The Trial Game of Life

Tang Cuo went to the study on the second floor alone, but he still couldn’t see anyone because the study was separated into two zones by a huge black curtain in the middle.

He was on this side of the curtain, while the fortune teller was on the other side.

Jin Cheng said that the fortune teller was called Yan Ye, a lady who had stayed in Yong Ye City for more than ten years. She opened this fortune-telling room after she levelled up to Zone B and had never stepped foot into Zone A.

She had been hiding behind the curtain for so many years, as if trying to avoid something. The last time Jin Cheng came, he never got to see her face.

“What do you want to fortune-tell, the past or the future?” A cold female voice came from the other side of the curtain.

“You took the initiative to invite me in. Since you know that I’m coming, you should also know what I want to fortune-tell.” Tang Cuo stared at the curtain. With no wind in this room, the curtain was like a still painting, not moving even the slightest bit.

“If you don’t say it yourself, the divination won’t work.” She replied.

It wasn’t easy to talk her out.

Tang Cuo thought for a moment and said: “I want to know what happened in the dungeon that Black Hat, Lin Yandong and you went through together.”

Yan Ye: “That has nothing to do with you. My divination is only for your own fate.”

Tang Cuo: “Black Hat used two movements in a row, which affected every player, so of course it has something to do with me.” 

Yan Ye: “You’re twisting the words to be in your favour.”

Both sides fell into a brief silence.

Tang Cuo asked: “What are you afraid of?”

Yan Ye sneered: “Did you learn that arrogant tone from him?”

Tang Cuo: “Yes.”

Perhaps his frankness, in which he wasn’t hesitant at all to let Jin Cheng take the blame, had Yan Ye lost for words. Before she could respond, Tang Cuo continued: “The reason why the secret is too heavy is because there are only few people who know it, so everyone is burdened with too much weight. Once the secret is revealed, the pressure will naturally be lifted.”

Yan Ye: “You speak so very lightly of such a matter.”

“So you can choose to make me not speak that lightly. Since the [Twelve Movements] emerged, Black Hat has taken the stage, plus Lin Yandong, Jin Cheng and definitely a few others. The wheel of fate has begun to turn, so now is the best time to break the secret. What are you waiting for?” 

The other side remained silent for a long time before finally saying: “You’re just like Jin Cheng. You have a glib tongue and your personality really gets people on their nerves.”

Tang Cuo nodded: “Thank you for the compliment.” 

But even after he spoke so much, Yan Ye still showed no sign of wanting to spill the secret. She even said: “I’ll give you one last chance. What do you want to fortune-tell, the past or the future?”

Tang Cuo asked: “Why me?”

“Fate tells me it’s you.”

“You can’t even control your own, how can you understand other people’s fate? How can a puppet who is also at the mercy of fate be able to predict other people’s fate correctly?”

“Get out.” She seemed to be so offended that even her voice sounded like it carried ice flakes.

Tang Cuo didn’t flinch.

The two sides were in a stalemate, or it should be said that Yan Ye got into a stalemate on her own volition. A full ten minutes later, the voice came from behind the curtain: “Ignorance truly makes people fearless. I now finally understand why you and Jin Cheng are together.”

Tang Cuo suddenly felt curious: “Is that determined by fate?”

Yan Ye: “Everything happens because of fate.”

Tang Cuo had always believed that the so-called ‘fate’ was just a psychological trick, but this was Yong Ye City, where even gods might exist. That mysterious thing called ‘fate’ might be harder to judge here.

“I choose the future.” He said.

“Tang Cuo, your future is full of uncertainty.” Yan Ye’s answer seemed to contradict what she had just said. She spoke very slowly and paused in the middle before saying ―

“I can only give you one advice: When you get the Golden Movement one day, remember to exchange it for an Easter egg game from Yong Ye City. The name of the Easter egg game is [The Gift of God].”

After speaking, the woman suddenly coughed violently, so much so that her lungs seemed like they would fly out soon. Tang Cuo frowned, stepped forward, but just as he was about to open the curtain, the voice sternly yelled at him: “Stop!”

Tang Cuo stopped at once, and the woman’s tone became slightly gentler: “Don’t cross the boundary, Tang Cuo.”

Tang Cuo considered her words for a moment. As his eyes stared at the black curtain, several thoughts flew by his mind, and he quickyly made some judgement of the situation. After five seconds, he stepped back slowly.

“You can go now, Tang Cuo.” Yan Ye’s voice sounded a little tired: “But since you’re very cooperative, I’ll give you one last suggestion.”

“Aren’t you curious about Black Hat’s motive? You shouldn’t care too much about what happened in his past. When necessary, look at the palm of your hand. People’s fates are all inextricably linked, and you’ll find a surprise if you follow that link.”

“Is this surprise located inside a dungeon?” Tang Cuo asked.

Yan Ye chuckled but didn’t answer.

Five minutes later, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng met together and left the fortune-telling room.

There were still many people waiting outside the villa. Since Yan Ye received three customers at a time, two spots still remained and the rest would naturally not give up so easily.

On the way back, Tang Cuo told Jin Cheng about the dialogue between him and Yan Ye. At the end, he asked: “Which movement is the Golden Movement? Is it the final compilation of all the movements, or is it a specific movement?”

Jin Cheng: “It’s the First Movement.” 

After a pause, he pondered a bit and said: “So it seems that the key clue is inside [Kingdom of Hidden In The Moonlight]. Looking back at the side mission that I triggered in the second round, we may really be able to get a movement if we get to the end.”

Tang Cuo nodded: “That’s the only thing that seems to connect the three parties.” 

In this matter, between Black Hat, Lin Yandong and Jin Cheng as well as Tang Cuo, what was a common thing? Tang Cuo thought carefully about it: Apart from the fact that everyone was a player, there was only [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight].

The relationship between Lin Yandong, them and [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight] was obvious. Meanwhile, the four items that Black Hat asked for seemed to come from a Western Fantasy dungeon.

After going around and around, they still ended up having to enter that dungeon.

“But before that, we still have to try the Infinite Market of Dreams.” Jin Cheng said.

“Uhm.” Tang Cuo said and confirmed again: “Is it a market for gambling?”

Jin Cheng: “That’s what K said.”

Tang Cuo: “Then let’s take Chi Yan with us.”

“Why?”

“Because he has great luck.”

It was the safety talisman that Chi Yan gave Tang Cuo that helped him to directly find the key to the mansion’s main door. There was no doubt about this luck.

That afternoon, they found Chi Yan and said they would take him to the miscellaneous store. Chi Yan, a xiao di who had unconditional trust in Tang Cuo, didn’t need more convincing and immediately followed along.

On the way there, Jin Cheng thought he should learn more about how Chi Yan was doing: “What is your current ability? Have you started choosing your game class yet?”

Chi Yan scratched his head in embarrassment.

This was the first time Tang Cuo saw him embarrassed. As he was about to ask why, Chi Yan rolled up his sleeve and showed them a huge pattern on his arm. It was of dark gold colour, with a dragon and a tiger intertwining with each other, totally enough for the laymen to start calling him a gang boss. 

“Ge, don’t get me wrong, ge, I didn’t join the gangsters!” Chi Yan hurriedly explained: “This is called a Kylin Arm. It’s a metaphysics thing and could give me a very high Critical Hit rate!”

“Critical Hit?”

“It means that I can exert several times my real strength every time I strike, and it’s very likely to hit the opponent’s fatal opening. But this depends on probability, sometimes it’s only a small percent. The most powerful thing is that it also has a Good Luck buff. If I use this arm to open a reward chest, I’m definitely going to get lucky! The safety talisman that I gave you last time is also thanks to this!”

Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked at each other and their faces both turned solemn.

Luck was really a metaphysics thing.

At the Game Hall in the central area.

The news that Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng appeared in the fortune-telling room in Zone B had spread. After the players discussed in small groups, they could roughly infer that those two had obtained a pass.

The name Tang Cuo was once again mentioned.

“There are so many people in Yong Ye City. It opens once every three months and entertains three people at a time, thus making only twelve in a year. And because the fortune-telling room is in Zone B, almost no newcomers from low-ranking zones can enter. I don’t think it’s a simple matter that Tang Cuo managed to earn a spot this time.”

“Based on reliable sources, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng entered the special trigger dungeon together. His strength is not much behind Jin Cheng.”

“Hiss, aren’t the newcomers lately too terrifying?”

“He even has the guts to touch the [Twelve Movements], and adept players are nothing in his eyes.” 

“……”

After a while, the news came that Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng had entered the Black Hat Miscellaneous Store, causing another undercurrent to crash onto Yong Ye City. Many people couldn’t sit still and immediately headed to Zone E to join in the fun, saying that they wanted to see this battle of ‘contenders of the [Twelve Movements] clashing head-on’.

However, Tang Cuo’s group had entered the store long ago, and the Infinite Market of Dreams existed in a different dimension, so they naturally couldn’t see anything.

Right in the first second of stepping into the miscellaneous store, the three noticed the changes around them. The grocery store full of shelves was gone, replaced by a colourful dodecahedron space.

The whole process felt like walking into the mission wall to enter a dungeon.

“Ding!”

“Welcome to the Infinite Market of Dreams!”

There appeared the twelve bells and twelve wizard hats that were exactly the same as what Zheng Yingying and Jiang He saw, but Tang Cuo didn’t know that those two had been here.

Jin Cheng gave Chi Yan lots of items and assigned him the role of completing the transaction later, which meant that the stakes were bet on Jin Cheng, but the luck was from Chi Yan.

It was important to note also that Chi Yan’s Kylin Arm was a rare skill that could actually make Jin Cheng jealous, so he had to see its effect.

The mask under the wizard hat said: “What do you need? Please tell me your boldest and wildest request.”

Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: “I want the [Twelve Movements], do you have them?”

The reply now came from the wizard hat on the sidewall closest to him, which smiled and said: “Customer of mine, your imagination is average but your ambitions are marvellous. The [Twelve Movements] are forbidden and cannot be sold. They can only be circulated among players.”

Jin Cheng: “What if I only want to buy information about them?”

Wizard Hat: “You can order it, sir. If a player puts the information about the [Twelve Movements] on the market as a product, this store can open a trading space for two of you. Both parties can complete the gamble without having to worry about your identity being leaked.”

The gamble?

It seemed that this was more than just buying and selling.

Jin Cheng looked at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo understood at once and began to give Chi Yan instructions.

Chi Yan listened carefully and soon understood what he meant. Then he cleared his throat and made his request: “I want the Gemstone of Dreams. What is its price?”

The wizard hat above his head suddenly smiled and scared Chi Yan to jump up. He looked up and saw the peculiar white mask staring at him with two black holes in its eyes: “The Gemstone of Dreams is produced by a dragon, which could help overcome all illusions and enhance the wearer’s mind power. You need to bet at least three high-quality equipment.”

Chi Yan immediately glanced at Tang Cuo, and when Tang Cuo nodded, he picked three items from those that Jin Cheng gave him then pushed them out to test the waters.

The twelve wizard hats simultaneously looked over, and once again, the irregular patterns emerged on the white wall, constantly transforming their shapes. Staring at them for a long time would make people feel their head heavier, as if their whole person was spinning in a zero-gravity space.

“Don’t look.” Jin Cheng raised his hand and pressed Chi Yan’s shoulder. Chi Yan quickly recovered, and two orbs of light suddenly appeared in front of him.

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

Chi Yan swallowed hard and hesitated for a second before stretching out his hand. His Kylin Arm was already activated and the dark gold patterns hidden beneath the sleeve was glimmering with a faint light.

Chi Yan believed in his luck, but this wasn’t his equipment after all, so he was still a little nervous. When he was about to touch the light orb, he turned his head back to confirm with his two ges again.

This one?

Jin Cheng nonchalantly shrugged at him, As you please.

Chi Yan decided to risk it all and firmly reached out to grab the one on the right. The moment his hand entered the light orb, he knew it was a success. He opened his palm and took a look: Wasn’t this a gemstone as big as a dove egg?!

Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo exchanged glances again and said at the same time: “Let’s do it again.”