Second Round of the Game

Cheng Cheng did not come to school the next day. It was said that he had been taken straight to the emergency room by ambulance that night. The doctor's final diagnosis was drowning, but strangely enough, according to Cheng Cheng himself, he had been lying in bed at the hotel at the time and had not come into contact with any water at all.

Worse than his physical condition, however, was his mental state. He seemed to have suffered a severe psychological shock. The doctor recommended that he be transferred to psychiatry for observation after treatment. His parents spent a fortune hiring internationally renowned specialists, and after two rounds of treatment, Cheng Cheng's emotions finally began to stabilize.

A month later, he was finally able to return to school. Several people close to him threw him a welcome-back party. They had originally planned to invite his young girlfriend too, but what happened that night had truly frightened Cheng Cheng. Although it had been confirmed that it had nothing to do with the girlfriend who had been showering at the time, he would rather call up some unknown young model now than have anything to do with the people and events from that day.

That night, Cheng Cheng drank a little. With everyone flattering him, his mood improved, and he was willing to believe the experts' explanation—that it had all just been a nightmare.

This time, when he returned to school, he planned to reclaim his former glory and find a way to win over Shen Xixi. People were like that: the more they could not get something, the more they wanted it. At first, he had only thought the girl was pretty and sang well at the freshman welcome party, so he wanted to pursue her for fun. But Shen Xixi did not give him even the slightest chance, and that only made him more invested.

It was becoming an obsession. While riding a young model, Cheng Cheng covered her face with a pillowcase and imagined that she was Shen Xixi. It actually made him far more excited than usual.

He lasted three minutes longer before collapsing. Then a wave of exhaustion flooded his brain. Worn out, Cheng Cheng closed his eyes and fell asleep at once. Yet in the middle of the night, he woke up for no apparent reason. He felt as though something had appeared on his face. Opening his eyes, he saw a ghost doll pressed face-to-face against him at the head of the bed. At that moment, every hair on Cheng Cheng's body stood on end.

His scream not only woke the young model sleeping beside him, but also disturbed the other guests on the same floor. Cheng Cheng did not even have time to put his clothes on properly. Wearing only a pair of underwear, he fled outside screaming at the top of his lungs.

As if that were not bad enough, he had barely run any distance from the hotel when a van stopped in front of him. The door opened, and a tattooed young man inside grinned at him. "Brother Cheng, your little lapdog has come to take you home."

With that, several people in the van dragged the terrified Cheng Cheng inside.

Afterward, a fifteen-second video of Cheng Cheng wearing a dog collar, barking while eating dog food, appeared on the school forum. Although the administrators deleted it quickly, the impact was undoubtedly terrible, and the entire school was in an uproar. Still, Cheng Cheng's reputation had never been very good. Aside from a few Student Union lackeys putting on a show of righteous indignation, far more people were enjoying the spectacle.

A week later, Cheng Cheng's parents came to the school. After completing the procedures for his leave of absence, they hurried away. There were rumors that they had sent their son abroad to recuperate.

Zhang Heng no longer cared about what happened afterward. In truth, after finding time to warn Cheng Cheng, he went back to taking care of his own business. He had only casually tossed out that doll, intending to give Cheng Cheng something to deal with so they would not have so much free time. He had not expected the consequences to be so serious.

Zhang Heng later tried it himself. In a pitch-black room, he pressed the ghost doll against his face. Mm... it was indeed a little creepy. And considering that Cheng Cheng had already been frightened once and was especially mentally fragile, it would not have been surprising if another scare completely broke him. As for Wu Fan's later appearance, Zhang Heng knew nothing about that.

In any case, the matter was more or less over. Zhang Heng had not actually spent much effort on Cheng Cheng; the harassment had merely been convenient. During this period, he put his new plan into action, attending classes while preparing for the next round of the game.

His workouts were beginning to show results. Zhang Heng had not deliberately pursued a heavily muscled physique. Compared with strength, he cared more about flexibility, and he had also gotten the hang of rock climbing.

The second round of the game was drawing near. In theory, he could wait until the last day of the month to play, but Zhang Heng did not want to push things to such an extreme. If he happened to get sick or twist his ankle then, that would be a real problem.

So, with five days still left before the end of November, Zhang Heng returned to the City of Desire bar.

This time, he did not need to show the player number on his arm. The two burly men guarding the stairs automatically stepped aside.

After thanking them, Zhang Heng pushed open the iron door. The lounge was no different from before, except that jazz music was playing now.

The Bartender Lady seemed to be in a good mood tonight. She was mixing some kind of drink, and when she saw Zhang Heng, she actually greeted him first. "How has the past month been? What would you like to drink?"

"Not bad. I'll pass on the drink."

As if she knew what he was thinking, the Bartender Lady pushed her freshly finished creation in front of him. "You don't think you passed out last time because of that lemonade, do you? Even if you did nothing, you would still enter the game once the time came."

"You said before that aside from the first round, whose time was fixed, I could choose when to start later games?"

The Bartender Lady pointed into the distance. "See those booths over there? There's an alarm clock beneath every booth. Pick one and sit down, set the alarm hand to whatever time you like, and the game will begin when the time comes."

"Thanks, but I'll pass on the alcohol. Since the game is about to start, I'd better stay clearheaded."

"This isn't a cocktail. It's just several kinds of fruit juice mixed together." The Bartender Lady raised an eyebrow, looking as though her patience was about to run out.

Zhang Heng wisely picked up the cup of unidentified liquid. Judging from its appearance, it perfectly carried on the Maid Cafe's culinary style. Put more simply, it looked suspicious. Speaking of which, Zhang Heng had visited that cafe several more times afterward, but there, the Bartender Lady acted as if she did not know him at all, maintaining her cold persona.

"Oh, right. You also said before that you sell boxes made from Tule Tree wood, ones that can block supernatural forces. How much are they?" Zhang Heng took a sip of the thing in his hand. It was a very strange flavor, somewhat like durian and somewhat like mango, seemingly mixed with custard apple and avocado as well. In short, it was as bizarre as could be, so Zhang Heng decisively changed the subject and quietly set the cup down.

Based on the information he had gathered so far, the game had two most valuable aspects. First was its almost fully realistic settings, which could give someone an additional experience or skill in just a few hours. Second were the so-called game items.

The benefits of supernatural items that could continue to function in the real world went without saying. Zhang Heng had worn the Lucky Rabbit's Foot for over a month and had actually picked up money twice on the road, though only one or two yuan each time. Its quality was only E-rank, which meant there should also be A, B, C, and D above it.

But because the effects of game items were uncertain, wearing one before knowing its effect was undoubtedly dangerous. He could not possibly be this lucky every time, so he needed a suitable means of containment. The Bartender Lady had introduced the Tule Tree last time, and Zhang Heng had looked it up on Baidu after returning. He discovered that the tree only grew in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the locals worshiped it greatly. Getting a piece of it to make a box was practically impossible.

Thus, in the end, he had no choice but to buy one from the Bartender Lady. It felt like knowingly sticking his neck out to be fleeced.