I went berserk in the game of gods.

Chapter 136 The dungeon boss is both far away and right in front of you.

"Danger?" Of the three sisters, the youngest, Xu Yueluo, quickly asked, "Brother, what danger?"

All three of them had participated in storytelling competitions.

Although it failed, it hasn't encountered any danger so far.

"The result of losing in a competition is dangerous."

Cao Yu reminded everyone:
"Take another look at the third message in the dungeon prompts."

[Tip 3: Mr. Pingzheng's malice towards the loser will gradually increase]

Xu Yueluo said thoughtfully:

"I forgot about that... So, does that mean my eldest sister, second sister, and I have been targeted by Mr. Pingzheng?"

"You don't need to worry too much about that. There are different levels of losers too."

Cao Yu reminded the three sisters:

“Losing once, losing twice, losing three times… Since Mr. Pingzheng despises losers, the more times he loses, the more his malice will increase. The three of you have not lost many times, so his malice towards you should not be high.”

"Brother Cao, I just inquired around, and all the other competitive events involve real danger, and the risk level is quite high, similar to the shooting range. Only the Dark Story House is completely safe, so you don't have to worry about repeated competitions, which is very attractive to players... Repeated competitions, repeated failures... This story house is a total trap!"

Luo Feng's expression turned serious:
"The Story House competition is incredibly difficult; players have almost no chance of winning. After all, who would bother studying storytelling skills? This competition has absolutely nothing to do with a player's ability... it's a trap within a trap!"

Upon hearing this, Su Mei patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Luckily, we won both of the projects we participated in before, and we didn't have any failures... uh..."

She didn't continue speaking.

The three Xu sisters have a history of failures, so don't let them misunderstand her as making sarcastic remarks.

Although she joined the team and enjoyed many benefits, strictly speaking, she was an outsider... There were six people in the team, four of whom were members who did not return to town, and the remaining one was a reserve member, and the most powerful one at that... She felt that her dungeon experience was legendary.

"Demon Lord, what exactly do you think 'fair malice' poses?" Xu Yuexuan, the second brother, suddenly asked.

"By the way... why do you keep calling me Demon Lord?" Cao Yu asked in return.

"After I ascend to immortality, I will surely become the leader of the righteous path in the immortal realm, and all immortals will respect me as the Emperor."

Xu Yuexuan answered in a very serious manner:
"And you, like me, have the potential to reach the pinnacle of the Immortal Realm. With your style of doing things, you will surely become a giant of the demonic path in the future, and you will surely be able to unify the demonic realm and become an unparalleled demon lord on par with me."

Cao Yu: "..."

Damn it... Am I not worthy to be a leader of the righteous path?
“Brother, don’t pay attention to what Second Sister is saying,” Xu Yueluo explained. “Father once took us to the Spirit Realm, and there are legends about becoming immortals there, just like the ‘Ascension to Godhood’ legend on Tianyan Star. It’s just a legend. Ever since Second Sister heard about becoming immortals in the Spirit Realm, she’s become very delusional and has even built her own worldview…”

"Hmph, a summer insect trying to talk about ice."

Xu Yuexuan looked at her with disdain, too lazy to argue with Fairy Duobao.

Xu Yueluo added, "In short, Second Sister's only advantage is her extraordinary talent. Brother, don't take it too seriously."

"Exceptional talent?" Cao Yu asked curiously, "How exceptional is it?"

Speaking of which... Xu Yuexuan has always treated Xu Yuechu and Xu Yueluo as her subordinates, and even their combined attack is based on her... So she wasn't lying, she was telling the truth all along?
"In short, it's incredibly amazing." Xu Yueluo didn't say much more.

When Cao saw this, he did not press for answers.

Although they had only known each other for a short time, the three sisters were now considered his teammates, and he had to show them some basic respect.

Cao Yu stopped dwelling on that point and got down to business:

"According to my prediction, the crisis represented by Mr. Pingzheng's malice should occur after the arena closes, that is, after 6 p.m...."

The Pingzheng Arena operates from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

During this period, players can freely participate in competitions.

The Dark Story House is a huge trap, designed to fool players who are unaware of the danger into repeatedly participating in story battles and accumulating failures.

Mr. Pingzheng's malice towards the loser will gradually increase and accumulate...

"...Since there is such a big pit design, the more players fail, the more advantageous it is for Mr. Pingzheng. Otherwise, this design would seem a bit redundant."

Cao Yu offered his own guess:

"Therefore, Mr. Pingzheng should not make a move during the normal operation of the arena."

It takes enough time to accumulate enough failures.

The best time for 'Mr. Pingzheng's malice' to erupt is when the arena closes and players can no longer participate in the competition.

At this point, he glanced at the huge stage inside the story house and said with a hint of regret:

"What a pity, I was hoping to go up and tell the fairy tales of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella."

Even if he loses the story competition, he's not afraid of danger. But... knowing there's danger, and still actively provoking it, isn't that stupid?

“Fairy tales probably won’t work, will they?” Luo Feng said. “When I was gathering information and spreading the word earlier, I asked around at the story house. The audience here prefers dark stories.” “I know…”

Driven by a desire to share, Cao Yu briefly recounted the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

Sleeping Beauty tells the beautiful story of a prince waking a sleeping princess with a kiss. But why would a normal person suddenly kiss a body that has been asleep for a hundred years? Isn't that disgusting? Essentially, the prince is attracted to corpses… Cinderella is even more abstract; essentially, the prince is attracted to feet…

"Stop talking!" Luo Feng couldn't take it anymore: "Brother Cao, these two stories of yours are too damn weird! They started out as fairy tales... Did you drastically change them?"

“Brother, I’ve already told these two stories to my older sister,” Xu Yueluo reminded Cao Yu.

Cao Yu: "..."

"Oh... this..." he asked.

"You've heard of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella too?"

"I've heard of it, but the story isn't called that; it's just similar in content."

Xu Yueluo replied:

"My older sister and I started by telling serious stories, but we lost. Thinking about the word 'dark' in the Dark Story House, we changed our style and told some bizarre stories... but we still lost. I have to say, that story king is really something."

Luo Feng: "..."

Although everyone else was a member who didn't return to base, he felt that, apart from his penchant for showing off, compared to Cao Yu and the three Xu sisters, he was like a husky that had infiltrated a pack of wolves...

"By the way... the other players all say they haven't seen the swimming pool. Should we continue looking for it?"

While consulting Cao Yu, Su Mei offered an unfounded guess:
"Mr. Cao, you just said that 'Mr. Pingzheng's malice' might erupt after 6 p.m., so could the swimming pool incident also occur at night? After all, the swimming pool is a side quest, so its operating hours might be different from other competitive events?"

"It's possible, but there's no point in dwelling on it. We can't just wait around based on a guess."

Cao Yu brought up the player panel, glanced at the time, and said:

"It's still early before nightfall, enough time for us to explore the entire dungeon. By the way... you haven't collected all three badges yet, so take advantage of this exploration to participate in the arena and collect them. Once you complete the main quest, you'll be safe; whether you stay or leave is just a matter of choice..."

At this point, he took out his three badges and held them in his palm, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What's wrong, brother?" Xu Yueluo asked curiously.

"Don't you guys think the main quest for this D-rank dungeon is a bit too easy?" Cao Yu said. "I've already met the completion requirements, but the dungeon has only been open for a short time?"

Su Mei: "..."

Simple? How is it simple?

If she hadn't joined this team, she'd probably still be locked in a deadly struggle with Dark Story House...

Competitive sports are both very difficult and dangerous, right?

Su Mei felt it necessary to step forward and offer the perspective of an ordinary D-level player to help Cao Yu correct his understanding.

Just as she was about to speak, Luo Feng suddenly echoed Cao Yu, saying, "For a D-level dungeon, the difficulty is indeed a bit low. But that only applies to the main quests. As for the side quests, we still have no clue what to do."

"..." Su Mei thought it best to just remain a decorative accessory.

"This kind of situation is rare, but it's actually normal. You'll see it more often in the future and it won't seem strange anymore."

Of the three sisters, the eldest, Xu Yuechu, suddenly spoke up to explain:

"The dungeons can be upgraded, from E to D, from D to C... The upgrade conditions are varied and very complicated."

I'm not clear on the specific details, but I do know two of the upgrade conditions: the number of player deaths and the number of players who clear the dungeon with a low rating—like two KPIs.

In some instances, the bosses are extremely proactive, even designing their own dungeon rules. If the main quest is easier, more players will clear dungeons with low ratings… that's roughly the idea.”

"Oh? You can do that?" Cao Yu was a little surprised: "The dungeon rules can be designed by the dungeon boss himself? Then design it as a hell mode..."

"No, brother."

Su Yuelu reminded him:

"Evolution Games will use 'balance' rules to limit dungeons; there are no dungeon rules that unilaterally crush players... I've never heard of such a thing. Perhaps high-risk, punishment-based dungeons are like that?"
Furthermore, not all dungeon bosses can have dungeon rules designed for them; I'm not entirely sure about the differences... Anyway, there are many types of dungeons.

"In other words," Cao Yu speculated, "the boss of this arena's instance is very likely a boss with extremely strong initiative? Instances can actually be managed...?"

His tone was somewhat wistful.

I've really learned something new!
After a brief chat, Cao Yu composed himself and left the story house with Luo Feng and the others.

The swimming pool only appears at specific times—whether this guess is correct or not, they still have to thoroughly investigate the instance first.

After Cao Yu and the other six left, the storyteller, who was performing with great emotion on stage, suddenly stopped and turned his head to look in the direction the six had left.

He then looked away and continued telling his captivating dark-themed story.

(End of this chapter)