When the item fell into Li Zhi’s hand, instructions for its use flashed in her mind: a Danger Alert Alarm, usable in both the real world and the game instances. It would automatically sound an alarm when danger approached and give a thirty-second warning beforehand. It was limited to three uses.
Such an item couldn’t possibly be set for permanent use—that would be too overpowered. Being able to use it three times was already more than enough for Li Zhi, and she was quite satisfied.
After claiming her reward for clearing the level, the panel displayed a random item this time.
One was a Immobilization Talisman, usable only within the game instance. It was a one-time item, effective on both humans and ghosts, immobilizing them for one minute. It cost 599 points.
The other was a flashlight that never ran out of power, usable in both the real world and the game copies. It cost 399 points.
By now, Li Zhi had become quite wealthy in terms of popularity points. Without hesitation, she took out one million popularity points, exchanging them for a thousand points, and bought both items.
After deducting one million popularity points, the system promptly reminded her: “Player’s total popularity points have changed to 4,507,420, dropping from 90th place to 99th on the global popularity ranking. Please keep up the good work.”
For Li Zhi, being ranked 99th or 90th didn’t make much of a difference. She never cared much about the leaderboard anyway. As long as she kept entering game instances in the future, her ranking would naturally climb—just a matter of time. The items that appeared after each level were what really mattered and had to be secured.
After leaving the reward space, she noticed that the rankings in the safe house hadn’t changed much—everyone’s popularity points had decreased.
Being in the same game instance and surviving together was an experience that created a bond of shared life and death. The world was so large and chaotic that, unless they used a team card, they probably wouldn’t see each other again. After exchanging farewells, they waited for the safe house to close and were then teleported to their respective places.
Waking up again in her familiar home, Li Zhi had completely adapted to the feeling of being transported in and out of game instances.
She walked out of her bedroom and called, “Mom, I’m back.”
“Zhi Zhi!”
“Sis!” Li Shuang was always the first to rush over. She had to hug her sister tight, ensuring she was whole and unharmed, before she could feel at ease.
Normally, at this point, Li Feng would show up to scold her and pull her off of Li Zhi.
But this time, Li Zhi glanced around the house and didn’t see Li Feng. A bad feeling crept into her heart. “Shuang Shuang, where’s brother?”
Only then did Li Shuang release her grip and say, “Brother was called back to the army.”
Li Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. She had feared that Li Feng had been dragged into a game copy too. But the relief only lasted for a second before worry returned.
Everyone knew why Li Feng had been called back to the army at this time. Before his retirement, he had been one of the country’s best soldiers, and even after retiring, he never forgot his mission. The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. In times of crisis, it was only natural for him to step up.
However, it was unclear whether his mission this time had to do with the collapse of order in the real world or the game instances.
If it was the latter, then the siblings would inevitably meet in a game instance.
Seeing her sister fall silent, Li Shuang quickly patted her chest. “Don’t worry, Sis! I’m here at home! Before he left, Brother entrusted me with the responsibility of protecting the house. I’ve been training every day! I can take on three people by myself now! Hmph! Ha!”
She even threw a few playful punches in the air, making Li Zhi laugh.
Only when her sister laughed did Li Shuang secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
Shang Jinru added, “Don’t worry, Zhi Zhi. Your mom’s still strong and capable! I may not be able to take on three people, but I can certainly protect myself. You and your brother fight on the frontlines, and your mom and Shuang Shuang will hold down the fort here. It’s perfect!”
Li Shuang was amazed. “Mom, where did you learn to say things like that? You sound so trendy!”
Shang Jinru shyly replied, “I picked it up from watching the comments in your sister’s livestream.”
Li Zhi watched the two of them exchange playful remarks, knowing they were trying to ease her worry. She smiled and decided not to dwell on the matter. After taking a shower and changing into fresh clothes, she tried calling Li Feng. Unsurprisingly, she couldn’t get through. It wasn’t unusual—whenever Li Feng was on a mission with the military, he was often out of contact.
Li Shuang, sitting nearby, was cautiously examining the items Li Zhi had brought back. She tested the flashlight that never needed charging, impressed by its strong beam. The flashlight was completely self-contained, without even a charging port, making her click her tongue in amazement.
Li Zhi lay on the bed scrolling through the news when she suddenly made a sound of surprise. “Lian Qinglin got injured?”
Li Shuang, hearing that, immediately got excited. “Oh right! I forgot to tell you about that! On the night you entered the copy, Lian Qinglin cleared his copy. He was almost killed inside by Wang Xiang! Right before clearing it, he lost a leg in the game! But someone saw him at the hospital afterward, and both of his legs were intact. Everyone’s saying he used an item to restore his leg after clearing the level!”
Li Zhi listened while searching online. The incident where Wang Xiang attacked people on the street had caused quite a stir. Although the authorities responded quickly, the delay in execution allowed the system to pull Wang Xiang into a game copy, as he had hoped.
Fortunately, he didn’t survive to clear the level.
Li Zhi found some edited videos posted by viewers online. The danger level of this copy was extremely high. Wang Xiang, being a newcomer, had no tools and no experience. Near the end, they triggered a large-scale death condition that wiped out half of their team in an instant.
Before Wang Xiang died, he tried to drag Lian Qinglin down with him. But Lian Qinglin, showing his ruthlessness, cut off his own left leg to survive.
This 19-year-old boy, who usually seemed unreliable, had really shown his mettle in that moment. Because of this scene, his popularity within the game skyrocketed, and now he ranked 73rd on the global leaderboard.
Li Zhi checked the group chat. The usually chatty Lian Qinglin had been quiet for several days, with the last message from him dated a week ago.
This seemingly naive and carefree boy had likely taken a hard hit this time.
After thinking about it for a moment, Li Zhi decided to call him. After a few rings, the call connected, and a cheerful voice came through: “Sis Zhi! You cleared the level?”
He didn’t sound like someone who had been emotionally crushed by the experience.
Li Zhi chuckled and asked, “Yeah, I just got out. How are you holding up?”
“Whoa!!!” Lian Qinglin exclaimed, “I nearly died in there, you know?! Sis Zhi, you have no idea how brave I was! I just swung that blade and chopped right into my own leg! You should’ve seen the blood—it was epic!”
Li Zhi was silent for a moment. “…”
Great. It seemed she had been worried for nothing.
Lian Qinglin bragged for a while about his heroic acts in the game, then said, “By the way, Sis Zhi, I saw you entered the instance with Maomao and the others. How did my three brothers do? Not bad, right?”
Li Zhi nodded. “Yeah, about the same as you.”
All equally naive and foolish.
He chuckled and then said, “Sis Zhi, you’ve teamed up with Sister Chi Yi three times already. Isn’t it my turn next? How about we form a team next time?”
Li Zhi laughed. “Then you won’t get the MVP.”
“That’s no problem!” Lian Qinglin said, sounding proud. “You have no idea how popular I am now! My fame has shot up higher than when I was at my peak! Even without the MVP bonus, I’ve got enough popularity points! Come on, Sis Zhi, team up with me! I’ve gotten so much better. I saw Maomao and the others clearing the level effortlessly with you, and I want to win easy like that too!”
He still seemed carefree and unaffected by his near-death experience. But given that he was only 19, it was impossible that it hadn’t affected him at all. The next game instance he entered shouldn’t be as intense as the last one—otherwise, his mental state might crack under the pressure.
Coincidentally, she had already promised to team up with Pink Hair for the next game. She nodded and agreed, “Alright. But your leg—is it okay now? Is the new one as good as the original?”
Lian Qinglin said, “Pretty much. When it first grew back, it felt a bit soft and weak, but I went to the hospital and had an X-ray. The doctor said there’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, it’s even healthier than my right leg. Fresh off the line—it’s gotta be better!”
Lian Qinglin’s fame was already huge, and the fact that he had regenerated his leg was bound to spread widely. With his personal experience as a “spokesperson,” people would definitely go crazy chasing after the items provided by the game copies.
Li Zhi didn’t ask any more questions. “That’s good to hear. You’d better get in touch with Pink Hair and the others quickly to discuss forming a team. It’s been a few days since you cleared your last instance, so your next game should be coming up soon.”
Lian Qinglin hurriedly agreed.
After hanging up the phone, Li Zhi continued browsing the news. Ever since the incident where Wang Xiang attacked people in broad daylight, security patrols had increased across various regions. While no further violent incidents had occurred, events aimed at gaining attention and boosting views were happening daily.
As she scrolled through local news, Li Zhi saw a report stating that there had been 20 cases of public streaking in the city within the past week…
The range of bizarre behavior was ever-increasing, as more and more people gained the ability to enter the game instances.
There was even a specialized forum dedicated to the horror reality show, and its daily traffic had surpassed that of regular Weibo activity.
Curious, Li Zhi registered an account and entered the forum. The homepage was filled with discussions about game instances and players. One thread, floating in the mid-range of the page, immediately caught her attention because it mentioned both her and Li Jianxi.
Li Jianxi.
Raising her eyebrows, Li Zhi clicked on the thread.
She had asked him once after clearing the “Infant Tower” copy whether they would meet again, but during “Lie Nu Village,” she hadn’t seen him. As for the blurry figure she had glimpsed before clearing the level, she couldn’t be sure if it had been him.
Upon opening the post, she saw an edited video at the top.
— Post 1: [Video]
[Friends, look at what I’ve discovered! I love hopping around various livestreams and shipping different player pairings. Besides the currently popular player pairings, I’ve found a truly unconventional one: the Zhi-Xi CP, which is a [Player] x [NPC] ship! Many of you probably know who this player is—it’s none other than the powerhouse Li Zhi! Watching her clear an instance is pure satisfaction. Strong and gentle, she’s someone you definitely want to follow! If you haven’t seen Li Zhi clear an instance yet, I highly recommend searching for “Mountain Village Burial,” “Infant Tower,” and “Lie Nu Village”—it’s worth every second!]
[Okay, back to the topic. If you’ve watched Li Zhi, then you know who this [NPC] is—it’s none other than the insanely good-looking Li Jianxi! Once you’ve seen his face, there’s no way you won’t fall for him! Back in the newbie instance, he completely crushed top-tier streamer Lian Qinglin, leaving nothing behind. The fact that such a handsome guy is just an NPC—I’m devastated!]
[I’m digressing again. Anyway, Li Zhi first met Li Jianxi in the newbie copy, and they had some subtle chemistry going on. I’ll make a separate video to talk about that in detail later! Then they met again in Li Zhi’s second copy, which was absolutely perfect for shipping content. But I’ll save that for another sugar-filled video too! Today, I want to focus on Li Zhi’s third instance!]
[Li Jianxi didn’t appear in the third copy, but here’s where it gets shippable. I’ve discovered that Li Jianxi has been hopping from one instance to another, but he’s not just making random appearances—he’s looking for Li Zhi!]
[I’ve edited this video, showing footage from 37 different game instances where Li Jianxi made an appearance! But each time, it was just a brief glimpse—he’d show up, make his presence known, and then disappear! Then he’d appear in the next instance, do the same, and vanish again! He’s practically running from instance to instance! If I weren’t jumping between so many livestreams, I never would have caught onto this!]
[We all know that NPCs in game instances usually have a specific function and don’t appear for no reason. Yet Li Jianxi pops up briefly, disappears, and then does it again in the next instance! 37 times! It’s like he’s running back and forth, looking for her! Just for that one time Li Zhi asked, “Will we meet again?”—he’s been tirelessly searching for her ever since! Ahhh, who else is dying from this ship, because I am!!!]
[In the few days since Li Zhi entered her last copy, I’ve only had the energy to track down 37 livestreams. But I’m sure Li Jianxi has shown up in even more copies! If anyone else has spotted him, leave a comment in this thread so we can tally up how many copies he’s visited while searching for Li Zhi.]
[Ah, Jianxi, you’re practically running your legs off just to find your girl! Ugh, it’s such a shame that he didn’t make it into “Lie Nu Village” with Li Zhi. Damn you, system! Why couldn’t you have placed the lovebirds in the same instance? Now poor Jianxi is running himself ragged, desperately looking for his girl! Here’s hoping they reunite in the next instance!]
— Post 2: Zhi-Xi shippers claiming a seat!
— Post 3: Holy crap! I was wondering why I kept seeing Li Jianxi across different streams!
— 4th Floor: No way, how could an NPC in a game instance have self-awareness? OP, you’ve lost your mind over this ship. Finding a wife? It’s just the system reusing NPCs to run the storyline.
— 5th Floor: It’s strange though. I’ve watched so many game instances, and Li Jianxi is the only NPC that shows up repeatedly. All the other NPCs are one-time characters. Could he be a fixed NPC?
— 6th Floor: Probably because the face they designed for him is too good-looking. The system couldn’t bear to delete the data, so they just keep reusing him.
— 7th Floor: I’m dying over this ship, I’m dying, I’m dying! OP, when are you editing the sugar-filled videos from the first two instances? I can’t wait!
— 8th Floor: Me, me, me! I’ve seen Li Jianxi in another instance too, not in the 37 from the video! Just like OP said, he appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as suddenly, without contributing anything to the plot!
— 9th Floor: I mentioned this before—there might be a “favorability points” system in the instances. Li Zhi must have maxed out her favorability with this NPC, Li Jianxi. Didn’t he even drop an item for her in the “Infant Tower” instance?
— 10th Floor: What?! You can grind favorability and get items from this NPC? If I’d known that, I would’ve tried it when I ran into him in the last instance!
Awww, how sweet!