“What do you mean?” Su Shan turned back in confusion to look at Lin Qin and Qin Dingdong, her gaze seemingly hoping the two veterans could provide an answer.
But Qin Dingdong and Lin Qin had never boarded a Zodiac’s train either, so naturally they didn’t understand the meaning behind Earth-Dog’s words.
“It’s nothing.” Earth-Dog answered proactively. “Just daily complaints.”
Su Shan turned back and took three “Dao” from each person, then handed them to Earth-Dog.
Earth-Dog pursed his lips but ultimately took the admission fees reluctantly. He stretched his muscles and bones, seeming to transform into a different person, then turned to open the door behind him.
This appeared to be a glass shop with considerable floor space.
“Slacking off is one thing, but once the admission fee is paid, it’s my work time.” Earth-Dog said with a serious expression. “For the next period, I will do my utmost to kill you all.”
That single short sentence sent chills down Zhang Chenze’s spine.
It was hard to imagine such words—completely contrary to all law—being spoken so solemnly from someone’s mouth, as if it truly were as casual as an ordinary job.
Everyone followed Earth-Dog through the door and discovered this place was quite different from the game venues they’d seen before.
This glass shop, nearly one hundred square meters in area, had been cleaned spotlessly. Various fragments and debris had all been tidied away. Even the various glass items displayed inside had been wiped free of dust—it was virtually no different from a shop in the real world.
How could this possibly be the work of someone who “slacks off”?
“Were we deceived?” Su Shan said. “You’ve cleaned this place so spotlessly—you clearly want people to come in and look around, right?”
“Don’t think too highly of yourself.” Earth-Dog said coldly. “When I’m working, I only want to do my work well. No one can make me slack off. And when I’m slacking off, I only want to slack off. Whoever tries to make me work, I’ll fight them to the death.”
“What a strange person.” Su Shan said.
“Strange dog.” Qin Dingdong corrected.
Earth-Dog led everyone to the center of the room, where several large structures made of glass stood. They reached from ceiling to floor and looked like several enormous fish tanks.
Qin Dingdong reached out to tap these massive tanks and discovered the glass constructing them was very thick, seemingly made of special material.
“Be careful not to leave fingerprints.” Earth-Dog said. “They’re troublesome to wipe off.”
Qin Dingdong shot Earth-Dog an annoyed look, and when he wasn’t paying attention, she deliberately smeared a large handprint on the glass.
Su Shan looked inside these large fish tanks and found each contained something resembling a lectern, with two small holes on top—their purpose unknown.
The floors and ceilings inside the glass rooms were made of wire mesh, and the floor on one side seemed to have many mechanisms installed.
Earth-Dog walked to the wall and pressed a switch, changing the atmosphere inside the room.
Several spotlights descended from various places, shining precisely on the five large fish tanks in the center. The rest of the space inside the shop became pitch black. The entire venue seemed to have become a large stage, with only the few fish tanks gleaming brilliantly under the illumination of the lights.
“Everyone, please let me explain the rules.”
Earth-Dog brought the group to the side of the large fish tanks and introduced them: “The rules of this game are very simple. As long as any one of you four can defeat me, it counts as your victory.”
“Defeat?”
“Yes.” Earth-Dog nodded. “Each of us five will have our own glass room. When the game begins, everyone will be in their respective glass rooms.”
At this point, everyone looked at these towering fish tanks. Their arrangement was very regular.
In the middle was a cylindrical glass room, with a square glass room positioned directly in front, directly behind, directly to the left, and directly to the right of the cylinder. The rooms were spaced about two to three meters apart from each other. Because they were made of glass, people in each room could see the situations in the other rooms.
What was interesting was that the glass used for each of the four square rooms was different—upon close inspection, they had faint colors.
Pink, green, orange, blue.
And the cylindrical glass in the center, upon closer look, was made of bright red glass.
“It looks like there are five rooms for the five of us.” Su Shan said. “Although the four of us have surrounded you, we can’t actually touch you. How can we ‘defeat’ you?”
“You don’t need to defeat me in the literal sense. As long as you can defeat me within the game rules, it counts as your victory.” Earth-Dog patiently explained to everyone. “You can think of this game as simple prop-based combat.”
“Prop-based combat?”
Earth-Dog nodded and pulled out several wooden slips from his suit pocket.
When everyone moved closer to look, these wooden slips resembled fortune-telling sticks from temples.
“Each of you will start with two different ‘sticks.’ When it’s your turn, each person will receive one new ‘stick.’ Different ‘sticks’ have different functions.” Earth-Dog walked to one of the square glass rooms and opened its door. “If you’re ready to use a certain ‘stick,’ you insert it into the small hole on the right side of the desk surface, which counts as using that stick to ‘make a wish.'”
Lin Qin moved forward to take a look. This was roughly similar to playing a card. The lectern inside the glass room stood on the floor with two small holes on top—just the right size to hold one “stick.”
“What about the other small hole?” Zhang Chenze pointed at the hole on the left and asked.
“That’s exactly what I was about to explain.” Earth-Dog answered. “If you insert the ‘stick’ in your hand into the left hole, it will be passed to the next person on your left, which counts as a ‘gift.'”
“‘Gift’?”
“Yes.”
Earth-Dog casually picked up a “stick” and inserted it into the hole on the left side. The “stick” quickly disappeared into the opening, and a few seconds later, it popped up on the desk surface in another glass room.
“This is gifting.” After demonstrating, Earth-Dog said to everyone. “Each turn, you can only choose one action. Choosing to ‘make a wish’ means you cannot ‘gift,’ and if you ‘gift,’ you cannot ‘make a wish.'”
Su Shan frowned as she looked at the room. From inside, the room’s glass was indeed very thick. If someone stayed in here, they probably wouldn’t be able to hear sounds from outside at all.
In other words, although the four people needed to defeat “Earth-Dog,” they wouldn’t be able to communicate during this game.
If they couldn’t communicate, the “gift” rule would seem very strange. After all, neither the person passing out the “stick” nor the person receiving it would be able to know what the other was thinking.
“Additionally, something to note…” Earth-Dog added. “Whether you choose to ‘gift’ or ‘make a wish,’ you can only consume one ‘stick’ per turn.”
After hearing the rules, both Lin Qin and Qin Dingdong felt something wasn’t right—
This game was a bit too difficult.
But Su Shan didn’t seem very concerned. She raised her head to look at the ceiling of the glass room, where there were many grids that seemed like they would drop things during gameplay.
Su Shan nodded, then turned back to ask: “Earth-Dog, what’s the name of your game?”
“My game is called ‘Year of Calamity.'”