Ch66 - 8 Hour Game Battle

Nan Zhou’s previous life was full of conflicts.

On the one hand, it was boring, mechanical and repetitive. On the other hand, it was scary, twisted and abnormal. Thus, he fell in love with painting. This hobby could record life most intuitively, even the slightest difference, and it could also divert one’s attention well. 

Sketching was easy to talk about but colors were hard to learn. It was a small place and there was nowhere that sold paint. Therefore, Nan Zhou often went to find colored ores or glass bottles. He smashed them thoroughly, added walnut oil and grinded it into what he desired.

Nan Zhou turned his attic into a studio. His paintings were nothing. He drew what he saw and painted on whatever he could find.

The dropped cup.

The half broken door. 

The inside of the carton box.

Waste paper, walls or ceilings.

The most satisfactory painting Nan Zhou had ever done was the woman who planted the apple tree. He drew her figure on a white wall in the street. It was a sunny day that was like fire. The hot light was roasting his back and behind him, the people of the small town came and went without paying him any attention.

Nan Zhou did the painting himself. The woman’s lips were beautiful so they were very difficult to draw. Nan Zhou sat down and slowly adjusted the color of the walnut oil to the most suitable one. Just as he was adjusting the eighth red…

“Hey.” Someone spoke to him with a laugh. “This is a good painting.”

Nan Zhou raised his eyes. He squinted through the bright glare at the unfamiliar face and casually responded to the compliment, “Thank you.”

…….

Nan Zhou suddenly turned over and sat up. Li Yinhang had just finished her restful nap and was waking up while holding the squirrel statue. Nan Zhou abruptly made such a big action and it instantly sobered her up. The remaining sleepiness ran away completely. 

Jiang Fang hadn’t fallen asleep. He always kept a part of his mind observing the surroundings and he hadn’t noticed anyone approaching. He asked Nan Zhou, “What’s wrong?”

Nan Zhou looked at Jiang Fang. “It’s him.”

He finally remembered who Xie Xiangyu was. Xie Xiangyu’s face was somewhat different from the one in Nan Zhou’s memory. The current Xie Xiangyu was more vivid and younger. The most important thing was that the Xie Xiangyu of that time was much taller than he was now. This was why Nan Zhou hadn’t remembered him.

Jiang Fang wondered with interest, “Who is him?” 

Nan Zhou blinked. “I can’t tell you.”

“A friend?”

Nan Zhou looked at him disapprovingly. “I have no friends.”

Jiang Fang learned from his expression and tone. “Ah, is that so?” 

“You should learn from me.”

Jiang Fang raised an eyebrow. His always stable gentlemanly look showed a bit of playfulness. He stood up, stretched out his long arms and legs, his body in a pleasing curve. “I’m hungry. Do you want a midnight snack?”

The night view of Squirrel Town was as colorful as any carnival in reality. It was just that this place was different from reality after all. If this was reality, they might feel that an empty town without tourists was a bit weird and scary. After all, there was a competition among players. A town without players could give a particular sense of peace of mind.

They went to the restaurant they had been to this morning. The squirrel waiter was a low functioning NPC. The moment a guest entered and left her store, her memory would automatically refresh and she would completely forget the other person. She performed a patterned task of coming over to take orders and affectionately winked at Nan Zhou. 

…She once again left her phone number for Nan Zhou. Nan Zhou put the second napkin with her phone number in his pocket and watched her waving her fluffy tail. She was so careful because she only had the short memory of one meal at most. The next moment, she would forget. Such skills were really enviable.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Yet after looking from beginning to end, Li Yinhang failed to find her missing roommate’s name on the leaderboard. She thought, ‘She might be gone.’ 

Even ‘Eternal Life.Zhang Yi’, who had been number one on the overall leaderboard when they first entered, had completely disappeared. The first place position was replaced by a person called ‘Eternal Life.Su Di.’ It wasn’t known if Zhang Yi was a man or a woman, what instance they died in or the cause of death.

Li Yinhang was a bit worried. She had gone through two instances without losing a teammate. This gave her the illusion that they could really make it through the instances to become first in the rankings.

Now these two findings dispelled her unrealistic illusions. In order to reach the first position, they would inevitably have to step on some blood and bone.

Li Yinhang secretly clenched her fists. Cube Boat must win. Therefore, she must have determination and awareness, not delaying the team at the critical time. 

At this time, Jiang Fang was also looking at the leaderboard. He wasn’t looking at the singles leaderboard. He opened it to the front of the team leaderboard.

The name was ‘.’.

It was a concise full stop. For non-allied teams, the system wouldn’t give too much detailed information. The only information about this team was that it was a duo. Everything else was unknown. In short, the second ranked team had been replaced multiple times but their number one spot had never been shaken.

There were also people discussing this on the world channel. The vast majority of teams, such as Qu Jinsha, the owner of Douzhuan Casino, had traces to follow. Meanwhile, ‘.’ had been ranked at the top from the beginning. No one had teamed up with them and no one had seen them. Even more curiously, someone had patiently gone through the singles leaderboard and didn’t see a single player with the ‘.’ prefix. 

After discussing for a while, they came to the conclusion that this ‘.’ was probably the GM account used for system testing. Some people had speculated that once the score of the second place team exceeded that of ‘.’, the game rules would change. The team that passed ‘.’ would be considered the winner. The winner of the singles and team leaderboards would be decided at that time.

Others disagreed. It was because simply by relying on instances and comparing points, objectively speaking, the ones who entered the game first were superior to those who came later. The evidence was that those currently at the top of the singles and team leaderboards had come much earlier. If it went by the criteria of who could surpass ‘.’ first, the later teams would be too disadvantaged.

This was why some players thought that this ‘.’ was a threshold set by the game system. Once they crossed it, the system might restrict them regarding the selection of levels. For example, engage in a compulsory elimination game or something.

The development of the world channel was indeed beneficial. Not only would there be insults, arguments and deals but there would also be sparks flying when all sorts of deals collided. 

Just like now.

The players discussed the origin and role of ‘.’ before going back to discussing what the masterminds behind the scenes had in mind when imprisoning them in this game.

Jiang Fang looked at the hot discussion area and didn’t express any opinions. His fingers gently touched the name ‘.’ on the operations panel. The action was gentle and intimate. It was like he was nostalgic about something to his bones.

*** 

It wasn’t until two days later that Squirrel Town gradually became bustling with players. They hadn’t revealed their true faces so even if the three of them walked openly on the street, no one would think they were the Cube Boat team that had tormented a group of players around two days ago just by reporting the time. Other players were openly talking about their deeds.

Li Yinhang sat by the fountain to rest. She thought this feeling was quite wonderful. She was quiet and quail-like as she lowered her head and played with the system, trying to keep a low profile.

Nan Zhou accompanied Nanji Star to play. He allowed Nanji Star to climb him like a tree and used a pine cone from a tree to play toss and catch. Soon, he felt someone staring at himself. This gaze didn’t belong to Jiang Fang beside him.

He shifted his gaze and saw a familiar face in the second floor window of a hotel. It was the girl he met in front of the signboard two days ago. Nan Zhou glanced over and the girl’s face turned red. She moved away from the window, running away faster than a rabbit. 

Nan Zhou, “……?”

Why? Was he ugly?

Lu Lulu of Sonorous Little Rose shrank down by the side of a window. All she could see before her eyes was Nan Zhou’s cold, clear glance that was like a small hook. She pressed a hand against her chest and could almost see her heartbeat through her clothes. She felt warm at that glance.

Two days ago when she saw him at the electronic display sign, he had said he was leaving. Now he was back in Squirrel Town, just like herself. Was this fate? She was wondering if she should go downstairs to talk to him and continue the relationship when Chen Meibing’s voice was heard from the said. “Hey, Three Lu.” 

“Huh?”

Chen Meibing pointed out the window. “You also think that person is familiar, right?”

Lu Lulu was stunned. She realized that Chen Meibing was staring out the window at Nan Zhou just like her. Lu Lulu hurriedly patted her arm, full of shyness. “Oh, don’t look! He is going to find us!”

Chen Meibing, “……” 

Chen Meibeing squinted at her speechlessly and continued to look downstairs. Nan Zhou was raising a hand to the tree, signaling for Nanji Star to jump into his hand. Nanji Star didn’t want to come down. He held the small branch and rolled his body, causing the branch to shake. Nan Zhou shook his head in silence and refused to go. No, don’t play. Come down.

Looking at his side profile, Chen Meibing frowned even more. “I think he is very familiar.”

Shao Qian was busy organizing the new instance information collected yesterday and now she said with a smile, “The good-looking ones feel familiar to you.”

“No.” Chen Meibing refuted it. “I really have seen him before.” 

She murmured to herself, “Where have I seen him…?”

However, no one could answer her doubts.

***

The three A-grade gift packs that arrived along with the 75,000 points were pretty perfunctory. The breakdown was that they shared 10 levels, 500 hours of oxygen use and 20 sets of three vouchers for accommodation that could be used at any rest points. In contrast, they were more looking forward to the rewards from the ‘Sha, Sha, Sha’ instance. In this instance, Cube Boat had received an S-grade rating. 

A day later, the items gift pack came late. This time, Li Yinhang’s luck was good. She actually got an A-grade item. She drew a weapon.

[Item Name: Right Hand Light Finger Chain]

[Usage Description: Excellent close and ranged combat item. Excellent unlimited refill ability, excellent evolution ability, excellent decorative…]

[In short, it is an excellent weapon!] 

[However, it is an excellent weapon for level 0.]

The finger chain had five flower-shaped silver stone rings that fit perfectly on the user’s fingers and could be worn in sequence on the fingers of the right hand. It was an evolution weapon as the introduction said.

Once she bent her fingers, the rings would subtly refract light at a particular angle. She could manipulate this light. However, this light was soft when thrown away by her. It was like a silk thread tethered to a yo-yo.

After a while, the light disappeared. How to put it? This feature was strange. This item was useless except to prove that her luck was still intact. 

Li Yinhang knew she couldn’t handle it and traded it with Nan Zhou. Nan Zhou gave her the B-grade item in exchange.

[Item Name: Lime Powder 24 Pack]

[Usage Description: Just throw it out!]

[It is necessary for fights between street hooligans. It has no cooldown time and can be used without cost.] 

[Except for your vision!]

Li Yinhang felt this simple and brutal attack was more suitable for her and she was very satisfied. Only Jiang Fang drew a C-grade item.

[Item Name: Everyone Loves Beauty]

[Usage Description: I said in the mirror, I love you too.] 

[Theoretically, it can be used infinitely.]

[It is because the heart that loves beauty won’t stop.]

Jiang Fang held his item and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Nan Zhou earnestly told him, “It is very suitable for you.” 

Jiang Fang touched his face and felt better. “Thank you.”

At the end of the three day rest and using the boss to cheat a large number of points from the system, Cube Boat once again chose to enter an instance. This time, they used the instance selection card the system sent them. This time, the game mode they chose was still PVE.

Now Li Yinhang had given up on wishing ‘don’t draw the supernatural instances.’

Take it step by step. 

Click and use.

The system randomly selected a level.

[Dear players of the Cube Boat team, hello~]

[Welcome to the instance…] 

Nan Zhou was ready to listen closely to the information of the game. However, he seemed to feel something strange. There was a buzzing in his ears as if something had burst open. He couldn’t hear anything due to the intense, pinprick-like tinnitus. Fine sweat slowly flowed down his back and a bit of heat built up at his waist. The moment the wind blew, his skin quickly calmed down.

He seemed to hear the familiar mechanical sound slowly telling the rules but Nan Zhou couldn’t concentrate at all. The familiar discomfort swept over his body, stripping away his strength with a force that almost drowned him, pulling him into endless darkness or endless light.

Nan Zhou’s tolerance to pain was very high and it was hard for ordinary discomfort to show on his face. He clenched his fists and calmly swallowed down the groans that spilled into his throat.

Once he opened his eyes, the first thing that came to view were five blurred figures. Underneath his feet was hard ground with the smell of old cement. They seemed to be in a building. This was all that Nan Zhou could perceive right now. 

Like the first Xiao Ming’s Daily Life instance, they were directly face-to-face with their teammates. However, the teammates they encountered this time were unlike the previous ones.

The first man was around 1.8 meters tall. He was tall and upright, with a straight waist and an outstanding temperament. He had an upright strength like a poplar tree. He walked up to the three of them and gave a military salute.

“Hello.” The man spoke with a clean and refreshing energy. “I am He Yinchuan, the captain of the Bronze Brigade. It is one of the volunteer action teams set up by the state in regards to the disappearance incident. Our mission is to assist the masses in completing the game and to protect the lives of the masses to the greatest extent possible.”

After the routine self-introduction, He Yinchuan gave a bright smile, showing his beautiful teeth. “Hello. I am He Yinchuan, former captain of the Police and Fire Brigade of S City.” 

Li Yinhang whose mind hadn’t returned, “……”

She wasn’t at all surprised by the appearance of such an organization. It was just that she had been nervous about entering the strange environment and this intimacy caused her to suddenly relax. She even wanted to call out ‘Uncle Police.’

Jiang Fang raised an eyebrow with interest. This situation was beyond his common sense. Why would anyone be willing to risk their lives to enter such a place? He looked at Nan Zhou in order to see how this person would blink curiously.

The next moment, Jiang Fang’s expression changed completely. There happened to be a window behind Nan Zhou. Outside the window, there was a huge full moon that was terrible. The moon was enlarged by over 100 times and even the potholes on it could be seen. This great sense of oppression came down from the sky, like the huge and indifferent silver face of a monster looking down on the world. 

With the bright silver glow of the full moon as the background, Nan Zhou’s trembling eyes and eyebrows looked more beautiful. They gave the illusion of fragility.