The Trial Game of Life

“F**k!”

The sounds of exasperated curses and the melody of the music box came up in the mansion’s basement. The music was coming to an end, but the movement was still nowhere in sight. What else could this even mean?

Someone else had gotten it first!

Yao Qing’s face turned dark as he looked back at the corpse on the ground and came to the realisation that he had completely lost. He heard the news of the [Twelve Movements] just after he was released from prison. He wasted lots of time trying to get into this dungeon of Zone E and thought that he would definitely be able to make it with the amount of intelligence that he had gathered, but it turned out that his effort was all for naught.

He didn’t get what he wanted, two of his teammates died, and he had to level up from Zone E again. He was so angry he could vomit blood.

After leaving the dungeon and hearing that it was Jin Cheng who took the movement again, Yao Qing felt like killing himself.

There were more than one person who shared the same mood with Yao Qing. For the elites from high-ranking zones, what was the difference between going back to Zone E and going to jail?

After trying to snatch the movement twice and failing both times, Yao Qing felt his head throb just at the mentions of ‘Jin Cheng’ and ‘twelve movements’.

“Jin Cheng is definitely a disaster. With him around, we’ll all be crushed to death, let alone getting the [Twelve Movements] into our hands. Yao Qing, young master said that we must find a way to kill him in the dungeon. We can’t let him go back to Zone A alive. Somehow he has teamed up with Lin Yandong, so if he gets back to Zone A, the whole zone will be in their palms! This cannot happen!”

“Like I f**king need you to remind me! How about you try making a move on him first?! If you don’t get beaten up to a pulp by him, I’ll change my last name to yours!”

Yao Qing felt very grumpy.

They were all idiots. Earlier he saw Rong Yi in the game hall. If even Rong Yi couldn’t win Jin Cheng with his time manipulation, who the f**k would?!

But as he remembered the three laws commanded by Jin Cheng, Yao Qing fell silent again. He never really understood what kind of man Jin Cheng was.

This man was evil and always fought with cruel moves, but the moment he laid his hands on the [Twelve Movements], he chose to carry out good deeds. If he wanted to do good, sure, but what was the point of putting an end to the punishment on suicide?

Yao Qing walked to the window and looked out. The atmosphere in Yong Ye City today was very strange.

Had anyone ever seen people die excitedly in such a relaxed atmosphere? Yao Qing saw it for the first time today. Jin Cheng’s new law might have opened the valve between life and death, and it seemed that this valve wouldn’t close any time soon.

In fact, Yao Qing could understand that many people here were just ordinary men and women who wouldn’t stay strong for long in a place like Yong Ye City. Choosing to die was an escape.

But there were too many people like that.

The reason why the atmosphere in Yong Ye City was always so suffocating was because the players didn’t have the right to choose their own life or death. Any suicidal act would provoke punishment, turning them into monsters that got hunted down by other players. Not to mention, they would be forced into a special dungeon to be tortured over and over again while being totally conscious.

But what was happening now?

“F**k Yong Ye City!” A man pointed his middle finger at the sky and jumped off from the roof opposite Yao Qing, then he instantly turned into a pool of blood.

The number of suicides was on the rise.

In the small shop selling hot and sour noodles that Tang Cuo often visited, a young girl smiled as she greeted the shopkeeper, not forgetting to say: “Auntie, please put more green onion and vinegar. A lot more vinegar. “

The auntie felt flabbergasted. The girl looked like a walking zombie a few days ago, but why did she seem so lively today? After a moment, the auntie suddenly saw the girl cry.

She cried while eating the noodles. Unable to bear this, the auntie handed her a napkin.

“Thank you.” The girl smiled at the auntie, but her smile seemed even more twisted than her crying face. This hurt the auntie’s heart. 

The auntie realised that this girl would never appear again.

Some people couldn’t accept such a choice and asked why their companion gave up. As the saying went, ‘it’s better to live a miserable life than to die a happy death’. But as soon as their companion let out a sentence “I’m tired”, there was nothing else to argue about.

Under the impact of Jin Ching abolishing the punishment on suicide, the taverns saw their business soaring.

Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng walked through several taverns to discover that they were all full-house. Many people were drunk, crying and laughing, while many others were fighting in the most primitive way.

As though they all wanted to vent their hearts out.

The two decided to change their previous blatant manner and walk in dark places where they wouldn’t be recognised. Whether people chose to live or die, that was their business. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo also had their own business to attend to, such as ― renting a house.

Renting a house in Yong Ye City was a simple thing. The rental was charged on a daily basis and the price was clearly marked. However, a certain man who pursued the quality of life was very picky.

If he didn’t hate the house’s orientation, he would complain about its size.

“Let’s make it quick, three bedrooms and one living room.” 

“Why do you want such a big house?”

“If you don’t want three bedrooms, then do you want to sleep with me in the same room?”

“…”

After browsing the houses with him for a few hours, Tang Cuo felt like the had walked through the entire Zone F. Then he came to a realisation: “Why do I have to live with you?”

He turned around and walked back, coming to the decision that he would rent a single room like his old room in Zone F.

Jin Cheng blocked Tang Cuo’s way with his long legs: “Are you really going to abandon me?”

Tang Cuo remained unflinching and continued to walk forward.

Jin Cheng stepped behind Tang Cuo, folded his arms and raised the corner of his mouth: “Can’t you follow me just this bit? If others see us like this, they’ll think that we’re fighting again.”

Tang Cuo stopped at once and stared at Jin Cheng with his remarkably bright eyes. A long moment later, he finally asked: “Then do you want to rent or not?”

“I do.” Although Jin Cheng sounded like he was making a compromise, his tone sounded light and not reluctant at all. Just now, he was clearly trying to annoy Tang Cuo. “You can rent whichever house you want, I’ll listen to you.”

Tang Cuo officially ignored him. He immediately turned around and rented the apartment that they had just viewed earlier, which had two bedrooms, one living room and one bathroom. The area wasn’t too large, but the facilities were complete and the price was decent.

The houses in Yong Ye City also had a rather cold decoration style, mainly using black, white and grey. This type of industrial style was rather fitting for two single men.

But this tough and cold industrial style was utterly destroyed the moment Wen Xiaoming came to them with a large bag of things.

“Cups, fruit plates, refrigerator magnets, pillows, oh, and these little ornaments. Lily has been picking them for a long time.” Wen Xiaoming said while digging out more things: “There are also these blankets, they’re very light, thin, and soft!”

Tang Cuo never knew that Yong Ye City provided such a comprehensive collection of household items. Picking out a stack of brilliantly red ‘happiness’ characters from these items, he asked: “What is this?”

Wen Xiaoming: “It’s Double HappinessI’ve explained this before, but if you didn’t catch it, here it is again. ‘Double Happiness’ is a ligature ‘囍’, which is composed of two copies of the Chinese character ‘喜’ [xi] (meaning ‘joy’). It often appears on traditional decorative items associated with marriage.

.” [T/N: Hahahahahahahahahaha (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ ]

Tang Cuo: “So I’m asking you what is this?”

Wen Xiaoming scratched his head, blinked a few times, tilted his head and smiled, choosing to pretend to be stupid.

Forget it, Tang Cuo told himself it was useless to beat him up.

Tang Cuo wasn’t a person who liked to indulge in nostalgia, and he never regarded any place as his home. If only he would live here, this would likely look like his single room back in Zone F, a place that was mostly empty except for some necessities.

Perhaps the item that appeared the most in the room was takeaway boxes.

But now, looking at Wen Xiaoming busy going back and forth and Jin Cheng leaning leisurely on the kitchen counter to boil water, Tang Cuo felt a little different.

Thinking about it, Tang Cuo sat down on the sofa and became slightly dazed. 

After a while, Jin Cheng came over with a glass of water, stood behind the sofa and rubbed Tang Cuo’s head: “Tired? Drink some water, go take a shower and rest. We aren’t in a hurry to level up. You can sleep a little longer. “

Tang Cuo’s body swayed left and right with Jin Cheng rubbing his head, but for once, he didn’t say anything. He took the water glass and went back to his room.

Wen Xiaoming immediately walked over, his eyes beaming brightly upon detecting some juicy gossip. He asked Jin Cheng in a low voice: “Boss, what’s going on with you and my Tang ge?”

Jin Cheng: “Your Tang ge?”

Wen Xiaoming: “Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue.”

Jin Cheng: “We’re wooing each other.”

Wen Xiaoming was massively shocked, but at the same time, he felt that this was expected. It was just that compared to ‘in love’ or ‘dating’, the term ‘wooing each other’ carried with it a slightly more devious intent.

“Then does Tang ge like you? Is he willing to be with you?”

“Use your brain.”

“Huh?”

“If he wasn’t willing, you would be beaten to death by now.”

“Huh???” Wen Xiaoming was at a loss. You two woo each other, why beat me up?I worked so hard for you, like your father and mother, what did I do wrong?

Tang Cuo heard everything from his room, because the soundproofing of this house wasn’t very good. As the man outside vowed to be with him, Tang Cuo fell into contemplation.

He had never been in love, but at least he had seen other people be in it, and he felt that ― other people seemed to not talk about love like that.

Somehow he felt that his youthful days were as good as being fed to the dog.

Holding onto such random thoughts, Tang Cuo fell asleep. He was really a bit tired. Although the dungeon [Before Dawn] didn’t take a long time or require lots of physical fights, it consumed too many brain cells. It made him tired in another way.

However, Tang Cuo could clearly feel that his physique had strengthened. Even though he hadn’t rested for thirty or forty hours, he only felt his head a little bit lethargic. He could even get up and fight now.

When he woke up, eight hours had passed.

Wen Xiaoming had long been gone, and a smell of fried eggs and toast came from the kitchen. It was Jin Cheng lazily leaning on the kitchen counter and showing off his sub-par cooking skill.

In that moment, if it wasn’t for the sky still being dark outside, Tang Cuo would think that he was still in the world of the living.

Hearing the sound, Jin Cheng turned around. Today, he was wearing very refreshing home clothes of ivory-white colour and his long hair was casually tied up. If it weren’t for the scar on his face, at first glance, he would look like a graduate fresh out of college or the coach of a school’s basketball team.

“Do you have any plans today?” He walked to the dining table with breakfast and put his hand on the back of the chair. With his noteworthy height and his long legs, he made quite a delightful scene to the eyes.

Being asked this question, Tang Cuo was stupefied for a few seconds, then he said: “Training ground.”

Jin Cheng: “Not today. The price of the training ground has been reduced, so there must be a lot of people now and we’ll get too much attention. Wait till it’s empty again and I’ll train with you.”

Tang Cuo: “So?”

Jin Cheng raised the corner of his mouth: “How about going to the movies? Movies’ price is also halved.”

Tang Cuo was expressionless.

Before falling asleep yesterday, he was still thinking that Jin Cheng’s ‘wooing process’ was different from others. But in just one night, how did he trot back to the cliched path of asking his crush out for a movie?

Boring.

“Do you want to or not?”

“.”

“Romance or horror?”

“Romance.”

Haven’t we had enough dungeons? Horror what horror.