New Gameplay in Injection Mode

"When will these days end?!"

In the evening, Zhou Ming, dragging his exhausted body back to his rented room, collapsed onto the single bed.

His hands, covered in blisters, couldn't move a single finger. After just over a day of working on the construction site, Zhou Ming found himself on the verge of collapse.

"System, if only you could take me, a living person, into the game, I wouldn't have to suffer in this damned world!"

"Host, are you sure? Please select a game map. The system is about to begin transmission," the system in his mind said.

"Transmit your sister, get lost."

Zhou Ming was speechless. The system, usually quite serious, was in the mood to joke with him today.

"System, I have to work these next few days. Is there any way for me to earn some achievement points in the game? Moving bricks is too tiring, I want to buy a few more Strength Point Cards."

One downside of The Sims system was that once Zhou Ming entered the game, his activities outside the game were immediately restricted. He had to maintain a dormant state and couldn't exit midway.

"Host can choose to enter the game in Injection Mode. In this mode, players can move freely in the real world."

Injection Mode, right, wasn't there also this way of playing called Injection Mode?

Zhou Ming slapped his head. He had been so busy these past few days that he had almost forgotten about the Injection Mode gameplay. The system had introduced it to him at the very beginning.

"System, if I choose to enter the game in Injection Mode, compared to Replacement Mode, will the game difficulty increase a bit, and the freedom be much less?"

Zhou Ming said with some worry. When playing in Replacement Mode, all decisions made in the game were his own. If it was the less free Injection Mode, the game character would not be under his control, and he couldn't fully control any decisions made. The corresponding variables would increase significantly, and how many achievement points he could get would depend on luck.

"Yes, Host. Compared to the absolutely free Replacement Mode, Injection Mode has much less freedom. After all, the player can only influence the game character's behavior from a third-person perspective... The game's performance completely depends on the quality of the player's guidance. As for the game difficulty, it depends on the game character's performance. If they perform well, it may not be worse than what the player could achieve themselves."

"However..."

The system added, "In games played in Injection Mode, after the game ends, the rewards obtained will be split equally between the player and the game character. Therefore, generally speaking, the rewards obtained in Injection Mode will be less."

"Splitting it is fine, as long as it doesn't interfere with my work in the real world."

Zhou Ming was quite open-minded. He opened the game panel, ready to select a game map.

His gaze fell on the newly unlocked game map, Lord's Dispute. Zhou Ming looked at the background information of this map—

This is an absurd, ignorant, and conservative era. Lords are selfish, knights are obsessed with force, farmers are starving, priests spread hypocrisy, and slaves are barely surviving... In this world full of wars, plagues, and bandits, as the son of an ordinary farmer in Rose Town of Glan Territory, how will you intervene in this Lord's Dispute...

A data map of a medieval-style village, castle, and knights was displayed next to the text narration.

"The background of this map really has a sense of European medieval times, with lords and knights..."

However, seeing the words war, plague, and bandits, Zhou Ming felt a bit hesitant. This background setting clearly indicated that this map was not set in a peaceful environment.

Instead, it was filled with all sorts of wars and disputes!

The normal survival of the game character was filled with a large number of uncertain factors.

It was even less stable than the life of Zhang Ergou in Zhang Ergou's Counterattack Life.

"Let's put Lord's Dispute aside for a few days for now. I'll use Injection Mode to go to Zhang Ergou's Counterattack Life to grind for some achievement points. Once I've saved enough achievement points to buy a few skill cards, I'll open a new dungeon!"

"Starting Injection Mode, player is entering the game."

In the northern part of Niu Family Village, at Zhang San Niu's house, Zhang Ergou was now six years old.

"Ergou, Ergou, can you hear me?" A voice suddenly echoed in Zhang Ergou's mind.

"Who... who are you?" Zhang Ergou asked in a milky voice.

"I am you. I am your past life, and my name is also Zhang Ergou!"

"Your name is Ergou too? Why don't I know you? Where are you?"

"I'm in your head. I'm in a soul state right now, so you can't see me."

"Head? What's a head? Is it tasty? And what's a soul?" A child's understanding is limited after all. Faced with complex words, he simply couldn't grasp their meaning.

Speechless. Forget it, it's impossible to communicate with a child.

Zhou Ming shook his head, giving up on his attempt to communicate with the young Zhang Ergou.

This was the drawback of the injection mode. The growth period of the game character was simply too long. To establish normal communication with him, he would have to wait until he was at least ten years old.

However, the slightly better news was that the game still left a way out for Zhang Ergou. At the age of three, his older brother Zhang Da Gou drowned, and at the age of six, his younger sister was abandoned. These tragedies were unavoidable for Zhang Ergou in his native identity. As the only male heir in the family, surviving to adulthood shouldn't be a big problem.

Time flew by quickly. After Zhang Ergou turned ten, Zhou Ming instilled the skills that were already bound to the game map, such as Elementary Farming Skill, Elementary Blacksmithing Skill, Elementary Carpentry Skill, and Beginner Hunting Skill, into Zhang Ergou's mind one by one before he reached adulthood. Relying on these skills, Zhang Ergou quickly accumulated a considerable family fortune and entered a comfortable life.

It was also around this time that it was time to settle Zhang Ergou's lifelong affairs.

"Why can't I marry Wang Xiumei? I don't want to marry anyone else but her!" To Zhou Ming's surprise, Zhang Ergou's aesthetic taste was similar to his own; he had also taken a liking to Wang Xiumei from the village.

"Listen to me, Ergou. You can marry anyone you want except Wang Xiumei, unless you can kill Li Shouzhen's second son, Li Wenhao, without anyone knowing."

"Kill Li Wenhao? Why kill him?" Zhang Ergou asked, stunned.

"How else can you marry Wang Xiumei if you don't kill him?" Zhou Ming rolled his eyes, looking as if he was looking at an idiot.

"You mean? Li Wenhao will compete with me for Xiumei?"

A ball of anger instantly flared up in Zhang Ergou's eyes. Li Wenhao, you dare to steal my woman? I'll kill you!

That night, Zhang Ergou, dressed in black, silently sneaked into the Li family's house. Following the route Zhou Ming had given him, he crept into Li Wenhao's room. Without a word, a poisoned needle flew and pierced into Li Wenhao's body. Li Wenhao immediately convulsed for a few seconds and died shortly after.

After all, it was his first time killing someone. On the way back, due to nervousness, Zhang Ergou accidentally slipped, alarming the Li family's guard dog. Although he managed to escape by chance, he still accidentally exposed his tracks.

"Xiumei, let's run away together. Don't worry, I will be devoted to you and never leave you!"

Zhang Ergou eloped with Wang Xiumei. They lived in seclusion under assumed names in a hidden mountain valley, living a life like immortal companions.

Game over.

Click on the game panel.

Achievement gained: 186/2, Game evaluation: D (Although Zhang Ergou's life was unremarkable, it was filled with happiness)

"Zhang Ergou, oh Zhang Ergou, your life was filled with happiness, but I only got 93 achievement points. You good-for-nothing, can't you be more reliable?"

Zhou Ming sighed helplessly. This round was a failure; he could only look forward to the next one.