The Trial Game of Life

“Do you have anything you want to say to me?” The bald man spoke, and no one at the scene answered. 

All players kept to their blank expression. As they experienced the feeling of holding the walkthrough of a dungeon in their hands, the players felt as though they had opened up God ViewRefers to the third-person view mode in Real-Time Strategy games like Starcraft and Warcraft 3..

The bald man said this sentence, which proved that Jin Cheng didn’t lie to them.

At this point, the bush of red hydrangeas was in the hands of a player. The big man glanced at the player, put a blind fold on himself, then raised his drum sticks: “Boom! Boom! Boom!” 

The hydrangeas started being passed around. Every NPC was acting as the most enthusiastic player and totally committing themselves to the game, unable to wait to pass the bush of hydrangeas the moment it landed into their hands while being both excited and nervous at the same time.

Amid the drumbeat, the passing speed was only getting faster and never slower, and many NPCs were shouting with excitement. Their cries echoed in the empty factory along with the drumbeat, building up an even tenser atmosphere.

Soon, the red hydrangeas were passed to Jin Cheng’s hands.

The slip of paper could only be taken out after the drumbeat stopped, but Jin Cheng needed to check it carefully with his own eyes, because seeing was believing. According to the game rules, the hydrangeas mustn’t stay in anyone’s hands for more than five seconds and must be passed to the next person without jumping across other players, so even though he wanted to pass it directly to Tang Cuo, he had to let go of the thought.

Tang Cuo was staring at the drummer, meticulously observing each of his movements and carefully listening to each of his beats. Because the walkthrough mentioned that the drumbeat was supposed to carry with it a certain pattern.

During his drumming, he also used a pair of drum hammers to rhythmically strike the left and right edges of the drum. This action would occur four times in total. No matter how fast or slow the man beat the drum or what the melody was, as long as the hammers hit the drum for the fourth time, the drumbeat would stop.

This was a hint to the players.

The red hydrangeas mustn’t stay in any player’s hand for more than five seconds, so these five seconds were the key.

Tang Cuo waited until the third time the hammers hit the drum and said loudly: “All players, starting from me, from left to right, I am No. 1, Red Shirt is No. 2, got it?”

Although the players had no idea what his intention was, but under the presence of the big boss Jin Cheng, and with the fact they themselves had the thought of  hugging his thigh, everyone nodded very cooperatively.

Tang Cuo continued: “Now, listen to my command.”

At this time, the red hydrangeas were passed to Tang Cuo’s hands. He held the flowers for three or four seconds, then only at the point where the five second mark was up, he passed the bush to the next person.

No. 2 was separated from him by five NPCs.

Tang Cuo listened carefully to the relentless drumbeat, his eyes following the bush of red hydrangeas without blinking. The moment it landed in No. 2’s hand, he said: “No. 2, keep it for five seconds before passing.”

No. 2 hurriedly nodded, holding the red hydrangeas quietly and counted for five seconds. Right when he was about to pass, the hydrangeas suddenly popped up in the next person’s hands — the system was indeed tough and wouldn’t spare anyone even a second.

“No. 3, continue.”

“No. 4, continue.”

Under Tang Cuo’s commands, the players inevitably began to feel nervous, many of them sneaking a glance at Jin Cheng, but Jin Cheng just leisurely watched them. At this point, the drumbeat suddenly accelerated.

“No. 5, pass it quickly!” Tang Cuo immediately changed his instruction.

Startled, No. 5 threw the bush aside as soon as he touched it, as if it was a hot potato.

Tang Cuo’s sharp eyes quickly watched the hydrangeas being passed.  There were five NPCs between No. 5 and No. 6. Considering the speed of each NPC to be about two seconds on average, and that No. 6 and No. 7 sat next to each other, he originally wanted to control the passing speed of the hydrangeas so that No. 6 or No. 7 could get it. Both of them had ten seconds in total, which should be sufficient.

But the drumbeat had suddenly picked up, so he had to act fast. At this moment, the beating of the hammers followed.

At this time, the red hydrangeas were two NPCs away from No. 6. Tang Cuo raised his eyes to look at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng understood and a silver light flashed in his hands as he tightly pulled on his mechanical bow.

“Swoosh ―” Just as the drumbeat was about to stop, Jin Cheng’s arrow hit the NPC next to No. 6 and the vigorous force directly knocked him off the chair. The red hydrangeas that were supposed to be passed to him simply fell to the ground.

“Pick it up.” Tang Cuo said firmly.

Regaining his senses, No. 6 almost bounced off his chair as though shocked by electricity, leapt to the side and picked up the hydrangeas. He hugged it tightly in his chest, then looked at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo with awe ― how did he become the first to get the flowers?

At this time, the bald man untied his red blindfold and turned around: “Do you choose to give a performance or answer a question?”

Jin Cheng put away his bow and arrows: “Answer a question.”

No. 6 was so nervous that he just plainly repeated the same thing: “Answer a question.”

The bald man glanced at Jin Cheng but didn’t say that he had violated the rules. After clearing his throat, he began to read out the puzzle ―

“An ancient temple is in the clouds. No one knows how many monks crowd.

Three hundred and sixty-four bowls, not one too many and not one too few.

Three monks share a bowl of rice, four monks share a bowl of soup.

May I ask, how many monks in the temple can you count?”

No. 6 was completely stunned, What is this? Wasn’t this a dead company’s team building activity? Was this a literature or a math question?

The other players also looked at each other.

Jin Cheng said again: “Six hundred and twenty-four.”

No. 6 simply repeated like a recorder: “Well, six hundred and twenty-four.” 

The bald man: “The answer is correct.” 

The NPCs cheered loudly amid thunderous claps.

The players looked at Jin Cheng in utter shock. The big boss really lived up to his name. While they could only mentally calculate addition, subtraction, multiplication or division within one hundred, the boss could get the answer so quickly.

Jin Cheng gave them an uncanny smile.

Tang Cuo was too lazy to tell everyone that it was only because he had the answer ― Yes, he cheated.

But unfortunately, there was no paper slip inside the hydrangeas this time, so they could only continue to the next round.

At the same time, in Yong Ye City’s prison in Zone G.

On the thirteenth day of Leng Miao’s imprisonment, Chen Liu on the opposite side was still as noisy as a fly. The people in the prison had been released one after another, but Chen Liu hadn’t. With the fact that he was Chong Yanzhang’s right-hand man, this clearly showed that he had killed a lot of people.

Today, Jiang He was about to be released.

Chen Liu started his annoying talk again. Since Leng Miao was here, he didn’t dare to shout out loud, but he would often sneer: “Let me tell you, you’re so smart, you’re our strategist, yet you kill people with knives anyway. Jiang He, lots of people must have died under your hands, because doesn’t everyone say that you’re powerful? But you’re getting out earlier than me, it’s ridiculous.”

No one answered him.

Leng Miao had soon used magic to shield all voices, and he leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and ignoring everyone.

Jiang He was quietly waiting for the cell door to open. For Yong Ye City’s prison, when you entered, you came teleported, but when you left, you had to walk out on your own two legs. Therefore, if you had enemies, they could easily ambush you right oustide Zone G and send you back to prison immediately.

When the time was up, with a “click”, the door automatically opened.

Jiang He stood up, patted the dust on his clothes and strode out of the cell. Hearing the sound from next door, Chen Liu’s bottled-up hatred suddenly turned into a verbal threat.

“Jiang He, when you leave here today, if you dare to talk nonsense in front of the boss, I won’t let you live when I get out! Remember, even if I can’t kick you out, no one will let you climb up!” 

As his words fell, Jiang He happened to walk past his cell, and he turned to look at Chen Liu through the iron bars.

It was an extremely cold look of disinterest.

Chen Liu inexplicably felt a chill from his tailbone all the way to his scalp. As his heart shook uncontrollably, he immediately felt ashamed of himself for such a reaction, then he boldly stared back at Jiang He: “What’s with that look? Jiang He, what are you thinking? I warn you, you —”

Jiang He directly interrupted him: “I’m thinking, what kind of a fool must I be to want to stay in Heaven’s Will and work with an idiot like you? Whatever favour that I owe Chong Yanzhang, I’ve paid off completely in the past one year.”

Chen Liu was stunned.

Jiang He’s vague words simply meant that he would leave the gang, but Chen Liu didn’t feel the slightest joy about him leaving on his own volition. This was very strange. After being dumbfounded for several seconds, he reacted: “What are you saying?!”

Jiang He: “I’m saying that you are stupid.”

Chen Liumao almost exploded: “Jiang He! Don’t think you can threaten me just because you’re leaving. You think the boss will beg you to go back, don’t you? Don’t forget that you only stand here today because the boss saved you when you were hunted down by others, and the whole Heaven’s Will became your refuge!”

“But you forget, did Heaven’s Will have the same status back then? If it weren’t for me, you would be nothing but third-rate gangsters.” At this very moment, Jiang He showed a rarely seen look of arrogance.

He attacked Chen Liu with his words and scorned Chen Liu with his eyes, and the moment Chen Liu became so angry that his face turned completely red, he cut off Chen Liu’s words again: “Oh, I know you don’t understand, because you’re so stupid that you don’t understand human words.”

“You!!!” Chen Liu hugged his chest, feeling as though his heart almost stopped bumping blood.

“Go back and tell Chong Yanzhang that letting you live is my last payment to him.” Jiang He ignored him and walked away.

Chen Liu jumped to the door, grabbed the bars, shouted Jiang He’s name and yelled curses, but all efforts were in vain and couldn’t turn Jiang He’s head back. Amid his own screams, Chen Liu returned to his rational mind and suddenly felt a trace of fear.

Leng Miao on his opposite side opened his eyes at this moment.

He lightly looked at Jiang He’s back and understood Jiang He’s plan with only a little imagination. In fact, he himself was very curious about Heaven’s Will’s next plan, so he actually withdrew his magic shield just now to listen to what the two of them had to say.

Jiang He would break away from Heaven’s Will, as expected. But Leng Miao was surprised that Jiang He was still thinking about Chong Yanzhang at the last moment. He took the initiative to leave, provoked Chen Liu with his words and even deliberately put on that face, so that Chong Yanzhang could face his withdrawal without any guilt.

Chong Yanzhang then wouldn’t be caught in a difficult situation, and he could even push Jiang He’s departure to Chen Liu’s head, then use this opportunity to overpower other veteran players in the gang.

This calculation was very smart indeed.

But Leng Miao still didn’t like the way Heaven’s Will was developing. Since Chong Yanzhang didn’t have the courage to break away from Chen Liu, it would be difficult to achieve great things. Moreover, Chen Liu and Jiang He were kept in jail together yet Chong Yanzhang didn’t show up to visit them for thirteen days, because he knew that they were at odds with each other.

This was probably the one factor that prompted Jiang He to give up on Heaven’s Will.

Without Jiang He, there was nothing worthy of attention to say about Heaven’s Will anymore. But then, Leng Miao suddenly remembered about a message leaked by a player who was sent to jail two days ago, which talked about the [Twelve Movements] being found inside a dungeon in Zone E.

If Chong Yanzhang still had the courage to gamble his everything and head to Zone E to try for the movement, there might be a chance for Heaven’s Will to turn the situation around.

But would he?

Leng Miao was lost in thoughts.

On the other side, Jiang He smoothly walked out of the cell. Yong Ye City was a circular city where every zone was fan-shaped, and Zone G was no exception. The two sides of the fan and the curved part were rows of cells stacked atop each other, like a huge wall separating Zone G from other zones, while the central part was an empty lawn.

This large lawn was the main arena where the warden played games with the prisoners. Sometimes he also arranged the games to take place inside the cells, but that was only ‘sometimes’.

At this time, the lawn was a sheet of green grass where not a single shadow could be seen.

Jiang He walked unhurriedly, and after five minutes, he realised that he was wrong — it wasn’t that there was no one here, rather, someone had fallen on the grass.

She was extremely thin, looking as though all her skin was almost attached to her bones. Her plain clothes were covered with blood stains and sticking closely to her body, such that her whole figure was nearly wholly concealed behind the grass, even though the grass wasn’t very tall in the first place.

Jiang He recognised her. She was the little girl in the opposite cell.

A day ago, the warden took her out for a game and she never came back. Jiang He thought she had died and didn’t expect to meet her again here.

He couldn’t help but squat down and probed her breaths.

Her breathing was so subtle that Jiang He couldn’t tell whether she was dead or alive.

Just as he was hesitating whether to walk away or to do a good deed, the little girl suddenly lifted her bony hands and grabbed his ankles tightly.

Jiang He was instantly alarmed and pulled his dagger out of its sheath.

The little girl raised her head to find the dagger’s tip facing her eyes, its cold light reflected in her empty pupils, forcing her to get back to her senses at once.

“Bring me out.” Her voice was coarse, as though it had scratched against rough sand, not the kind of voice that a girl of this age should have. Her eyes were terrifyingly filled with resentment and hostility, yet it was rather funny that her head was bald.

For every word that came out, she had to slow down a bit, as if this act of speaking was exhausting all her strength. But her hands still firmly grasped Jiang He’s ankle, as though holding onto one last chance.

“Bring me out.” She repeated.

“Why do you want to get out?” Jiang He asked.

“Why?” The little girl suddenly laughed, which triggered her wounds and made her cough up blood, yet she still said stubbornly: “I was born weak, so I don’t have the right to live, right? Everyone can step on me. Even if I’m dead, no one wants to let me go! Why?!”

Falling out with her hysterical questioning were the tears from her eyes.

She glanced at Jiang He for one last time, then abruptly let go of him and began to crawl towards the gate by herself.

Jiang He looked at her, then at the path behind her. The blood stains hidden in the grass might be evidence that she truly wanted to go out.

Since she appeared here and could go outside, it meant that she had finished serving her sentence.

Jiang He looked down at the tear drops on his shoes.

He never cried. Even if he had to leave Heaven’s Will and become a lone dog again, he wouldn’t cry. But for some reasons he couldn’t quite understand, the girl’s tears had moved him.

So he bent over, picked up the little girl who hadn’t crawled far and quicked walked out.

The little girl struggled in his arms, as if she didn’t want to accept his pity and mercy anymore, but she really had no strength and soon stopped moving.

As he walked, Jiang He suddenly felt that someone was watching him from behind. He immediately turned his head and his gaze swept across the highest part of the prison, a tower on the west corner. But no one was there.

There was only one person in the entire Zone G who could be there ― Warden Xiao Tong.

Was it him?

Jiang He frowned in suspicion, but the little girl might really die if she wasn’t attended to soon, so he had to take her away at once. The moment he stepped past the gate, Jiang He suddenly remembered that he didn’t know her name, so he asked: “What’s your name?” 

A long time later, the little girl answered: “Zheng Yingying.”

Since the moment they became neighbours inside the prison, this was actually the first time they spoke to each other.