“The souls of eliminated players…”
“End… will enter the Black Room…”
“Mortality rate about to reach 100%…”
“I killed him…”
“—!”
Jiang Xiao abruptly opened his eyes. His chest heaved uncontrollably as he gasped for air. The chaotic, overlapping voices he had heard in his dream seemed to withdraw completely the instant he woke up.
His heart pounded fiercely.
The line of his back was taut, hidden beneath the soft fabric of his white T-shirt, his collarbone lines distinct.
His forehead was covered in sweat.
He knew very clearly that he’d just had a very long dream. But now, trying to recall it, his mind was surprisingly blank, unable to grasp even a single wisp of detail.
Jiang Xiao hunched forward slightly, pressing a hand to his forehead, feeling a dull ache in his head. He vaguely felt like he had forgotten something very important…
“Dear Player, congratulations on completing the Tutorial Stage. Do you require any assistance?”
Jiang Xiao jumped in fright, immediately looking up alertly: “Who’s talking?”
Only then did Jiang Xiao notice that he was in a place resembling a deep blue universe. Star rivers slowly rotated and drifted around him, and unaffected by gravity, he floated above this strange yet brilliant cosmos.
He finally slowly recalled that he had entered a game called 《Shattered Star》, but how had he fallen asleep?
“I am your System, ID G125.” The System’s mechanical voice sounded very artificial, seeming to emanate from the air itself. “Clearance rewards have been delivered to your Inventory. If you have any questions, you can check anytime.”
“Ding-dong!”
On the panel before Jiang Xiao’s eyes, the inventory icon lit up.
“You can choose to continue the game, or take a short rest. You can also look around. This is your Rest Room. Outside is the game lobby.” The System guided rigidly. “Mentally chant ‘exit’ to leave this place. Do you require any further assistance?”
“…” Jiang Xiao slowly tried to recall, asking uncertainly, “You just said, I completed a Tutorial Stage?”
“Yes.” The System said.
Jiang Xiao: “Why do I have no memory of it at all?”
Jiang Xiao’s memory stopped at the moment before he was about to enter the Instance, just before the blackness swallowed his consciousness.
The System was silent for a few seconds. Jiang Xiao heard a ‘beep beep’ scanning sound:
“Condition tested normal.”
“All your vitals are normal, but heart rate is elevated. Suspected cause: nightmare.”
Jiang Xiao: “…”
System: “Do you need any other help?”
Jiang Xiao naturally didn’t believe the System’s words. After all, it was his memory that was missing! This thing must be hiding something from him. But clearly, he couldn’t get any other information from the System, so he could only say: “I’ll call if I need you.”
Jiang Xiao tapped through his player panel one by one.
The clearance record column indeed showed he had passed the ‘Hotel Night of Terror’ stage, duration: 2 days, 9 hours, 8 minutes.
Jiang Xiao forced himself to recall, but his mind remained completely empty.
His inventory had five hundred Points and a six-star item called 【Lucky Star】. Jiang Xiao clicked to view it; the display showed the item had already been used three times.
Why did this feel like his account had been hacked?
Besides that, there was a clear, deep blue crystal shard. It was very beautiful, a faint halo of light seeming to float within the crystal, extremely limpid.
But the edges of this shard were very irregular in shape, as if it had been chipped off a whole star. Perhaps that’s why it was called Shattered Star.
Jiang Xiao clicked on it. This item was called 【Shattered Star · Four】. He had expected it to be some kind of collectible, but in the next second, Jiang Xiao’s eyes widened.
Name: Shattered Star · Four
Rank: Zero
Description: Using this item allows for direct clearance of the current Instance. This item is one-time use and will be automatically reclaimed after use.
If he remembered correctly, in this game, failing a task meant death.
This item’s function was practically equivalent to a second life!
But was this thing also part of the clearance reward?
Jiang Xiao vaguely felt something wasn’t right. After thinking for a moment, he finally realized where the problem lay.
If this was a reward from the Main Mission, then getting a similar item in every subsequent Instance would mean he could clear them all indefinitely, wouldn’t it?
Dropping this kind of item in a death game was practically like using a cheat code. And would the System really be so generous, giving him such a good item?
After pondering, Jiang Xiao locked the 【Shattered Star · Four】 and labeled it ‘Do Not Use’.
Something of unknown origin—best to save it, only to be used as a last resort.
Jiang Xiao decided to go outside and see.
As Jiang Xiao got up, he suddenly noticed black writing on the back of his hand. It seemed to be…
“T… 01… 2?” Jiang Xiao was baffled. “What is this now?”
“Oh!” He suddenly realized. Wasn’t this that part he’d been trying to find when assembling the Holographic Pod? But why would it be written on his hand? The handwriting looked a lot like his own.
Jiang Xiao closed his eyes, silently chanted ‘exit’, and when he opened his eyes again, he had entered a completely unfamiliar environment. The lobby was divided into four colored sections: Black, Red, Blue, and White, respectively “Customer Service Dept.”, “Copy Zone”, “Rest Room”, and “Interaction Zone”. Many people were bustling in and out, seeming very busy.
“Hey, bro, need a newbie guide? Very affordable price, only 10 Points.”
Jiang Xiao turned around to look at the speaker. He was a young man with a babyface and neat bangs, his smile very approachable.
“Newbie guide?” Jiang Xiao said. “What does that mean?”
“Buy my service, I’ll answer three questions for you.” Babyface said. “This is a newbie discount, won’t be this price later.”
“No need.” Jiang Xiao nodded politely. “I don’t have anything I want to ask you.”
“Hey!” Watching Jiang Xiao head straight towards the Customer Service Dept. area, Babyface was dumbfounded. He’d never been so decisively rejected before. “Any question, as long as I know it, I can answer for you!”
The newbies who came here, weren’t they all meek and timid, scared out of their wits by the Tutorial Stage, eagerly looking for someone to ask how to leave this game? How could this person not care at all!
Jiang Xiao: “But I don’t have that much money.”
Babyface froze: “Huh? How is that possible? Even just completing the Main Mission in the Tutorial Stage gives fifty Points. You couldn’t have failed even the Main Mission, right?”
Jiang Xiao now roughly understood the economy of this game.
Main Mission only gave fifty points, but his inventory had five hundred, a full ten times more. What was going on here?
Seeing Jiang Xiao lost in thought, seemingly hesitating, Babyface bit the bullet: “Then I’ll throw in one extra question for free!”
“My answers are very valuable. Even asking me for Instance clearance strategies is fine!” Babyface said. “And I’ll also give you a basic info pack about this game. It’s already a great deal!”
“But isn’t there a Customer Service Dept. over there?” Jiang Xiao pointed at the black hall. “Wouldn’t it be better to ask them?”
Babyface: “Do you see anyone going there? To ask the Customer Service Dept. a question, it’s not just Points you pay. It’s…”
“Your soul!”
The word ‘soul’ seemed to stir a part of Jiang Xiao’s memory. But he only felt dazed for a few seconds before the familiar feeling receded like the tide.
Still… can’t remember.
The other three halls were packed with people; only the Customer Service Dept. was empty. It seemed Babyface was right.
Jiang Xiao: “And what if you can’t answer my questions?”
Babyface was very generous: “Then they don’t count. You can ask again.”
The two struck a deal. Babyface led Jiang Xiao towards the White Interaction Zone.
Babyface: “Player trading is strictly limited to the Interaction Zone. You can trade all kinds of items here.”
Babyface: “Here, add me as a friend first, transfer the Points… not bad, you catch on quick.”
“This game forces players to enter an Instance within three days. You can pick the instance yourself. If you don’t pick in time, it’s random matchmaking. There are solo, duo, and multiplayer instances. But the more people, the higher the difficulty, so try to pick ones with fewer people, unless you have friends you know.”
“Points are a good thing; you can buy items. But items are generally very expensive, starting in the hundreds. Newbies can’t afford them. Save up slowly.”
“As for how to completely clear this game, I don’t know. Although some people have cleared it, it’s very, very rare, and they’re Big Shot types. Can’t get any specific intel.” Babyface shrugged, uttering cruel words. “But newbies don’t need to think that far. Your task is just… to survive.”
“Alright, those are the basics. What do you want to ask?”
Although Babyface seemed reliable, Jiang Xiao didn’t want to directly reveal his amnesia. Based on Babyface’s words, several hundred Points was already a lot of money, and Jiang Xiao’s inventory just happened to have that much. This was absolutely not what a newbie should have. Besides, the guy was so enthusiastic, it was like a pie falling from the sky.
“Why has this place become a real world?” Jiang Xiao said. “I only logged into a game.”
“We all entered by just playing the game.” Babyface said helplessly. “Maybe the heavens couldn’t stand us playing games; gamers must die.”
Jiang Xiao: “…”
“Just kidding.” Babyface giggled. “My guess is, because this game was originally still in its testing phase, something probably went wrong, causing our consciousness to remain in the game, unable to wake up.”
“Now we can only wait for the game company’s people to fix the malfunction, or see if we can be revived by some doctors one day.”
“…” Jiang Xiao thought uncertainly, his roommate should call him up to eat dinner. But he didn’t know how much time had passed in reality. Would his roommate have sent him to the hospital?
Getting sent to the hospital because of playing a game… seems a bit absurd.
“Second question…” Jiang Xiao said, “If you fail a mission, do you lose your memory, or do you die?”
“Of course you die!” Babyface said. “How could you lose your memory? After elimination, the System harvests your soul. Scary, right!”
Jiang Xiao: “…”
Harvest souls, so chuunibyou!
“Tell me more about items.” Jiang Xiao said.
“Items? Newbies find it very hard to get items at first. Although Main Missions can drop them, the probability is extremely low, only 0.1%. Completing Side Missions might get you items, but Side Missions are much harder than Main Missions. More importantly, doing Side Missions often unlocks a Hidden Mission!”
“If you answer the Hidden Mission wrong, you get eliminated all the same!”
“Hidden Missions… what are the rewards like?”
“Doing both Side and Hidden Missions can get you at least two or three hundred points, and possibly rare items.”
Babyface said: “Items are ranked from One to Six Stars. One-star is pretty useless; the higher the rank, the better the quality. Six-star items are rare.”
Jiang Xiao did have a six-star item in his inventory, but…
“Are there no other ranks?”
“Eh? Let me think… Ah, there’s also a Zero-rank item. This kind of super rare item can sell for tens of thousands on the market! Getting one would let you become instantly rich.”
“But it seems few people put them up for sale, so I don’t have any intel on that.”
Jiang Xiao just felt everything was getting stranger and stranger.
What exactly had he done in that Tutorial Stage to earn a Zero-rank item?
Things he had clearly done, yet he couldn’t recall a single bit of it.
“What’s wrong?” Babyface asked, seeing him deep in thought. “Newbies don’t need to think about these things now. After all, just surviving is hard enough. But hey, where’s your partner?”
“I don’t have a partner.” Jiang Xiao said. “I entered the game alone.”
“How can that be…” Babyface said, surprised. “Simple and Normal mode games are all dual-pod. You can’t enter solo.”
There had indeed been a discount for dual pods back then, but Jiang Xiao couldn’t afford it. He only bought a single pod.
Hearing Babyface, Jiang Xiao felt it was odd: “I came in alone.”
“Impossible… how could…” Babyface’s eyes widened more and more, seemingly thinking of an extremely improbable situation. “Only Hellish Difficulty allows single-person entry. You couldn’t be…”
“I did choose Hellish Difficulty.” Jiang Xiao said. “Is that strange?”
Babyface actually stuttered a bit: “Uh, no, not strange, just…”
“It seems very few people can pass a Hellish Difficulty Tutorial Stage.”
“Last question.” After repeatedly reading the game instructions several more times, Jiang Xiao said, “Do you know where to buy an Intimacy Lock?”
Although he didn’t know why, Jiang Xiao felt this matter was very important.
Babyface: “Wha… What? That kind of thing is important?”
Jiang Xiao nodded, perplexed: “Mhm… I feel like it should be very important to me.”
Babyface: “Er, you can open your game panel, go to the Shop system. You can search for items for sale and the seller’s basic info. Just private message them.”
Jiang Xiao nodded: “Thanks a lot.”
Babyface thought to himself: But, seriously, what’s so important about an Intimacy Lock?!
