Chapter 21 : [Advancement: Crime and Punishment]

When Ming Po stepped into the darkness beyond the door, a darkness so deep he could not see his own hand in front of his face, his consciousness was immediately submerged.

In a daze, Ming Po seemed to dream of something.

He dreamed that he seemed to be arguing with someone, so agitated that he did not seem like himself.

He dreamed that he was manipulating layer after layer of illusions, wantonly blurring other people’s five senses.

He dreamed that he was walking through the vast starry sky, while in the distance, an enormous figure with a blurred face looked down upon him.

The next moment, Ming Po suddenly woke up.

Splash, splash, splash, splash

It was like someone had forgotten to turn off a faucet while the sink’s drain plug had been pressed down.

At some unknown point, from within the silence, he suddenly became able to catch the sound of rushing water.

…My head hurts.

Pain came in waves from the back of his head, spreading rhythmically like a heartbeat. It was as if someone had knocked him unconscious.

Ming Po slowly opened his eyes.

His surroundings were dim. He could only vaguely see a stretch of vivid red sky. It was like sunset, yet far redder than that—even his own skin had been dyed crimson by the light.

His body was abnormally cold, a chill soaking through his limbs and bones.

Only after a few more seconds did Ming Po slowly realize that he was lying in water.

After Ming Po woke, his numb and sluggish brain gradually became clearer. It was like sitting on the bed and slowly booting up after waking in a daze from low blood pressure.

Ming Po sat up slightly and reached into the water, groping for something.

With a clinking, clanging sound, a sudden dragging sensation came from Ming Po’s right hand.

He lowered his head and looked, only then discovering that an icy metal chain was locked around his right wrist.

It was a right hand somewhat unfamiliar to him. The muscle mass was about the same, but the skin was much rougher. Especially the fingers, which clearly bore the marks of age. On the ring finger of the right hand, there was also a gold ring.

He was wearing a brown sweater, with thermal underwear inside. On his lower body were thickened work pants, which had now absorbed water and become heavy and cold.

Ming Po no longer knew how long he had been soaking in this icy water.

Skin soaked through by extreme cold was already fragile. Just that unconscious forceful tug had nearly torn his skin open. The bluish-white skin instantly turned red over a large patch, bringing burning pain. Many small spots of blood seeped out, and before long, blood would probably begin to ooze.

But Ming Po seemed not to notice and reached directly into the icy water.

Soon, Ming Po finally fished out the thing he had wanted to find.

A pair of half-rim glasses with cracks in them.

Clearly, they did not belong to Ming Po.

But Ming Po calmly shook the water off the glasses and used his other, unshackled left hand to put them on just like that.

Although there were still blurry black lines and water droplets in his field of vision, he could at least make out distant objects.

The deep red outside was neither the setting sun nor sunset clouds. It came from rows of large lamps. Deep crimson light projected over, turning the originally clear and transparent water surface black-red.

And at this moment, scarlet words appeared before Ming Po’s eyes.

They directly soaked through the blurred vision of his glasses and appeared in his eyes in clear font.

[Advancement: Crime and Punishment]

[Single-player game. Forbidden limited faction: Virtue. No intruders.]

[Difficulty: 1–3 Days]

[This game locks the initial state. Aside from “titles,” no external abilities or statuses may be brought in.]

[There is no need to role-play in this game, but role-playing will still help advance the plot.]

[Warning: This game contains additional rules, hidden missions, and a special worldview.]

[You need to know: If you fail in an advancement game, you may transform into a “host” to avoid death. When your contracted Deceiver clears this game, you will be revived.]

…So that was how it was.

So hosts came from this

Ming Po was thoughtful.

He remembered that “Ink” had mentioned before that if they advanced to the level of “Clear Lead of Weeks,” he would come uninvited.

Judging from things now, Ink had probably died in the process of advancing to “Silver.” That was why he needed someone to help him clear this advancement ritual again.

“Looking at it this way, advancement rituals are pretty gentle.”

The corners of Ming Po’s lips lifted slightly.

In an ordinary Deceitful Game, failure meant death. But in an advancement ritual, the situation was not like that… There was even a second chance.

The price was having to guide newcomers for a period of time.

The higher the rank one was advancing to, the heavier the punishment. Because that meant the possibility of changing back was lower, and the amount of time spent doing unpaid labor would be longer… But at least it was still a second life.

After Ming Po finished reading the game’s basic introduction, those words dissipated.

Immediately afterward, an extremely brief plot introduction appeared before his eyes:

[You are Gu Tao, a swimming coach.]

[When you wake up, you discover that you have been locked inside this massive swimming pool, and water has already begun filling the pool.]

[The final scene in your memories is opening the door to your own home after returning from work…]

After Ming Po finished reading those three short lines, they also dissipated like phantoms.

Unlike “Death of the Minority,” no game rules or mission requirements appeared.

Because the situation before his eyes was already very clear.

If he could not think of a way to escape from here, he would be drowned alive.

When Ming Po woke up, the water had already soaked through his clothes.

Right now, the water had only just reached the soles of his shoes and had not yet completely covered his ankles. However, it had already seeped into his sneakers. That intense cold was already making his body tremble uncontrollably, and hypothermia could probably strike at any moment.

And at this moment—

A deliberately altered voice, made rough, hoarse, and bizarre, sounded from the sky.

“Hello, Gu Tao!”

It was practically like an AI-generated voice. “I want to play a game with you.”

For a moment, Ming Po thought this was a host that had popped out from who-knew-where—as if in the next second, it would jump out and shout, “Welcome to the Deceitful Game, wrongfully dead!”

“…Saw, huh?”

Ming Po furrowed his brows in disdain. “Do you have the rights?”

“Hmph… You still have the mood to joke. Looks like you’re still full of energy. That’s good…”

That voice merely laughed coldly. “Perhaps this way, we can play for a very long time.”

Ming Po raised an eyebrow and did not reply again.

The purpose of his complaint just now had been to see whether this was a recording or a conversation.

Judging from things now, it was far more likely to be a conversation.

In other words, there was some kind of camera watching him, and there was also an audio-receiving device near him.

“I hear you’re very good at swimming.”

That voice said, “I want to see how long you can swim.

“The height of this swimming pool is 2.2 meters. Filling it completely with water will take three hours.

“But unfortunately, this chain is only seventy centimeters long. That means that if the water fills the pool completely, you will drown here.

“And behind you, above the swimming pool, there is a key. It can open your handcuffs.”

That strange, low, hoarse synthesized voice laughed softly. “But if you want to get it, you’ll have to wait until the water level rises high enough.

“At that time, with the help of the water’s buoyancy, you will have a chance to reach it.”

This chain was truly unbearable.

It extended from the floor, and its height was far too low. It locked Ming Po’s wrist, forcing him into an extremely awkward posture.

The height of this chain was roughly the distance from the fingertip of a slightly shorter adult to the ground. And “Gu Tao” was not particularly short, while the handcuff was locked around his wrist… This meant he could not even stand upright.

If he insisted on standing, it would practically be like holding a horse stance.

But the water would take three hours to rise.

If he maintained such a hunched-over posture, he would long since be exhausted by the time the water rose.

Then was he supposed to squat down and rest?

That was even more impossible.

The water was shockingly cold. It was practically like water drawn from a tap in winter.

Or rather, it was ice water.

Right now, Ming Po’s right hand was locked, so he could not take off his clothes.

If he squatted like this, his upper clothes would quickly soak up the ice water. If he stayed in that state for several hours, it would not merely be a matter of catching a cold—there was even a possibility of large-scale hypothermia, leading directly to death.

Moreover, after squatting for too long, the legs submerged in ice water would very likely suffer from poor blood circulation. Once the water level rose, it would be extremely easy to cramp or fall. And being immersed in ice water consumed an enormous amount of stamina; if his stamina ran out, he could only drown alive here.

This was precisely a deadly water prison!