Life Game In Other World
Chapter 643: Waiting (Long - for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 643: Chapter 643: Waiting (Long Chapter for Monthly Tickets)

The violent force escaped into deeper layers of time and space. Inside the ’tunnel,’ the Velora lurched like a small boat caught by a fierce wind, flipping over on the spot.

He Ao struggled to hold onto the door handle to avoid rolling around inside the carriage.

In his original analysis, he hadn’t expected his "good friend" to wield such immense power.

The Forged Pages of Knowledge could steal knowledge from the "good friend," but after asking three safe questions, it was very likely to attract the "good friend’s" attention.

Therefore, He Ao used this ’negative effect’ in reverse, drawing his "good friend’s" Ritual Array on the pages and then asking for the "good friend’s" prayer incantations.

This process itself wasn’t a ritual, but it could maximally attract the "good friend’s" attention, allowing It to discover the ’little thief’ who was stealing Its knowledge – The Forged Pages of Knowledge.

Hmm, this move was pretty much like a direct confrontation.

Although it would draw hatred, He Ao had not expected his "good friend" to have such a fiery temper lately, getting so agitated over such a minor provocation.

It seems his "good friend" has been quite irritable of late.

It took a while before the Velora stabilized from the turbulent storm-like disturbance.

He Ao staggered and sat down on the floor.

At this moment, the whole time-space structure had stabilized again, and it seemed AO2 had been resolved.

But He Ao didn’t dare to leave the ’tunnel’ to check it out.

The "good friend’s" power had not yet dissipated, and in terms of mysticism, stepping out now could easily lead to seeing something one shouldn’t and thus attracting the "good friend’s" gaze.

The "good friend" had just vented Its anger, so it was clearly not appropriate to disturb It now.

He Ao stretched out his hand, and a wisp of red mist emerged from the flesh at the core of the Velora’s bonnet. These mists condensed into faint brushstrokes in the air, complicated patterns and lines forming in the void.

These were the time-space coordinates of the main world.

Drawing these coordinates solely from memory was time-consuming and energetically taxing.

After a slow process of drawing, He Ao finally completed the coordinates.

The Velora vibrated slightly, entering deeper into the tunnel.

At this moment, He Ao finally breathed a sigh of relief. He looked over at Hao Yi, who had already removed his Exoskeleton Armor and was controlling Hao Yi to take off the Lucky Brooch pinned to his chest.

He took the brooch into his hands, gazing at the shiny green gem upon it.

An ability related to destiny.

The wish he made in the Core Control Room was for his questions to be understood by the pages only after he had left.

Ultimately, the realization of this wish happened because AO2 intervened to suppress the pages, disrupting their power.

And after he had snatched the golden bracelet, AO2 withdrew its power, causing the suppression of the pages to cease, allowing them to take effect once more, while He Ao at that time had dived into the tunnel, leaving the Core Control Room.

All of these developments seemed logical, even when He Ao looked back, each actor had made choices that were reasonable and in their own best interests, but the final outcome aligned perfectly with the wish He Ao had initially made.

However, when the Lucky Brooch worked, it seemed not to alter the original nature of things; it only turned certain probable events into inevitabilities, ultimately leading to an inevitable outcome.

So, after deciding to accept this stroke of luck, what standards determine the price to be paid?

Is it the level of the original desire, or the sum of the ’destiny’ altered by this wish?

These two methods represented two entirely different costs.

For instance, a simple wish like finding a coin on the side of the street.

This coin could have been carelessly dropped by an ordinary person, or it could have been carelessly dropped by an angel.

If the cost is measured by the former, that is, by the outcome, then the end result of these two possibilities would be the same, and the holder of the brooch would only need to pay the price for this coin.

But if the cost is measured by the latter, that is, by the process, then interfering with the destiny of an ordinary person and interfering with the destiny of an angel would require completely different prices to be paid.

In situations where the cost is measured by the process, even if the smallest wish is made, the Lucky Brooch can be executed in the most complex way and then collect the most complex ’price’.

And if one interferes with an item related to a Higher Being, wouldn’t it attract the gaze of the Higher Being?

Sometimes, luck and misfortune are inherently linked.

Therefore, He Ao has always been very careful and cautious in using this brooch, striving not to involve more complex matters.

Similarly, this is also the opportunity for him to study the specific way the Lucky Brooch calculates its price.

The two wishes he made this time were both limited to C-level, and if the cost is measured by the outcome, then he would only need to bear a C-level price, which wouldn’t greatly affect him.

However, if the cost is measured by the process, then the latter wish involving the presence A02, whose position is close to that of an angel, would most likely far exceed the C-level.

But based on his first use of the Lucky Brooch, the brooch seemed to be rather ’friendly’ during the initial phase of its single use. Killing Ivier was crucial to his luck, but the price the brooch collected wasn’t too steep, only resulting in his injuries becoming much worse.

However, when his clone had the Lucky Brooch, it didn’t seem to suffer from any misfortune.

So this time, he switched to wearing the brooch on his clone, which would also allow him to test the selection criteria for the object affected by the brooch.

Thinking this, he turned and walked toward the carriage behind him.

Just then, he slipped and fell forward.

The clone by his side quickly reached out to help, but as soon as he extended his hand, a ’crack’ sound came from his body, followed by the skin of the clone tearing open due to the overly forceful pull, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

He Ao quickly controlled the clone to press down on the wound, but unexpectedly, this movement caused a twinge in his back, and the clone lost its ability to move, falling hard onto the ground.

This fall happened to hit a mechanical broadsword on the ground, creating a bloody gash on the forehead.

······

He Ao forcefully steadied himself and managed to stand upright.

He turned his head to look behind him, where the clone that had just been lively and unharmed a moment ago had, in the blink of an eye, fallen and become seriously injured.

However, compared to the strong healing ability of a C-level, this degree of injury was within an acceptable range and not too fearsome.

He Ao then waited for a while, and during this time, the clone encountered several more ’misfortunes,’ but none as severe as the first one.

As for his original self, it seemed he suffered no more misfortunes.

The wishes made by the clone seemed to be paid for by the clone as well.

The fall He Ao had just taken looked like misfortune too, but it was actually the cause of the clone’s misfortune, and since He Ao’s original self wasn’t hurt at all, he wasn’t sure if this counted as the ’price.’

Moreover, from this situation, it seemed that the ’price’ required by the Lucky Brooch wasn’t paid all at once but was distributed over subsequent periods of time.

This decreased the danger somewhat, since enduring misfortune for longer is fundamentally different from being struck down all at once.

He Ao put away the brooch and found a medical kit to bandage the clone.

Since the sensations of the original self and the clone were shared, He Ao’s original self also endured a portion of the ’painful’ price.

Misfortune continued, but it was intermittent and overall did not cause too much harm.

He Ao took out the last two items he had obtained from the Core Control Room.

One item was the mechanical bracelet on the skeleton’s hand, which served as the authority key for the second-in-command of the Navigator.

While He Ao was in the hall, he didn’t directly take the bracelet.

One reason was that this bracelet was a ’bait’ deliberately set by A02. A02 had claimed that the bracelet carried the authority of the second-in-command, but had not specified whether its authority outranked hers, nor had she explained where the bracelet’s authority could be verified.

This meant that taking the bracelet would entail an extremely high cost of exploration, along with the risk of the bracelet’s authority being suppressed by A02.

Of course, there was another more important reason: feigning incompetence could lull A02 into a false sense of security, buying He Ao more time.

He Ao’s best chance to take the bracelet was during the battle with Ivier and after defeating Ivier.

As long as the bracelet remained inside that semi-transparent wall, unclaimed, A02 would cling to the hope that He Ao might break the wall, and in turn breach the seal—she would not outright turn against him so easily.

It was like a carrot dangling in front of a donkey.

This maneuver bought He Ao time to briefly eat the Nutritional Canned Food after Ivier’s death, and gave him the chance to counter-attack David.

It also led A02 to believe that everything was under control, patient enough to allow him to finish part of his analysis, granting him time to heal his wounds.

If He Ao had just taken the mechanical bracelet at the beginning, without the bait, as soon as Ivier died, David would have barged in and gone all out to kill him first.

And that was why, when He Ao finally demonstrated his ability to easily take the bracelet, A02 seemed to have so much she wanted to say.

She realized she had been played by He Ao all along.

After eliminating David, He Ao was immediately drawn into battle with the small warships. He didn’t have the time or ability to take the mechanical bracelet.

After all, had he dashed into the deeper hall, those warships would have destroyed the seal instantly, and then A02 would have caught him right in the middle of the hall.

Though the mechanical bracelet might have been able to control those warships, He Ao did not have the luxury to take that gamble at the time.

So it wasn’t until the warships on the periphery had been completely cleared, and He Ao had a chance to set up his final measures, that he had the time to take the mechanical bracelet.

The activation method for this mechanical bracelet was quite straightforward. The moment He Ao put it on his hand, a holographic projection screen appeared.

It seemed to be a pop-up.

He Ao glanced at the text and found the language option at the bottom right corner, switching to the language of the Second Sector.

Then he exited and looked back at the pop-up’s content.

The content of the pop-up was simple, just a prompt,

[Bind Soul information?]

Even though A02 never told the whole truth, she wasn’t a liar; the key was indeed a blank slate.

He Ao selected ’Yes’.

[Binding successful]

Soon, a new pop-up appeared.

Then there was nothing else.

He Ao touched the mechanical bracelet, and a pop-up appeared,

[Please bring the key close to the identity verification area]

It seemed to truly be just a key, with no hints as to what kind of key it was with no intelligence involved.

He Ao removed the mechanical bracelet from his hand.

But perhaps it was only such a pure mechanical device, devoid of any intellect, that could evade the corruption that swept through all smart devices.

He Ao put away the mechanic in his hand, deep in thought.

The misfortune with his clone seemed to have come to a pause. He Ao, controlling his clone, concealed its bandages and injuries and moved towards the rear of the train carriage with his main body.

Zhang Yusi and the others were still in the dining car at the very end of the train at this moment.

----

Eren City · Locklen Street

Li Cheng sat at an outdoor café, slowly stirring his instant coffee, gazing at the bright sunlight-bathed street.

He raised his hand, glancing at the time.

Twelve o’clock noon sharp.

His field of vision flickered for a moment, and figures began to appear on the pristine street.

Many of them bore various wounds, their clothes stained red with fresh blood.

Li Cheng quickly spotted Ye Yun at the forefront of the crowd.

Ye Yun, with a broadsword covered in dried blood on his back, had hair clumped with blood, was dressed in tattered clothes, his eyes red and bewildered as he looked around.

It took him a while to come to his senses, his gaze regaining some clarity.

Then, he spotted a figure approaching him.

"Director!"

He looked at the approaching person in surprise, stuttered briefly, and then spoke softly, "This time, the ruins... seem different from before..."

While talking, he suddenly paused, his gaze swept around, "Director, where’s He Ao? Hasn’t he returned?"

Hearing his question, Li Cheng paused before patting his shoulder, "You’ve worked hard. Go take a shower, have some food, get some rest. After you’ve rested, we’ll talk about the ruins."

Ye Yun opened his mouth as if to say something but in the end, did not question further and nodded gently, "Okay, Director."

Immediately, medical personnel from the Research Institute approached to examine his condition.

Li Cheng glanced at the rising sun in the sky, turned around, and walked back to his seat at the café.

"Has Ye Yun returned?"

Li Zhengyun’s voice came through the earpiece in a low tone of inquiry.

"Yeah."

Li Cheng lifted his coffee and took a light sip.

The phone went silent for a moment, and then cautiously asked.

"He Ao..."

"We’ll wait a bit longer,"

Li Cheng said, sipping his coffee gently, watching the Transcendents being carried away on stretchers, "After all, it’s normal for the train to be a bit slow."

Hearing his words, silence consumed the other end of the phone.

People bustled on the street, with the sun casting the man’s lonely shadow long upon the ground.