CH 38

Returning to the set to prepare for the game’s storyline, the director and his team anxiously awaited the arrival of the lead actor, Bai Huaiyu. They wondered why they couldn’t reach him.

Director Lin frowned and said, “Where has Mr. Bai gone? If he doesn’t come to the studio soon, we’ll be wasting a day’s worth of expenses. The whole crew is waiting for him.”

The assistant director added, “I tried contacting his agent, but even I couldn’t get through.”

Director Lin sighed in frustration, waving his hand, signaling for someone to continue trying to reach Mr. Bai.

Today’s scene would be incomplete without Bai Huaiyu. The main highlight of this esports campus youth idol drama was to showcase the protagonist’s heroic rescue of the female lead, who was trapped by the boss in the game. It was a stunning moment where the protagonist’s expert gaming skills would captivate the audience.

As the male lead, Bai Huaiyu’s absence meant that Liu Sishan, who played the female lead Yao Ke, had to prepare for today’s shoot. In the drama, Yao Ke was the guild leader ‘Yao Yao Qianli,’ ranked second in the game and a rare female Omega player with exceptional gaming skills.

However, Liu Sishan felt a bit hesitant, suddenly recalling the scary scene she encountered while playing ‘Star River Battlefield’ at home two days ago.

A shiver ran down her spine.

Liu Sishan shook her head to clear her mind and focused on the game ‘Star River Battlefield.’ Unfortunately, she was a clumsy gamer and usually only played casual simulation games.

‘Star River Battlefield’ required advanced gaming skills, so she had enlisted the help of her cousin, who was obsessed with esports games in high school, to give her lessons.

Her cousin always complained that she was interrupting his time to worship the gaming gods. Recently, there was a popular free player in ‘Star River Battlefield’ with a name consisting of a jumble of letters, but the initials were K, so everyone privately referred to him as K God.

Initially, K God was just an unknown free player, but one time, another player captured a video of him single-handedly defeating a level 30 insectoid swarm, maneuvering his low-level mech flawlessly, with zero errors, like a skilled imperial military pilot.

Some speculated that he might be an elite imperial mech pilot, perhaps even a military officer playing a game for fun.

Technical enthusiasts analyzed the recording, and despite the relentless encirclement by the insectoids, K God’s mech seemed to have eyes in the back of its head. Multiple times, the insectoids approached the mech from behind, within the field of view of the rear camera, yet K God effortlessly turned the tables and counterattacked.

Thus, the tech enthusiasts concluded that K God must be a fraud since no one could achieve such flawless gameplay without blind spots.

Human eyes have a horizontal field of view of up to 188 degrees, and when combined with a mech’s screens, it can provide a 360-degree perspective. However, regular mech pilots can only handle a visual range of 280 to 300 degrees, anything more would be overwhelming for them.

Many people believed the conclusions of the gaming tech enthusiasts and started mocking K God as a fabricated gaming prodigy.

Then they were slapped in the face.

Walking through the virtual realm of the game, K, like a glitched gaming machine, repeatedly shattered the records of game dungeons. Numerous players witnessed firsthand K’s incredible skills, as he effortlessly executed seemingly impossible game maneuvers.

Many people came seeking to challenge K, only to be met with a thousand-star coin fee imposed by K himself. And without mercy, K defeated them, leaving them in tears.

It appeared that K was in need of money. Whenever others spotted him, he would be either clearing dungeons or selling equipment along the way. In order to get closer to him, many of K’s fans even purchased numerous rare and valuable mech components, most of which were obtained through record-breaking achievements.

Several gaming guilds attempted to recruit K by offering substantial sums of money, and there were even rumors of military personnel seeking to recruit him, all of which were declined.

Over time, players in the Star River Battlefield became aware of this enigmatic, free-spirited gaming deity, and encountering K became a badge of honor.

Liu Sishan didn’t dare to hope for the same level of proficiency as the adored gaming deity. She merely wished that her in-game character wouldn’t behave like a fool, wielding weapons with a baffling stride, only to be countered and killed by the insect race.

Liu Sishan logged into her gaming account, intending to practice basic movements in ‘Star River Battlefield.’ The appearance of her in-game character closely resembled her real-life self, and even the character’s expressions changed in response to the player’s real-life expressions.

Director Lin opted to forgo special effects and had the actors directly participate in the game for filming. After all, the game’s artificial intelligence processing power was incredibly advanced. It could accurately simulate the actors’ microexpressions, muscle movements, heart rate, and pulse, rendering them indistinguishable from real-life.

By filming within the game, the need for sets and studios was eliminated. Director Lin even rented a game newbie village from the game’s intelligent NPCs as a shooting location and hired NPCs and some curious players as extras. It’s safe to say that this approach saved a significant amount of money compared to using real-life actors.

As Liu Sishan entered the game, she couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. Ever since the fright she experienced two days ago, she hadn’t dared to log in again. She wondered if that strange figure was an in-game NPC or something else entirely…

Even if it were an NPC, it was still terrifying.

Upon logging in, she found herself in the same map she left before: The Cloudy Mist Forest.

It was an ordinary forest within the game, abundant with a type of metal ore and populated by wolves and rabbits, which new players loved to visit for experience grinding.

Liu Sishan had finally reached level ten after leaving the newbie village, and she eagerly set off for the new map— The Cloudy Mist Forest. However, she accidentally stumbled upon a mysterious swamp.

At first, she thought she had discovered the hidden dungeon her cousin mentioned and felt a tinge of excitement. But before long, she was frightened by a ghostly NPC within the game, forcing her to exit. The NPC’s words had truly sent shivers down her spine.

“It seems like I didn’t see that ghost NPC this time.”

Li Sishan patted her chest in relief. It was still the same swamp, but she didn’t spot that ghost NPC.

However, after taking a few steps, Li Sishan heard a faint sobbing sound, like the gentle drizzle seeping into her heart, filled with desolation and sorrow.

Sure enough, Li Sishan saw the ghostly girl again and was instantly scared offline.

Since Bai Huaiyu hadn’t arrived yet, the crew members were idle and couldn’t start shooting.

Si Huaixi was no exception. Since he had fewer scenes today, he entered the virtual game warehouse. Director Lin asked them to familiarize themselves with the newly rented beginner village in the game, as they would later participate in guild battles with thousands of players and needed to practice their positioning.

Just as he logged in, someone approached him to buy equipment.

He casually named a price, and the player on the other side responded with a series of flattering compliments. It left Si Huaixi a bit puzzled. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought he was the buyer.

Fortunately, the player quickly sent the money, so Si Huaixi transferred the equipment and closed the temporary chat window, rejecting the friend request.

Being a cold and ruthless equipment merchant.

Strangely enough, recently there were always people in the game who actively challenged him. He found it annoying, so he started charging a one-time fee of a thousand Star Coins for the challenge. As a result, he earned hundreds of thousands…

Si Huaixi’s eyes were filled with confusion, but having saved a small fortune in the game made him quite satisfied. He gave half of the money to the private detective and kept the other half for personal use.

Li Sishan, still with lingering fear, went to find someone familiar in the crew and saw Si Huaixi in the virtual game warehouse. Summoning her courage, she knocked on the shell.

“Si Huaixi, I have something I want to ask you.”

Upon hearing this, Si Huaixi opened the virtual game warehouse and saw that it was Li Sishan, an actress in the crew who had always been friendly to him. He replied, tilting his head, “What’s the matter?”

After hesitating for a moment, Li Sishan said, “You might find me strange, but I encountered an NPC in the game. It seems to be a ghostly girl who asked for my help. I initially thought it was a game quest, but the places she mentioned are real locations in the Empire, and she said she has a brother who is a doctor named Yi Chengze…”

Si Huaixi’s pupils trembled slightly, and his expression unexpectedly turned serious.

If his guess was correct, this Yi Chengze was one of the five major male leads in ‘Interstellar Heartthrob,’ a skilled black doctor who operated in the gray area and provided great assistance to the protagonist with his exceptional medical skills. However, when the protagonist Bai Huaiyu first encountered Yi Chengze, he was nearly killed by the extremely cautious doctor.

Yi Chengze had relied on his own efforts to enter the Empire’s best medical school since childhood. His sister, however, disappeared in an accident, and despite reporting it to the police, no clues were found.

Yi Chengze couldn’t believe that his sister would vanish like that. She was an S-level Omega, which astonished everyone when the test results came out, as there had never been an S-level Omega, only S-level Alphas. He also noticed his sister’s abnormalities, like the ability to move objects seemingly at will. Feeling uneasy, Yi Chengze  immediately had his sister hide her abilities, determined to prevent her from being discovered by the outside world. But it was too late…

The mysterious disappearance of his sister drove Yi Chengze to the brink of mental collapse, splitting his personality into two: an evil and cunning black doctor, and a kind and friendly true self.

The evil and cunning black doctor, driven by his explosive mentality, almost killed the protagonist. However, in the end, because the protagonist’s eyes resembled his missing sister’s to some extent, he was imprisoned as a substitute and ended up falling in love and fighting with the protagonist. In an accidental moment, the protagonist’s pheromones overflowed, leading to Yi Chengze and the protagonist ending up in bed together. Ultimately, he surrendered to the tenderness of the protagonist, accepting the reality of his sister’s long-lost status.

Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters.  (๑>ᴗ