Genius Chapter 28: The Second Trial

Chapter 28: The Second Trial

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The entire room plunged into darkness, and all sounds seemed to vanish instantly, leaving the two people lying in bed in an inexplicable state of anxiety. Time gradually counted down to 30 seconds. The main computer’s voice clearly rang in everyone’s ears, reciting the remaining countdown as if announcing their doom.

ScarletFruit pulled the quilt over his head. “Is this really a horror theme?”

“30 seconds left, damn.” ClearWind said, “I bet those two won’t make it back in time.”

ScarletFruit covered his face and said, “I give up. I just don’t know how many levels we’ll lose this time.”

ClearWind said, “I’m turning off the live stream.”

“Why are you turning it off?” ScarletFruit didn’t understand.

ClearWind replied confidently, “Real men don’t need the protection of bullet comments.”

ScarletFruit was speechless.

The quilt was thick and stuffy. The two of them huddled inside, listening to the countdown sound, and couldn’t help but say, “It never felt this way before, but now ApexMind’s voice sounds really creepy.”

“That’s because it has reverb on.” ClearWind tried to stick his head out of the quilt for air, but ScarletFruit pulled him back. “Are you scared?”

ScarletFruit said, “Don’t lift it! If they find out we’re not asleep, we’re screwed. Don’t talk.”

At the 10-second mark, the two stopped talking. Just then, ScarletFruit keenly heard movement outside the quilt, like footsteps slowly approaching them. This made ScarletFruit tense up immediately. Before he could signal ClearWind, the sound abruptly stopped, and a heavy weight pressed down on them.

“!!!!!” ScarletFruit covered his mouth, stifling a scream, completely terrified. His other hand clutched ClearWind’s arm, nearly making him cry out in pain.

A hand pressed down on ScarletFruit’s head through the quilt. The voice was calm and serious, “Don’t scream!”

ScarletFruit, “!”

ClearWind, “!”

[Countdown finished. Online players: 88, offline players: 2. Offline players have been disqualified from accommodation.]

[Second round: Survive the night at Desert Inn; participating players: 88/90, participating teams: 19/20]

[Location: Desert Inn; Remaining time: 3 hours]

[Mission objective: Strange noises are said to occur at Desert Inn at night, considered ominous. Guests who hear these sounds will disappear without reason. Survive to complete the challenge. If all team members die, the mission fails. Failed teams will regress 4 levels and lose 1000 gold. Successful teams will earn 40 permanent attribute points per player.]

[Good night and sweet dreams.]

As soon as ApexMind’s voice ended, a terrifying silence returned. The person pressing on ScarletFruit and ClearWind moved. An invitation request popped up; it was from momo.

After momo joined the team, he said, “Switch to team voice chat.”

The two felt like they had seen their savior and couldn’t contain their voices.

ClearWind said excitedly, “You finally made it. I thought we were goners.”

“We just finished eating and almost didn’t make it.” Su Mo said after joining the team, “Invite Wanderer; he’s in the room.”

“What?!” ScarletFruit was stunned. Seeing UnchainedWanderer’s ID lit up in the friend list, he immediately sent an invitation. “When did you guys get online?! Why didn’t we notice?”

UnchainedWanderer joined the team.

“When you called me the horror movie prince.” Su Mo adjusted his position. The two under the quilt were really uncomfortable. “Seeing you two sleep so comfortably, we didn’t want to disturb.”

ScarletFruit was speechless.

Yu Zhen had just joined the team when he heard momo’s voice. They had logged in almost simultaneously. There was no login prompt in this special scene. He only noticed momo at last night’s logout location. He wanted to greet them, but they were talking, and the room instantly went dark.

“I forgot to mention before logging out last night that the mission might have textual traps. Glad we made it.” Yu Zhen said, “We’ve all been hit with a blindness debuff. This round might be dangerous.”

Su Mo pulled the quilt down a bit to prevent the two teammates inside from suffocating. “I said we’d make it. What were you scared of?”

ScarletFruit nearly cried at those words. “How was I supposed to know? My brain is never smart about anything but money. You scared me to death. I didn’t even catch the mission details…”

He fell silent upon seeing the mission content.

ClearWind said, “Fruit, don’t worry. 1000 gold is easy to earn back.”

“1000 gold!” ScarletFruit couldn’t bear it. “That’s 1000 gold!!!”

The blindness debuff only affected the environment and didn’t stop them from checking the system. But with blindness, all their directional functions became unselectable, and their vision was entirely dark. They had to rely on touch to confirm their surroundings.

ClearWind said, “Are we all on the bed? Is Wanderer here?”

“Yes.” Yu Zhen stood, holding the bed rail. “I saw the rest prompt.”

ScarletFruit couldn’t help but quip, “So, Brother, you sleep standing up?”

Yu Zhen asked, “Is there a rule against it?”

Four people squeezed onto one bed, and the countdown for the second round continued.

Just then, a clicking sound came from the room, like some mechanism was quietly operating.

“Brother, did you hear something… ah!!!!” ScarletFruit’s voice stopped abruptly. The bed’s board suddenly collapsed, taking the three lying on it down.

“What happened?!” Yu Zhen asked urgently.

In the sudden collapse, Su Mo used his light staff to brace the hole, grabbing one person with his free hand, hanging in mid-air. His arm felt like it was tearing apart. He gritted his teeth, “Is anyone there?”

ClearWind quickly said, “I’m here!!”

“Where’s Fruit?” Su Mo asked.

ScarletFruit’s voice was panicked, “Brother, I’m here!! I’m holding Wind’s waist.”

ClearWind couldn’t help but say, “Hold my waist if you want, but stop pulling my waistband, will you?”

In the dark, Su Mo struggled to hold on. He couldn’t see his surroundings and said, “Can you climb up?”

ClearWind tried to touch around but found nothing. It seemed the only leverage point was Momo’s hand. “There’s no wall to leverage against.”

Su Mo couldn’t exert any force, and the only support was the floating light. If this continued, he would soon fall with the two below.

ClearWind said, “Brother, let go. It’s too hard to climb up here.”

Su Mo gritted his teeth, intending to pull himself up. Just then, a gust of wind passed by, and he heard something falling, followed by a hand grabbing his arm, easing his pressure.

Array Master’s calm voice came, “Don’t let go. ScarletFruit, grab the rope.”

ScarletFruit groped around, catching the rope that wrapped tightly around his hand, pulling him up, “What the hell is-?!” Before he could finish, he hit the beam where the rope was tied. “Ouch!”

“Flying rope, quest item.” Yu Zhen said, “Untie the rope and throw it. ClearWind, catch it.”

ScarletFruit fumbled to operate it. “It’s off. Wind, did you get it?”

“Got it!” ClearWind caught the rope and climbed up.

Su Mo felt the pressure lighten. The man holding his hand exerted force, pulling him up and out of the hole. The four barely escaped, now lying by the bed, reaching out to feel the endless pit.

“Thank you,” Su Mo said.

Yu Zhen paused for a moment, then continued, “Your quick reaction saved us.”

“This main computer is messed up, tricking us to go up and then pulling the bed board from under us!?” ScarletFruit reached out to touch the edge of the bed. “This pit is outrageous. Isn’t this the third floor?”

ClearWind patted someone’s shoulder in the dark. “Calm down, brother. Celestial Horizon is a fantasy game, you know that.”

“Did you guys hear the strange noise mentioned in the mission?” Su Mo surveyed the surroundings. In the pitch-black environment, they could only confirm they were still in the room.

ClearWind recounted the strange occurrences before the second round began.

“Doors and windows locked?” Yu Zhen paused.

Su Mo looked at him. “What’s up?”

Yu Zhen explained, “A friend of mine is also at this event. He sent me some related information yesterday about Desert Inn. Counting us, there are 10 teams known to have obtained parchment in the entire server. Three of these teams got their parchment from quests, and the others got parchment clues from demon dungeons.”

“Damn, that many?” ClearWind was stunned. “No wonder you said more than one person had parchment when you were downstairs.”

Yu Zhen said, “I’m not sure if all these teams made it to the second round. The parchment-related missions must be crucial. The later challenges might be related to the parchment since we haven’t seen the innkeeper yet.”

Su Mo listened and noted a key point in Yu Zhen’s words. “Wanderer, those three teams that got the parchment from quests, were they also demon-related quests?”

“Yes,” Yu Zhen explained, “so this Desert Inn event is likely also related to demon sealing. The penalties include level drops, attribute points, and gold loss. The rewards are attribute points, and it’s speculated that the event rewards might include demon points and quest rewards, with valuable treasure chests.”

Demon points could be exchanged for many items, including experience pills, gold, and attribute points.

Su Mo frowned. “The mission player count just updated.”

[Desert Inn Second Round: Remaining players 50/88]

Seeing the remaining player count, the four in the room fell into a brief silence. The blindness debuff lasted for the entire duration of the second-round challenge, meaning they would be in this state for the next three hours. Su Mo was also puzzled by the mysterious noise mentioned in the mission. Except for the bed mechanism’s click, no other sounds had been heard so far.

Locked doors and windows, forcing players to sleep, bed traps… Su Mo recalled that while the Desert Inn had many rooms, they weren’t large—at most 20 square meters. With various furniture, the actual movement space was less than 10 square meters, too cramped for a five-member team.

“Wind, can you stop touching my leg? It’s tickling me.” ScarletFruit couldn’t help but whisper. “If you’re scared, find somewhere else to touch.”

“Scared? I’m the prince of horror movies, why would I be scared?” ClearWind retorted. “And why would I touch you? You still owe me for grabbing my waistband earlier.”

ScarletFruit said, “You’re still touching me!”

ClearWind said, “Where did I touch you?!”

As they spoke, they suddenly realized something was off.

ScarletFruit paused, reaching down to feel a cold object wrapped around his leg. “Bro!”

Su Mo snapped back. “What’s wrong?”

“I think there’s something…” Before ScarletFruit finished, he felt a strong pull. He instinctively grabbed the person next to him, but the thing didn’t give up and kept dragging him. “Help! This thing is alive! Something’s pulling me!”

“Where? Let me handle it!” ClearWind quickly drew his sword, slicing at a soft spot without even unsheathing it.

ScarletFruit screamed, “BladeWarrior, where are you cutting?! That’s my thigh!”

Yu Zhen grabbed ScarletFruit. “It’s on the left leg.”

Su Mo tapped his light staff forward, hitting the bed’s edge with a thud. He heard a sound from the pit. “It ran. That thing came out of the pit.”

ScarletFruit, exhausted, fell back, pulled away by Yu Zhen. ClearWind stumbled over a chair, grabbed the table to steady himself, and quickly said, “Bro, there’s a wind sound!”

A faint wind sound came from the pit, clearly audible in the silent room.

Su Mo summoned LunarFeline and White Tiger, cautiously observing the surroundings. When the wind approached, he had White Tiger pounce forward, but the thing passed through White Tiger and directly hit Su Mo. The impact sent Su Mo crashing into a cabinet, his health dropping by half.

The creature from the pit was highly agile, attacking from various directions with deadly precision, targeting them specifically.

ScarletFruit blindly cast a big heal, barely bringing Su Mo’s health back up. “Bro, be careful!”

Su Mo warned, “Be careful, that thing can pass through objects!”

Yu Zhen immediately set up a defensive array, but in the next second, something broke through his defense, smashing a chair within the array’s range. He pulled ScarletFruit back a few steps. “Skills can also be penetrated.”

This was an intangible monster that could pass through objects and skills. Summoned creatures’ attacks and array defenses were all ineffective.

Moreover, in their current state of blindness, they couldn’t use targeted skills; all skills had to be blindly guessed.

The wind gust attacked again. Su Mo aimed and had LunarFeline cast a group confusion spell, which immediately disrupted the creature’s attack angle. “Turn up the environment sound to maximum; area control skills can still be used.”

Everyone quickly turned up the environment sound, making the faint noises more noticeable. However, after a few rounds, the creature began wreaking havoc on the room’s furniture, creating so much noise that it muddled their senses. All four took some hits here and there.

“This isn’t working; I can barely hear anything,” ClearWind quickly dodged and rolled to Su Mo’s vicinity. “Bro, are you here?”

“I’m here.” Su Mo leaned against the wall, placing area control summoned creatures around them. He lowered his voice, explaining, “It seems this is the actual second round challenge. The pitfall was just the start. Players dragged into the pit will be eliminated… Wanderer, are you with ScarletFruit?”

Yu Zhen replied, “Yes.”

ScarletFruit added, “Judging by the sound, we should be to your right.”

Su Mo quickly processed ScarletFruit’s words. “Are you near the window?”

ScarletFruit felt around to confirm his position. “Yes, I can feel the window frame.”

“Wanderer, stay close to the window frame. To your right, at a 45-degree angle, 1.5 meters away, is the bed. The error margin shouldn’t exceed 5 degrees.”

Su Mo mentally mapped out the room’s layout, calculating distances based on memory. He deftly dodged another attack while providing instructions. “ClearWind, we are right in front of the cabinet. From our location to theirs is about 1.6 meters. Directly in front of you, half a meter away, is the table. Step up and move forward one step to get into the physical Swordsman’s casting range.”

ClearWind, somewhat confused, responded twice, “Oh, oh.” 

Then what? What were they supposed to do?

ScarletFruit, equally puzzled, asked, “Bro, why are you telling us this? That thing is long and keeps changing its attack direction!”

Winds whipped around the room, stinging their skin. The creature’s attacks from the pit grew more frequent and widespread. The flexible and unpredictable attack patterns gradually increased their damage taken, though still manageable, it was unsustainable.

Su Mo observed the changes around him, thinking and speaking simultaneously, “The bed’s maximum size wouldn’t exceed 2 meters by 1.4 meters. The pit is in the center of the bed, so theoretically, it’s smaller than the bed’s size, and the margin of error is negligible. Celestial Horizon’s average profession control skills have a base range of 2 meters by 2 meters, with some professions having even larger ranges.”

Yu Zhen paused, understanding Momo’s intent.

ClearWind asked, “What do you mean? Can you be clearer? How do we deal with it?”

Su Mo calmly explained their strategy, “We can trap it completely.”

Realization dawned on ScarletFruit and ClearWind. They didn’t need to see the monster; they only needed to confine it.

“ScarletFruit, stand by the window with Wanderer and focus your control skills towards the bed. ClearWind, you cover the right side of the bed. I’ll cover the left, and Wanderer can handle the remaining area.”

Yu Zhen nodded, positioning himself according to Su Mo’s instructions. They prepared their skills, relying on Su Mo’s spatial calculations.

“On my signal,” Su Mo directed, listening to the subtle sounds. “Three… two… one… now!”

They unleashed their area control skills simultaneously. The coordinated effort created an overlapping zone of influence around the pit. The chaotic wind calmed, and the room fell silent. The creature’s attempts to escape were stifled by their coordinated attack zones.

“We did it,” ClearWind said, relief in his voice.

Su Mo exhaled slowly. “Keep your guard up. We might still have to survive the night.”