Free Web NovelThe Nightmare Rising Star section of the Central Lobby.
It was a pitch-black television hall.
Unlike the Core Hall’s grand and extravagant style, this place followed a cold industrial aesthetic. Dark curtains hung across every wall, scattered with fragments of silver and gold that shimmered faintly beneath the dim lights. At first glance, it resembled a dreamy midsummer night sky.
But on closer inspection, dark bloodstains soaked into the curtains, and those glittering fragments turned out to be metal prosthetic teeth ripped from human mouths and glued onto the fabric.
Within the game, any player who had participated in fewer than fifty-two games was considered a newbie. Based on the average rate of one game per week, players within their first year were classified as Rising Stars. Rising Stars had their own ranking board, and among all promotion slots, the Nightmare Rising Star Rankings were the most prestigious.
There were only ten screens in the Nightmare Rising Star Hall.
Only the top ten newbies in daily comprehensive rankings could appear there.
Competition was brutally intense. Most players who managed to climb onto the rankings were quickly pushed off again before they could even enjoy the spotlight.
But today, the atmosphere inside the hall was strangely bizarre.
Because the second, third, and fourth screens—
—all displayed Bai Liu’s small TV.
When Wang Shun rushed over and saw the scene, he genuinely didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Bai Liu himself had already charged into second place, while Du Sanying in third and Mu Shicheng in fourth had both pinned Bai Liu’s stream directly in the center of their own screens.
At a glance, it looked as though Bai Liu alone occupied three separate Nightmare Rising Star promotion slots.
Many viewers who had never followed Bai Liu before were drawn over in confusion.
“Who’s this newbie?! Occupying three screens by himself? That’s insane.”
“That’s Bai Liu! The guy the forums were arguing about nonstop! One look and I can tell you don’t keep up with gossip. Back then, everyone was saying that after meeting Zhang Kui, «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» he’d either die or become Zhang Kui’s puppet. Tsk, judging from this situation, doesn’t look like he became anybody’s puppet.”
“I remember a ton of people cursing him on the forums before. He earned too many charging points in his very first single-player game, so a bunch of low-level players got jealous. They kept saying he was acting arrogant and would get struck by lightning sooner or later. Now he’s on the Nightmare Rising Star Rankings. If this newbie’s the ruthless type, he’ll just hunt those idiots down in-game and kill them one by one. Wonder who’ll get struck by lightning then.”
[“The Last Train to Blast Off” True Ending Route Cleared — Reward: 30,000 points]
[“The Last Train to Blast Off” True Ending Route Cleared — Reward: 100 Attribute Points (Can be freely allocated to personal stats)]
[“The Last Train to Blast Off Monster Book — Exploding Passenger Page” Collection Reward — Item: 20 Mirror Shards (Quality Unknown) — All Mirror Shards must be collected to unlock the complete item]
[“The Last Train to Blast Off Monster Book — Thief Brothers Page” Collection Reward — Item: One Thief’s Black Finger (Excellent Grade), 60 Mirror Shards (Quality Unknown) — Equipping the Thief’s Black Finger is equivalent to possessing a third hand, capable of unconsciously stealing items from others; all Mirror Shards must be collected to unlock the complete item]
[“The Last Train to Blast Off Monster Book — Ghost Mirror Page” Collection Reward — Item: Mirror Frame (Quality Unknown) — The core tool required to contain Mirror Shards. 400 Mirror Shards are needed to reconstruct a complete mirror]
[“The Last Train to Blast Off Monster Book” Full Collection Reward — Item: Passenger’s Blessing (Excellent Grade) — The passengers are grateful to you for saving them from their painful fates, and thus grant you their blessing. As long as you are seated within a vehicle, their souls will protect you from harm caused by monsters]
[Note: The vehicle cannot be forcibly carried by the player and must originally exist within the scene] freewebnσvel.cѳm
[System Notification: Comprehensive evaluation of player Bai Liu’s small TV in progress]
[This game process recording of “The Last Train to Blast Off” received a total of 153,266 likes and 196,835 favorites, accumulating 94,802 charging points. Simultaneously, 1,359 players disliked and downvoted the video. During peak viewership, over 100,000 players watched Bai Liu’s stream simultaneously. Player Bai Liu’s game footage undoubtedly possesses extraordinary appeal]
[Comprehensive data exceeds 300,000. Initial evaluation for player Bai Liu’s “The Last Train to Blast Off” video: Flash Silver Medal tier. Due to the dislike-to-like ratio of 1:112, the rating has been moderately reduced. Final evaluation: Bright Silver Medal tier. This level qualifies for entry into the VIP Archive — Player Bai Liu’s game footage has been added to the VIP Archive]
[After entering the VIP Archive, players wishing to watch Bai Liu’s “The Last Train to Blast Off” recording must become system VIP members and pay 60 points. Revenue will be split equally between Bai Liu and the system]
[Player Bai Liu has achieved the following honors through this small TV:]
[First player in recent history to leave the Graveyard Dance Zone]
[Second place on the Nightmare Rising Star Rankings]
[One of the first players in recent history to clear “The Last Train to Blast Off”]
[First player since Spades to enter the Nightmare Rising Star Rankings within only two games]
...
The moment Bai Liu stepped out of the game exit, he saw Mu Shicheng leaning against the wall nearby with folded arms, clearly waiting for him.
The instant he saw Bai Liu emerge safely, Mu Shicheng swept a disbelieving gaze over him from head to toe.
“I figured you probably had some kind of backup plan,” he admitted, still sounding incredulous, “but how the hell did you survive that? That was a God-level NPC...”
Bai Liu smiled mysteriously.
“You want to know?”
Mu Shicheng hesitated for several seconds before finally nodding.
Bai Liu spread his hands honestly.
“Bring points. I’ll sell you the information.”
Mu Shicheng: “...”
“You just earned over a hundred thousand charging points and you still want to squeeze money out of me?” Mu Shicheng looked utterly speechless. “You really are obsessed with money. Forget it. I don’t even want to know anymore. You’ve already scammed enough from me.”
Bai Liu’s smile became even gentler.
“You only have one Black Finger right now, don’t you? That item’s tailor-made for the Thief class. It’s extremely useful for you. Don’t you want to complete it?”
“I happen to have one too.” Bai Liu looked at him innocently.
Mu Shicheng: “......”
“How much?” he asked flatly, already resigned to paying.
Bai Liu smiled pleasantly.
“I want the remaining 320 Mirror Shards.”
“...I only have 80.” Mu Shicheng frowned. Then he suddenly realized what Bai Liu was planning. “Wait. Don’t tell me you seriously expect me to help you collect the rest? On what basis?!”
Calmly, Bai Liu replied:
“You need to collect the remaining Black Fingers from the other players anyway. While you’re at it, you can collect my Mirror Shards too.”
Bai Liu himself hadn’t expected the rewards this time to be assembly-type items.
The Thief’s Black Finger required five pieces to form the completed item “Third Hand,” while the Mirror Shards required four hundred fragments to assemble into a full mirror.
Since five people had cleared the game, each player received exactly one finger and eighty Mirror Shards.
Even though every reward item was rated Excellent quality or above, each person only held one-fifth of the completed item, rendering them essentially unusable on their own.
The importance of the Thief’s Black Finger was obvious.
Anyone could tell Mu Shicheng was determined to gather all five pieces.
But the Mirror Shards...
No one knew who would ultimately manage to collect them all.
Mu Shicheng sneered.
“Bai Liu, did you forget? Fang Ke and Liu Huai are guild players. Any valuable item they get has to be handed over to their guild. Items with heavy personal-class traits like the Black Finger might be negotiable, since they aren’t that useful to them specifically. I could probably brute-force a purchase with points.”
“But those Mirror Shards are labeled ‘Quality Unknown.’ That’s obviously because the system can’t properly evaluate items tied to God-level NPC attributes.”
Mu Shicheng crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
“The last God-level NPC item everyone saw was your whip. We all watched how ridiculously overpowered it was in-game. An F-rank player like you could use it to that extent.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“So what do you think an item assembled from these Mirror Shards would become?”
“Fang Ke and Liu Huai will definitely hand their shards over to the Kings Guild,” Mu Shicheng concluded confidently. “And the Kings Guild will absolutely gather every piece they can to complete an item tied to God-level NPC attributes.”
“But 180 Mirror Shards are still in the hands of you, me, and Du Sanying.” Bai Liu tilted his head slightly. “How exactly does the Kings Guild plan to take them from us?”
Mu Shicheng raised three fingers.
“There are three methods I can think of.”
“First: acquisition. Simple trade. They throw absurd amounts of points at us until we sell.”
He paused.
“And unfortunately for you, Du Sanying already sold his shards to the Kings Guild for sixty thousand points.”
Bai Liu sighed softly.
“As expected of something that attracts misfortune. Du Sanying would definitely get rid of it immediately. Though sixty thousand points for an item with unknown functionality...” He smiled faintly. “The Kings Guild really is rich.”
Mu Shicheng continued.
“Second: theft. My old profession. They’ll send guild members with stealing abilities or theft-type items to stalk us inside games and steal the Mirror Shards.”
Then he grinned arrogantly.
“But relax. Nobody except a lunatic like you has ever successfully stolen something from me.”
“And finally...” Mu Shicheng’s smile sharpened. “The third method. The simplest, most direct, and most profitable one.”
He waved those three fingers slowly in front of Bai Liu.
“I’m sure you can guess what it is.”
Bai Liu lifted his eyes lazily.
“Murder. Kill me inside a game, and everything I’m carrying becomes theirs.”
“You killed one of the Kings Guild’s high-level players.” Mu Shicheng spoke in an exaggeratedly dramatic tone, though amusement lingered in his eyes. “Zhang Kui was someone they invested a huge amount of resources into cultivating, and you got him killed just like that.”
“You’ve seriously offended them.”
“And now you want to compete with them for the Mirror Shards too?” Mu Shicheng laughed. “Do you have any sense of self-preservation at all? They’re going to hunt you across every game instance.”
“I do now,” Bai Liu replied thoughtfully. “Though admittedly, it seems a little late.”
Then he glanced at Mu Shicheng and smiled.
“But you didn’t sell your Mirror Shards to the Kings Guild either. You kept them for me.”
“It seems you’re prepared to be hunted alongside me.”
“Pretty narcissistic assumption.” Mu Shicheng snorted with laughter and looked away. Then, with both hands still in his pockets, he casually punched Bai Liu in the shoulder.
“You’re the one who shamelessly proposed teaming up first, remember?”
Bai Liu staggered back half a step.
At the same moment, a system notification rang out.
[System Notification: Player Mu Shicheng has gifted player Bai Liu 80 Mirror Shards]
“Hey,” Mu Shicheng suddenly said, sounding oddly excited, “should we come up with a name for our duo?”
He grinned strangely, clearly energized by the idea of openly opposing the Kings Guild.
“When Zhang Kui was hunting me before, I told Liu Huai that if we ever managed to kill Zhang Kui, our duo would definitely become famous.” Mu Shicheng scratched his cheek awkwardly. “Back then I gave us a really cheesy name: ‘The Thief and the Assassin.’”
But later, the thief stole the assassin’s blade.
And the assassin severed the thief’s hand with that very blade.
The Puppet Master who once manipulated everything from behind the scenes—someone who had once seemed untouchable—had ultimately been executed cleanly and quietly by a newcomer like Bai Liu.
That old duo name had long since vanished from the forums.
“What about our new duo?” Mu Shicheng asked suddenly.
Bai Liu wasn’t particularly interested in such secondary details, but since live-stream entertainment mattered in this world, having a recognizable duo title wasn’t a bad idea.
“What do you want to call it?” Bai Liu asked.
Mu Shicheng’s eyes drifted awkwardly.
“...How about ‘The Thief and the Tactician’?”
Even Bai Liu fell silent for a second.
“= =”
...Did this guy seriously only know how to combine professions when naming things?
If Mu Shicheng learned Bai Liu’s original class was Wanderer, he’d probably come up with something disastrous like The Thief and the Wanderer—which sounded unbearably poor.
“Instead of that,” Bai Liu said thoughtfully, “why not call us...”
“The Wanderer and the Monkey.”
Silence.
Two seconds later, Mu Shicheng exploded.
“Fuck you, Bai Liu!! You’re insulting me!!”
At that moment, neither of them could have imagined that this casually invented, slightly ridiculous duo name would one day sweep across the entire game world.
It would become a nightmare combination feared by countless players.
As long as players heard that shrill monkey laughter—
—and saw that smiling young man dressed in a white shirt and black suit pants—
—they would already know the outcome of the game.
Victory, wealth, and glory in that eternal world drowned in fear—
—would forever belong to [The Wanderer and the Monkey].
And their legend was only just beginning.
