Having already gone through the magic tool trial, Shangguan Cuihua and Wang Erma fell into a new round of "torment," while the players who had never seen these trials were excited to set off.
Hearing others talk about it was naturally nothing compared to trying it themselves. Shangguan Cuihua had gotten her magic tool on the first day—how could they not be envious? Even if they had to learn to dance, so what? Just dance! Whether male or female players, they were fully prepared to dance all night. Social death? For a magic tool, no shame.
The blue-name NPCs in the illusion were all ghosts doing guest performances. The material-identifying test was still alright; if you guessed wrong, the punishment wasn't harsh—it just turned one required task into two. Before the players could celebrate after learning that, they were forced to accept all kinds of bizarre demands.
The Dramatist who appeared as a blue-name NPC was the game's chief planner. Though she had many stories in her head and had learned a lot after studying with Miss White together with the ghost Storyteller, inspiration was not endless. She still needed more story material, so naturally, her request was that players write a story on the spot that could amaze and delight her. Fortunately, the player randomly assigned to the dramatist was Li Si, and her guess of the coral bracelet turned out correct—otherwise she would've had to write two stories.
But even a single story was enough to make Li Si's hair fall out. She hadn't ever gotten full marks on the 800-word college entrance exam essay back then—now she had to write a story? This was really too hard.
Over on the side where players had to dance or play chess, things were still normal. Coming up with a story took some brain power but didn't threaten anyone's life. The one who was truly miserable was Yuchi Goudan, who unfortunately drew He Guxia. After asking the basic question and hearing Yuchi Goudan guess wrong—he hadn't picked the agate bracelet—the blue-name NPC casually pulled out a wooden sword and swung it at a huge tree like something out of a fantasy film. The tree that three people could barely encircle fell instantly! Then the NPC threw the wooden sword at him, telling him to chop down two trees with it—
Yuchi Goudan felt his dropped jaw couldn't be reattached anymore, and that he definitely wouldn't get the magic tool tonight. Just as he prepared to slack off and drag things out so he could answer correctly tomorrow, the blue-name NPC gave him a dangerous look up and down: "You want to slack off?"
"If you can't chop down the tree, it's because your skill is lacking. If you don't train now, my demands tomorrow night will be far from just these."
"??!" Yuchi Goudan's eyes widened. So… he couldn't even slack off? He wanted to make excuses, maybe claim he wasn't feeling well today, but the NPC's gaze grew even more dangerous. He finally remembered the "warm reminder" telling them not to anger a blue-name NPC. He immediately straightened up and began practicing with the wooden sword with proper posture.
"Your strikes must be fast, must be strong!"
"Keep your stance stable, don't let your arms fall!"
"Stand properly! If you can't even stand firm, how will you train swordsmanship? If a hundred swings can't cut down a tree, then swing a thousand times, ten thousand times!"
The stern and cold voice echoed nonstop in Yuchi Goudan's ears. In this numb repetition of sword swings, it felt like his body no longer belonged to him. Besides fatigue and soreness, only numbness remained. It was only now that he recalled how impressed he'd been when he first saw this blue-name NPC—after all, she fit every image he had of a swordswoman heroine. But now?—He wished tonight were only a dream, that he hadn't entered the illusion trial yet, that he still had a choice, that he hadn't encountered this NPC.
On the other side, Nangong Meili's situation was much better than Yuchi Goudan's, though still enough to make one lose hair. She ran into Mu Xiaobai. When she first saw this NPC whose face was covered with white paper, she was startled—this looked even more ghostly than a ghost. But after answering the usual question and getting it wrong, Nangong Meili instead calmed down. Because her task was to cook two dishes. The two dishes were simple, and Mu Xiaobai was honest. She said: "Originally, I only needed you to make one Stuffed bean sprout (鑲銀牙) dish. Since you guessed wrong, add a Wensi Tofu as well."
Nangong Meili: "…What… are these things?"
Not understanding wasn't the problem. The dishes Mu Xiaobai named were all ones she had personally researched and made before, and she had even recorded videos of the process. When the player asked, she waved her hand to play the tutorial video, then produced all kinds of kitchen tools and the necessary ingredients, standing quietly to the side.
Her trial… was actually cooking? Nangong Meili looked at her own slender, fair hands. Even though she had done quite a bit of farm work these past few days, she had always taken great care of them before, so they hadn't changed much. She let out a deep sigh. To think that when she was alive, she had never stepped into a kitchen.
Stuffed Bean Sprout Dish, Wensi Tofu? As she watched the tutorial video—especially the part where the bean sprouts had to be hollowed out and stuffed with meat—she simply couldn't comprehend it. Why do that? Wouldn't stir-frying bean sprouts with meat taste the same?! And that Wensi Tofu—wasn't it just tofu? Why make it so fancy? What normal restaurant would even make such things? Nangong Meili never expected that playing a game in the Nirvana Space would actually give her the chance to "discover her culinary talent."
She had thought about not doing it and just muddling through. But… even though the blue-name NPC didn't say anything, that paper-white face kept staring at her… making her feel utterly uncomfortable. Add in the warm reminder, and Nangong Meili didn't dare get reckless. Besides, who knew if tomorrow's task wouldn't be these dishes again? With no other option, she took up the silver needle and bean sprouts and earnestly began hollowing them out one by one—
"WTF? Why does it break the moment I squeeze it?!"
"Okay, okay… take it slowly… good—damn! It even cracks open?!"
"It's fine, it's fine… this time will definitely work. Slowly hollow it out, stuff in the minced meat… good—damn—beep beep beep beep—"
...
Amid the censored cursing, Nangong Meili really got more and more fired up. By the time she finally managed to stuff ten bean sprouts and set them aside, more than half of today's illusion-trial time had passed. And seeing the amount… it probably wasn't even enough for a single bite. Her hands were shaking now, and her vision was starting to blur. After staring at the silver needle and bean sprouts for so long, she felt like she was about to go cross-eyed.
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"Too hard… it's too hard… I have no talent for cooking at all…"
But no matter how hopeless she felt, she had to keep working. After all, that paper-faced NPC was watching her every move.
On the other side, Zhang San and Huangfu Tiezhu were received by Deputy General Zhao Qianluo and Deputy General Li Bolian. It was worth mentioning that both Zhang San and Tiezhu guessed the correct materials, so they didn't have to suffer double punishments.
Zhao Qianluo's ability was shadow manipulation. At first, she hadn't decided what test to give. But after noticing what Xia Fenghua and Bai Yulai were assigning, she relaxed. So this was all just playing. Since that was the case, Zhao Qianluo set what she thought was a pretty simple test: "Shadow Escape."
The format was simple: within five minutes, the player must do everything possible to run away. She would summon shadows to chase and kill the player. Once the shadows touched them, the player failed and had to restart. Zhang San didn't take the game seriously at first—it was just like the "tag" game he played as a kid, right? But when the game started, the shadows let him run for thirty seconds first. He didn't take that seriously either, and at forty seconds, he was directly pinned to the ground by the shadow.
Zhang San was still dealing with Zhao Qianluo holding back her speed.
"Is this challenge really something a human can complete?!" Zhang San was in disbelief.
Li Bolian specialized in illusion arts, so naturally Huangfu Tiezhu's trial was also an illusion. As soon as it began, after a brief moment of dizziness, Huangfu Tiezhu seemed to return to the past. He was born with a cry, then slowly grew up. In the flow of memories, he experienced his past once again. His first steps, his first words, his first emotions and sensations—countless firsts intertwined as he grew through time, experiencing first encounters and first goodbyes.
He was an ordinary, unremarkable person—studying, growing, working. He met people who made his heart skip, experienced missed chances and regrets. Time moved on, and at twenty-eight, he brushed past a large truck, death just a few centimeters from him. Fortunately, the truck didn't hit him, but it did crash into the small car ahead, causing an accident.
In some vague sense, he felt something had changed, yet also hadn't. He kept working, kept repeating the same life, and then, urged by his parents, went on blind dates. He seemed ordinary, yet not quite; he often felt disconnected from the world. It felt like he had forgotten something, but his memories held nothing.
He worked normally, grew old, retired, and finally lay on a hospital bed. He seemed to have forgotten many things, an empty hollow place lingering in his heart. Only as his life slowly ebbed away did he suddenly awaken. Huangfu Tiezhu stared blankly at Li Bolian before him, realizing he had lived an entire lifetime inside the illusion.
And at that moment, he finally remembered the feeling he had at the moment the truck hit him—the regrets and dreams filling his mind, which became an obsession and eventually transformed into his ability in the Nirvana Space.
And all of that, he had completely forgotten in the illusion.
"You're awake? There isn't much time left, but do you want to try again?" Li Bolian glanced at the time. If Huangfu Tiezhu stayed firm enough this time, it wasn't impossible for him to break through the illusion.
Huangfu Tiezhu looked at his ability: World Within the Painting. He scratched his head in frustration. His ability was actually pretty interesting—his ultimate skill guaranteed that whatever he drew would become real for three minutes. His normal skill had a 50% success rate. After its evolution, he gained new skills like "Painted Skin," allowing him to alter his own or others' appearance for a period of time. He had always viewed himself as a support-type player.
Steeling himself, Huangfu Tiezhu pulled a pen from his pocket and wrote "Huangfu Tiezhu" on the back of his hand, then declared firmly, "Again. This time, I'll definitely remember!"
Li Bolian glanced at him, and as she activated the illusion, she erased the four characters immediately. As for anything in his memories tied to strong emotion or painting, none of it appeared this time.
"Tsk, I never said each illusion was built from your memories." Having cleared so many Black Mirror vortexes, Li Bolian was well-traveled and experienced. After thinking for a moment, she jokingly changed Huangfu Tiezhu's illusion scenario this time into the life of a young woman.
End of chapter (please click next chapter to continue reading!)