The Trial Game of Life

“A scarlet ray!” 

In the distant sky, a scarlet ray was fired from the red dot on the moon and straightaway bolted towards a certain direction of the city. Miao Qi carried his cannon gun and stood on the highest point of Zone A, atop the roof of a church-like building. His gaze closely followed the ray as his mouth muttered a guess on where the ray would land: “Zone E.”

Who was in Zone E at the moment? ? The answer didn’t need to be said.

“Aren’t you going to help?” Miao Qi looked at Lilith, who was standing on top of the building opposite, clad in black from head to toe, looking seemingly even darker than the night itself.

This person used duo blades that attacked without a care, with a long tassel hanging from each blade’s grip. Her fingernails were shining with a crimson shade of nail polish, which probably made up the only bright colour on her whole body.

“This has nothing to do with. You should spend time worrying about your master. That old hag puts up such a big show, do you think your master is still alive?” This person was also pretty hot-tempered, and as soon as she finished her words, a blade flew out, landing precisely on the head of a living corpse.

The living corpse was crawling up the building, its limbs moving against the wall like a giant spider with such high dexterity. But, the moment it appeared, it was killed with a single strike.

For the living corpses controlled by Scarlet, their lifeforce didn’t lie in their heart but their brain.

Lilith walked over and drew the blade back before the living corpse fell down.

Miao Qi wasn’t a good-tempered man either, but he cared about Lin Yandong and had no intention to argue with Lilith at all. He also didn’t want anything bad to happen to Jin Cheng, because in the worst case that Sir Lin Yandong was stuck in an unfavourable situation, the more he thought about it, the more he realised only Jin Cheng could help.

Sir Lin Yandong had once told Miao Qi that if any problem happened while he wasn’t there, Miao Qi should go to Jin Cheng.

But now…

Miao Qi frowned, but the cannon gun in his hand continued firing non-stop. Following Lilith’s footsteps, he blew up the living corpses that popped up on the streets below one by one. The two moved scarily fast, as though they were wiping out monsters in an MMORPG. Moreover, Zone A had the fewest people, mostly consisting of the city’s elites, so the probability of people getting killed by the living corpses then infected with corpse poison was certainly the lowest in the whole city. The situation here wasn’t too grave.

When other players saw the two being so fierce, they either stood aside to observe or stepped back in reluctance. But no matter who they were, as long as they were in Zone A, they knew the terrifying Scarlet better than players in the other zones.

Soon, the two broke out of Zone A.

After entering the central area from Zone A, the flow of people suddenly increased, as though they had transited into a busy city from a secluded suburb. Countless players dashed from all zones, the majority of them heading for the Game Hall.

“Damn, Yong Ye City is really not as safe as the dungeon!”

Miao Qi heard the players that passed by him curse in a low voice, and he understood at once. Now the forced mission trigger time had been shortened to one week. With Yong Ye City in such a mess, they were pretty much caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. They might as well enter the dungeon a little earlier.

The deeper he trotted into the lower-ranking zones, the more chaotic the situation became.

The weaker the players, the more likely they were to be infected by the living corpses, and the more flusteredly they reacted. Miao Qi was shocked to discover that the living corpses thrown into the low-ranking zones turned out to be stronger than those in the high-ranking zones. When such fervid living corpses descended into a large group of low-level players, the damage they caused was immeasurable.

Perhaps from the beginning, Scarlet’s target had always been the low-ranking zones.

Looking up, the red dot on the moon was turning redder and redder, and the scarlet rays continued to hit in the direction of Zone E. Vaguely, a trace of a battle could be seen at the point where the rays landed.

Standing in the central area, he could also hear the faint sound of an explosion from there.

The more intense and brutal the scene got, the more frenzied the players in the low-ranking zones, who didn’t have much capacity to protect themselves, became. As soon as a group of living corpses was killed, a group of players was infected. Over and over again, it became an endless cycle.

Miao Qi’s heart grew more and more irritable, and he fired another cannon, paying no mind to whether the ones that got hit were the players or the infected.

“Are you sick in the head?!”

“Aim before you shoot! F**k!”

His shot stirred up a thousand ripples, but Miao Qi only sternly mumbled “shut up”. His red scarf drifted in the wind, effortlessly dispersing everyone around him.

“Hey, lunatic!” Lilith called out to him from not far away.

“What is it?!” Miao Qi kept running, aiming straight for Zone E.

“How far is the limit of your cannon? Can you hit her?” Lilith caught up with him.

Miao Qi turned to look at her, and unsurprisingly, he saw a trace of hysteria in her eyes. He suddenly halted: “What do you want to do?”

Lilith: “Lend me your cannon gun.”

“Too far.”

“I have the skill ‘Levitation’.”

“That’s Scarlet we’re talking about here, do you want to die?”

“Just say whether you’ll lend me or not, don’t spew nonsense. If you’re afraid to die, stay here.”

The hysteria in Lilith’s eyes was like an intense burst of flames, which only rose higher the more she tried to suppress it. Miao Qi felt that if he didn’t lend her, she would point her blade at his neck. What a crazy woman.

This cannon gun is my main weapon, okay!

“You want it, then here it is!” Miao Qi threw it over and exclaimed with rage: “If you don’t take her down, I won’t let you off.”

Lilith caught the gun, which sank heavily in her hands. Miao Qi always carried this weapon around lightly like it was nothing, but in reality, it weighed at least a few hundred jins.

Miao Qi didn’t get to see her flustered expression, only catching her slung the cannon on her shoulders, and as her feet exerted a force, her body immediately rushed towards the huge moon like an arrow fired from a bowstring. When she rose to mid-air, she lightly tapped her toes, and her skirt fluttered, as though she had landed on the ground. Borrowing the momentum, she jumped up again.

Her movements were like a waltz that looked as light as a feather yet extremely breathtaking, truly befitting one of the most famous ‘Levitation’ users.

The moon was hanging high, and the red dot on it seemed even more like a distant dream.

The young lady in the black dress carrying a cannon gun looked like a chaser of that dream. Even with a heavy weapon on her shoulders, she seemed completely weightless. The next second, a faint blue light appeared at the muzzle, shattering this dreamy scene into pieces.

“Boom —” 

As the huge energy beam shot across the sky, Jin Cheng’s arrow also chased after the red dot. The two sides didn’t communicate beforehand, but their strikes were cleverly well-matched. 

In fact, at such a long distance, Jin Cheng’s arrow had no way to reach the moon, and because he needed to protect Tang Cuo, he had to fight while carrying a heavy black iron cage on his side.

Tang Cuo was unable to pick up a blade, so he could only use magic to assist Jin Cheng. Under the attack of the scarlet rays, an ordinary ‘Ice Shield’, ‘Earth Wall’ or defensive skills couldn’t withstand even a single blow. Luckily, Jin Cheng had defensive items on hand, which helpfully prevented his black cat from turning into a dead cat.

Jin Cheng wanted to find Rong Yi, but even with so much commotion taking place in Zone E, he couldn’t see Rong Yi’s figure anywhere at all.

“Bang!” Another ray hit, striking with absolute precision.

Since he tried to move very fast, Jin Cheng could no longer hold onto the cage. While dodging to a side, he threw out a thin iron cable with a hook at its end from his right sleeve, hooking the cage with it and pulling hard.

Being pulled with such ferocious force, the cage barely avoided the ray and slid to the edge of the roof.

These scarlet rays were akin to laser beams, their powers roughly able to pierce through the buildings of Yong Ye City.

A large hole more than three-meter wide was blasted onto the roof of the building where Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were standing.

The player downstairs was hiding in the room, never expecting that the ray from the sky would chisel directly at his feet. He stood rooted to the spot in fright, raised his stiff neck and looked up at the opening of the ceiling where the gravel was still falling, then he happened to see Jin Cheng passing by.

“Pardon my intrusion.” Jin Cheng smiled at him.

Jin Cheng’s figure came and went fast. In the blink of an eye, he jumped off the roof as the iron cable in his sleeve continued to stretch out. 

“Swoosh!” The black iron cage was also dragged down with him.

The black iron cage was so heavy that it fell to the ground in an instant, but in contrast, Jin Cheng was pulled upwards, because as soon as he jumped, Jin Cheng hung the iron cable across a metal water pipe protruding from the edge of the building.

One end of the cable was attached to Jin Cheng, while the other end was hooked with the black iron cage. This was a lever, where Jin Cheng moved himself with the weight of the cage, and within half a second, the cage fell into the pit and Jin Cheng was pulled up again.

The water pipe wouldn’t be able to carry so much weight, but it should be able to support for half a second.

As Jin Cheng was lifted off into the air, he let go of the iron cable, pulled his bowstring and mounted an arrow. The moment he reached the highest point, he fired straight away, aiming purposefully at the red dot. This arrow of his was called [Homing Arrow], equipped with the skill – ‘Shoot The Sun’.

At this moment, Lilith’s cannon was also heading towards Scarlet.

[Magical Cannon Gun], this was the name of Miao Qi’s weapon. When fired at peak power, the cannon it produced was equivalent to the magic cast by a forbidden spell. But it couldn’t be automatically positioned; the user had to aim by himself.

There were also drawbacks to such a big move as ‘Scarlet Ray’, that was, the attacker must stand as firm as a wooden pole while releasing the rays and mustn’t move at all during the process, otherwise, the rays would be interrupted.

If it was any other strike, avoiding or not avoiding might be no big deal for Scarlet, but with Jin Cheng’s [Homing Arrow], she had to avoid it. No one could dodge Jin Cheng’s [Homing Arrow]; putting up resistance was the only choice.

As such, right within everyone’s vision, the red dot suddenly fell with the speed of light and was soon separated from the full moon. She broke away the ‘Scarlet Rays’ and escaped Lilith’s shot, but Jin Cheng’s arrow continued to chase her.

At first, no one saw this arrow. The night was deep and most things couldn’t be detected.

But after Scarlet interrupted the rays on her own volition, a light burst at the tip of the arrow, shining as dazzlingly as the sun. With the moon above and the sun below, they shone brightly together, molding into such a spectacular sight. Even for Yong Ye City, this was the first time such a thing had happened.

“My god —”

“Doomsday battle!”

“Amitabha, Amitabha, Amitabha…”

The brilliance of the sun and the moon attracted the whole zone’s attention. Everyone looked up at this moment, obviously including Tang Cuo, who was in the middle of his own battle.

Lifting his cat paw to wipe the blood off his mouth, Tang Cuo had to admit that Jin Cheng was super handsome and super cool, truly able to make people’s hearts shudder. There wouldn’t be anyone who wouldn’t love him.

Except for Scarlet.

Soon, Jin Cheng landed and fished out the cage that had rammed into the deep pit on the ground: “Still good?”

Tang Cuo: “.”

Jin Cheng: “I didn’t throw you on purpose. I’ll repent later, let me kneel on the washboardA washboard usually looks like this.

You can imagine it’s not very comfortable to kneel on..”

Tang Cuo: “Shut up.”

At this juncture, the sunlight finally dispersed. The strong light seemed to lightly scatter away the colour of the red dot, but Scarlet hadn’t yet completely fallen. The next instant, the faint red dot suddenly flared up once again, so strongly that it almost illuminated the sky with bright scarlet.

The red dot became brighter and brighter, until it exploded.

“This is bad.” Jin Cheng’s expression changed immediately, and Tang Cuo also looked around with vigilance.

Because Jin Cheng was busy dealing with Scarlet and protecting Tang Cuo, he couldn’t spend too much energy taking down the living corpses, as such, at the moment, four or five living corpses had gathered around them. They were all looking up in Scarlet’s direction with their mouths letting out soft growls, their muscles glowing with a red light while growing bigger. In the blink of an eye, their muscles all doubled in size.

Then they all turned to look at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo.

Four or five pairs of red eyes glanced over, and perhaps there were more in the distance. This immediately reminded Tang Cuo of Scarlet’s class. The next step after resurrecting the dead was usually manipulating them, right?

“Boom!” Jin Cheng threw out a Blast Egg and, without wasting any word, backed away together with Tang Cuo.

The moment he moved, the living corpses also moved. Two of them exploded, but three more remained standing. As they passed through an intersection, a whole group of corpses turned up.

Jin Cheng had already consumed quite a bit of his stamina, not to mention he was slowed down by the heavy black iron cage, so he couldn’t get rid of them all. Moreover, there were living corpses wandering in all directions of Zone E, their number probably the largest in the whole city. No matter which direction they ran, it was as if someone had dynamite-fished the entire zone.

This wasn’t the same as the goblin army in [Conquering Demon City]. They were small-fry monsters carrying beginner-level swords who could easily be beaten up, while every one of the living corpses here was a player, each with many tricks up their sleeves.

“I think Rong Yi is probably lazing around.” Jin Cheng lamented while running. After all, a positive mindset gave a better chance at winning.

Tang Cuo continued to summon more ‘Fireballs’ while also issuing his ‘Healing’ skill, which was still better than nothing. The two turned to yet another street and came face-to-face with An Ning and her teammates, with a group of living corpses chasing a distance behind. 

“Boss!” An Ning wanted to help, but her scalp went numb as soon as she saw that the corpses far outnumbered them.

Looking up at the sky, the red dot was gone. But is Scarlet dead?

Not possible.

An enemy hiding in the dark was more petrifying than any other.

Jin Cheng knew this well, so he couldn’t pay any mind to say hello to An Ning. He turned over to enter the building and disappeared from everyone’s sight in the blink of an eye. He marched through the place and went out from the opposite side.

After thinking for a moment, Tang Cuo suggested: “How about you put me here first? The living corpses’ target should be you. I’m not in danger for the time being.”

“No.” Jin Cheng firmly rejected: “If your current state is found out, Mr. Crow will kill you with one peck. If you die, where can I find someone that suits me this much?” 

Saying so, Jin Cheng didn’t wait for Tang Cuo to reply and jumped straight out of the window.

And a passing motorbike blew a cloud of dust right at his face.

Jin Cheng was almost about to poke the bike’s tire, but then, he looked closely: “Chi Yan, you get back here!”

“Eh?!” Chi Yan turned back. Seeing Jin Cheng, he quickly patted on the motorist’s back: “Quickly, quickly turn around!”

At that point, the nearby living corpses followed Jin Cheng’s scent and poked their heads out of the alleys, intersections, and even the windows upstairs.

Chi Yan was so scared that he couldn’t wait to get off the motorbike. Immediately, he clapped his hands together and began to chant aloud:

“The gods above, listen to my command. I now bestow upon you the blessing to return, nothing will be a taboo — Open!”

As his voice fell, a crisp “click” rang in Tang Cuo’s ears. Before he could even see the changes in front of his eyes, he realised he had transformed back into his human shape, with a small black iron cage the size of a walnut lying nicely in his palm.

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