The Trial Game of Life

As strangers, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng did not know the place they were born in. They walked around the city for a long time before they found the residence of the first customer "Little Jack" - No. 27 Shell Street.

It was a very small room, and the door was engraved with the house number on a bronze plate the size of a tofu block. If Tang Cuo hadn't been sharp-eyed, he might not have seen it.

There was still no one in the room, but the moment Tang Cuo entered the room carrying the bamboo basket, the sound of "ding" came to his ears again.Open the task panel and see that the progress of the branch task has been displayed as (1/3).

Jin Cheng: "It seems that this task is really simple."

Tang Cuo put down the bamboo basket on the only table in the room, not quite believing this evil.In fact, Jin Cheng didn't believe it either, and glanced over a photo frame placed by the bedside.The photo shows a pair of mother and son, both wearing the most common linen clothes, the mother is wearing an apron, and the son is wearing a small cloth bag diagonally, with reddish-brown curly hair and many small freckles on both sides of the bridge of the nose, smiling happily.

This is probably Little Jack.

Little Jack might have a musical dream.

Tang Cuo found a small harp from the wooden box under the bed. The small harp was very old, but it was well maintained, and even the box where the harp was placed was wiped spotless.

There is still a music score under the small harp, the corners have turned yellow, and the handwriting has begun to blur, which seems to be very old.Tang Cuo couldn't read the score, but he recognized the author's name—Lancelot.

The most popular bard in the entire continent, Lancelot.

"So this little Jack is Lancelot's fanboy?" Jin Cheng said, and handed Tang Cuo a newspaper, "Look at this."

The headline on the front page of the newspaper was talking about an organization called the Ivy League. The headline was "Mrs. Catherine accepts honors from the Ivy League and becomes the No. 13 arbiter of the Ivy League".

[Recently, the Popolo Island Headquarters of the Ivy League announced that Madam Catherine was officially awarded the position of arbitrator, code-named "Order of Life", in recognition of her great contribution to the July Rose incident.

Lord "Monitor" Roger Reid stated that the Ivy League will continue to track the news of the Rose Sect...

It is reported that Mr. Lancelot has donated all the income from the July charity performance to the victims of the July Rose incident, praising Mr. Lancelot who is always kind and upright...]

The newspaper was called the Daily Dodo, and it was dated July 1228, 7, Sicilian calendar.

Tang Cuo looked through other content, but there was nothing worth noting except knowing some place names. He asked, "What date is it today?"

Jin Cheng: "September 9st."

Little Jack has the habit of remembering the date. He draws the date grid by himself, and draws a cross every day. September 9st has not yet been crossed, and it is circled with a red pen, with the words: Huachao Festival next to it.

Besides, there was no other useful information in the room, so Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng stopped staying and went to the next house.

Aunt Anna lived two streets away, and her living conditions were better than that of Little Jack, but her room seemed more crowded, with a lot of laundry in the corner that needed to be washed.Both men and women, young and old, mostly burlap and some cotton—probably her work.

There was a pile of half-washed clothes by the door.

Although the room is crowded, everything is neatly arranged, so that people can know where things should be placed at a glance.

Tang Cuo looked around, but found nothing, and finally set his sights on the pile of clothes.But just as he was about to reach out, Jin Cheng handed over a magic wand, which he brought along from the magic house.

At certain moments, Jin Cheng would suddenly suffer from a disease called "cleanliness addiction".

Tang Cuo took the magic wand with a blank expression, and used it as a stick to rummage through the pile of clothes. After rummaging through it, he really found something. With a bang, a badge fell out of a certain piece of clothing.

Jin Cheng picked it up, looked at it, and said, "The silver moon symbol may be a family crest, or it may be a keepsake. I think there is only such a small city in the Moon Hidden Kingdom, and this is the badge of the royal family or the city lord." .And did you find out, we have walked all the way, except for the white roses, we did not see the second kind of flowers, and these roses seem to be connected."

Clumps of roses can be found in every corner of the city.They grew in the windows of the bakery, on the eaves of Little Jack's house, entangled the towers, and even filled the gaps in the city walls, so that it was difficult to tell where they came from, so entwined and entwined with thorny vines, But make no mistake—their roots are not here.

The entire Moon Hidden Kingdom is paved with large blocks of stone bricks, and there are almost no dirt roads, and the rose will never grow out of the bricks.

"You mean, the rose has something to do with the weirdness in this city?" Tang Cuo asked.

"Probably." Jin Cheng said, picking a rose that came in through the open window, raised his eyebrows slightly: "I'm just curious why it's a rose, not a rose."

"Rose?"

"Haven't you read Wilde's "The Nightingale and the Rose"? The ring on your finger is called Nightingale."

I am illiterate, thank you.

Tang Cuo doesn't like to read fairy tales, they are utopias in Les Miserables, they are too fake.But he doesn't like to watch "Les Miserables" either, it's too miserable.All in all he just doesn't like reading.

Jin Cheng's artistic cells grow randomly like his cleanliness.

Ten minutes later, the two arrived at the residence of the last guest, Mr Gilbert.

Mr. Gilbert's family is rich, and he lives in a two-storey single-family house. There is even a carriage parked downstairs.There are no horses in the carriage, and the door of the carriage is open, and there are all kinds of things piled up in it, food, use, play, and even a stack of letters.

There is also a box outside the carriage, and a footstool beside it.It looked like someone was moving things to the carriage, and they disappeared before the things were finished.

Tang Cuo read the letter first.

Most of these are family letters, written by wanderers who are studying abroad to their parents, and adventurers who travel far away to their beloved girls. There are trivial things and anecdotes about adventures. Bitterness, longing, and admiration are all in the letters.

Flipping through the pages, Tang Cuo saw Aunt Anna's letter, which was written by his son.

【Mother, it's spring again, I don't know how you are doing.

Although Fran is a small principality, it is beautiful here. Mother, last time you worried that I could not get used to the cold climate here and the inherent arrogance of Fran people, but the spring here is full of flowers.As long as it is a place with flowers, it will not be too sad.

I got a job as a timekeeper, helping people repair old clocks in a watch shop.The boss is a very kind gentleman, he often gives me the extra bread at home, so you really don't have to worry about me, and you don't have to work too hard for my tuition.

At the end of last year, I had the honor to meet Mr. Lancelot. He was still so gentle and kind, and his music became more and more beautiful.He asked me about things in my hometown and encouraged me to be diligent. I am so happy, mother, he still remembers me.

Praise Silvermoon.

Miss you, my mother.

When I return from my studies next year, I will bring you the most beautiful flower.

——Your favorite son Louis]

After closing the letter, Tang Cuo suppressed the slightly turbulent mood and opened the next one.The recipient of this letter is another acquaintance, Cecilia who owns a bakery.

[Dear Cecilia:

I'm sorry that it took me so long to reply to you. You know, the distance between the Moon Hidden Kingdom and the Hundred Flowers Kingdom is high and the road is high, so it is difficult for me to pass on first-hand news to you.

Regarding the matter you entrusted to me, I can only tell you with the greatest regret: Mr. Lancelot has no plans to come back for the time being. He has just accepted the invitation of the Ivy League and plans to go to Popolo Island to be honored by Mrs. Catherine His new work "Serenade" was played at the ceremony.

Dear Cecilia, maybe I shouldn't say this, but you should look into your beautiful starry eyes at other men who love you so much and would do anything for you.

——Your Uncle Thain]

Jin Cheng also read the letter and joked, "It seems that this beautiful Cecilia is still Mr. Lancelot's crush."

But Tang Cuo began to care about Popolo Island and the Ivy League that appeared for the second time.The date in the newspaper is July 7th, and today's date is September 30st. In just one month, Lancelot went from the Kingdom of Flowers to Popolo Island. What happened?

The death of the poet, is he really dead?

What does the vision of the hidden moon country have to do with him?

Looking at it now, the hidden moon country is undoubtedly the hometown of Lancelot, and there are traces of his existence everywhere here.And Mr. Gilbert, who has a rich family, seems to be a traveling merchant. He travels between the Moon Hidden Kingdom and other places, bringing goods and letters to the people here.

The things in the carriage have different marks, and Tang Cuo can distinguish some according to the content of the letter.For example, dried flower bookmarks from the Hundred Flowers Kingdom, jade from the Fairy Forest, etc.

Put the bamboo basket containing the bread into Mr. Gilbert's room, and with a "ding", the side mission is successfully completed.At the same time, a system announcement sounded:

"Congratulations to the player for completing the side mission 'Cecilia's Bakery' and getting the reward 'A Brass Key'."

Tang Cuo opened the system panel and saw the rewards.He immediately looked at Jin Cheng, Jin Cheng shrugged at him, it seemed that this reward only fell on the ring holder Tang Cuo.

At this time, the two had left the west of the city to the south of the city, and then turned to the center of the city.When Tang Cuo looked from the tower, he saw a small palace covered with roses in the center of the city, where Lancelot was most likely.

But when they got there, the two were a little dumbfounded.

The palace is not big and has no walls, but layers of vines wrap around the palace, full of flowers, blocking all the doors and windows.And the vines are full of spikes, there is no place to attack.

With the mentality of giving it a try, Jin Cheng took out his mechanical bow and shot an arrow at the gate.

"Hoo!" The metal arrow pierced the vine and scratched a rose.And just when the petals were broken, all the vines seemed to come alive, frantically rushing towards the metal arrow, holding it firmly.

With sharp eyes, Tang Cuo saw the crimson blood dripping from the broken petals.

"Crack." The metal arrow was broken into two by the vines, as if it was extremely fragile.

"Let's go!" Jin Cheng made a decisive decision, pulled Tang Cuo and ran back at an extremely fast speed.Tang Cuo was half a second slower than him, but he ran without looking back.

too frightening.

The roses in the entire palace were alive, and hundreds of thorns and vines were thrown over like a whip, and when the whip fell, even if they didn't die, they would be peeled off.

The only good thing is that the roses in other places have not moved, otherwise there is no solution to this situation.

"Crack!" A few vines struck together, and Tang Cuo quickly crossed the roof, but was still hit on the hem of his clothes.With a stabbing sound, the hem of the clothes was instantly torn.

Jin Cheng stopped him in time, and the two fled quickly, and finally escaped when they ran out of the range of a kilometer from the palace.

The vines shrank back, and the pure white flowers hugged the palace again, quietly, like caring for a sleeping lover.

Tang Cuo took a breath, and looked around without caring about the torn hem of his clothes.They were originally in the west of the city, but now they ran to the south of the city. The layout of the south of the city is similar to that of the west of the city. Looking forward, there seems to be a small square there.

At this moment, the sun was finally about to set into the golden sea of ​​sand, the sky was dark, and the moon peaked in the distance.

"I can't go to the palace for the time being. I can't even take my arrows. I'm afraid I need to find other customs clearance items." Jin Cheng is well versed in dungeon routines. As he spoke, he glanced at the copper ring on Tang Cuo's finger and said, " Why do I feel that there is almost something on your ring?"

Tang Cuo raised his hand: "What?"

Jin Cheng: "It's like a gem."

Tang Cuo took a closer look, and found that the place where the patterns were engraved really looked like there was something empty, but if there was any gemstone, it was a very small one, where could I find it?

He couldn't help looking at the moon again. The skill engraved on the ring was called "Moonlight Tide". He didn't know what it had to do with the real moonlight.There is no moon in Eternal Night City, if you want to verify it, it is only in the dungeon.

Maybe blast the palace gates with moonlight tides?

No, it's too risky to do so.

Tang Cuo temporarily gave up this idea, and the two continued walking along the street to the small square.

The small square is really small, with a diameter of no more than ten meters, but there is a bronze statue standing on this square - a young man with a small harp in his arms, sitting cross-legged on the ground, singing with his eyes closed.

Tang Cuo seldom sees the statue sitting on the ground. The man wears a shirt, a vest and boots, a dagger hanging from his waist, and a Fedora hat with the brim rolled up on the side. The hat has beautifully shaped feathers , with hair stuck behind the ears, revealing a handsome profile.

He was smiling, with a white dove squatting at his feet, and flowers piled up in front of him—of course, these were also made of copper.

Jin Cheng knelt down in front of the bronze statue and saw the ring on his right hand.The statue restored the ring very well, and on this ring, there is indeed a small gemstone in the pattern.

In addition to this, there is a keyhole in the heart of the statue.Tang Cuo tried it with Cecilia's key, but it couldn't match.

Jin Cheng's focus was not on these, because he suddenly remembered some old scores: "Irish harp, I remember that I played this at the bonfire party when you first entered the camp. Everyone cheered for the instructors, but you were not here ,where did you go?"

Tang Cuo didn't want to say that he actually heard it, but he was sitting in the corner and Jin Cheng didn't see it.The other instructors played the harmonica at most, but Jin Cheng held the harp to dominate the scene, and did not give others a chance to show off.

"To the restroom."

"Tsk."

If there was anything Jin Cheng was dissatisfied with about this student, it was that he didn't have a single bit of artistic talent, and it was too unsightly.

Tang Cuo didn't want to talk about this topic, so he said, "The Well of Time."

Jin Cheng understood: "Time magic?"

Tang Cuo: "The side mission says that today is the Huachao Festival, so Cecilia is going to the Well of Time to get water. This month, the time in the hidden kingdom of the moon seems to be stagnant, and it will always stop on the Huachao Festival, and stay What comes down is dead."

Jin Cheng: "Except for those weird rose flowers."

In the entire city, or in other words, in the entire country, there is not a single living thing except rose flowers.Not even trees.

Flowers must take root in the soil and must be nourished by water sources. If the rose flowers grow from the water in the well of time, and the well of time contains time magic, everything can be explained.

The question is - where is this Well of Time?