The Trial Game of Life

Tang Cuo, the man who jumped repeatedly on the verge of death, stubbornly survived today.

Qian Wei, Zhao Ping and An Ning got up from the ground and watched the other black bear desperately running away, their jaws dropped. They turned around and looked at the scene ― crimson flesh scattered all over the white snow. From a distance, they looked like plum blossoms, yet coming closer, they actually looked like streaks of pork belly. There was even half a paw at their feet. They just needed a barbeque bit and the party could already begin.

As far as their eyes could see, there were no ‘clean’ paths to walk on.

“Oh-my-God.” When Qian Wei’s shock subsided, he realised Tang Cuo was lying motionless on the ground. He ran over without delay and nervously probed with one hand to check for his breathing.

Tang Cuo opened his eyes and shot an icy cold look at him.

Qian Wei laughed embarrassedly: “My hands are itchy, my hands are itchy.”

Finally, Qian Wei and Zhao Ping joined forces to lift Tang Cuo up. Tang Cuo didn’t have any potions, so he stuffed a few chocolate beans into his mouth. It wasn’t like the rest didn’t want to give him, but they had seen how powerful he was, so they thought the chocolate beans must be some sort of pills. No one would expect him to be flat broke.

“I’ve sent a signal to Peng Peng. It’s too dangerous out here, shall we go back?” Qian Wei said.

“I agree.” Zhao Ping quickly responded.

An Ning didn’t object this time. The black bear was too strong. Who knew if there were more of them hidden in the forest. And they made such a noisy scene yet Qu Li was still nowhere to be seen, so it was likely that she was either elsewhere or already dead.

Tang Cuo didn’t comment because his eyes were fixated on a book corner that was sticking out of the snow not far from here. He let go of Qian Wei’s hand and walked over to pick it up —

It was his Survival Assessment Report, completely intact.

A Ning saw it and blinked, then asked curiously: “What is this?”

Qian Wei: “Obviously this is a Survival Assessment Report which records our life. We all have one.”

Zhao Ping: “…”

It’s so thick!

Tang Cuo was familiar with this reaction and he put it away, his face unflinching. He picked up the black bear’s fang from the ground, his face still unflinching. He weighed it with his hand before putting it in his pocket.

An Ning & Qian Wei & Zhao Ping: “…”

Forget it, we’d better not ask.

The four returned via the same path.

After walking for ten minutes, Tang Cuo stopped again.

Zhao Ping suddenly had a strange hunch and asked: “What’s wrong?”

Tang Cuo said calmly: “The direction is wrong.”

Hearing that, An Ning quickly pulled out the compass and saw the pointer clearly pointing in the direction they came from. She frowned slightly, her intuition telling her that Tang Cuo would never make up nonsense like this. Perhaps something is wrong with the compass?

“The chainsaw.” Tang Cuo spoke again.

The three finally understood. Just now when the black bear was suddenly killed, the chainsaw was left behind where the tree was cut. But they had walked back for ten minutes, now where is the chainsaw?

And beside the chainsaw, where is the tree root?

“Ghost… ghost knocking the wall?鬼打墙 [gui da xiang], lit. translated as “ghost knocking the wall”, refers to a type of motion illusion often caused by a hazy state of mind, in which the person thinks he keeps walking in the same loop.” Qian Wei felt that his insides had turned colder than his hands and feet.

“Possibly.” An Ning nodded and looked around. “The trees here are basically the same and the sun is covered, so it’s difficult for us to distinguish the direction. Also because of the bear attack just now, we ran all over the place so it became even worse.”

Zhao Ping: “What should we do now?”

Tang Cuo glanced at him and said nothing.

Zhang Ping felt a chill run down his spine. Looking at Tang Cuo’s face which was still so calm even though he was barely one step away from death, Zhang Ping secretly cursed that he couldn’t grab him by the collar and shout out ― Big brother, say something, weren’t you so powerful just now?

Tang Cuo didn’t have power to show anymore. He already exerted his everything, of course there’s zero power left. If he didn’t have to talk, he wouldn’t talk, and he decided to completely go into energy-saving mode.

On the other hand, An Ning’s eyes lit up and she grabbed Qian Wei, asking: “Is it possible for Peng Peng to locate where you sent the signal? Can they find us?”

Qian Wei raised his eyebrows excitedly: “Yes! You’re right. We can’t get out but they can come in. It takes about forty minutes to go from the hostel to where we cut down the tree. We just have to wait for another half an hour!”

Energy-saving mode is now closed.

“When you send the signal, can you also describe the situation?” Tang Cuo asked.

“Ah, no, I can’t do that.” Qian Wei scratched his head.

Tang Cuo smiled.

Qian Wei felt butterflies flapping in his stomach.

An Ning reacted instantly and slapped him hard on the shoulder. “No, that won’t do. If they come without knowing the situation, they won’t prepare for it. They may end up being trapped here with us.”

“What did you hit me for?!” Qian Wei rubbed his shoulder to ease the excruciating pain.

Immediately after that, Qian Wei sent Peng Mingfan three consecutive signals. This was an agreement between him and Peng Mingfan: if the situation changed and it wasn’t advised to come over, he would send three signals.

They tested out several directions to find that no matter where they walked, the compass would firmly point in the direction of the returning path. The three looked at each other and couldn’t help staring at Tang Cuo.

Tang Cuo eased his breathing, put two chocolate beans into his mouth and stood up: “Let’s go.” 

The scouting team continued to move forward, this time for a full half an hour, yet they still moved in circles around the forest. The cold gradually ripped off their physical strength, and even people who had gone through many game missions like Qian Wei and Zhao Ping couldn’t bear it, let alone Tang Cuo whose HP was a mere 5.

As they walked a bit further, 5 dropped to 4.

Luckily, the gods above didn’t give up on them today, so as the four people kept on walking, they finally caught sight of a house not far away. Qian Wei was so excited that he sprinted forward to check it out. He looked and looked, then turned back with a surprised face: “Isn’t that the hostel where we live?!”

Tang Cuo squinted at the house. The green roof, the pine tree logo and the familiar storage shed in the backyard ― it must be that youth hostel.

They went out from the front door yet now they returned from the back door.

But wait.

“Something is going on.” Tang Cuo vaguely saw a fighting figure through the window. He rushed out from the forest in one big stride, then ignored the open gate and directly jumped over the fence, his movement fast and steady.

But before he could run into the house, a figure smashed the door open. The broken pieces flew at Tang Cuo’s face and he slanted sideways to avoid them. Then he looked up ―

The figure was Zhang Zhiqiu.

He crashed hard into the snow, and as he got up, a cold light flashed in his eyes. But when he noticed Tang Cuo and the other three coming from behind, he quickly raised one hand to wipe his face and shouted: “The Boss has gone crazy, quickly help us!” 

Tang Cuo took a step back, his face unmoved.

“What are you doing?” Zhang Zhiqiu frowned.

At the present, in the house, Peng Mingfan almost couldn’t hold up anymore. He gasped for breath and held a gun in his hand, but his aim was so poor that he could form a human shape with his shotsThis is a slang originating from first-person-shooter games, which means that instead of shooting at the person, you shoot around the person and form a human shape. See illustration on the left LOL.

. But every time Li Ying Jun’ was about to smack his axe down, he would make a slight pause for some unknown reason. It was thanks to this strange pause that Peng Mingfan could avoid the hit at the nick of time.

Peng Mingfan was running left and right. Seeing that his speed was getting slower and slower, Qian Wei dashed in.

Zhang Zhiqiu jumped into the battle again.

Tang Cuo could now see clearly that Qian Wei was a sword user and his body was pretty agile, but his sword fighting technique wasn’t good. Zhang Zhiqiu was great with his gun, which had a long barrel and whose bullet made a huge hole on the chair when fired. The gun didn’t look like those commonly sold in the market, making him wonder if it was a special type made in Yong Ye City.

“Go to the yard!” Peng Mingfan shouted and took the lead in fleeing.

At this time, Zhao Ping and An Ning also made their move. As several people joined forces, they finally subdued Li Ying Jun’s terrifying axe attack and pushed him towards the backyard.

Where is Cheng Jin?

Cheng Jin was on the roof.

Tang Cuo lifted his head and spotted him right at the moment Cheng Jin was jumping from the roof to the top of the storage shed. As soon as he landed, he raised his bow and arrow, then aimed perfectly at his target and shot at one go.

“Woosh!” The long metal arrow flew through the air like a thunderous flash, accurately nailing into Li Ying Jun’s foot and securing him in place.

“Woosh!” Another arrow pierced through his hand and disarmed him.

“Argh!!!” Li Ying Jun let go of his axe and knelt down on the ground. Seeing that, An Ning conjured up a red net on her hand and threw it over his head.

A red light flared and the net suddenly shrunk, wrapping itself tightly around Li Ying Jun and stopping him from breaking free.

They had done it.

An Ning clapped her hand, her face beaming with pleasure.

The rest thumped down on the ground, all letting out a sigh of relief. Zhang Zhiqiu looked solemnly at Jin Cheng, who had jumped down from the storage shed, and asked: “Why didn’t you just kill him?” 

This one short sentence instantly had everyone’s nerves snap. They turned their heads together to look at Jin Cheng to see him pointing his bow directly at Zhang Zhiqiu’s head. He smiled and asked: “Do you have something you want to tell me?”

A drop of cold sweat slipped from Zhang Zhiqiu’s forehead. Others might not know, but after the battle just now, he had clearly understood the strength of the man standing in front of him.

This was like a game of cat and mouse to him. They were the mice that crumbled all over the place and he was the arrogant cat that only waved his paws around them when he was in the mood.

I shouldn’t act impulsively.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Zhiqiu took a step back and raised his hand: “I just want to voice out an opinion, there’s no ill intention. You don’t have to get so worked up over it.”

“Right.” Jin Cheng gave him a thoughtful look, his arrow still pointing at him without even a slight intention to move away. Seeing this scene, Qian Wei instinctively wanted to come in between but was held back by Peng Mingfan.

Zhang Zhiqiu’s face became more twisted the longer the time passed. He opened his mouth several times, and when he was about to finally say something, Jin Cheng casually took the arrow back.

He turned back to look at Tang Cuo, his face extremely puzzled: “Good sir, are you dying again?”

Tang Cuo wanted to roll his eyes, but now he didn’t even have the strength to roll eyes. He wrapped himself in the army coat and walked to the house. He wasn’t afraid of the cold but it was depleting his HP too fast. He went straight to the clay stoveRefers to a type of stove top made from clay, commonly used in the countryside. See illustration as below.

in the kitchen, where he could burn a fire.

The moment he opened the door, Tang Cuo met with Li Shuangshuang’s panicked face.

Li Shuangshuang couldn’t help but wince a little: “I, just now I…”

Tang Cuo: “Make way.”

Li Shuangshuang’s eyes widened.

Tang Cuo eventually lifted his hand to push her to the side, then walked to the small stool behind the oven and sat down. He stirred the ash, added some firewood and started a fire, all silently yet skillfully.

“The water.” A thought suddenly flashed by Li Shuangshuang’s mind. She wiped her eyes and turned around to open the water tank. She scooped one spoon after another until the whole pot was filled, then asked cautiously: “Is that enough?”

Tang Cuo was silent and leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. He stayed completely still, taking in the warmth of the blazing fire.

“Are you all right?” Li Shuangshuang asked again.

Tang Cuo frowned slightly. His frozen hands and feet gradually recovered under the warmth, but this recovery was extremely slow. He was a little tired and didn’t want to talk, nor did he want to be disturbed.

Perhaps the gods finally heard his plea today because Li Shuangshuang really stopped talking. As she shut the kitchen door closed behind her, the noise of Qian Wei and the others walking into the house drowned out.

In his heart, Tang Cuo let out a sigh of relief.

At this moment, Tang Cuo suddenly heard a movement so close it seemed right next to his ears. He was instantly alerted and reached out his hand as fast as a lightning. Then he looked up ―

To lock eyes with Jin Cheng.

“What are you doing?” Tang Cuo asked. As the words left his lips, he came to understand the situation in the kitchen. Li Shuangshuang was no longer here ― only the two of them were behind the closed door.

“What do you think?” Jin Cheng shook the wrist that was being grabbed by Tang Cuo and revealed a potion in his hand.

Tang Cuo let go. For a rare moment, he felt a lump in his throat.

Jin Cheng threw the potion at him, then hugged his arms and leaned against the wall, saying: “I could tell that you’re pretty strong. The other three seem all fine, but how do you end up so badly? What restriction did Yong Ye City impose on you?”

Tang Cuo: “…”

Jin Cheng: “If you don’t say anything, I’ll assume you admit it.”

Tang Cuo thought to himself, just consider I admit it then, then drank half of the potion and put the other half into his pocket. Jin Cheng’s eyebrows furrowed, looking as though he finally figured out what the restriction was.

He asked another question: “What did you encounter outside?”

Tang Cuo recovered a little and asked back: “Have you ever watched ‘Boonie Bears’Refers to a Chinese animated series that tells the stories of two bears who try to stop a lodger from destroying their forest home. You can find more information here: https://imdb.com/title/tt3342514/?”

Jin Cheng: “?????”

Tang Cuo was surprised that he actually lacked such general knowledge, or perhaps this big brother passed on too early and missed out on this masterpiece. Jin Cheng felt something wasn’t right about Tang Cuo’s expression and narrowed his eyes: “Did you just laugh at me inside?”

Tang Cuo: “I didn’t.”

Jin Cheng: “You did.”

“Tsk.” Annoying. With a black face, Tang Cuo added two pieces of firewood to the oven and said: “’Boonie Bears’ is actually…”

Jin Cheng interrupted him: “I know.”

Tang Cuo: “Oh.”

Jin Cheng: “Is this how you’ll always treat the person who saves your life?”

What else do you want? I even explained ‘Boonie Bears’ to you.

Tang Cuo intended to return the remaining half of the potion to him, but then he figured there was no reason to him to be so hypocritical. So he briefly recounted what happened in the forest, then turned to ask Jin Cheng: “What happened to your group actually?”

Jin Cheng: “Zhang Zhiqiu and Li Shuangshuang tried to poison Li Ying Jun. Peng Mingfan wanted to stop them, but the staff offered to let Li Shuangshuang help her prepare lunch in the kitchen, so Li Shuangshuang went ahead with the plan. Half an hour later, Li Ying Jun detected the poison and went berserk, just like what you saw. He was fierce with his axe and could easily break through others’ defence. On the other hand, his own defence is remarkable, and his attacks are powerful.”

Tang Cuo recalled everything he saw and asked: “Did the poison work on him?” 

“I’m not sure.” Jin Cheng shook his head. “At least no obvious signs showed up.”

“Where was the staff?”

“Before Li Ying Jun was poisoned, she said she didn’t feel well and returned to her room. I specifically went to check on her. The invisible dust that I sprinkled on the door and window was still intact, there were no footprints on it. At least it means that ― during that time, she was actually in the room.”

Invisible dust? That sounds like a good item.

Tang Cuo continued to add more firewood to the oven while having some thoughts. This firewood was exactly what Li Ying Jun brought from the forest. Looking at them, Tang Cuo couldn’t help but think of the lost chainsaw.

What a pity.

“Can you help me call Li Shuangshuang back?” Tang Cuo asked. “I have something to ask her.”