Travel · Imperial Capital Arc (5): The King's Game (Prologue)

A few days after Xiao Ling and his group arrived in the Imperial Capital, Yangyang and her group followed closely behind and arrived at the residence.

Of course, the group that arrived later received a warm welcome from Xiao Ling and the others.

"Yangyang! Long time no see!" Aemeath hugged Yangyang warmly, her voice filled with the joy of reunion. "I've been craving your homemade pastries for so long!"

Yangyang chuckled softly, her delight tinged with a hint of teasing, "Does Little Ai think our friendship is only worth a dessert?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Aemeath hurriedly shook her head and retorted, "I missed you so much while you were gone!"

"I think you miss desserts more than you miss Yangyang," Dania bluntly retorted.

"Xiao Ya, you're not allowed to speak!" Aemeath gave this Honey Peach, who was undermining her, a little punishment—basically, she treated her face like clay, kneading and rolling it. In the end, Suisui, who found it very funny, pulled the two clowns apart.

"Disciple, we'll have to trouble you to take good care of us these days," Qingxiao said with a gentle nod.

"Oh, we're all family, no need to trouble yourself," Xiao Ling said with a smile. "I should say that your arrival has truly graced this courtyard."

"Nice to meet you." Suoming waved to the patriarch and greeted him politely.

"Huh?" Xiao Ling shifted her perspective downwards and noticed Suoming standing beside Qingxiao. "Little Potato, it seems you're about to have a rival."

Before she could finish speaking, Carlotta instantly pulled her gun from under her skirt and held it to Xiao Ling's cheek, saying in an unfriendly tone, "I remember, didn't I say you shouldn't call me that kind of thing? My Cat's Eye?"

When Qingxiao saw her disciple being threatened, she immediately became furious. Her eyes turned cold, and she made a hand seal, preparing to launch her attack at zero frames.

"Calm down, calm down, Sister Qingxiao," Xiao Ling immediately spoke up to compose Qingxiao. "This is just normal interaction."

There's no way around it. If this sword immortal decides to fight here, the commotion will be heard for miles around, and you might even see a giant sword flying down from the sky.

The coldness in Qingxiao's eyes instantly turned into confusion, and then, with an attitude of not understanding but respect, she stopped making the hand seals.

The sword immortal has been appeased, so what's next...?

"Um, Miss Carlotta, I was wrong. Could you please have the mercy and remove the gun from my face?"

"There won't be a next time." Carlotta nodded in satisfaction and put the gun away.

Having resolved his own life-threatening situation, Xiao Ling turned his attention to a certain fox that had not yet appeared.

"Speaking of which, didn't that little fox come along?"

"Since I'm going on a long trip, I can't possibly leave her alone at home." Qingxiao shook her head.

As if to confirm Qingxiao's statement, Heartfox walked out from beside her feet, licking its paws every now and then.

"Wow! It's Fox!" Aemeath was overjoyed and excitedly picked up Heartfox and gave her a good rub.

Heartfox couldn't dodge in time and was firmly grabbed and stroked by this Tacet Discord Resonator. She kept howling and struggling to escape from Aemeath's grasp, but to no avail.

Feeling utterly helpless, she could only turn to Hajiling for help. Her big, watery eyes looked at him pitifully, which was absolutely adorable.

Then Hajiling chose to ignore it.

"By the way, Sister Qingxiao, does she have a name?" After petting Heartfox for quite a while, Aemeath realized that she didn't know the little guy's name.

"Her name is Xin." Qingxiao walked over and casually patted Heartfox's head twice.

"Heart? What a unique name." Aemeath nodded with a smile. "My name is Aemeath, and we're friends now!"

Heartfox: Then put me down first!

In short, after welcoming the new guests, night fell in the blink of an eye.

Let's play King's Game!

After the meal, Xiao Ling made a suggestion to all the girls present.

"King's Game? What's that?" Suisui was the first to voice her question on behalf of those who didn't know about the game.

"Oh, the rules are actually quite simple," Lynae answered with a grin. "The game consists of King cards and number cards. The person who draws the King card becomes the King for that round. The King can designate one or more numbers and give them instructions to complete in this round. The player corresponding to the designated number must complete the task within a time limit, or they will be penalized."

"The King's Game..." Crimson Snow revealed a gentle expression, as if she was reminiscing about something.

"It sounds more like a social game, much gentler than the last 'Pillow Slumber Hunter," Carlotta concluded, then looked meaningfully at Xiao Ling. "The key point is, Cat's Eye can participate this time too."

"I was the one who started this game, after all. Last time I was just thinking of showing off my skills, but you guys ended up sending me to the supervisory team instead," Xiao Ling said with a helpless expression.

"However, we have about thirty people here. If we're going to hold a King's Game, shouldn't we split into two groups?" Aemeath, considering the number of people. "If we follow the original rules, some people definitely won't be able to participate."

"Regarding this, I think A-Ling should already have a contingency plan." The Shorekeeper's trusting gaze immediately fell on Xiao Ling.

"Since I brought up this project, I've naturally made thorough preparations," Xiao Ling said with a smile. "Actually, there's no need to divide into groups; it's most fun when everyone plays together."

"First, regarding the issue of commands, I plan to divide it into two sections: a custom command pool and a public command pool."

"The custom command pool, as the name suggests, contains the actions you want others to take. The public command pool, on the other hand, requires everyone to brainstorm and write down all the punishments and problems you can think of, and put them into the public command pool. If the king can't think of a command to make the other party execute, he can simply draw one from the public command pool."

"Then, the king will rotate. If the first player designated completes the task, that player can designate the next player, and so on, until the next king takes over."

"The next issue is the time limit. The king can only issue commands within thirty seconds, and the designated player cannot complete the command within one and a half minutes. Otherwise, it's considered a failure, and the loser will be subject to another penalty. Each round of the game lasts five minutes, and once five minutes are up, it's the next person's turn to be king."

"Wait a minute, I have an idea." Dania raised her paw at this moment, "If I feel too embarrassed to complete the instructions alone, could I ask other players with different numbers to accompany me?"

"Hmm... okay, there are plenty of people anyway." Xiao Ling agreed to the idea.

"Finally, the other onlookers shouldn't just stand around either. After the designated player completes the instruction, if you think it's good, you can vote to support it. The player with the most votes will receive a reward, while the player with the fewest votes will be punished."

After a brief explanation of the game rules and additional rules, everyone was eager to begin the King's Game.

"So the question is, who should be the host?" Cantarella raised a good question. "With so many people playing this game together, the experience would be significantly affected if there was no one to lead it."

"Host... if there's really no one else, then I'll choose..."

Just then, the Heartfox, which had been perched on Qingxiao's shoulder, jumped down and howled twice at Xiao Ling.

"You want to be the one?" Xiao Ling raised an eyebrow.

Heartfox nodded her fox head.

"Then it's yours." He scratched the white fox's chin.

"Alright everyone, go and prepare the shared command pool. We'll start the game shortly!"