Rewrite Fate

Everyone who had met Wan Qiu came away with the same first impression: he was a good-looking idiot.

But in truth, not only was Wan Qiu no idiot, he was smarter than the vast majority of people.

His childhood experiences had simply been so tragic that he had shut himself off completely.

In the game, Wan Qiu had been adopted by the Psychopathic Killer, who used all manner of cruel methods to unleash a twisted, terrifying monster.

But now Gao Ming had decided to change that ending. He would rewrite Wan Qiu's life himself.

The Shadow World wrote Wan Qiu's life according to a predetermined script. To alter his fate, I'll probably have to take the same path as Xuan Wen and keep fighting against the Shadow World.

Gao Ming turned to glance at Wan Qiu. The frail high school boy clung to the car window with both hands, staring blankly at the neon lights outside, as though searching for his home in this bustling, unfamiliar city.

Zhu Miaomiao, who was driving, saw this in the rearview mirror too. Her kind heart had led her to agree to take Wan Qiu back to the bureau. In fact, she had already prepared herself: if the Investigation Bureau could not take him in, she would let him stay at her place for now and sleep in the bureau's duty room herself.

The sun slowly sank. Using the information provided by the Investigation Bureau, Gao Ming visited several more locations, but encountered no other criminals.

Since he still had to train the newcomers that afternoon, Gao Ming did not linger downtown. He and Zhu Miaomiao returned to the Lishan Investigation Office before dark.

"I don't have any experience training newcomers. You do most of the talking later." Gao Ming pushed the task onto Zhu Miaomiao.

"Don't! I'm still a newcomer myself!" Zhu Miaomiao did not even have a Black Ring. Growing a little anxious, she said, "Why don't we wait until Team Leader Bai gets back?"

"That works."

After entering Investigation Team One's office, the two of them realized their worries had been entirely unnecessary.

Not a single newcomer had shown up. Only a member of the Investigation Office's support staff was waiting for them, looking rather awkward.

"Where are the newcomers?" Gao Ming told Wan Qiu to find any empty seat, then walked over to the staff member.

"I don't know who leaked it, but word got out that Investigation Team One has an eighty-percent fatality rate in the field, and a hundred-percent fatality rate for newcomers." The staff member seemed a little embarrassed to hand over the documents he was holding.

"That's nonsense." Gao Ming pointed at Zhu Miaomiao. "Isn't this one still alive? Besides, the other Investigators are only lost inside anomaly events. They haven't died."

"At the moment, none of the newcomers are willing to join Investigation Team One." With a bitter smile, the staff member showed them the documents in his hands. "The two members originally scheduled to join Team One changed their minds at the last minute and joined Investigation Teams Two and Three instead. Given the special nature of investigating anomaly events, the Investigation Bureau can't really force them to change their choices."

"Wait until Team Leader Bai gets back and report it to him." Gao Ming did not particularly mind. Not having to train newcomers meant one less thing to do.

"Then could one of you sign first? To confirm this?" Gao Ming pretended not to hear and sat down beside Wan Qiu. Zhu Miaomiao lowered her head and meticulously wiped down her Fire Axe, looking like an emotionless killer.

With a soft sigh, the support staff member had no choice but to ask Office Director Chen Yuntian for instructions.

Through a brief conversation, Gao Ming gained a rough understanding of Wan Qiu's condition. The boy had shut himself off completely. To unleash his astonishing potential and special abilities, Gao Ming would have to shatter his mind's self-defense mechanisms.

The Psychopathic Killer in the game had accomplished this through torture and oppression. Gao Ming planned to try other methods.

"If nothing works, you can just live an ordinary life as an ordinary person. That's pretty good too." As the game's designer, no one understood better than Gao Ming how pitiful Wan Qiu was.

Night fell. Gao Ming took out his phone and made a video call to Wei Dayou. Nightlight Studio was brightly lit, and everyone was working overtime with enthusiasm.

"Dayou, nothing's happened at the studio, right?" Gao Ming carefully examined the studio through the video feed. None of them had noticed the "Reaper" hiding among them.

"We're making lightning-fast progress on the game! Our investor, Boss Zhao, even came for an 'inspection' today. A lot of people online call him a sucker, but only those of us here know just how 'discerning' he really is!" Wei Dayou was delighted. He had rediscovered the joy of making games and chatted animatedly with Gao Ming, completely unaware that Xuan Wen had silently appeared behind him.

Gao Ming's expression grew somewhat unnatural too. "Good evening, Xuan Wen. Is work going smoothly?"

Bending down to look at the phone screen, Xuan Wen raised her eyebrows. "Oh? You two even make video calls?"

"Dayou, give Xuan Wen the phone. I want to ask her a few things." Gao Ming cleared his throat.

"I get it." Wei Dayou put down his phone and went straight outside to catch the cat and play with it.

"I can handle the voices in my head now, and I can taste emotions too." Fragmented faces flashed deep within Xuan Wen's eyes. "I have a feeling that once I collect a hundred thousand different emotions, everything will undergo a fundamental transformation."

"Then it shouldn't take long."

"A hundred thousand is only the beginning. No matter what, I'll keep making our game. Whatever the cost, I'll make sure more people see it!" Xuan Wen's voice was gentle, but her gaze was frightening. "If everyone in the city knows our story, could we escape physical death and live forever in their hearts?"

"You can try, but watch out for other players. As Anomaly Events become more frequent, other people are bound to obtain memorial portraits. If they've played that game, they'll probably know about you. Then you'll be out in the open while they stay hidden, and they might target you." Gao Ming and Xuan Wen were partners now, and he did not want her to be in danger either.

"Don't worry." Xuan Wen smiled, and her voice suddenly dropped. "After spending these two days here, I've discovered that Nightlight Studio is very interesting. If those players dare to come here, they might never be able to leave."

Besides Xuan Wen and that "Reaper" who killed without blinking, something else seemed to be hiding in Nightlight Studio.

Xuan Wen did not explain outright in the office. It seemed she could not speak freely there.

Wei Dayou returned just then, having caught Fortune. The moment the fat cat saw Gao Ming on the screen, it broke free of Wei Dayou and lunged over, clawing at the screen as though trying to crawl through it to reach Gao Ming.

"Look how much Fortune likes you." Wei Dayou grabbed Fortune by its hind legs and dragged it aside.

Fortune let out a shrill, miserable cry toward Gao Ming, as though shouting, Gao Ming, take me with you!

Fortune's increasingly abnormal reactions made Gao Ming suspect that Xuan Wen really had discovered something.

Amid Fortune's meows, Gao Ming ended the call. He had not become a knight who rescued cats. Instead, he was pondering a question: All my old game designs are stored at Nightlight. Have some of those games already mutated there?

As he was lost in thought, someone knocked on Team One's office door. Two Investigators, a man and a woman, entered wearing Black Rings.

"Just you two here?" The man sounded impatient. He had a decidedly horse-like face and a foul temper. "I'm Ma Lian, leader of Investigation Team Two. This is Chen Bing, leader of Investigation Team Three. Since Team One's core members have been reassigned elsewhere and all its newcomers have gone missing, the Office Director has assigned your night patrol to our two teams. You two just need to follow us and assist."

Zhu Miaomiao readily stood up and agreed, but Gao Ming shook his head. "I have to stay at Building 4 on Minlong Street tonight. That anomaly event hasn't been fully resolved. We absolutely cannot let the fear spread."

Ma Lian had not expected Gao Ming to refuse. His face hardened, and he addressed Gao Ming one word at a time. "I'm not asking you."

Standing up, Gao Ming stared at Ma Lian. "And you think I'm asking you?"

(End of chapter)