99: Chapter 99, Act One: The Greedy Vault!

[Ding, you have joined the Gods Game!]

[Game Name: Five-Act Gods Game]

[Difficulty: Hell]

[Description: This is the highest difficulty Gods Game of the Three-Eyed Mother Goddess. It consists of five acts, and all must be cleared to end the game!]

[Act I of the Gods Game is about to begin!]

The Three-Eyed Mother Goddess's third eye suddenly erupted with immense divine light, causing Lu Chen and the other two to lose their vision.

When the divine light faded.

The scene shifted.

Lu Chen realized.

He and his parents were standing beneath a massive dome crafted entirely of pure gold.

The ground was paved with flowing gold coins, and every step kicked up sprays of metal.

The four walls were inlaid with countless gems, refracting dizzying brilliance under light from an unknown source.

The air was thick with a cloying, metallic scent, while the ceaseless roar of a waterfall of gold coins echoed from afar.

Twelve golden guardian statues suddenly opened their ruby-inlaid eyes, slammed their giant axes into the ground, and the entire vault began to twist and warp!

The ceiling slowly descended, and the walls contracted inward; this was a compressing golden vault!

"Son, your mother and I have participated in this act of the game. It seems that for the Three-Eyed Mother Goddess's Gods Game, only the difficulty rating and the number of levels have increased; the starting mode hasn't changed much. We will tell you the walkthrough for the first two acts later!"

Lu Sen and Chen Rou revisited this Gods Game as the scene of their previous clearance appeared before their eyes.

Back then, their epic team of 60 people had gone all out, and only after paying the price of over a dozen deaths did they find the method to clear the first act and successfully pass this Gods Game!

[Ding, Act I of the Gods Game — The Vault of Greed has begun!]

[The rules for this act of the Gods Game are as follows: ① Survival countdown: 32 minutes. Those who have not cleared the level when the vault closes completely will be pressed into gold foil. ② Touching any golden item will activate the "Golden Curse," including the gold coins on the ground; parts of your body will gradually turn into metal. ③ The Golden Codex on the central throne records the escape password, but it can only be read for 3 seconds at a time. ④ Every time a Golden Guardian is killed, the vault's contraction speed increases by 10%. ⑤ When the last guardian falls, all golden items will converge into a 50-meter-tall Golden Tyrant Boss.]

"What? A 32-minute countdown?" Chen Rou exclaimed.

When she participated back then, this first act of the Gods Game had a countdown of a full 72 hours!

Is the highest difficulty really this outrageous?

However, she believed that with her and her husband's experience in clearing the level, plus her son's immense strength, they could easily clear it!

"Little Chen, the password input page will only appear after the Golden Tyrant Boss is killed. As long as you enter the escape password in time, the portal to the next act of the Gods Game will open."

Lu Sen shared the walkthrough, which was the strategy their entire team had fought to death to obtain back then: "Little Chen, besides strength, this game also tests team cooperation and sacrifice."

"See that special golden scale in the center? It's actually a diamond scale coated with gold dust; it's the only item not affected by the curse."

"Someone must continuously stand on one side of the scale to endure the pain of the curse so that the other side can display the password fragments. Only through these fragments can you find the escape password in the Golden Codex!"

"Back then, it was your mother who stood on it. Even after the game ended, she has been accompanied by this curse ever since!"

Chen Rou chuckled: "Son, let Mom do it. Mom has experience. Later, you just need to follow the password fragments I obtain and find the corresponding password on the Golden Throne!"

"Mom, but you..." Lu Chen worried that his mother's body wouldn't be able to handle it.

"It's just a Hell-difficulty curse; it won't take my life!"

After saying this, Chen Rou stood on the scale, and the other side began to display the countdown for the secret fragments.

"Son, the Golden Codex can only be read for 3 seconds at a time, with a 3-minute cooldown. That means you have at most 10 opportunities to read it."

After hearing his mother's words, Lu Chen summoned his hundred thousand beast pets.

In this act of the Gods Game, there weren't many monsters—just 12 Golden Guardians and 1 Golden Tyrant Boss—so there was no need to summon too many beast pets.

Furthermore, if the beast pets touched the golden items, their bodies would also partially turn into metal, which could not be undone until the five acts of the Gods Game were cleared.

Lu Chen came to the Golden Codex, activated Insight and the Eye of the Ringed Heavens, and prepared to read the codex at any moment.

"The first password fragment!"

After obtaining the secret fragment information, Chen Rou immediately told Lu Chen.

Lu Chen quickly read the password symbols in the codex. The symbols displayed were numerous and impossible to count; only someone with strong Insight and the ability to perceive minute details could quickly find the password symbols corresponding to the fragments.

Meanwhile! The twelve Golden Guardians also stirred. They began to launch an attack.

Without exception, they were all Tier 5 Lord-level BOSSes, and their attributes and skills had nothing special.

"Son, just have your beast pets suppress the 12 Golden Guardians; don't kill them yet. Otherwise, I'm afraid there won't be enough time. Wait until you find all the passwords, then kill them instantly!"

Unable to help with physical attacks, Lu Sen acted as the team's strategist.

Every time a Golden Guardian is killed, the vault's compression accelerates by 10%, which means time is shortened by 10%. Therefore, it's safest to find all the passwords first and then kill them all at once!

Bang, bang, bang! The beast pets easily suppressed the 12 Golden Guardians, surrounding them so they couldn't harm their master or his parents.

Before long, Chen Rou had obtained all the password fragment information.

Lu Chen also easily found the corresponding 12 sets of password symbols!

"Kill!" With the password obtained, Lu Chen immediately gave the order to his beast pets.

Bang, bang, bang! The twelve Golden Guardians were instantly killed by Lu Chen's beast pets, turning into a pile of gold powder!

At this moment, there were still 10 minutes left of the 32-minute countdown!

[Ding, all Golden Guardians are dead, vault compression speed +120%!]

The original 10-minute countdown became only about 8 minutes.

But this did not affect the trio's plan to clear the level.

Clatter! A large amount of golden items liquefied and coalesced, soon forming a 20-meter-tall Golden Tyrant Boss, wearing a crown and holding a golden war halberd!

Inside its chest seemed to be imprisoned the Souls of past greedy individuals, and every twisted face was emitting a silent scream.

[The gold coins and treasures here can all be picked up and owned permanently; wealth will accompany you for eternity!]

The Tier 5 World Lord BOSS, the Golden Tyrant Boss, let out a seductive roar.

This BOSS's attributes were quite normal, belonging to a standard Tier 5 World Lord BOSS; its stats weren't even as high as Lu Chen's. At most, it had a special status, which the prompt indicated could not be discerned.

"Son, watch out for its innate ability. Its [Gilding] talent can randomly turn a target into a gold statue, which needs to be shattered in time to be rescued!" Lu Sen said.

With his dad's walkthrough, Lu Chen had made ample preparations, keeping some beast pets by his side.

"Destroy!" Immediately, Lu Chen ordered his beast pets to attack the BOSS.

A hundred thousand Red Falcons flew out, spewing flames, and instantly engulfed the Golden Tyrant Boss.

He had thought he could kill it instantly! But Lu Chen was astonished to discover.

The Golden Tyrant Boss was not only not killed instantly, but its HP only dropped by 10%, and it quickly healed back to full HP by devouring golden items!

"How can this be?!" Lu Sen and Chen Rou exclaimed simultaneously.

With their son's attributes and the number of beast pets, it should have been a one-hit kill!

At this moment, a Gods Game rule prompt appeared: [Ding, Golden Tyrant Boss special status triggered; each instance of damage reduces HP by at most 10%!]

"This..." Lu Chen's expression became grave.

It seems this Gods Game isn't that simple. The level mode and rules are similar to what his dad experienced back then, but it has added hidden mechanics that need to be cracked personally.

[Heh! Don't think that high attributes alone can clear the level, brat. You and your parents will become the new gold statues here; this is the price for blaspheming the gods!]

The Golden Tyrant Boss released the powerful [Golden Rain] skill. Those hit wouldn't take damage, but their bodies would turn golden. The more raindrops they were stained with, the more they would turn to gold, until they completely became gold statues!

Lu Chen had no choice but to have his beast pets block the Golden Rain while the other beast pets continued to attack the BOSS. But since he couldn't one-shot the opponent, it could keep itself at full HP, which was practically unsolvable!