The Trial Game of Life

Table of Content | Character Guide

The fog thickened and the panic intensified, but the enemy never appeared.

Tang Cuo’s HP was still falling down 1 point by 1 point, but he walked calmly in the corridor, his expression equally undisturbed. Chi Yan followed closely behind and held tightly onto the Blast Egg that Jin Cheng gave him, his mind constantly on guard.

Now that the attack had not yet taken place, they needed to move to somewhere else to ensure that they wouldn’t be caught and drag Jin Cheng down. Jin Cheng wanted them to leave East Cross Street quietly, but Tang Cuo refused.

“We are the most eye-catching people of the whole East Cross Street. If two suddenly go missing from our group of three, the enemy will surely get suspicious.”

Chi Yan didn’t know how he got into this dangerous ordeal. It was as though he had unknowingly stepped into here since that night he raised his hand up, and hadn’t been able to get out ever since. But he had been through so many things anyway, so the only choice he had now was to move forward with his two geges and take the enemy down together.

“Ge, later just tell me who I should throw it to and I will do it. I’m ready.”

Tang Cuo wanted to say Don’t, you are too weak, but looking at the young man’s sincere eyes, he quietly pressed down the thought. The two ran from one building to another, climbing windows and jumping stairs, but they never went through the main entrance.

Five minutes later, they finally found an excellent hiding place ― the one-eyed lady’s breakfast shop.

This shop was very close to the place where Tang Cuo originally lived. It wasn’t like Tang Cuo didn’t fear death, but being the type who always took the riskiest path, he chose to believe that ‘in the most dangerous place lay the safest hiding spot’.

It just so happened that the shops in Yong Ye City had no rolling doors. It was at night and the one-eyed lady boss wasn’t there.

Jin Cheng hadn’t started the fight yet.

Tang Cuo poked his head out and took a look, frowning slightly. This was a bit strange. Since those people had decided to make a move, of course it would be best to strike Jin Cheng by surprise for a quick win. Why did they announce their arrival first to alert Jin Cheng, yet not take action immediately thereafter?

Tang Cuo couldn’t figure it out, and Chi Yan was none the wiser. At this moment, there were no people on the cobblestone street outside and the fog was still lingering. All the players were nested in their own rooms with exactly one person in each, for this could help contain the virus to a great extent.

They waited and waited but no attacks scame. Just then, someone was pushed onto the street from the corridor. He stumbled on the ground and coughed, his face a deadly shade of grey.

“Don’t stay in the building if you are infected, do you want to drag us to death together?!” An angry voice came out from the building but its source couldn’t be identified.

No other person said anything.

The man who was pushed out sat on the ground with his head down, as though he had absolutely no strength to even stand up. He had his face buried in both hands, his back bulging and his shoulders shaking, but no sound came out.

The night in Yong Ye City was terribly cold, and the sudden fog had cast a icy veil atop of it, making even a slight breath turn into frost.

Chi Yan pressed his lips tightly and a fire was blazing in his eyes, but he held back his rage.

The fog gradually enveloped the man. It thickened and blurred out the Tang Cuo’s and Chi Yan’s vision, while the cold slowly crept into the breakshop shop.

It was a dark night on a long street, with street lamps brightly lit on a hopeless man sitting amid a chilling fog. Like a scene from a painting.

Tang Cuo suddenly understood the enemy’s plan. They were deliberately dragging time because the fog could make people panic. The more people died, the more pressured Jin Cheng would become.

If Jin Cheng was really hit, then Tang Cuo would definitely die if he couldn’t get the vaccine in time. Those people knew the vaccine must be brought in from outside East Cross Street and they would definitely try to stop it. Once Jin Cheng died, the movement would also fall into their hands at once.

At this moment, the offensive and defensive had switched sides, and it was now Jin Cheng who must locate the enemy before they made a move. If the other side failed to defend themselves, Jin Cheng wouldn’t be killed and their plan would be crushed. 

This was all intended by Jiang He, the strategist.

Tang Cuo suddenly grew an interest in this man. According to Jin Cheng, he was a very ordinary-looking man, and no one would recognise him if he was thrown into a crowd. He also gave the impression of one who wasn’t easy to deal with.

At the same time, Jiang He’s name was repeatedly mentioned at every corner of East Cross Street.

“What is it that Jiang He from Heaven’s Will wants? He’s just dragging time, does he want others to make a move first? Is this like ‘the mantis stalking the cicada but unaware of the oriole behind’A Chinese idiom that could be taken quite literally in this context. Basically, ‘the cicada’ refers to Jin Cheng and ‘the oriole’ refers to Jiang He. The man is suspecting that Jiang He is waiting for someone else to make a move on Jin Cheng first and become ‘the mantis’, then the moment that someone else strikes, Jiang He will jump out and take down both parties.?

“It’s possible. Jiang He has always been a sinister man.”

“Then shall we move?”

“Look again.”

“The Wicked Puppeteer is said to have come also.”

“Will he come in person?”

“I don’t know, but someone saw his puppet earlier, though it might be controlled by someone else. Didn’t he suffer a loss under Jin Cheng last time, so he may not dare to come in person?”

“Is Jiang He waiting for The Puppeteer to make a move first?” 

“The Wicked Puppeteer and Heaven’s Will are both here. Who else is coming?” 

“I also saw Extreme Luck of Zone B, No. 3 on the Blacklist.”

“F**k, why is he not dead yet?”

“Don’t forget he’s the damn 66666 of the Blacklist.”

In the shadow, the people of Heaven’s Will were also having a commotion among themselves.

“Damn, how long does that Jiang He bastard want us to wait? I told him to just do it directly, don’t get mixed in with all the messes of the other groups. If someone else succeeds, we will not only lose the movement but also hurt our own men! The whole Heaven’s Will will become a huge joke in Zone A!”

“Wait first. Believe in Jiang He.”

They waited, but Jin Cheng couldn’t wait. He had fought with Jiang He several times and figured out Jiang He’s plan even earlier than Tang Cuo. If Jiang He succeeded, everything Jin Cheng had done now would be all for naught, but it would be unwise to seek out Jiang He directly. It would be the same as telling the enemy — You guessed it right.

So Jin Cheng’s target was now other groups.

The fog had blurred out all parties’ vision, except for Jiang He’s. Jin Cheng didn’t know where Jiang He was and stayed fixed in his spot, but he took out a palm-sized item that looked similar to a Whac-A-Mole device and pressed the red button on it.

“Click click.” A strange sound immediately rose from amid the fog. When listened to carefully, it was a very soft but extremely rhythmic sound that had scattered all over East Cross Street.

“Click.”

“Click.”

At certain points, it was complemented by the sound of gears turning, as though something was walking on the ground, getting closer and closer. Chi Yan felt anxious and couldn’t help but stealthily peeked through one eye, only to see something of the size of a palm jumping in the fog.

It didn’t jump high, had grey colour, and was dragging a tail behind it.

“A rat!” Those who saw it had their eyes wide open. If someone looked down from the sky above, they would find numerous mechanical rats running out from the darkest corners of East Cross Street and bouncing everywhere.

With more than a dozen of them, there must be one or two that could hit the enemy’s hiding place.

“Clink clink clink clink clink!” The rat’s eyes glowed red like an infrared detector. The moment it detected a living thing right in front, it immediately screamed, and the next second, “Boom!”

A rat exploded.

Then another rat exploded.

The sepaparte groups of enemies in hiding were working on their own and totally not aware of each other’s plans. Hearing explosions from other places, they instantly thought that the other side had made a move.

“Which son of a bitch did that?!”

“Don’t wait anymore, rush in now!” 

Jin Cheng had pulled one string that triggered all the enemies at once.

East Cross Street turned chaotic in a blink, and the mechanical rats that had scattered everywhere exploded whenever they detected movement. The smoke and dust of the explosion melted into Jiang He’s fog, the thickening fog mixed with smoke now also blurring Jiang He’s own vision.

“A wind is coming!” A whirring gust of wind blew over and everyone clearly knew and it was only a matter of time before the thick fog was dispersed. At the same time, they also clearly knew that if Jiang He was here, Heaven’s Will must also be here. They had to act quickly if they wanted to kill Jin Cheng and get the movement before Heaven’s Will did.

To Heaven’s Will, the [Twelve Movements] was a must-win mission. There was no way they would let anyone else have it. As soon as the wind blew, a loud male voice came from the roof of the building and blew across East Cross Street along with the wind.

“Jin Cheng, I have the vaccine for BS1010. If you don’t want everyone here to go down with you, come out and hand over the [Twelve Movements].”

That voice came from the boss of Heaven’s Will, Chong Yanzhang.

Someone heard his voice, snorted and answered first: “Bastard Chong, have you no shame?! Using low-ranking players to exchange for the [Twelve Movements]? Who do you think you are tricking?”

Another person also said with a smile: “I can give everyone here 10 points so Jin Cheng can hand over the [Twelve Movements] to me, okay?”

Two voices, one from the east and one from the west, came in tandem, as though they were singing a duo.

Chong Yanzhang’s expression became solemn. The surrounding people were about to speak up but was stopped by him: “Follow Jiang He’s plan and locate the two newcomers. Catch them alive.”

“But—”

“No buts.”

Seeing Chong Yanzhang’s murderous gaze, the man immediately fell silent. In fact, some of them were already trying to hunt down the two newcomers, but with Chong Yanzhang asking him to head out too, this showed that Chong Yanzhang trusted Jiang He more than him.

The man gritted his teeth, cast a few glances at his surroundings and finally withdrew.

By this point, the mechanical rats hadn’t stopped exploding. All the players of East Cross Street shrank in their room and didn’t dare to go out. Some cowering ones even blocked the door with their bed, table and chair.

The infected player who had been pushed onto the street also hid in a corner and trembled with fear.

All of a sudden, the entire East Cross Street shook violently and a blasting explosion knocked out all the remaining mechanical rats. The most impacted were Tang Cuo and Chi Yan. Chi Yan’s eyes widened as the intense quake swept through the smoke and dust. It was Tang Cuo’s room that blew up!

The whole building blew up!

“Motherf**ker.” Chi Yan almost let the curse flip his tongue. Fortunately, the players in that building had all evacuated because of the virus, otherwise the casualty would be massive.

But wait.

The player wasn’t inside, but the virus was.

“Hahaha bastard Chong, let me help you!” An arrogant laughter came from not far away, carrying with it unfathomable greed. The faces of those standing nearby turned as white as a sheet and they immediately put up a gas mask.

Loud curses rose from all corners.

“F**k you! Come over here you motherf**ker, I’m gonna f**king kill you!”

“Are you out of your f**king mind?!”

“Psycho!”

With such a strike, one could probably take down 1,000 of the other party but hurt 800 of his own men. The virus had been released from the building and would now attack indiscriminately. And at this very moment, who was present at East Cross Street?

Exactly, it was them, the groups that were after the [Twelve Movements]!

“It’s Miao Qi! That lunatic Miao Qi!”

As the identity of the troublemaker was exposed, the curses became softer and everyone seemed to hold back. With a smile, Miao Qi nonchalantly emerged on the roof of a building and launched another cannon at the ground.

He was a tall, thin man clad entirely in black, with a red scarf around his neck and a heavy rocket launcher on his shoulder.

“Hello.” [T/N: Originally written in English.]

He greeted them with yet another cannon.

Cursing him as a ‘psycho’ was indeed meant to be taken literally, for everyone really couldn’t figure out whether he came here for the [Twelve Movements] or simply to stir more havoc.

“Miao Qi, I don’t think I’ve ever offended you before?” Chong Yanzhang appeared amid the ruins of Tang Cuo’s building.

“I want to play with the [Twelve Movements] too, can’t I?” Miao Qi asked back. He didn’t fire any cannon at Chong Yanzhang, which made Chi Yan incredibly sad.

“Does Lin Yandong know that you are here?” Chong Yanzhang asked in a low voice.

“Why would you care whether he knows or not? I only know that you haven’t gotten Jin Cheng to come out yet.”

“You don’t need to worry about it.”

Chong Yanzhang had obviously taken the vaccine, because he dared to be right at the heart of the virus even without any protective measures on. Miao Qi didn’t come closer, rather, he smiled slyly and moved back to a safe distance, then said loudly: “Jin Cheng, how about I make a deal with you? I don’t want the [Twelve Movements]. As long as you let me kill you once, I will return the movement that falls out to you later, with both hands.”

Chong Yanzhang’s face turned dark as soon as he heard this.

Miao Qi continued to shout out: “How about it? Instead of letting these bitches Chong Yanzhang and Jiang He kill you, isn’t it better to make a deal with me?” 

The answer to him was a direct strike from Chong Yanzhang.

Chong Yanzhang was a special ability user and had no fixed weapons. This was the first time Chi Yan had seen a novel scene of someone receiving a cannon with his bare hands.

With his vicious metal-type special ability, Chong Yanzhang dealt a fist shrouded with a golden aura so intense it almost had Chi Yan enchanted. With a “boom”, Miao Qi’s cannon was bounced by Chong Yanzhang, its impact clearly felt even by Chi Yan hiding in the breakfast shop. Chong Yanzhang remained completely unscathed.

At this point, an arrow broke through the air.

“Jin Cheng!” Someone instantly recognised the arrow with his sharp eyes, and in a flash, several shadows rushed over and discovered who the target of the arrow was —

It was neither Miao Qi nor Chong Yanzhang. It was the trembling player who had been hiding in a corner!

What was happening?

Chi Yan quietly whispered in his heart while Tang Cuo understood it at once. The player was putting up an act and wasn’t an infected person of Zone F. That was Jiang He. Sure enough, the moment the metal arrow pierced the player, he turned into a cloud of smoke and dispersed.

The strong wind had almost blown away all the fog surrounding East Cross Street. By this point, any new fog would look especially obvious. Merely ten meters away, a shadow appeared.

It was Jiang He.

Tang Cuo still couldn’t see Jiang He’s face clearly, but the moment Jiang He turned up, he immediately grabbed Chi Yan, “Go!” 

The two left from the back door of the breakfast shop. Tang Cuo ran very fast and Chi Yan almost stumbled, but he tried to keep up. While running at full speed, Chi Yan didn’t have the time to ask why. He could only listen to Tang Cuo’s stern bellow: “Throw it to the back!”

Throw it? Throw what?

Chi Yan’s reaction was delayed for a second, then he hurriedly threw the Blast Egg to the back and took a peek — F**k, he’s right behind them!