Life Game In Other World
Chapter 422: System Update Complete (Long - , Asking for Monthly Votes)

Chapter 422: Chapter 422: System Update Complete (Long Chapter, Asking for Monthly Votes)

Beidu - Research Institute Headquarters

Deep within the Research Institute’s underground, a figure pushed open the tightly closed door of a secret laboratory.

It was a middle-aged man with glasses, appearing refined and gentle, as he walked in.

Trailing behind him was a broad and muscular man, his footsteps blustering like a gale.

"Liu, how are you holding up?"

The bespectacled middle-aged man looked up at Liu Zhengyun, who was sitting in the middle of the lab, his body wrapped in bandages.

"Not too bad," leaned back in his wheelchair, Liu Zhengyun replied, "I’ve clung onto life, but it looks like I’ll need some time to recuperate. I can’t engage in martial arts for a while."

Then he looked at the bespectacled middle-aged man, "Did you get it?"

"Of course, we got it."

Responding to him was the burly man standing behind the middle-aged man with glasses. He took out a rectangular small wooden box and held it in front of himself, opening it towards Liu Zhengyun.

In the center of the box lay a sharp silver metal pyramid.

Gleaming electric light filled the room in an instant, obscuring everyone’s vision.

The next second, the burly man closed the lid, and the dazzling electric light vanished on the spot.

Liu Zhengyun stared at the charred bandages on his hands caused by the electric shock, expressionless, "Wu Ganglie, your Special Research Department’s extra funding for next year is gone."

The burly man known as Wu Ganglie stiffened at his actions, then in two strides, he charged up to Liu Zhengyun, his tiger-like eyes glaring intensely at him.

His gaze was fierce, as if he was ready to devour someone.

On his fierce cheek, a wide mouth slowly opened,

"Give me a chance..."

Bang—

The refined-looking bespectacled middle-aged man smiled and reached out to close the door, "Ganglie, you’ve crippled Jie An, who stayed behind in the Tia Empire. That’s somewhat avenged you. How is the situation with Sloane? We’ve just returned and haven’t seen the report yet."

"Sloane is dead," Liu Zhengyun said gravely.

"Dead?"

The man with glasses was taken aback.

Wu Ganglie, standing in front of Liu Zhengyun, was also stunned. He looked incredulously at Liu Zhengyun, "Did you kill him?"

"More or less," Liu Zhengyun pondered for a moment, "There was a ’Mysterious Person’ who helped me at a critical moment."

He threw a stack of documents onto the table in front of them, "The reports are all here, Old Li, Old Wu, take a look. There are some things in here that are highly confidential, so I didn’t let them be released publicly and had them sent directly to me first."

Old Li is the bespectacled middle-aged man, the director of the Research Institute, Li Cheng.

"Indeed, that’s how it should have been done."

Li Cheng picked up the report from the table and started to flip through it, while Wu Ganglie also picked up a copy.

About half an hour later, both men put down the reports they were reading.

"I had imagined this affair to be complex, but I didn’t expect it to be this intricate."

Li Cheng rubbed his temples, "So that car was actually some kind of ritual item capable of summoning A-class Advents? They wanted to use it to ’smuggle’ into the main world? It seems the Higher Beings hidden in the relics are no longer content to stay put."

"The actual situation is probably even worse than we imagined," Liu Zhengyun sighed, "and it’s not just A-class in the relics."

"We should expedite our matters," Li Cheng also sighed, looking at Liu Zhengyun, "Old Liu, what do you think about that ’Hao Yi’?"

"So far, he seems to be on our side," Liu Zhengyun slowly responded,

"Whether he’s injured or possesses some kind of prop, objectively speaking, he has exhibited instantaneous top-tier B-class combat ability.

"And now he also controls the Velora, which means he now possesses rapid mobility far surpassing any of us; he can appear in any corner of the world within a few hours.

"His instant, land-crushing range ability, if used in the core area of a major city, would have catastrophic consequences."

"Can we not use the Ring of Destiny to predict his whereabouts?"

Wu Ganglie quietly asked.

"It’s difficult," was the reply from Li Cheng,

"The Ring of Destiny is severely damaged. Once it involves higher intelligence beings, there will be significant deviations.

"Its deviation will lead us toward misfortune. This time, following its prophecy to lay out our plans, Liu nearly died at Westlank, and that was under the condition of minor side effects.

"Prophecies about non-sentient Transcendent objects are still manageable, but predicting such high-level Transcendents is too risky."

Wu Ganglie fell silent.

Li Cheng then looked towards Liu Zhengyun, "Do you mean, we can ’cooperate’ with him?"

"There might be a possibility for cooperation since, so far, he does not seem to have any malice towards us," Liu Zhengyun nodded, "Moreover, he seems to possess extensive knowledge of hidden esoteric studies which might be deeply related to the ruins, just that we don’t know what he’s really thinking."

"He probably does want to cooperate with us,"

Li Cheng flipped to a page in the report, pointing at a paragraph on it.

That paragraph was the transcribed words of He Ao to Lin Chichi, a narrative about the mysterious knowledge of A-level and Angels.

In these words, He Ao explicitly stated that reaching A-level could be called becoming an Angel, and also mentioned that the ascension from B-level to A-level carries significant risks and requires extreme caution.

"This is..."

Liu Zhengyun was taken aback.

"To tell an ordinary person such highly secretive esoteric knowledge might seem abrupt, but if,"

Li Cheng reached out for the wooden box in Wu Ganglie’s hand, slowly opened it, and took out the silver cone inside; what was once a bursting flash of lightning in the cone, now in Li Cheng’s hands, seemed as gentle as a sheep.

"This message, is it meant for us, spoken through that girl’s mouth?"

At that moment, Li Cheng reached out, and from the deepest part of the lab, a silver rod flashing with electric sparks suddenly flew out, landing in his hand.

He brought the cone and the rod together; the two objects, without any apparent connection points, instantly clung together tightly, forming a spear glinting with silver light.

A streak of flowing light passed along the shaft of the spear, with several strange characters slowly emerging.

Nobody recognized these characters, but they effortlessly understood their meaning.

Andaville’s Spear.

A burst of powerful lightning instantly overflowed from the spear, instantly destroying all electronic devices in the lab.

The thick metal walls were also pierced in an instant, exposing the hard-packed walls outside the lab.

Intense energy release triggered a shift in the earth.

The heavy machinery placed on the ground started to shake violently.

Li Cheng reached out and tightly gripped the spear, the scattered lightning retracting in an instant, and a touch of terrifying pressure flowed out from the spear.

He held the spear, feeling the lethal attraction emanating from it, as if in the next moment, he could cross the chasm between mankind and myth, entering the domain of a Great Being.

Eventually, he suppressed the deep-seated desire inside his heart, took out a wooden box that had already been prepared, and put the spear inside.

He looked towards Liu Zhengyun at his side,

"If he has guessed our intentions, then he must have deliberately warned us through that little girl’s mouth not to blindly ascend to A-level."

——

When He Ao returned home, it was already two nights later.

Yang De originally wanted to take him to Beidu to recuperate, but he declined.

Wu Lan and Ji Po went back to their stations to rest and work.

Before leaving, Wu Lan still invited He Ao to go online together.

He Ao acted as if he hadn’t heard.

He pushed open the old security door, looking at the narrow and dimly lit staircase in front of it, where time had speckled the silent walls with spots.

After the excitement, he returned once more to a life of solitude.

He walked down step by step, feeling the spiritual might pulsing through his mind.

Super Memory had fully advanced.

In this "game" involving an A-level and several B-levels, almost every player’s layout failed to be perfectly realized.

The Research Institute achieved the best result, having partially realized their strategic goals with the help of He Ao, but Liu Zhengyun was seriously injured by Sloane.

The World Tree lost several C-levels, and Rudel was injured.

Daybreak’s two B-levels: Sloane died, and the other one must have been seriously injured as well.

The A-level’s Descending Ceremony that was plotted to occur was destroyed.

The "boss" of Daybreak suffered the loss of a confidant and the failure of their plans.

The final outcome differed from these powerful beings’ "expectations" but moved according to the results set by He Ao.

In the end, the Velora fell into his hands, and besides that, he also acquired the corpse of the Secret Art Mage Jin Ya.

He could induce the Talent Sequences in Jin Ya’s body with auxiliary materials and reconfigure them into new Secret Medicine for the Secret Mage.

The Magician’s promotion could perhaps also be put on the schedule.

He Ao quickly went downstairs and walked out of the community.

In the vicinity of schools, old neighborhoods are usually surrounded by ’Food Streets’ that aren’t very long but are bustling with a variety of small shops.

The noodles there cost just a few yuan, and a rice dish covered entirely with meat only costs about ten yuan.

Whenever He Ao didn’t feel like cooking, he would come here for a meal.

The surroundings were always bustling with people, students as well as workers from nearby areas.

He Ao arrived here and quietly perceived the emotions around him.

In a daze, he could ’listen’ to the hunger and weariness of passersby and could ’hear’ the joy of those who were full and content.

The jumbled emotions mingled in his mind, hidden beneath the noise and clamor.

He Ao turned off his Super Memory, and those complex emotions gradually faded away, but faint echoes lingered.

After entering C-level, Super Memory also evolved two new abilities.

The first one was ’Listen’,

The Listen ability allowed He Ao to split off five soul fragments and use them to tag up to five individuals.

When Super Memory was activated, as long as the tagged individuals were within a hundred kilometers, He Ao could sense their stronger emotional fluctuations, and if they were closer, he could even feel their superficial thoughts more clearly.

However, the stronger the tagged individuals were, the less of their thoughts could be heard.

This ability might be ineffective against those with mental attack capabilities, like the previous He Ao.

People like that would shatter the soul fragments used for tagging.

Once the soul fragment was shattered, the tag was effectively destroyed and it would take at least three months for the soul to recover before he could tag someone else or listen to the tagged person’s thoughts.

Encountering those without mental attack abilities but who were very clever or highly perceptive also did not guarantee the success of ’Listen’.

Such individuals might realize they were being ’listened’ to and deliberately hide some thoughts, or even deceive themselves, like the previous Old Foreman.

After all, Listen could only ’hear’ the surface thoughts.

The Listen tag could be canceled or changed at any time.

Besides Listen, the second ability gained by C-level Super Memory was ’Ease Thought’.

Ease Thought could modify the final decision made by a tagged individual when they were faced with choices.

Tagged individuals at C-level or below could have their decisions modified three times a week, with each modification spaced more than three minutes apart, and B-levels could only be modified once a month.

Even if the tag was destroyed, the effect would still be valid, and ’Ease Thought’ could still be applied to the last person tagged. Additionally, the modification by Ease Thought was a forced change in thought; as long as it could be activated, the skill would absolutely take effect.

However, if this skill was discovered by someone, its effectiveness would be greatly reduced because the other party could bypass He Ao’s ability to modify their choice by sticking to uncompromising linear thought processes, or they could set a trap to bait He Ao into using his ability.

The stronger the individual, the easier it would be for them to realize their decision had been manipulated.

Ease Thought was a powerful ability, but not invincible.

To be precise, it was the Chess Master’s ability.

The people who were marked were Chess Masters’ pawns; each time he modified their decisions, it was like making a move on the chessboard. Through constant maneuvering, he would inevitably steer the game in the direction he desired.

"Listen" and "Ease Thought" merely facilitated the Chess Master’s gameplay, but to win the game, it still depended on the player himself.

Eliah, holding the Thought Stone, had also partially mastered "Listen" and "Ease Thought," yet in the end, she lost.

Beyond these two abilities, He Ao also vaguely acquired another ability for which there were no detailed descriptions.

That was his ability to vaguely sense the emotions of those around him.

The stronger the person being sensed, the more obscure the emotions he could perceive; conversely, the weaker the person, the clearer the emotions.

This ability had a slight effect even when Super Memory wasn’t activated.

After this promotion, his soul also seemed to have undergone some changes different from before.

Apart from new abilities, another benefit of the promotion of Super Memory was that the physical boost after activation went from 137 to 490.

This was a terrifying increase, as purely based on physical quality, he had stepped into the realm of a typical C-Level, meaning He Ao now had the confidence to confront C-Level opponents in the Copy World at any time.

——

Alano

As He Ao’s reputation grew, more and more former Free Marines had recently come under his wing. However, he largely ignored these new forces.

His only demands were that they refrain from committing murder, arson, and random thievery.

Though these two requirements seemed simple, most pirates couldn’t tolerate them, resulting in a continuous stream of departures.

While his main body was having dinner, his clone had already begun breakfast.

At that moment, he received a phone call from Noding, Daybreak’s liaison officer in the area.

Noding’s first words were, "Hu Wen, the Secret Art Mage has died."

He Ao asked in shock, "What?"

Noding understood He Ao’s surprise and then explained that he didn’t know the whole story himself.

However, ’the Boss’ had come back enraged, and many had been held accountable.

With Daybreak currently short on people and the C-Level in charge of Alano’s side yet to be appointed, ’the Boss’ entrusted He Ao with the temporary care of the area.

Though it was termed an entrustment, not a single person was provided; all orders had to go through Noding.

He Ao knew ’the Boss’ didn’t trust him.

In the end, Noding said, "’the Boss’ might want to meet you in person after some time."

"Alright," he replied, nodding lightly.

C-Levels weren’t plentiful; the death of a trusted C-Level, along with the previously lost psychologist, meant Daybreak’s internal power structure was likely to shift.

Now was an opportunity for newly-joined C-Levels like He Ao.

Unknowingly, he seemed to be approaching the inner circle of Daybreak.

——

For the following days, there were no complicated matters, and He Ao returned to the tranquil life he hadn’t enjoyed for a long time.

He exercised every morning, went to school, and occasionally sold cold noodles.

He noticed that the energies conducive to cultivation available in the environment seemed to have increased.

After reaching C-Level in Martial Arts, one could naturally absorb energy from the surroundings to cultivate, although the efficiency was much lower than actively breathing in and out.

Recently, He Ao found that even without cultivating, the whirl of Qi within him was growing, albeit infinitesimally.

The world was gradually changing.

On the evening of the seventh day after the last Copy World ended, He Ao sat at home, quietly staring at the countdown in his field of view.

[Ding——]

[System Update Complete]