When Xin Meng regained consciousness, the other side was already in a chaotic mess.
“You damned, blind Dong Xiu!” Xiong Jiabao cursed, his face flushed with anger, throwing a punch at Dong Xiu’s face. “You even harm your teammates, you’re not human!”
However, Dong Xiu, who had regained the use of his arms, often frequented the gym and had a personal trainer teach him combat skills. Although he wasn’t a professional, he was certainly not someone that the untrained Xiong Jiabao could defeat. In just a few moves, he twisted Xiong Jiabao’s arm behind his back and retorted, “How am I not human? You still have the nerve to say that to me! I lost my arm, and you all were supposed to help me with an eye patch, but who cared about me! Oh, now that you need help, you remember me, huh? No way! You actually cleared the level, how come you didn’t die there!”
“Get lost! You should just die sooner!” Xiong Jiabao kicked back at him, but instead, Dong Xiu kicked him hard in the knee, causing him to kneel on the ground with a thud. His face was already bruised, yet he hadn’t even touched a single hair on Dong Xiu.
Rather than a fight, it was more like a one-sided beating.
Xin Meng rubbed his eyes, sat up from the ground, and ignored their bickering. He first looked around at the environment and then frowned.
This place… is in a castle?
They were now in a huge living room, the ceiling nearly thirty meters high. A pure gold chandelier hung from the ceiling, intricately carved with beautiful patterns, and the eighteen candles placed in it had already been lit. A breeze of unknown origin flickered the light in the room, but one could still make out the exquisite murals on the walls and the luxurious red carpet with golden edges beneath their feet. The entire room was filled with the essence of a medieval European castle.
“Did you see what those murals depict?” Qi Xiaokui walked over to him, pointing at the wall.
Xin Meng hadn’t looked closely before, just glanced at it, and it seemed dark. Seeing Qi Xiaokui mention it specifically, he walked over to take a look and was startled.
The murals depicted all sorts of bizarre creatures, with deformed horns on their heads, grayish-blue skin, and evil eyes— they were all demons!
“I feel like the meaning isn’t very good,” Qi Xiaokui murmured, “What kind of normal person would paint such things in a castle?”
“By the way, where’s You Yi?” Xin Meng looked around, but he didn’t see the familiar man, and his expression changed instantly!
“Don’t worry, he might have entered from a different location than us, or…” Qi Xiaokui paused and handed the card in her hand to Xin Meng, “He has a different mission.”
Xin Meng looked down at the back of the card and saw a line of small text appear above the prompt. He read it by candlelight:
[The actual number of participants in this round is six, with five valid participants. Difficulty increased. To balance the game difficulty, a map of the “Demon King’s Castle” is provided.]
[Do you recognize him? But he is no longer the same as before.]
“He is no longer the same as before?” Xin Meng repeated softly, holding the card. Below the text was a small map. He rummaged through his pocket and indeed pulled out a card, the content and map identical to Qi Xiaokui’s, but with a different prompt.
He glanced at the other two, Dong Xiu and Xiong Jiabao, who were still fighting, and the one hiding aside, Li Yougen, and coldly shouted, “Stop fighting! Combine the cards; the next game has already started, and we have no time to waste.”
Only then did Xiong Jiabao and Dong Xiu reluctantly stop, but their animosity was palpable, and neither was willing to approach the other.
Xin Meng didn’t collect their cards, knowing Dong Xiu wouldn’t give his up, and he couldn’t be bothered with such a petty person.
He had thought about what happened in the last game when Dong Xiu had betrayed them, but even if he and Xiong Jiabao teamed up, they might not be able to defeat Dong Xiu. Xin Meng himself was slender and lacked offensive power, and Xiong Jiabao wasn’t much better. Qi Xiaokui couldn’t help, and Li Yougen would definitely just hide, as he had shown earlier. With You Yi missing, they truly had no way to deal with him for the time being.
If they really fought for their lives, they would at most end up in a mutually destructive situation, but once injured, clearing the subsequent game would become even more dangerous.
They could only see if there was a chance to shake off this person, to prevent him from having any ill intentions and stabbing them in the back.
Xin Meng simply had everyone gather their cards on the ground, and they turned in circles to look.
The information had an order, and after organizing it, Xin Meng finally arrived at the correct sequence.
First, Qi Xiaokui’s card read:
[The old demon king is dead, the throne is vacant, and the young demon generals are stirring restlessly.]
Then Xiong Jiabao’s card said:
[Six candidates for demon general, which one do you choose to support? The wise generals can only accept one loyal subordinate.]
Next was Xin Meng’s:
[Fulfill one of their requests to join the corresponding faction.]
Dong Xiu’s card stated:
[Defeat the other demon generals to become the new demon king.]
Finally, Li Yougen’s:
[The final victor decides your fate.]
“So, we need to help a demon general compete for the demon king, and the victorious new demon king can decide whether we can clear the game?” Xin Meng said.
“This is too ridiculous…” Xiong Jiabao muttered. It was a world that had been relatively normal before; how did a demon king suddenly appear? Did they run into the wrong set?
“By the way, where did You Yi go?” Xiong Jiabao asked, realizing belatedly, “Without him, we’re missing a piece of information!”
“Does this say ‘he is no longer the same as before’? Is it referring to You Yi?” Qi Xiaokui glanced at the silent Xin Meng, “It feels similar to when I was an NPC, but I didn’t have a prompt back then.”
Xin Meng nodded, “It should be.”
But what kept running through his mind was the last thing You Yi said before he got in the car, about looking forward to the next game?
What did that mean?
Did he know what the next game was, or did he know what role he was going to play?
You Yi’s disappearance made him a bit uneasy, but looking at the card with [The actual number of participants is six], he felt reassured again. As long as You Yi was still in the same game with him, they would eventually meet.
He moved his body and suddenly felt something in one of his pockets. He reached in and pulled out another card!
It was You Yi’s card!
How did it end up in his pocket?
Xin Meng picked it up and saw that it had no map and no first prompt, just one line: [Whoever can possess the new demon king’s abilities can bring them as a reward into the next game.]
“What?” Dong Xiu exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock. “The demon king’s abilities can be brought into the next game?!”
Although he didn’t know what abilities the demon king had, they were certainly not something an ordinary person could possess. If he had such abilities, it would be like having a golden ticket!
This was definitely the biggest advantage discovered in this game so far!
Dong Xiu, Xiong Jiabao, and even Li Yougen’s eyes lit up; they all wanted this ability! Qi Xiaokui would be lying if she said she wasn’t tempted.
“But how can we obtain the new demon king’s abilities? This card doesn’t say,” Xin Meng, however, was not swept away by excitement. He flipped the card in his hand but didn’t see any other relevant content. “Let’s talk about this later; after all, we don’t even know who the new demon king will be yet.”
Xiong Jiabao looked a bit dejected. He took back his card and put it in his pocket. “What do we do now?”
His cautious attitude, like a protective instinct, was a stark contrast to how he had casually handed his card to Xin Meng when they first met.
Xin Meng gave him a deep look, stood up, and scanned the hall. He pointed, “There are five doors over there; it’s likely that we need to make a choice among the five of us. Different demon generals will lead to different doors.”
“But aren’t there six demon generals?” Qi Xiaokui quickly asked. “Even if there are only five of us, there shouldn’t just be five doors left. Otherwise, there’s still one demon general left out, which means they can’t be chosen, right? I think that’s unreasonable.”
“Then let’s do something that we would all do first after entering the game,” Xin Meng said.
“What is it?” Xiong Jiabao asked foolishly. The first thing he did when entering the game was to look for weapons and food. Thinking of this, he pulled his backpack over and rummaged through it, finding no weapons, only two bags of bread.
He took out a bag and looked at Xin Meng, “And then?”
Xin Meng: “…”
“Is your head made of water?” Qi Xiaokui mercilessly mocked. “All you know is eating! Are you a pig?!”
“Hey, I’m saying, sister, I’m not arguing with you because you’re a girl. Don’t curse at people,” Xiong Jiabao retorted, “Food is the most important thing, you know? In the last game, because we ran out of food, I almost starved to death. Hey, you’re still young; it’s normal not to understand.”
Qi Xiaokui: “…Damn idiot.”
Xin Meng facepalmed, “No, I meant to observe the environment and see if there are any usable items around.”
“There are no items,” Qi Xiaokui replied. “Dong Xiu and Li Yougen woke up first and turned the place upside down, even lifting the carpet. There’s nothing.”
Receiving Qi Xiaokui’s disdainful gaze, Dong Xiu and Li Yougen turned their heads away, pretending not to see.
“Then let’s take a look at these murals. I glanced at them earlier, and they seem to have a storyline,” Xin Meng walked over to the murals.
The others hadn’t paid attention to these, but only Qi Xiaokui felt they were a bit eerie and didn’t dare to look too closely. At this moment, they all gathered in front of the murals.
The murals were filled with grotesque demons, some humanoid, some non-humanoid, and some half-human, half-monster. The only common feature was their grayish skin and ferocious, malicious eyes.
These murals were so realistic that if one looked for a while, it felt as if the demons inside were about to leap out. Xiong Jiabao was startled and dared not look anymore, while Qi Xiaokui was braver.
There were three large murals in total.
“Look at the first one,” Xin Meng pointed to the painting on the left and said, “There are seven demons depicted, which should be the old demon king and the six demon generals.”
In a chaotic land with a backdrop of black and gray clouds, six indistinct humanoid demons were either sitting or standing, forming a circle around a large demon in the center. This demon was larger than the other six, wearing a crown, with clear facial features, holding a snake-headed trident, and exuding an imposing aura. He raised one foot, resting it on a golden throne, twisting his body to look back, his wolf-like red eyes fiercely staring at the viewer, filled with arrogance.
The group then looked at the second mural, which was the largest. This mural was divided into seven small sections, each corresponding to a demon king. The largest section depicted the old demon king, wearing a crown and holding a luxurious scepter, with his head held high, sitting on a throne inlaid with jewels, extending both feet—one resting on the face of a demon resembling a guard, and the other on a slightly cracked puzzle on the ground, which vaguely showed the silhouettes of the six demon generals.
