The school bus had traveled all night through ‘copy-paste’ streets with no end in sight, and a total of 37 orphans (22 boys and 15 girls) were picked up.
Yi Chen leaned against the window and, despite the endlessly flashing past of similar buildings, felt no hint of sleepiness. The thought of returning to the Orphanage in this way had him so excited that he couldn’t sleep at all.
The night had passed,
The postman’s voice echoed throughout the school bus via the loudspeakers, piercing like a needle in the ear, forcibly waking some of the orphans who had been asleep.
“First of all, congratulations on standing out from the numerous ‘child bodies.’ Among you, some are close to turning ten years old. We have a rule here, if by the age of ten you have not freed yourselves from the bonds of your original families, you will be classified as defects to be digested internally by the family.
Next, you will be heading to an important area—the Orphanage. Due to the secrecy of the path, you need to sleep a little.”
The postman pulled out a gas mask from under his high hat and put it on himself, then promptly pressed a green button.
Hiss—a strong green aura emanated from various areas, quickly filling the entire bus, and all the orphans, including Moon Scar, fell asleep within seconds.
Everyone knew this was a necessary procedure, that it was safe, and that the hypnotic gas would help individuals achieve a deep sleep state, quickly recovering from the fatigue of ‘leaving home.’
The hefty Golden Dice landed in front of the two men, and the voice of the Duke echoed through the Dream Space.
However, this voice originated from the gambling consciousness within the Duke’s body, deep and cold, lacking the ‘friendly and approachable’ tone he used when communicating with the outside world.
“§For the opening bet, you must toss the Golden Dice at least [five meters] high and let it spin at least three times without using any abilities to deliberately influence the dice. If I consider your actions cheating, I will deem the gambling attempt a failure and impose a penalty of tenfold the bet.”
The level of difficulty for your opening situation will be determined by the number of points; the higher the points, the greater the difficulty. If you throw [double sixes], you’ll enter ‘Disaster Mode’ immediately.
“So it really is a gamble?”
Yi Chen attempted to lift what seemed like a heavy Golden Dice, only to find out that in his hands, it was as light as foam, easy to toss to a height of five meters.
“William, you go first.”
Bending his calves to drive his whole body, Yi Chen threw the dice over ten meters high.
After bouncing on the fall and several spins, it finally settled…
A bead of cold sweat slid down Yi Chen’s cheek. This meant that even if Moon Scar threw the lowest possible point of one, the overall difficulty would still be above average.
Glancing embarrassingly at Moon Scar not far away, he said, “My luck… it’s up to you now.”
Moon Scar, however, didn’t seem to care in the least. What he wanted was a [high difficulty].
The outcome of this gamble did not directly concern his personal interests. He was merely keen on participating. If through this he could get a grasp of the fluctuation in difficulty—and especially the upper limit of the highest difficulty—it would be of extraordinary significance for Moon Scar.
After all, the ‘Moonlight Greatsword’ he covetted was worth a fortune, and the mere act of trading for points could take an eternity. [Gambling] was undeniably the fastest route.
Moon Scar slightly lifted his head,
and a Moonlight Barrier carried the dice into the air, throwing it just the right amount, exactly five meters high.
The dice also didn’t cause any violent collisions when it landed but slightly spun to a stop—[3].
A perfectly average number.
Yi Chen took a deep breath of relief, grateful he didn’t roll another [6]. Otherwise, they would’ve faced a challenge surpassing the game itself right from the start, which wouldn’t bode well for the upcoming orphanage operation.
“§A total of [9] points corresponds to a difficult start. Good luck.§”
Smack! The Banker clapped his gigantic palm made of blood and flesh,
and the Dream Space shattered instantly like a mirror.
Consciousness returned to the physical body.
In a communal bath that constantly leaked cold air (-68℃), a total of 22 naked boys were piled up in the center of the room like a heap of corpses.
As Yi Chen woke up, he immediately felt the extreme cold. Although the flora within him provided some resistance, it could only delay the body’s complete freezing.
The other orphans woke up simultaneously,
and the mound of flesh quickly disintegrated into individual entities. Everyone swiftly surveyed their surroundings, assessing the situation in the bathroom to snatch precious survival time from the icy hands of the grim reaper.
There were ten “shower points” set up here.
In everyone’s eyes, these shower points represented their hope for survival. If there was no hot water, they would surely freeze to death here.
Urged by the extreme cold, many of the orphans dashed to the nearest shower point, vying for an advantage… but Yi Chen and Lorrian had no intention of competing and moved more slowly.
As the ten faucets were turned on.
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