Chapter 92 Old Campus "...Xia Caizhe?!"...
One of the lights that was supposed to be "aging" went out, but he didn't look any different in the mirror. Xue Chao knocked on the old machine a few times, but there was no response. He had no choice but to open the door and ask, "Does it work like this when you use it too?"
The backstage area of the auditorium was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Xue Chao said impatiently, "Get out here."
Behind the cabinet, an index finger and a middle finger walked forward alternately, leaving behind a gloomy mushroom. Fang Tailai took off the mushroom headgear and walked over: "...Haha, I thought some clothes were coming to skin me alive again."
“You can go down now and pray to their ‘ashes’,” Xue Chao said, pointing to the light under the button. “What effect does it have?”
“'Youth' is just gradually turning back into a child's appearance, and I don't react to 'aging' either. We won't live to old age anyway, so it makes sense.”
Fang Tailai actually had a cute round face, but her dead fish eyes and dark circles were unbearable. At 18 years old, she had the faint deathly air of an 80-year-old. She spoke of a conjecture as if it were the words of an old woman who had seen it all. Xue Chao felt that he was facing a kind old lady at the entrance of a village. His understanding of whether to agree or disagree was a level below hers. He was speechless for a moment, when he saw her struggle out a bit of liveliness in her deathly air: "You can try being 'young'."
Xue Chao: "Is there a riddle?"
Fang Tailai: "No, I just wanted to see what you looked like when you were a child."
Xue Chao: "..."
Fang Tailai: "The audience also wants to see it."
Xue Chao: "You can see the comments section?"
Fang Tailai: "I can't see them, but they're all obsessed with looks. I understand. We sleep with pictures of handsome men in our arms at night."
The comment section immediately flooded with agreement. After a moment of silence, Xue Chao smiled and said, "You turned off camera sharing, so I can't see it."
Fang Tailai was furious: "Don't think I don't know it's just keyword blocking; you can still see them spouting vulgarities."
Xue Chao rummaged through the backstage area: "Did you see the program schedule?"
Fang Tailai reliably pulled out the program list. After confirming the location of the radio station, she went to explore the teaching building. Veteran players have some sense in this regard and know where the "storyline" is. She had already searched the auditorium.
She pointed to the program title, "Time Machine, Dreaming Back to Our Youth": "The cast members are all teachers."
She had seen some of the names in the classroom, while others were names that the older generation would choose, such as "Jianguo" and "Xiuying," as well as "Tao," "Wei," and "Ting."
Xue Chao understood: "Have you ever tried being 'young' and then 'growing old'?"
"From a child back to its current form... so this machine can't predict 'aging' unless the 'aging' form already exists, and this machine can only retrieve answers from the answer database?"
Only the elderly can see the aging process. They haven't aged yet, so there's no answer to "aging." The time machine can only show what they, in their "young" years, would look like when they "age," which is "now."
"So this is a tearjerker segment. First, we reminisce about what the teachers looked like when they were young, and then we see how they became the 'teachers' they are today." Fang Tailai hesitated for a moment, then added, "Fan Qi has made quite a fuss over such a small thing."
She even had it in her head; she thought she could really travel through time, what a waste of her feelings.
Xue Chao asked, "Have you put any items away?"
Fang Tailai nodded: "It will become raw materials, such as commercially available products like tissue boxes. 'Youth' is wood pulp. Handmade items will become original objects, such as the eco-friendly sculpture made of water bottles and waste paper. 'Youth' is the original intact bottle and paper, and the objects have not 'aged'."
Xue Chao re-entered the machine, took out a piece of plant root, placed it on the platform, and pressed "Aging".
Fang Tailai thought he didn't believe her and watched with amusement, but then she saw the plant root slowly grow and actually form a human shape. The tangled plant root pulled away from the "face" to reveal a face that looked to be in his early twenties, with some delicate features. She was so shocked that her eyes almost popped out of their sockets: "...Xia Caizhe?!"
Xue Chao was taken aback. He remembered the name. It was ranked tenth on the player list. The player belonged to the same guild as Zhu Wen and was the vice president of the "Amusement Park" guild.
The faces didn't stop. This young face was just a node in the process of "aging," aging at a faster rate than it could solidify. Although the face was unfamiliar, Xue Chao recognized the aged body... The headless corpse in the morgue really was that old man.
Fang Tailai's face turned deathly pale: "...He's in the dungeon too? Which one, the one who fires the laser cannon?"
Xue Chao pointed to Sheng Hong, who was unconscious by the machine door: "This is a laser cannon—did it match the same instance before?"
Fang Tailai couldn't deny it. The leaderboard only published the players' names and guilds, without any photos. She recognized him at a glance; it could only mean she had seen him before.
But so what if she'd seen him? He's a pro, and he wouldn't even acknowledge her. She nodded, but then heard Xue Chao say knowingly, "Before he reveals his true colors?"
"...Why do you say that?"
"You are familiar with what he looked like when he was young, but you are surprised by how he looks when he gets old."
Fang Tailai: "You not only know a little about martial arts, but you also study psychology?"
"Your acting is terrible."
“I now reject all personal attacks.” Fang Tailai gave up resisting. “I was indeed surprised. In the dungeon where I met him, he was in his early twenties, with naturally smiling eyes, sunny and cheerful, and easy to get along with. It’s hard to imagine that there could be such a positive person in a game like Dog Game. When I was almost caught by a ghost, he was the one who used an item to lure the ghost away. At that time, he was still unknown. Later, it was revealed from within their guild that he sacrificed half of the guild members in one guild dungeon to squeeze into the top ten on the leaderboard. At first, I didn’t believe it, but later, when I thought about how he helped me back then, I felt a little creeped out.”
"He might have genuinely wanted to help you; he wasn't famous back then."
"So he was keeping a low profile all along, even his own guild members were off guard, which is why he made a name for himself in one fell swoop! Do you know how many pages he climbed in the Rising Star rankings? He climbed straight to number one!"
"It seems he is the real Oscar-winning actor."
Fang Tailai said, "It's impossible to rely solely on acting skills. Everyone is on the verge of life and death. It's impossible for a hundred or so people to be completely without vigilance, unless he suddenly ages unexpectedly. Don't you think that's 'divine'?"
She paused, her gaze shifting to the plant roots on the platform, and then belatedly realized with alarm, "Is it that sunflower-headed guy? I saw someone carrying him away..."
“It should have been him.” Xue Chao tilted his head. “The story of this inspirational figure growing old is really captivating.”
Fang Tailai didn't understand which riddle "originally should have" was referring to, but when she saw Xue Chao take out a red pen and write his name on the back of the program, she immediately stopped him: "You can only find the character's storyline. The instance will be automatically adjusted, and the character's name will be the player's name."
"He's dead."
"Huh?" She was stunned to hear that the character she feared was dead. "Dead?...Dead means you can only see the character's life before death..."
Xue Chao bypassed her hand and began to write—it could only be Xia Caizhe. His player identity had been replaced by Jiang Ming. The protagonist of the first unit was called "Jiang Ming," not "Xia Caizhe." He was himself.
The film reels flashed across his vision, and he indeed saw Xia Caizhe's "lifetime" photos.
Perhaps because he was exploiting loopholes and spying on the outside world from inside the instance, the scenes are not coherent, with few shots and very disjointed content. There are several shots of Xia Caizhe's initial "sunny and cheerful" phase, one of which is him asking his seniors about the "Red and White Disciples," and another is him cooperating with a Red and White Disciple.
Xue Chao happened to know him; he was the tattooed man from the Giant Harbor instance.
They were in a supermarket surrounded by all-seeing eyes, probably a shop in a dungeon, which was indeed a good place to exchange secrets.
The tattooed man sat cross-legged on the ground, his tattooed arms resting on his lap, and asked in a sinister tone, "Have you heard of 'divine weapons'?"
The young Xia Caizhe's smile faded: "I'm cooperating with you not to be someone else's dog."
"I know you want to be the one who owns the dogs," the tattooed man sneered. "But you can't have hundreds of stupid dogs. Do you really think you're a heartthrob? Your illusion magic is the real deal! Don't worry, you only have ten years of life left—lifespan is the cheapest thing. If you use it today, you can still enjoy life. If you can't be ruthless, you'll either live to see tomorrow or today. People like us don't think about living a peaceful old age!"
Xia Caizhe remained silent. Players were a group of destined-to-be-short-lived ghosts, and the only thing they were competing to see was whose short lifespan was longer. Even if the first place came, she dared not say that she could safely complete the game and return to the real world to retire without any illness or disaster.
But that wasn't just a single hair; it was his life...
The tattooed man's face fell: "You coward, get lost, don't waste your grandpa's time."
"...Hey, hey, you should at least let me worry about this matter of shortening my lifespan, right?" Xia Caizhe's smile returned, and he bowed apologetically in front of the tattooed man. "I know you have a way, otherwise I wouldn't have begged and pleaded to find you here, but when I told you the truth, you wouldn't tell me anything. I'm terrified... You have to tell me what you want, right?"
The tattooed man chuckled: "Heh, afraid I'll turn on you after I've done this, huh?"
Xia Caizhe laughed: "No way, would you even look at me?"
“It’s no harm to tell you. There’s a mini-boss in that dungeon that can predict the future. If I have something to ask, I have to ‘offer’ to it first. I can use your puppies to refine pills and count the number of people. The future vice president is generous. A hundred people should be enough for me to ask once.”
Knowing that the matter had succeeded, Xia Caizhe laughed repeatedly, "Thanks to you! You truly are a disciple of God!"
This flattery hit the mark. Upon hearing about his god, the tattooed man smugly let slip, "Once I successfully invoke the god, you'll also have done a great deed!"
Xue Chao understood. Given the tattooed man's obsession with his family's evil god, it was impossible that he had only invoked the god once. The way he was excited on the deck at the time must have been the first time he saw the light of victory after many attempts... The matter he wanted to divine must be related to invoking the god. Metaphysics emphasizes the right time, place, and people, so he was very likely asking, "Where can I invoke the god?"
Sasaeng fans, they've taken over the addresses of the idol's shrine.
And they were right; there were things related to the evil god in the Giant's Harbor instance, the anchor point was there, and He really came.
Unfortunately, despite all his calculations, he couldn't predict the heart of his ancestor. The ceremony was completed, but the god he longed for didn't want to see him, deliberately letting his wish fall through, leaving him with regrets in death.
If the evil god wasn't annoyed by the harassment and decided to kill, then the tattooed man must have unknowingly violated a taboo of the god.
Why is this dungeon locked by bad luck? Is it because of Xia Caizhe?
...But He wiped out the top ten on the leaderboard right from the start, and didn't even put Zhu Wen in his eyes. What gives Xia Caizhe the right? What exactly is His purpose?
The film roll stopped abruptly there. Xue Chao's head throbbed with pain. As the warning sound of his sanity dropping rang, he bit his lip and drew blood. Fang Tailai was startled and quickly supported him.
Although he didn't see it, Xue Chao could guess the "plot" that followed. Xia Caizhe's superpower was illusion. At the critical moment, he activated his superpower in advance and cast an illusion on all the guild members, causing them to fall into the "alchemy furnace" unexpectedly and suddenly age to the point of death.
Being able to use superpowers ahead of time, although it consumes lifespan, is not wrong. In this game, most players don't have the energy to think that far ahead, so many people are willing to pay this price, which is why there is still a barrier to entry.
Weapons must recognize their master; the things added during "modification" are the master's mark.
It could involve location tracking, surveillance, remote control, self-destruct programs, or even brainwashing to turn people into weapons.
Once you become an object, you'll be consumed quickly. If you're not trying to survive for yourself, there's no need to sacrifice your life.
Therefore, when Xia Caizhe said he "didn't want to be a dog," all the divine weapons should have a "dog leash."
He might try to eliminate this chain, but that would inevitably lead to greater consumption.
It's also possible that the tattooed man tricked him; that sly guy is a repeat offender.
"You look so sturdy, but you're as fragile as me?" As soon as Fang Tailai finished speaking, dense flowers gradually sprouted from the four corners of the room, like mushrooms growing from wooden furniture. Her expression changed, and she shook Xue Chao. "The mutation is accelerating. Let's grab the laser cannon and leave quickly... Hey, hurry up, stop messing around. She looks a bit distorted. You'll feel better once you, the protagonist, mutate!"
As Xue Chao's dazed state gradually dissipated, he raised his eyes and said, "What did you just say? Say it again."
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