Chapter 244
The more performers, the more expensive the props, the more complex the performance, and the higher the price. Whether it's a grand exit or a pre-faked epiphany leading to immortality, the shop will do its best to accommodate you if you pay enough. If you pay enough, the shop will even dare the gods to help you with the swindle. Of course, before doing so, you have to burn incense and throw the holy cup to ask the gods for approval. If the gods don't approve, you have to give up and try your luck with another god. Even if the shop wants to make money, it won't be so stubborn.
Not a fan of the Xiuxian style? We can still pull off a grand spectacle! While others have a ten-mile red wedding, we have a ten-mile farewell. A line of tall, dignified men and women, each dressed in ornate attire and wearing conical hats to conceal their faces, march in a solemn procession, escorting the coffin as it gradually disappears from the sight of the natives... It's a scene that tells a story! Not a fan? We have other styles too! Nothing is out of your imagination, unless the store lacks the resources.
Player X: Why not just pretend to be the army, or try to scam the royal family?
Shop owner: I just want to make money, you want me to die! You guys are dead and have nothing to worry about. If the real military royals come to our door, where will my little fake shop go?
The mysterious past service makes the process of canceling players' accounts interesting. Some people even spend money to pave the way for their own identities. When they go online again a few years later, they pretend to be relatives of the previous identity. In this way, they will automatically get a mysterious background without having to spend extra money to create a new identity background.
Fighting counterfeiting? If the person is gone, how can you fight it? Even if the real background of the previous account is found out, so what? The fake identity of the previous account is fake, what does it have to do with this account?
Pretending to be an immortal is a quest many players want to try, but good immortality packages are expensive and come with the risk of being exhumed by demonic natives. One player, after purchasing the mysterious past-time offer for immortality cultivation, had their grave excavated by insane natives seeking immortality. A friend of theirs was also kidnapped and threatened with murder, demanding the handout of their immortality manual. Had this friend not also been a player and immediately issued a quest for help after being kidnapped, the incident could have escalated into a tragedy.
The player's account was merely cancelled, not truly dead. Upon learning that his friend had suffered because of him in the otherworld, this wealthy player immediately contacted the player studio to launch a revenge mission, hiring seven players to take weekly shifts to trouble the native. Seeing the native's hapless state, the others became convinced of the player's illustrious background, unlocking new gameplay and, in conjunction with the mysterious past service, a new type of mission, called After-Sales Service.
Not everyone is willing to give up their previous interpersonal relationships after deleting their account. Some players will choose to be lone wolves after deleting their account, directly leaving the past behind to start a new life. Others will change their identities and continue to play with their old friends. As for whether to reveal their identities and pretend to escape, it depends on whether the previous mysterious past script leaves room for escape.
Sijin County Sister Group Exchange Group
Xiao Cheng: Comrades, is anyone interested in the mysterious past missions?
Xiao Cheng: We're temporarily short of staff, and the shopkeeper said we can ask the sisters for help. Today only, salary is paid daily, and a confidentiality agreement must be signed. If you want to join, please join the group.
Fellow player: A mysterious past? Someone's account was cancelled? When did this happen? Isn't Sijin County safe?
Xiao Cheng: It's not a death cancellation, it's a gorgeous exit with a swift after-sales service. She has a bad temper and meddles in other people's affairs too often. Her bad luck has affected her normal life in the other world, so she plans to stop logging in to grind for merit and clean up her account.
Guan Shu: Account cleanup? Wait, I think I guessed who you're talking about... Ji Qiang?
Xiao Cheng: ...
Xiao Cheng: Sisters who are interested, please sign the agreement and move to the task group to continue communication. Thank you for your cooperation.
Private chat channel
Xiao Cheng: Take it back! My boss will dock my salary if he sees it!
Guan Shu: We are withdrawing.
Guan Shu: Don't be too nervous. Everyone in Sijin County knows Ji Qiang. Can Sister Mei still deduct money from you for such a small matter?
Xiao Cheng: We know each other, but as long as she is a client, the information must be kept confidential!
Guan Shu: Okay, okay, it has been withdrawn.
Attacking the natives would bring bad luck, a restriction imposed on players by the system and the laws of the otherworld. Because players are theoretically immortal, and with forums to mitigate information asymmetry, attacking the natives at will would upset the balance of the otherworld. Only when the natives are nearing their doom will they be severely punished by players, but if that happens, players will not bother to take action.
Before reaching Sijin County, Bei Qiao's counterattacks on the road were carefully considered. She couldn't directly attack those who didn't attack her but harbored ill intentions; she could only distract them. However, this didn't stop her from letting her mount take action. She was an outsider, but both her donkey and her horse were native animals, weren't they?
Bei Qiao: I can't act rashly, but... close the door and release the mount!
While fighting for justice on behalf of others can bring bad luck, some players simply don't care, unleashing powerful blows on villains without hesitation, relying on their exceptional skills to weather the subsequent bad times. Ji Qiang, a player from Sijin County, is one such hardcore player. A three-time champion of real-life martial arts competitions, she forged a path in this alternate world entirely through her own skill, using her chivalrous actions to ensure that her poor supervisors provide her with food and shelter. Her nickname in the martial arts world is Plum Blossom Spear. Because her weapon is a flowery spear and she is notoriously unlucky, people affectionately call her "Female Hero Plum Blossom Spear," using the homophone "mei" (meaning "lucky") for "bad" (meaning "mature").
Sijin County was Ji Qiang's favorite place, and it was where she spent most of her time. She had many good friends there, including Li Huaiyu, who had met Bei Qiao briefly and was very close to her. He had always wanted to join the army with her. However, Ji Qiang's desire to wander the world doing good deeds was what kept her from persuading him.
Because he never held back in his attacks, Ji Qiang's bad luck became increasingly frequent, reaching a point where continuing to attack would likely lead to his own death. To preserve his current body data and maintain his existing connections, Ji Qiang planned to repeat his previous actions, making a spectacular exit and returning as a king a year from now.
Leaving the resident account unused will not reduce the degree of bad luck. Ji Qiang has always taken the measure of logging online for a short while every day and then logging off quickly, doing good deeds in reality to accumulate merit for quantum hedging, and continuing this for about a year before logging online again. Even if the resident account cannot be replaced with a new one, at least the degree of bad luck can be reduced to a normal range.
Mysterious past mission exchange group
Xiao Cheng: Are all the people here?
Xiao Cheng: In order to make the heroine's grand exit, I have to work overtime, and I would like to report this to my boss.
Shopkeeper Mei: Everyone will receive triple overtime pay.
Xiao Cheng: Thank you, boss. You are so generous!
In Sijin County, there's a shop offering a mysterious "passing" service. Its owner, none other than Shopkeeper Mei, maintains a hidden shop, a perfume and ointment shop. Normally, the shop sells perfume and ointments to the public, but players can book a service on the forum, then enter the shop and give a code to start customizing items.
Ji Qiang ordered the "Gorgeous Exit" service, which combined the shop's "Death Escape" and after-sales service. Having purchased the "Gorgeous Exit" service numerous times before, she had become a super VIP at Shopkeeper Mei's. The first time she escaped, her local friends wept for her. When she made a grand return, they wept with joy. But after the second, third, and fourth times, her friends and even her enemies were paralyzed.
Everyone must eventually grow old, get sick, and die. They'd attended funerals of relatives and friends before, but the repetition of the same person's funeral had reached a point where even their enemies found it outrageous. At the last funeral, her friends had come with the same attitude, not even wearing mourning clothes, and even chatting and laughing during the meal. Ji Qiang's enemies simply refused to come. Unsurprisingly, Ji Qiang showed up exactly a year later, dug out her sworn enemy from hiding at a relative's house, and gave him a brutal beating.
"What kind of grudge is that?" The sworn enemy, who had been beaten up for not attending the banquet, fought back and cursed: "What did I do to you? I chased him to the house of my aunt's teacher's friend's seventh uncle and beat him up. Are you crazy?"
"I'm sorry, this is the order from your mother herself. It's a one-time deal, no returns or exchanges." Ji Qiang gave the man a final kick, knocking him to the ground. "Seventeen slaps and twenty-one kicks in total. Please check."
Enemy: “…” I shouldn’t have hidden myself earlier. Now I can’t find anyone to stop the fight.
Mysterious past mission exchange group
Xiao Cheng: Next, I will post the task content. You can choose one or work together to complete it.
Player A: Woohoo! I found the right place!
Player B: Can I get an autograph from Plum Blossom Spear? Please, I'm a huge fan!
Player A: We'll do our job! Really!
Xiao Cheng: Sorry, sisters, please wait for me.
Player A and Player B were kicked out of the group chat by the group owner
Xiao Cheng: Got it, these crazy fans really find ways to take advantage of every opportunity. I just locked the group a little late, and these crazy people squeezed in.
After clearing out the players who had gotten the news and wanted to sneak into the group to chase stars, Xiao Cheng posted some of the task content separated from the mysterious past business in the group, allowing all players to vote for the tasks they wanted to do.
It's not that Shopkeeper Mei doesn't care about Ji Qiang's business. The temporary shortage of staff this time was purely accidental. Anyway... anyway, because of the trouble caused by someone this time, she decided to abstain from sex for six months to prevent any man from hindering her career advancement during this period.
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