Chapter 9
At dinner, Tang’s mother and eldest brother nearly burst out laughing, but for the sake of the head of the household, they both did their best to keep their faces straight.
Tang Xiao smiled without smiling. “Then what about my plans...”
“As long as you can keep up these grades from now on, I won’t say anything more.” Tang’s father waved a hand grandly. He still hadn’t given up hope of bringing his youngest son back to the right path, but there was no rushing it.
Tang Xiao had gotten this promise and thought he would be happy, but when he remembered that bizarre game, he couldn’t bring himself to feel cheerful. He spent the whole meal distracted, thinking about the game.
Tang’s father was especially pleased with Tang Xiao’s turnaround this semester and opened another bottle of fine wine, planning to enjoy a drink with his wife. The two sons wisely finished eating and left early, giving the candlelit dinner to the couple who had weathered countless storms and remained as devoted as ever.
“Xiao Xiao.”
Before Tang Xiao could close his bedroom door, his eldest brother called out to him, his brows drawing together slightly. “Is something bothering you? You seemed distracted during dinner.”
“It’s nothing,” Tang Xiao replied instinctively, but then he remembered that strange game and fell silent.
In the time before dinner, he had also tried searching online for traces of the company behind the game, but bizarrely, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find anything. He’d even asked a friend who studied computer science, but after looking into it, the friend had mysteriously told him there was nothing he could do.
Given how reckless his friend was, it was hard to imagine there was anything he wouldn’t dare do—unless...
At this thought, Tang Xiao instinctively glanced at Tang Chen. The other man was still standing quietly where he was, his tall figure beneath the hallway lights casting a sharp boundary between light and shadow. He radiated a sense of oppression, shadows falling beneath his deep-set brows, yet his gaze on Tang Xiao remained gentle and accepting.
Tang Chen’s work was highly mysterious. After leaving the military, he’d joined a secret organization said to have government backing. He was rarely home, and even their parents didn’t know what he did.
After hesitating for a moment, Tang Xiao finally gathered his courage and stared intently at Tang Chen. “Big Brother, do you know the game Fungal Era?”
Tang Chen’s face showed no expression. “No. Why?”
“Actually, I received an invitation to this game and tried it out. Then I realized there’s something strange about it...” As Tang Xiao spoke, he finally caught a crack in Tang Chen’s otherwise flawless, mask-like composure.
“You received an invitation too? What about now? Is the game over?” Tang Chen, who was usually so composed, couldn’t help asking urgently.
“Hm? It isn’t over,” Tang Xiao said, then reconsidered. Well, the first round had ended pretty quickly, but he’d played a few more rounds since then. As long as he wanted to keep playing, the game wouldn’t end so soon.
At this, Tang Chen visibly relaxed. Seeing Tang Xiao’s curious expression, he realized that he had overreacted.
Tang Chen chose his words carefully, speaking vaguely without crossing the line. “This game... well, it really is as complicated as you think. But you don’t need to overthink it. It’s not a bad thing.”
“What do you mean?” Tang Xiao couldn’t help pressing him.
“I can’t say much... Just treat it like an ordinary game.” Tang Chen fell silent for a while, then continued, “Don’t be too nervous, but try to survive as long as you can.”
Countless guesses flashed through Tang Xiao’s mind. So it really wasn’t him—he could learn new things in the game because there was something wrong with the game itself!
Considering what his computer science friend had said, as well as his older brother’s evasive gaze now, the backer behind it had to be the government, just as he’d suspected.
So this game was a government project? But why had they only selected certain people to test it? And why was it still classified?
Tang Xiao’s mind filled with all kinds of wild speculation. Of course, he wasn’t stupid enough to ask. Judging by his brother’s expression, this project had to be a top-level secret, and even his brother hadn’t known that he’d received a beta-testing invitation.
His brother had said not to be too nervous, but also to try to survive. That probably meant there were benefits to be gained.
And when he thought of how the game’s stat points really did carry over into reality, Tang Xiao couldn’t help getting excited. This kind of cutting-edge technology actually existed?
When he thought about how he was about to take part in such a major event—and in his favorite field, gaming, no less—all his earlier reservations vanished, replaced by boundless enthusiasm.
“Don’t worry, Big Brother! I’ll do my best to beat this game!” Tang Xiao said firmly. “Your little brother may not be good at anything else, but I’m amazing at games!”
“Don’t!” Tang Chen’s voice suddenly rose.
Tang Xiao: ?
Tang Chen realized he’d lost control of his emotions and softened his expression. “I mean, you don’t need to be so aggressive. More important than beating the game is making sure you stay safe in it. Understand?”
“Oh...” Tang Xiao blinked thoughtfully. “Aside from staying safe, is there anything else you want to remind me about, Big Brother?”
“...You little smart aleck.” Tang Chen helplessly poked him in the forehead. “All right, one more thing. If you can awaken a superpower, that would be best. If you can’t, stay away from those who have superpowers.”
“Superpowers?!” Tang Xiao’s eyes lit up. “This game has a superpower system too? What are the conditions for awakening?”
“Only a small number of people can awaken superpowers. Generally speaking, the greater the stimulus, the more likely it is—something like being on the verge of death.” Tang Chen’s expression turned serious. “But you absolutely must not try to awaken one on purpose. You could end up losing more than you gain.”
“Ah... all right.” Tang Xiao thought about how he’d died so many times in previous runs without awakening anything. He probably wasn’t capable of it. Fine, he’d just focus on the main quest.
Tang Chen reached out and ruffled his younger brother’s fluffy hair, reminding him again and again, “Listen to me. Just making it to the end would be impressive. You’re smart, Xiao Xiao. You understand what I mean, right?”
Tang Xiao nodded.
“All right. Go back to your room.”
Tang Chen watched Tang Xiao close the door, a trace of melancholy settling between his brows, then turned and went back to his own room.
But he didn’t get ready to rest. He pulled another pitch-black phone from his pocket. It had no apps installed, only a call function. Without a word, he dialed a number.
“Brother Tang, what’s up? Aren’t you on leave?”
“Xiao Che... someone in my family received a beta-testing invitation for that game.”
“Ah...” The person on the other end fell silent for several seconds, unsure what to say.
Tang Chen stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the night beyond the villa, a dark and troubled knot between his brows.
The person on the other end was silent for a moment, then tried to reassure him. “It’s all right. Since they’re your family, Brother Tang, nothing will happen to them.”
“I hope so.” Tang Chen closed his eyes and spoke softly.
Scenes from the past involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
Long ago, he’d left his parents to pursue the passion in his heart, going alone to train in the military. For various reasons, he’d even lost contact with them for three years. He knew how worried and anxious his parents had been during that time. Thankfully, his little brother had stayed by their side and helped them get through it.
So when his little brother had grown up and chosen to pursue his own dream, Tang Chen had supported him without hesitation.
But this accident had come too quickly, too suddenly.
Of course Tang Chen knew about the game Fungal Era. He even knew that everything in it was virtually indistinguishable from reality, with a level of intelligence far beyond what AI could achieve. Some of the technology in the game had even been brought into reality by a few players, where it worked just as well. That was why it had attracted the government’s attention.
At this point, the government should have banned citizens from logging into the game and gradually investigated the truth. But for some reason, it had tacitly allowed the game to select a small number of people from the public for beta testing. It also refrained from interfering with the testers’ decisions, instead establishing a special organization to study the game.
Tang Chen was one of the people in the know, but he hadn’t formally joined the organization yet, so he didn’t actually know much. He’d been hesitating before, but now that he knew his family had already been drawn in, there was nothing left to hesitate about.
“Xiao Che, I accept your offer.”
“If you’d said that half an hour ago, I’d have been so happy I could jump for joy,” the voice on the other end said. “But now... I’m not quite as happy. Still, don’t worry, Brother Tang. I really wasn’t lying to you. Your family will definitely be all right.”
“All right. I believe you.”
Tang Chen put away his phone, his gaze still fixed on the starless night outside.
The light in Tang Xiao’s room remained on. Tang Chen knew his younger brother had logged into that mysterious game, but he didn’t know the truth about it.
...
Tang Xiao, in his room, wasn’t worrying about so many things. After getting information from his older brother, he no longer had any reservations about the game. He put on his helmet, logged in, and loaded the save from where he had logged out.
When he opened his eyes, the familiar computer screen appeared before him. It was still displaying the email Rocky had sent him, whose contents concerned the little monster project he’d paused reading earlier.
Even with Biology Lv. 1, the material was still difficult to understand, but Tang Xiao now knew there was more to this game than met the eye, so he forced himself to read through it. He still didn’t understand many of the terms, but at least he finally grasped the project’s general purpose.
Just as Tang Xiao was wondering whether to exchange all his favorability points for Biology knowledge, a notification suddenly rang in his ears, reporting a sharp fluctuation in favorability.
[428 Favorability: -10]
[428 Favorability: +2]
[428 Favorability: -6]
Tang Xiao: ? Was this a roller coaster or something?
He watched as the little bit of favorability he’d finally managed to raise fluctuated up and down, then began plunging toward zero.
He wouldn’t lose any favorability points he’d already earned, but he’d worked so hard to build up that favorability!
Tang Xiao leaped out of bed, put on his shoes, threw on a lab coat, and strode furiously toward the laboratory.
He wanted to see what had happened to make the little monster’s favorability fluctuate so wildly.
It was already past eleven at night, but when Tang Xiao reached the research institute, it was still brightly lit. The overworked researchers seemed never to rest, like worker ants in an anthill, scurrying around industriously.
Before he even got close to their lab, he heard laughter and joking from inside.
“This monster really is intelligent?”
“Of course. Otherwise, how did it escape last time? Testing the experimental subject’s intelligence is part of the experiment too. Heh, watch this.”
“Hey, isn’t that a bit too much?”
“Relax. We were going to weaken it on a regular basis anyway. Do you want what happened last time to happen again? If we don’t torture it until it’s half-dead, how are we supposed to collect biological samples?”
“That’s true.”
‘Bzzzt—’
A burst of electrical crackling sounded inside, followed by something smacking against the floor. Then came the researchers’ laughter:
“Haha, that’s hilarious! One little shock and it’s bouncing all over the place.”
“Where’d all that swagger from before go? Let’s see you escape again!”
Xi... xi...
“Huh? It can make sounds?”
“I guess so, but at most it can only manage a few incomplete syllables. This monster isn’t intelligent enough to speak.”
Tang Xiao’s sense of foreboding grew stronger and stronger. He quickened his pace and looked inside, and his expression immediately darkened.
At some point, 428 had been moved from the sealed cell back to an observation room like the one where they’d first met, with a transparent viewing window. But the materials here had apparently all been replaced, and the room could also be electrified.
Several new researchers were fiddling with the newly delivered control panel. A stun gun capable of firing electric currents was aimed at 428, repeatedly discharging as the creature struggled to dodge the shocks.
It was obvious that the group was using the testing as an excuse to exact revenge.
The little blood-red monster no longer had the fungal threads covering the entire cell, as Tang Xiao had seen when he first entered. Now it had shrunk into a tiny clump. He didn’t know whether it was deliberately hiding its true form or had been injured.
Tang Xiao felt his scalp go numb, but he couldn’t simply stand by and do nothing. The moment he peeked inside, the researchers with their backs to him might not have noticed him, but the eyes scattered across the little monster’s body had definitely locked onto his position.
The proof was that the moment he peeked in, its favorability, which had just settled down, started going haywire and flooding the screen again.
Tang Xiao regretted coming here at this time. Maybe pretending he hadn’t seen anything would have been the smart choice. He was wearing a lab coat too; he was a researcher too. His very identity naturally provoked 428’s hatred.
Just like now, the suppressed fury in those multiple orange-yellow pupils seemed ready to burst through the glass wall.
The favorability, which had been hovering around 5, plunged straight to 0.
Tang Xiao: ... Oh... uh-oh.
The favorability I worked so hard to raise!!