184: Chapter 184 [Warm-up Game] End and the Deep-Sea Beasts Awaiting Feeding

Inside the Fighting Cabin, [Muscle Maniac] smashed the head of an alloy doll with one punch. Amidst the splashing metal fragments, he raised his hand to collect 300 dream coins into his [dream system panel]. Looking at the number behind the dream coins, he grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. His bronze-colored muscles, exposed to the air, glistened under the combined effect of the cabin lights and the sweat on his body. The faint light of the [Dream Spirit] [Power Belt] around his waist quickly faded.

"The dream coins have been saved up enough; it's time to go find Hapi!" He walked out of the Fighting Cabin. Because his body was excited from continuously fighting 30 rounds with different dolls, he left a series of shallow footprints even while walking on the soft crimson carpet.

He entered 7 cabins in a row, successively winning the championship in the bodybuilding competition cabin, purchasing supplements in the protein powder shop cabin, and finishing a customized fat-loss meal in the fat-loss meal cabin. Each time he entered a cabin, after paying 10 dream coins, [Muscle Maniac] briefly enjoyed himself in various ways.

The pink crystal wall lamp in the corridor cast a layer of pale pink halo over [Swift Shadow], who was wearing a cloak. The black fountain pen in her hand moved rapidly across her notebook, breaking down the unknown symbols recorded on each cabin doorplate and pairing and interpreting them on the paper. As [Swift Shadow] drew lines between the symbols, a complete concentric circle pattern emerged on the paper, as if an eye were staring fixedly at her.

[Swift Shadow] stopped abruptly, turning her head to look at the red light door that had appeared beside her out of nowhere. This time, the doorplate above the frame was no longer garbled text composed of meaningless symbols, but a scarlet concentric circle.

"Have you been watching me all along?" [Swift Shadow] sighed silently in her heart. Without the slightest hesitation, she put the notebook back into her pocket. Her white canvas shoes stepped lightly on the ground, and under the ability of her [Dream Spirit] [Swift Shadow Cloak], she didn't make a sound, quietly blending her body into the red light.

Just as [Swift Shadow] saw Hapi in the cabin, Hapi's broadcast voice sounded in the ears of all Hosts again: "[Swift Shadow] has arrived at my cabin, 25 minutes of game time remaining."

In the [Chocolate] swamp of the Sweet Trap cabin, [Passerby Man] wailed as he was swallowed by the viscous liquid Chocolate. Just as he struggled fiercely to expose his mouth and nose from the Chocolate swamp, his body sank even faster. The liquid Chocolate soon completely clogged [Passerby Man]'s mouth and nose, and every attempt to breathe only resulted in a sweet, suffocating sensation.

Just when [Passerby Man] thought his unlucky life was going to end here, a huge rolling sound of "Gudong! Gudong!" came from the [Sugar] snow mountain in the distance—that was a toffee bomb that was a full ten meters wide. Just when [Passerby Man] had just entered the cabin and triggered the first trap, through a series of inexplicable coincidences and accidents, this huge bomb, which was originally intended as background decoration, rolled straight into the Chocolate swamp unimpeded.

"Boom!" After a loud noise that could rupture one's eardrums, the Chocolate swamp was blown into a deep pit. [Passerby Man], wrapped in Chocolate, coughed violently a few times, spitting out the liquid Chocolate from his mouth and nose, and looked sideways at the red light door that was also at the bottom of the pit. [Passerby Man], who was still hesitating whether "it would be another trap," was heavily hit on the back by a piece of scorching toffee bomb debris falling from the sky. The "Ah—" scream came to an abrupt end after [Passerby Man] completely entered the red light door.

[Passerby Man] abruptly fell from the dome of the room where Hapi was, and the next second he slammed heavily onto the orange inflatable mattress, splashing Chocolate that stained Hapi's pajamas black.

"[Passerby Man] has arrived, 22 minutes remaining." The broadcast sounded again. Hapi glanced at [Passerby Man] with disgust, snapped his fingers, and changed into a new, clean set of pajamas.

Inside the restaurant cabin, [Wu Doumi], who had returned from the clothing store cabin and changed into a brand new set of clothes, patted his belly, which had become round again, and burped with sparkling crumbs. The [Dream Spirit] [self-healing wristband] on his left wrist had returned from black to pure white, and the warm, gentle light made [Wu Doumi] feel a burst of comfort.

"Energy reserves full, let's go!" His round body squeezed out of the red light door of the restaurant cabin, and he stood in the corridor, talking to himself: "The third cabin to the right of the restaurant cabin is the clothing store cabin, and the second cabin to the left of the clothing store cabin is an identical restaurant cabin, so Hapi is right here." Muttering, [Wu Doumi] suddenly turned around and stepped back into the red light door he had just come out of—as if he had just done the most ordinary thing.

Hapi's broadcast immediately sounded: "[Wu Doumi] has arrived, 20 minutes of game time remaining." [Gemini] in the cabin raised an eyebrow, watching this unexpectedly smart foodie ask Hapi for a red ball that infinitely generated apples, and just sat on the inflatable mattress, sharing fruit with the Chocolate-covered [Passerby Man].

[Latte Life-Extender] in the café cabin had a trembling hand, spilling half a cup of Meteor Latte on the table. The continuous broadcasts sounded like alarm bells ringing wildly in his ears.

Looking at the mountain of empty cups piled up in front of him, he rubbed his dark circles, feeling the extreme clarity and comprehensive enhancement brought about by his [Talent] [Caffeine Mania]—his life perception ability had been continuously enhanced to the limit of what he could reach. The vibrations and smells in the air, the strange traces on the ground, everything that could be perceived by human senses, even the slightest, now seemed like looking at an elephant with a microscope to [Latte Life-Extender].

"Only two spots left!" Saying this, he grabbed his coat left on the back of the chair, kicked the ground hard with both feet, and rushed out of the red light door of the café cabin like a cannonball, his leather shoes making a harsh friction sound against the ground.

In the seemingly endless corridor, the luxurious mature woman [Four-Leaf Clover] stepped in deep purple high heels and stopped in front of a red door. Her intuition, which had been particularly accurate since she was a child, enabled [Four-Leaf Clover] to make the correct choice accurately in a state of no distractions after becoming a [Dream System] [Host] and undergoing [Awakening].

Now her intuition was like a strong wind blowing from behind, pushing her toward the red light door in front of her. [Four-Leaf Clover] clearly knew that Hapi was behind this red light door. She smoothed the wrinkles on her skirt and stepped in elegantly and firmly.

"[Four-Leaf Clover] has arrived, 20 minutes of game time remaining." When Hapi's broadcast ended, [Four-Leaf Clover] gave a friendly smile to [Gemini] in the distance.

At this moment, the screen on the dome was divided into two—the top synchronized the figures of [Muscle Maniac] and [Latte Life-Extender].

On the light screen, [Muscle Maniac] was quickly entering and exiting one cabin after another. Each time he entered a red door, his dream coin balance decreased by 10. Looking at the dream coin balance of less than 100, [Muscle Maniac]'s facial expression became increasingly solemn.

[Latte Life-Extender] was running wildly in the corridor, his panda eyes bloodshot. The perception ability enhanced to the limit by his own [Talent] made his brain passively receive various information from the outside world. He needed to rely on the rationality brought by caffeine to perceive Hapi's existence from it as much as possible. His exposed skin had turned bright red due to maintaining the extreme enhancement state for a long time. Every pore on [Latte Life-Extender]'s body was constantly spraying steam, and his whole body's muscles began to tremble crazily.

In the cabin where Hapi was, the five [Host]s were all looking up at the tense scene on the dome light screen. Even [Wu Doumi], who was eating slime meat paste mixed with rice, slowed down his chewing.

No one noticed that outside the [Deep Sea Gambling Ship], the huge black shadow of the [Deep Sea Behemoth] began to stir uneasily. Because of the desire for meat, it began to twist its huge body uncontrollably, stirring up currents full of huge impact. Hapi rolled his eyes speechlessly, curled his lips in disdain, and tapped his right foot lightly on the ground. A transparent bubble instantly wrapped around the entire [Deep Sea Gambling Ship], blocking all the powerful water currents rushing in. "What a restless little thing."

"10, 9, 8..." As the numbers on the countdown light screen became smaller and smaller, the ground of the corridor began to become soft. The crimson soft carpet began to extend transparent mucus, and the pink crystal wall lamps began to flash with eye-catching red light.

[Muscle Maniac]'s dream coins were less than 10. He stared at the red door in front of him, just about to grit his teeth and step in, but the red light door began to fade and disappear.

[Latte Life-Extender] had a flash of inspiration in the last 10 seconds and decided to change his strategy. His perception exploded with all his might, trying to find the location of the other 5 [Host]s. In the desperate countdown, [Latte Life-Extender] suddenly raised his head, his eyes covered with scarlet bloodshot staring at the red light door 100 meters ahead. "Hahaha! Found you!" Revealing a victorious laugh excitedly, [Latte Life-Extender] kicked the ground with all his might, launching his body like a cannonball.

"No!!!" The desperate cry echoed in the corridor. Just as he was about to pass through the red light door, the moment his fingertips were about to touch the door—the red doors of all the cabins in the corridor disappeared simultaneously.

Hapi's broadcast sounded on time: "Time is up! Game over! It's a pity that [Muscle Maniac] and [Latte Life-Extender] did not complete the mini-game, so next is the heart-pounding punishment session!"

Hapi in the cabin snapped his fingers, and his pink fluffy pajamas instantly turned back into a stiff pink suit. The light screen on the dome turned into a blue data stream, forming a blue portal behind Hapi. Hapi bowed elegantly to the five people, "Please move to the deck, everyone, and enjoy the 'punishment session'."

Everyone passed through the blue portal one after another and returned to the deck. A pitch-black cannon slowly rose from under the deck with a "rumbling" sound.

"Bang! Bang!" With two loud noises, [Muscle Maniac]'s angry curses and [Latte Life-Extender]'s desperate pleas instantly disappeared as they passed through the transparent bubble wrapping the [Deep Sea Gambling Ship].

Everyone looked with slight doubt and fear at the transparent bubble that did not exist before, and the blood-red giant mouth outside the bubble that was several times larger than the gambling ship. Following the two [Host]s being launched and swallowed by the suddenly closed giant mouth, with a happy twist, a scarlet giant eye glanced at everyone on the gambling ship unconsciously.

[Wu Doumi] subconsciously took a step back, and the [Dream Spirit] [self-healing wristband] on his left wrist became slightly hot—this was the eye he saw in the restaurant cabin, but this time, making eye contact with the scarlet giant eye of the [Deep Sea Behemoth], he was not polluted by the [Deep Sea Power] at all.

Hapi's playful voice broke the silence on the deck. With a bit of cunning in his eyes, he stared specifically at [Wu Doumi]'s eyes and said: "Don't worry, in order to let you all enjoy the 'punishment session' with peace of mind, I specially released the [Isolation Bubble] I 'borrowed' from the [God of the Ocean]. It can not only block deep-sea water pressure and water current impact, but also isolate the pollution of [Deep Sea Power]. Otherwise, you would have already been polluted into unknown deep-sea monsters by now~ Just like the 'Octopus Monster'~"

Seeing [Wu Doumi]'s left hand subconsciously grabbing his right arm, Hapi let out a low laugh.

"So~ as a reward for the winners of the [Warm-up Mini-game], you can each ask a question about this [Deep Sea Gambling Ship], and I will try my best to satisfy your curiosity~" Hapi's smile looked even more eerie against the backdrop of the slowly receding [Deep Sea Behemoth].