407 Target [2in1]
As his neighbours departed, Han Fei was quite worried about them. It was very dangerous outside the Ziggurat. He should be the one exploring the deeper darkness but he only had 1 Life Point left. His neighbours had stepped forward for him. As he watched his friends disappear into the night, Han Fei was thankful that he had encountered a group of reliable and trustworthy friends.
“Come on, we should go back too.” After leaving behind a few Ziggurat tenants to protect Ancestral Hall Street, Han Fei and Drake moved towards Yi Ming Private Academy. Most powerful spirits at Ziggurats had left. Wei Youfu and Little Eight hadn’t recovered so Han Fei felt extremely vulnerable.
Han Fei entered the school, now this hidden map felt like home. After greeting the guard, Han Fei pushed open the door to the infirmary and awakened Jin Sheng. Chains rattled and soon cursed words spread on the walls and floor. The weak boy in Han Fei’s impression had completely disappeared. Jin Sheng now carried a thick imposing presence that prevented others from looking at him directly. “After the Butterfly perishes, monsters from other areas might come here. We are not strong enough to fend them off, so I hope you can help us.” Han Fei said directly.
When Jin Sheng heard that, he shook his head. He opened his mouth to say something but words instantly crawled all over his tongue and teeth, it looked terrifying. Lifting his arm, Jin Sheng pointed at the floor before Han Fei. A row of bloody messages appeared, “I carry too many curses on me. Before I can suppress them, I cannot leave.” The bloody messages then disappeared. Jin Sheng walked towards Han Fei and his fingers touched Han Fei’s spine. A new curse was written on Han Fei. “You are fearless because you carry hope. Your presence will be known by all. However, no one dares to call you by your name. One day in the future, you’ll be the king of the eastern zone, managing the tallest building in the dark night!”
The bloody words seeped into Han Fei’s body and then disappeared like they had bound with Han Fei’s destiny. After completing the new curse, Jin Sheng’s size dwindled. Even the curse all over the room faded.
“Have you given me a new curse?” Han Fei was familiar with Jin Sheng’s ability. The story Jin Sheng wrote on Han Fei last time had come true. Han Fei couldn’t tell if Jin Sheng had predicted the future or had edited the future.
Compared to the previous curse, this curse was much stronger. This was shown from Jin Sheng’s latest status. His body wavered like writing that few words had drained him fully.
“Are you alright? Do you want me to find a bigger cupboard for you?” Han Fei wanted to go and help Jin Sheng but the latter waved his hands. Using the last bit of clarity, he crawled back into the medicine cupboard.
“After I killed the Butterfly, Jin Sheng appeared to trust me more. At least he’s closer to me than he was to Fu Sheng.” After thanking Jin Sheng, Han Fei prepared to leave. As he opened the door, he saw the guard with the mountain of ghosts standing outside the room.
“Teacher Han, who were you talking to?”
“It’s nothing.” Han Fei smiled kindly at the senior guard. Like the other ghosts at the school, Han Fei decided to create a white lie for the old man. “Sir, in the future, I plan to recruit more students for this school, to cultivate them to become people who could light up the night.” The students Han Fei mentioned included not only the ghosts but also some uniquely-talented players. Due to the influence of the ghosts on his back, the guard couldn’t see other ghosts but he could see players, so Han Fei decided to inform him beforehand.
“Good, that’s a good thing!”
“Therefore, we need to spruce up the place. We need to set up some safe zones, places that don’t look so hellish.” Han Fei shared his thoughts. “For example, we should work on the hostels and cafeteria.”
“Hellish?” The guard was confused, “I think our school is quite perfect, the incident of bullying has stopped and everything is going up.”
‘That’s because you can’t see the real school.’ Han Fei said under his breath. He didn’t chat further with the guard. He found a safe classroom and logged out. Blood froze everything. As Han Fei was pulled out from the game, he saw the Singer again. The Singer who carried the old man’s head glanced at Han Fei but not precisely at Han Fei but the space behind Han Fei. Trying his best to turn around, at the last moment before the game pulled him out, Han Fei realized the bloody person had returned!
Bang! The head which wore the gaming helmet knocked against the gaming hub door. Han Fei removed the helmet and his body broke out in cold sweat. He still didn’t get a good glimpse of the face of the person behind him. All he could tell was the person had gotten closer to him. ‘Who is that bloody person? Why do they only appear when I’m logging in and out of the game? When everything turns red, will they finally show themselves?’
Han Fei crawled out from the hub and glanced at the clock. “Shit, I’m late!” Being too absorbed in the game, Han Fei forgot that he had to shoot his scenes that morning. After a quick clean up, Han Fei called a cab to the factory compound.
When Han Fei arrived, the shooting had already started. He bowed apologetically as he entered the set. But everyone from the director to the crew members showed him great understanding. If anything, they all looked at him with approval, this confused Han Fei. “Director Zhang, I’m sorry for being late.” Before Han Fei could even give an excuse, the director who was famed for his sternness patted Han Fei’s shoulders. Director Zhang looked at him warmly, “Don’t wear yourself out. You have youth on your side but you have to watch your own safety!” Director Zhang was concerned. “We’ll work on the shoot with the other actors first, so you can rest some more.” Not only Director Zhang, the other actors and crew told Han Fei to go rest. Han Fei thought his secret of the black box had been revealed. Han Fei ate the lunch box given to him by the crew member, Xiao Zhao. It was not until Han Fei opened his phone that he understood what happened.
The police had released another statement to thank Han Fei. The old cases related to the Ziggurats’ tenants had many breakthroughs thanks to Han Fei. Han Fei worked on the movie and the cases at the same time. Before the shot ended, he had solved more than one case. The other actors might have scandals for promotion but Han Fei’s news was always related to law and crime. His name was once again pushed onto the hot searches, however his popularity was far from Huang Yin’s. Due to the need to promote the Thriller Writer, the things Han Fei had done this time were used by the producers but even with their manipulation, they couldn’t shake Huang Yin’s domination of the hot topics ranking.
‘I wonder how things are going with Brother Huang.’ Han Fei opened the realtime ranking for Perfect Life. The names for rank 2 to 9 kept changing but the first was always Huang Yin.
Based on rumours, the underworld had already started a bet on how long Huang Yin could stay in the first place. Han Fei messaged Huang Yin and this time Huang Yin called back with his encrypted number. “Brother Huang, why are you only level 17? I see the second place player is already level 14.”
“Each 5 level is a threshold, the EXP needed to level up will increase by a great margin.” Huang Yin explained, “Furthermore, in Perfect Life, the game hopes that the players to find healing in the game, so levels are not that important.”
“You have a point.”
“I’ve almost exhausted everything I brought from your place so I might need to go there again tonight. This time, I’ll be coming with the largest inventory bag I can have at my current stage.” Huang Yin sounded tired. “Is there anyone else around you? I have something important to report to you.”
“I’m alone.” Han Fei opened the door and looked out.
“Before level 10, it’s beginner stages for Perfect Life players. The system would help the players get used to the many in game different functions. The real game starts after the players unlock their profession at level 10. Even though I’m already level 17, I have to say that those who manage to reach level 10 and unlock their profession during this period are top professional players.”
“Sounds like you’re still far ahead of them.”
“The problem is they will stop at nothing to catch up. They normally come from big gaming studios and they have multiple players sponsoring 1 player. How is this different from the powerless taking advantage of the weak in real life?” Huang Yin sounded angry, “But the thing that really angered me is that, part of the Beta players had started to attempt to enter the cryptic game. They tried to scam or lie to the NPC to gain money and influence. Even though most have failed, a small part has succeeded.”
“What is your point?”
“It’s nothing, I just can’t stand the actions of these large gaming studios. To help the NPC they bullied, I used the power of the Blood Doctor to drain the two main accounts cultivated by this one large gaming studio.” Huang Yin didn’t want to give trouble to Han Fei so he decided to come clean.
“You’ve killed 2 of them?”
“It’s not that serious. They’re accounts cultivated using the resources of other players. This would make me their target. Temporarily, they might not track this back to me but then again, not many players would be powerful enough to do this.”
“That’s it? I thought you had done something horrendous…” Han Fei was speechless.
“The penalty for death in Perfect Life is very serious. Once you die, you have to start over from level 1. The original character is wiped out from the game.”
“Let me tell you, dying in real life once your character dies is more serious.” Han Fei said, “Don’t be afraid, punish those who violate the rules. Don’t care about the official rules, make your own rules.”
“Won’t that push things too far?”
“What you need to do is to become the standard for all the players of the surface world. You have to do everything that you believe is right. If someone stands in your way, move them; if you can’t move them even with all your might, give me their names.” Han Fei’s voice turned frosty, “I can help you persuade them.”
“Do things that are right?” Huang Yin repeated. “I think I get it now.”
“Do you have any other discoveries?” Han Fei was Huang Yin’s biggest supporter. As long as Han Fei was still alive, Huang Yin would forever be a top player in the surface world.
“I’ve explored some maps that have been added after OB. More and more supernatural events start to happen in this heaven-like metropolis. However, the events are mostly between the NPC and have nothing to do with the players.”
“I think I’ve heard you mention that before.”
“Since the 4th CB, supernatural maps have been removed. Perfect Life instead opened Thriller Paradise and Death Inmate Jail for players who like that kind of element. However, after the management is handed back to the photon computer, things are different again.” Huang Yin became more observant with Han Fei’s training. “The strangest thing is that the supernatural events will immediately disappear once more players arrive, it’s like they are being purposely hidden.”
“This is not a good sign, after all, the OB is just only starting.”
“There’s one more thing that I think we need to pay attention to.” Huang Yin sent Han Fei an encrypted document, “Before Perfect Life opens its server, Immortal Pharma and Deep Space Tech announced the game’s biggest Easter Egg, which was to search for the black box left behind by the previous director. The reward is shares of Immortal Pharma. So there are now a lot of black box hunters in the game. They’re also looking for entrance to hidden maps. Don’t underestimate them, and be prepared to run into them.” Han Fei opened the document sent by Huang Yin. It was a detailed name list. Huang Yin used his Blood Doctor profession to infiltrate into the black box hunters and disguised himself as one of the higher ups.
“Well done.” With his superb memory, Han Fei memorized the long name list after hanging up. After all, he might encounter them soon.
After resting for some time in the resting room, Han Fei put away his phone and walked out with the script. Reality proved that even though Han Fei was late, he was still the first to finish his scene. As he prepared to leave, Director Zhang’s assistant accosted him at the door.
“Mr. Han, there will be an event soon. Director Zhang and the producers hope that you’ll attend it.”
“An event?”
“It’s the annual film festival. We’ve already recommended your name. After Thriller Paradise is shown at the festival, you will be one of the major competitors for this year’s best new actor and best male supporting actor. After the festival starts, there will be a reviewing party for all nominated actors. We believe that with your performance, getting nominated is no problem, so we want to give up a heads up and hope that you’ll be there in person.” The words made Han Fei feel like he was dreaming. A few months ago, he couldn’t even put food on the table but now he could attend film festivals.
“I think I can make it…” Han Fei paused, “Will the event be held in the day?”
“It’ll start at 8 pm and I think you should attend it. There will be many important actors and directors at the festival, including the ace horror film director and national comedy actor who have been away from the camera for many years…”
