SWBG - Chapter 31

“Gurgle… gurgle gurgle…”

The solid floor rapidly turned black and soft, releasing a stench that was both foul and cloyingly sweet, like a chocolate cake soaked in a filthy sewer for ten days and nights.

Gu Jingsheng was certain that when she poured out the swamp mud earlier, the bottle’s mouth had been aimed at the adjacent space. However, no one knew how much internal space this glass bottle—enchanted by the fairy godmother—had been expanded to. Even though she shut the door in time, she still couldn’t stop the black mud from spreading toward the large ward.

—Had she not retreated quickly enough, Gu Jingsheng had no doubt that the black mud would have swallowed her as well.

The two iron-framed beds closest to the side door slowly sank into the swamp mud as the floor transformed, bubbles continuously rising to the surface.

Gu Jingsheng seized the moment and pulled Wei Jiashi to the side, avoiding being affected by her own item.

Fang Qiju finally understood Gu Jingsheng’s intention—once they officially entered the battle phase, no matter how carefully they tried to control their volume, some noise was inevitable. Rather than being surrounded and beaten by a group of monsters later, it was better to trap them in the adjacent room in advance. That way, they could fight freely—shouting slogans while PK-ing wouldn’t even be a problem.

Xiao Luo was locked in a struggle with the monster at the doorway, his upper body pressed against the doorframe, both hands fully occupied. He was on the verge of being dragged out of the room. Gu Jingsheng quickly gauged the NPC’s height, took a few steps onto an iron-framed bed, gripped the [Axe Stained with Dark Red Filth] with both hands, leapt high, and brought it down toward the monster’s head.

“Ao—ao—ao—!”

Gu Jingsheng’s strength had been enhanced by candy, and although the axe was merely average for chopping wood, it had a special effectiveness against dungeon natives. Even so, she still failed to smash the NPC’s skull in a single blow.

After being attacked, the NPC outside the door grew even more ferocious, its nearly beast-like face twisting further. Xiao Luo felt it most acutely.

“I can’t hold on much longer!”

Whenever possible, Gu Jingsheng preferred not to clear stages through brute force, but the situation left her no choice. She could only force herself to imagine the native’s skull as a block of wood and continue hacking away.

“Hold on a bit longer—I’m about to grind an iron pestle into a needle!”

Xiao Luo clenched his teeth so hard they were nearly cracking.

“I believe in you—but I don’t believe in myself!”

Fang Qiju hesitated briefly, then walked over and said to the others, “I have a method. When I make a move later, watch out and dodge.”

There was no need to wait. The moment Fang Qiju finished speaking, Gu Jingsheng immediately stopped, hugged her axe, and retreated to a safe distance with an expression that clearly said please begin your performance.

Xiao Luo, Fang Qiju: “…”

In [Happy Board Game], both the generation of new rooms and the creation of formal participants were extremely difficult. Among the two people Fang Qiju had entered the game with, Huo Wen had already been eliminated. Whether for public or personal reasons, he didn’t want anything else to happen to Xiao Luo.

Selecting the required item from his card slot, a steaming hot pie appeared in Fang Qiju’s hands.

[Arthur’s Apple Pie:

Arthur is the head chef of the Chandelier Flower Grand Hotel, and apple pie is his signature dessert. He cannot watch his oven at all times, which gives those detestable thieves a chance to cause trouble! In a fit of rage, the head chef hurled the apple pie—and unfortunately, the freshly baked pie struck the face of a passing Lady ▇▇.

“Lady ▇▇’s condition is very poor. Medical records indicate mild burns and poisoning. We have reason to believe that half of the toxins came from a certain spider, and the other half from the patient’s massive use of expired cosmetics.”

Item Level: ★★

Note: This is a single-use item.]

Fang Qiju hurled [Arthur’s Apple Pie] at the NPC with all his strength.

According to physics, an object thrown like that should succumb to gravity and crash mid-flight. Yet the apple pie flew in an unnaturally straight line through the air, accompanied by a loud smack, exploding across the NPC’s face like scattered celestial pastries.

“Ao—!”

Blinded, the NPC’s grip on Xiao Luo loosened slightly. Xiao Luo immediately tore himself free and pulled out the most lethal item from his card slot.

[Schwabian’s Black Spear:

This spear measures a full three meters in length and is heavier and sharper than ordinary spears. Seven Schwabians once relied on this weapon to roam the world. They defeated wasps disguised as armies, rabbits masquerading as evil dragons—until they encountered that damned frog!

“You must beware not only of what lies ahead, but also of what is behind you.”

Item Level: ★★★★★★★

Note: The wielder can pierce objects more easily, and the wounds inflicted by this weapon are far harder to heal than those caused by others.]

Straining, Xiao Luo raised the spear, aimed at the NPC’s chest, and thrust forward with all his strength.

“Chi—”

Before the native could even wipe the apple pie off its face, the spear pierced straight through its heart.

The monster outside the door froze, swayed from side to side, then collapsed backward.

Still shaken, Wei Jiashi finally let out a breath.

“Is it dead?”

Gu Jingsheng nodded slightly, then reminded Xiao Luo, “Earlier clues mentioned that doctors sometimes peek into wards through door cracks, and those eyeballs on the side door were also warnings to be cautious when opening doors. If I’m not mistaken, the [‘Tears Streaming’ Spray] was provided by the dungeon precisely for situations like this…”

—If opening the door directly was a normal difficulty, then finding the spray and realizing to use it against the eyes outside would be low difficulty.

Xiao Luo suddenly exploded in anger.

“Shut up! Don’t say anything else! Can’t you keep quiet?!”

Gu Jingsheng was startled. Given her chronic late nights, she hadn’t yet worried about early baldness and was usually very open-minded—certainly not the type to get angry over being shouted at by a kid. But judging from Xiao Luo’s prior behavior, this sudden outburst felt far too strange.

Wei Jiashi tried to speak up for Gu Jingsheng but was stopped by a glance from her. Fang Qiju hadn’t coordinated with the others, but as someone who had come from the same room, he clearly knew Xiao Luo far better than the casually acquainted Player W and Player Y.

Fang Qiju softened his tone and did his best to calm Xiao Luo.

“You’ve already dealt with the NPC. You can put the item away and rest for a bit now.”

Xiao Luo’s eyes shifted, his gaze settling on Fang Qiju’s face, as though judging how trustworthy his words were.

Fang Qiju’s expression remained steady, the image of a mature older brother concerned for his companion—but Gu Jingsheng noticed that his right hand was clenched tightly into a fist.

Xiao Luo seemed to relax somewhat and nodded.

“Alright…”

“Splash, splash.”

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The adjacent room, which had been quiet for some time, suddenly began noisily asserting its presence again. No one knew how the NPC was flailing around in the swamp mud, but the sounds kept changing pitch.

Gu Jingsheng didn’t find it particularly bothersome, but Xiao Luo clearly couldn’t tolerate the noise. His expression darkened instantly. He bent forward, seemingly stepping back unconsciously, accidentally stepped onto a piece of gravel on the floor, lost his balance, and fell backward.

A bloodstained, rusted iron spike pierced into Xiao Luo’s body from behind and burst out through his chest. Judging by its position, it was almost exactly the same spot where the NPC had been stabbed by the spear earlier.

Fang Qiju rushed forward, shouting sharply,

“Xiao Luo!”

Xiao Luo screamed—pinned in place by the iron spike and unable to move. His limbs convulsed for a short while before the light faded from his eyes.

Blood spread across the floor, and a flint rolled out of his pocket.

Wei Jiashi trembled slightly.

“What… what happened?”

Gu Jingsheng replied calmly,

“The hospital has been abandoned for too long. The iron beds are severely rusted. Be careful—don’t touch them.”

Wei Jiashi: “…That’s not what I was asking.”

As Xiao Luo died, the black spear reverted to its card form. Under the survivors’ gaze, it shattered into pieces and dissolved into countless tiny points of light, dispersing into the air.

—After a formal participant dies, their items are reclaimed by the system.

Gu Jingsheng had already glanced over earlier and read the item description on the card. She sighed and nodded.

“It wasn’t entirely an accident. This spear increases the user’s probability of encountering accidents, and also causes them to become involuntarily suspicious and paranoid.”

[Sender: Happy Board Game

Formal Participant [Xiao Luo] has died. Other survivors, please continue the game.]

Xia Xiaoyun stared at the new message on her phone, almost stunned. She didn’t know Xiao Luo personally, but she knew he had been in the same corridor as Gu Jingsheng and Wei Jiashi.

“Be careful—there may be more than three monsters in this corridor!”

Having survived in the world of [Happy Board Game] until now, Shang Min’e and Gao Buyi naturally took their companions’ reasonable warnings to heart. But they never expected that when they ran headlong into wandering natives emerging from the depths of the corridor, the three monsters behind them would also break through the oat barrier, trapping the players in a pincer attack.

Gao Buyi let out a sorrowful sigh.

“I really shouldn’t have teamed up with you, you cursed unlucky bastard.”

If he hadn’t been too busy fighting to free his hands, Shang Min’e would absolutely have turned around and PK’d his teammate first. In terms of luck, they were truly unlucky—that missing stroke in fate truly wasn’t worth mentioning.

Because the enemy’s assault was too fierce, Xia Xiaoyun and the others had barely opened the lounge door before being forced back inside.

Shang Min’e and Gao Buyi, working together, could hold off two NPCs for the time being, but they lacked the spare capacity to stop the remaining monsters from charging into the room.

Gao Buyi shouted loudly,

“You two be careful! Don’t get caught! Best to split up and run—tss—”

He was injured in the forearm the moment his attention slipped.

A round shield materialized in Shang Min’e’s hand. Leading by example, he blocked attack after attack—if Xia Xiaoyun had been paying close attention, she would have noticed that many times the NPCs were clearly aiming for vital points, yet at the last instant inexplicably veered off course and were successfully intercepted by the shield.

Inside the lounge, oval coffee tables and padded wooden chairs lay strewn haphazardly. Xia Xiaoyun glanced at Zhou Shuai and ran in the opposite direction. He hesitated for a moment, then didn’t follow.

Large wooden cabinets stretching from floor to ceiling lined both sides of the room. The players had already checked them earlier—aside from scattered notices and newspapers, there was nothing of note.

Xia Xiaoyun quickly slipped inside one of the cabinets without a sound. Before closing the door, she deliberately materialized the [“No Entry” Signboard] and placed it at the cabinet entrance.

So many things happening...