Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 262: Unconcerned with Trivial Matters, Yan Jiayu

Chapter 262: Chapter 262: Unconcerned with Trivial Matters, Yan Jiayu

"No one would be that foolish," Yan Jiayu said. "The hats have no markings, how would they know that the hats they left behind would match? What if the hats obtained from different game points are duplicates? The puppet never mentioned that you could get a new hat by visiting one place."

"Of course, any normal person would think that," Tang Xiao said, "but precisely because the hats have no markings, everyone assumes that collecting hats from all fifteen game points is the key to passing the level."

"Has anyone successfully cleared this level?" Xu Huo asked.

"Not that I’ve heard of since I came in," Tang Xiao shook his head, "mainly because the locations of those five quiz triggers are not fixed, and the game area is so large that sometimes, if you’re unlucky, you really can’t stumble upon them."

Xu Huo was silent for a moment, then turned to look at the two Piggy puppets that had been standing by his side since before.

"Would the guest like to buy a hat?" one of the pigs said, "My shop has hats of all sizes."

"Would the guest like to buy candy?" the other pig said, "My shop has a lot of delicious candies, cheap and tasty!"

Yan Jiayu and Xu Huo each bought a Pink Hat and then went to the candy shop, directly picking out the most expensive candies in the store.

Overjoyed, the Piggy puppet packaged up their purchases and even gave them a new bubble machine for free.

Tang Xiao saw Xu Huo buy candy worth two thousand White Notes without batting an eye and momentarily showed a look of regret, but upon noticing the glances cast by the nearby players, he quickly lowered his voice, "We should probably queue up outside the Mirror Tent first."

The three of them walked towards the tent, and just as they reached the end of the line, another pair of young players came over, the woman young and pretty, the man tall and handsome.

The man spoke first, giving Yan Jiayu a gentle and refined smile, "Hey, we’ve also just entered the instance recently, why don’t we team up for mutual support?"

Chewing her candy, Yan Jiayu stared at him without saying a word.

Seeing she showed no reaction, the man continued, "I heard this quiz game is quite difficult, not everyone gets a hat every time. More people means more chances to win. Compared to those players who have been here a long time without progress, us newbies would have an easier time clearing it if we stick together."

Tang Xiao, who felt mildly insulted, crossed his arms and said, "Four people going in doesn’t mean four little hats come out, who gets counted if the answer is correct?"

The woman beside the man chuckled, "Aren’t you also trying to get them to join your group? But you’ve already collected so many hats, you probably won’t clear the game until the cows come home."

After finishing, she threw a coquettish look at Xu Huo and even stretched out her index finger, attempting to nudge Yan Jiayu aside, but Yan Jiayu stood unmoved, simply staring blankly and not speaking. The female player had no choice but to ask Xu Huo from a distance, "Big brother, what’s your name?"

Xu Huo ignored the female player and instead looked at Tang Xiao.

Tang Xiao said, "I am looking for someone to cooperate with, but I’m not trying to have you guys carry me through. How about this, let’s talk after you come out."

After he spoke, he stepped out of the line and walked a few meters away, leaning against the nearby candy store and watching them.

"There’s no need," Xu Huo withdrew his gaze, turning down the proposal from the two, feeling that playing the game alone was better. As for the exchange of information between players, it could be done through the increase or decrease of the little hats.

But he was more curious about what the criteria for "voluntary" were in this instance.

Catching a glimpse of a Piggy puppet looking over for the third time, Xu Huo gestured to it.

The Piggy puppet that had just sold a lot of candy to him immediately ran over.

Xu Huo handed it a handful of candy, "Uncle wants to ask you, can I give my extra little hats to someone else?"

Piggy, unable to wait, eagerly took the candy, "Of course you can, but the little hats can’t be forced onto someone, you know. Even kids know not to give away things that others don’t like."

Which meant, even if she stuffed little hats onto others, the total count would still be on her own head.

"Then do you know how many little hats that person has on them?" Xu Huo asked again.

"Piggy knows how many little hats everyone has, but Piggy won’t tell you." The stuffed pig did a twirl on the spot and ran off.

Some players only then realized that the stuffed creatures could be communicated with, so they took money to buy candy, using it to bribe the stuffies.

In the beginning, there were quite a few buyers, but after finding out that the information from the mouths of the stuffies was all trivial clues, even stuff they already knew, no one wasted White Notes on playing with them anymore. After all, having money doesn’t mean you can waste it carelessly.

However, this distraction reduced the attention on Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu; the two players who had wanted to team up with them were pulled away by other players.

Those who had entered the tent before quickly left the campsite when they came out, with no clue whether anyone had obtained little hats. Since the trivia game apparently changed every time, nobody asked the ones who had gone before.

Soon it was Xu Huo and the two’s turn. They paid two hundred White Notes to enter.

The interior of the tent, which was conspicuously larger than its exterior, was dimly lit. As the tent flap fell, it was like entering a planetarium. Under the dim light, twinkling stars floated all around them.

"They move." Yan Jiayu reached out to touch them, but the nearby "stars" quickly retreated backward.

"They’re mirrors." Xu Huo recognized the moving objects. Suspended in the air were irregular pieces of mirror, big and small, which automatically moved back as they approached.

Coming to the center of the tent, a large mirror slid forward from the darkness until it stopped in front of them. However, Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu’s reflections were not in it. Instead, from the blank mirror surface, a clown emerged, making faces at them and letting out a bizarre laugh, "Hey, can you see me?"

Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu watched the mirror without speaking, and the clown inside stretched its neck, pressing up against the mirror, trying to force its eyelids open as if to pop its eyeballs out. However, separated by a layer of glass, it could only rub its eyeballs against it, making an uncomfortable noise.

"Stop squeezing, your eyeballs are going to deflate." Xu Huo interrupted the clown’s grotesque act, "We’re here to answer questions. Are you staff?"

The clown retreated, rubbing its eyes and said, "Of course, if I’m not staff why would I be entertaining you?"

"Isn’t a clown supposed to entertain?" Yan Jiayu touched the mirror surface and, on impulse, rubbed the candy residue from her hands onto it.

The clown in the mirror let out a terrified scream, "You’re so dirty!"

"Huh? Don’t you clean yourself automatically?" Yan Jiayu was quite surprised.

"I’m not a washing machine!" the clown roared.

Yan Jiayu, a bit embarrassed, took out a handkerchief to help it wipe, "Sorry about that. We monks are used to not sweating the small stuff."

"Not sweating the small stuff? You’re neglecting personal hygiene!" the clown spat, "Stop blackening the name of monks!"

Yan Jiayu’s face turned red from the scolding, and after wiping off the candy residue, she tried to wipe away the wet spots, "This won’t come off."

The clown fell silent, then rubbed the spot where the handkerchief had been with its sleeve, and the wet spots disappeared.

Their eyes met, and silence stretched through the tent.