The Trembling World
chapter-397-30041322

TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

After ten minutes, that player returned to the gap. Speaking through the gap nonchalantly, the player updated Liu Gan. There was another long passage more than a dozen meters long beyond the gap . At the end of the passage was an opening to another room. This room was smaller than the lounge they had been trapped in.

After being reassured by Liu Gan that there were no dangers on the other side, one by one the players squeezed through the gap. They walked together as a group through the passage and into the other room. It was as the player had reported, the room was definitely smaller than the lounge.

The moment someone walked by the sensors, the speakers were activated. It seemed there was another surveillance camera and speaker in that room, and it hadn’t been damaged yet.

“Congratulations for passing the first trial. Even though… your method of passing the trial relied on brute force. If you had a brain, you could have used it. You could have looked under the sofa, in the ceiling panels, or the walls for a hidden trigger. By flipping this trigger on, you would’ve been able to pass through the passage here,” the mainframe continued with its verbal diarrhea.

“Cut your bull! No one wants to play your boring IQ games!” Liu Gan cursed the mainframe.

“Okay, since you have all passed… this is the second trial. It tests your courage. Without any courage, you won’t be able to pass this part,” the mainframe continued speaking. As such, this room they were in was the second trial waiting room. In front of their path at the far side of the room was now revealed a dark tunnel.

The sound of a horde of zombies escaped from that dark tunnel. As each different zombie produced different noises, it didn’t sound like the normal zombies. These zombies kept moaning at different intervals so there was hardly a moment of silence. The noise didn't seem to be coming at eye level, it sounded like it was at a much deeper location.

Liu Gan walked up into the dark tunnel, and after a dozen meters into the darkness he reached a wide opening. He shone his flashlight at the surroundings. It was such a vast space that he was awed at the fact it was even built.

The tunnel abruptly ended at the opening, since it was a deep cliff that bordered the tunnel and the vast open space. It was so dark that his flashlight couldn't illuminate the other side. That was when Liu Gan realized he was only standing on a small platform in this vast open space.

The light didn't reach the other end of the room, but it still reached the bottom… Over ten meters down, there were at least several thousand Black-Spot Variant zombies. When the zombies heard the commotion at the top of the cliff, they tried to scale the walls and climb on top of one another. It resembled a zombie ladder. Since it was hard for the zombies to get a grip on the slippery walls, they were unsuccessful in reaching Liu Gan and his group.

Even for someone as strong as Liu Gan, if he fell it would be hard to climb back up to his current location. Not to mention, he would be trapped among several thousands zombies. Even the fiercest warrior would succumb to this many Black-Spot Variants. Even a warrior has limits on how many fights it can take on at once. All it took was one fatal bite for him to lose everything.

The other players hadn’t even reached level 10, so if it was a fair 1-to-1 fight they would have a chance. However once you threw them into the pit against a horde, then they wouldn’t last more than a few seconds.

Liu Gan couldn’t even imagine how these zombies got there. Why in the world would there be a secret laboratory like this here? Why would the laboratory have so many Black-Spot Variants? This was when Liu Gan started to suspect the corpse tide he had experienced in the city had more than just civilians wrapped up in the mix. It was possible that additional zombies were warped in.

If he had to compare to personal experience, he could only think of the previous zombie survival games. The moment you saw signs of a corpse tide, there was no reason to second guess it. It wouldn’t take long before the waves of zombies showed up.

In The Trembling World, the sudden appearance of this many zombies and even evolution of normal zombies into Black-Spot Variants, was quite unexpected. Before Liu Gan found the correct reason, nothing went according to logic right now. Would the game advance to a phase where zombies and monsters evolved?

Thinking about these world problems would lead to frustration. Instead, Liu Gan had a different strategy - level up as fast as he could to improve his abilities. This simple yet correct way of thinking was how Liu Gan planned to deal with any pointless issues. He would focus on the challenges at hand that he could deal with, rather than pointless worries.

Liu Gan was starting to doubt whether the mainframe was really a person, or a really bored computer. If it was the latter, then it must have spent time thinking of pointless trials to test the players.

Or it could be that the mainframe was simply a game design from The Trembling World that offered three trials. After the three trials, a prize was given. Everything could be like just a casual game without any schemes or traps, and the players were worrying too much, or overthinking.

It didn’t seem like the trials were a scheme. So far the trials matched the description of what the mainframe had said. The first round was testing for wisdom. If it was as the mainframe had said and there was a mechanical trigger for unlocking the room to the second trial, then an intellectual person might have found it. Liu Gan used a different method, he opted for brutality.

This sort of brutality caused Liu Gan to recall several adventurous puzzle games that had risks involved. There were games that involved the main character getting locked up with ignited explosives while being trapped behind locked doors. The only way to escape was to find the key.

The main character in those games won’t be afraid of the explosives if they weren’t trapped behind locked doors. Their biggest fear would be relying on brute force only to find that it wouldn’t budge after a kick. Since the key was the only way out of the locked room, weapons in those games would have no effect on the door.

From this point of view, being in The Trembling World was very realistic. As long as your strength was high enough, even the thickest metal partition door wouldn't be a problem. Even without any Intelligence, as long as the fist is sturdy enogh, it will penetrate through the door.

Focusing back on the second trial, Liu Gan looked around for any clues as to which of the two remaining trials this was. It seems like to pass this test of ‘valor’, they must cross through these zombies to the other side to be considered a success.

The question is… How do you get over there?

Liu Gan didn’t have any wings, so sure as Hell he can’t fly over. Even though the players all had rope, it was impossible to see the end to do a pulley system.