Short, Light, Free - Chapter 56

Chapter 56: Game of Destruction III

 

The student in the jacket entered the room, and the rest of us wondered if he would manage to pass the exam this time around.

I was absentmindedly staring at my notes when Dahai leaned over.

He pointed at the drawing and said, “Okay, so we know that the test is about a card game involving destruction, but we have no clue on how to go about playing it. We also know that everything that goes on inside is to the advantage of the testers.”

“And no one’s ever passed the exam in five years,” I added.

“Do you think he will pass it this time?” Dahai asked.

“Maybe. He must’ve thought of a way to beat the system,” I shrugged.

One minute…

Two minutes…

Ten minutes…

Fifteen minutes…

Just as everyone was starting to get hyped up because number seven hasn’t come out yet, the door opened before them.

The man in the suit led number seven out.

“Next, number eight,” he called out.

The student in the jacket walked toward the exit in silence.

Dahai rushed over and grabbed his shoulder. “You were in there for so long, did you pass?”

He shook his head. “I won’t come back again. It’s impossible.”

“You’re saying that those who previously passed were phoneys?” Dahai questioned.

Number seven lowered his head. “I repeated my studies for four whole years. How many four years do we have? Every day, I thought of how to beat this game, only to fail for the second time. Do you understand how frustrating and disheartening that is? Yun Huateng’s victory must’ve urged the gamemaster to perfect his game once again.”

At that, he turned and left the room, leaving no chance for further questions.

Dahai repeated number seven’s words in front of everybody, “Yun Huateng’s victory must’ve urged the gamemaster to perfect his game once again.”

Everyone started discussing among themselves.

“Is it more difficult now?”

“Why are we still trying, then?”

“It’s no wonder no one’s passed in five years.”

“Won’t there be fewer and fewer loopholes each time someone succeeds?”

…

In the middle of their discussion, number eight was escorted into the examination room.

He exited the room within ten minutes.

It was number nine’s turn. A girl.

She stood up, bowed and announced, “I’ll withdraw.”

Number 11, also a girl, gave up her chance as well.

In went number 12.

By now, everyone was calling their families and explaining the situation.

Shortly after, a few got up and exited the waiting room as well.

Dahai stopped one of them. “Why are you giving up?”

“Haven’t you seen? Most can’t even last for ten minutes. And number seven, who came prepared, only lasted for fifteen minutes. What more of us? We know nothing. Are we really going to spend four years discovering the problem and another four solving it? We have the money, but not the time.”

There were only seven students left in the waiting room.

The pace of the examination did not change. One student took about ten minutes.

Practically all of them came out shaking their head. It was obvious that they had a lot to say, but out of fear, they refrained from talking.

“Number 26,” the man in the suit called.

Dahai gave me a meaningful look and patted me on my shoulder. “Wait for my good news.”

I stared at my watch. Every second was torture.

After eight minutes, the door opened.

Dahai smiled bitterly. “How difficult.”

“Failed?” I asked.

Dahai walked over to give me a hug, secretly stuffing his mobile phone into my pocket. “Six sixes, video.”

The man in the suit looked at me. “You’re the last one, number 27.”

I nodded. “Can I go to the washroom first? I’m too nervous, I can’t control my bladder.”

He looked at his watch. “You’re lucky since some gave up their spots. I’ll give you ten minutes. Your chance will be forfeited if you do not show up by then.”

I nodded again before rushing for the exit.

He stopped me quickly. “There’s a washroom here.”

He led me into a small cubicle further inside. It was a tiny toilet.

I shut the door and sat on the toilet bowl. Taking Dahai’s phone out, I keyed six sixes.

I searched through his videos and saw an eight-minute clip with a black thumbnail.

It looked more like a voice recording. He must have hidden it in his trousers.

The sounds were very crisp, however. I could visualize the settings thanks to the girl’s drawing.

I listened on and heard the shuffling of cards and a man’s voice.

“Game of Destruction. You’re not allowed to speak of or write about it. Failure to comply will get you punished, understood?”

“Yes,” Dahai answered.

“What do you think a king needs? Pick five cards and place them in front of you.”

Dahai picked out five cards. “There are repeated cards inside the deck. Can I pick identical cards?”

No answer.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Two treasuries, an army, citizens, and a giant dragon.”

He wasn’t planning to win. He was testing the game out for me.

I heard him smacking the cards down on the table while the other cards were being collected and kept.

The first question master spoke, “Five cards, five problems. Lose three cards and you fail.”

“Got it.”

“If my question uses any of your cards to attack another of your cards, you get to attack me with your own question. You have 60 seconds to solve each problem. If you don’t speak, it’s an automatic failure.”

“Alright, but won’t the game end right away if you send an assassin to kill my king?” Dahai clarified.

“You’re the king and my questions will not be a direct attack on you.”

“Got it. No more questions.”

“Your treasuries have been invaded by bandits. They will take all your assets.”

I heard an hourglass being turned over and the sounds of falling sand grains.

The quiet examination room became especially noisy at this point.

…

I immediately penned everything down.

A game of attacking and defending.

A pile of resource cards.

First question: What does a king need in order to run a nation?

The player would select five cards. Cards are repeatable.

Cards would then be placed on the table.

The player would be given a scenario, e.g, your national treasury has been invaded by thieves.

The question master must not use any of the player’s cards to attack any of his deck. If found, the question master will be attacked with a problem.

If not discovered, the player will continue answering the problem, I added.

I circled this last line since it was important.

Questions mustn’t target the king directly.

If the player fails to answer, his card will be slashed.

I heard Dahai’s voice again. “My giant dragon is guarding the treasuries.”

“Second problem: You don’t have a dragon trainer and you can’t utilize your treasuries.”

My hair stood up upon hearing this.

He used a sentence to get rid of two treasuries, instantly forcing Dahai into a corner.

Horrifying game.

Mobilizing his army to defend the treasures would only get his soldiers killed.

Sending his citizens would lead to the same outcome.

The sand grains continued to fall until there was absolute silence.

Dahai did not talk but a clear slashing sound broke the silence quickly.

“Your treasuries are gone and harvest is bad this year. A fire broke out and destroyed all your granaries. Your citizens and army are going to starve.”

Again, Dahai stayed quiet for another 60 seconds so his cards were slashed.

A player fails when more than half of his resources were being taken away.

“The game has ended. You’re out, number 26.”

…

I looked through the rules again and was at a loss.

About nine minutes had passed.

The man in the suit knocked on the door. “Your time’s almost up.”

I kept Dahai’s phone and my notes before heading out.

…

The room was very dark and there were actually five people sitting around the table.

The table was filled with slash marks. It was bone-chillingly frightening.

A new deck of cards was placed before me.

“Game of destruction. You’re not allowed to speak of or write about it. Failure to comply will get you punished, understood?”

I nodded.

“What do you think a king needs? Pick five cards and place them in front of you.”

I took my time picking them out.

Treasury.

Army.

Citizens.

Blacksmith.

Doctor.

I placed them on the table and the question master kept the rest of the cards.

“If my question uses any of your cards to attack another of your cards, you get to attack me with your own question. You have 60 seconds to solve each problem. If you don’t speak, it’s an automatic failure.”

I nodded again.

“First problem: A giant dragon flew into your treasury intending to occupy it as its nest.”

Not showing any mercy, I thought as I wracked my brains.

I considered giving up on the first problem to search for a loophole in the game.

At the last second, I smiled and said, “I give up.”

The question master used a dagger to slash my treasury card. “Second problem: An epidemic broke out in your nation. Your army and citizens have been infected. They will be killed very soon.”

I looked on as two daggers were placed before my army and citizens cards. Dangerous.

I pointed at my doctor card. “My doctor will cure them.”

“Third problem: Your doctor needs to purchase expensive herbs from neighboring nations but you’re unable to utilize your treasury and your doctor has been infected as well.

Another dagger was placed before my doctor. The question master smiled coldly.

I took out my notes.

Seconds passed and I pondered over the problem seriously.

It was a mental game.

I was losing time.

I thought about how King Chalk would’ve easily solved this problem.

An image of a man smiling and holding onto a green coin appeared in my mind.

“Game over, number 27.”

Smiling, three question masters got ready to slash my cards.

“Wait,” I shouted.

I was surprised that they actually stopped to listen.

“Why?”

“I meant to say that I’ll get the blacksmith to melt all weapons in the army to create new coins in order to purchase the herbs,” I smiled.

Brief silence. The question masters kept their daggers.

“Fourth question: The neighboring countries discovered that your army doesn’t have any weapons. They plan to invade your nation and kill all your people.”

Four question masters took our their daggers and pointed at my remaining cards.

With a bitter smile, I answered, “My people will welcome them into the country. We will open our doors wide for them. We will open half the door of our treasury and they can go in and take everything as they please.”

All five question masters stared at me as if they were struck dumb.

They were aware that it was a trap since the giant dragon was still in the treasury.

“Fifth problem: Your enemy country has a dragon trainer who easily controlled the giant dragon, thus successfully suppressing your country. You’ve lost, number 27.”

The other four question masters stuck their daggers into my cards.

At this point, my treasury card was already slashed and my other four cards were pinned onto the table by the daggers.

I grinned at the last question master before standing up and raising a victory sign up in the air.

“What are you doing?” they asked in unison.

“I’ve won so I am celebrating!” I answered.

“How have you won?”

“My people haven’t been cured by the herbs and they have openly invited the invaders into the country. My goal wasn’t to use the dragon to fend off the invaders but to make use of the epidemic that broke out. My citizens only consumed the herbs after being captured. The invading soldiers, including the dragon trainer, died from the diseases since they had no antidote,” I answered before piecing my broken treasury cards back together.

…

All five question masters stood up and the door behind me opened up.

“You’ve won. Enter.”

I walked slowly into the innermost room.

Inside stood a statue of King Chalk. An old man was sitting before it.

“Who are you?” I asked.

The old man smiled. “My ancestor was King Chalk’s favorite courtier. He was also the founder of this bank.”

“What has that got to do with me?” I asked.

“You’ve passed the examination and have 50% of the bank’s stocks at your disposal,” the old man answered.

“What’s going on?” I asked in bewilderment.

“Students like you is the reason why our bank hasn’t collapsed yet. Students who pass our exam will get 50% of our shares and do as they please on the condition that they must create a new game. You’ll lose everything when someone else beats your game.”

“You’re telling me that this game was created by Yun Huateng? And I’m supposed to create a new one for prospective students and ensure that no one wins it in order to safeguard my shares?” I clarified.

“You’re wise.”

“Green Coin Bank is still standing today because there are people like us safeguarding it?”

“That’s right, and the first to succeed was King Chalk himself,” the old man continued.

“I see. Aren’t you afraid that I’ll squander away all the money?” I questioned.

“You’re a wise man. You can only spend more if you earn more. You have to be careful not to let someone else beat the game or you’ll be left with nothing,” the old man explained.

“Your bank is no different from loan sharks, then?”

“Wrong. We’re the last inheritors of our national culture. How else would our cultural knowledge continue without a king and an army?”

“So King Chalk has won the game, too?”

“No, he was the first person to create the game. You have a month’s time to come up with a new one and to make it invulnerable,” the old man finished with a smile.

I looked at the statue of King Chalk, who was holding a coin in his hand. “Next game: Guess the coin.”

To be continued~