, who was pulled into another dungeon, found himself standing in a cemetery and surrounded by neatly arranged tombstones. But these tombstones were very odd, for they all looked like cell phones.

Cell phones were rectangular, which happened to be the same shape as tombstones. As these giant cell phones stood, some of their display screens were flashing on and off, while some remained completely pitch-black.

It was weird that there was only Tang Cuo here. What about the others? Where was the little girl in the red cloak?

Suddenly, the system announcement came again.

“Welcome player to the Cemetery of Souls. There are 99 pitiful, sad and woeful souls buried here. The player will be asked to find the three souls that are still alive by studying the tombstones and opening the coffin to verify.”

“Please note that there will be punishment for opening the wrong coffin.” 

As the voice fell, a tombstone in front of Tang Cuo emitted a “ding dong” prompt. He looked over and saw a WeChat window blinking on the phone screen.

A new Moment1朋友圈 [pengyou quan], is lit. translated as ‘friend circle’. It’s a social networking function for WeChat users, where they can create a ‘moment’ to share texts or other information with their close friends. It functions similarly to a Facebook or Instagram story. had been refreshed.

[Pao Pao Qi: Today is another beautiful day, let’s work harder!]

[Coffee·jpg] [Sunshine.jpg]2This is a common way of texting by Chinese netizens. Instead of actually dropping the pictures of ‘coffee’ and ‘sunshine’, they write out the file name so the receivers understand the intent behind these pictures.