The farther they went up the mountain, the thicker the fog became, and the darker the sky grew. That large mass of dark clouds in the sky seemed to be brewing a torrential storm. The players sat inside the sedan chairs; the sedan chairs were steady without any jolting, but the higher they went, the more they felt they couldn't breathe.
—Should they wait until the sedan chairs reached the mountaintop before taking action? What would happen next? Were the sedan chairs and the carriers really normal?
Just as the players, full of suspicion, contributed wave after wave of emotional value, they suddenly realized that the gongs and drums outside had vanished in an instant! The entire journey became frighteningly silent; they couldn't even hear a single footstep, only their own deliberately suppressed breathing and the increasingly rapid pounding of their hearts inside the sedan.
Closer, closer still—getting nearer and nearer to the mountaintop.
Gusts of chilly wind made the paper-like sedan chairs rustle noisily, and the players each grew more alert. Yet no demons jumped out after all; the fragile, paper-like sedan chairs carried them steadily up the mountain, directly reaching the summit. The players could clearly feel the sedan chairs being set down.
They didn't rush out, but waited for a moment. After confirming nothing strange happened, they cautiously poked their heads out and found seven sedan chairs placed together, front and back, but the sedan carriers and the ceremonial musicians had all vanished without a trace.
The sky at the mountaintop grew even gloomier. Under the dimness, the various magical tools worn on their wrists as small ornaments began to emit a faint glow. The silver zen staff in Shangguan Cuihua's hand and the golden kasaya on Wang Erma shone the brightest!
Stepping out of the sedan chairs, the players nervously and cautiously continued forward. After a short stretch of mountain path, the moment Li Si, who was walking last, stepped into the summit, layers of thick black mist immediately wrapped tightly around all the players.
The glowing light from the magic tools in their hands illuminated the lines on the ground. Just as the players were still trying to figure out how this gameplay worked, Ji Huaichu waved a large hand in the darkness. The black mist rapidly spread beneath the players' feet, countless black shadows reaching out with grasping hands, scaring the players so much they jolted violently.
"Ghosts! Ghosts!!"
They obviously knew there were definitely ghosts and monsters in the game, but after playing for so long—absorbed in working odd jobs, academy challenges, and breaking through illusions—they had completely forgotten about this. Now, suddenly having their ankles grabbed by ghostly shadows, each of them turned pale with fright, wildly swinging the magic tools in their hands. Wherever the light shone, the black mist receded, and the black ghost shadows naturally disappeared as well.
"Use the magic tools to dispel the black mist. The light from the tools can illuminate the lines on the ground—this might be some kind of sealing formation!" Shangguan Cuihua waved her zen staff; under the glow, she saw something in the golden patterns lighting up on the ground. Mountain god? Ritual? Perhaps the game's setting required players to bring the magic tools to seal these fierce ghosts at regular intervals.
After hearing this, Wang Erma swiftly snapped open his kasaya, lifting it and swinging it hard. The kasaya emitted the strongest light. He began running quickly; whenever the black mist pressed toward him, he blocked it with the kasaya. Most of the time, he lowered the kasaya to illuminate the patterns on the ground. "Here! This is… this looks like some kind of bracelet? You guys come try!"
"The zen staff is here!" Nangong Meili held her giant clam bracelet; the golden lines under her feet formed the pattern of a zen staff.
"The kasaya is here!" Huangfu Tiezhu shouted loudly, raising his amber prayer beads.
"Hurry, find each position first and then try it. The black mist is getting stronger!" Not much time had passed since they climbed the mountain, but the black mist and ghost shadows were clearly becoming more resistant to the magic tools. Obviously, even with the tools in hand, they wouldn't be able to hold out for long—they had to activate the formation quickly.
"Thumb ring!"
The players ran swiftly. The mountaintop itself turned out to be the entire ritual altar—the place where the sealing formation was located. Without the blessing of incense, players without body enhancement normally wouldn't be able to run back and forth even a few times, not to mention that after the players figured out what to do, Ji Huaichu secretly increased the power of the black mist, making the little ghosts even more troublesome.
The agate bracelet and coral beads, the giant clam bangle and amber prayer beads were not easy to distinguish in the patterns, but when the players stood in seven positions forming a "Seven Stars" pattern, they found that some golden lines simply didn't light up—they then understood which tools were placed in the wrong positions.
"Damn, why is it so far away!" Yuchi Goudan nearly rolled his eyes running. He swung his agate bracelet hard, scattering the black shadow lunging at him from behind, then sprinted desperately toward the last pattern.
Hidden in the air, Ji Huaichu couldn't help repeatedly asking Mu Anqi in his heart: "Can't I really step in and act as the big boss? Not a single one of these players has been eliminated."
Mu Anqi: "But if you step in, wouldn't that be a total party wipe?" These players were working together and behaving decently. The game could have plenty of expansion packs in the future; this was only the second test—why be so harsh on the test players? Even on hell difficulty… Mu Anqi had never seen a ghost king personally intervene in someone else's game.
"Fine." Ji Huaichu seemed a little helpless, but after thinking about it, she remembered she built this game for Mu Anqi in the first place. As long as her little money tree was having fun, the clear rate didn't matter at all. As for profits… with this massive influx of emotional value, it was guaranteed profit no matter what.
Once the seven stars at the mountaintop were gradually lit, the connections between the patterns slowly appeared. A massive formation covered the entire mountaintop. Under the blazing golden light, the seven magic tools rose into the air and converged above, like a brilliant golden sun driving away all gloom!
The black mist dispersed, the ghost shadows retreated, and one shrine after another emitted faint golden light, brightening one after the other from the mountaintop all the way to the foot of the mountain.
—The radiant "sun" in the sky scattered into countless golden motes, falling like golden rain upon the sacred mountain. The players stood frozen in place, gazing up at the sky. The golden light landed on their hair and fingertips, disappearing in an instant.
Time seemed to stop. The howling cold wind vanished; the entire mountain fell utterly silent. Then a gentle breeze brushed softly across their faces, as if the invisible mountain god was expressing gratitude. The dark clouds hanging over the village completely disappeared, leaving clear blue sky and drifting white clouds. The seven players stood under the sunlight at the mountaintop, more relaxed than they had ever felt.
[Game cleared: Fate Drama. Level evaluation in progress—]
[Level evaluation: A (Drama Farmstay welcomes your next visit~~)]
[Clear reward points: 500]
[Extracting official player clearance reward item—]
[Congratulations, player has received: Delicious Big Meat Bun ×5]
[Delicious Big Meat Bun]: A specialty of the Farmstay, a tasty and juicy large meat bun.
[Return to the Nirvana Space via teleport?]
Shangguan Cuihua's expression was complicated. She couldn't help looking at the village below. Though she couldn't see anything clearly—You call this a farmstay?! And the reward they drew was truly unique—wasn't this just the buns from the village bun shop! This could be a reward?
But she thought of the "completely ordinary paper crane" she drew from the previous instance and relaxed a little. At least the meat buns were edible.
But then she glanced around—why was everyone else holding a bag of buns too?
This game's item drawing was definitely rigged!
"Come, come, come! Everyone add each other as friends, let's make a group chat!" Huangfu Tiezhu waved enthusiastically. "But don't put this instance's name as a note, I never want to be called Huangfu Tiezhu again!" Just thinking of the torment inside the illusion trial made him never want to hear those four words again in his life.
"Added! Added!" Wang Erma typed quickly. "I've saved two team-up cards and never used them. Once the rest period is about over, if anyone wants to form a team just say it in the group, I'll invite everyone!"
The players excitedly exchanged contacts. When everything was done, they stepped into the portal and returned to the Nirvana Space to rest and spend points. Mu Anqi looked at the now-empty mountaintop, glanced with slight worry at her points balance— the testing adjustments were very effective. If she cleared another troublesome Black Mirror vortex and earned a vacation, she could go traveling happily again with Ji Huaichu.
"Come, come! Let's look at the emotional value ranking—time to hand out salaries and bonuses!~"
Her staff worked diligently, and her friends also worked hard acting as various NPCs. Even He Guxia, the ghost king, deserved a bonus for joining! Mu Anqi distributed rewards directly through the system based on contributions, which quickly caused some dissatisfaction.
[Zhao Guogu]: Isn't there something wrong with this bonus? Why do my sweetheart and I only get 200 points each?
Mu Anqi: You used my game to date during work hours. The fact I'm not charging you extra is already generous!
[Zhao Guogu]: Fine, fine. If there's something this good next time, remember to call me again!
In this cheerful atmosphere of distributing bonuses, this round of game testing came to a perfect end.