The Trial Game of Life

Of course, Tang Cuo’s wish to be separated from Jin Cheng was unrealistic. 

He eventually accepted the [Big Red Flower] and hceaded to the game hall with Jin Cheng again to enter the next dungeon together.

As for the people that gathered in the game hall, the two ignored them. The system could select anyone to be their teammates. This was probably the confidence and calmness coming from two big bosses.

In Zone A, Miao Qi was squatting on the window sill at home, holding a pair of binoculars to peep at Heaven’s Will’s base in the distance. He caught someone walking by the window several times. Finally, he turned around and said to Lin Yandong, who was reading a book: “Sir, Chong Yanzhang is still there.”

Lin Yandong didn’t look up, his eyes still fixed on the book and his tone indifferent: “Chong Yanzhang didn’t try to keep Jiang He and refused to bring himself to Zone E to fight for the movement. Heaven’s Will — their race stops here.”

Miao Qi tilted his head and thought for a while, then he asked: “Since you think so highly of Jiang He, sir, why did you only send someone to watch him instead of dragging him over? If it’s you, he’ll surely be willing to join.”

Lin Yandong raised his eyes: “So you also know what it means by ‘dragging someone over’?”

Miao Qi pouted: “Sir, I’m not that stupid.”

Lin Yandong smiled and shook his head: “Since I choose to work with Jin Cheng, I don’t need one more Jiang He. Do you remember the newcomer next to Jin Cheng? He isn’t weaker than Jiang He.”

Miao Qi really didn’t notice, because Tang Cuo didn’t seem to display any special talents, except for the help he rendered to the Kitchen Knife gang at the beginning. Most of his current reputation was brought to him by the Blacklist and Jin Cheng.

A long moment later, Lin Yandong said: “However, we can consider Leng Miao.”

On the other side, in Zone E.

Cheng Ke had been released from prison and promoted from Zone F to Zone E, but with his cautiousness, he would naturally not try to grab the [Twelve Movements]. Specifically, after he and An Ning managed to learn about Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo in detail, he became even more certain of the idea that —

When the gods fight, mortals like them shouldn’t want to join in the fun.

“Take care of Chi Yan and prevent others from doing anything reckless. If you collect any information about the movements, secretly tell it to Chi Yan. It can’t be wrong to do those men a favour.” [T/N: A bit of elaboration here: Cheng Ke means that if they tell Chi Yan anything, Chi Yan will then tell it to Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng. This essentially means that Cheng Ke’s group is doing Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng a favour.]

Cheng Ke had made up his mind to become a good acquaintance with Jin Cheng, and therefore come to appreciate An Ning a bit more. This girl, An Ning, with her bold and forward character, indeed seemed to be a good seed.

An Ning nodded in response. At this moment, someone knocked on the door and walked in. This man was the brawny man who had earlier rushed to East Cross Street to seek revenge after learning that Cheng Ke was killed. With a slightly solemn expression, he said: “Another team has died.”

Cheng Ke couldn’t help but become lost for words. After the news about the [Twelve Movements] spread out, how many people had died? The clearance time for this special trigger dungeon was roughly 24 hours. If anyone hadn’t returned after more than 30 hours, he probably would never return.

“Be sure to keep an eye on other people.” Cheng Ke once again urged An Ning: “The [Twelve Movements] are not something we can touch. Don’t seek death yourself.”

At the same time, a series of exclamations came from the game hall in the central area. .

“Oh my god, look at the Red List!”

“Rong Yi has dropped out!”

“F**k, even this one is out? He never interfered with the matter at East Cross Street before. Isn’t it getting too crowded in Zone E now?……”

“This isn’t even a drop-out, this is a double jump!”

Jin Cheng was punished from Zone A back to Zone F, but unlike him, players from Zone A needed to be punished back to Zone E in order to enter a Zone E dungeon and compete for the [Twelve Movements].

How to be punished specifically to Zone E was the problem. In order to safely secure his chance, the mentioned Rong Yi took a double jump. He first jumped from A to C, then from C to E ― two zones then two zones down.

There were new players who didn’t know about the Red List and Rong Yi, so the watermelon-eating spectators who had gathered here immediately educated those newcomers on the matters ―

There were three lists in Yong Ye City’s game hall, namely the Black List, the White List and the Red List.

The Black List was certainly ‘Mr. Crow’s Blacklist’, and the top of the list was none other than the invincible G79081 Jin Cheng.

The White List was the equipment evaluation list, which was often dubbed as the ‘Weapon List’ by players. Jin Cheng’s bow was also on the list, albeit its position wasn’t very high.

The Red List was the players’ overall strength ranking list. It was as follows:

First place: Zone A, A28377

Second place: Zone A, D22422

Third place: Zone A, C01724

Fourth place: Zone A, E57456

Fifth place: Zone A, G79081

……

Among the players in Zone A, the first place whose number started with A was Lin Yandong, so even if he rarely showed up, everybody still knew he was an unshakable mountain.

The second place, D22422, was Rong Yi.

Leng Miao was fourth and Jin Cheng was fifth.

“Why is Jin Cheng ranked fifth? Isn’t he very good?” A new player was puzzled. After he entered Yong Ye City, all he had been hearing was Jin Cheng’s legends, the crazy tales of the most infamous Blacklister.

“That’s something you don’t understand.” An experienced player said profoundly: “The overall strength ranking list doesn’t represent everything. This is based on the player’s points and all his equipment weighted together. If the top few on the list get into a real fight, no one can predict who will die first.” 

The new player nodded as if he actually understood, then he heard a voice from the crowd: “Hey, Jin Cheng has only been here for three years. Compared with those old psychos in Zone A, he can also be considered a newcomer. Just wait and see, in two years, this list will change beyond our expectation.”

Not long after, someone enthusiastically educated others on Jin Cheng’s deeds when he first entered Yong Ye City. As an absolute rookie in Zone A, he descended his power from the top, then continued to win the ranks and broke into the top ten of the Red List within half a year.

Jin Cheng was a man with his own followers and admirers.

They couldn’t find such a person named Tang Cuo on the Red List. He was currently shrouded in Jin Cheng’s aura. Although he was occasionally mentioned, he was also omitted because of the lack of information. The one thing that they were most certain about him was —

The man who was always by Jin Cheng’s side, or Jin Cheng’s disciple.

And his current position on the Blacklist was 88th, quite an auspicious numberThe number 8 (八, pronounced as [bā]) is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture because it is nearly homophonous to the word ‘to prosper’ (發, pronounced as [fā])..

Again, not long after, some people figured out something else: “It seems that among the group that was sent to jail last time, no one has made any move. But a usually unassuming man like Rong Yi has started moving.”

“Indeed, it’s hard to say if the third on the Red List will also poke his nose into this matter.”

“Aren’t Leng Miao, Jiang He and the others still locked up?”

“I heard that some of them have come out. Will they be scared away by Jin Cheng and not dare to take action?…”

Loud discussions filled every corner of the game hall. The [Twelve Movements] were something ordinary players could never touch, but the emergence of such things deepened their worries.

It was impossible to predict who the movements would fall into and what kind of impact it would create. The 6th Movement had great authority, so what would it bring to Yong Ye City?

The sword of fate was quietly descending on the heads of all ordinary players.

“I would rather Jin Cheng get it.” Someone whispered in the corner as his cowardly eyes scanned the players who were entering the mission wall, keeping himself fully on guard.

There were definitely not just a few people who had the same wish as him, and the news that more and more teams had died inside the special trigger dungeon were actually considered by some as ― good news.

“Even if you want to chase after the [Twelve Movements], you must first see whether you’re meant to do so.”

“If these people get the movement, won’t Yong Ye City become a mess? It’s good that they died there.”

“Their greed really knows no bounds.”

“Die, let them all die. I don’t believe those people will do anything good after they get the movement!”

“I’m so fed up with this!”

“…”

Some people became worried, some people blatantly showed their disdain, but most people still remained silent. Countless pairs of eyes were paying close attention to the current happenings at the mission wall as well as Zone E, afraid that someone would get their hands on the movement first.

In just one night, while Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were still inside the dungeon, the forces in Zone E had already undergone a major reshuffle.

“Ge, the group who has been against us is gone. They had six people, but none of them came out of the dungeon.”

“We’ll withdraw.”

“Ge?”

“This isn’t something we can intervene with, let’s withdraw. Although life in Yong Ye City is terrible, I don’t want to die yet.”

Standing in the face of death, more and more people began to back away. But there were also those who chose to make a desperate move, just like gamblers that put their whole lives on the table with their eyes turning bloodshot.

“Anyway, it’s just death. I’ve died once, so what if I die again? Is it a good thing to continue to stay in Yong Ye City and do the mission again and again? All this sh*t!”

What were Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng doing at this moment? They were killing zombies in a small town caught in an apocalypse.

It was a classic trope of zombies attacking the town. Tang Cuo had actually been thinking when he would encounter this sort of apocalyptic dungeon, then he immediately ran into one. Such a dungeon was even simpler and cruder than [Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers]. The game evaluated the player’s final score by the number of zombies he killed. Whether the player merely stayed put without killing or completely went on a killing spree, as long as he survived for 12 hours, he could pass.

At this time, there was one last hour before the game clearance.

In order to get more points and prepare for the upcoming special trigger dungeon, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo chose the most persistent and dangerous killing method.

The two first picked up equipment in the town, and after ransacking a weapon shop, they found an excellent location for attack: the town’s TV tower.

This was a Western-style town. The TV tower had elevators and stairs leading to the uppermost sightseeing area. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng stayed here, attracting zombies through the smell of blood and the tower’s huge loudspeaker.

Similarly, there were still twelve players in this mission. Except for Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, the other ten had scattered all over the town. After killing one zombie to another, these players found that the zombies around them were getting fewer and fewer, so they rushed to the TV tower to learn that ― they had chanced upon two big bosses who would take them to smooth victory.

But this zombie dungeon was actually not very difficult. Even if the player didn’t have much combat power, he could survive till the end by being careful enough. Everyone wanted to earn more points, but now they could only look up to the bosses, alas.

Some people even started playing cards in the corner.

On the TV tower.

Jin Cheng glanced at the situation downstairs, then turned around and asked Tang Cuo: “Are you tired?”

Tang Cuo, with a machine gun in his hands, turned his head, a few drops of blood scattered on his cold face: “What did you just say?”

As Jin Cheng was about to speak, Tang Cuo heard the sound coming from the stairs again and turned back decisively: “Kakakakakaka!” He shot at the stairs.

In a blink, gunpowder smoke filled up the space and the empty cartridges clinked loudly on the ground. The impact blew the corner of Tang Cuo’s trench coat, but his expression remained unchanged.

Jin Cheng decided to shut up.

The elevators had been destroyed long ago, while the stairs were also riddled with holes under their continuous firing. Jin Cheng gave most of the zombies to Tang Cuo, and Tang Cuo, being not hypocritical as always, accepted all of them.

After an hour, they were finally reaching the clearance of this dungeon.

The other ten players were very curious about the situation in the TV tower. They didn’t have the nerve to either disturb the bosses or snatch a piece of the pie, but this didn’t prevent them from peeping through various means.

What had them very puzzled was that when the “Ding” sound came, Tang Cuo suddenly conjured a huge red flower and held it in his hand, all while carrying a blank expression.

What was that?

Had the system been giving out big red flowers as rewards for killing zombies recently? Not to mention, this flower was gorgeously red and beautiful, even exuding a distinctive retro feel, making it look as if Tang Cuo would conjure a classic 28-inch wheel bicycleUsually refers to a vintage model of bicycle that came out in the 1950s.

in the next second, fully equipped with a big speaker in the front.

We never knew that Jin Cheng’s partner has that inclination. Sorry!

On the TV tower, Jin Cheng was also trying hard to stifle a laugh.

Tang Cuo’s deceptively righteous and handsome face made a wonderful combination with the [Big Red Flower]. If it weren’t for Tang Cuo pointing the machine gun at him, Jin Cheng would definitely take a picture to keep as a souvenir.

After returning to Yong Ye City, the two checked the rewards.

Jin Cheng naturally had enough points to level up, and Tang Cuo not only got more points by using the [Big Red Flower], but also unexpectedly obtained a Gatling machine gun. This heavy artillery slightly lessened his sullen over being forced to hold a huge red flower at the moment of victory.

After adding points, his character attributes became:

No. K27216: Tang Cuo

Character Points: 18 

Strength: 72

Intelligence: 34

Charm: 8

Rating: A 

HP: 35

[Survival is not easy, please never stop trying.]

For the remaining 18 points, Tang Cuo kept them to purchase more potions. A large amount of potions would pose no trouble since he didn’t have to carry them physically anyway, and he also had to save himself at the critical moment.

Next mission: The special trigger dungeon.