Chapter 26: Ranking of Battle Power
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
In the bedroom, a gentle summer breeze brushed against the blue and white curtains.
At the table, under the warm yellow light, Chu Feng looked at Xie Shiyu’s sketchbook. A small checkmark appeared at the bottom right corner of the alcohol glass √
—Completed.
Click—clack—
Chu Feng reached out, his slender fingertips gripping the printed image of a cute little bunny tightly. With force, he neatly tore the paper from the notebook. Holding the paper in his hand, Chu Feng moved to the small balcony of the bedroom.
Click.
He took out a cigarette lighter, the orange-yellow flame flickering in the night, swaying slightly in the wind. Holding the paper with the alcohol glass sketch, Chu Feng moved it towards the flame, quietly igniting it.
The final record related to Xie Shiyu’s case, under the flame, turned into fine ashes, gently falling to the ground.
Chu Feng held the lighter, leaning against the balcony railing. He gazed at the night scene he had once enjoyed with Xie Shiyu, the towering skyscrapers disappearing into the twinkling sea of lights.
The night was dark.
Click.
The lighter ignited once again, and Chu Feng silently lit a cigarette, holding it in his mouth.
The smoke rose gently, forming a hazy mist, dissipating into the night sky.
***
Lin Lan sat in the living room watching variety shows, laughing like a big goose. Suddenly, he smelled a strong scent of smoke.
He sniffed and got up, moving around the house like a little dog, finally sniffing in front of his cousin’s bedroom door.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Cousin, are you smoking?”
Lin Lan waited for a while, but no one responded. He quickly opened the door to take a look—
Chu Feng’s bedroom was quite spacious. The glass door of the bedroom balcony was half open, and amidst the smoke, stood a slender figure.
“Cousin?”
Chu Feng turned his head, his expression somewhat dazed, as if he had just heard Lin Lan coming. His pale skin resembled moonlight in the night, and the loose silk pajamas clung to his slender back, giving his tall figure a hint of frailty.
“Sorry.” Chu Feng lowered his head, cigarette dangling from his mouth. “Did I bother you with the smoke?”
Lin Lan looked into the balcony and saw the cigarette butts scattered on the ground. “Gosh! Cousin, can you smoke a bit less leisurely!”
He noticed a half-empty pack of cigarettes in the corner of the balcony, realizing that Chu Feng had smoked almost half a pack already. Lin Lan recognized the brand of tobacco; it was the brand Brother Xie used to smoke.
“Cousin…”
Lin Lan looked at Chu Feng’s current appearance, hesitating to speak.
Skilled in exhaling smoke rings, incongruous with Chu Feng’s cold and handsome demeanor, there was a subtle sense of decadence and despair in the hazy smoke. Lin Lan remembered that his cousin had always been “the good kid from other families.” Even after entering society, he never touched cigarettes or alcohol. Whenever he smelled smoke, he would pull up his turtleneck sweater to cover his mouth and nose, hating the smell of smoke. Therefore, Brother Xie never smoked in front of his cousin.
Now, this “good kid” and “role model” face was immersed in swirling smoke, becoming hazy, somewhat indistinct. In the misty atmosphere, there was a hidden sense of decadence and desolation.
“Smoke less, Cousin,” Lin Lan advised. “You used to… not smoke, right?”
Standing alone on the balcony, Chu Feng faced the city’s lights, his slender fingers holding the cigarette, and he smiled faintly:
“Maybe I used to live too comfortably.”
***
In the distant night sky, at the edge of the celestial dome.
On an island nation in the Pacific.
X sat in his bedroom, assembling a wooden picture frame.
Zi—Zi—
The printer next to him was printing out two photos: one was taken when they were in Dream City Game, at Hudson Castle during a lucky draw.
X silently looked at the two photos. One was of Mr. Vampire in elaborate attire against a backdrop of velvety navy night, and the other was of Mr. Vampire’s exclusive little kitty — in fuzzy attire, it was Chu Feng, with a beautiful long tail elegantly showing from behind, the tip of the tail slightly curved into a loop.
X pieced the two photos together and carefully placed them in a wooden frame, placing it on the bedside, becoming the first photo in his life of amnesia.
It was late. X lay down on the bed, just closed his eyes to rest—
Bi—! Bi—!
His indispensable “Strategic Advisory System” suddenly sounded an alarm:
“Detected your S-level protected target: Player CF4088 has entered his high-risk Dream City again. Please go to protect immediately!”
Chu Feng’s Dream City had been infected by the “Ghost Virus”, and the Regulator Center had activated S-level protection for this. Whenever a player was detected entering the Dream City, the regulator would be immediately notified to supervise and provide 24-hour personal protection.
X raised an eyebrow slightly. Why was Chu Feng still going into the game at this late hour?
“What else could he be doing?” Another system called out. “They are a legal couple; of course, they would have various activities at night!”
X’s face instantly darkened.
The system continued, “X, I think you can just go in and make a record, there doesn’t seem to be any danger now. After making the record, you can come back and sleep. Just show that you haven’t neglected your duty. Let them have their activities; we don’t need to intervene…”
Before the system finished speaking, X swiftly put on the game headset, connected his brainwaves, and drip—
***
Late at night, in front of the hospital, a car.
Chu Feng and the frozen “Dr. Xie” sat in the back seat, while Lin Lan sat in the passenger seat. The black system spirit floated above the driver’s seat, excitedly looking at Chu Feng:
“Master, master! Have you already cracked the security question so quickly? Awesome! Humans are really clever!”
Chu Feng:…
Lin Lan was also a little excited, “Cousin, you managed to solve such a nonsensical question!”
“Not difficult.” Chu Feng said lightly, “It was a bad habit he had when drinking before. He changed it later, and I didn’t think of it at the time.”
Chu Feng made a few perfunctory remarks, and Lin Lan believed him. Matters between couples were not something normal people would pry into.
Both the system spirit and Lin Lan were eagerly looking at Chu Feng, caring about the resetting of the password, and paying little attention to the security question itself. In their view, this question was just like “the name of a childhood pet” or “the birthday of the first good friend” — it didn’t hold much significance.
In this world, only Chu Feng truly understood what secrets were hidden beneath this question.
On the floating screen, the page that they couldn’t continue before reappeared:
[Password Reset] — [Security Question]
Question 1: Number of glasses of alcohol? (Input only numbers)
— Supervisor Wang, Mr. Li, Mr. Liu, and Mr. Huang, a total of four people.
Chu Feng filled in: 4
Question 2: Color of the drugs? (In order)
— The question referred to drugs, which meant they had to be entered in the order that Xie Shiyu had given them.
Chu Feng’s mind was clear. The first person to fall ill was Mr. Wang, who had a stroke on March 29th, with the drug: RushPoppers. He had checked, and the one sold near the Golden Goblet Hotel five years ago was blue.
The second person, Mr. Li, had respiratory obstruction on April 3rd, with the drug: GHB, which was white.
The third and fourth, Mr. Liu and Mr. Huang, had heart failure and kidney failure respectively. The drugs were: 0-number capsules and Spanish Big Fly. Chu Feng had carefully checked, and both of these drugs were yellow in color.
He wrote the answer to the second question in the input box: blue, white, yellow.
Filled out, ready to click next.
The system spirit nervously twirled its antenna on top of its head, spinning like a propeller. Unaware, Lin Lan stared at the screen, equally nervous, wanting to verify if the answers were correct.
Although he trusted his Cousin’s understanding of Brother Xie, if they answered the [security question] incorrectly, they would not be able to reset the password again.
—Without a password, they couldn’t access the encrypted ranking of combat power, and couldn’t confirm if Doctor Xie was the [Ghost Virus] itself.
Whether they could solve the city-wide crisis caused by the virus in one fell swoop depended on this one step! Lin Lan clenched his fists, nervous as if he were watching the World Cup.
Bang000!
“Oh my god!” Lin Lan jumped in fright, hitting his head on the roof of the car, wincing in pain.
There was something on the roof of their car!
Lin Lan and the system spirit looked at each other in alarm. Calmly, Chu Feng rolled down the window and looked up —
Regulator X, wearing a sleek iron-gray overcoat, the long coat swaying elegantly in the night breeze. A cold, silver gun was strapped to his back.
“…” Slightly uncomfortable, Chu Feng connected his game headset while wearing his pajamas, projecting his real-life clothes into the Dream City. The outfit of the little cat that accompanied him when he partnered with X had expired, so at this moment, Chu Feng was wearing his pajamas and didn’t like meeting strangers in them:
“How could you casually enter my Dream City?”
X very professionally produced an S-level protection employment certificate to Chu Feng.
The system spirit diligently explained:
“Due to the high-risk status of your Dream City, the regulatory center has activated an S-level protection for you. As soon as you enter Dream City, the regulator will receive an alert, and for 7 days, 24 hours a day, they will come to your aid, providing personal protection! Please rest assured, our Dream City Game Company will ensure your safety and always prioritize the players!”
“…”
Sitting in the car wearing silk pajamas, Chu Feng had nothing to say.
X hadn’t seen Chu Feng wearing any other regular clothes before, his gaze unwilling to move away from him. Usually, Chu Feng wore a white shirt in the Dream City, buttoned up to the top, not revealing an inch of skin. Now, wearing pajamas, the soft silk material outlined his slender waist, the collar slightly lowered, revealing his long neck and concave collarbone. The exposed skin was so white that it made people want to leave some exclusive marks on him.
After looking for a while, the [Strategic Advisory System] beeped in his ear, “Where are you looking at the player?! X!!”
X blinked and turned his gaze away.
“Did you unlock the [security question]?” X asked.
“Yes.”
Chu Feng looked at the answers he had entered, his fingertips moving, clicking on the next step [→].
Lin Lan’s heart was in his throat!
The loading circle on the screen spun for a while before a notification popped up:
[Congratulations! Your answer is correct! You can now reset your password!]
“We did it? Yes!” Lin Lan was overjoyed, turning to high-five with the system spirit, “Now the virus can be successfully neutralized!”
Chu Feng’s reaction was quite calm. He understood very well that the answer must be correct. This secret used to belong to only Xie Shiyu. In the future, this secret would be taken to the grave by him alone.
On the side, X observed Chu Feng’s reaction silently.
“Let’s check the combat power ranking to confirm.” The system spirit had already taken out the first-generation antidote to combat the virus in advance. “Once confirmed to be NO.1 in combat power, we’ll give this medicine to Doctor Xie to take! Then the Ghost Virus can be lifted!”
Chu Feng reset the password: 111209, adding Xie Shiyu’s birthday number. He felt that Doctor Xie was basically the original entity without error. Doctor Xie’s Ghost combat power was infinitely high, and combined with the secrets of Xie Shiyu that he had learned in reality, giving the antidote to Doctor Xie to take should safely resolve the city-wide crisis this time.
As Chu Feng thought about it, after solving the virus, this time’s Little Shiyu Illustrated Handbook would probably make another wave of progress. His fingers absentmindedly clicked, returning to the combat power ranking page.
Character: Doctor Xie
Combat Power Ranking: ***
Chu Feng clicked: [***], entering the password he had just reset.
***
Swipe — [Password Correct]
The screen displayed the true combat power ranking:
Doctor Xie:
Combat Power Ranking: No.3
“—-Ah!” Lin Lan exclaimed regretfully, “It’s not… not the original body…”
He and the system spirit were only slightly disappointed, after all, they had also considered the possibility that Doctor Xie might not be the original body.
But Chu Feng was different. He maintained a calm and cool demeanor on the surface, but his whole body stiffened, feeling greatly shocked:
[Doctor Xie]… even like this… is only third?
Who is the one ranked first in combat power for Xie Shiyu?
Want to show your support? Come donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! :)
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
