The Trial Game of Life

T/N: The Character Guide has been updated with 6 new characters ^^.

To Tang Cuo, Rong Yi’s threat was like a mosquito bite. He felt a bit itchy and had the urge to just swat it.

But, the meaning hidden in Rong Yi’s words caught his attention. He looked directly into Rong Yi’s eyes and said: “You mentioned the other two dimensions. So apart from the one you came from, there’s another one?”

Jin Cheng also noticed that. If what Rong Yi said was true, the six players were divided into five separate dimensions. Except for Tang Cuo and Qi Hui, the rest were all lone players in their own time and space.

This system was really good at making people’s life difficult.

Rong Yi’s expression remained unflinching: “This is the deal that I want to make. By 12 o’clock, I can take you to my dimension. According to this dungeon’s rules, when all players in a dimension have left, the time will be reset to the point when the players first entered. In other words, you’ll have a chance to travel back to the beginning of a certain dimension.”

Jin Cheng: “Then what do you need us to do?”

Rong Yi: “I want to use the movement to save a person and end their karma serving period, so that they can directly enter reincarnation. The 6th Movement has a lot of authority. After completing my request, you can do other things with it.”

“Oh, that sounds very interesting.” Jin Cheng was slightly intrigued: “Who are you going to save? I’ve been in Yong Ye City for three years but have never heard that you have an ex-lover currently serving as an NPC in the dungeon.”

Rong Yi: “Do you think I’ll tell you?”

Jin Cheng cast an innocent look at Tang Cuo, then shrugged and said: “You see, he doesn’t want to cooperate with me at all.”

Hearing Jin Cheng’s complaint, Tang Cuo also didn’t feel like cooperating with Rong Yi. It would be too naive of them to do so. From the corner of his eye, he had been paying attention to Qi Hui, and the moment he saw Qi Hui’s expression change slightly when Rong Yi said that he wanted to save someone, Tang Cuo could deduce that Qi Hui and his team must be in this dungeon for some similar reason.

After thinking for a moment, Tang Cuo looked at Rong Yi again and said: “Based on what you said, we can also go back to 1924.”

If all the players in dimension left, the time in that dimension would be reset. Since there was no one in 1924, the time would return to before 10 o’clock in the evening.

“If you can’t locate a new dimension, you won’t be able to get all the clues and clear this game. Going to 1924 will just drag everything longer. Whatever the case is, you can’t get rid of me.” Rong Yi had no intention to underestimate Tang Cuo. Ordinary players might only see Cheng’s aura and ignore Tang Cuo under it, but the elites of Zone A would definitely not.

According to the information received from Zone F, Tang Cuo was definitely not simple. Once he matured as a player, he and Jin Cheng would become a nightmare for all rival players.

Faced with Rong Yi’s threat again, Jin Cheng smiled and turned his head in Tang Cuo’s direction and said: “You may not know that our great detective Tang Cuo has a secret skill called Repeated Jumping.”

Rong Yi: “…”

Tang Cuo: “…”

Tang Cuo just wanted to knock Jin Cheng’s head open to see what sort of nonsense really lingered in it all day long.

Jin Cheng was actually innocent, because he was telling the truth. As Tang Cuo said, they could go back to 1924, so wouldn’t that be the first jump? Even if Rong Yi tailed behind them and directly adjusted the time to 12 o’clock, they could still jump back from 1924 to 1926.

Then when Rong Yi adjusted the time again in 1926, they would jump from 1926 to 1924, so everything kept going in an endless loop. Anyway, as long as they made sure that every time everyone jumped together, no one would be left in the dimension.

Theoretically, they could always jump horizontally between 1924 and 1926. Back and forth till the end of the universe.

Or, say, even if Rong Yi remained in 1926 and prevented them from jumping from 1924 to 1926, wouldn’t it be even better? They could just stay in 1924 to find clues, and within two or three hours, Jin Cheng believed that with Tang Cuo’s intelligence, he would definitely be able to locate the time of a new dimension.

Rong Yi didn’t expect there was such a method called Repeated Jumping. He couldn’t stay alone in 1926 and let Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng freely look for clues in 1924, but if he really jumped together with them, wouldn’t that just be stupid?

The atmosphere became heavy and no one spoke a word.

After a long time, Rong Yi finally glanced at Qi Hui, who had been completely ignored, and said: “You can certainly do that. But can you guarantee that he’ll be absolutely loyal to you?”

Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked at Qi Hui together. Indeed, as long as Qi Hui didn’t cooperate with them, Repeated Jumping wouldn’t be possible.

Being watched by three big bosses, Qi Hui felt his cold sweat almost flood down his back. He was anxious to show his sincerity to Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, but the moment the words were about to leave to his lips, he suddenly remembered about his other teammates and decided to change his words: “Say, if I act along with you, can you promise me a condition?”

Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows. He didn’t see this coming.

Qi Hui regretted it as soon as he finished speaking. Seeing Jin Cheng’s expression, his heart beat even harder. He knew that based on his strength, he was completely unqualified to make a request, but he had already said what he had said, so he had to bite the bullet and go on: “My teammates and I entered the dungeon to find the movement also to save someone. He… he was also a member of our team. He died in the dungeon some time ago, to save us.”

Jin Cheng: “He died to save you, so in order to save him, you also want to die?”

What Jin Cheng said was utterly hideous to hear and had Qi Hui immediately flush, but he couldn’t refute. Reaching this point in the mission, he had realised that his team alone would never be able to clear this dungeon. If there was no Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, wouldn’t it be death for them all?

Right at this moment, Qi Hui met Tang Cuo’s gaze.

Tang Cuo looked at him and didn’t say anything, his eyes calm and deep. Under such a gaze, Qi Hui suddenly remembered something he had forgotten ― he was forced by Tang Cuo to take poison.

Qi Hui’s eyes suddenly widened and he came to the realisation that he was too reckless. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng’s lenient attitude towards him had made him forget about the poison. Thinking of this, he hurriedly opened the Character panel to check but found that his Attributes still remained unchanged.

How come? He already took his chance and made the request, so why hadn’t the poison taken effect yet?

But Jin Cheng didn’t know about the poison. He turned his eyes back to Rong Yi and said: “Are you two using the twelve movements as a guestbook? If you people write one wish after another, really, one movement won’t be enough.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Rong Yi asked back.

“We exchange information in a fair manner. Whoever lays hands on the movement first has it, then we have to promise that after going out from this dungeon, we won’t make any move on each other. If you’re willing to bet, then you should be willing to bear the loss.” Jin Cheng said firmly.

Rong Yi didn’t doubt Jin Cheng’s words. He knew that although this man was cunning, he was one who kept his promises. Between a fair promise and a dirty trick, Rong Yi could still distinguish clearly.

But in this way, he wondered if he himself could get the movement, because he wasn’t the supreme player around here. He turned his eyes to Qi Hui again, who was sweating profusely.

Qi Hui had never expected that the outcome of a game between the big bosses would fall on him.

If Qi Hui followed Jin Cheng to ‘jump repeatedly’, Rong Yi’s hands would be tied. If Qi Hui followed Rong Yi, the plan to ‘jump repeatedly’ wouldn’t be possible, forcing Jin Cheng to accept Rong Yi’s condition.

At this moment, Qi Hui once again turned towards Tang Cuo, who remained extremely calm, looking as though he was simply an outsider. It was as clear as day now — there was no poison at all; that was just Tang Cuo tricking him.

But Qi Hui didn’t expect that Jin Cheng quickly gave another suggestion: “Don’t look at Qi Hui. If you look at him again, I’ll kill him.”

Rong Yi’s eyebrows furrowed, but his tone was very resolute: “You won’t lay hands on innocent people.”

Jin Cheng smiled: “Thank you for thinking so highly of me, but have you forgotten about the twelve movements? As you said, the 6th Movement has a lot of authority, so I can easily resurrect him. But if I don’t resurrect him, so what? if he has the courage to betray me and threaten me, he should have the courage to bear the consequences.”

At this moment, Jin Cheng’s aura was exuding powerfully, and each word he said carried a heavy weight. Qi Hui felt his heart hit extremely hard.

Only then did he truly realise who he was facing. How could the famous Blacklist lunatic be a benevolent man? Even if he had never shown any malice to ordinary players and even created a safe zone at East Cross Street just by himself, how could he tolerate other people trying to threaten him?

“I…” Qi Hui was afraid to speak.

Seeing his reaction, Rong Yi knew that his path had been blocked. After pondering for a moment, he finally nodded and agreed to Jin Cheng’s proposal. Now that the agreement was made, he would no longer waste time.

“Do you have any information you can exchange with me?” He asked.

“I’ll give you a three-digit password to exchange for the time of your dimension.” Jin Cheng paused, then added: “This is intelligence from Lin Yandong.” 

The three words ‘Lin Yandong’ undoubtedly showed the reliability of this intelligence, as well as its usefulness. However, Rong Yi wouldn’t be able to tell whether Jin Cheng was bluffing him, just like how Jin Cheng wouldn’t be able to tell whether Rong Yi’s intelligence was true or false.

At this time, everything was a gamble.

The two faced each other, their gazes clashing in complete silence.

After a while.

“1936.”

“062.” 

The transaction had been concluded.

Since they had decided to compete fairly and Rong Yi had a way to manipulate time, naturally he wouldn’t work with Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. So the two sides reached an agreement ― when Rong Yi adjusted the time to 12 o’clock, Jin Cheng, Tang Cuo and Qi Hui would head to 1936 while Rong Yi would head to 1924. The two parties would act separately.

Very soon, the wall clock in the living room chimed and the sound of the piano came from the second floor.

As soon as the blackness flashed in his eyes, Tang Cuo could no longer see Rong Yi’s figure. He looked around to find the haunted house still the same haunted house, but it was old and darker, with all corners entangled in cobwebs and the furniture covered with a thick layer of dust.

This was 1936, ten years after the family massacre.

What was happening at this point in time?

“Find the corpse.” Tang Cuo said concisely.

“Do you think that someone dies here too?” Jin Cheng asked.

“Why do you think the system picks the three time points of 1923, 1924, and 1926? They have only one thing in common ― a murder just takes place at that time.”

“Then who do you think is dead now?”

Tang Cuo: “Those who luckily survived in 1926.”

There might be two who were still alive: the young miss and the person inside the attic.

It was 8:34 in the evening, and the three of them decided to go separate ways to find clues. Tang Cuo and Qi Hui went to the basement that was closer to them, while Jin Cheng boldly headed to the second floor by himself.

There were still ghosts in the Yu mansion in this dimension. They saw the ghosts of the butler, the middle-aged maid and the young servant. If there really had been a murder here, the three would follow what Tang Cuo said ―

“Even if we can’t find the corpse, it’s okay to find his or her ghost.”

After what happened just now, Qi Hui became quieter and at the same time more cautious. But Tang Cuo had no particular opinion against him. He never imposed any standards on other people, so as long as Qi Hui didn’t make trouble, he wouldn’t care.

But Tang Cuo wouldn’t specifically comfort him either.

Ten years later, the corpses in the basement had turned into bones, but the number of corpses hadn’t changed, and neither did the items found on the corpses. The only thing that had changed was the ash in the incense burner, which looked new.

It meant that someone had burnt some incense sticks here not too long ago.

The two corpses on the ground still remained in their original postures, so the person whom the incense sticks were dedicated to could only be ― Yu Wangyue in the coffin.

If the incense sticks were meant for Yu Wangnian and the butler, at least their bodies must be straightened up to look more proper.

There were no other clues here except for the incense ash, so Tang Cuo took Qi Hui to the second floor to find Jin Cheng.

Jin Cheng was playing around in Yu Wangyue’s room, but the strangest thing was that Yu Wangyue wasn’t in the room this time. Hearing the footsteps, Jin Cheng turned around and said: “Where do you guess Yu Wangyue would be?”

Tang Cuo: “The atic.”

Qi Hui was completely lost. How did he know Yu Wangyue was in the attic?

But now, Tang Cuo didn’t explain, and nor did Jin Cheng. Not daring to ask any further, Qi Hui could only keep up with them. Lin Wan’s ghost was still sobbing inside her room, and the moment the three of them approached, she appeared again.

Jin Cheng tried to stop her while Tang Cuo and Qi Hui went straight to the attic. This time, the attic door wasn’t locked any more.

Seeing the unlocked door, Qi Hui subconsciously turned to look at Tang Cuo, because he knew that Tang Cuo must be right again. After Rong Yi left the year 1936, the time was reset and everything in this dimension should have returned to its original state.

The attic door couldn’t be unlocked by Rong Yi, so it could only be an NPC.

Pushing the door open, they found two ghosts sitting in the room, playing chess together.

One was Yu Wangyue, and the other was a man whose face, hair and height looked rather similar to his. They weren’t completely identical, but the feeling the two of them gave people was indeed similar.

Two very similar ghosts turned around to look at them.

At the same time, Jin Cheng also arrived.