SWBG - Chapter 6

Aside from Yao Ruo Ling, the players from Room 07796 included three men: You Yi Ming, a gaunt young man who looked like he’d just returned from a poverty-relief mission in the Savannah—Gu Jing Sheng could practically see his ribs neatly lined up through his clothes.

Another was Wang Meng Yuan, who exuded the aura of an overworked white-collar worker—his expression cycled randomly between "overtime," "corporate drone," and "death by overwork," his eyes occasionally flickering with poorly concealed panic, as if he’d just botched a crucial task from his boss and was about to be fired and left homeless.

Compared to these two, the most energetic-looking one was Ma Cong, the youngest of the trio.

His edgy hairstyle and frizzy, over-processed blond hair helped Gu Jing Sheng finally grasp what Happy Board Game had meant during loading when it said she had "no guide present."

Players from different rooms were clearly segregated—whether out of familiarity or necessity, Ma Cong, You Yi Ming, and Wang Meng Yuan all clustered closely around Yao Ruo Ling, faintly opposing the three players from another room across from them.

The players opposite them also followed the "guide + newbie" setup, though they were slightly outnumbered by Yao Ruo Ling’s group. They weren’t in much of a chatting mood, only revealing that their room numbers also started with 07. Their guide, He Nan, was a slightly plump middle-aged man with a perpetually amiable smile on his round face—a stark contrast to the two nervous newcomers he was shepherding.

Player Cao Wan Yan, somewhere between high school and college age, had been intermittently sobbing since entering the game—Gu Jing Sheng almost mistook it for in-game background noise.

Player Liu Han Ru, meanwhile, was not only audibly silent but also physically minimizing his presence, hugging his knees and curling up like a trembling shrimp.

Compared to these two, the three solo players in the carriage stood out mercilessly—He Suo Wen, blind but sharp-minded, was so impeccably dressed in a suit that he looked more suited for a banquet than fruit-picking labor.

Gu Jing Sheng, meanwhile, gave her usual pseudonym "Cheng Ye Jing," a habit of hers where she took a radical from each character of her real name and presented them in reverse order.

The last was a baby-faced young man surnamed Shang, who, rather than politely saying "My surname is Shang," opted for the far more aggressive "Yours Truly’s surname is Shang." He spent the entire ride with his hat over his face, half-sitting, half-lying in a corner.

When it was Gu Jing Sheng’s turn to introduce herself, she followed He Nan’s example and only gave the first two digits of her room number. The others visibly relaxed upon hearing she was from the 08-series rooms.

Cao Wan Yan had nearly cried herself dry by now, reduced to quiet sniffles. You Yi Ming glanced at her and said lifelessly, "I’d advise you to stop crying."

Cao Wan Yan froze.

He Nan, still smiling like a contented Buddha, added, "Crying’s fine. You won’t be able to keep it up for long anyway."

Yao Ruo Ling swept her gaze over the trio opposite them. "Both of you are reserve players?"

Liu Han Ru answered timidly, "Yes."

Yao Ruo Ling nodded. "First-timers always have an official player guiding them—it won’t be too hard. But whether you can find veterans to accompany you later depends entirely on your own skills." She pointed at Gu Jing Sheng. "Like her—she’s a newbie too, playing solo, yet she’s keeping her cool, isn’t she?"

Gu Jing Sheng blinked. "Is it that obvious?"

Yao Ruo Ling shrugged. "Spend enough time in this hellhole, and you’ll learn to spot newbies and veterans at a glance."

Cao Wan Yan whimpered softly, like a kitten. "I don’t want to be here. I want to go home."

Yao Ruo Ling: "Keep dreaming—literally. Take a nap, and you might just wake up at home."

Cao Wan Yan lowered her head and finally fell silent, her tears stopping.

He Nan offered some comfort: "Reserve players have a clearance rate above 50%. It’s a low-difficulty game—even solo players have a chance."

Liu Han Ru repeated hollowly, "50%..."

Yao Ruo Ling frowned, as if recalling unpleasant memories. "The game isn’t that hard. Most newbies die from their own stupidity."

Gu Jing Sheng’s gaze lingered on He Nan’s face.

He Nan had just called this a low-difficulty game, and no one in the carriage had objected—but Gu Jing Sheng distinctly remembered that during loading, due to some unspecified "unexpected circumstances," the game’s difficulty had increased, and she’d received the extra assist item [Little Fool’s Bee Friend].

Though she suspected the bee—which had likely flown out the window and embraced nature—was hardly compensation for lacking a guide, the item was still concrete proof of the increased difficulty.

About fifteen minutes later, the galloping carriage jolted to a sudden stop. With a loud bang, the wooden door was yanked open from the outside.

"Get out, all of you, useless slackers! By the King Thrushbeard’s grace, I hope you’re at least slightly less lazy than the last batch!"

The one barking orders was their employer in the game, Old Ivan, bundled in a thick black coat. Standing at least two meters tall, a full third of his height was just his neck and head. His already-large skull, further inflated by wild hair and beard, made his features nearly invisible.

From: Happy Board Game

Updated Game Rules.

Rules:

 Only placing fruits into baskets of matching colors counts as correct harvesting.

 Each player may only ask Old Ivan once per day to verify if a single basket’s fruits match in color—or if all ten baskets match collectively.

 Fruits can only be submitted once all ten baskets are correctly filled.

 Each player’s baskets and fruits must be submitted simultaneously with the others’.

 Once the crows reach the orchard, they will steal fruits until forced to stop.

Clearance Conditions:

 (Low Difficulty) While you slack off, others finish all the work.

 (Normal Difficulty) You are a diligent worker who completes your tasks on time.

 (Medium Difficulty) When only one worker remains, even the pickiest employer can’t complain.

 (High Difficulty) ???

Special Achievement: Locked

After disembarking, the players’ phones immediately received the update.

Yao Ruo Ling: "There’s a time limit, but it doesn’t specify how many days."

He Nan: "At least for the first few days, participants should be safe."

Gu Jing Sheng raised her hand. "I’ve actually..."

You Yi Ming: "Played it before?"

Gu Jing Sheng clarified: "Watched my niece play it."

Yao Ruo Ling frowned again, her tone exasperated. "Couldn’t you have at least tried participating back then?"

Gu Jing Sheng sighed. As a tech-dependent person, mobile games weren’t her forte. "The game was probably called My First Orchard—a dice-rolling fruit-picking game. Target demographic: uh, toddlers aged 1 to 3."

The others fell silent, unsure whether to rage at the game organizers for insulting their intelligence or mourn Happy Board Game’s refusal to copy the original rules, opting instead for inexplicable adaptations.

Once all players had exited the carriage, Old Ivan’s deafening voice boomed: "The orchard’s up there! Grab your baskets!"

Clutching her stack of multicolored baskets, Gu Jing Sheng followed Old Ivan’s pointing finger—and involuntarily tilted her head all the way back.

Before her stood a mountain that made her grateful she had dressed for active activity. The orchard, as far as she could tell, was at the peak.

Even the perpetually lounging Shang seemed stunned by the distance between their drop-off point and the destination. "You’re not taking us up?"

Old Ivan stared at him before saying, "My precious pony can’t handle mountain roads! The hard stones would hurt its delicate hooves!"

Gu Jing Sheng eyed the indistinguishable uphill and downhill paths and concluded he was just cheap.

Struggling to heave his bulk back onto the driver’s seat, Old Ivan bellowed, "Be back at the foot by evening unless you fancy spending the night in the orchard!"

As Old Ivan prepared to leave, Shang swiftly grabbed a handful of his thick beard.

"How the hell are we supposed to tell the fruits’ colors?"

Old Ivan’s expression turned murderous. His massive, clamp-like hand seized Shang’s.

Gu Jing Sheng could hear the crack of knuckles, yet the two remained locked in stalemate.

Yao Ruo Ling’s gaze flickered between them before she hesitantly stepped toward Old Ivan.

"Enough! Release my glorious beard, and Old Ivan will share three precious clues!"

Perhaps outnumbered, Old Ivan finally relented, shaking off Shang’s hand with disgust. "Listen well, you lazy parasites—Old Ivan will say this only once, and it’s worth more than gold:

Blue fruit trees grow beside green ones.

Yellow fruit trees are farthest from red ones.

What lies between gray and black is not orange."

With that, Old Ivan—moving with surprising agility—cracked his whip and sped off.

Ma Cong fawned at Shang. "Why not press him for more clues? That old coot was definitely hiding something!"

Shang stared at him until Ma Cong broke into a sweat, then drawled, "Feel free to try that yourself next time."

Ten paces away, He Suo Wen—who’d been waiting politely—remarked mildly, "Mr. Shang, aren’t you worried about breaking game rules?"

Author's Note:

To clarify, this story follows a progression-based power system, not an invincible protagonist trope. It's an Infinite Board Game, not Sequel to Jianghu Comedy.

There are plenty of stories on JJ where "an overpowered demon king descends with god-tier gear" steamrolls everything—this won’t be one of them.

If you enjoy this story, you're very welcome here. If not, please don’t force yourself—I hope you find something else to your liking.

Translator's Notes

顧 (Gù)

• Radicals: 顧 is composed of 頁 (yè, “head”) + 故 (gù, “reason”).

• One of the main identifiable radicals here is 頁.

• → So the radical extracted is: 頁 (yè)

景 (Jǐng)

• Common radicals/components: 日 (rì, “sun”) + 京 (jīng, “capital”)

• The 京 component is visually distinct and extractable.

• → So the radical extracted is: 京 (jīng)

盛 (Shèng)

• Radicals/components: 成 (chéng, “to succeed”) + 皿 (mǐn, “dish”)

• 成 is a reasonable radical to extract here.

• → So the radical extracted is: 成 (chéng)

She reverses the order of the extracted components:

• Original: 盛 (成), 景 (京), 顧 (頁)

• Reversed: 成 → 頁 → 京

• → Put together as: 成頁京 (Chéng Yè Jīng)

Enjoy the newly released chapter!