The first half of the game
Several people entered through door No. 2 one after another, but none of them were the people An Ying wanted to see.
He stood on the second floor, watching the entrance. The door kept opening and closing, and far more than three people had already come in. Clearly, the door connected to more than just the entrance of Gambling House · Spring.
After Moonlit Night had said those unpleasant things to him at the start, he had disappeared again, coming and going without a trace.
But there were other people here whom An Ying knew, and he could exchange information with them.
"I came in some time before you did, through Gambling House · Autumn. I asked around, and this door connects to the doors of Gambling House · Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, as well as some smaller gambling houses. About thirty or forty people have come in through our door No. 2 so far," a middle-aged woman told An Ying, gripping a gun tightly and keeping an arm's length away from him.
An Ying also told her the rules he knew.
"The rules in Gambling House · Autumn were much the same as yours. Although we didn't get all the rules, a few of the ones we've tested overlap with yours." The woman lowered her voice. "We weren't allowed to gamble in Gambling House · Autumn either, and we couldn't break the precept against lust, either. We ran into a team that was satisfying its needs among its own members. When they started talking dirty and getting handsy, they were eaten by a mouth. The woman was still alive."
"The other Weirds were the same as the ones you mentioned. When we broke the gambling rule, weights and ghost hands appeared for us too, but some people were also killed by the shoulder-perching Weird."
An Ying said, "It seems that as long as a rule is triggered, the Weird that appears is random."
"That's how it looks for now."
They called it a casino, but gambling here triggered a rule, and breaking the precept against lust triggered one too. Yet...
An Ying looked at the other NPCs. Gambling was allowed in this gaming hall, and it seemed to support the sex trade as well.
The two places were like two separate settings, with completely opposite rules.
An Ying put the matter aside for the moment and exchanged more information with the woman about the Weirds' rules.
"One of the Hearts Weird's rules is that she can't be seen or heard. She forcibly controls your body, and answering her is very likely to get you killed," An Ying said.
"We ran into the Diamonds Weird," the woman said readily. "We've figured its rules out pretty thoroughly, so you'll have to give me one more piece of information."
"All right. You go first."
"The Diamonds Weird's weapon, a claw hammer, isn't lethal, but anyone it hits is certain to be seriously injured. It also has a suction effect, though I don't know how that rule is triggered. This Weird has no facial features and can neither see nor hear. We don't yet know how it locates its targets."
An Ying knew less about the Diamonds Weird than she did. When they killed one, they usually ganged up on it, and the Weird generally died before it could use its rules.
"I'll add one more thing. The Spades Weird is the Shadow Toddler Weird. It's very hard to kill, and its rule's weakness is light."
"The Spades Weird... Thank you. We hadn't encountered that kind of Weird before." The woman breathed a sigh of relief.
"Since you've killed Weirds, you also know you can get playing cards when they die?"
"Yes. The Weird we killed only dropped one card." The woman frowned. "The Weirds in the first round of the death chase were ridiculously strong. We only got that one card at the cost of a teammate's life."
"The playing cards must be important items." An Ying didn't have Tao Yuan or Qin Rang's brains, but he wasn't stupid. "Our game is about comparing cards, so it's very likely related to the values of the cards we're holding."
The woman looked up at the stacked floors, each surrounding an open central space, her expression tinged with hesitation. "If that's the case, we're in trouble. How many people can kill a Weird? You can only get these things by killing Weirds. If that's really how it works, not many people here will survive."
With that, she looked at An Ying. "If we're enemies the next time we meet, my team and I won't go easy on you just because it's you. Your team saved a lot of people, but I won't give up my life either."
She wasn't saying that for An Ying's benefit, but for the livestream that might appear beside him.
"That's all I know. Once the second round of the battle royale begins, I hope we don't meet again."
An Ying watched impassively as the woman returned to her team and stepped onto the stairs leading upward.
He lowered his eyes, and blood-red text appeared before him once more.
[Countdown: 0:00] [Time's up. The game entrances are closed. Players who have not entered a game room, enjoy the thrill of the death chase!]
The text vanished. Those who still hadn't found a place in the Weird instance, those who were hiding, and those fighting at the entrances all froze, because densely packed black shadows had suddenly appeared within their sight.
The same black shadows appeared in the game room, but there they gradually transformed into humans wearing splendid formal attire and perfect smiles. Outside, the shadows all transformed into various Weirds.
"Welcome, honored guests, to Game Room No. 2. On behalf of the Exalted, I hope you all obtain rewards that satisfy you in this game room."
At the very center of the first floor of Game Room No. 2, a man in a flashy suit spoke, his voice reaching everyone's ears. Those who had arrived early and already found hiding places also followed the sound to the railings and looked down at him.
"On behalf of the Exalted? A Weird sure has some nerve," someone scoffed.
"Now, I will explain the rules of the game room's card-comparison game."
"The card-comparison game is divided into two halves, and the rules are simple. In the first half, each guest must find a playing card with a sufficiently high value. These cards may appear anywhere. The time limit is twenty-four hours. Any guest who has not found a playing card when time runs out will, regrettably, be eliminated from this game."
"The second half is the card comparison. The guests must carefully discover the rules of the game for themselves. The guest who ultimately holds the highest-ranking card will earn the right to leave safely. The other guests must remain here and wait for the next group of guests."
"Enjoy yourselves."
The rules were brief. Compared with other Weird instances, this one's rules were simple and blunt, with no word games.
The NPC disappeared after explaining the rules, leaving only the NPC attendants following the people around. Everyone stayed where they were, looking at one another, but no one made the first move.
"It doesn't sound hard, but first we need to know where the cards come from."
"They're hidden anywhere. Does that mean we just have to search for them? That sounds a little too easy."
"Let's go look first."
Once the first group started moving, the rest quickly followed. Before long, An Ying was the only one left there.
Only a handful of people here were currently acting alone; most had entered in teams. An Ying wasn't worried about failing to get a card, though. Before coming in, he had already obtained one, the eight of hearts. He had taken it out when the game began just now, and it could be used here too.