The Trial Game of Life

“Lin Yandong saved him once.” 

The lady boss continued to breathe out more puffs, her eyes through the misty smoke looking as though she was seeing the past again: “It was a big dungeon where a few dozens of people went in at the same time. I wasn’t there, so I don’t know the specifics, but in the end, only a few people survived. All of Black Hat’s teammates died. After he cleared that game, he opened his miscellaneous store. A few years have passed since then and the people of Yong Ye City have changed a lot, so no one remember what happened.”

Jin Cheng: “He didn’t mention it to you?” 

The lady boss smiled sarcastically: “I’m just a lover, why would he tell me? If you want to know, why don’t you go to Lin Yandong? He came in normal, but his personality changed drastically after he came out. He always called his teammates his dearest brothers, but after they died, he never talked about them again. “

Tang Cuo seemed to think of something and asked: “Do you think the death of his teammates has something to do with his personality change?”

“Who knows.” The lady boss turned to Tang Cuo and smiled again: “In any case, we’ve broken up and no longer have anything to do with each other. But jiejie also wants to remind you to be careful of Lin Yandong. No matter what Black Hat is planning, he’s a civil servant and can’t directly attack other players. Lin Yandong is different.”

Tang Cuo smiled: “Thank you.”

Jin Cheng couldn’t stand it anymore and put the lemonade on his hand in front of Tang Cuo, then took over the job of asking questions: “One last thing, apart from Lin Yandong and Black Hat, who else also survived that year?

The lady boss: “The fortune teller in Zone B, but she hides herself in Zone B all year round. It’s not easy to meet her.”

This was unexpected.

After some time, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng left the izakaya and returned to Zone E. On the way back, the two stopped by Black Hat’s Miscellaneous Store, looking at it from across the street for a while.

The two didn’t bother covering up and just stared at it with such openness. One stood with his arms folded while the other leaned on the lamppost. Their shadows overlapped under the light, making an interestingly intimate sight.

“There are a lot of people here.” Jin Cheng said.

After three movements were used consecutively, most players either committed suicide in waves or got taken to forced missions. Yong Ye City was pretty much empty now, but many people were gathering around the unoccupied Black Hat’s Miscellaneous Store. Most of these people were dangling around the place and very few dared to came close. Many of them were hiding in the surrounding buildings, quietly peeping from both sides.

Jin Cheng didn’t know if An Ning’s people had arrived or if they were hiding in the dark. However, he and Tang Cuo were staying in a bright spot, putting up such a conspicuous entrance for Black Hat to see them.

Tang Cuo: “Do you think Lin Yandong is involved in this?”

Jin Cheng: “If so, he wouldn’t have given me the 6th Movement. But the dungeon of that year seems very important. Lin Yandong might not tell us everything that happened there. We should bypass K and check a bit on that incident by ourselves.”

“Are you worried about him telling Black Hat?”

“It’s a must to always keep ourselves vigilant against him.”

K was originally a good place to gather intelligence. Although his asking price was a bit high, he was always useful. It would be troublesome to not be able to use his services or bypass him as a source of information.

It was the first time that Jin Cheng felt so restrained. After coming to Yong Ye City for three years, his foundation was still too shallow. Once these old players and past events came into the picture, he quickly fell into a disadvantage.

After a long time of looking at the players wandering outside the miscellaneous store but no one going in, Jin Cheng said again: “Black Hat is probably in Zone A now.”

Tang Cuo: “Why do you think so?”

Jin Cheng: “Men with ambition always have guts, right? Now that Black Hat has made such a show, the elites in Zone A won’t be able to sit still. They may not be able to beat up this Jin Cheng, but shouldn’t they have enough nerves to enter just a miscellaneous store? Zone A is so lively, how can Black Hat himself, the very owner of the store, not go to check the results?”

Not to mention, being a civil-servant player meant that Black Hat was granted a no-death medal. No matter how powerful the other players were, they wouldn’t be able to make a move on him, unless they used some sorts of special methods.

Tang Cuo nodded, basically agreeing to what he said.

But the two guessed wrongly this time. The miscellaneous store in Zone A was indeed lively and many people were banging into it, but they only found out when they arrived that — Black Hat wasn’t here either.

One hour ago, in Zone F.

In a colourful space like a kaleidoscope, irregular and infinitely repeating formations were covering all sides. This space wasn’t a normal cube but a dodecahedron, with bells hung on each side, each of them naturally dangling towards the center, completely violating the law of gravity.

“Ding!”

“Welcome to the Infinite Market of Dreams.”

As the twelve bells chimed simultaneously, the twelve walls blinked like twelve LED screens. The irregular formations began to rotate and switch their position, and the next second, the twelve walls turned into pure white screens.

The white screens flickered and a black wizard hat appeared on every wall. Under the hat was a strange white mask that was arching into a wicked smile, no physical body seen below it.

One of the masks opened its mouth and looked at the two figures of one adult and one child standing in front. Its smile curved further into an almost ear-to-ear arch.

“I didn’t expect that my first guest would be from in Zone F. What do you want to order? There’s a discount for the first order.”

“I want the dagger hidden in the Book of God.” The little one said. She was wrapped in a red cloak made of linen, her bare feet exposed below looking slender and weak. Her small face hidden under the hood was pale from illness.

If Chi Yan and Tang Cuo were here, they would definitely recognise her as the little girl they met when they first came here, Zheng Yingying. Of course, standing next to her was Jiang He.

“The [Nameless Dagger].” Another mask opened its mouth this time. The wizard hat above the mask made an amused turn and pointed the tip downward, then it looked at them and said: “That’s not cheap.”

Zheng Yingying: “How much?” 

Wizard Hat: “It’s not a price that can be measured. But for the sake of my first guest, I can reluctantly name a price for you.”

Zheng Yingying: “Say it.”

Wizard Hat: “I want half of your heart, one eye and one pinky finger, and that you shall never be reborn.”

Zheng Yingying’s delicate eyebrows furrowed, her face showing hesitation and doubt for the first time. Jiang He standing beside her also became alert and immediately interrupted: “What will happen if she doesn’t have a heart?”

Wizard Hat: “Don’t worry, this is Yong Ye City, your soul is above everything. Your body is just a container for the soul, it can infinitely become stronger. You certainly won’t die if half of your heart is cut off, but what you’ll become in the end is beyond my control.”

Jiang He: “Since this is a business, you should make it clear.” 

Wizard Hat let out an eerie laugh. The next time it spoke again, it was another mask below Jiang He’s feet: “You’re really interesting. Don’t you know that Yong Ye City never provides after-sales service?”

Jiang He subconsciously pulled Zheng Yingying back. The moment he retreated, the mask above his head also spoke: “It’s the [Nameless Dagger] we’re talking about. You must have some nerve to ask for this thing as soon as you come here. If you don’t want to buy it, you can leave now.” 

As its voice fell, the irregular formations on the walls started to appear again, their brilliant shades circling around the twelve wizard hats, looking like blooming flowers and flapping butterfly wings. Their continuous transformations seemed endless.

The masks under the wizard hats also changed, jumping from one expression to the next in mere seconds, exuding an increasingly more bizarre aura as time flashed by. The bells that were swaying back and forth unanimously chimed a simplified melody of the [Song of God, Lambs and Crow], but there were no lyrics at all.

Hearing the sound of the bells, Zheng Yingying trembled under the cloak, but her eyes only became more resolute: “I’ll buy it.”

The bells went silent immediately and the swirling formations also came to a stop. The mask in front of her grinned: “I have to remind you that the Infinite Market of Dreams is a gamble of fate. What you buy is just an opportunity to own it.” 

A bright light flashed and two orbs of light emerged in front of Zheng Yingying.

“One represents ‘success’ and one represents ‘failure’. Once a choice is made, the transaction will instantly be concluded.”

As his expression turned solemn, Jiang He wanted to intervene, but he glanced at Zheng Yingying’s face and was stopped by her determined eyes. Zheng Yingying didn’t catch his glance, rather, she gritted her teeth and stared at the two light orbs.

After a while, she made up her mind to take the risk, reached out her hand and pressed the orb on the right.

“Ding! The transaction is complete!” 

The moment the announcement came, Zheng Yingying slumped to the ground and curled up in pain, her hands hugging her chest tightly. Jiang He hurriedly lifted her up to find that blood was flowing ceaselessly from one of her hands. Her pinky finger was no longer there.

Looking at her eyes, it seemed that one had been dug out, leaving only a bleeding hole.

Jiang He quietly clenched his fists, and at this point, a figure wearing a wizard hat finally appeared in front of the two of them. He held a tray in his left hand. On the tray were Zheng Yingying’s missing finger, her eye and half of a beating heart.

The hat’s wide brim covered his eyes and only a grin could be seen on his face. He immediately took out a dagger and threw it at Zheng Yingying’s feet: “Congratulations, it was a ‘success’.” 

But Zheng Yingying was feeling so much pain. The blood almost dyed half of her body crimson.

Jiang He wanted to pick it up for her, but Black Hat gave him a reminder with a smiling voice: “It’s a dagger cursed by God. If you’re not afraid of death, you can touch it.”

Jiang He’s hand stopped in its tracks and the legend of this dagger crashed onto his mind. This was a dagger that could kill God. Legend had it that someone hid it in a book in an attempt to assassinate God.

Where this story came from or whether it existed in the dungeon world or elsewhere wasn’t certain, but the dagger was real. God killed the assassin and imposed a curse on the dagger. From then on, the dagger possessed a special ability ― Devour.

Anyone who was stabbed by the dagger would have a part of his soul devoured by the dagger’s owner. Unless the owner died, whoever touched this dagger would be unlucky.

“I’ll do it myself.” Zheng Yingying finally heaved a sigh of relief. Although she still felt too painful to straighten her body, she raised her head and stretched out her hand longingly, then ―

She firmly clenched the dagger.

Fate was finally in her hands.

In all zones across Yong Ye City, one after another, Infinite Markets of Dreams opened their door and welcomed all their guests. But apart from Zheng Yingying in Zone F, no one saw Black Hat himself.

Half an hour later, when Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng left the izakaya, Black Hat was actually in the central area, in a private bar one block away from the izakaya.

He even sat by the window watching Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo leave.

“Are they the ally you’ve chosen?” He turned his head and looked at Lin Yandong, who was sitting opposite.

“Not good?” Lin Yandong asked back.

“Yong Ye City has existed for so long. There are thousands of people who can reach the peak, not just Jin Cheng. Most of them are short-lived or too conservative, who quickly go on to reincarnate. How can you be so sure that Jin Cheng is a special one?”

“With Tang Cuo, he may be.” 

Black Hat tilted his head and thought for a moment, then he shrugged and said nothing.

Lin Yandong stroked the prayer bead bracelet with his left hand and said: “Don’t you want to give me an explanation on those movements?”

Black Hat: “Didn’t you already know about me wanting to open the Infinite Market of Dreams? In any case, we aren’t on the same boat. The ones on the same boat with you just walked past here. Are you not afraid that I’ll tell them what you know about the Infinite Market of Dreams? “

“You can tell them.” Lin Yandong calmly replied.

“Heh.” Black Hat chuckled: “Don’t just lift a rock and drop it on your own foot. Jin Cheng isn’t a fool, be careful, he might turn to kill you in the end. “

“You don’t have to worry about it. Let’s talk, how do you want to end this matter?”

“I don’t think you’re in any position to collect debts from me.”

Lin Yandong raised his eyes and his hand that was twisting prayer beads paused, then he smiled: “Have you forgotten what happened back then? I saved your life. “

“You’d better not mention it again.” Black Hat’s tone became furious in an instant: “Mr. Lin, I never asked you to save me. “

“Then you can go die now.”

“……”

With such an indifferent remark, Lin Yandong successfully blocked whatever else Black Hat wanted to say. If it were still back in the dungeon of that year, Black Hat might have chosen to die and never come back, but after a few years, his line of thought had seen some changes. 

After a long moment, Black Hat came back to his composure and put on a solemn smile: “Well then, I can give you a clue to another movement for free, how about it? Jin Cheng asked K to give me a warning, and I don’t want to get into a fight with you all at the moment.”

After another half an hour, Chi Yan came to Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng’s apartment in Zone E. He was relieved when he finally handed the small bag he was carrying to Tang Cuo.

“Xiaoming ge asked me to give you this and said it was given by a person named Lin Yandong, and that you’ll know after looking at it. An Ning jie is still watching the miscellaneous store. Xiaoming ge has headed back to Zone A for now.”

Tang Cuo opened the bag and found two passes for Zone B.

Catching sight of them, Jin Cheng leaned on the sofa and said: “Lin Yandong didn’t want to tell the truth in person, so he gave us these two passes. This is to send us to find another party. It seems that he won’t see us for the time being.”

“He should know that we went to the izakaya.” Tang Cuo thought for a moment and asked: “You said that the fortune teller takes in customers once every three months, when will the next visit be?”

Jin Cheng calculated the time: “Coincidentally, it’s tomorrow.”

After that, Jin Cheng looked at the confused Chi Yan. As the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of the open door, he suddenly thought of a plan, then he smiled and asked: “Chi Yan, it’s been a long time. Your Tang ge has moved to a new home, do you want to stay here tonight?”

Chi Yan scratched his head: “Oh? Can I?”

Tang Cuo: “……”