When he opened his eyes again, it had already turned into a crowd camping out.
Others were waiting for achievement points; Su Er was waiting for a public execution.
Many people were watching Ji Heng, but couldn’t get too close, so Su Er moved next to Wei Jun and whispered, “What if there’s no achievement? Wouldn’t that be super awkward?”
Wei Jun replied confidently, “If there’s none, it proves the game is rigged.”
With such a world-shaking performance, who would believe there were no achievements?
Su Er sighed. In truth, he had just tried to return to the real world, but failed. Worse, when he looked down at the values on his nameplate with high hopes, he saw that nothing had increased.
Looking around, it seemed no one else had changed either. Then he suddenly remembered Ji Heng mentioning that when using a team item, if one party dies, the other can’t earn points even if they clear the level. Who would’ve thought that in such a large-scale team-up, even with a survival rate over 90%, it still wasn’t allowed.
Seeing his frustration, Wei Jun tried to console him: “Team items give players huge advantages, so naturally they come with restrictions.”
Su Er mentioned he had tried returning to the real world and failed.
Wei Jun chuckled, “As long as a team member is alive, you have to go in and come out together.”
Su Er: “Isn’t that a huge risk?”
Wei Jun raised a brow.
Su Er continued, “What if one person refuses to leave? Then the other can’t get out either?”
Staying in the transfer station for over four days would mean being thrown into a high-difficulty instance.
Wei Jun nodded. “That’s why this stuff should be used carefully.”
Seeing his thoughtful expression, Wei Jun couldn’t help but shake his head. “You think this thing grows like cabbage? Only a handful of players have team items.”
And even before using them, they’d consider every possible scenario and plan accordingly.
Su Er quietly mulled it over until Wei Jun suddenly said, “It’s coming,” pulling him back to the moment.
Looking up, dark clouds gathered in the sky like surging waves being pushed along, layer after layer. Compared to before, this time the sky-darkening gloom was even heavier, stifling enough to suffocate.
The world notification sounded right on cue—
[Congratulations to player Su Er for achieving ‘Sins of the Father’.]
[Congratulations to player Su Er for achieving ‘Disgusting Connections’.]
Two achievements at once?
Wei Jun was stunned for a second, then smiled at Su Er: “Actually suits you.”
First, he got the ‘cursed husband’ fate from a ghost marriage, then came the loving father-son dynamic, and in the end, even a host forcibly helped him cheat—who else had so many connections?
But Su Er himself immediately thought of Zhu Yun. A large part of his survival in the game was thanks to her help.
During their brief conversation, the dark clouds didn’t fade. Instead, they thickened, pressing down as if ready to collapse at any moment. Then, the world notification sounded again:
[Congratulations to player Su Er for achieving ‘Enlightenment for One’.]
[Congratulations to players Ji Heng, Wei Jun, Li Li, Song Jiayue, Cao Ledao…]
A dozen names were announced at once, and the passing players watching turned pale. Was the game glitching?
Regardless of what they thought, the broadcast continued:
[The above players have achieved ‘Ascension of Chicken and Dog’.]
Silence.
Silence was the only consensus between heaven and earth at that moment.
Like a lightning strike, Li Li, who had just been basking in the joy of surviving the instance, was suddenly named. She froze: “…What the hell?”
Looking down, there was a new line of small golden text on her nameplate. Though tiny, even people a few meters away could see it if they had good eyesight.
Aside from Su Er, all other team members had the same thing. Even Ji Heng wasn’t spared. As for Su Er… the word ‘person’ on his badge wasn’t just golden, it gleamed—radiating the brilliance of humanity.
Now, with over a dozen people standing together, he alone stood out dazzlingly.
“Sh*t!”
For the second time in his life, Wei Jun was forced to swear. “Anyone who wants this achievement can have it!”
“Let’s get out of here first,” Ji Heng reacted quickly and said in a low voice.
That woke everyone up!
The team members quickly pressed the indented pattern on their nameplates to return to the real world… If they didn’t leave now, once the crowd snapped out of their shock, they’d definitely be ridiculed.
Back in the park, the first thing Su Er did was look for the player who had died in the game. Since time here was frozen, maybe the person was still around. But after checking multiple times, he saw no sign of them.
Ji Heng understood what he was thinking and didn’t even wait for Su Er to ask before saying directly, “Players who die in the game will disappear in the real world. Their actions for that day will be edited.”
Even if you checked surveillance footage, it would show that only twelve people came to the park that day.
Su Er frowned slightly. Then how had Zhu Yun managed to bring him the stun gun that day? Unfortunately, no matter how many questions he had, he couldn’t ask. He simply said, “Thank you.”
Whenever there was something Su Er didn’t understand about the game, Ji Heng would always explain patiently.
“You’re welcome.” Ji Heng’s lips curled up slightly. “Thanks to you, I got to ascend.”
In the instance, Su Er could meet the gaze of a ghost king without fear—but now, he couldn’t bring himself to look at the other players. That golden, glowing label on his badge was simply unbearable to look at!
“I’m actually really grateful to you,” Cao Ledao said, patting him on the shoulder.
He’d survived—that was what mattered. What did an embarrassing achievement title matter in comparison? Still, the fact that the words ‘chicken and dog’ were visible on the badge from several meters away really was headache-inducing.
Song Jiayue cleared her throat. “That’s right. It’s the damn game trying to sow discord. It’s not your faul—”
She couldn’t even finish the sentence. To say Su Er had absolutely nothing to do with it would be a lie. She’d never seen someone act that flamboyantly in an instance.
That said, all things considered, Su Er’s luck and reasoning ability weren’t bad. Song Jiayue couldn’t help sighing internally—[Apocalypse] had let a good seedling slip by. Someone had even observed that beginner instance, and Chen Jiangbei had considered recruiting him. But their organization always played it safe, so they never extended an olive branch.
Wei Jun tried to smooth things over: “Let’s skip the group dinner. Everyone just head back and get some rest.”
He was much more laid-back now compared to how he’d been in-game. The group took the cue, exchanged a few jokes, and went their separate ways.
As they parted, Wei Jun’s tone grew serious. “Now that we know what Charm is useful for, those with the ability should try to raise it.”
It could absorb Yin energy and was very useful in certain situations—especially when dealing with specific nasty things.
The mood always turned heavy when they talked about the game. After a few forced smiles, the players waved their goodbyes.
Soon, only Wei Jun, Ji Heng, and Su Er were left.
Wei Jun looked at Ji Heng. “Drink?”
Ji Heng nodded.
Wei Jun smiled and turned to Su Er. “Want to come? Just a fruit wine?”
Su Er shook his head. “Nah. I have to go home and do practice exams.”
They watched him walk away. Wei Jun whistled. “Dude’s got nerves of steel.”
Ji Heng said calmly, “Distracting himself helps.”
A lot of people, after entering the game and living with the constant threat of death, would abandon parts of their real-life routines.
It was still morning. The bars weren’t open, so after a short drive, Wei Jun grabbed two bottles of alcohol from a supermarket. They went back to the park and sat on a bench, drinking and chatting.
Their cans clinked lightly in the air. Wei Jun took a sip and pressed his lips together. “A lot of people have started investigating Su Er.”
“They won’t find anything.”
Wei Jun raised a brow. “You’ve taken care of it?”
Ji Heng shook his head. “Su Er’s background is entirely normal.”
The kid had once asked Ji Heng to check into his parents’ situation. Nothing abnormal turned up. But there was something Ji Heng didn’t mention: sometimes, being too normal was suspicious in and of itself.
Especially when it came to Su Er’s relatives—Ji Heng had had people subtly approach them. When Su Er’s name was brought up, everyone said things like, “The kid’s had it tough, good thing he inherited a lot,” but not one person expressed any desire to maintain closer contact.
Wei Jun chuckled. “I must be crazy, thinking he’s got some mysterious hidden identity.”
It was just—Su Er’s moves were too incredible, and his luck was out of the ordinary.
“With you watching over him, nothing major will happen in the real world.” Wei Jun paused, then looked at him. “But what about in the game?”
Getting multiple achievement points in one go was unheard of. There would definitely be plenty of people scheming behind the scenes. The rational ones were fine. It was the warped ones—long-time players with twisted minds—who might hunt down promising players in dungeons.
Ji Heng said, “I have a plan. I need your help.”
He explained it quietly.
Wei Jun nearly dropped his can. “You want to shift the focus onto the host?”
Ji Heng nodded. “There’s enough basis for it. Just the ghost marriage alone netted Su Er several advantages.”
Wei Jun narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t already… leak it, did you?”
Ji Heng simply said, “We still need a middleman—to sell the intel.”
Wei Jun frowned. “You want me to be the go-between?”
Thinking about it, he did fit the role. A lot of players knew he and Ji Heng were acquainted, but few knew how close they really were.
Ji Heng handed him a list. “Have them trade items for it. It’ll make it more convincing.”
If it were too easy to get, it’d only raise suspicion.
Wei Jun looked at the names—some were infamous for being ruthless.
Ji Heng said, “Once everything’s in place, give me a heads-up. I’ll let Su Er reenter the instance.”
The game forced players into two dungeons a month. Su Er just needed to go once more before the month ended. There was enough time to work things out.
Meanwhile, Su Er had no idea that players’ attitudes toward the game hosts were about to change. As soon as he got home, he buckled down to do practice questions and homework. While flipping through his books, he stumbled across the one where Zhu Yun had drawn the green-hat man and written “Great Prophecy.” He couldn’t help overthinking it.
The last instance had revolved around prophecy, and he’d seen Zhu Yun there. Could it be that her “Great Prophecy” doodle wasn’t a joke—but real?
The creepy green-hat man was holding hands with someone on the final page. It made his scalp tingle.
Su Er quickly forced himself to abandon that terrifying thought.
The calm routine continued for a few days. His schedule was like any other senior high student’s. Su Er thought the next disruption would be Ji Heng summoning him back to the game—but instead, it came in the form of a mock exam.
His math score was still bad.
When Yao Zhi called him into the office, Su Er was feeling glum. He wasn’t alone—three other students had been called in too.
After reviewing their exams one by one, Yao Zhi dismissed the others. Su Er was left alone under the sympathetic gazes of his classmates.
Yao Zhi took a sip from her thermos. “Heard you gave Ji Heng that ‘Ascension of Chicken and Dog’ achievement.”
Please, can we not.
Yao Zhi pushed up her glasses and smiled faintly. “By the way, you scored the highest in the class on both biology and chemistry. Definitely have the potential to trigger a biohazard.”
She stabbed him with a smile—every jab hit the mark.
Su Er muttered, “…I promise, next time I’ll be in the top 20 for math.”
Satisfied with the answer, Yao Zhi finally waved him off.
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