---Third POV---
Time was tight, so Edgar got straight to the point.
"The three major auction houses are jointly hosting the auction, but they're not entirely united. The Scarlet Casino will participate as a middleman. As long as we can get involved in guarding and transporting the sirens before the auction, rescuing them will be much easier."
Garble immediately caught on.
"By passing the Trial of the Opportunists, we can join the Scarlet Casino?"
Edgar nodded.
"As long as you make it out of these two corridors alive, your status in the casino won't be low. I suspect, if you choose the left, you'll become the casino's sharpest blade. If you choose the right, you'll be its prettiest facade."
To pass through trap-filled corridors as a mere beginner mage... Whether it was skill or temperament, they were exactly the kind of talent the shadowy casino favored most.
"Blade and facade…" Child tried to understand the two roles. "Why do I feel like the blade sounds better?"
It clearly sounded like the second-in-command to the boss, with access to the casino's deepest secrets.
Clank! Clank!
The iron rod behind them was still groaning.
Edgar took a moment to glance back. The stone sphere was beginning to tremble slightly.
"There's no time to explain. This is the route map to exit the corridor. If you want to escape, you mustn't go through the corridor normally."
"If you want to help me, go to the right."
"Remember, where there's light, there are eyes. Don't just pass the trial. Do it beautifully."
With that, his figure and the firelight vanished completely.
Even the iron rod holding back the stone sphere disappeared along with him.
Child's eyes widened. "Hey! Hey!!"
They were still stuck on the wall!
At least let them down, wait? The restraints were gone?
Well then, never mind.
He immediately pulled out a bunch of wooden sticks from his body and propped them against the stone sphere. They couldn't match Edgar's iron rod, but they were enough to stop the just-activated sphere.
Thanks to Edgar's appearance, it was indirectly confirmed that the corridor had no surveillance mechanisms.
Only then did he reveal the existence of his game backpack. But he didn't have much with him.
How long they'd last, was up to fate.
After finishing everything, he stretched his sore arms.
Next came the split.
Joining the Scarlet Casino to gather intel only required one person.
The sole NPC, Gaeman, obviously wouldn't do. Too little margin for error, and he couldn't even speak.
Between Child and Garble, one was a retired soldier, the other a high schooler who hadn't even grown up yet.
Was there really a choice?
Child looked at his own level: [Lv11], then at Garble's: [Lv16].
With a sigh, he relented.
"Alright, I'll go with Gaeman to find the exit."
Garble lit a fire blossom and looked up at the stone sphere, which almost filled the entire corridor.
"...You might have to stay too."
The sphere was surrounded by spikes at least 30 centimeters long.
The width between the four wall gaps was barely enough for a person to squeeze through.
If they forced their way through, qt the very least, half of their body would get the cactus treatment.
He didn't know healing magic. Losing blood would seriously affect his performance in the trial ahead.
He turned to look at Child.
Child sighed again.
"Alright, I don't even get the chance to explore the new dungeon."
He ruffled Gaeman's fluffy hair.
"You better follow along properly. Don't let anyone snatch you away!"
He split the items in his game backpack into two portions, then tossed the smaller one ahead, creating a deep pit.
The larger one he handed to Gaeman.
"Take what you can use. If you can escape and hand this over for me, that'd be ideal!"
After playing games for so long, he still deeply hated the "total loot drop upon death" mechanic.
As long as there was even the slightest chance to preserve his inventory, he'd try it. Even if it meant enslaving an NPC.
The completely unaware Gaeman took the package with both hands, eyes glimmering with emotion.
Child gave one last reminder:
"Make sure you remember the route Edgar just drew."
Then, he ran a few steps up the wall, and dove toward the stone sphere.
Splurt!
Blood sprayed everywhere.
His body, now like a porcupine from all the spikes, perfectly plugged the largest gap on the upper right side.
Gaeman, completely unprepared, widened his eyes in shock.
Garble also tossed a package forward and turned his head.
"Remember what he just said."
Then followed suit, running up the wall.
Using Child's body as a meat shield, he easily slipped past the stone sphere.
In the blink of an eye, only Gaeman was left, and the teetering stone sphere.
He clutched the heavy package tightly and took a deep breath.
In his mind, he repeated the route Edgar had drawn over and over again. Then, with eyes closed, he jumped into the pit where the two packages had just been tossed…
---
"Big! Big! Big!"
The bearded man stared intensely at the shaking dice cup, then slapped his thigh in frustration as he sat down.
"Argh! Missed again!"
He turned his head just in time to see John return, and his eyes lit up.
"Finally you're back!"
He patted the empty seat beside him.
"Come on, sit down. Ever since you left, all my luck's been gone!"
John nodded at him politely.
The best thing about dealing with this gambler, who only knew how to play dice, was the excellent cost-performance ratio when it came to personal freedom.
He sat down smoothly and joined the next round without skipping a beat.
Then, using some "unconventional" methods, helped the man win the bet.
The bearded man flushed red with excitement, laughing heartily.
"I'm on fire today! This luck, can't stop it even if I wanted to! Hahaha!"
Suddenly, heavy footsteps grew louder on the central projection.
Many guests looked up.
In the center of the screen appeared Garble, clothes tattered, body covered in blood. Using a rough voice to mask his accent, he grumbled impatiently, "Damn it! If you picked the wrong path, then die with dignity. Paving the way for me is the last contribution you can make!"
His eyes were bloodshot, like a starving wolf cornered with no escape.
"As long as I survive, no price is too high."
With that, he sprinted down the brightly lit corridor ahead…
More and more guests in the hall looked up.
"What's this? Another new opportunist?"
"No, this one used his teammates as a stepping stone and climbed back from the other side."
"Ruthless! I like it!"
John blinked, then gave a helpless smile.
He did say he wanted a spectacular and impressive trial. But in such a short time, these otherworldly helpers had already come up with a whole storyline.
And the execution far exceeded his expectations.
Of course it did.
After retiring, Garble had nothing better to do than watch TV at home. He knew these "life-and-death trial" storylines like the back of his hand.
Creating a dramatic and attention-grabbing character?
Piece of cake.
He darted through the corridor's mechanical traps, each evasive maneuver teetering on the edge of possibility.
Cries of amazement echoed through the casino.
It was like watching a glitched character who seemed on the verge of collapsing at any moment, yet somehow kept surviving.
Couple that with his deliberately fierce expression... The occasional bursts of bizarre curse words, bits of background information and companion details he let slip now and then... He had the audience utterly hooked!
---
Elsewhere, with a loud thud, Gaeman crashed to the ground.
It hurt, sure, but there weren't any spikes below, so a few bruises were nothing to worry about.
In the darkness, he hugged his bundle tightly, relying on his sense of smell to judge his surroundings.
Left, it was to the left.
A shadow moved swiftly through the dark, disappearing like the wind...
---
Inside a narrow alleyway, the kind found everywhere in Nary Town, even the direct sunlight couldn't reach its depths.
"Ughhh!!"
Lux doubled over, gagging as she braced herself against a grimy, pitch-black wall. But when she felt something off and looked at her right hand on the wall, her nerves nearly snapped.
"What the hell is this filth, and it's sticky!"
She frantically cast her Water Ball spell, scrubbing both hands repeatedly.
Nearby, a player in ragged beggar's clothes leaned against the wall with arms crossed.
"Can you keep it down? Anyone could spot us here at any moment."
Lux clutched her chest, still on the verge of dry-heaving.
"No worries, very few people know what a Watcher member looks like. As long as we chant our spells slowly, with a long casting time, normal people won't recognize our identity."
"Let's get to the point, I want to buy intel on a player called 'Child, I Want to See Rivers of Blood'!"
The beggar in front of her was the top expert in tracking player activity among the 50 pioneer players.
A gossip-master from Thor's guild, Air Force One Family.
He could basically find anyone, anytime.
Last night, after a long day, she suddenly received a breakup message from Child.
He didn't even give her a chance to ask questions, just blocked her right after the private message and ghosted.
She couldn't swallow that shit!
That guy eloped with the siren she brought back, he must've made huge progress on the main storyline.
Nary Town wasn't that big, she refused to believe she couldn't catch him.
Hearing her request, the beggar looked hesitant.
Lux raised her hand, showing a number with her fingers.
"I'll pay this much. Deal or not?"
"Well, what a coincidence, I do know something."
The beggar's demeanor changed instantly, a full 180-degree shift.
They exchanged payment for intel.
Lux looked at the slip of paper, smudged with two dark fingerprints:
[Wealthy District, Morning Breeze Street, Rain Dew Inn.]
Her eyebrows lifted.
Staying in the wealthy district wasn't cheap. So the guy had money to afford an inn there?
She crumpled the note into a ball.
"Thanks. But…"
She glanced at the dirty puddles flooding the ground around them.
"Next time, can you pick a cleaner place to meet?"
This was a notorious slum area in Nary Town.
The people living here could afford the expensive temporary residence fees, but in every other aspect, the standard of living was... miserable.
It vividly illustrated what it meant to live just to survive.
Lux, used to staying in the church, could barely last 10 minutes here without feeling itchy all over. Unfortunately, foul smells and nausea weren't part of the pain threshold filters.
Otherwise, she firmly believed she had already lost all five senses.
The beggar waved her off dismissively.
"You girls always fuss over the weirdest things. It's a game, not real life. The messier the place, the more room there is to maneuver. I've still got more jobs after yours."
With that, he didn't even bother taking the road, he just climbed over a broken section of the wall and left.
Lux looked up at his disappearing figure and let out a long sigh.
"Sigh, everyone's just so busy…"
She clenched her fist tightly, cheering herself on. She had to find that siren-thief as soon as possible.
With that thought, she lifted her skirt, tiptoeing over tiny patches of dry ground barely wide enough for half a foot.
Hop by hop, she made her way forward.
"Damn it! He acts like he doesn't care, but clearly he minds this terrain too!"
---
After finally escaping the alley where she couldn't even find a place to step, Lux inspected a nearby wall for cleanliness before finally leaning on it.
"Whew, finally out."
Relief flooded her face. The slums were simply uninhabitable!
Especially for someone like her, who had to maintain the appearance of a noble priestess from the Radiant Church. She had to wear white, making it extra hard to get around.
"Sister Angie?" came a tentative, sweet-sounding voice.
Lux's tired brain instantly snapped to alert. The thing she'd feared most had still happened.
She hurriedly massaged her face.
Only after putting on that familiar nun-like expression did she slowly turn around.
"Hmm? Sister Sally?"
Looking at the young woman in a plain maid outfit standing before her, she was genuinely surprised.
"What are you doing here? Is it your shift today?"
The girl wasn't wearing the church uniform, so she probably hadn't come looking for her specifically.
Lux glanced around at the surrounding shoddy wooden houses. One of them still had scorch marks on the crossbeam above the door.
"Is the church paying that badly now? You're living over here?"
A bitter smile spread across Sally's face. She nervously fidgeted with the slightly tight apron around her waist.
"Please don't call me that anymore, Sister Angie…"
"I-I don't work at the church anymore."
"You don't?" Lux frowned.
Everything had seemed fine yesterday, why quit all of a sudden?
Sally wasn't even carrying a bag or any luggage. She must've moved out sometime last night or early this morning.
Could something have happened last night that she didn't know about? She immediately put her plan to track down Child on hold and stepped forward to grab Sally's hand.
"If you're no longer working at the church, that still doesn't mean you should be living here."
Right next to the slums was Nary Town's giant waste and sewage dump. It was a haven for the worst kinds of people.
Lux had just walked past three different severed hands on her way out.
Sally was just a low-level beginner mage, she probably wouldn't survive a week here.
"Come on, I'm taking you somewhere else."
Lux forcefully pulled her a few steps, then suddenly remembered her "holy priestess" persona and cleared her throat.
"I believe that everyone deserves a chance to be saved by the divine. But the hearts of too many here have already been corrupted. With my current strength, I cannot act in the Light's name to stop them."
Clearly, Sally bought into it completely. Her eyes shimmered with emotion.
"Sister Angie…"
Lux kept her gentle smile.
"Come on, follow me. I know a place that's just right for you."
This time, Lux pulled her along with ease.