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The following days were calm and peaceful. Whether in games or academics, Liao Ruxue did not trouble Mo Qi, allowing him to smoothly pass through exam week and welcome the summer vacation.
The scholarship list has not been announced yet, but Mo Qi did well in his exams. After calculating his scores in ideological and political education, he felt confident that he was almost certain to win the first-class scholarship.
During this period, Liao Ruxue remained quite active. After the art exhibition, the student council held a farewell party internally, bidding farewell to Liao Ruxue and welcoming the next student council president.
Seeing him still lively and energetic, it seemed he had already passed the beginner’s stage. Mo Qi thought about Liao Ruxue’s performance in tasks and felt there was no need to worry about him. If he wasn’t causing trouble for others, it was already a relief.
It has been half a month since the last mission, and Mo Qi didn’t feel much about it. Xiang Zhuo, on the other hand, was extremely worried, constantly messaging him. Thanks to Xiang Zhuo’s explanations, Mo Qi had gained a good understanding of many game rules.
Each time a game starts, players must choose one game to participate in during the game period. After the mission ends, there is corresponding rest time based on the difficulty of the mission.
Xiang Zhuo: “After completing an R-rank mission, I can only rest for one day before immediately entering a new game. For an SR-rank mission, I can rest for one week. This is my first time dealing with an SRR-rank mission. How long exactly can I rest?”
Mo Qi: “Are you eager to challenge the next level?”
Xiang Zhuo: “Of course not. Besides risking our lives, this game has no other merits. Naturally, the longer the rest, the better. I’m uncertain about how many days I can rest, so I’ve been on edge. Why are you so calm? Shouldn’t you be the one asking me when the next game starts? Why is it the other way around?”
Mo Qi: “Since we’re here, let’s just accept it.”
Xiang Zhuo: “Except for the beginner level, every time a new game starts, players have one hour of preparation time. You can choose teammates and establish hostile relationships during that period. Let’s team up then.”
Mo Qi: “We’ll see when the time comes.”
Xiang Zhuo: “I used all my points for card draws. With the 2000 points from the mission reward and the 2100 points you gave me, I drew 4 SR item cards and 1 R card. The R card turned out to be a Clue Investigator again. This game keeps giving out Clue Investigators. How many times have you drawn?”
Mo Qi: “Three R cards, 2 Clue Investigators, and 1 Memory Modifier.”
Xiang Zhuo: “Even if you gave me 2100 points, you still have 5900 points left, right? Why have you only drawn a few times? Aren’t you curious about the card pool? Don’t you want to know what useful cards you could get?”
Mo Qi: “No rush.”
Xiang Zhuo: “How could someone who doesn’t like drawing cards download such a game? Every time the game ends, I use up all my points on draws.”
Mo Qi didn’t respond. He stared at Xiang Zhuo’s words, feeling a hint of confusion himself.
Due to his father’s influence, Mo Qi was indifferent to any gambling-like games. Even when classmates in the dormitory played poker together, he would not participate. The only exception was card-drawing games, which he was particularly fond of. Since starting college, whenever he had time, he would download a card-drawing game and play for a couple of days without spending money. If he couldn’t continue, he would abandon it and download a new one.
In reality, he wasn’t that interested in card-drawing games. He wasn’t in a rush to use his points to draw cards but rather wanted to save them to see if they had any other uses.
Since he didn’t like drawing cards, why was he so persistent about card-drawing games?
During his spare time at work, Mo Qi often pondered this question but never found an answer.
When summer vacation arrived, Mo Qi found a short-term job at a tourist attraction, which provided meals and allowed him to return to school at night. It was tiring, but the income was decent, ensuring he could cover his living expenses for the second half of the year.
During the summer vacation peak season, Mo Qi mainly worked as a tourist guide at the scenic spot, occasionally helping out with some physical work.
The place is an ancient town, more than ten kilometers away from Mo Qi’s school. His work hours were from 7 AM to 8 PM, conveniently reachable by bus for Mo Qi. Occasionally, when there was a heavy influx of visitors causing overtime, Mo Qi would ride a shared bike home.
During this period, Mo Qi was able to check his final exam results, which were good. His departmental advisor also informed him that he had secured a scholarship, and Mo Qi successfully received a first-class scholarship as he had hoped.
Mo Qi, relieved, focused all his energy on his job. Sometimes, he even forgot about games altogether. It was only in the quiet of the night, when he saw the scars on his chest, that he would remember what had happened a month ago.
It was 35 days after his first mission when Mo Qi was about to finish work at the scenic spot and saw Liao Ruxue.
“You’ve slimmed down a bit,” Liao Ruxue said directly to Mo Qi as he approached.
“Excuse me, coming through,” Mo Qi said as he lifted five boxes of beverages in one go, carrying them back to the storage room at the tourist center.
During these days, Liao Ruxue would occasionally send messages to Mo Qi like “Mo Qi, I’m back” or “Mo Qi, it’s boring without your games.” Mo Qi ignored them all, pretending he hadn’t seen them, and paid no attention whatsoever.
Mo Qi continued to ignore Liao Ruxue, focusing on inventorying the goods and submitting the list to the manager before locking up the warehouse and finishing his shift.
“Do you know why I came to see you today?” Liao Ruxue persisted. “I received a message in the game that the SSR-level mission’s resting period is 35 days, and today you should be starting a new mission. My last SR-level mission was seven days ago, so this time we can play the game together. Mo Qi, should we set ourselves as rivals?”
Mo Qi took off his hat and gloves, removed his staff vest, and stuffed them into a temporary locker before turning to leave.
Liao Ruxue continued muttering to himself, “No, being rivals means life and death, that’s not what I want. How about we team up instead? Then I can betray you within the team, how about failing together?”
Mo Qi was about to break into a quick run to distance himself from Liao Ruxue when his phone buzzed twice. He checked it and indeed, as Liao Ruxue had said, the new game had begun.
The new mission unlocked, and the first thing that popped up was Mo Qi’s personal attribute card:
Name: Charming Aura
Level: 3
Owner: Mo Qi
Attributes:
– Execution Value: 0
– Construction Value: 0
– Affinity Value: 144
Exclusive Skills: Gaze, Diminishment, Resonance, Manipulation; others yet to be explored.
Negative Effects: Love you to death, Berserk; others yet to be explored.
Negative Probability: 3%
“Manipulation” was a new skill Mo Qi gained during his encounter with Xiang Wansi in the wish box mission. It was precisely through resonating with the grass that he managed to manipulate it, ultimately securing victory. “Manipulation” is a derivative skill of “Resonance,” leveraging emotional connections established during resonance to control targets. The negative effect is that a slight misstep can lead to backlash from the target, causing mental instability, and even loss of control over body and mind.
The increase in level came after Mo Qi gained a significant amount of upgrade experience following the SSR-level mission. The game didn’t give Mo Qi a choice; it directly raised his level by two, correspondingly increasing the probability of negative effects as well.
Each time Mo Qi’s attributes level up, they increase by 20%. After leveling up twice, his Affinity Value increased from 100 to 120 and then to 144, while his Execution Value and Construction Value remained at 0.
The pattern on the attribute card also changed accordingly. A smiling mask is now surrounded by numerous red roses wrapped in thorns. The roses are still in bud form, and the thorns are at a distance from the mask, not yet piercing it. The smiling mask is no longer pure white but is gradually taking on a color resembling human skin. Mo Qi has a feeling that if he continues to level up, this mask will eventually resemble a human face.
After the attribute card display, a dialog box popped up in the game interface: “Please select game type,” followed by a series of cryptic and abstract patterns below.
Xiang Zhuo’s message arrived timely: “Mo Qi, the mission is about to begin. Let’s team up!”
He sent a team invitation, but instead of accepting it, Mo Qi asked, “Do you have an option to select the game type in front of you?”
After the attribute card display, a dialog box popped up in the game interface: “Please select game type,” followed by a series of cryptic and abstract patterns below.
Xiang Zhuo’s message arrived timely: “Mo Qi, the mission is about to begin. Let’s team up!”
He sent a team invitation, but instead of accepting it, Mo Qi asked, “Do you have an option to select the game type in front of you?”
Xiang Zhuo: “There are options for R-grade, SR-grade, and randomly matched missions. SSR-grade missions require random luck to match. Additionally, besides teaming up, if two players both choose the same level of mission and happen to be close in geographical location, they can also match to the same mission.”
Mo Qi: “…”
No wonder Liao Ruxue was pressed for time to find him, just to match with him on the same mission.
“Mo Qi, which level of mission are you planning to choose? SR-grade or random matching?” Liao Ruxue asked, holding his phone nearby. “You’d probably go for random matching, right? After all, only that option might lead to SSR-grade missions.”
Mo Qi: “…”
Since the first mission, he hadn’t encountered any options like R-grade or SR-grade, just a bunch of patterns.
Mo Qi: “Are there any conditions to become a mission initiator?”
Xiang Zhuo: “I’m not sure, I’ve never been a mission initiator. Hurry up and accept the team application. Let’s choose a mission together. I think with our abilities, selecting an SR-grade mission would be great. We’ll surely be unstoppable.”
This excerpt maintains the transliterated names and emphasizes the original context while ensuring readability in English.
Mo Qi decisively clicked to reject the team application, pondering amidst a pile of patterns.
From Xiang Zhuo’s and Liao Ruxue’s reactions, it seemed he was indeed the mission initiator. But why was he the initiator for the first mission and again for the second? What were the conditions for becoming a mission initiator, and why were they fixated on him?
Xiang Zhuo: “Why did you reject the team?”
Mo Qi: “I might be the mission initiator. Are you sure you want to team up?”
The mission grade matches the initiator’s grade. If Mo Qi is the initiator, it means he’s involved in an SSR-grade mission, which poses too much risk to team up with him.
Xiang Zhuo didn’t reply immediately. Mo Qi carefully examined the mission options provided by the game. Last time, the pattern was a crystal box, and the entire mission revolved around the crystal wishing box. This indicated that the pattern was crucial, and he couldn’t afford to choose randomly.
But these patterns before him were exceedingly abstract; some were just a jumble of random colors that Mo Qi couldn’t make sense of at all. Only one black-and-white pattern revealed a circular jade pendant. Due to its monochrome nature, he couldn’t discern the pendant’s color, but could see it standing on a table with a long, stretched-out shadow below.
Mo Qi decided to select this pattern, the only one whose content he could comprehend. Just as he was about to click on it, Xiang Zhuo sent another team invitation.
Xiang Zhuo: “If it’s tough, so be it. An SSR-grade mission gives 10,000 points and a 35-day rest period—totally worth it!”
This time, Mo Qi chose to accept, avoiding Liao Ruxue’s gaze, and clicked on the black-and-white jade pendant pattern to initiate the next mission.
Seeing Mo Qi make his choice, Liao Ruxue also clicked “random matching” without hesitation, confident that he would be paired with Mo Qi in the same mission.