Shen Luo was shocked. “Brother Fu Yi, you can’t do this because we’re in a game! A man should be loyal. Beware of karma.”
“I also want to be loyal. But in these seven relationships, I’m the passive party.” They all wanted Han Fei dead. Others couldn’t understand his feeling of possibly being served on the table.
“Seven?!” Shen Luo’s jaw fell. He didn’t know what to say.
“There might be more,” Han Fei sighed. The two players stood inside the storeroom and considered different problems based on the same incident.
“See if there are any clothes inside this room. You need to change out of the patient’s garb. I’ll go buy some food for you.” In the memory world, hunger would lower one’s physical condition and when one was weakened, one would be easily targeted by ghosts. Before he left, Han Fei removed the mirror and dumped it inside the trash can.
After the handsome Han Fei left, Shen Luo in the patient’s outfit shrunk at the corner. After he entered this work, he was captured as a patient. Then he was moved to serious care because he didn’t abide by the rules. Finally, he was categorized as special patients who needed forced treatment because he had a mental problem. He had escaped death many times before running away from the plastic surgery hospital. Hugging his knees, Shen Luo hid in the shadow. He thought the hidden map was very scary and everyone should feel the same way but his worldview collapsed after meeting Han Fei.
‘Are we playing the same game? He came to the hidden map to start a harem?!’ The eyes landed on the coffee Han Fei left on the shelf. He hadn’t eaten or drank anything for the night. Shen Luo licked his dry lips. ‘Hmph, this is so unfair! I shall drink your coffee!’ When he picked up the coffee, he saw the note on the lid. ‘Such cute handwriting. He is not satisfied being loved by such a lovely girl. What a bastard!’ Shen Luo took a sip of the coffee. He liked the taste so he finished it. ‘The coffee is tasty but how come… I feel so dizzy?’ Shen Luo held the coffee and sat on the ground. He felt his tongue go numb and white froth came out of his mouth. ‘The caffeine in the coffee in the cryptic world is quite high.’ Putting down the coffee, Shen Luo collapsed.
20 minutes later, Han Fei returned with the food he purchased at the convenience store. “Where is he? Gone out to find food?” He walked to the last row and saw Shen Luo who was frothing at the mouth. The player with 0 luck was sleeping soundly.
‘I was right, the coffee was bad.’ Han Fei walked to Shen Luo to examine him. ‘His breathing and heartbeat are normal. He merely fainted. Lee Guo Er didn’t poison the coffee.’ Han Fei tried to analyze Lee Guo Er’s motive. ‘She wanted to knock me out and then bring me somewhere. To slowly kill me or to dismember me?’ The more he thought about it, the more frightful Han Fei became. Lee Guo Er looked sweet but if one assumed that was her everything, then one would be sorely mistaken.
‘Her hatred towards me has lowered by 5 so she hates and loves me. Maybe she’ll enjoy torturing me?’ Han Fei tapped Shen Luo’s face. The man was soundly asleep. ‘I have no idea what Lee Guo Er put in the coffee. This world is still too dangerous for me.’ Putting down the food and drink, Han Fei found a cloth to clean the white froth. Then he found some sacks to place under Shen Luo’s head so he wouldn’t choke. ‘Looks like I’m stuck with you.’ Han Fei left the storeroom and returned to his office.
Plants versus Zombies continued!
At noon, when his team members went out for lunch, Han Fei slunk his way to Lee Guo Er’s table. He checked her bag first. ‘The bag is not that full. It only contains some makeup, that is good progress.’
Han Fei looked around in Lee Guo Er’s computer. When he clicked on a normal file, he couldn’t look away anymore. Lee Guo Er had come up with a hidden ending that she didn’t show Han Fei. She had painted an underground dungeon. There were many things inside the dungeon to trap the man so he couldn’t leave forever. ‘I had her design a game but she has designed her whole life around it.’ Han Fei returned everything to its place before he left for the canteen. He purposely stayed away from Lee Guo Er. Han Fei took the corner seat and ate the food alone. He only took a few bites when he sniffed that familiar perfume. He looked up and Zhao Qian sat across from him.
“Why didn’t you sit with your team?” Zhao Qian wiped away her lipstick and crossed her legs.
“I was busy with the game so I left the office late.” Han Fei swallowed his food. He planned to leave within a minute.
“Tonight you…”
“Leader, why didn’t you join us?” Lee Guo Er came over with her half-finished meal. She sat down beside Han Fei. “I’ve brought some fruits for you.” Lee Guo Er was exceptionally friendly before Zhao Qian. “Leader, look at the bitter fruit on your plate. It’s so wrinkled, it can’t taste good.” Lee Guo Er placed a washed apple before Han Fei. “Fresh apple is the best.”
Han Fei had no idea what the girl was talking about but he didn’t want to understand it either. Wrinkled fruit and freshly-picked apple…
Zhao Qian’s hands that held the chopsticks tightened but she tried to maintain her composure. Caught between them, Han Fei’s hands trembled. ‘This must be Shen Luo’s fault. I need to send him to the other players as soon as possible!’
“Sister Qian, why are you eating here today?” Octopus jogged over with his tray. As a puppy, he sat on Zhao Qian’s right side. “I was looking for you. We’re almost done with Immortal’s combat system but there are a few minor problems. I wish to get your opinion.” Octopus deliberately talked about Immortal before Han Fei. Han Fei found the man’s smugness and gloating so cute. ‘Brother Octopus is such a good worker.’
Han Fei finished his food in 50 seconds. Han Fei stood up. “I’m going back to work. Enjoy the food.”
“What’s wrong, Brother Fu, aren’t you going to stay? Did I say something wrong?” Octopus smiled smugly. He believed Han Fei was leaving because of him. Octopus had no idea the two other women at the table were staring viciously at Han Fei.
When Han Fei returned to the storeroom, Shen Luo was still asleep. He placed the apple beside him. “With your talent, normal people can’t kill you. Have a good night’s sleep.”
At 2.30 pm, the team completed the new game’s proposal.
“Leader, let me explain it to you.” Brother fake plant stood up with the printed document. “Even though our game contains love, gore, and sex, our main goal is positive, this is a story of penance.”
Han Fei closed Plants versus Zombies and paid attention.
“This is the start of the story. The male lead found himself tied to a dining table and he was surrounded by women with blurred-out faces. They lifted weapons like a cleaver, a saw with a smile. They planned to dismember the male lead and then the male lead woke up, realizing it was a dream.
“Then the male lead started his normal day. He had a good wife and cute children. He had a perfect family. The male lead got to work like normal. He would meet various women. They flirted with him but this was just an appearance.
“After the night fell, the male lead received an invitation from his female boss to attend a party as well as a call from his wife. If he chose to go home, he’d be safe; if he chose to attend the party, he’d face another choice, whether to bring her female subordinate with him or leave her at the company for overtime.
“After that, the female boss would get drunk and have the male lead drive her home. The male lead would have 5 choices. The wrong choice would get him killed by the boss; if the male lead didn’t drive her home and return to the company to check on the female subordinate, he would trigger other choices but he’d be killed by the female subordinate in the end.
“We now have 27 deaths. At this point, I have to praise Xiao Guo. She has come up with 17 of them on her own. Her storyboarding is very detailed too like she has really considered the deaths in her mind.”
Brother fake tree praised Lee Guo Er and Han Fei wiped at his cold sweat.
“Leader, are you feeling warm?”
“It’s fine. Continue.”
“All the romantic choices are traps with death as ending. Every time the male lead died, he would wake up in the morning again. Eventually, he’d realize he had sunken into an endless nightmare. To escape from this nightmare, there is only one solution and that is for the male lead to make actual penance. He has to eliminate every woman’s hatred towards him and then kill himself in the end.”
“Wonderful idea.” Han Fei clapped. But internally, he wondered if he handed this proposal to Zhao Qian, the woman would think the game had been created with his life as the basis. If the game was published with the fact that it was based on real-life experience, it would outsell many other games.
“Everyone has worked hard, I will show this to the boss.”
Han Fei sent the proposal through email and walked to Zhao Qian’s office.