The Trial Game of Life

Inside the dungeon, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng leisurely played with the fireworks for half of the night and eventually welcomed the sunrise. 

The two took a short rest and went to Cecilia’s bakery to fill their stomachs with some bread. After that, they went on wandering around the city like two headless flies.

Jin Cheng said: “In the end, we might not be killed by the Boss but died of thirst first.”

There was no water in the city. Before even talking about washing faces, they had to be careful not to choke themselves to death when they ate the bread.

Tang Cuo didn’t want to waste his saliva, so he wisely chose to shut up and switch to energy-saving mode. Jin Cheng only opened his mouth when there was something important, and he kept on carrying the glass lamp even though it was now daytime.

For the next half a day, the two continued clearing side missions. They repaired a roof and went looking for things. They ran from the west to the east and even swung around the palace in the center of the city.

If the player didn’t do anything, the vines wouldn’t suddenly come back to life. The two smoothly walked to the entrance of the palace and tried out all the side mission rewards, including the [Nightingale] ring, but none could trigger anything.

The rewards that hadn’t been used were: a glass lamp, a palm-sized round mirror, a handkerchief and a quill.

Other rewards such as Cecilia’s key, which was used to open the Greenvines Alliance office, had disappeared right after they fulfiled their purpose.

Jin Cheng didn’t believe that there was no way out and walked around the palace again, trying to seek for another trigger but still found nothing. It seemed that this dungeon wanted them to finish all the side missions. Thinking about this, Jin Cheng turned around and exchanged glances with Tang Cuo.

The two unlucky fellas who had no water to drink decided to save every drop of water in their bodies and replaced words with mutual understanding, then they continued to head for the missions.

About fifteen minutes later, Jin Cheng couldn’t help but open his mouth again: “This Mark is horrible. He needs a ghostwriter to write a love letter to his beloved girl. No wonder Cecilia prefers Lancelot.”

Tang Cuo: “You write?” 

In the side mission [Mark’s Love Letter], the player needed to help Mark write a love letter to his beloved Cecilia. Poor Mark, he almost lost all his hair over his attempts to write this love letter.

In Mark’s cabin, there were pens and paper scatterd on the desk as well as countless crumpled paper balls on the ground, all of which were his previous failures. Jin Cheng picked up a few of them to read and his expression was indescribable. After a while, he roughly figured out Mark’s line of thought and picked up a quill to start writing, but the quill refused to give any letters.

He changed to another quill, and still no letters came out.

He changed again to another quill, and again no letters came out.

Tang Cuo understood and took out one of the rewards ― the quill.

This time, the moment the quill was soaked in ink, the writing came out smoothly. Jin Cheng didn’t even write a draft. With the corner of his mouth curled up, he wrote the love letter in a few swishes.

[Dear Cecilia,

There are no flowers in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight,

So the bard wants to bring back the most beautiful flower in the world,

He searches all over the continent, not knowing when he can return.

But I am such a lucky man,

Because in my heart, you are the most beautiful flower in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight.

— Love you, Mark]

Tang Cuo made no comment on Jin Cheng’s cringy poem. His focus was — 

“Mark also wants to mention Lancelot’s wish?”

Jin Cheng: “That’s right. I guess Lancelot is so famous that the whole continent knows his wish.”

Tang Cuo: “…”

Jin Cheng: “Aunt Anna’s son Louis, the previous king and Mark all mentioned bringing flowers back here, showing that there are indeed no flowers in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. The Chinese roses that bloom here can only be brought back by Lancelot. “

A thought came over Tang Cuo: “Does Lancelot feel that Chinese rose is the most beautiful flower?”

Jin Cheng folded his arms and said: “The Chinese rose and the common rose are very similar, but if you compare the two, people usually think that the common rose is more beautiful. It represents love and passion, but in this story, the common rose represents evil. If it was the common rose that blooms in this kingdom, I would suspect that Lancelot was the Boss behind all this.”

The clues that Mark’s love letters could provide were limited. As Jin Cheng put the letter in the envelope, the mission was completed and they were rewarded with a paper knife.

For the next three hours, the two continued to sweep through side missions across the city. Using the reward of this mission to complete the next mission was like unbreaking a chain with many links, and no one knew what the final link would be.

Sometimes they received a side mission but couldn’t complete it because the key item was missing, so they had to put it on hold. At most, there were six side missions hanging in their Mission panel at the same time, and they completed one while being in the middle of another, keeping themselves busy running all over the city ― still without water.

By the time the moon ascended again, the two had completed 59 side missions and walked three rounds around the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight.

Tang Cuo’s face turned black and he started wondering whether it was luck or bad luck to have triggered this hidden mission. But a mighty man could always find a way out of adversity, such as ― if there was no water, let’s drink healing potions to quench the thirst.

It was Jin Cheng who did this first. He was rich and had no shortage of potions.

Seeing this, with a blank expression, Tang Cuo also pulled out a bottle of potion that was taken from the magic store. Drinking a potion when he wasn’t sick actually tasted okay.

Drinking a potion and eating bread made the taste even better.

But by this point, they didn’t know that this situation would go on for three full days, and the further they went, the more difficult it became to trigger side missions. Sometimes they had to wander around the city for more than four hours to locate a mission.

Because it might be hidden under a random broken stone in an inconspicuous corner.

The 98th side mission was [Charlie’s Pocket Watch].

The old pocket watch was hidden under a broken stone. It was engraved with a magic formation that could record any wonderful music in the world. The watchmaker Charlie wanted to give this pocket watch to his uncle as a birthday gift, but he lacked only one piece of music.

If there was anyone in the world whose music could move people’s hearts the most, of course it must be Lancelot, the most popular bard in the whole continent.

But Lancelot was dead.

Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo glanced at each other and said in unison: “Little Jack.” 

In the first side mission [Cecilia’s Bakery], one of the customers, Little Jack, had a small harp and Lancelot’s music score hidden under his bed. 

Luckily, Jin Cheng happened to know how to play the harp.

The two returned to Little Jack’s house and found the wooden box under the bed. Jin Cheng picked up the small harp and tried it a few times. The sound was good.

He looked at Tang Cuo, then Tang Cuo took out the pocket watch and pressed the small button on it, saying: “This has to be infused with magic energy.”

For some reasons, looking at Tang Cuo’s serious expression as he said “infused with magic energy”, Jin Cheng suddenly thought of Balala The FairiesRefers to a Chinese animation series about Magical Girls. Something like Winx Club of Nickelodeon.

. He turned his head back and tried to stifle a laugh.

Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes and instantly saw through it.

He felt the need to beat up someone.

But forget it, my lips are almost peeling dry. Let’s save some energy.

Tang Cuo continued to study the pocket watch, trying to inject his limited magic energy into it to activate the magic formation. But he was a beginner and knew very little about the operation principles of these things. Although Jin Cheng was a veteran player, he never followed the magic path and couldn’t help much either.

The two moved the small stools in the room towards the door, one sitting cross-legged to learn the music, the other bowing his head to play with the pocket watch. A bush of Chinese roses crawled over the window and hung on Jin Cheng’s shoulders. In the distance, the golden sea of sands embraced yet another sunset.

Jin Cheng held the little harp and fiddled with it lightly, feeling delighted inside.

Looking out from here, the tower in the west of the city was standing tall, and the city wall as well as the bakery’s chimney were vaguely visible. When the rosy sunset fell all the way from the spire to Tang Cuo’s feet, he successfully activated the magic formation.

“Tick, tick.” The clock hands started moving and the back of the pocket watch began to rotate slowly like a recording on a gramophone.

Tang Cuo cast a questioning look at Jin Cheng.

Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows and plucked the strings with his fingertips. A euphonious melody flowed from his fingertips into the rosy sunset. It was the voice of a traveller from a faraway land on this distant continent, a melodious yet mystical sound that pulled along an unknown emotion that could fill everyone’s heart.

Tang Cuo couldn’t help but think of the sound of the harp at the bonfire party again, where Jin Cheng played an unfamiliar Nordic folk song. Through the flames, everything seemed unreal.

Jin Cheng played contentedly. It had been a long time since he sat relaxed in the sunset like this and calmly played an instrument, or simply played with something.

That place, Yong Ye City, was far from real life. Although Jin Cheng had companions whom he could entrust his back to, they had never been part of his previous life and he always felt that something was missing.

With music on, a shade of life came back to the streets of the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. The wind that flew by no longer carried with it the abandoned smell of dust, and the pure white roses also swayed gently in the wind. It felt as if in the next second, from the corner of the street, a young lady who just came back from the Flower Festival would appear, cheerfully swaying a corner of her dress.

This melody by Lancelot was called [Twilight Lovers].

After quietly listening to Jin Cheng’s music, Tang Cuo pressed the button on the pocket watch again. With a “Ding”, the side mission was completed, and the reward was ― a key.

A key again.

Tang Cuo frowned slightly as he looked at the key in his palm. After a few seconds, he suddenly felt that the shape of this key was a bit familiar, and a flash crossed his mind: “The bronze statue!”

Lancelot’s bronze statue had a keyhole in his heart. .

The two quickly got up and rushed to the small square where the statue was.

About twenty minutes later, the bronze statue of Lancelot appeared in their sight, still smiling and plucking the strings, but in the sunset, his expression became more gentle.

“Ding!”

“The side mission has been triggered ― [Lancelot’s Heart].”

The system announcement came as soon as Tang Cuo stepped into the small square. It wasn’t here the last time they came, so the trigger must be this key.

“Travellers from a faraway land, congratulations on crossing the River of Time and coming here ― The Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. Are you ready to listen to the last story?”

“Please pick up Lancelot’s heart.”

“Let the most popular bard in the whole continent tell you the story.”

The 99th side mission.

Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked at each other and didn’t say a word, but they walked to the bronze statue in perfect union. Tang Cuo kneeled down and inserted the key into Lancelot’s heart with a humble expression.

“Click.” It was a perfect fit.

Opening the door at the heart, they found a red gem inside. The gem was so small that it could flawlessly sit on Tang Cuo’s ring, as if it was exactly where it should be.

Jin Cheng: “After 99 side missions, this is the final reward. I think we can go to the palace in the center of the city now.”

There were still a few rewards obtained in the side missions that hadn’t been used, because some missions didn’t require any item to clear. But Tang Cuo agreed with Jin Cheng’s view that 99 was a special number, and that this whole thing was a very special mission.

He put the ruby ​​on the ring and the gem automatically fit. The side missions had officially come to an end. In that moment, Tang Cuo finally felt the flow of magic energy on this ring. As long as his mind commanded it, he could immediately use the engraved skill ‘Moonlight Tide’.

The reward of this task was ― a pair of golden scissors.

“Let’s go.”

Neither of them wanted to delay any longer and ran to the palace at full speed.

At this time, the moon had risen and the Chinese roses were bathing in the moonlight, quietly unveiling a pleasant fragrance. As Tang Cuo walked on the road wearing the complete version of [Nightingale], he clearly felt a different aura lingering around him ― it was kindness.

This city full of roses released a gentle kindness to him.

This discovery was perfectly verified as they arrived at the palace, because the moment Tang Cuo walked to the entrance, the entangled vines seemed to sense something and instinctively retreated to the sides, revealing a gate that used to be heavily covered.

Jin Cheng couldn’t help but tease him: “This is the privilege of the protagonist.”

Tang Cuo: “I can let you open the gate.”

Are you sure it’s not you being scared of a sudden arrow flying out from the gate?

Jin Cheng slandered the little bastard in his heart, but he still stepped forward in earnest. “Squeak ―” As the heavy gate slowly opened, the dusty flow of time began to move again.

However, there was nothing in the palace, only a well in the center and the Chinese roses growing inside the well.

Tang Cuo: “The Well of Time.”