High Energy QR Code

Now he knew a new way to quickly obtain points. Xing Ye asked, “I have a question about my own personal safety. I know that players entering the same world might not enter at the same time in the real world, but when you become teammates, the entry time gets automatically adjusted. Then if I cleared Puppet City early, would it be possible to tell a player that enters after me about the world?”

The black and white rubix cube twirled, “Good question, but those circumstances will never appear. You can try, but the system won’t make any promises for what happens next~”

“I’m not that stupid. As long as I can protect myself, it’s fine.” Xing Ye said, “One more question- if I hated somebody from the game but couldn’t kill them in-game, can I do so in the real world?”

The black and white rubix cube’s voice turned solemn. “Player x8205, please stop your dangerous way of thinking. The game will absolutely not interfere with the real world. If you truly kill another player for reasons relating to the game, not only will you be breaking the laws of the real world, you’ll also be punished by the system. Usually, in these cases, we would ban you from the game.”

In the real world, being banned from a game would mean having your account deleted. What about the game world then? It would probably mean death.

“But players in the game world can kill other players.” Xing Ye stared at the black and white rubix cube, “Player s7093 Xing Shuo died from a sudden cardiac arrest in the real world. Don’t tell me he’s still alive.”

The black and white rubix cube answered, “Player s7903 has indeed already died and his consciousness was erased in the game world. However, this did not violate the game’s rules; rather, it was the option the player chose following the game’s rules. The game will never encourage humans to kill each other. Only players can kill other players.”

“I understand.” Xing Ye’s face was calm, “Who killed Player s7903?”

The black and white rubix cube answered, “No comment. I am only responsible for explaining the game rules. The player must discover everything else himself. The player’s hatred is their own responsibility, not the system’s.”

Xing Ye nodded, “I got it. I don’t want to see you, please leave.”

The black and white rubix cube answered, “Alright, but the player must not stay in the system space for too long. The lack of colors, the frozen time, and the limits of the system space can cause madness.”

With that, the black and white rubix cube dissolved into countless black and white little squares before disappearing into space.

Xing Ye sat on the floor, clasping the mirror in his hands as he leaned his head on the mirror gently.

“Your forehead’s so big.” The little mirror grumbled softly.

Xing Ye didn’t see it, but a very, very, good looking young man appeared in the tiny cosmetic mirror. He closed his eyes and, separated by the ice-cold mirror surface, placed his forehead against Xing Ye’s.

“Lu Mingze,” After a long time, Xing Ye finally spoke. His voice was hoarse and dispirited, “I’ll visit your parents every week and take a lot of pictures for you to see.”

The mirror rubbed his nose and whispered, “Yeah. Thanks.”

“Let’s get stronger together.” Xing Ye said, “We can’t change the past, but we can always control the future. I can’t do anything about what happens far away, but if it happens right in front of me and I can save them, I’ll do everything I can.”

The mirror’s voice slowly turned firm, “I won’t give up on myself either!”

“I need to go back to the real world to do some stuff, just wait for me here.” Xing Ye poked Lu Mingze’s face in the mirror, “I’m sorry for leaving you in this scary space again.”

Lu Mingze nodded cutely, “I’m not scared because I know you’ll come back.”

Xing Ye smiled and left the game world.

He woke up in his house. It was still 1:30 am.

In the middle of the night, Xing Ye tidied up Xing Shuo’s old belongings. Early the next morning, he contacted the funeral parlor and asked them to hold Xing Shuo’s funeral.

His little brother, who had accompanied him for 20 years, had finally become a small urn of ashes. Xing Ye personally buried him in their family graveyard. He patted the tombstone softly before using a brush and red paint to write Xing Shuo’s name, stroke by stroke.

His gentle father, warm mother, and now, his little brother. Xing Ye stood in front of the grave. The whole family was together, but stood separated by life and death.

The air in the cemetery was better than in the city. Xing Ye raised his head, looked at the sky, and whispered, “I’m still alive. I’m still alive, all alone.”

A few tears rolled down his face, landing on the earth before quickly disappearing.

“Goodbye. I’ll come back to see you all soon.” He whispered before turning to leave.

The day passed slowly. Xing Ye visited Lu Mingze at the hospital again before seeing Mother Lu, who had recovered enough to have guests, and comforted her, saying Lu Mingze would wake up soon.

Mother Lu looked at this young man who she hadn’t seen for a long time and sensed an indescribable sense of desperation in his words.

She stealthily followed Xing Ye and watched him sit in front of her son’s sickbed. He held Lu Mingze’s hand and said softly, “You must wake up.”

Seven days passed in a flash. Soon, it was 1:30 AM again and Xing Ye was whisked back into the game world.

He immediately opened up the cosmetic mirror and showed the mirror the pictures on his phone one by one so Lu Mingze could see his body and his parents. The mirror saw his parents seemed healthier and sighed in relief, “I’m glad they’re doing fine.”

After giving the mirror a brief summary of what happened, Xing Ye notified his two friends about challenging hard mode for three times the points. He also let them know that it wouldn’t influence their difficulty and if they wanted to rack up points quickly, they could also choose hard mode.

“I won’t take it!” Guan Ling refused, “The speed I’m getting points now is already fast enough. I don’t want to enter a high level world so quickly!”

Cao Qian also said in the group chat, “Linlin- Linda’s nickname- and I only have 20 intimacy points. We still don’t trust each other enough, so it might not be a good idea to jump straight to hard mode.”

Xing Ye was just letting them know and didn’t force them to choose hard mode with him.

“Wait a moment!” Guan Ling suddenly shouted in the system’s group chat, “Boss, what’s the difference of difficulty between you choosing hard mode and us choosing it? What if we all do hard mode and rely on you?”

Xing Ye answered, “The world will probably go from three times as hard to nine times as hard.”

“Then I’d still better not. It’s just that I’ll be far behind you in points, so we can’t go into the high level worlds together. Boss, after you become a high level player. how will I survive in the melee worlds alone?

“You still have Cao Qian,” Xing Ye said, “You two can also look for other suitable teammates. When the time comes, you can’t take the missions lightly. When something happens, think over it very carefully and be wary of the game’s rules. If you keep your heart kind and righteous, you’ll definitely be able to get the true ending.”

“Don’t talk like you’re just about to become a high-level player,” Cao Qian said, “We have to do a good job in this world first.”

“Are you done discussing?” The black and white rubix cube’s black squares turned to form a smiley face, “The world is already generated, get ready.”

It revolved as it spoke, the face facing Xing Ye turning into a QR code. Xing Ye scanned the QR code on his turned black and white phone. The world’s data popped up on his screen-

Game Type: Human Face, Beast’s Heart

Player Role: Ordinary Person

Number of Players: 4 from the following fate camp, 5 from the opposing fate camp.

Victory Condition: There’s one -or perhaps multiple- existences with a human face and beast’s heart near you. To win, you just have to find them. As long as you find one with a human face and beast’s heart and survive, you will win. Players who die or fail to find the mission objective will lose.

Rewards and Penalties: The victors will be awarded a corresponding amount of points based on how many existences with a human face and beast’s heart they find. Losers will lose 50% of their points. The winners will also have the opportunity to draw a random QR code.

Difficulty Option:  Normal  Hard  Very Hard