CH 87

The game “Sweet Murder” was similar to an escape room, but with added adversarial elements and hidden weapons scattered throughout the map.

Players could go solo or team up.

In regular matches, opponents were AI-controlled bosses, and if players couldn’t clear the dungeon, they could force quit and receive a small coin reward based on the difficulty. In ranked matches, players could only battle against each other. Losing would deduct health points from their personal attributes, while winning would increase them. The coin rewards in ranked matches were hundreds or even thousands of times higher than in regular matches.

When a player’s health points reached zero, they died.

When Ren Shuhan first arrived, he locked himself in a blank starting room and played solo regular matches for a week, so no one had seen him.

After reaching the highest difficulty level in solo matches, he became familiar with the game’s mechanics and estimated his own skill level. He then used some of his remaining money to adjust his character’s stats before entering ranked matches. He reduced his height to just over 1.8 meters, his weight to under 70 kilograms, put on a motorcycle helmet and a voice changer, and started playing ranked matches.

A ranked match consisted of ten games played back-to-back in a dungeon, with the results determining the player’s position on the leaderboard.

To win, a player had to either kill all opponents or wait for half an hour into the game and persuade the opponent team to surrender through a vote.

Ren Shuhan was adept at intimidating opponents and stalling for time because ranked matches were exciting and broadcasted to a mandatory audience.

After each ten-game set, the entire server was shocked by Ren Shuhan’s performance. He played solo and deliberately prolonged each match to the 30-minute mark to prompt the opponents to surrender. He never killed anyone and had an unpronounceable ID, earning him the nickname “Unpronounceable Buddha.”

Ren Shuhan: “…”

What a ridiculous nickname! Ren Shuhan sighed and couldn’t bring himself to brag about it to his wife.

However, he wasn’t against killing.

Each match in ranked mode adjusted opponents based on skill level, so while his first match featured regular players as teammates and opponents, his final match would pit him against top players on the leaderboard.

One opponent caught his attention: “Yu Xi AC,” the server’s top player.

“What rewards do you get for being number one?” Ren Shuhan deliberately provoked Yu Xi during their match, trying to gauge his response.

“Not much,” Yu Xi replied. Despite being number one, he wasn’t particularly skilled and preferred to avoid the feeling of being killed. He appreciated Ren Shuhan’s stalling tactics and answered the question, “You’ll find out when you win this match and become number one yourself.”

Ren Shuhan spun his dagger in hand. “Will I be able to choose items from the store then?”

Ren Shuhan had won nine matches and accumulated a significant amount of coins, but it wasn’t enough to afford the “Story Transmigration Card,” the most expensive item in the store.

“It’s not guaranteed,” Yu Xi said, inexplicably fond of Ren Shuhan. He explained, “The most expensive items are custom-made. For example, the Protagonist Halo Card is custom-made by me, which is why it’s expensive. But it might not be useful for others.”

Ren Shuhan nodded in understanding.

Having confessed to being the protagonist, everything fell into place effortlessly.

“What do you use these custom-made items for?” Ren Shuhan inquired further. “Isn’t there a lot of controversy surrounding them?”

The spectators in the broadcast room also began discussing this topic.

While the Protagonist Halo Card was custom-made by Yu Xi, the Story Transmigration Card was not. It had existed for a long time.

The logic was simple: where there were people, there was commercialization. Especially in this entertainment-centric main world, groups of people would pool money to buy a Story Transmigration Card and exploit the characters in the story world for profit, whether by making reality shows or instigating wars to film war movies for profit.

In the eyes of most residents of the main world, the inhabitants of the story worlds were like ants in a slum, inferior people who could be arbitrarily arranged in nonsensical scripts for their entertainment and amusement.

Only a small minority expressed that this item was anti-human.

They scorned Yu Xi, saying that he disregarded the wishes of the inhabitants of the story worlds to create a protagonist halo and become a winner in life, and even denounced him in the live broadcast room for being the top player but setting a bad example…

But what was the use of that?

Yu Xi was the richest and could be considered the ruler of the game. With just a flick of his hand, he could silence dissenting voices, preventing them from even opposing him.

“What’s the controversy?” Yu Xi said nonchalantly to Ren Shuhan. “I’m not going around burning, killing, and plundering in the story worlds. I’m just experiencing life. It doesn’t affect anyone, and no one has the right to control me.”

Ren Shuhan smiled lightly without replying.

At this moment, he really wanted to kill someone.

“Are you sure it doesn’t affect others?” he reminded Yu Xi. “What book did you transmigrate into last time? I’m curious. Can you share your experience?”

Yu Xi frowned and pulled his mask tighter.

He knew that the expert in front of him seemed to have a compassionate heart, unconventional methods, and even let his opponents win, so he carefully replied, “I just crossed into a xianxia1Chinese fantasy genre inspired by chinese mythology novel out of curiosity. There wasn’t much fun in it, just fighting and grudges. The plot was cliché and boring, so I’ve been a fisherman in the story, living in seclusion and farming, and haven’t participated in the plot.”

There were many fervent fans of Yu Xi in the live broadcast room, praising his high integrity and purity.

However, Ren Shuhan laughed.

“Interesting,” he said. “But if you don’t go into the book, the world won’t engage in fights according to the plot, right?”

That was a bit too much.

Yu Xi narrowed his eyes and replied coldly, “The mission of the story world is to follow the plot. If I don’t transmigrate into the book, time won’t even move in that world. It’s as if it doesn’t exist!”

That was the standard stance of the residents of the main world:

Because they were the subjects of the creators, they considered themselves parents and manipulated the joys and sorrows of the entire world, ignoring the real thoughts of the characters and controlling the fate of the entire world.

The characters’ loves and hates were nothing but jokes, and life and death were just a pastime for others.

“Alright,” Ren Shuhan nodded. “So serving the protagonist is the meaning of the story.”

Yu Xi didn’t know if he was speaking seriously or sarcastically, so he didn’t respond.

But in the end, Ren Shuhan didn’t act, sparing Yu Xi’s life.

“I don’t like owing favors. Since you didn’t harm me this time, let me remind you,” Yu Xi hesitated for a moment before saying another sentence to him before the game ended, “Don’t develop real feelings for the characters in the book. In the end, they’re just characters.”

Ren Shuhan didn’t reply, instead looking down at the store and customizing an item: Revenge Binding.

He wanted to bind Yu Xi so that he could come back for revenge in the future.

After Yu Xi left, another randomly assigned teammate in this match boldly approached, wanting to add Ren Shuhan as a friend. Her ID was “When Will the Bright Moon Rise?”

Ren Shuhan glanced at her and found that she was third on the server, and her character attributes indicated that she was a support-type human tank. He thought she might be useful, so he agreed to her friend request.

“I feel like Ah Ci2It’s a cuter way to call Yu Xi, and the character for Ci is the same as the character “Ci” in the different names he had in the worlds, such as Gu Weici, Jiang Qingci etc  has some intentions towards you,” When Will the Bright Moon Rise said to him. “He usually speaks to others, with each sentence not exceeding three words. Today is the first time I’ve seen him speak this much, and he took the initiative to talk to you.”

Ren Shuhan was taken aback. “Ah Ci?”

“His name is Yu Xi,” When Will the Bright Moon Rise, clearly a sociable person, introduced him. “Isn’t his ID Yu Xi AC? Actually, his ID didn’t have the AC3AC is in english in the raws in it before. He just added it recently after returning, and he said he changed his name to Ah Ci, so we all started calling him that.”

Ren Shuhan chuckled. “Oh. I thought him having AC in his name meant he knew he lacked a bit of kindness in his heart4Okay, this one is kinda hard to explain because he made a joke with a character that sounded like “B”, which comes between A and C.”

When Will the Bright Moon Rise: “Pfft…”

This female tank clearly understood the ways of the world, immediately drawing a line with Yu Xi and saying, “I have never supported the use of the Book Transmigration Card. In fact, I’m against all items in the store that are categorized as anti-humanitarianism. The ‘anti-humanitarian, not recommended for use’ label was something we collectively demanded the game’s mainframe to add.”

Ren Shuhan glanced at her but didn’t say anything.

“But this is a world where strength is supreme. If you’re not the top player, the mainframe won’t listen to you to abolish these items,” When Will the Bright Moon Rise shrugged. “But once you become the top player, you’ll become a privileged class, and you won’t abolish these items either. It’s a vicious cycle.”

These words made Ren Shuhan look at her with newfound respect.

“You’re a good person,” Ren Shuhan commented. “As the third-ranked player, privilege doesn’t weigh you down, yet you can see the harm caused to others.”

When Will the Bright Moon Rise also returned the compliment, implying, “You’re also good. I’ve seen your ranked videos. You have such skill but remain humble and non-harming. I hope you’ll continue to stay true to yourself in the future.”

“I will,” Ren Shuhan smiled. “And I’ll find a way to subvert this game.”

When Will the Bright Moon Rise was somewhat surprised but didn’t show it, only saying, “I wish you success. Feel free to contact me if you need anything.”

With new talents emerging, taking over the first round, she had seen several experts come and go, once full of ambition and righteousness, but eventually becoming part of this game. There was nothing new under the sun.

After adding this chaotic god-like friend, she never saw the god log in again.

Until one day, when she was watching a live broadcast, she found the god waiting for a ranked match!

When Will the Bright Moon Rise: ?!

A god who hardly played games and rose to the top of the server still queues up? Either Yu Xi, the battle fanatic, got him or he quickly spent all his money. When Will the Bright Moon Rise silently commented, could he have also went into a book?

Ren Shuhan noticed her message and quickly informed Jiang Qingyue, “This is a teammate I randomly paired with before. She’s a lesbian.”

Jiang Qingyue: “Oh.”

I didn’t say anything, did I?

Ren Shuhan replied sincerely, “Are you coming? Help me carry my wife.”

When Will the Bright Moon Rise: “?! Okay.”

The god is in love!!!

Could the god really be together with Yu Xi, despite their different worldviews? Also Yu Xi doesn’t need her help either?

She considered that Yu Xi had just returned today after a long time offline and had just changed his ID back to Yu Xi, removing the “AC.”

When Will the Bright Moon Rise had just discussed with her friends whether he had changed to a couple’s name.

Ren Shuhan: “My wife has never played before. Just take care of him, and that’s it. I’ll carry you to victory.”

When Will the Bright Moon Rise, of course, agreed and joined their team, bringing along another skilled teammate. Later, she was surprised to find that their team name was:

Revenge Team.

When Will the Bright Moon Rise: ? Did I board the wrong ship?

In a 4v4 ranked match, the standard class distribution for each team is usually:

A human tank (thick skin, resistant to damage), a magic output (fancy and showy), a physical output (brawny and fighting), and a healer (nurturing, healing everyone).

When Will the Bright Moon Rise was the tank, bringing along a physical damage output assassin teammate. Ren Shuhan played the utility role (versatile, picking what’s left after everyone else chooses, compensating for the team’s shortcomings), naturally choosing the magic output, and Jiang Qingyue became the healer.

“I don’t know anything,” Jiang Qingyue said, dressed in a white robe and holding a magic wand, feeling clueless. “What do I need to do?”

“It’s okay, just avoid the enemy’s physical output, then heal me,” Ren Shuhan said calmly, being a bit of a rogue.

Then, at the start of the game, they were quickly matched against Yu Xi’s team, named “Newspaper Kill and Heal Team,” with four physical damage outputs.

Jiang Qingyue: “…”

When Will the Bright Moon Rise: “…”

Our tank was under a lot of pressure.

“Don’t worry, it’s best to kill all four squishies,” Ren Shuhan remained relaxed and said to When Will the Bright Moon Rise, “Let’s open another round. We’ll pressure them with a five-point health advantage and see if they follow.”

Uh, if you’re confused (like me initially) by the timeline of this chapter (lol) basically Ren Shuhan’s first confrontation with Yu Xi was beforehand what is happening right now in the revenge team!

Also, I have no idea what the title refers to…. T_T

Thank you for reading