Chapter 148 Infinite World + Real World "This is a dual-host script..."
[hot] Speculation on Xue Shen's Dungeon Clearing Techniques
What exactly is the feud between Xue Chao and Ma Ke?
[Hot] Li Tao, which guild will you eventually sign with?
[Hot]Xue Chao is probably the first person to successfully escape even after failing the main quest and being awakened by the other character.
[Hot] Mount Xibei is so dangerous, but the death rate isn't even as high as the room I'm in. Looking for a pro guide to help me fly it!]
[Hot] Everyone says Xue is handsome, but just how handsome is he? Let me see!
[Hot] Wish post: Next time, I'll be randomly assigned to Xue Shen's room!
...
The guild competition, which is usually full of competition and showcasing unique talents, this time revolved entirely around one man. Xue Chao's room dungeon ended, and that night, it became the 14 hottest posts on the homepage.
Other posts are also discussing this. Despite the presence of many censored words related to the content of the original work, they are still engaging in blind chat and want to vent their pent-up desire to express themselves.
In the past few days, Xue Chao's backend has been constantly receiving "friend request" notifications.
He accepted all applications without question, but did not reply.
There are too many people, and they all say pretty much the same thing: flattery, making friends, invitations... Since he's not in a hurry to settle down, there's no need to be too proactive.
Invitations from guild members poured in, but Xue Chao himself wasn't in the company dormitory, leaving those overly enthusiastic guys disappointed.
The tavern he's been staying at lately, which is considered his new property, is located in the sky.
The tavern has many liquor cabinets, filled with all kinds of liquor. The glass bottles are black and gold under the light of the cabinet lights, reflected on the black mirror-like ceiling, like a golden sunset before falling into the deep night.
The colorful packaging and logos of the wine bottles shimmered like jewels. In the last row of the wine cabinet directly opposite the bar, there used to be only a jar of Daughter's Red wine on the third shelf, but after the pub was taken over, two more bottles of wine were added in front of it.
The first bottle has a unique shape; it's an upside-down hourglass-shaped bottle with a round bottom, resembling an infinity symbol. When the light shines on it, you can see a green-scaled snake tail in the liquor, running horizontally across both sides, forming a loop, and gently moving.
The second bottle resembles a deformed cube, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. A butterfly with broken wings rests on the water's surface, its reflection in the wine completing the image of another wing, shimmering with a faint blue light.
Then there's the Daughter's Red Wine, with a character pasted on the front, made up of two characters: the white "囍" on the left and the red "奠" on the right.
Uncovering the wine cloth, a brass goblet containing holy water was soaking in the jar, with a grayish-brown feather inside.
The three bottles of wine correspond to his three instances. He tasted the second bottle and, as if inspired, felt a surge of familiar emotions, the ones he had experienced in these three instances.
Like a memoir of his emotions.
When he left the instance and tried to recall his feelings in this strange way, he was surprised to find that there was a discrepancy.
He discovered that some emotions were far stronger than he remembered.
His wariness of danger, fear of monsters, and resentment at being outmaneuvered were all consistent with his memories.
But those things he was indifferent to—the deaths of others, the pain that had nothing to do with him, the people and ghosts struggling in their fate—actually stirred up a mix of emotions in him, like a thorn stuck in his throat. It wasn't fatal, but it was always there, constantly pricking him and sucking his blood.
When he was drunk, he seemed like a sentimental and kind person.
He frowned, raised his glass to look, and wondered if this was another trick by the god of misfortune.
The wine should be a collectible from killing the hidden boss, but the boss of the third dungeon didn't die, and the jar of Daughter's Red wine was left behind by Jiang Ming.
Underneath was a red paper marriage certificate that read "Congratulations Gift," and the signature was a flamboyant paw print, as if celebrating his acquisition of a piece of territory.
The wine could also evoke emotions, making it hard not to suspect Him... Xue Chao, out of sight, out of mind, tossed the marriage certificate under the cabinet.
The tavern still serves regular liquor. A greeting card sits in a vase by the bar, inscribed by the former tavern owner: "This tavern is dedicated to the one who brings twilight."
This tavern is too strange. The so-called tavern owner should not be the unfaithful tavern owner who was murdered by his wife in the Nightingale Mountain instance.
Perhaps this place once belonged to a small guild, with the owner being the guild leader. He remembered that the Amusement Park Guild was indeed located in an amusement park.
However, the reason he robbed the tavern was because he found a skull-shaped amethyst at the bottom of a vase, which looked like a piece of jewelry that had fallen off.
The same amethyst fragments were found with the remains of Pu Fengchun's teacher, Ming Yang.
His sister, who had been missing for many years, once owned an amethyst necklace with a skull-shaped pendant.
Was my sister also a player or host who got caught up in this? After all these years, is she... still alive?
Xue Chao took another sip of Nu'er Hong wine. The wine was strong, and his emotions were even stronger. It was as if Pu Fengchun had died again before his eyes. He felt "helpless" and "sorrowful" at that moment.
Did that emotion truly belong to him? He couldn't tell anymore.
He placed the wine down and used the Wild Grass Guild key to open the door.
He promised Pu Fengchun two things, and now there's one left: the scarecrow.
He didn't think that was still her senior brother. Even if there was a little soul left in the scarecrow, the owner of that soul would have gone mad long ago. A madman is a living dead man.
The scarecrow had disappeared, so Xue Chao went to see Pu Fengchun's body again.
He arrived immediately after finishing the interview. Her body was also in the stone coffin under the Bodhi tree. He had examined it, and now when he looked at it again, it had become a black box.
He opened the box; inside were the pair of white rose earrings.
These are Pu Fengchun's belongings.
Pu Fengchun once said that relics cannot be truly taken away. If he leaves the Wild Grass Guild with the relics, they will automatically return to the box. Even if he stays here, the relics will disappear along with the box.
But Xue Chao still put the earrings in his pocket; he wanted to try them on himself.
With a "whoosh," a shadow darted through the bushes behind him. Xue Chao gave chase, but the scarecrow, huddled in a hole in the house and hidden behind the weeds, was still afraid of him and dared not come out.
They remained deadlocked for a long time. Xue Chao went to the meditation room where he had taken the props last time and found a few lollipops. He returned to the cave entrance, squatted down, covered his face with his black coat, and handed out the lollipops.
After a while, the weeds rustled, and the scarecrow approached, stopping in front of the lollipop it was holding.
Xue Chao didn't move, waiting for it to take the candy, but it suddenly moved closer, its arms made of wild grass pressed against his pocket, and Xue Chao's waist was poked by the earring. He frowned and put down his coat.
The straw-stitched face was very close, and the stitched mouth looked like it was laughing. But Xue Chao felt a moment of sadness, like a puppy that would never see its owner again.
It knew she wouldn't come back.
Is it conscious at this moment?
The next second, it suddenly burst into flames before his eyes.
Xue Chao was taken aback and immediately tried to put out the fire with his clothes, but the fire did not subside. The scarecrow in the fire did not move and quietly burned to ashes.
The flames spread, creeping up the wild grass and the broken walls of the ancient temple, leaving Xue Chao standing blankly in the sea of fire, finally clicking his tongue in disbelief.
The dilapidated gate of the ancient temple opened, and his key disappeared; this place was no longer the "Wild Grass Guild."
He returned to his dorm, opened the game interface, and found the forums full of discussions about him, with various congratulations and praises in the background. This was indeed something he had planned.
His hard work in the first two instances allowed him to accumulate resources.
Once you become famous, things go much easier. The highest praise can maintain the buzz for every match, and the support of others can bring resources.
Then comes the ultimate goal: "final victory"—to leave this hellish place.
The forum was abuzz with a thousand posts about which guild he would sign with, with many people believing he would become an advisor to the band because he was also a student of Holder. They saw this competition as a "battle for succession."
Bored. Everything was going his way, but he was still a little annoyed. Just as he was about to close the interface, Fang Tailai sent him a message.
[Fang Tailai: Are we going back to the real world this week?]
[Xue Chao: Reply] Hands are faster than brains.
After a pause, the person opposite asked, "Are you sure you're free?" [Fang Tailai: Are you sure you're free?]
[Fang Tailai: If you're busy choosing a guild, I won't bother you for now.]
[Xue Chao: No need, how many days will you be back?]
[Fang Tailai: I only have one one-day voucher left, so I need to use my points sparingly]
[Xue Chao: Okay, tonight it is]
Back in the real world, Xue Chao contacted Fang Tailai via private message.
The two happened to live in the same city, but they were quite far apart. Xue Chao drove there and they met at a coffee shop near her university.
Fang Tailai is a sophomore now, having been admitted to a university far from home. Her spirits are much better than before, but the endless games followed closely behind, and she didn't have many good days.
"I still want to thank you. I came here because of you."
Xue Chao handed her the menu: "Does this count as 'idol worship'?"
"Of course, a die-hard fan!" Fang Tailai smiled shyly with dark circles under her eyes, ordered coffee and tiramisu, and when Xue Chao asked her about serious matters, she began to talk seriously about her discovery.
When she was in her first year of college, her father became increasingly lethargic. He was unresponsive when he was asleep, and when he was awake, he would talk to himself, as if he had a mental breakdown. He no longer had the energy to be angry, which brought peace and quiet to the family.
They found a doctor, and eventually sent him to a mental hospital.
"The point isn't him. He was admitted to a mental hospital, so my mom went back to her parents' house. During the family gathering for the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, we talked about my aunt. She had been living abroad and passed away in a plane crash last year. The old lady couldn't accept it and her health had been poor for the past year. She was keeping her belongings, including a jade bracelet that was a family heirloom. That day, the old lady wanted to look at the bracelet to remember her, but she found that it was missing."
"Who stole it from your house?"
“My uncle, but he didn’t steal it to sell for money; he took it to church.”
Having just experienced the Nightingale Mountain instance, Xue Chao asked, "Is this church legitimate?"
“On the surface, it’s not a church, it’s a mutual aid society, like the ones you see on TV, where people sit in a circle and talk about their sad stories. He calls it the ‘Save the Day Society,’ but I think it’s more like a church.” Fang Tailai drew a six-pointed star with a horizontal line in the middle on a sticky note. “That’s the symbol of the Save the Day Society.”
Xue Chao: "What does this have to do with the infinite world?"
"People in our guild were chatting and mentioned this."
Two members knew each other in real life. One of them died in the instance, and the other returned to reality. In the other person's house, they found the repatriated item, a Doraemon keychain.
At a class reunion, his classmates, unaware of the situation, noticed him staring blankly at this keepsake. They realized it was because his friend had passed away and recommended the "Save the Day" program to him.
During the activities of the mutual support group, participants are required to hold an item related to their own pain. This helps them to clarify their thoughts, understand why they are confiding in someone, and through repeated mutual support, realize that what they hold in their hands is not pain, but strength.
Until the day they have the courage to let go, to shed their pain, and to reach the other side.
Xue Chao: "It sounds like Buddhism."
Fang Tailai: "Many religions are similar."
Xue Chao was more concerned about something else: "The relics will be sent back to the real world."
Fang Tailai sneered, "Fallen leaves return to their roots, how benevolent! But we were the ones who were taken away in the first place."
The community has a very low entry barrier; it welcomes anyone, and they participated in weekend activities almost without any hindrance.
Xue Chao treats this as an "experience class" or a "tasting at a dessert shop".
They blended in perfectly. Fang Tailai had a family of origin, and Xue Chao was an orphan who had taken in his sister who later disappeared.
When he returned to the real world, he searched his sister's room but couldn't find the amethyst necklace. He then randomly picked up another red tourmaline ring as a "memorial object."
“One morning, I woke up but couldn’t find her. I waited for three days, but she didn’t come back. I called the police, but they couldn’t find her. The neighbors said she abandoned me. I’m a burden, I know. I was… seven years old that year? Or maybe ten, anyway, I can remember things.” Xue Chao was silent for a while. “I don’t believe it at all, and I still don’t.”
He was surrounded by comforting words, which were somewhat soothing to the point of sleep. Xue Chao gave them polite, slight smiles.
People looked at him with more sympathy; trauma cannot be resolved with just one talk.
After the event, he greeted the people who came to comfort him, but did not initiate conversation. When someone asked for his contact information, he readily agreed.
His unexpectedly good temper attracted even more people, and he couldn't handle it, so he made an excuse to go to the restroom.
Fang Tailai was pulled aside by the event organizers to ask him how he felt. When he came out again, he gave Xue Chao several pleading looks. Xue Chao blinked and begged her to hold on a little longer.
He took the initiative to add the contact information of a middle-aged man. The man was slovenly, with unkempt hair and beard that were matted, wrinkled clothes, and a decadent expression, like a social loser who spent his days drowning his sorrows in alcohol.
He was initially a bit nervously wary, but after understanding the purpose of the visit, he put on a fawning smile: "I saw you sitting there, looking a bit aloof, and I didn't dare to go over and say hello."
The man's story here is also "ordinary": his mother had just passed away, he had lost his job, and he had gambled away all his savings. If things continued like this, he would eventually have to beg on the streets.
He was the person who interacted with the most others throughout the event, seemingly not wanting to miss any possible opportunity. He added many people as friends, regardless of whether they were willing or not.
A mannequin crying for help.
He had been secretly watching Xue Chao, seemingly looking for the right opportunity to strike up a conversation.
Unexpectedly, Xue Chao took the initiative to contact him.
Xue Chao casually scrolled through his WeChat Moments: "Because we are the only two people who made things up in this episode."
The man was startled, but his face showed anger as he said, "What do you mean by this? Are you insulting me or my mother?"
"What I mean is, you have ulterior motives, and so do I. We can exchange our investigation results." Xue Chao chuckled and put his arm around his shoulder as they walked together. "Why don't you have any prices listed in your WeChat Moments? Introduce me to some? Detective, how much did that executive, who was heartbroken after being betrayed by his own brother, get paid by his wife to catch his mistress at the Gongdu Club?"
How could he be so strong? I can't break free at all! The private investigator, his secret exposed, lost his mind and asked numbly, "Were you hired by that scumbag to do counter-surveillance?"
Sorry, boss, he ran into a competitor!
Xue Chao sent him a few photos. When the man saw them, he realized they were photos of his target and his lover whispering intimately in the staff room behind the restroom. This made him even more wary.
"What exactly do you want?" The private investigator sensed danger.
“I want to hire you to help me investigate something.” Xue Chao released his hand and smoothed out his denim jacket. It was an intimate gesture, but combined with his downcast, cold eyes, it only made the private investigator feel a silent sense of pressure. “But I need you to be serious. The price is negotiable.”
The private investigator said in a tight voice, "Let me make this clear beforehand, I can't find out anything about CEOs or high-ranking officials."
"Far away, yet right before our eyes." Xue Chao tapped the floor with the tip of his shoe. "Just check out the Gongdu Society."
They only had one day off. Xue Chao first drove Fang Tailai back to school. Fang Tailai, having exhausted his social energy, slumped dejectedly in the back seat: "Is anyone here today...?"
She glossed over the word "game".
Xue Chao: "There are two people who are not quite mentally stable. It's unclear whether it's due to grief in the real world or something else. I've asked a detective to investigate."
"Is that person reliable? Forgive my bluntness, but 'private investigator' sounds like a freelancer who can only find out about cheating..."
That's a very tactful way of putting it. What she really meant was that he's a scoundrel who's barely scraping by, probably flirting with the law, and living off hush money.
“He used to be a policeman, and there are traces of training on him,” Xue Chao said calmly. “But what you think isn’t wrong either. He was probably dismissed for some outrageous behavior and violation of discipline, which is just right.”
They have limited time in the real world, so some things can only be left to others to investigate.
Xue Chao returned to the villa, turned on his computer, and found that Pu Fengchun was just an ordinary person and he couldn't find anything related to her, but she had a famous teacher.
The obituary for pianist Mingyang, written more than two months ago, simply stated that he "passed away due to illness despite medical treatment," because he was indeed quite old, being more than twenty years older than Holder.
Moreover, he has been in poor health since his youth, and has been weak for almost fifty years. He even fainted during a performance once, after which he gradually faded from the public eye.
For an ordinary person, dying young would be considered an early death, but for him, it seemed like a long life.
Xue Chao, posing as a friend of Pu Fengchun, sent a private message to Mingyang's industry friend, inquiring about the master and apprentice and their belongings. Unfortunately, the friend did not reply.
But he found a clue: a little over half a month later, there would be a domestic and international piano exchange meeting in a neighboring city, which would invite many famous people in the piano world. He calculated the time and planned to take a few more days off after finishing the next dungeon to go and wait for them.
If he's still alive by then.
The red roses in the vase had withered, so Xue Chao replaced them with newly bought white roses. He slept in his sister's room until dawn, and when he woke up, he was back in the Infinite World.
Then there was a knock at the door; it was Holder.
Xue Chao thought he was coming to offer another perfunctory apology, but he didn't mention Marco Polo at all. It was as if he had forgotten about that student as soon as that guy died.
Holder entered calmly, and while hanging up his coat, he showed concern for him like a close elder: "Didn't you use the emotional suppressor I gave you? You seem completely overwhelmed by your emotions... That guy was really awful."
Holder assumed that Jiang Ming had used his abilities on him, but Xue Chao did not explain.
Then his "teacher" began the handover of various forces, connections, real estate, intelligence, and props, including the band and the key to the incurable disease.
Marco is dead, and Xue Chao possesses even greater power to bring bloodshed; he is Holder's most ideal "successor".
Xue Chao did not refuse; these were exactly what he needed. Even if Holder hadn't brought it up, he would have. When he decided to kill Marco, he already considered everything Holder had as his own.
In the eyes of others, he had already broken into the top tier, but he was not satisfied with that. When Holder teased him for "losing his goal," he simply retorted, "Aren't there two more ahead of you?"
Meeting Holder's interested gaze, he calmly replied, "Besides, I also want to retire as soon as possible."
In his first two instances, he did indeed think he could just get by and survive, but now he's changed his mind.
He just wanted to escape this absurd world, to accumulate enough points as soon as possible, to complete the game, and to return to a normal life.
Holder liked his candid ambition and told him about the two hosts who had spoken earlier.
The second place goes to Ruoshui's advisor, who is like a reclusive master, low-key and doesn't like to create any gimmicks.
But his strength lies in his unwavering stability; he manages to escape danger in every dungeon. No matter how flamboyant the players are or how powerful the boss is, he can usually finish the dungeon when the popularity value is around 60 points, outlasting one host after another.
As for the first place, it was the advisor of the second-ranked guild. After that guild was destroyed, he kept a low profile for a while. After Ruoshui and Yue Tuan rose to prominence, and then Qi Sha emerged, he completely disappeared.
Xue Chao: "The host has to start a new episode every week, so how can they disappear without a trace?"
"Like the previous second-place player on the player leaderboard, it's just a nominal position. Occasionally, this happens. They are people who have successfully completed the game and returned to the real world, but the influence they left in the infinite world is too deep. It takes time for those marks to completely fade away, and this is especially true for those who rank higher."
So Holder, the third brother, is actually the top host on the surface.
“I have another question.” Xue Chao stared into Holder’s eyes. “You really don’t believe in the rumored key that’s related to the ‘final victory’?”
The deaths of Mingyang and Pu Fengchun were both part of Marco Polo's plan, but he didn't believe that Holder hadn't noticed. The old man turned a blind eye, but he really didn't care.
"Because I'm about to complete the game, there's no need to gamble on something unrealistic. Even if there really is a key, how do you know whose trap it's set in? Or what if it's just a huge conspiracy? I still stand by my opinion, child."
Xue Chao widened his eyes slightly: "One more dungeon run and you'll have enough points."
Holder nodded and pushed the phone in front of Xue Chao: "Actually, I came to see you this time for something more important: we have clues about the traitor."
The screen displayed instance information. Xue Chao asked, "He's hiding in this instance?"
"No, it was the player he took away who he hid here."
"Lue the snake out of its hole."
“That’s right, the company has given orders. We need to see him alive or dead,” Holder said. “We haven’t had much time together, so we don’t have time to teach you more. Let’s talk about it in practice. Don’t you also want to complete the game as soon as possible? You can be a witness to this.”
"This is the script for two hosts."
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