Another Game

Xu Feng drained a can of sparkling water and let out a satisfied dragon-like roar.

"Ah, that hit the spot!"

He stepped out of the side room and locked it to keep the wild monkeys on the mountain from helping themselves. Then he glanced at his watch. It was almost time.

Time to clock in.

Night fell fast in the mountains. There was still light in the sky, but in moments, darkness would swallow this place whole, leaving the little ranger's compound beyond the reach of civilization.

So he switched on the light early and set about his work.

This was the Cloud Rack Mountain Nature Reserve in Suyun Province.

His little ranger's compound stood deep inside the reserve, a lone soldier thrust into its very heart.

No one lived nearby. Nature was his only company.

It was lonely beyond belief.

But Xu Feng liked it that way.

In his previous life, overwork had driven him to an early grave. After crossing into this world, all he wanted was to take it easy!

This job was secure, and he hardly had to talk to anyone. Xu Feng liked it a great deal.

He did get bored now and then, though.

At six thirty, Xu Feng clocked in!

As far as he was concerned, everything about the job was good—except for one thing: the checks were strict!

All 365 days of the year, apart from rotations when he went home, he had to clock in every single day.

And the whole clock-in system was meticulously designed, with no obvious loopholes to exploit.

First, he had to clock in before patrol.

Then he had to clock in during patrol.

Finally came the punctual clock-in at six thirty in the evening.

After dinner, Xu Feng arrived at the clock-in room on time. Ignoring the red corded telephone beside him, he pressed his thumb to the scanner and leaned in close to the machine with his eyes wide open. It gave a beep.

Clock-in complete.

A flat mechanical voice came from the machine.

"Employee Xu Feng, verification passed."

Xu Feng nodded in satisfaction, turned, locked the door, and left.

On the other side of the machine, lines of text appeared in rapid succession before someone's eyes.

[Cloud Rack Mountain area watchman clock-in complete]

[Iris verification passed]

[Biometric verification passed]

[Possibility of death ruled out]

[Possibility of infection not ruled out]

[Referred for manual review]

Xu Feng thought he was done clocking in. In fact, a miniature camera on the machine had brought up an image of him walking away.

Once the person had confirmed it was him,

they pressed a button beside the machine.

[Safety report submitted successfully]

[Area near Yunjia Mountain temporarily safe]

[Sealed object currently at no risk of breaking free]

Xu Feng knew none of this. He returned to his quarters—the house where he lived—turned off the light, switched on the television, and connected his game console!

Time for some gaming.

He licked the new game cartridge. When the familiar bitter taste failed to come, he felt a little disappointed.

"Similar in some ways, but different where it counts!"

This world resembled the one he had lived in before crossing over, but many details were quite different.

Take this game cartridge: its taste lacked that rich note of bitterness.

After he switched on the console,

the black screen slowly lit up.

Then a bronze incense burner appeared on it.

Xu Feng: "?"

He had spoken too soon. This went beyond the world merely being familiar but not quite the same.

Why was the startup screen different from usual, too?

Before he could get up from the floor, the image began moving on its own.

With the burner on-screen, a lit incense stick slid into it.

Smoke curled upward.

A wisp of blue smoke rose, and the view followed it, forming a line of flowing, cloud-script-like characters.

"May we all live long, though a thousand miles apart, sharing the same moon."

"Hello, visitor. Welcome to the Perfect World game console."

After the two lines appeared, a great gust scattered the words and sent the view hurtling backward!

In the smoke torn by the wind, Xu Feng saw the wisps take the shape of an ethereal immortal.

The immortal danced before a full moon.

The smoke shifted and swirled, but the immortal's figure remained unchanged.

As the ethereal immortal appeared, so did the famous song "Prelude to Water Melody: When Did the Bright Moon First Appear?"

Someone sang the entire poem.

When the song ended,

the narrator spoke again, their voice faint and lingering.

"People say nothing in this world can be whole. I refuse to believe it. I will make it whole! I want every year of this life to be like the full moon, without a single piece missing!"

At those words, the bronze incense burner reappeared, encircled by the amber full moon.

The immortal vanished.

Next came lines of text.

[Welcome, visitor. New game cartridge detected. Load game content?]

[Loading. Please wait.]

Xu Feng: "?"

He hadn't even pressed confirm!

He was about to switch off the console and see what was going on when the game finished loading!

[Game content loaded]

[Game title: Corpse Sewer]

[Difficulty: Ominous]

[Available content: Relatively limited]

[Skills transferable outside the game: Yes]

[Items transferable outside the game: Yes]

[Start game?]

Xu Feng: "?"

Now he was certain something was wrong. The new cartridge he had bought online was not called [Corpse Sewer] at all.

It was called [Calamity]!

Wrong product, and something was clearly wrong with it.

Xu Feng worked the controller, trying to exit. But although he had definitely pressed exit, the selection jumped to [Yes].

[Entering game.]

Xu Feng laughed in exasperation!

He stood up to force the television off. But as he approached, the screen suddenly went dark!

Then it flared bright!

It was like a flashbang going off in the dark. Xu Feng was caught completely off guard.

He managed to pry his eyes open. An enormous face, etched with grief and pain, filled the screen, face-to-face with him.

The old man's face was pressed against the screen as he stared at Xu Feng—or perhaps he was not looking at Xu Feng at all. Somewhere else, he was staring into a mirror before him.

At that moment, two "mirrors" in different worlds connected.

Facing the mirror, the old man opened his mouth. His heart seemed cold as dead ash, and his voice was heavy with sorrow.

"I, Zhao San, am a lone star of ill fate."

"As a child, I was too fond of play. My skills were lacking, and I never mastered my master's Corpse-Stitching Method. The corpse of the Earth-Fire Cult's leader took in Baleful Intent, and my master died before his time."

"In middle age, I failed to establish myself. I failed to stitch shut the Ancient Arcane Corpse buried beneath Third Grandpa Temple, and an entire village became Living Corpses that ravaged the land!"

"In old age, I was useless. I never learned the art of stitching the malevolent, and could only watch the Yellow River flood and the Yellow River Demon Corpse kill! An entire district and county became a realm of death!"

"My terrible mistake! Oh, my terrible mistake!"

On those last, grief-stricken cries, Xu Feng saw the old man in the mirror smash his head against it. Once, twice, three times—the "mirror" shattered!

The television shattered too!

It was not just the image that broke! The television itself had broken, a gaping hole punched through it from the inside out!

Before Xu Feng could step back, an irresistible force seemed to reach out from the television and drag him straight in.

He began falling without end!

As he fell, Xu Feng heard someone speaking in the darkness!

[Accumulate Yin Virtue, change your fate, and seek a life made whole. May the world be made whole.]

[Help others, and heaven will help you. Inside the game and out, gain a life with nothing missing.]

[Please live the flawless life Zhao San dreamed of.]

[Learn your craft in your youth, and keep your master from dying because of your mistake.]

[Establish yourself in middle age, inherit the community temple, and master the Baleful-Stitching Method.]

[Become a treasured elder, beloved by your neighbors, and complete the formation for stitching the malevolent.]

[Once you have dealt with the Yellow River Demon Corpse, you will have completed Zhao San's flawless life and may return to your own flawless life.]

[When his life lacks nothing, yours will lack nothing too.]

[At the pinnacle of Yin Virtue, a mortal becomes a god.]

[Good luck.]