Chapter 10: How Can I Live Without My Phone!

Chapter 10: How Can I Live Without My Phone!

With the "Verbal Artillery King Gold" personally checking in, everyone who was worried about having to resort to lewd challenges breathed a sigh of relief.

Although that 18N was different from what they expected and was quite brutal, it was still better than performing explicit 18N actions in public, right?

However, thinking of the terrifying thong-clad big-eyed cleaver-wielding monsters, everyone’s attention shifted to the other two check-in challenges.

The big-eyed, thong-clad cleaver monsters were still fierce. Lacking the massive destructive power of verbal artillery, why not try [Explosive Dance Moves] or 【Thrilling! Passionate! Movies!】?

Especially with that [Thrilling! Passionate! Movie!] challenge, there might be fewer participants than the 【Explosive Dance】 challenge, but it's hard to say.

While everyone was gathered, discussing and hesitating, a girl in a puffy dress approached Chen Shijin with a luxurious gift box.

"Impressive, big brother! I've brought you a gift! This is your reward for completing the mobile phone selection challenge and for breaking the record in check-ins! Open it and see! You'll absolutely love it!"

Chen Shijin frowned at the sight of the long box reaching up to the girl's chest, adorned with a pink butterfly bow.

He had an inexplicable dislike for this pink ribboned gift box.

Regardless of his preference, the girl eagerly opened the gift box for him. As the box opened, a pop of small fireworks erupted, revealing a big-eyed doll in a pink thong.

Chen Shijin: "???" Are you sure this is a reward and not a psychological punishment?

The doll was strikingly lifelike, holding a phone in its left hand and a cleaver in its right, its big eyes turning towards Chen Shijin as it shouted, "Long live the master! Long live the master! Whoever the master says to chop, I will chop!!"

As it said this, the doll actually swung its cleaver with surprising agility.

Chen Shijin: "What if I told you to chop yourself?"

The pink thong-clad big-eyed doll stiffened, its eyes widening in disbelief as it looked at Chen Shijin, pretending to hear nothing: "Long live the master! Long live the master!"

The girl in the puffy dress quickly interjected: "Why would you want to chop Eye-Eye? It's such a cute guardian doll! It can fend off real big-eyed virus mutants for a minute, and it's worth 3000 energy points!"

Chen Shijin raised an eyebrow.

This last statement saved the pink big-eyed doll from destruction.

However, at Chen Shijin's command, the doll's pink thong was promptly replaced with more modest pink boxer shorts, to which the doll responded with significantly less enthusiasm.

Though Chen Shijin disdained the pink big-eyed companion, other exiles envied it, recognizing that an extra minute in this perilous world could mean the difference between death and a miraculous comeback.

"And this guy is worth 3000 energy points! Truly valuable!"

"Excuse me, miss. If we succeed in the check-in challenge, will we also receive similar rewards?" Yang Mianmian asked with anticipation.

The girl in the puffy dress flashed a cute smile at Yang Mianmian: "Of course not. You're not the chosen ones by the Golden Phone!"

"The difficulty levels are not the same, you see."

"The challenge completed by the young man was of a hard difficulty level. Plus, he broke the record and triggered the Golden Phone's vibration, earning a super-luxury gift package."

"Unless you break a record like the impressive young man and complete a hard challenge, you won't get such rewards!"

The pink-eyed underling raised his cleaver triumphantly: "Long live the master! Long live the phone!"

The others: "..." Well, they were being wishful.

Surprised by the different levels of difficulty in the challenge, the courier guy asked, "What's the difficulty level for the regular 18N challenge?"

The girl in the puffy dress looked at him: "You can try it yourself."

Delivery guy: "..."

"I was just wondering if I should give it a try, that's why I asked."

"However, after seeing Chen Shijin unharmed, and considering the other two challenge options, the delivery guy actually decided to give it a try."

"Since everyone has to face the challenge to check in anyway, and since Cannon Bro has set an example, he naturally wanted to follow in the footsteps of the successful."

"'Then I'll give it a try.'"

"The delivery guy finally spoke up."

"Everyone was surprised he was the second to try, but they welcomed it too. If the normal difficulty was indeed easy, then their chances of successfully checking in would significantly increase."

"Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, the delivery guy pressed [18N Real Person Game] on his phone screen."

"The moment he chose the challenge, Chen Shijin saw his figure become translucent, and his image appeared on the giant screen of the golden phone."

"It was somewhat reminiscent of a holographic game."

"Chen Shijin quickly averted his eyes in disgust—the screen again showed the thong-wearing big-eyed monster, just as eye-catching as before."

Despite their keen focus on their phones, the big-eyed followers displayed an intense desire for the thong panties, not showing any disdain.

"Ah, the number of big-eyed monsters has significantly decreased. There are only five left!" Yang Mianmian spoke up. Just moments ago, Chen Shijin was facing dozens of them.

Everyone else felt a sense of relief. Handling five big-eyed monsters seemed manageable.

At that moment, a line of text appeared on the phone screen—[Game Objective: Evade pursuit by 18N real people.]

This was something the group hadn't noticed during Chen Shijin's challenge. But thinking about it, it made sense—those 18N had been decimated, leaving no one to pursue them.

However, the courier, lacking the verbal firepower, decided to use evasive tactics. His awakened power was [Mission Must Reach: Super Fast!], ensuring no customer would starve on his watch.

Thus, everyone saw the courier running freely like the wind in the game.

Five minutes passed, he was running, the big-eyed monsters chasing.

Ten minutes later, he was still fleeing, and they were still on his heels.

After fifteen minutes, the courier's speed and stamina noticeably diminished, but the big-eyed monsters remained enthusiastic.

At this point, Chen Shijin couldn't help but frown; the escape seemed to be taking too long, indicating it might not be enough to clear the level.

Realizing this, the courier, gritting his teeth, found a metal rod in the game's streets and, using his remaining speed and strength, knocked out the five pursuing big-eyed monsters before finally exiting the game.

The entire challenge took twenty-three minutes.

This time, the golden phone merely displayed a symbolic [win] without any vibration.

As the courier brother turned around, everyone gasped in shock—

"Oh my God, your eyes!"

Startled, the courier quickly touched his eyes and then scared himself. "Why are my eyes so swollen?!"

In his perception, his eyes had swelled to the size of eggs, yet he hadn't been watching any phone ads!

Chen Shijin clicked his tongue. As expected, this check-in challenge was no good thing.

The duration of the challenge equaled the time spent on the phone.

Wang Baojie also realized this: "Everyone should try to shorten the time of the challenge. Though it's a virtual game, considering Xiaomai's situation, the challenge time probably counts as our 'phone screen time.'"

Everyone's expression turned solemn.

Clearly, Phone City was using various methods to force them into transformation.

Even though they were aware of the danger, they couldn't simply close their eyes.

"…Who's next? If no one, I'll do it." Wang Baojie spoke up, intending to set an example for the newcomers.

At this moment, Lv Jun stepped forward, biting his lip, "Let me try. I choose the [Explosive Dance] challenge. I majored in dance and know a bit of every style."

Chen Shijin looked at him; his green-tea cousin was being modest. He was quite adept at these explosive dances, having gained some fame as a boundary-pushing dance influencer online, albeit the masked kind.

Seeing someone opt for a different choice, Wang Baojie was more than happy to step aside.

Thus, under everyone's watchful eyes, Lv Jun selected the [Explosive Dance] challenge.

As expected, the thong-clad, big-eyed monsters appeared again in a group of five.

But this time, they weren't attacking anyone.

Holding their phones in the left hand and knives in the right, they kicked their legs and bent over, chanting, “Come on, dance with me! Let's get fiery hot together!”

Chen Shijin hissed at the sight.

Thankfully, he was in an 18N real-life game; if it had been the explosive dance challenge...

He probably would have had to knock them all out and do the 'playing dead' dance.

Ah, but speaking of which, that method might have been quite fast. He could have even earned a reward.

However, Lv Jun obviously wouldn't resort to such tactics; he just needed to learn and perform a set of dance moves to the monsters' standard.

With his solid dance background, Lv Jun completed the [Explosive Dance] challenge in sixteen minutes.

That was quite fast, but when he came out, his eyes were noticeably swollen, almost resembling sugar oranges.

"Some dance moves are quite demanding, not suitable for beginners like me," Lu Jun panted slightly, looking rather uncomfortable.

He had thought he could handle it in about ten minutes, but the big-eyed monsters, with their phones and cleavers, proved to be a real hindrance.

Consequently, the remaining nine people unanimously decided to skip the [Explosive Dance] challenge.

Wang Baojie, Bear Palm Guy, and the long-haired girl all took on the [18N Real-life Game] challenge and, fortunately, completed it.

Wang Baojie had the quickest time, dealing with five big-eyed monsters in just seven minutes, while Bear Palm Guy took about fifteen minutes, demonstrating his strength.

The only downside was the long-haired girl; her awakened ability was speed enhancement, which, although fast, lacked attack power. It took her over forty minutes to complete the challenge, and by the time she emerged, her eyes were swollen like two peaches.

It was more than just "swollen." Her eyes protruded about five centimeters outward, looking as if they were hanging off her face. The already thin eyelids were stretched tight, seemingly on the verge of bursting at the slightest touch.

As she turned her head, those peach-sized eyes slightly wobbled, making other survivors instinctively want to reach out and hold them for her.

The long-haired girl was also pale, pressing her lips tightly together, gently touching her eyes, not wanting others to see her.

"Oh my God…" The sight was horrifying.

Those yet to complete the challenge murmured in terror.

"I can't do it; my ability is just enhanced jumping. I can't handle five big-eyed monsters at once!" Yang Mianmian shook her head persistently. If she chose this challenge, it might take even longer than Zhao Xiaofeng.

"I'm no good at dancing either. How about trying the movie challenge? Is anyone going to check it out?"

She cast a pleading look at the other unchallenged survivors, focusing on Zhou Mo, the office worker, who seemed the most approachable and exploitable.

Among the remaining five, he appeared to be the easiest to persuade and exploit.

"But office workers don't want to be exploited voluntarily, either."

"Zhou pushed up his glasses and closed his eyes in resignation, as if to say, 'If I can't see work, it temporarily doesn't exist.'"

"At that moment, an uncle who had hardly spoken since entering Phone City stepped forward."

"He looked like a very ordinary person, and if one were to describe him further, he seemed rather honest and simple."

"I'll go."

"I can't dance or fight either. I'll just help everyone watch a movie."

He was telling the truth; besides watching movies, he wasn't good at the other two activities. So he wanted to try a new challenge, hoping that by voluntarily facing danger, everyone would be more understanding.

Thinking this, he glanced at Jin Chen and directly pressed the movie option.

Jin Chen squinted his eyes.

He caught that look, a very dishonest glance.

As soon as the honest-looking uncle pressed the challenge, he found himself in a gloomy, desolate mansion with the viewing instruction: [Passionate viewing for ten minutes. Within ten minutes, leaving the house or detaching from the movie, screaming to disrupt the movie atmosphere, or being caught kissing by a character in the film is not allowed.

After ten minutes, the viewing ends, and the challenge is deemed successful.]

This didn't seem like a particularly difficult challenge, except for the last requirement, which was somewhat awkward.

However, the next second, everyone saw a floating ghostly figure with large eyes suddenly appear in the mansion!

It was the same big-eyed creature, but this time, instead of wearing thongs, they were in white robes, still appearing right in front of the honest uncle's face!

Not just the honest uncle, but several people outside the phone also couldn't help but exclaim in shock.

As soon as the honest uncle shouted out in challenge, he failed.

When he emerged, his eyes had suddenly swollen to the size of walnuts.

Silently, amidst everyone's consolation, he pressed the [Thrilling! Movie!] button again and re-entered the desolate mansion.

This time, however, he managed to avoid screaming from the initial face-to-face scare, struggling to escape for five minutes. Finally, cornered in a storage room, he seemed guilt-ridden as he crouched down, then said: "[I can't do this anymore! Chen Shijin, it's your turn!]"

Instantly, Chen Shijin felt his body being pulled by a surge of energy, and in the next second, he found himself abruptly appearing in the storage room of the haunted mansion in the phone movie!

The honest uncle, who was supposed to be there, had vanished.

Bang!

Suddenly, a big-eyed monster's head poked through the storage room door, grinning: "It'syourturnnow"

Chen Shijin immediately grabbed a mop beside him and thrust it into the monster's mouth. "Your uncle! Eat this mop!"

While the ghostly, wall-penetrating big-eyed monster was still shocked at actually getting a mouthful of mop, Chen Shijin, swapped into the movie by the honest uncle, turned to look outside the screen.

Although he shouldn't have been able to see them, the remorseful honest uncle caught a glimpse of that cold gaze through the gaps between his fingers.

Then, he heard—

“Get back here!”

In the next second, to his disbelief, the honest uncle who had just left the movie found himself rolling back into it!

“You?!”

The handsome young man handed him a mop.

With a mocking smile in his eyes: “Ah, a burst of anger triggered an evolution of your ability.”

“Don’t call me ‘Cannon Bro’ anymore.”

“Call me ‘Mouth Bro.’”

“The 'Mouth Bro' whose words bring misfortune, like a jinx.”

“Dare to be smart-alecky again, will you?”

Everyone except for the phone users: !!! Surprised.jpg

Lv Jun and Liu Dakai: !!! Horrified.jpg