Chapter 71: Rules and Regulations of Red vs. White
Translator: Pluto Editor: Tehrn
It was indeed the end of December. If the New World didn't descend upon their universe, everyone should be busy making preparations to celebrate the new year, but now...
"Oh no! The fog is too thick! The contestants can't see each other… We must just blow it away!" the loud voice bellowed, and subsequently, he huffed and puffed using his own mouth. The thing that weirded everyone out was that the white fog started to move gradually. Most of the fog dissipated, revealing the original surroundings.
[No, that's not right. This isn't our original surroundings...] Lin Sanjiu’s eyes widened when she saw the ground. She was standing in a large circle. There was a line in the middle of the circle, and one half of it was red while the other half was white.
Lin Sanjiu, B.Rabbit, and the four other strangers standing near to her made up a six-persons team on the red side. Meanwhile, the white half of the circle was about 50 meters away, and there were also six people there. She saw two very familiar faces out of the six people in the other team — one of them was the bespectacled Hu Changzai who always looked prim and proper; the other was Hai Tianqing who was so large that the others withdrew from him, forcing his five other members to stand at the sides of the circle.
The three people and one rabbit exchanged glances with each other, finding it a little hard to respond to what had just happened. When Hu Changzai saw the circle on the ground, his mouth moved anxiously, and he started gesturing with both his hands. Watching him a for a while, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t hear him at all. It was as if there was an invisible partition which blocked off the sound from the other half of the circle.
Lin Sanjiu finally reacted when she heard that loud voice again, she turned around and tried to search for its source. Oddly, even though the wind, which dissipated the fog around them, came from the direction where the announcer was standing, the announcer himself remained hidden in the thick fog so she couldn’t make out his face.
"I’m Mr. Dot, the host of this Pocket Dimension. It’s an honor to meet all of you here… Can you see all your team members now? The people who are standing within the same semicircle are your team members, and your opponents are the people in the opposite semicircle! Come on! Before we begin the Red vs. White Challenge, why don’t you introduce yourself to your fellow members?"
As Mr. Dot finished his sentence, a man standing beside Lin Sanjiu immediately retorted, "Hey, are you crazy? This is not the right time to hold such a stupid challenge… I don’t have time to play your games!"
The man looked to be only about slightly over twenty. He had a crew cut, and he seemed to be quite irascible. "Are all of you just gonna stay here?" he yelled out. Since nobody replied, he turned and left, ignoring the others. His silhouette quickly disappeared into the fog.
Mr. Dot appeared to be unaffected by the man’s departure, he remained silent as if waiting for everyone to start on their introductions.
Due to the man’s action, the remaining five people didn't say a word as they stared at the leaving figure. They only started interacting with each other when they could no longer see him. Other than Lin Sanjiu and B.Rabbit, the Red Team consisted of two people, who were obviously a couple, and a middle-aged man. The petite young woman with a straight fringe looked very nervous as she held the corner of her boyfriend’s shirt. Her boyfriend was not very tall, he was very fair and slightly plump; he reminded Lin Sanjiu of a milk pudding — a milk pudding in clothes. At that moment, he was comforting his girlfriend with a gentle voice.
The middle-aged man had a gloomy-looking face, and he stood alone on the side. As the warm rain was still pouring down on them, everyone was soaked. Their clothes stuck to their skins tightly, becoming partially transparent. The round beer belly under the middle-aged man’s shirt could clearly be seen while he leered at all the women in the arena nonstop. This seemed to be a habit he had his entire life, something that wouldn’t change even after the end of the world.
As Lin Sanjiu was wearing a black singlet and baggy camo pants, there was nothing to see; however, the other woman in her team was wearing a cotton burlap skirt. The woman hid behind her boyfriend all this time, she was clearly uncomfortable when the middle-aged man looked over.
When the middle-aged man’s lecherous gaze floated passed the women in the White Team for the fourth time, a woman, wearing a mini skirt which showed off her pair of long legs, couldn’t tolerate that man any longer. She sprinted toward the Red Team, but just as she was about to step on the line in the middle, she revealed an expression of shock before she immediately pulled back, stopping just behind the line. After that, the long-legged woman gave the middle-aged man a vicious glare, her lips pursed into a thin line and she returned to her team members.
[It seems like we can’t cross the boundaries and we also can’t hear our opponents.] Both Lin Sanjiu and Hu Changzai could see the doubts in each other’s face. Lin Sanjiu observed the members of the White Team then she looked at Hu Changzai and shook her head. She did not know if he understood what she was trying to express.
"Hey?"
Just then, a voice came from behind the members of the Red Team, and it instantly grabbed the attention of everyone. Lin Sanjiu looked behind and saw the previously agitated man. He was startled when he realized that he was standing behind the five other members. However, Lin Sanjiu was not surprised
"I must have lost my way…" the brash man mumbled as he turned to walk away still unwilling to give up.
"Don’t waste your effort," Lin Sanjiu couldn’t stand it any longer, so she finally called him to stop. "If we are in a Pocket Dimension, no one can get out unless we complete the given tasks."
Once she said that, all the members of the Red Team were stunned.
Just as she had expected, the people here were all original survivors of Hyperthermal Hell so they had probably never heard of the thing called Pocket Dimension. This was also the first time that B.Rabbit had heard about this matter.
As the subject on Pocket Dimensions sounded quite outrageous, Lin Sanjiu tried her best to simplify her explanation. Despite that, the other members still held their misgivings. Instead, when B.Rabbit spoke, they looked even more shocked. Regardless the uncertainty and doubts they had, everyone stayed behind after some commotion.
After five minutes, they heard clapping sounds coming from Mr. Dot’s direction, this ended the conversations within the two teams. "I am glad to see that all of you are getting along quite well with your team members," Mr. Dot said this with a light-hearted tone as he laughed. However, his next sentence made it difficult for anyone to relax: "But, one of the members of the Red Team did not comply with my suggested course of action and even tried to leave on his own accord. I regret to inform all of you that I have to deduct one point from the Red Team even before the games begin…"
After he said that, a "-1" appeared in mid-air above the ground near the boundary line on the red side, it was even glowing faintly. They did not know how the -1 would affect them, but the expression of all the members of the Red Team turned grim because they had some sense that it wasn’t something good.
[If we don’t comply with his suggestions, he will penalize us by deducting points from our scores?] Lin Sanjiu considered this feeling a little troubled. They didn’t really talk much with each other just now, and she didn’t even get to know their names. She only secretly gave them each a nickname.
[Does this already count as an introduction?]
She was still pondering about the matter when the host spoke again: "Luckily, one of the members of the Red Team provided her own team with some basic information on Pocket Dimensions. Thus, the Red Team can get one treasure chest!"
This immediately roused a quiet commotion within the Red Team. Even though no one knew what that treasure chest was, it was clearly something beneficial. They all thought that this would perhaps close the gap between both teams, so their faces seemed to lighten a bit but Mr. Dot continued, "For the same reason, the White Team can also get one treasure chest!"
"All of you might be wondering: what’s the use of a treasure chest? So, now I will list out and explain the rules of today’s challenge!"
[Year-end Red Vs. White Challenge]
Number of contestants: 6 people in each team, 12 people in total.
Rules:
1. Mr. Dot will decide on four games. Not all team members are required to compete in each game. Each team only needs to send out the minimum number of required contestants for each game. In addition to that, the number of contestants sent out from each team must be the same.
2. There is no limit to the number of times a member can join a game, but every member must join at least 2 games or face a death penalty.
3. The contestant for each game must be voted by the team, a member can only be a contestant if they get a majority vote from their team.
4. Some games will provide you an additional opportunity to gain points. If a contestant manages to discover and gain the additional point in the game, the team will be awarded +1 points. Winning a game will gain you +1 points. The team with the highest score will win.
5. Similarly, there is also a risk of losing your points in a game.
6. Under special circumstances, teams can get special "treasure chests". The rewards range from the incredible heaven-sent gift of +10 points to -10 points. The possibilities are endless.
7. Before every game commences, the team members from each team who are not participating will have to offer up one of their own items as a "prize". The prize can be a Special Item or an Active Skill. After the members have offered their prizes, all the prizes from the losing team will be given to the winning team. For example, if Member A from the Red Team offers his "Fart Propelling" ability and the Red Team loses, then this "Fart Propelling" ability will be given to one of the members of the White Team. If all the members participate in the game, the prizes will be randomly chosen by Mr. Dot.
8. The team will discuss and decide on how the prizes should be distributed. If the discussions reach a stalemate, Mr. Dot will a make a judgment and distribute the prizes based on the individual contribution of each member. The member with the greatest contribution will receive the prizes.
9. The losing team for the entire challenge will not only have to return all the prizes that they have won. They would also be stripped of all their Active abilities and Special Items. These will also become prizes for the winning team. In addition to that, each of the members of the winning team can receive a special prize from Mr. Dot.
10. The Pocket Dimension will end after the winning team has been decided.
After they heard those ten lengthy rules, everyone remained silent for a very long time. From when they first heard Mr. Dot speaking, it was only now that everyone accepted the situation in front of them.
"If there is a possibility of getting a crappy penalty from the treasure chest, why the f*ck does he call it a treasure chest?!" the brash man cursed.
"I am more worried about the matter regarding the prizes…" the fair-skinned boyfriend said worriedly. "Even though we have no idea what the games are, if our opponents gained an additional ability, it would be a great disadvantage for us."
His girlfriend turned pale, and she even sounded like she was about to sob, "I… I only have one ability. I can’t offer my ability as a prize. Without my ability, I will definitely die very quickly…" Her boyfriend was quick to comfort her with his gentle voice, he held her hands tightly and said, "Don’t be afraid. No one will force you…"
Even though the pot-bellied middle-aged man said nothing, at least he stopped leering at the women. His thick eyelids drooped while he seemed to be deep in thought. Lin Sanjiu and B.Rabbit exchanged glances, both their expressions were dead serious.
Even though they roughly knew all the ten rules, they didn’t know why they had a feeling that those rules were filled with pitfalls and traps.
Besides, both herself and B.Rabbit were in an almost impossible situation: They not only need to win but they can’t let Hu Changzai and Hai Tianqing lose.
"The rules have been explained. Please sent the member who contributed to the team up here to receive the prize!"
Naturally, on the Red Team, that member was Lin Sanjiu. She hesitated for a while and glanced over at the White Team. Lin Sanjiu was aware that the particular member from the White Team would be a formidable opponent: since that person knew what a Pocket Dimension was, there was a high possibility that the person came from another world. Comparing their experience and their abilities, it would probably be difficult to deal with that person.
When she turned to look, she saw a skinny woman walking away from the White Team. Lin Sanjiu mistook her for an elderly woman when she first saw her. But upon closer inspection, Lin Sanjiu realized that the woman was in her forties or fifties. The woman looked much older than she really was as her face was covered with wrinkles and her triangular eyes drooped listlessly. That woman even had a rather acrimonious appearance.
This haggard-looking woman eyed Lin Sanjiu for a second and looked forward again. She walked directly into the fog. Lin Sanjiu finally reacted and removed the rabbit from her shoulders hurriedly and also walked into the fog. Once the white fog surrounded her, she saw a black wooden chest not far from her, but she couldn’t even see a lock. If she reached out for it, she could easily open it. She turned to look behind her, but she could no longer see her team members.
Lin Sanjiu inhaled sharply and closed her eyes as she opened the treasure chest.