Since the melee world has a so-called "true ending," could it be possible that a true and false final stage also exists?

After hearing Yang Xiaomao’s words, Qian Daniu finally understood a bit. She really wanted to say, “Why do we have to challenge the system? With such strong power, we could just wipe out our opponents in one wave, win 10,000 points, exchange them for cash, and go back to the real world to enjoy life!”

But then she thought about it again—Yang Xiaomao had just created four paper substitutes in one go, and the points consumed were astronomical in Qian Daniu’s eyes. This meant that he didn’t care about points at all. In the previous world, who knows how many points he had earned. With that kind of ability, why wouldn’t he try challenging a high-difficulty task?

Thinking of it that way, she could understand Yang Xiaomao. But a new problem arose—she was just a player who wanted to earn a few points in the game, exchange them for a little cash, not be greedy, not take too much, just enough to make life a bit better. Why on earth did she have to follow a bigshot to challenge the system?

Yang Xiaomao and Cao Heihei were simply overwhelming to her, but Li Datou looked silly and sweet, and he was even quite handsome. Even though he was from the opposing camp, he must be just like her—a salted fish at heart. Without realizing it, Qian Daniu found herself inching closer to Li Datou.

But then Li Datou said, “I get it. So who are we going to fight? The mountain god?”

Qian Daniu: “…”

Why is everyone in this team such a fighter?!

Xing Ye explained, “Not necessarily. I’ve been wondering about that mysterious force controlling people, and why the mountain god exists in the first place. This world always gives me a strange sense of disconnection. Even the Casino World didn’t feel like this. If I were to call it a mental world, it doesn’t quite fit either.”

There was still too little information. For now, they could only investigate this far.

Xing Ye continued, “Also, I’ve found another trap in the system. Datou didn’t experience the Mental World with us and hasn’t been to the cemetery. Heihei, tell Datou what we saw there.”

Cao Qian briefly told Yan Hebi and Qian Daniu about the countless graves they had seen in the Mental World, and Qian Daniu turned pale with fright.

“So many people died? No one cleared it? How could this be?” Qian Daniu said in panic. “You’re lying to me, right? Or maybe it was just an illusion in the Mental World? Because how could there only be ten people who challenge the final stage? Clearly, in the advanced world, you just need ten consecutive wins plus five true endings in the Melee World to be eligible for the final stage! I’ve even seen players who had nine consecutive wins, with the next world being the final stage!”

Cao Qian and Yan Hebi both turned to look at Qian Daniu. Since they hadn’t been in the advanced world for long, they didn’t have much connection with other teammates and had never heard of such a thing.

Xing Ye reacted, “That’s exactly the other thing I discovered. I’ve always wondered how a player of Randy’s level could be only one step away from the final stage. His skill level was far too low.”

Cao Qian also found it strange. Seeing Yan Hebi and Qian Daniu’s confusion, she briefly explained about reincarnation players.

When she finished, all three looked toward Xing Ye.

Qian Daniu was now terrified. She wanted to lean into Li Datou’s arms for comfort, but after thinking about it, she leaned into Cao Heihei’s instead—Heihei made her feel much safer.

Cao Qian: “…”

Facing three pairs of eyes, Xing Ye said seriously, “When I saw Wang Sifang’s pendant, I began wondering—are there too many fate-following props in the advanced world? Based on the cemetery, only ten people have truly challenged the final stage, five of whom were fate-followers. That number doesn’t match the quantity of fate-following props. Of course, fate-followers who slack off for ten worlds will become props, but those players are rare, and the numbers still don’t match.

“There’s only one explanation for all this: since the Melee World has a so-called true ending, could the final stage also have both a real and a fake version?”

The three were stunned. Cao Qian and Yan Hebi seriously pondered Xing Ye’s question, while Qian Daniu asked, “Why would it be fake? This is clearly the system’s rule!”

“When has the system ever given us actual rules?” Xing Ye asked. “It never explains, never denies, never takes responsibility. Everything is left for players to guess, and it loves giving you despair at the very last moment.”

Cao Qian wondered, “So if we win according to the system’s prescribed way, we’ll only meet our doom in the end. No one who enters this game will survive.”

Xing Ye shook his head. “It’s not that hopeless. There’s still hope. Only by defeating fate can we qualify to challenge the true final stage. That’s why we can’t be led by the system—we have to find the hidden rules in the worlds and overturn them.”

His younger brother Xing Shuo was an exceptionally smart person. Why would he need so many worlds before challenging the final stage? It must be because he realized this truth and deliberately slowed his pace.

Lu Mingze was the same—given his luck, winning ten in a row would be too easy, yet Little Mirror still stayed in the advanced world for a long time. It was because they were challenging the real final stage that the process was so difficult.

‘I’m standing on the shoulders of those who came before,’ Xing Ye thought quietly.

For Yan Hebi and Qian Daniu, it was their first time hearing about the Mental World. But rather than despairing, Yan Hebi calmly thought for a moment and said, “Since we want to understand the world’s rules, I’ll tell you about my day.”

Yan Hebi had woken up in Li Datou’s home. Li Datou was an orphan who, after surviving the mountain god sacrifice, had been given a brick house by the village (better than Yang Xiaomao’s). As soon as Yan Hebi arrived in this world, he received a notice to gather at the village chief’s house along with several other members of the guard team.

On the way, he encountered the village branch secretary, who stood inside his house, opened the window, and spoke to him, inviting him in for a chat—never stepping outside.

Inside, they spoke casually. The secretary said his youngest son was also in the sacrificial team this year and asked Yan Hebi to help bring him back.

Still confused about the plot at that time, Yan Hebi just nodded strategically. The secretary then handed him a cup of tea. Yan Hebi felt momentarily dizzy, though he quickly recovered. He suspected the secretary might be a player doing something harmful to him—maybe killing him before he even met the bigshots.

Fortunately, nothing happened. After drinking the tea, he left and continued toward the village chief’s home.

At that moment, he noticed the sun’s position—it had been exactly noon when he left the house, and he’d only spent about half an hour inside. But the shadows now indicated it was around 2 p.m. That brief “dizziness” had actually been over an hour of lost consciousness.

Before he reached the village chief’s home, a strong man stopped him, saying the chief was currently giving money to the families of the sacrifices. Since the families were sad, the chief needed to comfort them, so everyone should wait in another room.

The strong man took Yan Hebi to the village committee dormitory, where he saw four other players. It wasn’t really a dormitory—this village had no outsiders, so no one lived there. At 3 p.m., the chief arrived and told them they would stay here until the mountain god festival.

The chief briefly explained some precautions, gave them a map of the mountains, appointed the only female player, Niu Xiaohua, as captain, arranged for food, and left.

The meal was nothing but weeds and coarse rice—utterly inedible, and the players nearly gagged.

During the meal, they exchanged some information. The guard team’s makeup was similar to the sacrifice team. Yan Hebi and Liang Ergou were new players—Yan Hebi in his third world, Liang in his second. Yan Hebi, Liang, and another player named Chang Laizi were fate-defiers. True to his name, Chang Laizi had a body covered in scabs and was extremely ugly. Looking at Liang Ergou’s name, Yan Hebi thought he was quite the tall, rich, and handsome among fate-defiers.

(NT: Làizi (癞子) literally means ‘someone with scabies’ or ‘someone with a skin disease’)

Niu Xiaohua and another player, Zhang Dali, were fate-followers—good names, good looks, living parents, the perfect fate-follower setup.

After chatting for a while, the experienced Niu Xiaohua and Chang Laizi both said the chief was probably just an NPC who gave out missions, and that if they waited patiently, something would happen.

Sure enough, before sunset, the chief returned and said he wanted to end the fate of sacrificing the village’s children. He had a way, but it was extremely cruel—they needed to kill five sacrificial children during the festival, pour their heart’s blood onto the mountain god when it appeared, and the village would be freed from its long-standing curse.

Yan Hebi thought this was far too cruel, but the others stayed calm. Zhang Dali said the five sacrifices were surely players and wouldn’t really die, so Yan Hebi needn’t worry.

Overall, Yan Hebi’s team was quite harmonious.

Before leaving, the village chief told them not to go out after dark and that it was best to act during the day.

However, they found out that during the day, the five sacrificial offerings were under the protection of Aunt Tian and Uncle Tian, making it hard to take action. It would be better to strike at night.

At this point, Yan Hebi mentioned the incident where he was drugged unconscious at the village branch secretary’s house. The team decided to investigate this mysterious village branch secretary that night — but as soon as they arrived, they ran into Qin Xiao’er and Wang Sifang, two children in red clothes who were obviously sacrificial offerings, and a fight broke out.

After that, Xing Ye and the others arrived at the east end of the village to meet up with Yan Hebi.

After hearing Yan Hebi’s account, Xing Ye’s group understood three things:

The village branch secretary knew that being outdoors in the daytime would result in being controlled, so when he summoned Yan Hebi, he never left his house. This man was hiding many secrets.

The protective pouch the village branch secretary gave to Qin Xiao’er was probably something he had tampered with while Yan Hebi was unconscious.

The time when the village chief had the guard team wait at the village committee dormitory coincided with when the parents of Xing Ye’s current body killed each other. The village chief had deliberately arranged for someone to lure the guard team away so they wouldn’t witness it.

The already murky plot did not become clearer from Yan Hebi’s account — instead, it became even more complicated.

Cao Qian carefully recorded Yan Hebi’s words one by one, and after writing everything down, she frowned and asked: “Does the village chief really want to end the Mountain God Festival? Then why does he keep turning living people into paper people? Aren’t paper people under the control of the Mountain God?”

Hearing this, a spark of realization flashed in Xing Ye’s mind. He shook his head and said:
“No. Fifty years ago, the village was entirely made up of living people, and then came the disappearance of children. The first paper person in the village was actually a child who survived as a sacrificial offering. And Qian Daniu’s mother also said she was safe — the Mountain God wouldn’t let her be a sacrifice.”

Yan Hebi thought: “So the village chief is actually a good person? By turning the villagers into paper people, he’s helping them escape the Mountain God’s control? And now he’s found a way to end the Mountain God Festival? So the living corpses in the black mist are the real villains?”

Cao Qian shook her head: “But the way the village chief treated Yang Xiaomao’s parents was far too cruel. I don’t see any kindness in him.”

Yan Hebi said: “What if he has his reasons? Great deeds require breaking a few rules — there always have to be sacrifices, right?”

The two looked at each other, neither able to convince the other.

At this moment, Qian Daniu, whose face had been pale the whole time, asked in a trembling voice: “What are you even talking about? We’re all going to die in the end. Aren’t you scared? Why are you still so eager to study the plot and prepare to challenge the real final stage? Hasn’t no one ever succeeded? Everyone dies.”

Cao Qian said: “Just because no one has before, doesn’t mean no one ever will.”

Having been through the Casino World, Yan Hebi nodded firmly “I can’t do it myself, but I believe someone can.”

The two of them looked at Xing Ye, who was deep in thought. In this hopeless world, if there was even a single shred of hope, it could only be Xing Ye.

 

Translator : DarNan