My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 356: The Ultimate Easter Egg (4000)

Chapter 356: Chapter 356: The Ultimate Easter Egg (4000)

A fire broke out in the Xinhu Smart City District and quickly became a trending search topic. Under the full surveillance of the Smart Brain, accidents still occurring sparked doubts among many about the Smart Brain developed by Deep Space Technology.

As the core of the Smart City, the Smart Brain was regarded by many as an omniscient and omnipotent mechanical divine spirit. During the construction of the New City, not a single incident had occurred, the performance of which had far exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Yet, just as "Perfect Life" was about to be launched at such a critical moment, an explosion happened in the Smart District controlled entirely by the Smart Brain, and the most damaged areas were crucial data storage facilities of Deep Space Technology and Eternal Life Pharmaceutical.

There were already many people on the internet opposing "Perfect Life," believing that the game would have a certain impact on real society and posed numerous ethical and moral issues.

In fact, it wasn’t just "Perfect Life" they disapproved of, but also Deep Space Technology and Eternal Life Pharmaceutical. These two giants led the intelligence and biotech revolutions, and a massive number of jobs were taken over by artificial intelligence. Many people lost their jobs and were forced to adapt to this new era. If they slowed down, they would be mercilessly left behind by this rapidly developing age.

Previously there had been no chance to intervene, and as the official public testing of "Perfect Life" had become inevitable, their anxiety was useless, but now an explosion in the Smart District had occurred.

Suddenly, a wave of doubt spread over the internet, and there were even people scouring websites for citizen information to organize a boycott of games offered by the two giants under real-name policies.

After the explosion, Han Fei had been standing by the window, often checking the trending searches on his phone.

In less than an hour, the related trending topics had surged to the top of the national charts, the speed of which was simply terrifying.

Yet, that wasn’t all. As the blaze was extinguished, a person claiming to be a former employee of Eternal Life Pharmaceutical started exposing various anomalies during the "Perfect Life" beta test online. Seeing the identity of this employee, Han Fei’s gaze was no longer calm.

The whistleblower’s identity information belonged to Feng Ziyu. He leaked all data and investigative reports related to the Death Building maps, including recordings and videos of his colleague who had gone insane.

Most of the recordings were new to Han Fei, who was certain that the chairman of Eternal Life Pharmaceutical’s will had been tampered with. He insisted the late chairman had hidden a great secret in the deleted maps.

Now those maps could not be restored, but clues could still be traced through some hidden maps.

Han Fei quickly browsed through those videos, knowing that such content wouldn’t last long on the internet.

Among all the videos, one truly caught Han Fei’s attention.

The crazed employee stood alone in an empty office. Looking down at the camera under his desk, he said, "I feel that there must be some issue in that neighborhood, something inexplicable by technology. If it can’t be removed through data, then I must try to kill it using the most primitive method. After all, a game is just a game. If the definition of a game goes beyond the game itself, that’s not a good thing. I will be the first to uphold the rules, but definitely not the last. If I die in the game tonight, whoever sees this video must..."

At that point, the man’s demeanor and facial expressions suddenly changed, his mouth open and closing without making a sound.

After a few seconds, the man suddenly stared into the camera, his mouth split into a strange smile, "Whoever sees this video must live a good life."

The latter half of the video was cut off, ending abruptly there.

"This video was shot in the minute before the mad employee entered the game; it was afterward that he went completely insane," Han Fei pondered deeply. Feng Ziyu had already disappeared, and it was very likely that it was Butterfly, or someone following Butterfly, using Feng Ziyu’s account to post the information.

At such a crucial moment, why did Butterfly release this information?

"Does it want to stop the public test of ’Perfect Life’? But what benefit does that have for it?" After much thought, Han Fei felt that Butterfly was most likely trying to muddy the waters in order to conceal its true intentions: "Although Butterfly never kills anyone personally, it has always been accompanied by death. Tonight might turn into a blood-colored night."

Unlike the explosion in the Xinhu Smart City District, the explosive revelations by Feng Ziyu did not stir much commotion, suppressed by an invisible force. The videos Han Fei was browsing became completely inaccessible.

"Did those two companies make their move?"

As he watched the rapidly decreasing relevant information, a thought suddenly struck Han Fei, "Could Butterfly’s real target be Eternal Life Pharmaceutical? First using Feng Ziyu’s remnants to distract us, then striking at someone within their company?"

With this thought, Han Fei immediately took out his phone and called Li Xue, unable to remember how many times he had spoken to her today.

He told Li Xue all his speculations and repeatedly reminded her to increase her vigilance tonight, as Butterfly might start a killing spree.

Before Han Fei had finished speaking, Jin Jun in the living room let out an exclamation while holding his phone and hurriedly ran to Han Fei, constantly pointing at his phone as if he had discovered something incredible.

After hanging up the phone, Han Fei looked at Jin Jun’s phone. The top trending search had become the will of the chairman of Eternal Life Pharmaceutical, the second was the ’Perfect Life’ game launch Easter Egg, and the third was the explosion in the Xinhu Smart City District, but there were no casualties.

It seemed that to suppress negative voices and questions, Deep Space Technology had launched an event that they had been preparing for a long time, and the scale and content of this event shocked everyone who saw it.

For the first time, Eternal Life Pharmaceutical released a video recorded by the chairman before his death. He had devoted all his heart to the ’Perfect Life’ game. In the video, the kindly old man showed no signs of illness; his gentle gaze looked directly into the camera, as if he were talking to his own children.

The old man spoke about his expectations for ’Perfect Life.’ His life was full of regrets, so he wanted to create a place that could make up for all of them.

The video was quite long, and at the end, the old man expressed his final wish.

He hoped that players entering ’Perfect Life’ would help him find a black box in the game, which contained his life’s regrets.

If someone could find the Black Box and help him rectify those regrets, he would willingly give his initial shares in Eternal Life Pharmaceutical to that person.

Eternal Life Pharmaceutical made the late chairman’s will public, devoid of any conspiracy or earth-shattering secrets. At least from the video, it seemed merely the reflections of an old man at death’s door on his past and his hopeful outlook for the future.

The video quickly sparked a discussion frenzy. No advertisement could compare— the words ’initial shares’ were frankly too substantial.

After confirmations from Deep Space Technology and Eternal Life Pharmaceutical, gamers both domestically and internationally went wild.

The late chairman of Eternal Life Pharmaceutical had set up his own foundation for charity and medical research, sustained solely by the annual dividends from his initial shares.

For an ordinary person to gain his initial shares was not just a step across social classes, but a skyrocket to the heavens!

Jin Jun, who already had a car, a house, and substantial savings, had his eyes turn red after viewing the video, and he was not the only one tantalized by this news.

Greed is human nature; moderate greed can drive progress, but excessive greed can completely bury a person.

As Han Fei looked at the already simmering discussions, he felt a deep chill.

The Black Box was in his mind, and he even envisioned a scene where he was grabbed by mechanical arms, locked in a metal chamber, with countless eyes staring at him as his brain was dissected.

People had become fanatic, yet Han Fei watched that chairman’s video over and over. He knew the revered chairman was lying. No one knew what was truly hidden inside the Black Box; not even the Fu Sheng brothers had opened its innermost layer.

Han Fei was the only one who knew the truth, but he believed no one would trust his words.

He couldn’t leak any information related to the Black Box, which was a restriction as well as a form of protection it offered him.

"Eternal Life Pharmaceutical had known about the video’s content for a long time yet had not disclosed it, they must have also tried looking for the Black Box. During the testing phase in ’Perfect Life’, many of their own staff entered, and some were likely specifically searching for the Black Box."

Han Fei didn’t understand the considerations of Eternal Life Pharmaceutical or why they chose this time to publicize the late chairman’s will. Perhaps they wanted to use it as a gimmick to turn ’Perfect Life’ into a game for everyone, constructing a virtual world; or perhaps they were forced to reveal this secret due to certain circumstances.

Han Fei couldn’t comprehend the decisions of big corporations; he only knew that he absolutely must not let a third party know he possessed the Black Box.

The fires of the Smart District had been extinguished, but the fires in the players’ hearts had been thoroughly ignited.

The giant screen stretched across the night sky, and the immense digit "3" filled Han Fei’s eyes, bringing him an unprecedented sense of urgency, as if it wasn’t just the countdown to the public testing of ’Perfect Life,’ but a countdown to his life as well.

"I should take action now."

Han Fei called Zhuang Ren into his room. To ensure that the Soul-summoning wouldn’t bring in anything else, he thoroughly interrogated him about his birth date and various other information.

After committing the information to memory, Han Fei left Jin Jun’s house carrying the Black Box.

Walking through the streets of the Old City District, Han Fei habitually stayed close to the walls and hid in the shadows. Many habits formed in the Deep World were affecting him, sometimes even blurring the lines between reality and virtuality.

"I initially just wanted to play a small game to relax, how did it end up that my life is nearly gone without even realizing it?"

While Han Fei was a walk-on actor, he used to fantasize about winning the lottery and owning millions. Then he could confidently order takeaway food while on set. Now that he truly possessed something priceless in his mind, not only did he not feel happy, but he felt even worse than when he was a walk-on actor.

Around past ten at night, Han Fei returned to his residential complex. Just as he was about to enter the building, a neighboring, seemingly expensive car suddenly turned on its headlights.

Han Fei’s gaze immediately turned icy, his muscles tensed, and within fractions of a second, he had thought of several evasion strategies.

The atmosphere in the complex was tense, but the car didn’t charge at him as Han Fei had imagined. Instead, the window rolled down, and a well-maintained hand holding a cigarette stretched out.

A luxury watch adorned his wrist, and something seemed faintly tattooed on the back of his hand.

The other car door opened, and a handsome young man stepped out.

"What happened? You just shot with Director Zhang for a few days and got kicked out? Heard they never let you go back? That’s too pitiful, isn’t it? Director Zhang is a big director, how could he just stop using you like that?" The young man was quite handsome, but his mocking tone was somewhat annoying.

"Acheng?" Han Fei had some impression of this young man. Originally, the lead role of ’Twin Flowers’ was meant for Acheng, but he had walked out, and Han Fei had replaced him.

"Actually, I understand, an actor died in the crew, so they definitely needed to blame someone. An actor like you who’s new and without any backing is perfect for taking the blame." Acheng’s tone sounded empathetic: "You and I are acquaintances; I have an opportunity here I hope you will seize well."

Acheng stared at Han Fei’s face, eagerly anticipating seeing a look of desire because he knew that Han Fei was an actor "abandoned" by Director Zhang, and after the death in the crew, many people in the industry were talking about Han Fei.

"Giving me an opportunity? If you’re ill, you should get treated fast before it worsens." Han Fei shook his head. Acheng had been spoiled since childhood; coupled with his good looks, he was used to having his way. He wasn’t a particularly bad person, just somewhat brainless.

Simply put, people like him didn’t even qualify to be summoned to the Deep World. Too weak.

Han Fei was about to leave with the Black Box when Acheng awkwardly turned to glance back, and the car door opened again as the middle-aged man inside spoke up.

"Han Fei, you should still remember me, right?"

Pausing his steps, Han Fei found the voice somewhat familiar. He glanced at the tattoo on the man’s arm and, realizing it wasn’t a butterfly, continued walking forward.

"Back when you were at the company, I always thought you had potential. If you’re willing to come back, we will definitely promote you." The middle-aged man pointed at the dilapidated residential area: "You must be strapped for cash now, right? We can sign the contract right now, and we’ll transfer the signing money to you today."

Han Fei didn’t respond to him.

Strapped for cash? I should sell my brain to make you understand the meaning of wealth beyond measure.

Entering the building, Han Fei was about to head upstairs when he saw two heavily armed detectives.

Clearly veterans, they hadn’t made any sound and were perfectly hidden in a blind spot.

"What are you two doing here?"

"Things are off tonight. Before those two outside arrived, several groups had already been here looking for you. Some you know, some you don’t. We suspect some of Butterfly’s men were mixed in, trying to move against you tonight."

Han Fei was a key protection target; his living area had been tightly secured by the police.

Seeing the police so earnestly protecting him, ensuring he could play his game without worries, he felt a touch of gratitude.