TDU Chapter 358
Chapter 358 Calamity
“What is he saying?” Su Shan looked back at Lin Qin and Qin Dingdong with a puzzled expression, silently hoping these two seniors could shed some light.
However, Qin Dingdong and Lin Qin had never boarded the {Earthly Branches} train, so naturally, they had no idea what Terrestrial Dog was implying.
“Don’t worry about it,” Terrestrial Dog remarked, “Just my usual grumble.”
Seeing he was not going to explain further, Su Shan proceeded to collect three {Dào} from each person and handed the admission over to Terrestrial Dog.
Terrestrial Dog’s lips flattened in displeasure but ultimately accepted the payment, albeit reluctantly. He stretched his limbs, seemingly changing his whole demeanor, then turned around and opened the door behind him.
It revealed a fairly spacious glass shop.
“I’m all for slacking off,” Terrestrial Dog said, tone solemn. “but now that the admission’s been paid, duty calls. From here on, I’ll do my utmost to kill every one of you.”
Those few words sent a chill down Zhang Chenze’s spine. It was difficult to fathom how someone could speak such a law-defying line so earnestly, as though describing a perfectly normal profession.
The women followed Terrestrial Dog through the door and found that this venue was quite different from the game arenas they had seen before.
This glass shop, nearly a hundred square meters in size, was impeccably clean—every shard and piece of debris meticulously cleared away. Even the various glass items displayed inside were polished free of dust, making it indistinguishable from a shop in the real world.
This hardly seemed like the work of a self-proclaimed {slacker}.
“Have we been tricked?” Su Shan asked. “This place looks way too clean for someone who doesn’t want visitors.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Terrestrial Dog replied coldly. “When I’m working, I just want to do my job well; no one can tempt me to slack. But when I’m slacking, I want to slack hard. Try to make me work and we’re going to have a problem.”
“What a strange person,” Su Shan remarked.
“A strange dog,” Qin Dingdong corrected.
Terrestrial Dog led everyone to the center of the room, where several large glass structures stood—stretching from floor to ceiling—looking remarkably like massive aquariums.
Qin Dingdong reached out and tapped on one of the enormous tanks, noticing the glass was thick and seemed to be made of a special material.
“Be careful not to leave fingerprints,” Terrestrial Dog warned, “they’re a pain to clean.”
Qin Dingdong rolled her eyes at Terrestrial Dog but, while he wasn’t paying attention, deliberately wiped a big handprint onto the glass.
Su Shan peered inside the tanks and saw that each contained a podium-like object, each with two small holes on top, though she couldn’t tell their purpose.
The floor and ceiling inside the glass room were made of metal grates, and the floor nearby seemed rigged with numerous mechanisms.
Terrestrial Dog walked to the wall and pressed a switch. Instantly, the atmosphere in the room shifted.
Spotlights descended from all around, illuminating the five giant tanks in the center. The rest of the space plunged into pitch darkness, transforming the entire area into a grand stage, with only the tanks sparkling under the focused beams of light.
“Please listen as I explain the rules.” Terrestrial Dog led the young women to stand beside the large glass tanks and began, “The rules for this game are very simple. As long as any one of you four can defeat me, you will be considered the winners.”
“Defeat you?”
“Yes,” Terrestrial Dog nodded. “Each of the five of us will have our own glass room. Everyone will be inside their respective glass rooms during the game.”
The group looked at the towering aquariums arranged with precision.
In the center stood a cylindrical glass chamber, and directly in front, behind, to the left, and to the right of it were four rectangular glass rooms. Each room was spaced about two to three meters apart. Since all were made of glass, everyone inside could see each other clearly.
Interestingly, the four square rooms each had glass tinted with a faint color—pink, green, orange, and blue. While the central cylindrical glass chamber was made of red glass.
“So, there are five rooms for the five of us,” Su Shan remarked. “The four of us are surrounding you, but we can’t actually reach you. How are we supposed to {defeat} you?”
“You don’t need to defeat me in the literal sense,” Terrestrial Dog patiently explained. “As long as you can beat me according to the game’s rules, it counts as your victory. You can think of this game as a simple battle using props.”
“Props?”
Terrestrial Dog nodded and pulled out several thin wooden strips from his suit pocket.
Everyone came closer to see; the wooden strips resembled the fortune-telling sticks (kau chim) found in temples.
“Everyone will start with two different {fortune sticks}. On your turn, you receive a new stick. Different sticks have different functions,” Terrestrial Dog explained as he opened the door to one of the square glass rooms. “If you want to use a particular {fortune stick}, insert it into the small hole on the right side of the table. This counts as {wishing} with that stick.”
Lin Qin approached to get a better view; it seemed similar to playing a card in a card game. The podium inside the glass room stood firmly on the floor, featuring two small holes, each just the right size to hold a {fortune stick}.
“What about the other hole?” Zhang Chenze asked, pointing to the one on the left.
“That’s exactly what I’m about to explain,” Terrestrial Dog replied. “If you insert a {fortune stick} into the hole on the left, it will be passed to the next person on your left. This is called {gifting}.”
“{Gifting}?”
“Yes.”
Terrestrial Dog casually picked up a {fortune stick} and inserted it into the left hole. The {fortune stick} quickly disappeared into the slot, and a few seconds later, it popped out on the table in another glass room.
“That’s {gifting},” Terrestrial Dog demonstrated before explaining to everyone, “each turn you can only choose one action. If you choose to {wish} with a {fortune stick}, you cannot {gift} that turn; if you {gift}, you cannot {wish}.”
Su Shan furrowed her brows as she looked around the room. From the inside, the glass was indeed very thick, meaning staying here would make it impossible to hear any outside sounds.
In other words, although the four of them needed to defeat Terrestrial Dog, they would be unable to communicate during this game.
If communication is impossible, the {gifting} element seems rather strange, since neither the person passing the {fortune stick} nor the person receiving it can know each other’s intentions.
“There’s one more thing to note,” Terrestrial Dog continued, “whether you choose {gifting} or {wishing}, you can only use one {fortune stick} per turn.”
After hearing the rules, Lin Qin and Qin Dingdong both felt uneasy.
This game appeared quite challenging.
However, Su Shan appeared indifferent. She glanced upward at the ceiling of the glass room, where countless grids hung, apparently meant for dropping items during the game.
Su Shan nodded and then inquired, “Terrestrial Dog, what’s the name of this game of yours?”
“I call my game {Year of Calamity}.”
TL Note: (8/12/2025) They finally released an update regarding this novel’s donghua! It's just a poster though; there's still no announcement on when the release will be. The art looks amazing, and since this will be funded by Tencent, I expect the quality to be no less than LOM
