Alternate Dimension Game: Happiness is all that matters!
Chapter 102 - 95 Main Quest (1/2)

Chapter 102: Chapter 95 Main Quest (1/2)

"The Blood Demon might indeed be its favorite pastime lately. It probably wouldn’t be too keen on humanity’s destruction, since without humans, it wouldn’t be able to have its fun. So, it doesn’t mind our little bit of help."

"Of course, there’s another conjecture. Since the Game can manipulate timelines, all of our subsequent reactions are likely part of its plan. It can precisely plan which steps should be taken and which should not."

"That seems far-fetched, but we can’t rule out the possibility."

No. 1 fell silent for a moment, when a supernatural phenomenon becomes powerful enough, its internal rules must be extremely complete, forming a complex chain of logic. These chains of logic can calculate interests related to themselves like artificial intelligence.

Thus, these Demon God-level idealist beings seem "smarter" than humans on some levels.

Their games are like those played between higher-dimensional beings.

This old-timer could easily crush the Blood Demon, yet he chooses to amuse himself, wanting to craft the narrative of "mortals battling against a Demon God," which is incomprehensible.

Well, humanity’s destiny must ultimately be in our own hands.

If Chen Xinyi really could provide some information, that would be a good thing indeed.

In the end, one could only sigh, "We must take this matter seriously and hope for good luck for Chen Xinyi."

"How is Li Qingshan doing now?"

"He is at the Game Training Camp, waiting for Chen Xinyi to show up, ready to report back to us at any moment."

No. 1 nodded, as the leader of the Black-clothed Guard, he couldn’t pin all his hopes on The Game, but rather treated it as another card in his hand.

Regardless, cooperative action had become an inevitability.

He turned back to face the large LCD screen, cleared his throat softly, and pressed the speak button: "Everyone here has been through a lot. Let’s cut the chatter. With disaster looming, debating here endlessly is just wasting words. Instead of speaking endlessly, we should take action."

"A Subordinate Demon God-level supernatural phenomenon isn’t easily handled, what are all of you willing to sacrifice?"

"Whether it’s manpower, money, intelligence, or World-Level Strange Objects, you have to give something."

"If you aren’t willing to give anything, how do you expect to solve this? How many people need to die, how much time must be delayed until the Blood Demon fully enters our world? Can you sit here negotiating calmly then?"

No. 1 spoke evenly, "In any case, our side will probably be the last to die, but we are still willing to take on some responsibility. Come on, bring out your offers, stop the idle talk, simplify matters—once dead, there’s nothing left."

...

...

...

Red Fog Zone.

"Zhao... how did you know the sewer was safe? It actually ignored our presence!"

"Unbelievable... oh, God, here it comes again, it’s still searching for us... this greedy groundhog, what a mess."

Anthony Smith muttered in a mosquito-like voice, the stench in the sewer making him slightly nauseous.

Wang Hao, of course, couldn’t smell this, not even flinching if he hid in a dung pit.

He was instead quite interested in Smith’s translatory tone, finding his incessant muttering comically idiotic.

Nonsense, of course, I’m smarter than you, stronger than you.

If an NPC like you were smarter than me, what would be the point of playing!

At the moment, everyone was hiding in the sewer, and in the silent shopping mall, they heard "boom, boom" as a giant humanoid creature approached from not far away.

It stepped right on the sewer manhole cover, making a "clang" sound.

The manhole roared fiercely, and with that sound, everyone’s hearts skipped a beat.

This huge creature had actually not discovered the group hiding in the sewer!

Instead, it walked away.

Wang Hao slowly exhaled, turning back and replied, "Let me tell you. There are two reasons; first, they rely more on smell. This place stinks so much, it covers up the human scent, so they can’t detect us."

"Second, even if these creatures did find us, their massive size makes it difficult to enter such narrow spaces, so I chose here. No matter what, it allows us to live a little longer."

"How did you know they rely on smell?" Smith asked again.

"Observed from the details, of course."

Wang Hao then recounted in full the observations he made on the tram.

"So that’s it... that fat woman was sweating profusely and didn’t use deodorant, it really stank."

Smith’s eyelids twitched a few times, and he awkwardly chuckled, "I smelled it too, almost passed out from the stench."

"So these creatures hate bad smells, huh..."

Sounds simple enough!

But noticing elements in a chaotic scene is a required course for experienced Investigators.

Unfortunately, some theoretical knowledge, extensively learned from textbooks and discussed for three days and nights without repetition, is seemingly forgotten when push comes to shove, thrown aside and leaving one flustered.

In panic, those who can overcome despair are truly rare.

Smith couldn’t help but scratch his neck, laughing awkwardly, "Being in this damned place for too long, I keep feeling uncomfortably damp. We smell terrible now, so it masks the human scent."

"That’s true," Wang Hao said with a smile, "But even though we stink, there’s still a chance of getting caught. Because they rely not just on smell, but vision and hearing still function. Even if we were covered in feces, if we’re human, they would still come begging."

Smith nodded, not doubting the other’s judgment.

After what had just transpired, he realized his own limitations and increasingly felt that sticking close was a good choice.

At least, the premonition of death was slowly becoming blurred.

For now, he was safe.

"Don’t make a sound; I’ll check the surroundings again."

"Okay."

Wang Hao took a deep breath, slightly moved the heavy manhole cover to create a small gap, and then slightly extended his Fruit 999 phone through the gap, using its camera to scout the outside world.

In this silent, unpopulated world, the blood-red sky merged with the red fog on the perimeter, revealing only a few buildings, making it impossible to discern what lay beyond the red fog.

It seemed there were territorial divisions among the Strange Objects.

Like the old woman squatting by the tram, who hadn’t pursued them but continued to wander slowly near the parking lot.

And the giant humanoid creature that had just passed, even larger than the old lady, possibly weighing a ton, had grown to a height of three meters.

It emitted a spine-chilling breathing sound and roamed along the street, gradually moving toward a certain location.

This creature seemed extremely hungry and had discovered leftover food in a garbage bin, engulfing it along with the rotting refuse in one fierce bite.

After consuming these remnants, its volume increased further, slightly shaking its body before moving closer again.

"It’s coming back; don’t talk, lower your voices."

Wang Hao retracted his phone and moved the manhole cover back into place.

As the Strange Object approached, the civilians in the sewer began praying silently, many closing their eyes.

The "thundering, rumbling" footsteps were nearing.

With a "clang," it stepped on the manhole cover again!

This massive creature once again overlooked this sewer area, as if it detested the stench and moved away promptly.

The predictable outcome still left them in panic; Smith felt his body soaked in sweat, knowing that a single mishap, such as the manhole cover breaking or something else, would mean death for everyone in the sewer.

"God bless! Zeus bless! Buddha bless!"

Of course, Wang Hao didn’t feel too scared, instead finding the sense of immediacy quite intriguing.

Having played many games like "Resident Evil" and "The Last of Us," he had developed a high resistance to various horror elements.

Now, without any means to fight back or weapons to defeat these powerful Strange Objects—except relying on his own wisdom.

This unique game setting was new to him.

Even the famous "Silent Domain" allowed fighting monsters with weapons, but in "Cross-dimensional Game," humans were utterly helpless, and getting caught meant an instant game over—a rather desolate scenario...

"Don’t worry, Smith, this manhole cover is sturdy enough to be Captain America’s shield."

"Ah ha, I swear to Holy Mother Mary, I love this manhole cover as if it were my life!" Smith could only muster a smile uglier than crying.

Just then, the game system popped up a notification: [You have completed the main quest (1/2), Discover long-term survival method: Hiding in the sewers (✓)]

[Remaining main quest (1/2): Find Chen Xinyi, inform her of the long-term survival method.]

Seeing this caption, Wang Hao thought to himself, "It seems the game system has approved this method, completing half the main quest."

The difficulty of a Three Stars task, indeed, was just so.

In fact, the rules of these Strange Objects were easy to infer, thus to increase the difficulty, the "reload" step reduced the game completion rate.

"But where could that woman Chen Xinyi have hidden? The mall is so big, how do I even start looking?"

"Could she also be hiding in some sewer?"

The connections in the sewer were extensive, but it was dark and easy to get lost. Some sewer pipes were only a few centimeters in diameter, too small for a person to squeeze through.

So, searching within the sewers wasn’t realistic, eventually, they would have to venture out.