Beds, tables and chairs, floor-to-ceiling doors and windows, a balcony.
Warm air leaped over the window frame and into the room, curiously surveying every corner, gently brushing the curtains and teasing his hair. Its warmth was intoxicating.
The strands of hair tickled Cheng Shi a little. He suddenly opened his eyes and found himself lying on a soft bed.
This was...
A room at an inn?
He rose in surprise and looked around. The room was fairly spacious, but there was no one inside.
He was alone!
Cheng Shi's heart gave a thump, and he frowned slightly.
This was the first time in any trial that he had opened his eyes without seeing anyone.
As he'd said before, any change meant a new risk.
Cheng Shi didn't dare be careless. He quickly got out of bed and cautiously inspected everything in the room.
Only after discovering that there were neither magic arrays nor traps did he finally let out a small sigh of relief.
During his inspection just now, he seemed to have heard some movement next door.
Could it be that this time, everyone had their own room?
Thinking this, Cheng Shi crept back to the bed and reached toward the wall beside it.
But just as he pressed his ear against it, preparing to listen to what was happening next door, he heard a faint, almost imperceptible sound of breathing.
!!!
At that very moment, on the other side of the wall, someone else was also secretly listening for activity in his room!
Cheng Shi's pupils contracted sharply!
But although he was startled, he wasn't afraid at all.
Because he knew that if he had been the one eavesdropping, he would have held his breath and focused completely, without letting out the slightest sound.
Since the person opposite had deliberately made a little noise, it meant this wasn't eavesdropping. It was a test.
The person next door was probably another player!
And one with a lot of schemes running through their head.
Against someone like that, being direct worked best!
Cheng Shi mentally simulated a bout with the person on the other side, then pressed close to the wall and whispered:
"Palace Jade Wine?"
The breathing next door indeed stopped for a moment.
But afterward, the other party didn't give the response Cheng Shi expected. Instead, with a "bang," a sharp dagger pierced through the wooden wall and appeared before Cheng Shi's eyes.
The blade, gleaming with cold light, was only 0.1 centimeters from Cheng Shi's Adam's apple.
The force was precisely controlled, the distance perfectly judged, and the explosive power astonishing!
Cheng Shi didn't even dare swallow, afraid that if his Adam's apple moved, it would scrape away a layer of skin.
But he didn't dodge either, because he felt that the person opposite had no killing intent.
The person next door indeed had no intention of killing him.
This was merely a way of saying hello.
The dagger turned slightly and tapped Cheng Shi's neck with its flat side before slowly withdrawing.
The next second, through the tiny hole made by the dagger, a fair, delicate hand, soft as boneless flesh, squeezed through and spread its five fingers toward Cheng Shi.
Its fingers were slender and pale, its red-painted nails as vivid as crimson lips.
Nice manicure!
Cheng Shi smiled and grabbed the cold little hand.
"Pleased to meet you."
Though he greeted her aloud, his eyes never left the tiny hole bored out by the dagger.
Calling it a tiny hole was actually an exaggeration, because it was really just a slit.
The dagger was slender. The gap it had pierced was less than two centimeters high, and its width was practically nonexistent.
Yet through this barely visible slit, the arm of a normal adult had somehow been flattened into two dimensions as it came through, then expanded again into a small, fair hand.
A true expert!
That was Cheng Shi's first impression of the person next door.
After those two exchanges, the person next door finally responded.
"Pleased to meet you."
She was indeed a woman.
But her voice was far too different from what Cheng Shi had expected.
It wasn't the crisp voice of the girl next door he'd imagined. Instead, it was low and slightly hoarse—a standard deep, smoky voice.
This...
Girl, your audio and video are seriously out of sync.
Cheng Shi wasn't some lecher. He promptly released her hand, then asked with a smile:
"You seem able to sense my exact position?"
The other party was silent for a while before giving a soft hum.
"Fine, everyone has their secrets, right? So what now?"
As soon as he finished speaking, knocking sounded outside his room.
The same knocking sounded next door.
Both doors were being knocked on at once?
Cheng Shi frowned slightly but said nothing, while the girl next door simply shouted:
"Get lost!"
The knocking stopped for a moment, followed by a mocking chuckle.
"Come out. You two are the only ones left."
?
A player?
It didn't seem to be a lie.
But to keep a card up his sleeve, Cheng Shi knocked on the wooden wall and whispered to the person next door:
"I'll open the door first. Don't move."
The other party had responded first just now. This time, Cheng Shi would act first.
This was the most basic form of cooperation and competence in a trial.
When it came to seeking cooperation, Cheng Shi never acted like a petty scoundrel.
However, the dagger-wielding young lady next door completely ignored him. She ran off the bed with a rapid "thump, thump, thump" and opened the door.
Cheng Shi shook his head helplessly and also got out of bed to open his door.
When he pushed it open, three men with extraordinary bearing stood in the inn corridor.
It was hard to describe exactly what their presence felt like, but at a glance, they looked like experts tempered by the fires of war.
Unlike the steely resolve of ordinary soldiers, their eyes held an additional confidence that looked down on others.
Cheng Shi swept his gaze over them once and knew that he could safely play the deadweight this time!
They were all experts!
Two of them had clearly changed into the clothes provided by the inn. Cheng Shi had also discovered the clothes on the table while inspecting the room, but out of caution, he hadn't changed.
It seemed these two players were quite immersed in their roles.
The man closest to Cheng Shi saw him open the door, wrinkled his nose, and sniffed before saying with slight disdain:
"Pointless caution."
?
Was he being looked down on?
Cheng Shi shook his head with a smile and didn't argue.
The girl next door also stepped out. Cheng Shi took one look at her and remembered nothing except the flamboyant, vicious tattoo covering one of her arms.
A tight cropped tank top, tactical cargo leather pants, and a dagger tucked into her waist.
She was clearly an Assassin.
The man standing in the middle of the corridor saw that both of them had come out. He glanced over the railing and looked downstairs before turning back with a smile.
"A fresh challenge, but still the rigid Faith, isn't it?
"Allow me to introduce myself. Fang Jue, Law Giver, 2437."
!
A Law Giver, Singer of Order!
Cheng Shi had just witnessed a Law Giver NPC die in the previous trial. He hadn't expected to encounter a real Law Giver in this one.
More importantly, this guy had 2,437 points!
What an absolute big shot!
The way high-end games were played was completely different from low-end games.
It was said that players above 2,400 points introduced themselves the moment they met, without considering the issue of Faith Opposition at all. Their way of playing was completely different from that of the "weaklings" with just over 1,000 points.
This was probably what people meant by saying that all fear came from a lack of confidence in one's own strength.
At this rank, perhaps no one felt they could be easily killed by an enemy.
They all had enough confidence.
That confidence might come from experience or caution, but more importantly, it came from the blessings of their respective Lords of Grace.
They already had enough powerful Talents to support everything they thought and did.
And most importantly, a player with 2,400 points had one more empty Talent slot than a player with 2,000 points.
When the Faith Game first descended, everyone received one initial Faith Talent and one initial Professional Talent.
When their Path to Godhood score reached 1,200, 1,600, 2,000, and 2,400, they would each gain an additional empty Talent slot.
This Talent slot could be replaced with a Professional Talent or a Faith Talent.
And Talents were undoubtedly the players' greatest support in this insane game.
This Law Giver was one of the two players who had changed clothes. He had put on the style of commoner clothing from the Isle of Hope, yet the "noble" air about him could not be concealed at all.
Compared to a Law Giver, he looked more like a wandering bard at that moment.
Fang Jue, Order, Singer, 2437
Aside from Cheng Shi, none of the others seemed surprised by the Law Giver's score. The man beside him who had knocked on the next room's door pushed up his glasses and smiled as well.
"I like every form of support, especially Law Givers. Du Xiguang, Memory Traveler, 2502."
Wait!
How many?
Before you continue