Chapter 243: Toy

【Objective: Eliminate other Key Holders and survive until the end】

【Time Limit: 24 hours】

【This is a special mission initiated by the anomalous item 'Archilles Toy Sun Changyao'. Selectees may choose whether to participate. Refusal incurs no penalty; the related item will simply be removed from your inventory】

【After selecting to join the mission, selectees may exit at any time. Upon voluntary withdrawal or death, the Sun Changyao in their inventory will automatically drop and be teleported into the nearest player's inventory】

【Within the mission world, selectees cannot naturally regenerate Qi over time; each Qi expenditure will accumulate proportional 'Corruption'】

【'Corruption' is irreversible. When a single selectee's Corruption reaches 1000 points, severe consequences will occur】

【Mission Reward: No overall completion bonus. Each eliminated hostile selectee grants 500 XP and 1000 game currency】

【Mission Failure Penalty: None】

【Accept/Reject】

【If no confirmation is made within 10 minutes, the mission will be automatically forfeited】

The system broadcast sounded just in time; Li Cheng's expression was grave as he listened carefully to every word.

Below the mission briefing, a virtual clock hovered, counting down the final 10 minutes. The clock's hands turned, as if one could almost hear the tick-tock of the second hand.

"What's going on, what's going on?" Guanyu beside him scratched his head anxiously (though perhaps he was just trying to create tension, hoping Li Cheng would forget she'd used her smart earbuds to write her homework).

"The Toy Sun Changyao triggered a special mission: a multiplayer deathmatch."

Li Cheng spoke quickly, immediately beginning preparations: he pulled out ten sheets of Death Prediction Notes and began testing them rapidly.

The results were grim: in all ten predicted drawings, Li Cheng's death was crude and brutal—either burned to ash by flames, or sliced into mincemeat by invisible threads.

Or crushed into a wall by a high-speed train, or had his soul ripped out, body and Dao destroyed.

'Of course. What was bound to happen, finally came.'

Li Cheng pressed his lips slightly, his mind still calm.

Since obtaining this Stone Key in the Monster Theme Park mission, he had felt a quiet awakening.

The Stone Key cannot be transferred; it only drops upon death, and possesses an attractive property—Keys draw toward one another.

Especially after acquiring the second Key from Cervantes, his conviction solidified: in this killing ground, someone—or some organization—had become aware of the Factory Keys and was secretly collecting them.

"Now I think about it, Cervantes was already in the hands of the Special Affairs Bureau. If they knew about the Keys, they would have executed Cervantes outright and seized them. The fact they didn't proves they didn't know."

"So the question is: the Special Affairs Bureau highly values Cervantes—they must have interrogated him rigorously, possibly even used hypnosis or memory extraction. Only a Level 35+ player, acting with intent against ignorance, could have hidden this from them."

"That person can only be the leader of the Laughing Troupe."

Li Cheng swiftly tucked away the predicted drawings of his possible deaths and gave Guanyu a brief summary of the situation.

Guanyu frowned slightly: "There are seven Keys total. We have two, meaning up to five other players could be out there."

"If the leader of the Laughing Troupe is involved, the average level in this mission is definitely high. The other five might all be stronger than us."

As a liquid metal robot, Guanyu had near-legendary resistance to physical strikes, but pure, extreme energy attacks could still harm her—even cause irreversible damage.

Li Cheng was no different: the Insect Lord's corruption and the assembled doll granted him immense vitality, yet if he encountered the soul attacks foretold in the predictions, he'd be just as defenseless.

"I know. Fortunately, this mission has the 'Corruption' mechanism."

Li Cheng said: "The more Qi you expend, the higher your Corruption. Once it builds to a threshold, it explodes. This indirectly balances power gaps between players—limiting the strong."

"And gives weaker players several winning strategies—like tricking others into wasting their Qi, or hiding in a corner and waiting for them to fight each other."

The Four Great Sayings: It's New Year's Day, the person is dead, it's still just a child, you came all this way.

I already have two Keys. You came all this way—if I back out without even stepping into the mission area, I'd lose all face.

"Worst case, if I enter and find the other players are all top-tier masters, we can still leave anytime—we can exit mid-mission with no penalty."

As he spoke, Li Cheng left the automated warehouse and clicked the mission panel to confirm acceptance.

At this moment, he had optimized himself to peak condition: his left arm sheathed in the Bone Corridor Bracer, a cleaver slung on his back, a bat-hook pistol at his waist, a nuclear lighter spinning in his left fingers, his right hand gently adjusting the Info-Synthesizing Glasses on his nose, ready to draw the Epic-level Taiyi Blade from thin air at any instant.

Even Guanyu was infected by the atmosphere of impending storm—her expression hardened and solemn, both hands gripping the massive, heavy Skull-Shattering Power Hammer, purple smoke swirling around her.

"Now's not the time to vape."

Li Cheng gave her a pained look. Guanyu grinned awkwardly, immediately extinguishing her grape-flavored electronic cigarette emitting purple smoke, then leapt into her electronic pet egg with a "Heyo!"

All preparations complete. As the mission panel's countdown reached zero, Li Cheng's vision shifted abruptly—he had entered the mission area.

It was an ordinary two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment: the kitchen held a double-door refrigerator and full cooking equipment; the living room had a sofa, coffee table, and color TV; on the wall hung a woodpecker clock that chimed on the hour.

Everything seemed normal—except every object, including the fruit on the coffee table, was made of LEGO bricks.

"."

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow slightly and stepped to the window, gazing outside.

Outside, sunlight shone brightly; every building in the city was constructed from LEGO. Pedestrians included both two-headed LEGO figures and many well-known toy characters.

Transformers, Gundam, Ultraman, Pokémon, Balala the Little Witch, Barbie dolls, Marbles Man, Hamtaro the hamster, wind-up toy cars, tin frogs, green soldiers.

Toys from every era and culture—famous or obscure—moved about in this city, as if the entire world's toys had been crammed inside.

(End of Chapter)