Chapter 12: Being a Jack of All Trades Will Only Hurt You!_1

Real men, once they speak, they must act!

Old Mouse, gathering his focus, immediately launched a charge at the second level!

The first obstacle wasn't particularly difficult, consisting of three spikes arranged in a △△△ formation.

But Old Mouse, who had faced severe challenges in the first level, didn't believe these three spikes were harmless.

"Guys, watch closely, knowing the nature of this author, there's definitely a trap here."

"What we need to do now is,"

"Hook! Hook! Hook! Hook! Hook!" Old Mouse exclaimed while he began to play, controlling the kid to jump.

He jumped, but not completely, with each attempt stopping halfway before turning back to the starting point.

After repeating this a dozen times, Old Mouse discovered.

"There's really no trap?"

The three spikes were as if soldered to their spot, unmovable.

"You could have said so earlier, I would have just jumped..."

No sooner had Old Mouse's voice faded than he deftly guided the kid over the spikes, but just as he steadied the landing,

the three spikes shifted to the right with the speed of lightning and then quickly shifted back.

If you weren't paying close attention, you might not even notice that they had moved.

But in those few frames of animation, they were enough to impale the kid.

"What??" Old Mouse was dumbfounded.

The barrage of comments laughed even louder.

"Keep hooking, why did you stop?"

"Cause of Death: If there's no trap, I'll just jump"

"You think the author is on the first floor, but in reality, he's watching you from the eighteenth level of hell."

Old Mouse scratched his head, "Guys, don't rush, failure is the mother of success, at least now we have some intel."

"I just barely grazed by the spikes, the designer probably guessed that many players would do this, so they set a trap here. It's not exactly psychic, I'd do the same if I were in their shoes."

"Now, all I need is a big jump!"

"Look! Look at this!" Old Mouse controlled the kid to jump again, this time pressing down on the jump button with all his might, landing the kid just a bit farther than before.

Clearly visible to the naked eye, the three spikes moved slightly to the right but then returned to their original position quickly, not harming the kid in the slightest.

Safe!

"What did I say? Isn't this eas..."

Before he could finish his sentence,

suddenly, the three spikes unfolded in two-dimensions like Trisolaris's proton, growing larger and thicker, infinitely expanding to both sides.

"Tssss!"

They quickly impaled the kid, who stood there dazed!

"No, what the...," Old Mouse gasped in shock, clenching his fists tight.

The comments were in hysterics.

"Cause of Death: Wasn't that easy!"

"Cause of Death: Just needed a big jump!"

"Old Mouse: The author is playing mind games, I just can't compete!"

"Author: So you like to edge-hug? Come on, I'll let you rub against the spikes to your heart's content!"

Old Mouse took a deep breath, forcing calmness into his heart.

He was here to play the game.

Not to be played by the game.

In the past, life had been too comfortable, never encountering such twisted games, which is why his defenses had been breached.

But as long as he kept his emotions in check, beefing up his defensive power in his mentality, he wouldn't get overwhelmed.

...

10 minutes later.

"I'm playing your mother!!!" Old Mouse slammed his hand down onto the table with force.

A whole ten minutes.

It wasn't that he hadn't made it past the second level.

He hadn't even made it through the first obstacle of the second level!

The three spikes seemed to be picking a fight with him.

Initially, Flash killed him, then came the two-dimensional expansion.

After learning from experience, Old Mouse landed and immediately started running to the right.

If I run fast enough, your two-dimensional expansion won't catch up to me!

But who knew,

spikes suddenly emerged from the right wall as well, thrusting straight at the kid like throwing knives.

Another death!

It was only after a struggle that Old Mouse realized the two-dimensional expansion of the initial three spikes had a limit.

Once they extended a certain distance, they started to retract.

If he managed to stay at the very edge, and quickly spun back before the wall spikes targeted his face, he could avoid them.

But just as he was about to do that,

he turned around,

the seemingly solid and safe floor,

collapsed...

A misstep sent the kid falling straight off the platform and off the screen.

The words GAME OVER appeared once again.

"WTF!!!! Why is even the ground booby-trapped!" An unexpected turn of events made Old Mouse unable to bear it any longer, and he roared loudly.

Damn it!

How dark and twisted must the creator's heart be to design such levels...

While Old Mouse was howling, the comments were bursting with laughter.

"Hahahaha...I can't take it, I'm laughing so hard it hurts."

"Laughing so hard that this cutie almost squirted out a few drops of her period."

"To the cutie up front, quick! Drip it into my mouth!"

"..."

"This game is so funny, it has such showmanship! The designer is simply a genius!"

"Genius? No, a prodigy! Directly discharge from the hospital!"

"Baby Ke seems to have considered everything; Old Mouse every time he thinks he won't die, then he dies. I just can't hold it together anymore."

Although the game was torturous to play, Old Mouse was starting to get the hang of it through repeated failures.

Finally, after a good and proper 100th death, he managed to set foot on the path to the second obstacle.

The second obstacle consisted of a pair of symmetrical spikes.

One was on the ground, while the other hung upside down from the ceiling, forming the image of an hourglass when combined.

And in the middle, there was just a narrow passageway left open.