I went berserk in the game of gods.

Chapter 142 Dungeon Cleared
At this point, Cao Yu and the other six had completed the first side quest and started the second side quest.

With all the monsters in the pool now dead, side quests have become much easier.

The story king's strength is roughly equivalent to a D-level player without any item boosts. Defeating him in a swimming competition is difficult, but not particularly high.

Although the water in the pool carries various negative effects on players, the rules do not restrict players from using abilities or items to defend themselves. Therefore, even Su Mei won with a slight lead without any external assistance.

Her swimming skills are quite good.

Luo Feng noticed that Cao Yu had a thoughtful look on his face and couldn't help but ask:
"Brother Cao, do you have any guesses about the second side quest?"

“I’m wondering if I should accept the money,” Cao Yu said.

Luo Feng: "?"

"Now that I've killed all the monsters in the pool, the difficulty for other players participating in the swimming competition has dropped dramatically," Cao Yu said thoughtfully. "If I ask other players for money now, they probably won't dare... refuse."

Luo Feng: "..."

"I believe this money is indeed deserved!"

Empress Yuexuan suddenly spoke:
"As the future leader of the righteous path in the immortal realm, I naturally cannot do such a thing. But the Demon Lord has no such concerns. He can do whatever he wants without any taboos, which is in line with the style of a demonic giant."

Cao Yu: "..."

If these words came from anyone else, they would definitely sound sarcastic and sarcastic. But coming from Xu Yuexuan, they seem perfectly reasonable.

Perhaps it's a case of one thing subduing another, Cao Yu suddenly thought, maybe it's better to just not have this damn money.

Given the strength of the players in the story house, they probably don't have much money on them.

He's new here, so he should keep a low profile.

Anyway, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future...

"By the way, have you made any progress on side quest two?"

Su Mei's question brought the conversation back on track.

She continued:

"Finding the real Mr. Pingzheng... I originally thought that the story king was Mr. Pingzheng, although he denied it and said it in a very convincing way, but I knew I couldn't trust him. But... it turns out he really isn't him?"

If Mr. Pingzheng were the storyteller, they wouldn't have received such a side quest.

"Judging from the previous conversation, the storyteller had mocked Brother Cao's methods, which clearly shows that he knew what Brother Cao was doing in other arenas."

Luo Feng seemed to be deep in thought when he said:

“Other dojo owners don’t have this intelligence capability, otherwise they wouldn’t be so unprepared for our ‘challenge-style competition’.”

Surely this storyteller couldn't possibly have his perception covering the entire instance, right? I'm more inclined to believe he possesses some kind of instance access, allowing him to obtain intelligence or directly observe us.

This guy, even if he's not Mr. Pingzheng, is definitely closely related! We need to find a breakthrough through him.”

"Given that clown's immortality, it's practically impossible to find a breakthrough from him!" Xu Yuechu couldn't help but curse, "That idiot's immortality mechanism is disgusting! Unless we can find his true form."

"He is the owner of the Story House and can materialize stories... Could it be that the 'Story World' in this instance is not purely fictional, but exists in some special spatial form?"

Xu Yueluo also has the ability to "make stories real," and she is very flexible in her thinking in this regard.

She continued:
"If such a 'story space' exists, then the true form of the Story King must be there."

He exists within the story, and can create his own body anytime, anywhere, just like he creates other fantastical creatures... perhaps this is the essence of his immortality.

To find his true form and coerce him, we must go to the 'story world'.

"How do we get to the 'Story World'?" Su Mei reminded, "No one in our team has spatial abilities. And the other players... judging from their performance, they definitely don't either."

“Normal spatial abilities probably wouldn’t be able to get to the ‘story world,’ right?” Luo Feng said. “Even if this ‘story world’ is materialized and has a physical form, it probably wouldn’t be that easy to enter.”

"We can get in by telling a story."

Xu Yueluo offered her own speculation:
"The stories in the Dark Story House can become real, which means that there is clearly a bridge between illusion and reality in this instance. So... if we weave ourselves into the story and tell it in the Story House, can we use the connection between illusion and reality to travel to the special space where the 'Story World' is located?"

"It can't be that simple, can it?" Luo Feng reminded him, "Doing this might only create a 'copy of our story,' and the connection between illusion and reality that you mentioned might not exist."

"Brother, what do you think?"

Xu Yueluo wouldn't even consider a mere gust of wind a threat.

She directly asked Cao Yu for his opinion.

"It's a direction worth exploring. But I can't say whether it will be effective until it's verified."

Cao Yu replied:
"The Story House only operates normally during the day, while the blurring of the line between illusion and reality occurs at night. To verify this plan, we'll have to wait at least another day, so there's no need to rush. The arena won't open until nine in the morning, so let's relax and rest for now."

After saying that, he made a "shh" gesture to Xu Yueluo.

Xu Yueluo understood and activated her crimson long silk magic weapon, which, as before, created a closed space to prevent prying eyes.

"That's enough," Xu Yuelu reminded her.

Cao Yu nodded and said:
“Your guess is indeed a direction to explore, but it takes too long. Why don’t you listen to my guess first?”

"Oh? Brother has a different method?" Xu Yueluo asked curiously.

“Yes, and we can try it now,” Cao Yu suggested. “Let’s refocus our attention on the background of the instance…”

As he narrated, a logical thread gradually took shape.

The background information for this instance mentions that the Fair Arena is a platform for unleashing passion and challenging oneself, and that all competitions adhere to the principles of fairness and impartiality.

However, the actual level arena is completely different from what is described in the background introduction; in fact, it is the opposite.

In a place where even rock-paper-scissors games let the opponent go first, what fairness and justice can there be?

Although the dungeon doesn't restrict players' counterattack methods, which can be considered fair to some extent, it has little to do with "competitive fairness."

The dungeon background information will only provide explicit or implicit information, and will not directly deceive players or provide false information. Therefore... true "competitive fairness" must exist within this dungeon.

The second side quest is to find the real Mr. Pingzheng... Considering these two points together, it's not hard to deduce that the real Mr. Pingzheng represents the true rules of fairness and justice in this instance.

However, due to some reason, he was unable to appear, which caused the competition in the instance to become chaotic and disorderly.

"Finding Mr. Pingzheng may not be as complicated as we think."

Cao Yu reminded everyone:
"Since it represents the rules of fairness and justice, and there is no such thing in the current instance... then why don't we create one on the spot? Perhaps something magical will happen."

“Creating… Brother, do you mean organizing a fair and just competition?” Xu Yueluo guessed.

“That’s right,” Cao Yu said. “Let’s choose the simplest game, rock-paper-scissors.”

"Will this really bring Mr. Pingzheng back?" Su Mei thought it was a bit far-fetched.

"Speculations need to be verified in practice; to draw conclusions now is child's play."

Cao Yu pointed to the story house in the sky and said:

"Let's not play rock-paper-scissors here, let's organize a fair competition inside the story house."

"Story House... Brother Cao, do you have any thoughts on this?" Luo Feng asked.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but the inhabitants of this instance are a veritable fantasy hodgepodge: orcs, elves, mages, knights... Don't you think this is a bit too 'story-like'?" Cao Yu asked rhetorically.

"Demon Lord, are you saying that these residents, like the monsters that appeared tonight, were all created by the Story House?" Xu Yuexuan nodded in agreement, "That's what I think too."

"That's exactly what I meant."

Cao Yu continued:

"If everything was created by the Story House, then it's most likely the core of this instance. Controlling the Story House means controlling the ultimate authority within this instance. Logically, since the instance is named 'Pingzheng,' the ultimate authority should be in Mr. Pingzheng's hands, but that's not the case..."

Side quest two is to find Mr. Pingzheng... The inhabitants of the instance have never seen Pingzheng... Connecting these points, what comes to mind?

"Brother, you mean..."

Xu Yueluo's eyes lit up:
"Perhaps Mr. Pingzheng was in trouble from the very beginning. He's in some kind of special state, unable to manage the instance, and needs the players' help to return to normal. For example... his consciousness has fallen into a deep sleep for some reason? And then the Story King took over and seized the Story House's access?"

She paused, then continued:

"Mr. Pingzheng represents fairness and justice, so if we create 'fair competition' in the story house, perhaps we can use the relevant rules to contact him, awaken him, and let him take control of the instance again?"

"That's pretty much what it means."

Cao Yu said with a smile:

"However, there is one thing that needs to be corrected: the story king may not be the one who usurped the nest... Never mind, this doesn't affect our verification, let's not worry about it for now."

"I understand."

Luo Feng suddenly said:

"Brother Cao, you just led us away from the Story House, were you trying to give the Story King the impression that we're no longer interested in the Story House?"
Now that the monster is no longer there to rely on, if that guy wants to stop other players from winning the swimming competition, he has to focus all his attention on swimming. He probably won't have the energy to observe us.

Brother Cao, are you giving him a deceptive signal, trying to lower his guard?

"I suppose so." Cao Yu didn't deny it: "Who knows if he has any other tricks besides monsters? We still have to be careful."

He paused, then spoke with a more serious tone:
"We'll return to the story house after the new swimming competition begins and quickly organize a rock-paper-scissors game."

If this guess is wrong and the method won't work, then we'll wait until dawn and try Fairy Duobao's method.

Xu Yueluo: "..."

"Hmm." Empress Yuexuan readily agreed.

It's unclear whether she approved of the suggestion or of Cao Yu's way of addressing his third sister.

"As for now..." Cao Yu said, "Let's fool that clown first."

No one had any objections.

So, Fairy Duobao removed the red silk sash. The group of six headed away from the story house.

After walking for a short while, Cao Yu looked up and saw two figures swimming frantically in the mid-air pool, their movements evenly matched.

It's the story king and a new player who's joining the competition.

Without the monsters to rely on, the story king also began to experience the joy of competition.

Look at his distorted face; he must be completely out of his mind with excitement.

After the story king's figure disappeared into the distance, Cao Yu immediately manipulated the props, gathering an incomparably powerful wind force, which swept up Luo Feng and Su Mei, and rushed towards the story house at an extremely fast speed.

The three Xu sisters each have their own way of flying—the eldest sister flies by transforming into flames, the second sister takes off by riding a sword, and the youngest sister rides on a wind and fire wheel.

The six of them quickly arrived at the story house.

Luo Feng immediately started shouting:

"Who wants to participate in a rock-paper-scissors contest? The winner gets 500 points. The rules are as follows..."

His shout immediately attracted the attention of the players present.

When everyone saw that it was Cao Yu, this big shot, who had set up the table, they all gave him face and crowded around.

Those players who were initially worried about Cao Yu's character were surprised to see that after Cao Yu killed the monsters in the pool, he allowed other players to participate in the swimming competition for free without charging them any money... Such a magnanimous heart suggests that he would not cheat them out of a mere 500 evolution points.

For a moment, Cao Yu seemed to transform into the owner of a rock-paper-scissors gym, competing with the players using fair rules.

Aside from not being able to attack each other, there are no restrictions on the methods used in the rock-paper-scissors game; everyone relies on their own abilities.

"Who wants to go first?" Cao Yu asked.

"Me!" Xu Yuechu was the first to join in the fun.

She grinned, revealing an arrogant smile:
"The rules are fair now, restricting mutual attacks but not the means of rock-paper-scissors... Hey, I've been wanting to beat you for a long time!"

"Very energetic. Unfortunately, I am invincible."

As Cao Yu spoke, he utterly monstrously activated the "Life-Slaying Curse," gaining a glimpse into the future...

……

the other side.

The storyteller, who was swimming, glanced contemptuously at the players participating in the competition, his eyes filled with undisguised disdain.

'Such a great advantage, and I still managed to leave you behind, trash! I gave you a chance, but you couldn't take it...'

After being dealt with by Cao Yu several times, the storyteller's polite persona could no longer be maintained, and he is now in a state of complete abandonment.

Although I hate Cao Yu very much, I still have to continue the dungeon competition.

In order to prevent the player from winning the game and getting a high rating, he had to swim with all his might... and he was able to experience the joy of competition again after a long time.

The only downside was that his opponent this time was rather weak, which didn't give him much of a sense of competition.

After confirming that he could win this round, the storyteller relaxed.

So, on his way back from the finish line to the starting line, he spared some attention and used his copy privileges to check Cao Yu's whereabouts—he had always been very concerned about this dangerous individual.

Who knows what this guy will do next?

Soon, the storyteller's eyes widened.

'Rock-paper-scissors competition... Story house... Oh no!'

His heart suddenly pounded.

Oh no… Forget about winning or losing the swimming competition, Story King swam straight to the edge of the pool, flipped over and jumped in, landed on the ground, and then ran wildly towards the story house.

But by the time he arrived at the story house, Cao Yu had already finished the rock-paper-scissors competition.

Seeing the storyteller run in through the main entrance, panting and looking slightly disheveled, Cao Yu immediately flashed him a victorious smile and said:
"you lose."

As soon as the words were spoken, a strong distortion of light and shadow suddenly occurred inside the story house, as if illusion and reality were colliding violently.

"Do not……"

The storyteller looked terrified.

The next instant, his body was swallowed up by the distorted light and shadow, and he disappeared from the spot.

Not long after, a well-dressed middle-aged man appeared before Cao Yu and the others.

The man's face looked remarkably similar to that of the Storyteller... This is probably what the Storyteller's face looked like after he removed his clown makeup.

You have completed side quest two.

You have completed all tasks and perfectly cleared the dungeon. You are free to leave at any time.

Cao Yu received a notification from the Evolution Game.

His guess was confirmed—the middle-aged man in front of him was the dungeon boss, Mr. Pingzheng.

(End of this chapter)