Chapter 2: Closed beta player

Good!

Sun Yuan almost fist-pump in excitement.

As the only closed beta player, he was confident. The second level of the deadly tripartite was exactly as he experienced back then. 

Calm down!

Sun Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, but everyone else was in agony. How they wished they could just die instead of experiencing such torture.

Another evil question.

How short were five seconds?

You could barely take three breaths!

It was simply too hard to contemplate and answer the question in five seconds, not to mention writing it down. 

The oppressive atmosphere was suffocating.

There were even several students standing around dazed. Their minds had already stopped functioning.

Five!

Four! 

Three!

Two! 

One!

The countdown by Silver Trojan was like a cold breeze blowing from the North Pole, cold and cruel.

“Time’s up; please stop writing!”

Following Silver Trojan’s voice were three explosions. Cui Min, Liu Yue, and Li Hanyang had their heads burst open by an unseen force.

They failed to write down their answers. 

Amidst the blood and mutilated flesh, the headless corpses fell forward onto their desk.

Ah!

Students around them jumped back in fear, causing a commotion.

“Let me check, what did all of you write?”

Silver Trojan was like a teacher marking examination scripts. Every player had their names, and their written answers appear on the blackboard.

“Appendix! Appendix! Another Appendix!”

Silver Trojan was amused, “Haha, twelve players answered appendix!”

Due to the widespread use of mobile phones and the Internet, youths nowadays are much more knowledgeable. 

As the most useless organ in the human body, losing your appendix was not a big deal.

“Hmm, two players wrote hair.”

Silver Trojan praised, “Quick thinking!”

“Is hair even an organ?”

Zheng Chun was shocked.

“I suppose so.” Silver Trojan’s affirmation allowed the two who chose hair to heave a sigh of relief.

“Fuck. I thought about writing hair, but I wasn’t sure.”

Zhuo Wen, who sat beside Sun Yuan, slammed the table in frustration.

“Five players wrote nails which are, as a matter of fact, organs.”

Silver Trojan continued reviewing, “Haha, what the hell is with this armpit hair? It doesn’t matter. Student Lu Wenjun, you pass.”

A short-haired girl patted her chest in relief. 

“Sun Yuan and Shen Jingran. The both of you wrote wisdom teeth. Not bad, you even saved yourselves a trip to the dentist. On the other hand, students Wang Xu and Zhou Ze performed worse. The two of you will regret writing teeth soon.”

Silver Trojan’s joke made everyone’s heart skip a beat. 

Was the second level not over yet?

Shen Jingran looked at Sun Yuan, evaluating him with her beautiful eyes. 

Excellent performance, to think we gave the same answer. I suppose he qualifies as a teammate. 

“Zhao Limin, you wrote dead skin?”

Silver Trojan was curious, “Are you sure it’s an organ?”

Swish!

Everyone turned towards the short girl.

“I… I was distracted. I only wrote it because I noticed the dead skin on my hand.”

Zhao Limin stammered as she cried.

“Lucky girl, you got it right.” 

Silver Trojan evaluated. It then announced, “Steel yourselves. You are going to lose whatever organ you wrote in three seconds.”

Three!

Two!

One!

The pain.

It was torturous for those who wrote teeth and nails. They felt as if they were being cruelly tortured by traitors, having their teeth and nails plucked off one by one with a rusty plier.

Unimaginable pain.

Students who wrote wisdom teeth, appendix, armpit hairs, and dead skins did not look different from before. Those who chose hair went bald. It was Wang Xu and Zhou Ze who suffered the most.

They lost all their teeth because they wrote it as their answer. They looked horrendous, flapping their gums like the elderlies. Their speech was affected as they could no longer articulate properly.

“Don’t worry, so long as you are willing to spend some points, you can receive medical treatments. You can even undergo facial surgery, let alone fix a few teeth.” 

Silver Trojan consoled. 

The numbers on the blackboard were updated.

Total participants: 45

Dead: 20

Alive: 25

Everyone was feeling depressed, but Silver Trojan paid them no heed. It went on to announce the start of the third level. 

“This level is called Othello. You will pick a side, black or white, and write it down. The side with the least players will be eliminated.”

Silver Trojan explained the game rules.

“You have five seconds to write down your answer.”

The room went silent.

“I disagree!”

Zheng Chun could no longer withstand the pressure as he leaped to his feet and questioned Silver Trojan. “If you test my IQ and I fail, fine. I only have myself to blame for being stupid. But this level is practically luck-based, how is this fair?”

“If you continue questioning the rules, you will be eliminated,” warned Silver Trojan.

Those who were planning to complain all kept their mouths shut.

Sun Yuan swept his gaze across the classroom.

Gripping their pens, everyone was disconcerted.

Their life was on the line, after all. 

“This level is actually testing the player’s courage to take a leap of faith!”

Sun Yuan bit his lip as he thought.

When he played this game in the past, he failed this level thrice. He knew that the correct way to clear the level was to give everyone a hint, causing everyone to choose the same side.

Shen Jingran lowered her head, resting her gaze on her white suspenders.

Should she give everyone a hint?

But she would be dead if her action was an infraction of the rules.

She stopped her train of thoughts as she turned over to Sun Yuan.

How was he going to handle the situation?

That was when she heard Sun Yuan coughed twice.

The coughs were tantamount to thunder, disrupting the silence in the classroom, attracting everyone’s attention.

“Eh? Why is the rain pink?”

Sun Yuan pretended to be surprised as he stood up and stretched his neck. He looked out the window as he continued, “It sure is pouring, as the water flows down three thousand feet, the source was thought to be the Milky Way!”1

Several students, including Shen Jingran, had a spark of understanding in their eyes as they listened to the poem.

“Sun Yuan, what are you trying to do?” asked Silver Trojan.

“I’m not doing anything.”

Sun Yuan feigned ignorance as he continued, “It was my first encounter with pink coloured rain. I was so touched that I had to express myself with a POEM.”

With Sun Yuan’s emphasis on the word ‘poem,’ anyone who did not understand was beyond salvation.

“Poem?”

A few students displayed a look of confusion.

When Sun Yuan successfully deduced the key to clearing the first level, he caught everyone’s attention. Now that they are in a conundrum, they naturally look towards him, hoping for a hint. 

He did not disappoint as he recited a poem.

“Isn’t that the poem by Li Bai? Wait a minute, white2?”

Zhuo Wen was overjoyed, “Is Sun Yuan hinting for everyone to pick white? Yes, it must be!”

The brighter students already caught on, but they were still hesitant. Hence, they stared towards Sun Yuan. Despite looking as though he was going to doze off any moment, Sun Yuan lightly tapped the side of his head.

“Sun Yuan, cease all action!” scolded Silver Trojan

“Ah? What is it now?”

Sun Yuan scratched his head as he feigned puzzlement, “It’s a habit of mine when I think, what’s wrong?”

Everyone felt a tingle down their spine as they listened to his rebuttal.

Do you have to be so fierce?

That cube kills as it pleases. 

However, we understood your intention.

Thanks!

As such, even the most dim-witted student managed to understand the hint. Li Bai’s poem, Watching the Lushan Waterfall, was of great renown after all.

As long as one noticed that the poem was composed by Li Bai, they would get the hint, white.

Despite the countdown, no one was flustered. Everyone had already written down their answers. In comparison to the previous levels, everyone was only slightly nervous.

“Congratulations everyone. All 25 of you wrote white, successfully clearing the level,” announced Silver Trojan.

Oh yeah!

The crowd cheered as they savoured the feeling of escaping death.

“Great saint, it’s all thanks to you,” Zhuo Wen addressed Sun Yuan by his nickname in the dorm as he lightly punched him on the shoulders.

They were good buddies who shared a bunk bed together. They also like to read novels, play video games, and enjoy Banqiao store’s beef noodles on Second South Street.

“Waah, it’s all thanks to you that I chose white!” Lu Wenjun said as he burst into tears.

“I was originally going to pick black!” Zhao Limin patted her chest, fearing the aftermath of such a decision.

“Ahem!” Sun Yuan coughed as he maintained his poker face, hinting for everyone to shut up.

Stop saying such things with Silver Trojan around. Are you trying to get me killed?

 “Don’t worry, now that the deadly tripartite has ended, I won’t kill anymore!” retorted Silver Trojan.

The true motive of these three levels was to sieve for players such as Sun Yuan, who differentiated himself from the crowd with his courage as he rallied the others.

It should be noted that it did mention that any form of communication among the players was punishable by death. 

Additionally, seeing so many people die before them curbs even the most courageous. As such, for Sun Yuan to be willing to risk his life as he gave a hint with his poem recitation…

His courage and intellect deserve the praise of all humanity.

As Silver Trojan browsed the channel, it received a notification that a divine being had bestowed some rewards.

Sun Yuan also received the notification.

“You have received a new reward message. Please check it as soon as possible!”

He muttered [Menu], bringing up a virtual screen. He reached out to tap the envelope icon on the top right-hand corner of the screen.

A message pops up.

[The noble saintess appreciates your courage and has bestowed you with one divine coin. She looks forward to your future performance.]

What is this?

Why does it feel like I am live-streaming?

Sun Yuan was stunned. He did not remember seeing such settings in the version of ‘Civilization Attack’ he played.

However, the addition of new functions was normal in a newly launched game.

It seems like everything we just went through was caught by some mysterious viewers!

I was rewarded for my exceptional performance.

Divine coin?

How many points is it worth?

“Wow, to think player Sun Yuan would receive the favour of a divine being so early in the game, earning himself a divine coin.”

Silver Trojan commented, “This is the currency with the greatest purchasing power. You have struck gold!”

“How many points can I exchange the divine coin for?” asked Sun Yuan.

1 Mc recited part of a poem ‘Watching the Lushan Waterfall’ by Li Bai, I apologise if I butchered the translation here.

2 Bai (白) from Li Bai, also mean white