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What the flashy man said makes sense, but only if you don’t think about it too much. ‘Share in the spoils’ would presume that the man isn’t the least bit intimidated by a level V Instance.
Of course, his demonstration at the coast before did show he was pretty powerful, but the ability is situational. Without water, there isn’t a whole lot he could do. Otherwise he wouldn’t have risked angering Ying Sheng so that they could be switchedd.
Du Yixin decides to probe some more, asking, “mind if I ask about your level?”
“Sorry, but that’s a secret.”
As expected, he refused. The ability and its level are all trump cards, really. Anyone would think twice before acting if they didn’t know the exact details. Du Yixin has a guess in the meantime, and after saving, he walks in the other direction.
“Wait,” the man tires to stop him realising the dot isn’t moving quite in the direction he pointed, “I said straight on.”
Du Yixin keeps walking in the wrong direction and wouldn’t move.
There isn’t anything out of place a few steps in. He walks a few steps more, and the scenery remains unchanged. There isn’t any carnivorous flowers the host mentioned to be seen.
His conclusion was right.
There’s a little forced chuckle from the other side of the phone saying, “you didn’t believe me.”
“Hey, don’t put it that way. If I believed you, I’d have died.”
“I suppose you’re right,” then a short while later, the man asks, “how did you tell? I thought you’d have been convinced by what I said as a key owner yourself.”
Du Yixin catches on and asks first, “why did you think I have an ability in the first place?”
“It wouldn’t make sense otherwise. You didn’t object to being forced into the Captain role or show much reluctance at being switched into the challenger. People like that either have something to go on, or are hopelessly brash,” the man chuckles again, “I doubt you’re the latter. Can you answer my question now?”
Du Yixin shrugs and tells him, “maybe there would be people after a level V key, but not you.”
“Why? Do I look that weak?”
“Not that,” Du Yixin shakes his head, “you’re woefully underprepared. Your ability is related to water, so you should have brought things along related to that, but you’re carrying nothing. Just like you said, you’d be no different from a normal person away from the coastline.”
The phone is silent for while, but the man then admits it, “you’re right. I own a key, but I was dragged in unexpectedly. And really, even if I was prepared, I wouldn’t want to challenge a level V Instance in any case.”
So the guy’s key is unlikely to be really high in level.
“It’s my loss here,” the man seems to have made up his mind, “I’ll point you in the right direction afterwards.”
Then the call ends.
Afterwards?
Du Yixin concludes there must be several more intersections at least; he wonders how large the maze actually is.
Up to this point, all the intersections have split in two. He doubts that the ways with carnivorous flowers would also lead to the exit, so there should only be one correct path out.
He’s mostly certain Ying Sheng and the older sister wouldn’t lie, but he’s still on the fence about the younger sister and the flashy man.
Though he’s got the people’s personalities and motivations down pat at this point.
And his phone is ringing again.
After another full round of phone-based GPS, Du Yixin is already able to reliably tell who is lying and who isn’t. After making a final turn, he walks and is finally greeted by the exit.
Outside the maze it looks no different to the entrance. It’s entirely empty save for a porcelain doll with a megaphone.
The doll claps his brittle hands together, “congratulations on completing the mission! What a touching display of trust between companions to finally… oi don’t ignore me!”
Du Yixin has walked straight past him and is looking around, but the Group members are nowhere to be seen. He asks, “where are they?”
“You really should respect your show hosts more,” the doll seems hurt, but still answers, “don’t worry, they’ll be here soon.”
A few minutes later, the loud, whirring helicopter lands. The members disembark one by one.
The older sister is holding her younger sister’s hand in hers, and seems excited to see Du Yixin, “great, we’ve succeeded!”
The younger sister is biting her fingernails behind her older sister. She seems annoyed.
The little brat lied and tried to get him killed the entire time.
The flashy man gives him an innocent smile. While Ying Sheng… says nothing. He walks to the side in silence.
“Everyone!” The megaphone-enhanced loud noise draws everyone’s attention to it, and it continues, “‘Newcomers, Fight’ is a great success, with five newbies managing to stay until the very end! The most ever number of people remaining! Everyone sure did well.”
“What reward do we have for succeeding?” The older sister asks expectantly.
“Of course your reward will be——” There’s a spotlight on the host’s form, making the reflective porcelain glitter, “to be able to continue your journey up the Path to Fame and Glory!”
As expected. Du Yixin knows all too well by now how friendly the Instances are. Even if they do give them tools it’ll probably just be like in the Fairytale Amusement Park when they served no purpose other than letting them pass through the Instance.
The older girl didn’t know that, of course, and feels like she must have been a dumbo for expecting something like rewarding them with a ticket back home or at least some useful tools.
“There are twenty spaces in total,” Du Yixin says, “we at least have two more challenges to complete even if we get all sixes.”
Then he turns to the host, asking, “can you show me what I asked just now?”
“You all really need more passion,” the host is shaking his head in disappointment. Then, it points its hand into the air, where a screen fades into view just like the one back where they started.
The information for the six groups are updated in real time. Compared to the beginning, it’s practically flooded over with a crimson red. And as they read it, some new red crosses fill up the other groups.
“Th-, that’s…” The older sister is covering her mouth in disbelief. Compared to their 7-member Group, all the others have had even more casualties.
Right now, Group Four——That’s them, are at space #3. Three other groups are ahead of them, but two are behind them. In fact, both of them are still at space #1, with barely any members remaining.
It seems that they all had the misfortune of throwing ones in the first go. And in fact, they might even be in some devastating Group v. Group battle in that space, dragging the other Group back and not only being unable to advance, but even dying in droves in turn.
Du Yixin then looks at the groups ahead. His older brother’s group seems to be decent in luck and capability. They’re already at space #9. The next is Group Two, at space #7. The next one after that is Group Six, at space #6.
They’ll be able to overtake at least one of them if they throw anything above a three.
After everything is confirmed, Du Yixin takes his die out and says, “we’ll be starting the next challenge. Is everyone ready?”
The flashy man says a bit dejectedly, “we’d still have to go even if we’re not ready, wouldn’t we?”
That’s true. They cannot even rest, or they’d risk lagging behind more and more the other groups.
Du Yixin throws his die into the air. It spins and spins while suspended in the air, and when it stops, the top side has——four dots.
3 + 4 = 7. They’re going to space #7.
Wait, Du Yixin quickly recalls that space #7 is where Group Two is.
He tries to look at Group Two members on the screen on reflex, but unfortunately, teleportation has started as soon as the die roll is complete. The screen is gone, and so is the ‘host’ and the ‘helicopter,’ and everything else which is fading away. When the space left is only pure white, a new scene begins fading into view.
They’re standing underneath the ceiling of a large palace built into the mountains. It looks just like those castles depicted in fairy tales set in the European Middle Ages, though it’s largely abandoned and thus looks worse for wear. That said, there’s still ample clues among the debris hinting at its former prosperity and luxury. Several gargantuan pillars stand tall from the ground supporting the ceiling about several dozens of metres high. They are decorated in intricate, elaborate patterns. The wearing and weathering of the ages still fail to hide their magnificence.
Sunlight is pouring through the colourful stained glass, illuminating large oil painting of the Virgin Mary on the wall. With the baby Messiah in her hands, she has a loving, mysterious smile.
What is the most dazzling of all the features here is definitely the large crystal floating in midair behind them. It is of an aquamarine so vivid one suspects it must have locked an entire azure sky within. The noble, tranquil crystal that is rotating ever so slightly, is also casting a faint glow on its surroundings.
Even the timid sisters can’t help but be mesmerised by the beauty of the crystal. The younger sister looks dazed as she extends her hand towards it.
“Wait,” Du Yixin pulls her away, “don’t touch anything yet.”
“Hmph, stingy old man!” The little girl makes a silly face at Du Yixin before darting and hiding behind her older sister.
But honestly, this thing here looks so awfully suspicious. It might be a trap.
He looks around and the room is also filled with statues everywhere. These statues have the exact same face as those porcelain dolls, with their heads the size of torsos and and fixed, unchanging, creepy smile.
These statues are seriously out-of-place in this imposing castle compared to all the other décor of the place.
Besides that, the big red door at the other side of the room is also rather strange.
When Du Yixin is about to check it out, a voice suddenly rings out from nowhere.
It clears its throat, and begins, “challengers! Welcome to the variety show ‘The Alliance Wars,’ sponsored by the popular MOBA game ‘Alliance of Heroes.’ We would like to thank them for their generous support.”
It is the exact same voice as ‘xiao-Mei,’ ‘xiao-Gang’ and that host from the last challenge. It seems like this is the NPC for this challenge, though he remains unseen.
It continues blabbering on about nothings before finally getting back onto the topic concerning them.
“With the Red and Blue teams finally in place, we’ll be going over the rules.”
“If the Red team successfully pushes the Blue team’s crystal, then it’s Red’s victory, and vice versa.”
“The teams each consist of five members. In any encounter, they may choose to issue a PK challenge.”
“A PK challenge is fought with ‘rock, paper, scissors.’ The loser will be punished by the ‘Referee.’ Any other methods of challenge is not officially sanctioned, and any who breaks this rule will be punished accordingly by the Referee as well.”
“The crystal you can see right now is the ‘tower’ you must protect. It will crumble immediately if there is physical contact between it and any member of the opposing Team. Do remember this well.”
“The winning Team will be allotted two chances of throwing their die. Then everyone, let’s work hard to push the other team’s tower down!”
Then there is a sharp electrical interference before the voice cuts off.
The older sister seems a little lost, “what? ‘Rock, paper, scissors’? And if it crumbles at a touch, then can’t we just sneak over?”
Du Yixin has played MOBA games before himself, but he’s not exactly a good player. It seems this time the challenge is a simplified version of a MOBA game.
The girl is right. Put simply, they win if they touch and ‘push’ the enemy Team’s crystal. But right now, there’s equal numbers of players on both sides. They’ll definitely both try their hardest to thwart any attacks. Both sides will definitely station people besides the crystal. Even if they’re able to sneak past any enemy, they’d have to expose themselves sooner or later so that they can touch the crystal.
Assuming the other Team’s crystal is exactly where theirs are, then there’s practically nowhere to hide.
If discovered, they will be dragged into ‘PKs.’ This might be a good thing for the sisters, but for Ying Sheng, it is debilitating.
Since theoretically, it forces everyone into a toss-up.
“Captain, what are your thoughts?” The flashy man asks.
If they fail this challenge, he’ll probably have to Load just to make up for lost ground. In any case, Du Yixin saves first.
“Anyway, let’s start with the basics. We’ll divide into the Defenders and the Pushers.”
Author’s notes: I updated this chapter on my phone, so I’m not sure if the formatting might get messed up. I’ll correct it later if that’s the case.
TL’s notes: Bug in the plot – the author just said every other Group had less members remaining than Du Yixin’s group, but suddenly there’s this Group Two with exactly 5 members just like them?
Oh and by the way, since I’m not a fan of LoL, or any other MOBA games, I basically looked up what these terms are called and applied them as-is. If you think any of them are weird/doesn’t make sense, feel free to give feedback!
Oriental Rabbit 