The Trial Game of Life

T/N: The Character Guide has been updated with 3 new characters, plus the players’ ID Number as suggested by one of the readers ^_^

Miao Qi actually wanted to meet them at the Ruby Bar on time, but halfway there, he encountered an ambush.

After Jin Cheng, Lilith and the rest headed to the low-ranking zones, Miao Qi went to Zone A alone to find Wen Xiaoming. There were very few players in Zone A in the first place, not to mention it was Miao Qi’s territory. He went to Jin Cheng’s villa with ease and looked around for a while.

Miao Qi was never the type who planned meticulously before making a move, and neither did he bother paying attention to any rules of looking for missing people. If he couldn’t find the person in Zone A, he would immediately head elsewhere. In addition, he kept feeling worried about Lin Yandong, so it couldn’t be helped that he was irritable and failed to notice the strangeness around him.

By the time he found that he was getting further and further off track, he didn’t head back at once. Since it seemed that Scarlet had killed Lin Yandong, he couldn’t just waste so much time looking for the small-fry Wen Xiaoming. Meanwhile, against any attacker, Miao Qi had a certain degree of certainty that he could escape.

But what he encountered was a full group of attackers, and there were also shameless ones that hid in the dark, waiting to toss evil items on him.

As a full-fledged trap was thrown onto him, coupled with the poisonous [Spider Vines], Miao Qi’s cannon gun turned completely useless before it could even exert any power. And Miao Qi also didn’t expect that their goal was to kidnap him, not directly kill him and send him off to Zone G.

“Splash —” As Miao Qi was awakened by a bucket of water dumped onto him, he was still suffering from a splitting headache. His arms were tied behind the chair, feeling so numb that he almost thought they had been broken.

Miao Qi had no idea when was the last time he received this kind of insult since the day he followed Lin Yandong. He looked up at the person splashing the water, the obstinacy and murder intent in his eyes made the man abruptly take a step back.

“What are you afraid of!” Angered, another teammate next to the man almost gave him a kick, then the teammate stared at Miao Qi and threatened: “Behave yourself!”

Miao Qi glanced at the room and its decoration, figuring that it should belong to the low-ranking zones. The room looked neither very spacious nor lavish, with about seven or eight people sitting or standing around. Most of them were strange faces. One or two feel familiar, but Miao Qi couldn’t quite tell when they had met before.

He had always had a bad memory, and he only cared to remember things about Sir Lin Yandong.

“What did you tie me up for?” Miao Qi said in a deep voice.

“Then I have to ask you, where does Lin Yandong hide the 2nd Movement?” The response came from the same teammate who just spoke. He had a decent-looking face of an average Yongye City player, as though he had just returned from plastic surgery in Korea. It was the face that could be easily mistaken for the guy standing right next to him — that’s right, his ‘handsome’ face is as good as being forgettable.

Miao Qi didn’t fancy talking to people with such undistinguishable looks: “It’s got nothing to do with you.”

‘Forgettable Face’ raised one foot, kicking Miao Qi’s stomach so heavily that a corner of the chair Miao Qi was sitting on was lifted a little and started shaking, almost sending Miao Qi crashing to the ground.

Suddenly taking a kick, Miao Qi neither bled nor let out a single sound. His wet hair hung on his forehead, his wolf-like eyes staring intently at the man.

“You’d better be honest. Do you think Lin Yandong is still the boss of Zone A? He’s been sent to Zone G, there’s no way he can save you. Tell me where the 2nd Movement is and you can suffer less.” Forgettable Face said, winking at a brawny fellow that was leaning against the wall.

The brawny man snapped his fingers and at once, Miao Qi’s face turned as white as a sheet. Involuntarily, his whole body curled up, as if he was suffering from immense pain.

“How about this, isn’t it painful?” Forgettable Face knelt down, admiring Miao Qi’s agonising expression: “We’ve planted a [Spider Vines] seed in your body. It will slowly sprout and grow until the vines fill all the blood vessels in your body, trapping you in torture that’s worse than death…”

Miao Qi clenched his teeth and looked at the brawny man at the wall with stubborn eyes. ​​It was hard to imagine that someone who looked like a power-type player at first glance would turn out to be a plant-type special ability user.

If he had such a thing as parasitic [Spider Vines], it was likely that he would also use other sorts of wicked items.

Who were these people?

“The 2nd Movement is not with Sir Lin Yandong… You’re doing all this in vain…” Miao Qi’s face became paler and paler, and he could feel the [Spider Vines] sprouting from his meridians, those thorny vines growing along his blood vessels, gradually extending to his limbs.

“Just because you say he doesn’t have it means he really doesn’t? Maybe he didn’t tell you anything at all. Think carefully about it again, has he ever tried to hide anything?” Forgettable Face continued to tempt Miao Qi with intimidation: “Lin Yandong, this thief has such an evil heart. For something as important as the 2nd Movement, it’s no surprise that he won’t tell others about it easily. You just have to think really carefully and give us any small bits of information, then we’ll let you go. How about that? We have no grudge against you…”

“Pfft!” Miao Qi spat a mouthful of saliva mixed with blood at the man: “Who do you think you are, daring to question Sir Lin Yandong! Why don’t you take a good look in the mirror? With such an ugly face, you might as well cut your own neck!”

Miao Qi was particularly eloquent when he started cursing others. Even the pain couldn’t stop him in the slightest.

“F**k you……%￥#*%%!!!” Utterly annoyed, Forgettable Face kicked Miao Qi to the ground before he even bothered to wipe off the saliva on his face.

After he gave Miao Qi a few kicks, the teammate next to him hurried over to hold him back, and only then was he finally convinced to stop. One tall, thin man simply stood in front of Miao Qi and said lacklusterly: “What will you do if you really beat him to death, go to jail together with him? We haven’t gotten any information out of him, what are you being so urgent for?” 

“He spat on my face, do you think he would spew anything? He’s a dog of Lin Yandong that only knows how to bite people!” Forgettable Face looked at Miao Qi angrily, totally not expecting that Miao Qi would even laugh upon hearing his comment.

Beaten so badly, Miao Qi slumped to the ground with a chair tied behind him. The [Spider Vines] made his muscles quiver in misery, but hearing people calling him a dog, he felt so very proud.

“He’s sick in the head!” Forgettable Face turned around and left.

The tall, thin man turned and squatted down in front of Miao Qi and said: “How now, you really won’t talk?”

Miao Qi pressed his lips tightly, beads of sweat sliding down his forehead, which was an obvious sign that he was in extreme pain. Knowing that he really couldn’t get anything out of him, Tall Man let the others drag him to the cell next door and lock him up.

“Shouldn’t we kill him?” Someone asked.

“Why should we? He might still be useful. Do we kill him and let him go to Zone E to reunite with Lin Yandong, making it even easier for them to bite back?” Tall Man folded his arms, narrowed his eyes, then unable to hold back, he continued: “People who searched Lin Yandong’s residence also said they couldn’t find it. Is it really the case that the 2nd Movement isn’t with Lin Yandong? Scarlet is out, why would he still hide the movement? Is he masochistic?”

The room full of people suddenly fell into silence following his gruelling question.

A long time later, someone said: “If Jin Cheng and Lin Yandong really didn’t take it, would it be Rong Yi?”

Someone immediately retorted: “No, Rong Yi didn’t win against Jin Cheng the last time he tried to snatch the 6th Movement. I don’t believe that the 2nd Movement is in his hands.”

The others nodded, and the one who splashed the water at Miao Qi said: “I still think Jin Cheng has it. Jin Cheng is always full of schemes. When it comes to deceit, who can beat him? That man surely has an evil heart.”

“But Jin Cheng isn’t easy to deal with. Don’t you remember back at East Cross Street that day, so many people wanted to beat him up, yet they all got tricked and sent straight to jail. If the 2nd Movement is really with him, we’re just rushing for our death if we look for him now.”

“There’s also Tang Cuo.”

“I thought of a way…”

The men gathered together and began to discuss in a low voice. In the end, someone asked hesitantly: “About Scarlet… shall we take the initiative to contact her?” 

Tall Man frowned thoughtfully, but before he could give an answer, the door was suddenly kicked open. Everyone turned their heads and almost pulled out their weapons, only to be relieved when they saw the face of a familiar person. But Tall Man’s eyebrows continued to furrow.

“Yao Qing, what are you doing?” He asked.

“What am I doing? What are you doing?” Yao Qing’s voice was extremely cold: “Was it Scarlet? I heard it right, didn’t I?”

Yao Qing asked with an especially interrogative tone, completely not restraining himself at all. Tall Man had infuriation cast all over his face, but soon he recovered his nonchalant look, saying: “We didn’t deliberately hide it from you. Weren’t you stuck in Zone E? That’s why we didn’t think of discussing it with you earlier.”

“Is it inconvenient to discuss, or you just don’t want to discuss with me at all? I’ve warned you twice to not act rashly during this period, yet now you give me such a huge show?”

“Yao Qing, shouldn’t it be you…” Tall Man’s words were drenched in sarcasm: “You were the one afraid of being beaten by Jin Cheng, not us. Save your energy, because in any case, we’re on the same boat. If you don’t want to betray Lawless, don’t make trouble at such a critical time.”

As his words fell, Yao Qing’s face turned even unslightlier. He was seriously injured and just barely recovered after drinking a potion. Upon hearing about such news, he was so annoyed even his nose started twitching madly.

The rest of the teammates tried to reconcile them. Unlike Jiang He, a member isolated by the entirety of Heaven’s Will, Yao Qing was a veteran with strong combat power. In fact, he was a core member.

It was just that Yao Qing could clearly feel that since he went to jail and was demoted, some things had gradually gotten out of his control.

Taking a deep breath, Yao Qing forced himself to calm down and said: “It’s still not too late to stop. Do you really think you can get it from Scarlet’s hands?”

Tall Man: “I only know that as long as there are Jin Cheng and Lin Yandong, we’ll never be able to snatch anything. Lawless is clearly the gang with the most members in Yong Ye City, not to mention we have people across all zones, so are you willing to just let them ride on our necks? As long as Lin Yandong and Jin Cheng are dead, as long as we get the 2nd Movement, nothing can be a problem.”

This was really getting someone else to do one’s dirty work.

Yao Qing felt that these men had gone nuts. Even if they wanted to use someone else to do their evil deed, they mustn’t use Scarlet! 

Right at this moment, the news about Black Hat finally reached here.

Everyone looked at each other, none expecting that Black Hat would still be poking his nose in this matter.

Tall Man pondered for a moment and soon got an idea: “Leave two men to continue ‘taking care’ of Miao Qi. Pei Pei and I will find a way to ‘take care’ of that Tang Cuo, while a few others will keep watch on Black Hat.”

Pei Pei was the plant-type ability user. He said: “I think it’s feasible. As long as we find a method to lure Jin Cheng out of the way, I’m pretty sure I can subdue Tang Cuo. If the movement is really with Jin Cheng and he has been hiding it for so long, he won’t simply use it to save his lover. On the other hand, if the movement isn’t with him, we can still use Tang Cuo to threaten him.”

Another person asked: “How to lure him out?”

Everyone had their own opinions, but Yao Qing remained quiet, his eyes gleaming and darkening intermittently, neither voicing any objection nor participating in the discussion. No one knew what he was thinking.

Tall Man looked at him without saying a word, uneasiness slowly rising in his heart.

At this point, a loud scream suddenly came from outside the door: “What are you doing here?”

Everyone was instantly alert and even Yao Qing frowned. The one who stood closest to the door was Forgettable Face. He immediately opened the door and ran out to see his familiar teammate trying to stop another man in the corridor.

“What’s the matter?” He asked.

“A junior member who was tasked to keep watch outside came to find us.” The teammate replied, staring fiercely at the young man again, then asked: “What are you doing here? Don’t you know if there’s a special situation now? If I count to three and you won’t answer, I’ll immediately beat you to a pulp.”

“Don’t! I, I saw something outside, and I came up here wanting to report about it, really!” The young man quickly explained, his subservient voice laced with fear.

“Then say it now. What’s the matter?” The teammate’s gun was still pointed at him.

“It seems that someone is peeping at us. I just saw a figure flashing past, but after I tried to chase after it, it just disappeared.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know, but I saw a man in a red cloak, about 1.8-meter tall, very burly.”

“Red cloak? Burly?” 

The teammate turned around to look at Forgettable Face. He frowned, subconsciously feeling that this junior member wasn’t trying to trick anyone. Red cloak, burly? He could only think of Superman.

But at this moment, a strange sound really came from outside. The sound seemed both far and near, sonorous and lively at the same time. Both of them listened attentively and finally heard the content.

“Love has too many rights and wrongs, he came at the time I was beaming with joy~Lyric of the Chinese love song 眉飞色舞 (lit. translated as “Enraptured”) by Sammi Cheng..”

“F**k, what the hell?” Even Forgettable Face immediately retracted into the room. Now all the people in the room also noticed the situation outside, and one after another, they went to the window to take a look.

The teammate couldn’t help but follow them to peek outside. They failed to notice the faint surprise in the young man’s eyes when he lowered his head.

After a while, the teammate came back and asked: “Are you sure it’s a burly man in a red cloak?” 

The young man solemnly nodded: “I’m sure.”

“You come with me.”

“Sure!” 

Almost the same time, the Black Hat Miscellaneous Stores from various zones were ambushed by the players. Countless players had gathered here, not to enter the Infinite Market of Dreams, but to look for Black Hat.

If Black Hat didn’t show up, the Miscellaneous Stores would certainly suffer.

A crowd could often give people the energy and courage that they normally wouldn’t have, sometimes even maliciousness. They wantonly tore down all Miscellaneous Stores in an attempt to force Black Hat out, but their efforts were all for naught.

However, this had allowed them to reinforce their guess.

“He must be hiding something evil!”

Such voices dominated the scene, but there were also people who frustrated the crowd with worries: “It’s Black Hat we’re talking about. If we really annoy him, what if he uses the 2nd Movement to turn Yong Ye City into Hell? What should we do?”

Someone immediately scolded him: “You’re saying it as if he’ll do something good otherwise?”

“Then if you want to die, don’t drag everyone else to die with you!”

“I keep thinking, I seriously can’t understand, why the f**k are you so afraid of everything? How have you survived in Yong Ye City? If Black Hat comes out now with the 2nd Movement, will you kneel down and call him Father? If you’re so scared of dying, get into a dungeon and hide there.”

“Bang!”

“Screech —”

Amidst the noise, the plaque of the Miscellaneous Store was smashed in half. The players ran totally amok, and from time to time, some of them would head straight to jail.

What a farce.