The Trial Game of Life

In the Infinite Market of Dreams, more than a dozen waves of customers were received at the same time. These dozen or so waves of customers never met each other’s eyes; some came with a purpose like Yu Yiyi’s, seeking a place to hide, some came because they were in need of something, while some came with not-so-kind intentions like Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo.

“Ding!”

“Welcome to the Infinite Market of Dreams!

The space around them was still a dodecahedron that had the looks of a kaleidoscope. As soon as Jin Cheng entered, he tried calling out Black Hat’s name, but no one answered.

The wizard hat on the wall acted like a customer service officer; although it gave out questions and answers, this wasn’t Black Hat himself.

Jin Cheng shrugged unamusedly and turned to Tang Cuo, signalling him to ask the question.

Tang Cuo went straight to the point: “I want the clue to the dungeon that Scarlet hides her phylactery. If I want to enter the dungeon, which card do I need?” 

According to the information given by Yu Yiyi, Scarlet’s phylactery was hidden in a special-trigger dungeon. The key to the dungeon was a card, but he never mentioned what card it was.

The wizard hats above tilted forward and looked down at them: “Dearest customers, this store doesn’t sell such goods.”

Such an answer was expected.

Tang Cuo didn’t feel disappointed, but he couldn’t leave as soon as he came in, so he was planning to ask for other things. But to his astonishment, the wizard hat continued: “But a customer happened to place this item in our store just earlier. If you can give something that has an equal value, I can open a gamble for the two of you.”

Hearing this, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng immediately looked at each other, both seeing the surprise in the other’s eyes.

The gambling setting of the Infinite Market of Dreams had been made known to them the last time they came, but they didn’t expect that someone actually placed a clue as goods in this place, which also happened to be exactly what they needed.

They travelled far and wide to look for this thing, only to find it right next to their nose.

Jin Cheng said immediately: “I may yield three items for the other party to choose from: a hatchable Griffon egg, a clue to a movement and a clue to a legendary-grade weapon.”

Wizard hat: “Dearest customer, for the sake of your sincerity, I’ll notify the other party as soon as possible. Please wait a moment.” 

The Infinite Market of Dreams relied on the system, and announcements made by the system were always transmitted instantly, so real-time connection wasn’t something out of the way. That said, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo never expected that the person was in the Miscellaneous Store right this moment.

“What did you say? Someone wants to take a gamble with me?” Yu Yiyi also felt this was odd. He had put the clue up for not even ten minutes, why was there already someone wanting to buy it?

Startled, he thought of Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, and came to a sudden realisation.

The teammate who was perpetually half-a-beat slower also finally reacted: “Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo want to buy the clue? That mustn’t be! Can there really be such a  coincidence?”

Yu Yiyi stroked his chin and narrowed his eyes. He didn’t believe in such a coincidence either, but the truth was before his eyes; there was no way to refute. He immediately asked the wizard hat: “Can you keep the other party from knowing my identity?” 

The wizard hat giggled eerily: “Of course, this store strictly abides by the confidentiality clause.”

Relieved, Yi Yiyi agreed to the gamble after a quick thought. He was always excellent at avoiding risks, but sometimes, the biggest wealth lay in the greatest danger.

So a while later, the spaces where the two parties were located began to overlap, and two vague figures shrouded in white mist appeared in front of them both, allowing them to communicate but not catch a clear sight of the other.

A long white table appeared between the two parties, with a small box placed at Yu Yiyi’s end and two boxes and a Griffon egg placed at Jin Cheng’s end.

It could be seen that stored inside Yu Yiyi’s box was an intangible item – the clue.

“The rules of the gamble are as follows: If the two sides of the gamble place the goods in the Infinite Market of Dreams, they acknowledge the Market’s representation rights, and by default, they also acknowledge that they’re subjected to potential losses from the gamble.”

“The first to provide the goods is Party A, and the other party is Party B. Both parties would use the choice of ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to carry out the transaction. If the transaction fails, the goods from both sides end up with the Infinite Market of Dreams.”

“Due to the intangible nature of goods like intel and clues, should they belong to the Infinite Market of Dreams, it’s required that the customers will have their memories relating to the goods completely erased.”

After reading the rules, both parties fell silent.

Tang Cuo couldn’t see the face on the other side, but he could see Jin Cheng’s. Jin Cheng raised an eyebrow, a hint of mischief exuding from his eyes as he simply said: “So he wants to catch a wolf with bare hands.The original idiom used here is ‘空手套白狼’, which is lit. translated as ‘to tie a white wolf with bare hands’. Metaphorically, it means that you’re able to gain valuable things using worthless things, or even nothing, in exchange.” 

The goods both belonged to the players, but if both parties had bad luck and neither made the correct guess, both sides’ offers would be snatched by the Infinite Market of Dreams.

Yu Yiyi wasn’t afraid at all, because his luck was, without fail, phenomenal. He could hear the other party’s voice, but because the sound had been altered by the system, it was impossible to tell whether the voice came from Jin Cheng or Tang Cuo.

Regaining his composure, he said calmly: “I’m ready. I want to bid for the clue to the legendary-grade weapon.”

The wizard hat above his head opened its eyes again: “Friendly reminder, the clues provided by both parties are merely vague directions that help to narrow the searching range, nothing is final. But our store guarantees that the clues given to both parties are equal. If there’s no objection, the gamble will commence at once.”

Naturally, the two parties had no objection.

The moment the gamble started, the goods on the table disappeared and two identical light balls appeared in front of both parties. Two on each side, four in total.

Both sides reached out and grabbed at the same time.

Jin Cheng quickly made his choice and quickly let go. As his palm opened, it was empty. He shrugged and turned to look at Tang Cuo with a very innocent face.

Tang Cuo was expressionless, raising his eyes to look at the opposite side. Although he couldn’t see the expression of the party standing across from him, he could see the box they were holding.

The two sides were both laymen, how could their luck differ this much?

As soon as the gamble was over, the two spaces were immediately split apart.

Tang Cuo looked at the wizard hat and asked: “Since the other party’s goods have been taken by you, we can now buy it directly from the store, right?” 

The wizard hat tilted to the side: “Yes, this customer of mine is really smart.”

Jin Cheng also blinked at Tang Cuo with his eyes drenched in admiration and flattery. Tang Cuo couldn’t care less and said: “I’ll make the choice, you back off.”

“Why do I think that you really hate me?”

“You’re correct about that.”

“Do you believe that I’ll sob myself into a mess right here?”

“.”

Jin Cheng felt that the full stop this time carried murderous intent. Sobbing might make him look adorable and all, but his life was very valuable too. Therefore, he shut up.

Tang Cuo firmly ignored him and began the transaction with the wizard hat. But his luck was actually average, and he had to make three exchanges before getting what he wanted. — six pieces of high-level equipment in exchange for a clue indeed seemed to be a bit of a loss.

The clue turned out to be — the card series [Seven Deadly Sins].

“[Seven Deadly Sins] means there are only seven of them, so it’s a 1-in-7 probability.” Jin Cheng folded his arms.

“This 1-in-7 chance must be with the person who hid the phylactery. If he wants to hide the phylactery, he has to use the card.” Tang Cuo only had to use his imagination a little to arrive at the conclusion, then he thought again and said: “Didn’t you say last time that each player can only enter the same dungeon once? That means this person can no longer enter it.”

“Yes, if I were him, I would destroy this card — provided that I’m really loyal to Scarlet. Otherwise, this card will become a death penalty card for Scarlet.” As Jin Cheng said so, he was more and more inclined to feel that this person who hid this phylactery was really quite a genius.

From his choice on the hiding spot to his choice on the triggering item, every step was flawless.

During the time that Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were evaluating the card, Yu Yiyi still didn’t leave the Infinite Market of Dreams, because when he put away the box and was ready to flee, Black Hat suddenly appeared.

“I’m curious, why didn’t you choose the clue to the movement?” Black Hat folded his arms, the wizard hat covering most of his face. His skin carried a slight shade of sickly pale, his smile gloomy.

“I haven’t even made it to the top ten of the Red List. It’s not like I’m in any position to hold onto [The Twelve Movements]. Yu Yiyi replied.

“Isn’t your nickname Extreme Luck? Others may not be in that position, but you are.”

“You think too highly of me.”

Yu Yiyi had always appeared humble and unambitious, and no one could ever detect anything from his smiling face. Black Hat stared at him for a long while before saying: “Sooner or later, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo will figure out that Party A is you.”

Yu Yiyi let out two laughs but didn’t say anything.

Black Hat: “It’s good to protect yourself, but if the movements all gather in one person’s hands, it may not be a good thing. I’ve been curious as to why, subconsciously, you all always believe in Jin Cheng. It’s as though he won’t ever harm people if the movements fall into his hands. Does it take only a safety zone at East Cross Street and a ban on suicide to buy you all over?”

“No.” Yu Yiyi denied at once.

“Why then?” Black Hat asked sincerely. Yu Yiyi was indeed an outsider who kept wandering at the edge and wasn’t associated with any side; that was why Black Hat wanted to hear what he had to say.

“First of all, Jin Cheng is now two persons, not one person.”

“…”

“Secondly, so what if I don’t believe in him? Everyone snatches the movements with their own capability. Apart from Jin Cheng, the one who has the most movements on hand in Yong Ye City is you, Mr. Black Hat, isn’t it? You may not want to do good deeds with the movements, but you can’t stop others from doing so. Maybe Jin Cheng does this because he wants to accumulate some karma and reincarnate into a good family.”

“……” 

Black Hat felt that he must’ve underestimated Yu Yiyi. He thought Yu Yiyi was the type who liked to point the finger at others, but it turned out he also had quite a glib tongue. Did Yu Yiyi just mock him for not trying to accumulate karma? Who was it that just earned a lot of good items from the store just now, huh? The bastard flips his attitude as soon as he turns his head.

The two parties went their separate ways in low spirits.

Leaving the Miscellaneous Store, Yu Yiyi still moved sneakily to make sure that there were no Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo outside. The moment he stepped out the door, he quickly took his leave.

The teammate slowly ran behind to keep up, and only upon reaching a secluded corner did he ask: “What did Black Hat say just now?”

Yu Yiyi: “Fuelling disharmony. He just doesn’t want Jin Cheng to grow bigger. If Jin Cheng really becomes the uncrowned king of Yong Ye City, what will Black Hat do if Jin Cheng turns around and beats him up? This man seems to really know how to hold a grudge.”

Teammate: “Then why would he want us to get the clue to the movement? Isn’t it better that he goes there himself?”

Yu Yiyi: “Dumba**! He’s a civil servant who can’t enter any dungeons. It must be us players who take the movement!”

The realisation now dawned on the teammate: “That’s true.”

Yu Yiyi waved his hand and looked around. The living corpses had all been led away by Jin Cheng, while most of the players had entered the dungeons. Due to the damage caused by Scarlet, the streets were rather empty at this moment.

On the street, the remnants of several living corpses were piling up, and every few steps, a similar heap of corpses could be found. There were also lone corpses scattered on the road, but no one seemed to care at all.

After some thought, Yu decided to go into a dungeon to avoid the storm. He just got a clue to a legendary-grade weapon, so now was nicely the time to go get it.

At the same time, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo met An Ning.

When they walked out of Blach Hat Miscellaneous Store, someone waved to them from the dark alley diagonally across. Tang Cuo felt that the person was familiar, and a few thoughts quickly brought him to remember that he had seen this person next to An Ning.

“Big sister asks us to keep watch here.” The man explained.

Indeed many days ago, they had asked An Ning to help watch Black Hat’s Miscellaneous Store. Neither Tang Cuo nor Jin Cheng had expected An Ning to be so reliable.

Then perhaps she could take care of the upcoming matters. Jin Cheng thought for a moment and said: “Take us to her.”

While leading the way, the man reported to them on the progress these days: “There are people coming to Black Hat’s Miscellaneous Store every day. Earlier, we even saw Extreme Luck.”

Jin Cheng quirked an eyebrow: “You even know Extreme Luck?”

The man scratched his head and said with a hint of embarrassment: “We have to. Big sister was afraid that we don’t know who is who, so she gave us a lot of portraits to learn their appearance.”

This was the famous Extreme Luck. For ordinary players, even Leng Miao and Rong Yi weren’t as appealing as him, and neither were they as memorable.

Jin Cheng cast a glance at Tang Cuo. It seemed that the intel just now undoubtedly came from Yu Yiyi. This Extreme Luck gave half of the information as a favour to Jin Cheng, then sold half of it to the Infinite Market of Dreams. What a cunning bastard.

But they had gotten the information they wanted, so whatever else was irrelevant. After seeing An Ning, Jin Cheng immediately gave her the new mission.

“You’re asking me to spread the news that the specific clue to the 2nd Movement is with Black Hat?” An Ning was so surprised that she almost spilt the water in her cup, not knowing whether what Jin Cheng said was true or not.

Upon her question, Jin Cheng didn’t give a straightforward answer: “It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not, you just need to pass this out quietly and try to make everyone learn about it in the shortest time. It’s best to also let Scarlet know.” 

An Ning asked no further and immediately turned around to begin the work. Her teammates were all very good at spreading news. Going to places with many people coming in and out like the taverns and the game hall to casually spread a few words would be a piece of cake.

At this point, one hour had passed since Scarlet gave her 24-hour time limit.

The number of living corpses that followed behind Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng had been massively reduced, with only two or three harmless kittens left standing, but none of them seemed willing to attack Tang Cuo or Jin Cheng.

The two of them just slid around the kittens, swaggered across the streets, turned into a restaurant and started drinking and eating.

Every player in the restaurant had to sit on pins and needles, looking at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo then at the windows, where the corpses whose saliva was dripping out of their mouths were desperately trying to squeeze inside. It felt as though they had entered some sort of zombie dungeon, making it quite a pain to eat or swallow anything.

Outside, many players were watching this place, one by one poking their heads out, but no one wanted to be the early bird that dared to step forward and take down the living corpses.

Meanwhile, the two protagonists seemed completely unbothered. Jin Cheng slowly poured a bowl of bone soup and handed it to Tang Cuo. Seeing a little ice cream on the corner of Tang Cuo’s mouth, he couldn’t help but reach out to wipe it off.

Tang Cuo raised his eyes, staring straight at Jin Cheng with his remarkably bright eyes.

“Is the ice cream yummy? Give me a bite.” Jin Cheng put his elbows on the table, his ten fingers intertwined, his face wearing a gleeful smile.

“Why don’t you order another one?” Tang Cuo said.

“Yours looks better.”

“I remember you don’t like sweet stuff.”

Jin Cheng tilted his head and thought about something. No one knew what went through his mind, but his smile grew broader: “You even remember that. It seems someone truly cared about his instructor back then.”

Tang Cuo: “.”

Jin Cheng: “Are you being shy?”

Tang Cuo: “I’m simply concerned about the commoners.”

Only then did Jin Cheng finally seem to notice that there were several tables around them. As he looked over with a big smile and his eyes curving into two contented arches, the other players immediately bowed their heads and started eating, pretending that they hadn’t heard anything.