Chapter 1 – Trickster Game

OCTOBER 30, 2022~M1ZUSHI

In the laboratory, the roar from the huge explosion shattered the eardrums, and the flames triggered in the highly oxygenated environment quickly took to the air and involved all the matter that could be touched. The roar and screams of the soldiers could still be heard over the loud noise ——

It was all over.

……

Yuan Yuxue opened his eyes again.

Strangely enough, he hadn’t been destroyed.

Yuan Yuxue, the first-generation war robot, was in urgent need of destruction due to a huge program flaw detected. His memory still lingered on the moment he was pushed closer to the laboratory and put into the containment. But when the body functions worked again, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar place.

The protective suit on his body seemed to have been replaced with some kind of overly thin but soft fabric, sticking to his waist. Yuan Yuxue lifted the small piece of fabric from below and found scarlet wounds on his waist and abdomen.

In the course of the mission, his body was partially damaged. Because the damage rate was not high, there was no researcher to repair him after the war.

It was just strange that the energy that should have spilled out turned into sticky blood. The broken hull also turned into tumbled human tissue, causing him to touch it blankly.

There was still no pain.

Yuan Yuxue examined the hull. The highly lethal light energy weapon was disassembled out at some point, and the hull seemed to have done an accessory downgrade, resulting in a significant change in form, or at least a significantly lower self-repair ability.

A wound like this, he used to need only three days to self-repair, but now according to the speed of injury repair extrapolated, it may take more than half a month.

Mobility has also been greatly reduced.

Yuan Yuxue thought when he stood up to move his body.

The energy reserve has 201 left and was about to run out.

It may also be the reason for the degraded parts. He could not contact the laboratory, or even connect to any nearby space station.

Unable to locate it, the terrain anchor point was completely blank.

It was as if he had arrived at a place beyond the mark of interstellar territory.

When Yuan Yuxue made another signal contact, a young man behind him said, “Hey, are you all right?”

It seems that his perception had also decreased.

He didn’t find anyone else here.

Yuan Yuxue’s eyes fell on the left rear and scanned the lifeforms around him.

Male, 21 years old in bone age, no abnormal external signs, and the body structure belongs to human beings.

However, the other side is covered with special energy signs that only robots have – a strange energy source that Yuan Yuxue has never seen before, which is looming out from the body. As a result, Yuan Yuxue made a mistake about whether the other party’s identity was human or robot.

I’ve never encountered such a strange organism, so Yuan Yuxue’s scan and analysis took a little longer.

He tilted his head and stared straight at the other party, his long, thin feathered eyelashes trembling gently.

“……”

The man with curly hair, who was stared at by Yuan Yuxue, was a little stunned after his eyes met briefly, and staggered nervously.

From his perspective, the unknown newcomer wore a silver mask of strange material that fit his features well, blocking his entire face. Although there are some oddities, the players selected are various, and there are many people who dare not show their true faces and hide their heads and tails.

What was more impressive, instead, was the pair of eyes that the other party revealed, special enough to be unforgettable.

A pair of beautiful eyes.

The reason why the emphasis on it being special, was because when he (YYX) stared closely at himself, when their eyes met, there was a strong sense of impact visually, strange taste spread in his heart, and he didn’t speak very hard.

After a pause, Curly’s voice was still bad, but he did not have the faint impatience before. He just urged: “What are you going to do after all? The task is about to start.”

—Tasks.

This keyword is like engine oil lubricating dry gears, which triggers a certain mechanism of Yuan Yuxue.

Is this his last task before being destroyed?

Although it is not clear why there is a new task suddenly, and the tasker who seems to be working with him is also very strange, Yuan Yuxue still nods in coordination.

Curly glanced at him again, and his head dropped a little invisibly. “Keep up.”

Curly was leading the way.

Yuan Yuxue followed the trend and scanned the current location.

They were in a villa built at the top of a steep mountain range. The building seemed to stand out of nowhere, almost piercing the clouds, like a huge monster. Yuan Yuxue wanted to continue to explore, but the strange energy wall block the exploration system, as if there was only one villa in this space.

Due to the energy shortage, Yuan Yuxue only scanned the general terrain of the villa, unable to explore the detailed internal map in detail. Just from the feedback, he found out that there were many dislocation spaces and some strange energy bodies hidden in it.

They had already arrived at the lobby when Yuan Xuxue analyzed the exploration report.

This villa was a little primitive and old, and the interior decoration was obviously a little dated.

The conference table in the middle of the hall was paved with red velvet tablecloths, which is spacious enough to allow more than 20 people to surround the table. There are mahogany armchairs on both sides, with golden red pillows. The smooth and soft leather surface made it look like a very comfortable place.

A handsome and aggressive man sat at the top of the long table, his hands folded, and looked at Curly when he walked across the front door of the living room with Yuan Yuxue. His eyes were sharp as if he could see through the skin to the heart of the person. The lips pursed down slightly, forming a very unpleasant arc. He seemed to be a man with a little bad temper, or even, a ferocious man.

Yuan Yuxue had no feeling for such sharp eyes.

“Captain.” Curly sat next to the man and said in a muffled voice, “I’ve brought it back.”

The man called the captain by Curly nod slightly.

As Yuan Yuxue found a seat that belonged to him, from either side of the long table, it was unknown who spoke out, “It looks like our newcomer has finally found his place.”

A pun of irony.

Curly, who was responsible for bringing Yuan Yuxue back, was probably in a bad mood. He stared at the person who made a noise, which made the person immediately shut down. The long table was quiet again.

In fact, this kind of malice can also be seen. Who would have thought that an inexperienced new person would be selected in this B-level copy. The newcomer not only didn’t hold his thigh well, but also left the team and acted without permission. At first, he was a pig teammate who would cause trouble.

Many people are quietly looking at Yuan Yuxue.

Even if their hearts have fallen to the bottom of the newcomer’s evaluation, but it is still difficult to carry a gap to pick on each other some unwarranted problems, such as the current Yuan Yuxue, not only does he not look like a prick, but he’s also even quite well behaved.

He sat in his position, his spine straightened into a line, his hands on his closed legs, a very upright sitting posture. Even though he was satirized maliciously just now, he did not reply, but lowered his eyes, as if he was trembling uncomfortably with his slender eyelashes. Aside from wearing a weird mask, the whole person looks like the kind of simple and well-behaved student that people remembered as a good student who has not yet touched the social atmosphere – the kind who will feel guilty if he is bullied casually.

At least the old players who were full of complaints and criticisms about the newcomer who left the team without permission just now, at this time, the nameless anger in their hearts has been suppressed for some reason, and they moved away their eyes.

Yuan Yuxue was also observing them.

Some of these people can be identified as human beings, but some of them are covered with weird energy bodies just like curly hair before, which confused Yuan Yuxue’s judgment.

They are strange collaborators.

“Now everyone is here. As companions who will be working together for an entire copy next, perhaps we can get to know each other a bit – you can call me Rabbit.”

It was a young woman with white skin and bright eyes like ruby who broke the strange atmosphere by opening her mouth.

She stood up and pointed to Curly again. “This is my partner too. Curly.”

Curly nodded impatiently, acquiescing that Rabbit introduced himself to him.

“As for this one, he is the captain of our team, and we usually call him Team Leader.”

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Sitting at the top of the long table, the serious man who seemed to be difficult to get along gave a light “Hmm”.

Almost immediately, everyone had a tacit understanding: in this escape game, these three people, especially the team, were the core players.

In a Survival Copy, temporary teaming is a very common operation, but there are not many people who can obtain the fixed teaming qualification recognized by the system.

Among them, the team with special props that can bind the team members to join the copy is even rarer. Therefore, in general, the presence of a fixed team in the copy shows that these people are not weak, and other players will take them as the main core leaders to cooperate with them in the common clearance.

Before the survival rate is guaranteed, publicity is the least important thing.

The youth who had mocked Yuan Yuxue earlier was the first to cooperate. He lifted his gold framed glasses on the bridge of his nose and said, “My name is Glasses.”

A girl wearing a white shirt and a light white skirt then said, “You can call me Skirt.”

“Ah …… call me Heipi (dark skin).” The male student next to Skirt said indifferently – his skin was actually not considered dark, only purposely tanned out of the bronze, compared to others it appeared a little darker skin tone.

“A-Jin (Gold).” The young woman who spoke was tall, with blonde hair and a light cold perfume.

Rabbit, Curly, Team Leader… names like this are certainly not real names. But this is almost the tacit consensus of all players in the escape world.

On the one hand, it is to ensure the security of the real identity. On the other hand, it is based on the fact that this is a survival game, not a dating game, and everyone is just assigned to the same copy of the friendship, so there is no need to waste time on memorizing names. A simple code with dominant characteristics that can be remembered quickly is the most suitable place for this occasion.

After all the introductions, everyone’s eyes subconsciously fell on the new man who never spoke. Curly’s sight is even more unobtrusive. With a little urgency, his fingertips constantly fell on the table, making a dull sound.

For Yuan Yuxue, self-introduction is a bit strange.

Most of his former collaborators were also war robots, and their names and numbers are written in the default program. Even if there are very few human collaborators occasionally, the other party absolutely knows what his name is – Yuan Yuxue is a well-known name to some extent.

After everyone’s introduction, Yuan Yuxue recorded their names and corresponding data into the program, and then realized that he had to speak too.

When Curly opened his mouth to say something with a black face, Yuan Yuxue raised his head, and his black eyes seemed to shine under some special light refraction.

“…… Yuan Yuxue.” He spoke clearly.

Rabbit smiled a little and thought, “It’s really a newcomer, very cute.”.

Curly thought with a foul face that he could not understand the hidden rules, and he reported his real name honestly – that should be his real name, right?

But even if Yuan Yuxue didn’t give himself a code, it was still easy to match his name with his own.

Although the new man nearly covered the whole face, he could still see a little pale skin and a long neck exposed under the mask. His skin color is really white like melting snow, which makes the name fit him inexplicably. For a while, no one even pointed out the wrong demonstration of Yuan Yuxue.

At the same time, the old wall clock hanging in the hall suddenly sounded, and the shrill voice rang through the villa interior.

The pointers coincide in one place.

Twelve o’clock at midnight.

Noticing this not-so-good time, Glasses’ lips pursed a little tighter.

The crowd suppressed their impetuous minds and concentrated on preparing for the dangerous situation they might encounter next.

At the same time when the wall clock rang, several servants in strict clothes poured in at the gate, their bodies bent slightly and their skin color was pale. Finally, the man who came out was a butler in a black tuxedo, wearing a black hat, and with regular features. But as soon as you move your eyes away, your mind forgets his face again.

The dull sound of black leather shoes on the ground stood still.

The housekeeper sounded with a strange tongue curling voice, “Dear guests from afar, thank you for coming as scheduled to participate in the host’s birthday celebration. I hope you can have a pleasant and indulgent time here.”

“The celebration has begun. Master Andre is waiting in the dining room for you to move.”

At the same time, all the taskers received reminders from the system.

The task panel was refreshed.

[Copy • Trickster Game ActivationApril 1st is the birthday of your mutual good friend Andre. You were invited to the villa and prepared to give Andre a birthday gift that you had carefully prepared.Andre refused.He only hopes to spend the day happily with his friends and let visitors satisfy his bad taste——Master Andre, who is keen on mischief, invited his friends to play tricks, record their funny expressions after being frightened, and put them on the big screen of the banquet hall for live broadcast - this is his 18th birthday gift.You'll satisfy him, won't you?Main task: survive for 24 hours.Side mission: Cooperate with Andre to complete a trickter game.Newcomer tip: The participation of the copy will determine your final points.Countdown to the end of the task: 23:59:41]

Yuan Yuxue’s eyes locked on the translucent system page that appeared in front of him.

Silver smoke-like light converges in one place, and the font emits a light golden pattern, just enough to occupy the side of the sight, and not so much as to block the gaze to form a visual blind corner.

Yuan Yuxue was very familiar with this task panel.

In the past, the laboratory used a similar system panel when assigning tasks.

Yuan Yuxue is more sure that this is the final task he will perform temporarily before he is destroyed.

It’s just different from the very purposeful task command in the past. This task is very strange. The goal is……

To live?

What benefits can this bring to the laboratory?

Yuan Yuxue thought confusedly.

When everyone moved their legs a little reluctantly and was forced to go to the dining room under the gloomy eyes of the housekeeper, the young man still stayed where he was, looking down as if he was thinking something.

Curly couldn’t help glancing at him again and again. Finally, he stopped and urged him, “Hey, what are you being so stupid about, ah?”

“Catch up quickly. It’s not feasible to hide here for a copy clearance.” Curly grinded his teeth and taught him, “According to my experience, anyone who violates the setting at the beginning will die miserably.”

“……” Yuan Yuxue was urged to stand up silently.

His movements were so large that the unhealed wound on his waist suddenly tore open, and the warm blood finally penetrated the hem, leaving a layer of traces on the dark fabric.

Curly had smelled a bloody smell from the beginning, but he only thought it was the smell from some corner of the dilapidated villa. At first, he could see the newcomer’s waist was strangely wet, and his eyes widened slightly——

Curly’s hair got up fast.

Almost in the blink of an eye, he walked up to Yuan Yuxue, frowned and locked his eyes tightly on the bloodstain. “Are you hurt?”

“When did you get injured? Did you …… you just left the team to find out if there were any medicine bandages?”

Injury was a serious concept for Yuan Yuxue. He did not lose combat capability, but his body was partially damaged, which was far from the standard of injury for him.

So Yuan Yuxue shook his head and said calmly, “No harm.”

Curly looked at him, as if he was angry, and his eyebrows were almost frowning.

“Whatever you say, it’s not me who will die of pain anyway.”

He turned around and took a few steps, then urged impatiently, “Keep up… Keep up.”

Curly walked very fast and didn’t mean to wait for anyone. Soon, they were walking side by side with Rabbit at the forefront.

He bowed his head and whispered a few words to Rabbit.

The voice was very low, but Yuan Yuxue’s hearing was far beyond the human’s keen level. He heard Curly’s voice quickly ask:

“Rabbit,”

“Have you brought the ‘Red Potion’… please give me some.”

 

TL note: A-Jin: A can be added in front of relatives’ names to show intimacy

Yuan Yuxue (元欲雪):

Yuan (元) The head is the highest part of the human body, and its function is very important, so it means the first and the start by extension. It is also used to represent the origin of all things in the world, and it has a fundamental meaning.

Yu (欲) is desire, to hope/want for something.

Xuě(雪) is snow

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