The Singer appeared to be crying and the cries carried a melancholy with it. ‘Sometimes, the more you remember, the sadder you’ll be. Perhaps the Singer has already communicated with the old man’s head.’ Han Fei desperately needed Fu Sheng’s memory fragment to understand the cryptic world, and the Singer should know about that. He left behind the altar but carried the old man’s head to another zone. Clearly he was luring Han Fei away from the safety of Ziggurat.
‘The building where the Singer is in is quite unique. All the windows are hanging with red threads and the walls are mottled. The walls have protrusions here and there. It doesn’t look like it is built from bricks, it looks more like a living monster.’ There was everything in the cryptic world. The system was not omnipotent. For example, it couldn’t identify the black creature raised by Xu Qin. No one knew how it came into being. There had to be many unidentifiable things like that in the cryptic world.
‘After I level up the altar, I should try to explore the area adjacent to the Ziggurat.’ The map left behind by Fu Sheng appeared in Han Fei’s mind. The cryptic world was humongous, the areas Han Fei had explored were only a very small part, he hadn’t really walked into the true darkness.
‘To upgrade the altar, I need to satisfy two conditions, reach 100 reputation and 100 afterlife karma.
‘I’ve attempted so many jobs in the cryptic world and have made my mark. Technically my name should be known already but my reputation is only 34, that’s still a distance away from 100. Looks like I was being too low profile before. After I collect sufficient afterlife karma, I’ll have to do a few big things.
‘Gaining friendship from the locals of the cryptic world can increase my reputation; getting them to hate me also can increase my reputation. It’s easier to anger people than to help people.’
Han Fei now only had 1 Life Points to work with but he still planned to make his infamy known. Taking a risk was an understatement for what Han Fei was planning. ‘There are ways to improve my reputation in the cryptic world but afterlife karma is more unique. Even though the system didn’t specify it, based on my understanding, afterlife karma is earned by doing good deeds while alive to reap the reward after death. Does that mean that my afterlife karma will increase if I keep doing kind things in real life?’
The source of everything had to do with the black box inside Han Fei’s brain. Earlier when he tried to expose the existence of the black box and the cryptic world, he was warned by the voice in his mind. Therefore, Han Fei could determine that the black box was constantly watching him and the things Han Fei did in real life would also be recorded inside the black box.
To verify this hypothesis further, Han Fei decided to visit the police. He didn’t just waste 8 hours talking to the tenants of Ziggurat. After knowing about their past, Han Fei knew more about their deaths. Other than some members of the Death Chat Group, the majority of Ziggurat tenants were murdered and their murderers were Butterfly’s disciples. Butterfly had perished but the ‘monsters’ it created still lingered in real life. Han Fei needed to bring these monsters in human skin to justice, to sever the influence of Butterfly completely.
Taking out his phone, Han Fei wrote down everything he knew. Other people usually came to the police after the case was made but Han Fei helped the police by providing the case, the key clues, and the culprit. It was a complete service.
Since he didn’t have to go to the set that morning, Han Fei decided to personally visit Xin Lu Old City’s police station. At first, it was Li Xue and the other officers on duty who came to welcome him but after hearing what Han Fei had to say, Han Fei was dragged into the police cruiser and driven to the headquarters.
After he was targeted by the Butterfly, everyone thought Han Fei had stopped his vigilante work but turns out, he had been collecting information until finally it could see the light!
Seeing the various cases in Han Fei’s phone, even detectives with decades of experience were baffled. Han Fei’s analysis into various cases showcased extreme professionalism. Without decades of experience, compiling cases like this was impossible.
“Are you sure you have no intention of joining the force?” The chief of the station personally invited Han Fei. He believed Han Fei had wasted his talent as an actor.
“You flatter me, I’m only lucky.”
“Lucky? Where did you find your luck? The list of criminals on your phone is longer than the time I’ve known you.” The chief commented. However, the law enforcement had to take things slow because some of the criminals were already dead or missing, plus it involved too many people.
After handing his files over to the police, Han Fei took out his phone and looked through the last wishes he recorded in his memo. This list of last wishes he gained from talking with the Ziggurat tenants. Some of them hoped to find justice, others wished to see their loved ones again, and some just wanted to have a good meal.
After Han Fei left the police station, he helped the tenants fulfil their last wishes one by one. He visited many families and eventually he encountered the last living member of the senior monster’s lineage. After closing himself in for a full day, the young man finally walked out from his house. Based on what his neighbours said, the young man appeared to have changed into a different person. He was no longer as despondent as before and had started his job hunt.
The dead had departed and the sadness coagulated among the living. Some of them lost their family, others lost their loves, some lost everything but most of them were still trying their best to survive.
Laughing’s parents had a second child; the businessman left all of his money to his mother, his mother became a famous philanthropist at Xin Lu; the red dress’ parents had died from illness, but every year, her fans would come to clean her grave during her death anniversary and leave her fresh flowers.
After meeting so many people, the mad laughter in Han Fei’s mind disappeared and he found peace. Through the police, Han Fei confirmed Firefly’s identity. He was actually an A-list comedy actor at Xin Lu. He was still quite famous but he hadn’t had a new project in 5 years already. Coincidentally, Firefly achieved fame at almost the same age and same method as Han Fei did. The difference was, one of them was in comedy, and the other in horror. Han Fei decided not to disturb Firefly.
Han Fei’s last stop was a hospital. Lai Sheng and his grandparents were here. The old man sat in the corridor outside the sickrooms. One of them had his wife who suffered from serious illness; and the other had his grandson who was unconscious from high fever. He paced between the two rooms, only interrupted by calls who demanded him to pay the money.
Han Fei approached the nurse and after ensuring Lai Sheng was not in mortal danger, he sighed in relief. Han Fei stood at the corner of the corridor and studied the old man. Han Fei contacted Li Xue and with the police’s help, Han Fei found Lai Sheng and his grandmother’s main physician. Han Fei paid 50000 RMB of the medical fee. Han Fei wanted to pay the full amount since Lai Sheng’s parents had saved his life but he didn’t have that much money after buying the gaming hub.
‘I need to do more for Lai Sheng. Perhaps Director Jiang or Sister Long can give me an advance for the box office from Twin Flower.’ Han Fei didn’t expect that he had to skimp so much even after he became famous. Other actors squandered after they achieved fame but Han Fei had to borrow money to keep on acting. ‘I need to work hard and earn more money for everyone in the cryptic world.’
Han Fei’s initial thought was merely to try and see if doing good deeds could increase his afterlife karma but now he changed his mind, these things needed to be done or the dead wouldn’t rest in peace, and there was no greater deed than to bring peace.
Wearing his cheapest clothes, Han Fei hurried towards the set of Thriller Writer. Even though he wore the cheapest outfit among all the actors, he immediately grabbed everyone’s attention when he arrived. Han Fei greeted the crew and noticed everyone was talking about Perfect Life. The praises everyone had made Han Fei itching to try the normal version of Perfect Life.
Han Fei didn’t plan to join their conversation when he heard a familiar name from one of the crew—Huang Yin.
“The fuck! Huang Yin’s ranking has increased again! He has already dominated 3 rankings! Who the hell is this man?”
“Level 15? It has only been 14 hours since the opening of the server and he’s already level 15?! He must be cheating!”
Han Fei leaned closer to the crew members and glanced at their phone screen. All the hot searches on all the major platforms were dominated by one name—Huang Yin!
“Do you guys know this Huang Yin? What has he done?” Han Fei was confused. He only knew that he was currently level 15 but Brother Huang managed to reach level 15 over the course of one night. That was even faster than most beta players.
“Mr. Han, are you not playing Perfect Life? This Huang Yin is invincible! He’s a God!” The crew members pointed at the phone. There was a player who called himself a master player who was openly questioning Huang Yin.
“Perfect Life entered OB yesterday at midnight. Other than normal players, it had attracted many professional players. It is now the early stages of the game but it has already gained the attention of the world. Whoever can rise on the ranking can easily get big endorsements so many players are trying their best to climb the ranks. Initially the ranking kept changing but after late midnight, this Huang Yin appeared.” The crew member gasped in shock like when he saw the name Huang Yin for the first time.
“There are 10 rankings in Perfect Life and players all over the world are fighting for the top 1000. And Huang Yin is ranked 1 in 3 of the rankings!
“On the level ranking, he is 5 levels ahead of the 2nd ranked player! That’s a whole 5 levels! Even the ace player from the world’s biggest gaming studio is ranked behind Huang Yin! They can only watch him from the back!
“The second ranking is the friendliness level with NPC or also known as the reputation ranking. When other players’ reputation was still in the singular digit, Huang Yin’s reputation had reached 3 digits already. It was like he was the family of these NPCs, no one knew how he managed to accomplish this!
“The last ranking is the happiness point ranking. It’s the hardest to gain Happiness Points, it’s not something that can be raised with gaming experience and resources. The player has to really understand the meaning of Perfect Life and the meaning of happiness. But for this impossible attribute, Huang Yin increased it by 35 points in less than 12 hours! Did he live in hell before the game started to have gained so much happiness from just playing a game?!”
The crew member had voiced everyone’s thoughts. Not only them, but all the players of Perfect Life were also talking about Huang Yin. Some suspected Huang Yin of having maximum hidden attributes and at least 2 Grade A Talent. Others believed Huang Yin was the biggest investor behind Deep Space Tech, or he was the illegitimate son of the Immortal Pharma CEO. Of course most people claimed Huang Yin was a cheater, a pirate to steal the great future of humanity!
Even though Deep Space Tech had given multiple statements that there was no suspicious behaviour in Huang Yin’s account, the discussion on Huang Yin on the internet kept increasing. The name had become a legend, a symbol marking the start of Perfect Life’s OB. Whenever people thought about this period in the future, they would think of Huang Yin.
Huang Yin’s result was plain for all to see. He was like a pioneer, standing at a height where the rest could only see but couldn’t reach.
Han Fei searched for the real time ranking for the various rankings in Perfect Life. Huang Yin dominated 3 of the ranks, for the remaining 7 rankings, 5 of them were led by a player who had hidden their ID.
‘Could this player also be Huang Yin? He has taken the lead in 8 rankings?’ Han Fei had no idea if Perfect Life would herald in a new era but if it did, it would be stamped by Huang Yin’s name.
