There was a rapid knocking on the door upstairs.

"Where is everyone?! Why is the door locked from the inside?!"

"Number Seven, Number Eight! Did you hear me?! Open the door!"

Upon hearing the noise, Xiao Cheng and Fang He both frowned slightly, seeing the same bewilderment in each other's eyes.

They immediately turned and ran upstairs, only to find the kitchen door tightly shut, with a strange brass lock hanging on the handle.

The six players pounded on the door in a disheveled manner. In a corner not far behind them, the dwarf clown's grinning phantom slowly emerged. He was holding two tattered dolls in his arms, one of which could be barely identified as a wolf and the other as a sheep.

"Don't be nervous, there's no need to be so nervous," he said in a sinister tone. "I'm just mercifully reminding you that the initial trial is already more than halfway over, you know?"

"It turns out my judgment was quite accurate; it seems the seven-day limit underestimated you. Our esteemed princess is already getting impatient, so—"

"The deadline has been shortened! Tomorrow! I'll be back tomorrow! What kind of news will I bring? Good news or bad news? Oh dear, I need seven reward coins to find out."

The dwarf clown stretched his mouth to an exaggerated angle and laughed maniacally, throwing his head back. As the phantom began to dissipate, the brass lock on the door clattered down and crumbled into a pile of fragments.

The six people all showed lingering fear on their faces. Number Two held the medicine bottle, nervously watching the expression on Number One's face, ready to hand her the medicine at any moment.

"No need." Number One pushed his hand away, then turned to look at the others. "So how many reward coins do we have in total now?"

“Five.” Fang He calculated it very clearly. “Leaving aside the silver coins for now, if it’s related to the difficulty of the game, the two left should be for the pixelated parkour game and the management game.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Number One had already started walking downstairs with incredible speed. Number Two followed closely behind her, whispering something in her ear, only to be pushed and stumble.

Looking at the way these two interact, Xiao Cheng finds it all very strange. In the end, he can only conclude that it's a case of one willing to hit and the other willing to be hit. As long as it doesn't affect their progress in the game, they don't care what happens.

"Time is limited, so let's try it now," Number Three and Number Four said in equally serious tones.

The mute girl and Number Five didn't rush down. They walked up to Xiao Cheng and Fang He, took out a note from their pockets, and handed it to them.

"What's this?" Xiao Cheng took it with a puzzled look, and saw two words printed on it in bold font.

Gift.

The two notes were identical, and contained no other information.

"Did you find it in the game just now?" Fang He asked.

The mute girl nodded slightly, and then began to use sign language.

Knowing they wouldn't understand, Number Five acted as a translator: "There are six notes at the end of the game, but we don't know what they mean. We originally planned to just keep it from you, but we felt that wouldn't be right."

"Thank you, this is very important information." Xiao Cheng nodded and handed the note back to them. "We don't have anything to offer in return. How about this, if you need anything in the future, you can come to us. Whether we can help or not is another matter, but after all, there's strength in numbers."

When they returned to the lobby on the first floor, all they could hear were the sounds of joysticks and buttons being operated.

Position number one is closest to the stairwell. Seeing her serious and meticulous expression, Xiao Cheng curiously went over to take a look.

She seemed to have adopted a completely different strategy from the first round. In short, when the hidden financial crisis was triggered again, she managed to survive even though she had less assets than in the previous round.

“My calculations were correct.” Number One wore a confident smile. “The game is just beginning.”

Then Xiao Cheng watched as she made a series of swift and powerful moves, and the numbers in the fund pool increased rapidly. In less than a quarter of an hour, she successfully broke through the nine-figure mark.

After completing the game, the golden game coin rolled down, which she picked up and put in her pocket.

Number One looked at Xiao Cheng with a reserved yet proud expression: "Next, all that's left is the game between those two brothers."

On the other hand, the two brothers did not pass the level smoothly. After trying many times, number three gave up and let his younger brother number four concentrate on conquering the level.

"This game is absolutely insane." Number Three was driven to the brink of collapse. "It's hard to imagine what kind of mental journey the game designers went through to create such an inhuman trap."

This was the closest number four came to clearing the checkpoint.

But a sudden, massive spike that almost filled the entire image took the life of the pixelated character.

"Ah...no." Number Four sighed dejectedly, turning to look at his brother with a helpless expression.

"It's okay, you can rest for a while and try again." Number Three rubbed his head.

When Xiao Cheng and his group came down, they saw this scene of brotherly affection and respect.

"They have such a good relationship," Xiao Cheng said with envy. "I admire this kind of brotherhood that will never betray you."

Fang He: "..." It seems like there's nothing wrong, but something just feels off.

But as an elite woman, Number One was clearly more concerned with the progress of the game.

"How's it going?" she asked. "Will we be able to pass the level today?"

His tone was serious, his expression stern, and he exuded a strong sense of pressure.

"I can only say I'll try my best; my brother needs rest." Number Three clearly hadn't experienced the fear of being controlled by 007.

Number One frowned habitually, and was about to question Number Three for daring to contradict him when Number Two pulled him aside first.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!