Chapter 60 – So It’s A Game Developed By BOSS?
In the game [Over My Dead Body], all the demon monsters arose for specific reasons and were not created without any basis.
Although the monsters were frequently discussed together as a whole, there were, in fact, minor differences between each of the four types of monsters in the game, spirits (yao), demons (mo), ghosts (gui), and beasts (guai).
Spirits referred specifically to plants and flowers which cultivated Reiki and turned into active, living beings like the “Decaying Coyote”, “Frightening Wolf”, “Starving Vulture” or “Raving Vines”, which commonly appeared in “?” battles en route an expedition.
Demons referred specifically to humans who grew stronger after eating some mystical, precious fruit or acquiring the ability to cultivate Reiki. Such humans then fall deeper and start killing living beings. The bones strengthen their physical abilities and the hearts strengthen their weapons and skills. They were seen as especially evil threats to elves. Demons were less commonly seen but would usually appear as a small lower-level boss.
Ghosts referred specifically to humans who died but had not moved on due to their strong hatred and resentment. They revived by cultivating Reiki and were the most commonly seen type of monsters, forming the main bulk of the enemies that the player had to “kill and destroy” in the game.
Beasts, on the other hand, were lifeless creatures who gained awareness due to the cultivation of Reiki. Most elves belonged to this category, although most beasts did not affect humans. If they did become enemies like the ghosts, they would be boss-tier or higher.
For example, in the year 220 after Guan Yu had been murdered, Ren Suo encountered the “Green Dragon Crescent Blade”. Ren Suo realized that in the previous few game saves, there was a chance of encountering it during the “?” battle when he entered the Eastern Wu region.
On encountering it, the “Green Dragon Crescent Blade” would immediately begin its attack. It had an Attack of 100 and could deal damage to any target on the entire map. Furthermore, it had a four times attack boost on single targets…
Ren Suo highly suspected that he could negotiate with and appease the “Green Dragon Crescent Blade”, or even acquire and use it.
Similar to how he had acquired the “Jade Pendant of the Goddess of the Luo River” from Cao Zhi and subsequently opened up the option to perform Spiritual Exchange with Mi Fei, Ren Suo thought that there was a hidden mission to acquire the “Green Dragon Crescent Blade” and receive the legendary sword from a certain character. However, he had yet to find such a character.
The demon which Li Shuanghe had just described was exactly like the “Starving Ghost” that Ren Suo saw in the “Family Record of Secrets”.
The “Family Record of Secrets” was actually a compilation of the information gathered by the player in the game, and was closely linked to the [Scout] attribute of the characters in the game.
It was available across all the game saves. As such, the weaknesses and modes of attack of all the known monsters from every game save would be recorded down as one “Family Record of Secrets”, and the detailed attributes of any previously encountered monster would automatically be displayed in newly created game saves.
Amongst the list of known monsters, the “Starving Ghost” was a “Raging Road Monster” which appeared throughout all time periods in the game and could be encountered anytime during an expedition.
[Starving Ghost: Their fear of starving and immense craving for a full stomach burns through their organs and intestines like flames of a raging fire. The more this fire burns, the more Reiki they absorb.]
[Appearance: They look no different from humans, but their nails and teeth are extremely sharp, and their abdomens have been completely decomposed.]
[Characteristics: They love to move at night and will attack all animals. After they kill their target, they consume the entire corpse directly. Yet, no matter how they eat, the consumed meat will fall out from their open abdomen; however, they will swallow and eat this meat again and again. After some time when they think that they had gotten their fill, they will find a place to sleep like a normal person for the next 3 to 5 days. Following which, when their craving for food arises again, they will repeat the above actions.]
[Origin: They were ordinary humans who had starved to death. The probability of them turning into ghosts is directly proportional to the length of time they were left starving before they died.]
[Standard Attributes: Attack 1, Defense 0, Movement 0, Scout 0, Recovery 0.]
[Remarks: Be compassionate and allow them to be freed.]
The most significant difference between the Starving Ghost and the majority of other ghosts in the game was that the probability of them turning into ghosts was totally unrelated to their individual physical fitness.
Other ghosts, like the Ghost Troops from Hulao Pass and the Evil Ghosts from Yiling, had a higher probability of turning into ghosts the better their physical fitness. Most of the Typhoid Bronze Ghosts who arose from the typhoid plague were, in fact, young people who were strong and fit.
On the other hand, most of the Starving Ghosts were actually older people or women.
And indeed, most of the people who eventually died after going through tortuous periods of starvation amidst the chaos during the Three Kingdoms were such people.
This was because most of the men served in the military and were provided with at least some food, although they would have likely sacrificed their lives in bloody battles that were fought due to certain people’s high ambitions.
Young men and women who starved to death, on the other hand, would unlikely turn into ghosts due to the short period of starvation they experienced, and they did not possess sufficient hatred to want to take revenge on society.
During the final chaotic years of the Eastern Han Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms, locust plagues, floods, and droughts were aplenty. Roosters could not be seen crowing for thousands of miles and the white of bones could be seen everywhere. As such, the Starving Ghosts could be found almost anywhere in the Central Plains.
Had it been any other one of the monsters, Ren Suo might not have recognized it immediately. However, the portrayal of the Starving Ghost was one he had seen a countless number of times…
Chen Kun continued discussing the details with Li Shuanghe, but Ren Suo was no longer listening. Ren Suo was slightly conflicted.
After half an hour, Yao Fei led Wu Jianming out of the room, who seemed to have calmed down. Instead, he had a look of determination on his face. How special Yao Fei’s counseling session with him must have been, thought Ren Suo.
“Think about my suggestion when you return,” Yao Fei said to Wu Jianming. She turned to look at Ren Suo and his partner.
“Over to you now, please send him back safely,” Yao Fei said. She continued, “Although the higher-ups have ordered the media to stay away…there will always be people who hope to be famous and attempt to leak some information to receive attention.”
“Return directly to the hospital, and do not stop halfway during the journey,” she said.
Chen Kun replied, “Alright.”
Li Shuanghe took the initiative and said, “I’ll bring all of you downstairs.”
The five of them walked down the staircase and bid farewell at the main entrance of the building. Li Shuanghe said, “Let’s exchange contacts so that we can discuss that later on.”
“Oh, oh, oh, right,” Chen Kun said immediately. Ren Suo’s face turned black as he listened to the conversation akin to that of illegal drug dealers.
Ren Suo had thought that those in the Countermeasure Division were Practitioners who were honest and steadfast.
Very quickly, Ren Suo figured that his partner was not one of such people.
Some time ago, Ren Suo figured that Team 3 of the Countermeasure Division was not one of such people.
Now, Ren Suo figured that Team 2 of the Countermeasure Division was almost similarly not…
Ren Suo pondered for a short while and walked over to the silent Fang Jun. He asked softly, “Well, have you all not discovered any samples of the ‘demon’ yet?”
Fang Jun shook his head.
“I think that you guys can look into the homeless who reside around the area,” Ren Suo said.
He continued, “People who have hands like claws are generally very rare and would be easily recognized in public. But if the streets appear old and sloppy, and they sleep for days without moving…”
Fang Jun was slightly taken aback as he thought that what Ren Suo told him made sense. He was about to thank Ren Suo but realized that Ren Suo had already left with the car.
“What’s the matter?” Li Shuanghe asked when he saw Fang Jun standing still and not moving.
“Nothing, it’s just…” Fang Jun said. He continued, “That guy just now, I think he has the potential to join us in Team 2.”
“The infatuated one staring at our Team Leader?” Li Shuanghe asked.
“Yes yes yes, that one…” Fang Jun replied.
————
The moment Ren Suo returned home after a day of work, he sat down on his soft and comfortable couch.
Much had been gained from today.
One key was acquired.
Information about the monsters was also known.
Previously, Ren Suo had not thought deeper into it and simply assumed that the monsters in [Over My Dead Body] were merely pre-configured characters in the game.
Now that he had given it more thought, he realized that [Over My Dead Body] was actually very similar to real life!
In the real world, Reiki was being revived; in the game, during the Three Kingdoms, Reiki was revived.
In the real world, Practitioners and the Awakened were appearing; in the game, the Practitioners of the family reappeared.
In that case, would it not be perfectly normal for monsters in the game to appear in the real world as well?
At this point, Ren Suo turned on the Mini Worlds Gaming Console and loaded the save file of [Over My Dead Body] in the year 265!
It was the last year before he would have successfully completed the mission. Ren Suo had to defeat the strongest army of monsters in the entire history of the Three Kingdoms—
The remaining Evil Souls of Shu Han!
Previously, when the Ren family of Practitioners were eliminating the monsters at the strongholds in Yiling and Wu Zhang Plains, they had not encountered Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang. Ren Suo had thought that the difficulty of the game seemed to drop and he as the player no longer needed to spend so much time defeating the impossibly buffed boss characters.
However, in the year 263 when the Shu Han fell to Wei, and Jiang Wei sacrificed his life for his nation, Ren Suo knew—hoping that the difficulty of the game would drop was equivalent to hoping that life was kind to him; it was not possible!
It was just that the corpses of the two legendaries were well-kept by Shu Han state!
When Shu Han fell with the death of Jiang Wei, the entire nation lost its life while resentment and enmity arose. The two legendaries, who had already been strong Practitioners before their death (compared to the ordinary people, not the Ren family of Practitioners), gathered Reiki from the earth and heavens, empowered by the fury of its thousands of citizens, and walked right out of their graves!
In addition, all of the ministers and officials who had served and died in honor of the Han Shu nation also revived.
The Elite Bai Er Troops who served Liu Bei also reformed once again, turning into horrifying Bai Er Death Troops!
But that was not the end. It was now a few years to completing the mission requirements and Ren Suo intended to scrape through the mission and finish watching the Mission Cleared CG before deciding what to do next.
Ren Suo did not mind even if the remaining Evil Souls of Luo Han were to kill all of the elves—the Ren family of Practitioners would be able to pull through just a few years!
However, the problem was that the Evil Souls of Luo Han were different from other enemies.
Their leader still had human nature in him and was a wise person.
They left the land of the Shu, taking care not to encroach on the interests of the people to the slightest degree, as they headed directly and quickly towards the Ren family house!
It was the first time Ren Suo had seen such a game strategy.
It was only natural for the player to head for the boss after many tries and attempts navigating through the game.
But in this game, the boss was charging towards the player to surround and defeat him instead?!
What on earth, was the Ren family of Practitioners the BOSS instead?