Highest Achievements: Reversing the Faction, Undercover Operations

The person behind him disappeared. Xing Ye immediately took out a mirror; he saw Lu Mingze still in the reflection, and let out a slight sigh of relief.

Waiting on the stairs, Guan Ling and Cao Qian rushed over upon hearing the noise. Seeing that Xing Ye had returned while the door belonging to his brother, Xing Shuo, was closed, the tension they had been carrying eased.

“It’s only been an hour; you’re really fast,” Cao Qian said, who was in charge of timing.

Guan Ling replied, “At this point, it should be said that you’re efficient. How can you call it speed for a big shot?”

He made a little joke, and Cao Qian shot him a glare.

Xing Ye ignored Guan Ling. He recalled his experiences behind the door, where he had been unable to understand the words of his brother, Xing Shuo, due to some constraints. Now, he almost understood everything.

In the mirror, Lu Mingze said, “You need to scan this QR code quickly. This isn’t something that can be drawn with a brush. Hurry up; I feel like my initial skills won’t be able to hold onto it for long.”

A QR code appeared on the mirror, the same one that was tucked in Xing Shuo's book.

Xing Ye sensed the urgency in Lu Mingze's words. He had a feeling that if he didn’t use the Truth Mirror's ability to scan it now, he wouldn’t be able to scan it successfully later, no matter how he tried to draw it.

He picked up his phone to scan and saw the following:

Player Name: Xing Shuo
ID: s7903
Number of Game Worlds: 73
Players Defeated: 178
Players’ Consciousness Erased: 7
Final Level Points: 1.2 million
Points Withdrawn: 0
Initial Skills: Knowledge Power, Kua Fu Chasing the Sun
Game Status: Direct Fall in the Final Level
Highest Achievements: Reversing the Faction, Undercover Operations
Final Title: A Failure at the Last Step

“A Failure at the Last Step…” Was this the system’s evaluation of Xing Shuo? Normally, a player who failed at the final level should directly become an item, but his brother, Xing Shuo, fell directly, and the game considered his highest achievement to be “Reversing the Faction.” What did he do? Did he reverse his faction from obedient to rebellious, or did he turn rebellious players into items?

Either way, Xing Shuo challenged the game’s rules and was only a step away from the final throne.

Before Xing Ye went abroad, his brother Xing Shuo should have been on the verge of success. But he wasn’t sure if he would win, which is why he chose to check the QR code. If he won, when Xing Ye returned, he would see his brother, who could easily come up with an excuse to brush off the earlier mention of “having something to say.” If he lost, there would be two scenarios: either Xing Ye would believe his brother’s cause of death and no longer pursue it, or it would be the current situation.

The system listed "Reversing the Faction" and "Undercover Operations" as the final achievements of his brother, which meant that Xing Ye's entry into the game was rated the same way as "Reversing the Faction."

His brother, Xing Shuo, was an obedient player, and he couldn’t have any obedient items. At present, it was known that only obedient items could truly erase a person’s consciousness, yet his brother killed seven people in the game—not the kind of killing that results in losing points for defeating someone, but actual, real-world murder.

Behind the door, Xing Shuo showed no sign of sadness; he only had a calm indifference to victory or defeat. He anticipated his loss and didn’t even consider the option of becoming an item. If he won, he would take the throne; if he lost, he would die.

At this moment, Xing Ye realized he truly didn’t understand his brother. He didn’t know that his brother had a sense of world-weariness that drew him to the game. He was unaware of his brother's ruthless killing within the game, nor did he realize how extreme he was, preferring death over becoming an item.

And then there were their parents behind the door... Xing Ye was sure that wasn’t the true essence of his parents, but rather his brother’s impression of them. He wondered why his brother felt the need to let them appear behind the door. Was it to allow him a glimpse of them, or was there a deeper meaning?

While Xing Ye was deep in thought, the information on his phone suddenly refreshed, and his brother's information page changed to “404” (NT: HTTP status code for "Not Found" ). He scanned the QR code on the mirror again, only to see a message stating, “This link has expired.”

Xing Ye recalled that while he was behind the door, he had memorized the QR code pattern, but Lu Mingze insisted he hold the mirror to his chest so that it faced the QR code directly, reflecting its image.

“Did you think that QR code might expire at that time?” Xing Ye asked.

Lu Mingze replied, a bit embarrassed, “I didn’t think that much. It was just a hunch; it felt better to use the Truth Mirror’s ability to remember it. By the way, your brother gave you a painting—do you know what it’s about?”

Xing Ye patted his chest; he clearly remembered tucking the painting away, but now it was gone.

The painting depicted a child chasing the sun...

Suddenly, Xing Ye realized something. He opened the interface for his initial skills on his phone.

His initial skill, Eye of Impression, fused with Lu Mingze's Eye of Truth. He should have only had one skill left, "Repainting Brush," but now a second skill—Kua Fu Chasing the Sun—appeared on his page.

(NT: Kua Fu (夸父) is a mythology figure. He was determined to catch the sun to bring light to the world)

"Kua Fu Chasing the Sun" told of an ancient warrior named Kua Fu, who was strong and believed there was nothing he couldn’t accomplish. He chased the sun with his staff but ultimately died from exhaustion. Also known as "the one who races the sun" or "the one who attempts to capture time," it represented humanity's desire to transcend the limits of a finite life and the yearning for eternal life. Its effect was to stop an enemy's time for one minute, deducting 50 points, with a cooldown time of 24 hours.

No wonder Xing Shuo’s highest achievement was “Undercover Operations.” He not only found a way for Xing Ye to smuggle himself into the game, but also, even after his death, managed to grant Xing Ye an initial skill!

This initial skill completely compensated for the shortcomings of the "Repainting Brush." The biggest problem with the "Repainting Brush" was that there was a time gap when Xing Ye was drawing the QR code, during which he had no ability to protect himself. With the power of "Kua Fu Chasing the Sun," Xing Ye’s capabilities were now flawless.

It was equivalent to having two initial skills, both obtained through special means by his brother, Xing Shuo. What exactly did his brother do in those seventy-plus games?

Previously, Xing Ye believed the order of the doors on the second floor was arranged by time; now it seemed to be arranged by personal ability. Lu Mingze entered the final level after his brother but was placed fifth, while Xing Shuo’s door was in first place!

Standing in front of the door, Xing Ye looked at the painting and murmured, “You are better than I am.”

It was just a pity that he chose the wrong faction from the beginning and... crossed the line.

In the game, Xing Shuo killed seven people, which would be enough to warrant a life sentence or even the death penalty in the real world. Regardless of his reasons or intentions, it was something the system did not allow.

“The killer is always hunted by others,” Xing Shuo repeatedly emphasized this phrase behind the door. The Black and White Rubik's Cube had also told Xing Ye that the system did not encourage killing. It constantly tempted players to commit crimes but did not encourage it...

Xing Ye turned to face the door of the rebellious players, all of which were adorned with weapons. In the world of Puppet City, Randy's disdain for life meant that someone like him would likely die even if they reached the final level.

As long as someone’s consciousness had been erased in the game, they would definitely fall in the final level. The game continuously tempted players to kill. According to Randy, even without obedient items, it was possible to draw a QR code that erased consciousness as a reward, indicating that such QR codes were not rare; the game supplied them to players in bulk, step by step enticing everyone to commit crimes.

No wonder the throne had remained empty until now.

During this journey behind the door, Xing Ye learned a lot but also gained many questions.

How did a Fate-defying player become an item? How did his following Fate brother manage to kill? Why did his parents appear behind the door? What was the depth of the game’s malice toward humanity?

For those trapped behind the door, were their souls imprisoned or had they already been freed?

Xing Ye stood before the rows of doors, lost in thought.

Guan Ling and Cao Qian were filled with questions but dared not ask, quietly waiting for Xing Ye to contemplate.

After a long while, Xing Ye finally asked, “Did anything special happen while I was behind the door?”

“The monster in the attic went wild and tried to break out, but luckily the door was locked,” Guan Ling pointed upstairs and said, “It was particularly loud right before you were about to exit.”

Cao Qian mentioned the time, and Xing Ye mentally calculated it—roughly when Xing Shuo had handed him the painting.

During the undercover operation, he must have angered the system, which is why the monster upstairs was so furious, Xing Ye thought to himself.

“Did you find a way to escape without committing suicide?” Guan Ling asked cautiously. “Also, did you meet your brother? Did you gain anything?”

“Yeah,” Xing Ye nodded. “I saw him. Although it was brief, it felt like the first time I had a proper conversation with Xing Shuo. I realized he was a person far superior to me.”

He looked at Cao Qian and Guan Ling, advising, “No matter what, we must never kill. I mean erasing consciousness, especially you, Cao Qian. You’re holding a weapon now and have the means to cross the line, but you absolutely must not do it, understand?”

Cao Qian silently nodded.

Guan Ling looked at Xing Ye with longing; he really wanted to get out.

“There is a way,” Xing Ye said. “Just as I previously guessed, the attic leads to the sky. It looks down upon the earth, revealing the divide between humans and nature. It represents a stance that is inconsistent with this cemetery; it symbolizes the game system. The monster in the attic should be the system’s means of monitoring the graveyard, preventing players from entering while also keeping the graveyard's consciousness from entering the game world. The lock on the attic is a collective consciousness used to seal the monster; they do not interfere with each other, and neither can harm the other.”

Cao Qian frowned and asked, “But will our presence disrupt this balance? If we want to enter the attic, whether by killing the monster or breaking the lock, it would be a form of destruction. I sympathize with the consciousness in the graveyard and don’t want the monster to harm them, but they truly cannot enter the game world either, as it would pose a danger to the players.”

Earlier, several players had been permanently trapped here due to the interference of the door. They neither breached the final level nor had their consciousness erased by other players; they were simply deceived.

“You’re right,” Xing Ye nodded. “So we can’t harm the monster or open the attic’s lock, yet we need to reach the peak of the castle—the tip of the attic—because only there can we return to the game world.”

“How do we do that?” Guan Ling asked. “How can we get to the rooftop without going through the attic?”

“There’s another way,” Xing Ye pointed to the third-floor window. “We can go up from the outside.”

 

Translator : DarNan