Chapter 558 - 548: The Game Begins

Hearing what Moira Lynch said, the three let out a collective sigh of relief, but a sense of defiance also welled up inside them.

"One more thing. My reward for saving that person was half their family’s fortune."

"Half their fortune? Is that a lot?" Kai York asked instinctively.

"An incredible amount! Let me put it this way: if I did nothing from now on, and my descendants didn’t do anything foolish to lose it, this half of the fortune would be enough for them to live comfortably for generations without lifting a finger."

That was a slight exaggeration, but not by much.

Hearing this, the three of them understood that when Moira Lynch said "a lot," she really meant it.

However, they didn’t ask for specifics. It wasn’t because they weren’t curious, but because they had already had enough shocks for one day.

...

Having made their decision, they all became busy in the days that followed.

Their days were scheduled to the brim with all sorts of training to prepare them for any possible future scenarios.

They weren’t allowed to use their talents or any items during training, and they returned utterly exhausted every day.

During a break, Moira Lynch had Patience take stock of all her assets and prepare for the worst-case scenario.

If she ultimately failed and was erased, her entire estate would be divided, with a portion going to Moon Wheel and another to the people of Caelus.

Moon Wheel had been nurtured by Moira Lynch’s spiritual power since it was young; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it her child. Then there were Cloudsea Whale, Ghost Cat Owl, Black Wolf, and Patience.

When a person dies, it’s like a lamp going out. If she really failed, then these things would mean nothing to her, but she still had a responsibility to these little ones.

Besides, she hoped someone would remember her.

Moira Lynch sat at her desk, a blank sheet of paper before her. A pen spun rapidly between her long, fair fingers.

[Master, don’t be discouraged. You won’t necessarily fail. What if you succeed in the end? You absolutely mustn’t give up.]

Moira Lynch’s expression didn’t change, as if she wasn’t the one who had just drafted her will. She spoke calmly, "I never said I was giving up. This is just a worst-case scenario. There’s a saying about planning for a rainy day."

If they really failed, the Cosmic Consciousness wouldn’t leave them any time to write a will.

It was like a scene she had seen in a TV show before, where soldiers would write a farewell letter in advance after becoming special forces.

With such a massive fortune in her hands, rather than let it become ownerless and be devoured by various factions, it was better for her to allocate it in advance.

It would be best if it wasn’t needed. But if she really did fail in the end, these things had to be left to her own people.

"By the way, Patience, I need you to organize all my items and make a list. I’m afraid that, like the island survival game before, they might limit the number of items we can carry."

[Of course!]

After getting everything ready, Moira Lynch spent the rest of her time, aside from training, pestering the game system in an attempt to pry more useful information out of it.

However, the game system was as good as dead. No matter how Moira Lynch called out to it or pestered it, the system remained silent and offered no response whatsoever.

Little did she know, the game system that had been assisting her had already been locked away by the Cosmic Consciousness for secretly tipping her off.

After a period of training, Moira Lynch could clearly feel her strength improving.

One day, Hugh Finch suddenly found Moira. "Moira, I remember you have a lot of gold and Goldsmiths, right?"

Moira Lynch nodded. "Yes, why?"

"That’s great! Have your Goldsmiths make a gold bracelet for each of us. The design doesn’t have to be complicated—just a simple chain of linked gold rings, with each ring weighing about one gram."

After hearing Hugh Finch’s description, Moira Lynch immediately knew what kind of bracelet he wanted, but...

"But what do we need these for? And one for each of us?"

Hugh Finch didn’t hide the reason. "I performed a divination this morning," he said. "The result indicated that gold will be extremely important for what’s to come."

Moira Lynch didn’t doubt him for a second. "No problem," she said. "I’ll have the finished bracelets brought to you in a bit."

Moira Lynch gave the order, and her people moved with incredible speed. In just a few hours, they had produced exactly what she wanted.

Because Hugh Finch had said it was extremely important, Moira had them made to the length of a necklace, the kind that could be wrapped around the wrist several times.

Upon receiving the bracelets and learning of Hugh Finch’s divination, Shane Rhodes and Kai York put them on without a second thought, vowing not to take them off even when eating, sleeping, or bathing.

Additionally, fearing that their personal storage spaces might become inaccessible, Moira Lynch paid a premium to have several large-capacity Space Buttons custom-made. She then filled them with all sorts of potentially necessary supplies and weapons.

In short, Moira Lynch was now stuffing anything and everything she could into her storage, just in case she might need it later.

And so, as the one-month mark approached and the start of the game drew ever closer, Moira Lynch and her group became increasingly anxious.

For the past few days, they remained fully armed at all times, even at night.

Then, in the midst of this tense state, a cold, detached voice resounded in all of their minds at once.

[Welcome to the game. This round has only one mission: survive. The game duration is thirty days.

During this game, players may not use any external assistance. All personal storage spaces will be sealed. Players may only select five items to bring into the game. Any selected storage item cannot exceed ten square meters in capacity, and all items currently within it will be removed.

Game Location: Portmire]

Compared to before, Moira Lynch could immediately tell this was a different entity.

The curt, cold tone instantly reminded Moira Lynch of the previous pirate survival game. The voice then had been just as frigid.

As for the game’s rules, they were more or less what Moira Lynch had predicted.

A ten-square-meter space and five items.

’I just don’t know if the ten-square-meter space counts as one of the five items.’

’But even if it does, I absolutely can’t give up the storage space.’

Because she had long anticipated this situation, Moira Lynch quickly made her choices.

A flash of white light followed. After about ten seconds, the scene before her gradually came into focus, and sounds flooded in from all directions.

When Moira Lynch could see her surroundings clearly, she found herself in a bustling shopping mall, with a trash can right next to her.