Hearing the middle-aged man’s words, Zhao Rong and his companions were stunned. They couldn’t figure out who was telling the truth and who was lying; it was like a real-life Rashomon unfolding before them.

The assistant stepped forward and asked, "Brother Zhao Rong, between these two, who do you think is telling the truth, and who’s lying?"

Lili stepped forward and offered her judgment. "I think the old beggar must be telling the truth. He looks so pitiful and old. What this middle-aged man says is definitely false."

Yu Lan shook her head. Looking at the middle-aged man, who didn’t seem to be lying, she said, "I think the middle-aged man is telling the truth, and the old beggar is lying. Didn’t you notice how his eyes were darting around frantically in their sockets while he was talking? Zeng Shiqiang once said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. If someone’s eyes are spinning wildly like that, it means they’re a very crafty person who’s full of lies and never speaks the truth."

Xuelian suggested that Zhao Rong take out a lie detector to test the middle-aged man.

Hearing the opinions of his assistant and the three women, Zhao Rong immediately rejected the suggestion. "Let’s not worry about who’s telling the truth for now," he said. "Right now, the most important thing is to defeat this man, break through the eighth level, and capture the villain Zhou Xiaoer and his father, Hong Ju. After that, we need to find the Chairman’s and the tycoon Wang Xiaopeng’s reserve gold to complete our mission."

The assistant and the three women agreed with Zhao Rong. "You’re right, Brother Zhao Rong," they said in unison. "Let’s make our move now and take this guy out."

When the middle-aged man heard them talking about eliminating him, he burst into laughter. "You five think you can take me down?" he said arrogantly. "Now, I’m sending you into Dinosaur World to die a painful death in the game!"

Startled by the mention of "Dinosaur World," the assistant asked, "What did you just say? Say it again if you dare. What do you mean, ’Dinosaur World’? Are you going to send us back to the Cretaceous period or something?"

The middle-aged man walked over to a nearby arcade machine, dusted it off, and said with a smile, "’Dinosaur World.’ Don’t tell me you never went to the street arcades as kids and played a game called ’Dinosaur World’?"

Lili searched her childhood memories. "Back then, there were some arcades on the street, and there really was a game called ’Dinosaur World.’ In that game, there were two women and two men. They teamed up to clear levels, and a big boss would appear at the end of each one. Every level was harder than the last."

Xuelian reminisced about playing the game when she was young. "I always loved to play as the woman in red," she said. "She was amazing at fighting dinosaurs and could kill one with just a few punches and kicks."

While Zhao Rong and his four companions were discussing the game, a fierce gust of wind suddenly blew, forcing them to shut their eyes. The wind stopped as abruptly as it had begun. The five of them opened their eyes. The moment they did, however, they screamed in utter shock.

Looking at the world before him, Zhao Rong said in astonishment, "Holy moly, are you kidding me? Tall bushes, lots of dinosaurs, a sedan... did the five of us really get transported into the arcade game ’Dinosaur World’?"

The assistant looked at the bad guys rushing toward them and exclaimed, "Brother Zhao Rong, we really are inside the ’Dinosaur World’ game!"

Lili pinched her arm, felt the pain, and said, "It’s true. This isn’t a dream. We’ve really entered the game ’Dinosaur World.’"

"But weren’t we just in Badahu Alley," Yu Lan said in horror, "getting ready to break through the eighth level to find the villains Hong Ju and Zhou Xiaoer? How did we suddenly end up in a game? What’s going on?"

Xuelian vigilantly watched the man-eating dinosaurs. "Could it be that the middle-aged man guarding the eighth level cast some spell on us," she speculated, "and dragged us into this game?"

Before the women could finish speaking, the bad guys and dinosaurs charged toward them.

At this critical moment, Zhao Rong grabbed eight submachine guns from nearby and handed them out. "Everyone, take these and kill all these bad guys and dinosaurs! We have to fight our way through. Only after we beat the final boss and clear all the stages can we get out of this game and deal with that middle-aged man. Otherwise, we’ll be trapped in here forever!"

Hearing Zhao Rong’s words, the assistant burst into tears. "Brother Zhao Rong, are you serious?" he cried, clinging to the submachine gun, too scared to shoot. "When I played this game as a kid, I always died on the second or third stage! I’ve never beaten it! If what you’re saying is true, does that mean if we can’t beat the game, we’ll be stuck in ’Dinosaur World’ forever, fighting for our lives in terror?"

Unlike the crying assistant, Lili was full of confidence. "This game might be hard to beat," she said, "but as long as we have submachine guns, we can kill the bad guys and dinosaurs, defeat the bosses, and eventually win!"

As she spoke, Lili raised her submachine gun and began to mow down the approaching dinosaurs and bad guys.

Yu Lan, however, was especially curious about how they had suddenly entered the game. She asked, "Brother Zhao Rong, what I want to know is, how did we get into this game in the first place?"

Zhao Rong recalled the strong gust of wind and said to her, "I think it’s very likely the middle-aged man used a Divine Artifact called an Isotope Game Converter."

Hearing this, Yu Lan scratched the back of her head. "Brother Zhao, what in the world is an Isotope Game Converter?" she asked curiously. "The name sounds so high-tech."

Zhao Rong explained, "An Isotope Game Converter is a device that can instantly transport people from the real world into a game."

Hearing that such an amazing thing existed, Yu Lan said in alarm, "My god! If someone got their hands on that Divine Artifact, they could just transport anyone they don’t like from the real world into a game, couldn’t they? They’d be invincible!"

With that, Yu Lan also raised her submachine gun and charged forward, ready to fight her way through the game.

Xuelian held her submachine gun and stood next to Zhao Rong. Clearly concerned about the device, she asked, "Brother Zhao Rong, could you buy a similar Divine Artifact from the Paradise Shopping Cart? Maybe you could use it to help us get out of this game and back to the real world."