Simulator Gameplay (Part 2)

The surroundings were a vast expanse of white. Ning Rongrong scrambled up from the ground, beside her Zhao Xiaoya, who had been sucked into the Purple Stone just the same.

Compared to Ning Rongrong, Zhao Xiaoya's expression was remarkably calm; it was clear she knew the function of this stone.

"This isn't your first time here, is it?"

Although Ning Rongrong had a premonition earlier, she still found it hard to believe that Zhao Xiaoya knew about this. When they were pulled into the stone, she had keenly noticed that Zhao Xiaoya did not resist at all, as if she knew exactly what was going to happen.

At this moment, Zhao Xiaoya turned her head blankly, the corners of her mouth curling into a chilling grin.

"So, you figured it out."

She said faintly, walking toward Ning Rongrong step by step. Ning Rongrong retreated a few steps in fright, asking, "Wh-what do you want?"

Zhao Xiaoya tilted her head and said, "To finish you off. A Soul Saint and a Title Douluo—how am I supposed to fight them? But you, a mere Soul Elder, are easy to deal with."

"Do we have a grudge? Why are you targeting me?" Ning Rongrong shouted, already bracing herself for battle.

The strength of the person before her was likely between a Soul Elder and a Soul King; she stood a chance.

"Not really any grudge," Zhao Xiaoya said as she charged toward Ning Rongrong, the dagger in her hand reflecting the purple light emitted by the irregular polyhedral walls. "But if you enter, doesn't that stop me from becoming the Saintess?"

"Huh?" Ning Rongrong dodged to the side, asking in disbelief, "Is it really that important to be the Saintess?"

"Hah, you dodged it." Zhao Xiaoya stopped abruptly, turned, and continued her assault on Ning Rongrong. "Of course. The Saintess has the ability to communicate with the Holy God and can obtain immense power. This strength of mine was granted by the Holy God."

This strike was incredibly fast. Ning Rongrong failed to dodge and could only rely on Trapped Beast to mitigate the damage. However, as it was a blade, she still sustained a wound.

Communicating with the Holy God...

Ning Rongrong realized the truth and said, "So you were lying to us the whole time? You never killed anyone, the claims about them wanting to sacrifice you, even your grandfather's death—it was all a lie?"

Ning Rongrong kicked the blade from Zhao Xiaoya's hand with her right foot, stood firm, and threw a left hook that landed squarely on Zhao Xiaoya's face.

"Heehee, you didn't actually fall for it, did you?" Zhao Xiaoya wiped away the blood she spat out, which contained traces of green. "Oh? Your punch is poisoned? A soul skill, or just poison? Good thing I have a detoxification soul skill."

"Why did you lie to us?" Ning Rongrong gritted her teeth. She hadn't been deceived like this many times in her life.

She clenched her right fist and swung again.

But this time, the recovered Zhao Xiaoya caught it.

"Are you three idiots? I'm an Evil Soul Master; it would be strange if I didn't lie, wouldn't it?"

"Damn it." Ning Rongrong tried to pull her hand away, but it was held firmly in Zhao Xiaoya's grip. At that moment, Zhao Xiaoya pulled a Bone Dagger from beneath her skirt and swung it at Ning Rongrong.

All the weapons on her person had been confiscated by Ning Fengzhi and the other, so these two daggers were the manifestation of her soul skill!

Ning Rongrong couldn't dodge in time and took a cut to her left arm.

"There is a power on your body mitigating my attacks." Zhao Xiaoya, seeing her two strikes had little effect, noticed this. She licked her lips and smiled, "How interesting. But how long can such power last?"

"Tch!" Ning Rongrong shook the dagger away with her left arm, deactivated Trapped Beast, applied Strength Amplification, pulled her right hand free, and flashed to the side.

She began to pant. The six hours of training were useful, but that was about it. She couldn't yet adapt to someone's attacks on the fly; for instance, she hadn't defended against the Bone Dagger that exploded behind her. Fortunately, the blast wasn't very powerful—

She was merely knocked over by the explosion.

"Mmm, the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda martial soul. So that's the source of that strange strength."

Ning Rongrong lifted her head with difficulty and saw Zhao Xiaoya approaching step by step. Just as she was about to scramble up, the other girl crouched down, pressing the Bone Dagger against her neck.

"Don't move. I know, once you use Strength Amplification, you can't use that ability to mitigate damage, right? With this one strike, I am one hundred percent sure you will die. Or, would you prefer this dagger to explode?"

Ning Rongrong's face twisted, looking at her opponent with resentment.

She had been played.

This was something she hadn't anticipated.

Now, the only thing she could rely on was the Eight Spider Lances on her back. However, she had no idea how to activate them; the Silver Dragon King hadn't taught her, and the Holy God had never used them. She, naturally, hadn't the slightest clue.

Just as she was thinking, a sharp, intense pain flared at her neck.

"Sorry, looking at you, I just can't help but want to destroy you. Ah, how beautiful."

"Can I ask you a question?" Ning Rongrong asked, enduring the pain.

"Oh?" Zhao Xiaoya revealed a playful smile. "Do you have any room to bargain? ...Just kidding, I'm a nice person. Go ahead and ask."

"Why do you want to be the Saintess, yet you aren't on the cross? Since you were lying to me earlier, what about those bones?"

Zhao Xiaoya carved another wound, savoring Ning Rongrong's expression while occasionally making "mm-ah" sounds.

Ning Rongrong was dissatisfied with Zhao Xiaoya's performance.

Why wouldn't she answer her?

"Hmm... you aren't actually waiting for an answer, are you? I let you ask, but why would I have to answer?"

As if seeing through what Ning Rongrong was thinking, Zhao Xiaoya said.

Damn it, I'll risk it.

Ning Rongrong thought, and surged upward.

Compared to Trapped Beast, she felt that Strength Amplification might be more useful at a time like this.

Enduring the pain, she caught Zhao Xiaoya off guard and knocked the dagger away, and then, the dagger exploded.

She felt the pain radiating from her neck, felt the warmth trickling down, and felt her consciousness slipping away. Finally, she scrambled to her feet and charged toward Zhao Xiaoya, prepared to fight for her life.

The result, of course, was seeing Zhao Xiaoya pull out another dagger and aim it at her throat.

"Swish."

Ning Rongrong's body came to a halt. At the critical moment, she had switched back to Trapped Beast, and by shifting slightly, she had narrowly avoided death.

Warm liquid flowed from her shoulder, and Ning Rongrong felt a searing heat on her back. The next second, eight silver-white, metallic spider-like spears erupted from her body, tearing through her clothes and lashing out at Zhao Xiaoya.

Seeing these eight spider spears, Zhao Xiaoya was clearly taken aback, exclaiming, "What is this?"

She quickly dodged to the side, and Bone conjured throwing knives, firing them toward Ning Rongrong.

The Eight Spider Lances failed to harm Zhao Xiaoya; Ning Rongrong had no idea how to use this brand-new weapon.

Instead, it was Zhao Xiaoya's highly practiced hidden weapon technique that struck Ning Rongrong.

"Trapped Beast" was not omnipotent.

Ning Rongrong stumbled back a few steps, her vision gradually darkening.

It was over.

She heard Zhao Xiaoya whispering.

"Becoming a Saintess requires three steps. First, to be chosen and become a Saintess candidate;

Second, to wait upon the cross for the gaze of the Holy God—in this process, the ants will perish;

Third, to wait for the flames to burn out, for the officiant's soul to be sublimated, and for me to become the true—Saintess."

What was she saying? Why was she saying these things?

Ning Rongrong closed her eyes and fell backward.

Although the Eight Spider Lances still showed signs of movement, they were ultimately insufficient to support Ning Rongrong's body.

Is it... over?

Was she going to die?

No, she wouldn't die. The Holy God would perform a time reversal. As long as time was reversed to that night at the Great Soul Arena, she could try again—

But what if the Holy God abandoned her?

Ning Rongrong recalled the words of the Silver Dragon King, and for the first time, she began to fear that the Holy God would forsake her.

This feeling was indescribably strange.

She collapsed onto the ground. The floor was freezing cold.

Through the ground, she could still hear the sounds from outside; they were still locked in a fierce battle.

"Damn it, Uncle Bone, can't you break through his defense?"

"I can't break it at all! This space is restricting my attacks!"

It seemed that her father and the others were also losing ground.

If only she hadn't called those two...

More and more memories flooded into Ning Rongrong's brain, flashing by like a carousel, signaling that her death was imminent—

-

"Is she dead?"

Ning Rongrong could no longer distinguish whose voice this was. Zhao Asi, Zhao Xiaoya, or perhaps someone else?

-

"Is this world really so dangerous? Even with Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong there, she would still die without me?"

Was it Sword Grandpa? Ning Rongrong wondered aimlessly.

-

"Forget it..."

-

Lu Ma sat in front of his computer, staring at the screen of the game Dark Douluo.

The time was now 4:00 AM.

Not long ago.

In the middle of the night, Lu Ma felt a buzzing in his brain; chaotic thoughts collided incessantly, and his head throbbed with intense pain. He wanted to break free, but he found it completely impossible.

These symptoms persisted until 3:30 AM. Only when his mind was too ravaged to produce any new thoughts did he finally recover, and then—he woke up.

Opening his eyes, he found himself in a pitch-black room.

He didn't have the habit of closing the curtains before sleeping; in fact, he preferred to sleep with them open.

When he opened his eyes, the sky had not yet brightened, and the moon had not fully set.

The first thing he did after opening his eyes was to pick up his phone to check for any new messages.

There were actually a few.

First was a contract amendment from the customer service of that discontinued game; in short, he no longer needed to stream the game, and the developer would pay his salary in full as a one-time settlement.

Next was the file sent by Dolphin Head.

"Do these developers even have normal sleep schedules?" Lu Ma muttered.

[Dark Douluo alpha 0.2 patch.zip, 17.1MB]

[Patch Notes, 1KB]

He didn't really feel like going back to sleep, so he simply turned on his computer and downloaded the patch. Aside from fixing known bugs, this patch added three main features.

Optimized character movement controls. At the same time, by replacing the AI system, characters could now perform a wider range of actions.

Refined the quest system; up to three quests could now be viewed on the left side of the game interface.

Added a simulator mode, also known as system auto-play. When the player is away, the game will automatically simulate subsequent events and present them to the player in text form.

Seeing the simulator mode, Lu Ma highly suspected this feature had been there all along and had just been bugged, which explained why he had faced Zhao Wuji the moment he logged in.

Overall, however, Lu Ma was satisfied.

The shaders were finished loading. Lu Ma clicked "Continue Game," the screen went black for a moment, and white text emerged.

[Day 0, the Great Soul Arena incident ends. You are tired and fall asleep immediately.]

[Day 1, Shrek Academy gives you a day off. You decide to cultivate. Spirit power increased.]

[Day 2, you decide to help Oscar hunt a soul beast with your companions and head to the Star Dou Great Forest. Physical fitness increased.]

[Day 3, you enter the Star Dou Great Forest, triggering a special quest event. Quest accepted: Disrupt the Third Saintess Ritual. Spirit power, physical fitness, soul skill proficiency, and comprehension increased.]

[Day 4, you return to Shrek Academy. You are not tired and plan to complete the quest to disrupt the Third Saintess Ritual immediately, and you take action.]

[To increase your success rate, you specifically invite Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong to join the disruption operation and arrive at the site of the Third Saintess Ritual.]

[You are ambushed. The crisis ignites your body's potential; Eight Spider Lances status changed from unavailable to enabled.]

[You died.]

"Hmm..."

Lu Ma stared at the three large words "You died" on the screen, momentarily at a loss for words.

System auto-play, and the character died.

"Dead?" Lu Ma squinted, still finding it hard to believe. "Is this world really that dangerous? Even with Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong there, she still died while I was away?"

"Forget it..."

He sighed.

At the bottom of the screen, a line of small text appeared:

[Click any key to view available save files. Simulation saves do not occupy save slots, and only one can be stored at a time.]

Lu Ma clicked the left mouse button.

[Available Save 1: Near death (HP is 1, receive all rewards obtained during the simulation)]

[Available Save 2: Day 4 (Eight Spider Lances status is unavailable), also adds random factors; subsequent event states are unknown. ps: World line has shifted]

[Other: Use your stored save.]

Lu Ma finished reading all the simulation saves and understood their general meaning.

During the simulation, after each reward is obtained, a simulation save is generated. If you choose that save, the subsequent rewards will not be granted, and the events may not necessarily occur.

Given this, his only viable options were "Near death" and "Day 4." Any earlier, and he wouldn't have accepted the Third Saintess Ritual quest, losing out on a massive wave of rewards. As for his own save, Lu Ma didn't even consider it—wouldn't that be a waste of the developers' careful design? Besides, he had no desire to go to the Star Dou Great Forest; he wanted to see exactly why he had died.

Therefore, he chose Option 1.

The screen froze, followed by a glass-shattering effect, and the entire interface crumbled into pieces.

Then, the game interface appeared.

The reddish screen and the pitch-black health bar were reminders to Lu Ma that his character was about to die.

And the character?

Ning Rongrong was lying on the ground, next to a transparent purple stone.

"Where is this?"

Lu Ma frowned, but without overthinking it, he opened the character panel.

[Ning Rongrong, 12 years old, Level 33, Tool Soul Elder]

[Martial Soul: Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda (+2)]

[Physical fitness Level 26, Spirit power Level 35]

[External Soul Bone: Eight Spider Lances (+1)]

"Isn't this physical fitness boost a bit too generous?"

Lu Ma was overjoyed. The next second, he opened his inventory and pulled out a Health Potion.