183: Chapter 183 Happy's Warm-up Game

Having just finished the "broadcast," Hapi snapped his fingers, swapping his stiff pink suit for a pink fuzzy onesie.

He reached into the half-human-sized white sphere cradled in his arms, grabbed a handful of popcorn, and stuffed it into his mouth.

With a swipe of his fingertip through the air, the holographic screen on the dome immediately tiled out the projected images of the seven [Hosts] one by one.

He shook his head and said, "Watching a 'movie' like this isn't comfortable~."

He pulled an orange inflatable mattress from the orange sphere at his feet, gave a gentle kick off the ground, and threw himself onto the mattress.

He let out a comfortable moan, then took a blue drink from the blue sphere beside him, took a big sip, and put on an expectant expression, as if preparing to watch a movie premiere: "Let me see what kind of fun these [Hosts] can bring me~."

In the first image on the left side of the light screen, the Roar of the burly youth [Muscle Maniac] vibrated through the screen, causing the spheres around Hapi to scatter and bounce.

Hapi stretched, letting the spheres of various sizes and colors graze his body, and exclaimed: "Hehe~ As expected of the [Immersive Holographic Projection Screen] created by the [God of Technology], I can give this immersion a five-star rating!"

[Muscle Maniac] was currently standing on the arena of the fighting cabin, shirtless, his muscles bulging all over his body, sweat covering his bronze-colored skin.

He crossed his arms to withstand the heavy punches thrown by the steel fighting puppet opposite him, then backhanded and snapped the puppet's arm off.

"Come again! Is there anyone who can fight better than this?"

He roared at the referee puppet under the ring, the [Dream Spirit] [Power Belt] tied around his waist flickering with a faint light.

At this moment, the [System] prompt screen appeared: "Host [Muscle Maniac] has won the fight and received a reward of 30 [dream coins]."

Looking at the scars on [Muscle Maniac]'s bare chest, Hapi pulled up the records of the fighting cabin and found that he had already won 3 fights in a short time, winning a total of 90 [dream coins].

After deducting the 10 [dream coins] to enter the cabin, he had a net profit of 80 [dream coins].

"Tsk tsk, he worships strength but isn't reckless enough to just go looking for the cabin I'm in; he knows to accumulate [dream coins] first. It seems he isn't just a simple muscle-headed brute~."

Hapi smacked his lips, tossed the white sphere aside, grabbed the red sphere nearby, and took out a candied hawthorn made from a bright red unknown fruit, biting into it.

"Mmm~ As expected of the most famous sour fruit in Candy City, my teeth are going to be set on edge~ I hope he doesn't forget the rule that 'the last one will be fed to the giant beast'~ But~ if he were really a [Host] with developed limbs and a simple mind, he wouldn't have evolved to a B-rank [Talent]. It seems the first two rounds were likely him intentionally hiding his skills. Hahaha! This actually piques my curiosity~ It counts as adding some fun to this mini-game."

Hapi closed the [dream system panel] belonging to [Muscle Maniac] and shifted his gaze to the next screen.

The screen shifted to [Swift Shadow].

This silent girl was currently standing in front of a cabin in the corridor, looking up to record the mysterious symbols on the cabin doorplate into the gray notebook in her hand.

Afterward, she continued walking forward without hesitation, with no intention of entering the cabin at all.

As she walked, [Swift Shadow] looked down at the open gray notebook in her hand, the ink from her black pen scribbling between the mysterious symbols, attempting to deduce a pattern to find the cabin where Hapi was located.

"Oh? Choosing to analyze the secret code I left behind?"

Hapi raised an eyebrow, watching the back of the silently walking [Swift Shadow] on the light screen.

He pulled up the entry data for the [Deep Sea Gambling Ship] cabins and discovered that [Swift Shadow] hadn't entered a single cabin since the rest period began.

"I wonder if you can decipher the message I left on each cabin's doorplate? It's a pity, though; you didn't choose to try entering a cabin to take a risk. Are you that timid? Or perhaps overly cautious?"

After saying this, Hapi looked away, feeling slightly bored.

The screen for [Passerby Man] was a disaster scene, making Hapi laugh so hard he got a stitch in his side.

He had stumbled into a "Sweet Trap Cabin" where the surrounding walls kept moving, and every turn triggered a trap—he had just stepped on a loose floorboard when a cream bomb fell from above.

Luckily, he dodged quickly, but half his body was still covered in cream.

Before [Passerby Man] could think too much, he stepped into thin air and fell into a caramel slime pit trap.

Just as he struggled to climb out, a giant candy boulder rolled toward him.

Screaming and running while constantly triggering various sweet traps, [Passerby Man] finally made it back to the exit.

Just as he took a step toward the exit, [Passerby Man] was suddenly launched far away by an inflatable bubblegum catapult trap.

"Ah~~~" The scream echoed in Hapi's ears.

Hapi froze in place, speechless.

After tapping open [Passerby Man]'s [dream system panel], he took a sip of his carbonated fruit drink in silence: "Look at this [Unlucky Egg]; he's actually a one-in-a-ten-thousand possessor of an ill-fortune [Talent], and the bad luck is targeted at himself... It's a miracle you've survived until now. The traps in this room clearly shouldn't be this powerful. If you keep being this unlucky, 'Deep Sea Snack' will definitely be your fate."

The scene for [Wu Doumi] was full of the atmosphere of daily life.

After leaving the restaurant cabin, apart from going to the clothing cabin to buy a new outfit, he returned directly to the restaurant cabin and continued to eat frantically.

The visibly fit man's physique was transforming into a sphere; whether it was the fruits of the Thousand-Night One-Night Flower, the ten-winged bird smoked with activated wood, or the shaved ice made from the cubs of iceberg beasts, he swallowed everything whole.

"Haha, truly a qualified foodie."

Hapi was overjoyed, then his expression turned serious.

"He knows to prioritize replenishing 'reserve energy' and knows how to be calculating. But, if he keeps dawdling like this, watch out for being eliminated. [Lord of the Deep Sea] is really something, letting his own little pet come to me to beg for food~."

The screen for [Latte Life-Extender] was full of empty coffee cups.

He sat in front of the bar in the café cabin, raised his hand, and downed his twelfth Flare Latte in one gulp, savoring the richness and wonder of the [Dream World] specialty latte.

He raised his hand to order another Hurricane Latte from the barista puppet behind the bar.

He muttered to himself, "It's a good thing the coffee here can be ordered infinitely; the 10 [dream coins] entry fee is really worth it."

Although he had dark circles under his eyes comparable to a panda, his eyes were exceptionally clear—every time he drank a cup of coffee, his C-rank [Talent] [Caffeine Frenzy] would cause his physical fitness to be strengthened in all aspects for a short time, and even abilities like life perception were continuously being strengthened.

At this moment, he touched his slightly bulging stomach, thought for a moment, and prepared to drink 3 more cups of coffee.

"Continuously using coffee to stack the strengthening effects of your [Talent], and then perceiving my existence when the strengthening reaches its maximum? Your little plan is easy to understand."

Hapi propped his chin up, pulled up the [Talent] introduction for [Latte Life-Extender], and his tone became a bit more serious.

"Over-relying on strengthening effects isn't a good thing~ Once the caffeine strengthening wears off, your normal level of 'perception' is a joke. Also, don't forget that this is a speed-based mini-game."

The image on the light screen was split in two; on the left was the middle-aged beauty [Four-Leaf Clover], and on the right was the black-and-white youth [Gemini]—they were the only three who hadn't entered any cabin after the mini-game started.

[Four-Leaf Clover] stepped in deep purple high heels, her long skirt sweeping across the scarlet carpet on the corridor floor.

Following the intuition brought by her [Talent], she walked past cabin after cabin, without even a second of pause or hesitation, just walking straight ahead.

"Yo, this 'Goddess of Luck' is quite determined."

Hapi watched [Four-Leaf Clover]'s back with great interest.

"Only believing in her own intuition, only for the sake of finding the cabin I'm in? What a terribly goal-oriented woman!"

On the other side, [Gemini], whistling a weird tune, stepped on the scarlet carpet with his black and white sneakers without making a sound.

He just stood in front of a cabin and stepped into the door emitting red light.

"You're making me more and more interested in you, [Gemini]."

Hapi turned his head to look at [Gemini] who had entered the cabin, raised his hand, and tossed a cup of Yingying fruit juice to him.

"It seems you've discovered it, right~ The secret of this [Deep Sea Gambling Ship] cabin."

[Gemini], who had just entered the cabin, caught the drink flying toward him and took a sip.

"The taste is not bad. Is this a secret? I thought everyone knew~."

Then he looked up at the images of the other six [Hosts] on the dome light screen.

Hapi stretched on the inflatable mattress, pulled a microphone out of his pink pajamas, and placed it in front of his mouth: "[Gemini] has arrived at my cabin. Please hurry, remaining [Hosts]~. Now starting the countdown for the end of the game; any [Host] who hasn't arrived at my cabin within thirty minutes will be eliminated!"