A single-player post-apocalyptic game, but with an all-female teammate mod.

[Correct answer!]

Three bright lights flashed in succession, and the progress bar lit up two-thirds of the way.

Seeing this, Coco breathed a sigh of relief.

In order to achieve her dream of world peace, she was quite knowledgeable, which is why she was able to barely answer these questions correctly.

"It's not over yet."

Aono's gaze was fixed on the screen.

Sure enough, the last three questions were no longer just theoretical knowledge, but rather practical professional questions.

[Question 7: In French cuisine, when making the classic "Espagnole" sauce, what pretreatment should be applied to the blanched beef bones before roasting to remove the gamey smell and enhance their color?]

As soon as the question was posed, everyone looked at the only cook in the group.

Dudu's eyes lit up. Although she didn't know what Spanish sauce was, she was very familiar with the phrase that followed.

The answer is 'soak and scrub to remove the blood, and soak in vinegar water if necessary'.

[Correct answer!]

"Beautiful!" Qingye praised, stroking the little cook's smooth ponytail.

However, the joy lasted only a moment.

Questions 8 and 9 followed closely behind, and their style became extremely absurd.

[Question 8: When conducting ultrasonic phased array testing for fatigue cracks in large steel bridge structures, if beam scattering occurs due to excessive surface curvature of the workpiece, which combination of probe parameters should be adjusted first?]

[Question 9: What are the classifications of the shell microstructures of hyoliths within the Early Cambrian small-shelled fossil group, and what is their paleoenvironmental significance?]

The entire room fell silent.

Aono frowned, as he was completely clueless about both of these fields.

Coco's brain raced, but she had to admit that this was beyond her general knowledge and belonged to the highly specialized fields of cutting-edge industrial testing and paleontology.

“…No.” Coco shook her head, a rare hint of helplessness in her eyes.

"How about... we take a guess?" Dudu asked tentatively.

"This isn't a multiple-choice question; you can't even guess."

Aono sighed, then tensed up. "Everyone, let's prepare to be punished."

The thirty-second countdown quickly came to an end.

[Incorrect answer.]

hum.

As the system notification appeared, a terrifying pressure suddenly descended from the sky, as if an invisible mountain had crashed down on everyone's shoulders.

"Well!"

Aono groaned, his legs instantly sinking into a heavy, sticky feeling, his once light body feeling as if it were filled with lead.

It seems the punishment this time is increased gravity.

He had experienced it before, but this time the gravity was much stronger than before.

At the same time, a sharp noise pierced my eardrums, and the scene in front of me began to distort and shake, like a broken television signal—this was sensory interference.

Coco stumbled and almost knelt on the ground, while Dudu held onto Ying tightly, her face pale.

The Kage and Tsunade were in much better condition, but their faces were visibly paler.

"Hang in there...this is just punishment...it will pass soon..."

Aono gritted his teeth and silently prayed that the questions would become easier after he got through the punishment.

The mini-game levels aren't over once the punishment is over; you have to keep playing. The punishment is more like a revival mechanism.

The suffocating pressure and sensory distortion lasted for a full half minute before suddenly disappearing. All five were panting heavily, with fine beads of sweat on their foreheads.

Aono took a deep breath, suppressing the heaviness in his chest, and turned his gaze back to the floating light screen.

However, when the light on the screen lit up again and the title appeared, his heart sank to the bottom.

[Question 8: When conducting ultrasonic phased array testing for fatigue cracks in large steel bridge structures...]

[Question 9: Regarding the group of small shell fossils from the Early Cambrian period...]

Not a single word was different, not even the punctuation marks were changed.

"Still these two?"

The young cook's voice changed, "This, this, this..."

A hint of seriousness flashed in Coco's indigo eyes. "It seems that 'reduced difficulty' or 'rotated questions' are not going to happen."

"Anyway, not answering is also wrong."

Aono's eyes narrowed, and she quickly made a decision, "Koko, just guess on these two questions. What if you get lucky and guess right?"

Even if it's just one problem, it can relieve some of the pressure.

At the same time, he looked at the Kage and Tsunade.

"Kage, Tsunade, the upcoming punishments may involve mechanical monsters. Be careful to protect Dudu and Koko."

Kage and Tsunade nodded in unison and moved closer to Dudu and Koko, respectively.

As the countdown slowly decreased, the silver-haired woman no longer hesitated and casually gave two answers based on her knowledge.

"Question 8: First, adjust the laser parameters. Question 9: Divided into tubular and scale-like shapes, the significance of which is... representing plate tectonics!"

[Incorrect answer]

[Incorrect answer]

Along with the prompt of an incorrect answer, a new penalty is also triggered.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Before anyone could react, several firing ports suddenly appeared on the top of the mall, and a barrage of energy projectiles rained down like a storm.

The five members of Qingye were in a sorry state, each using their own methods to dodge, the shockwave from the explosion making their eardrums ache.

As soon as the shelling stopped, the ground suddenly collapsed again, and several laser grids crisscrossed and cut towards it.

"Tsk, two kinds in a row again..."

Tsunade clicked her tongue in annoyance and shattered an energy projectile aimed at Koko with her chakra-infused fist.

After the punishment, the same problem resurfaced.

Aono said no more and began to look for a way to escape the checkpoint.

In the past, I could always pass the mini-games by enduring a few punishments, but now...

Another thirty seconds passed, and the punishment arrived as scheduled.

As the hum of machinery emanated from behind the surrounding shelves, rows of silver-white combat puppets marched out in orderly steps.

The seemingly imposing mechanical army is actually the least stressful form of punishment.

Aono, wielding an alloy battle axe, performed a seven-in-seven-out feat within thirty seconds.

Then the same question came up again.

Then came the punishment.

In an instant, artillery fire, traps, and a massive mechanical army were unleashed in turn, causing ripples to spread throughout the center of the mall, with all kinds of energy impacts being absorbed by the walls and the ground.

The five members of Aono were soon forced to defend back-to-back, feeling extremely frustrated and embarrassed.

Although they are strong, they cannot break through buildings and can only endure various traps and attacks.

"Is this the ninth round?"

The young cook wiped the soot off her face and asked in a low voice, "We can't just stay trapped here forever if we can't answer the question, can we?"

"God knows..."

Aono was also helpless.

If it's just a game, I can just Google it. At most, I'll get two or three rounds of punishment, and I'll definitely be able to pass.

And it will most likely be a multiple-choice question.

But now that the game has become reality, the level has clearly changed, and in a way that is not favorable to the player.

He didn't know what would happen if he couldn't answer.

56. A seemingly bitch, eternally virgin

After the ninth round of punishment, the problem displayed on the screen remained unchanged.

But unlike before, a completely different system prompt box appeared in front of the question.

The border even has flashy, glittery effects.

[30 Diamonds] [Watch Ad]

Tsunade, Kage, and Dudu had no idea about this; they just looked on with curiosity.

Aono and Coco exchanged a glance and simultaneously narrowed their eyes.

"Brother Qingye, what is this...?" the little cook asked curiously.

"Coco, explain this to me."

Aono asked Coco to explain the situation, while he pondered and assessed the current circumstances.

Diamonds are the currency used for top-ups; 1 RMB equals 10 diamonds.

It was such an absurd proportion that he remembered it clearly.

But no matter how outrageous it is, if I can charge it now, I definitely will.

And you can charge as much as you want.

But first of all, he doesn't have a single RMB on him right now.

There is no RMB in this world.

The only equivalent that possesses monetary attributes is gold coins.

In addition, no recharge option has been found so far.

Since there's no way to spend money, no way to skip options, and no way to force yourself to leave this shopping mall...

That leaves only one option.

Aono rubbed his temples. Faced with this completely illogical yet inexplicably game-like mechanism, he could only try this last option.

At this moment, Coco had roughly helped the three women in the shadows understand the situation.

"Choose, Mr. Aono."

Coco's eyes were serious and her tone was resolute, "Anyway, there's no other way, so we might as well try anything."

"Okay." Aono nodded, and silently selected the option to watch the ad.

Shouldn't this prompt appear the first time you answer incorrectly?

This game is garbage! The system is garbage!

It didn't ruin my youth... No, not really.

Despite his complaints, he still looked forward to the appearance of the advertisement.

However, the expected video ad did not pop up.

The system notification in front of me was just a blurry, flickering mess, like an old-fashioned television with a poor signal struggling to load.

A few seconds later, the blurry fluctuation subsided.

The advertisement did not appear, but the standard answers were still provided below the two troublesome problems on the screen.

[Correct answer to question 8: Prioritize adjusting the probe wafer spacing and excitation frequency, and use curved wedges to ensure beam coupling.]