Chapter 214
“That’s fine, but quick, we need to see if these are effective or not!” Huang Yin picked up the bottle of holy water and shoved it to Han Fei. “To prepare these things, I’ve liquidated most of my assets. Some of these things are collector’s items and antiques, they’re quite expensive!”
“Really?” Han Fei twisted open the cap of the holy water and splashed some on Zhang Guanxing. Then both Huang Yin and Han Fei turned to look at the young man. “Well, do you feel anything?” Zhang Guanxing tried to think about it and then shook his head. “No, it felt like normal water.”
“Perhaps you used it the wrong way.” Huang Yin took the bottle back and pulled out a bamboo shoot from his inventory. He soaked the bamboo leaves in the holy water and read the instruction manuals. When he was ready, he flicked the wet bamboo stalk at Zhang Guanxing, “Reveal yourself!” With the water droplets splashing on him, Zhang Guanxing looked at Huang Yin with confusion before turning to level Han Fei a gaze which said, ‘Is something mentally wrong with your friend?’
“I bought this holy water at the auction house! I placed huge hope in it!” Huang Yin put down the holy water and then moved over the box of talismans. “I get it now. We’re in the east so the western method can’t work. We should try these then.” Playing along, Han Fei pasted the talismans all over Zhang Guanxing and Xu Qin’s pet. They were not effective at all.
“Brother Huang, I hate to say it but I think you were scammed. Even if there are actual warding relics in the world, they should be extremely rare and can’t be bought with money.” Han Fei knew that there were indeed items in the cryptic world that could ward against spirits like the talisman given to him by Meng Si and the 3 cigarettes left behind by the former manager. But how they worked was different from how Huang Yin would imagine it. They used a deeper hatred and despair to stun the offending spirits.
“Was I scammed? But these things all said that they could ward against evil spirits on their item descriptions!” Huang Yin still couldn’t accept it.
“Brother Huang, even though you still possess human emotions and consciousness as well as have living human temperature but in actuality, you’re a wandering soul. If an item in your inventory makes you feel uncomfortable, then perhaps those do work.” Han Fei did have some anticipation at the beginning but he realized such items were not so easy to come back.
“Wait, what do you mean by that? Am I dead?”
“If you stay away from your real body for too long or get stuck here, then you’ll really die.” Han Fei explained patiently, “You might not be able to return to your real body anymore.”
“You have to be kidding me.” Huang Yin surrounded himself with the items he bought. Even though they were not effective, they provided some psychological comfort for Huang Yin.
“In any case, you have a good idea and I was touched by it. Perhaps we can still make use of this loophole somehow.” Han Fei noticed that there was a backpack Huang Yin was carrying. It was bulging with stuff. “Brother Huang, what is inside that backpack?”
“Oh, these are gifts for the doctors and nurses to help raise their affection level. They are all stuff that I know they will like.” Huang Yin explained seriously, “During beta, everything about the game is sped up but it is still pretty much impossible to farm friendliness level. Therefore, I carried these things with me into this world. If the main plot hasn’t changed too much after the version update, I can use these items to brush up on their friendliness level as fast as possible.”
“You’re a genius to have figured that out but why didn’t you use that advantage on raising your level or professional skills?” Han Fei did not know what to say, “After OB, Perfect Life will definitely launch some huge event. If you can rush up the ranking speedily, then the system might award you with marvellous rewards.”
“Brother, that is where you are wrong. Perfect Life’s focus is different from the other conventional online games. Based on my insider information, the first large event won’t be about the player’s level or money but it would be related to player happiness and satisfaction.”
“Happiness and satisfaction?” Perfect Life was an Iyashikei game, Han Fei had completely forgotten about that.
“The first big event might require the players to look for their true happiness and inner satisfaction. The ranking will be set according to the rise in the player’s happiness level.” Huang Yin added, “These are all insider info, so don’t tell anyone else.”
“The rise in one’s happiness level?” Han Fei’s brain spun quickly. He glanced at Huang Yin and then scanned Yi Ming Private Academy which was shrouded in thick darkness. “Brother Huang, do you think it’s possible for this happiness value to drop below zero?”
A bad feeling rose in Huang Yin’s heart. “It should be able to. What do you have in mind?”
“Well, this is my idea.” Han Fei patted Huang Yin’s shoulder. “When the OB starts, while you make your character, I will try to drag you into the cryptic world. I will drop you into a place filled with monsters and ghosts, that way your initial happiness value will be extremely low.”
“???”
“When your happiness value cannot be lowered anymore, I’ll send you back to the surface world. I can’t help you increase your maximum limit but I can help you lower your minimum limit!” Huang Yin was speechless hearing how natural Han Fei was as he suggested this preposterous idea. Today, he finally knew what a demon looked like. “That, that does not sound like a good idea.”
“There’s no great reward without taking great risk!” Han Fei did not think there was anything wrong with his proposition, after all, he had personally done the same thing. “Brother Huang, no matter how Perfect Life will turn out to be in the future, our lives have already been changed. We need a powerful ally in the surface world and that ally can only be you.” Seeing the hesitation on Huang Yin’s face, Han Fei added in a devil’s whisper, “Don’t you want to experience how it feels like to be the man at the top in this national-scale video game?
“After you get the event rewards, your character will become more perfect. I hear that in Perfect Life, there are many event rewards that are unique and cannot be purchased with money. Brother Huang, many people would die for a chance proffered to you!
“You only need to suffer a little bit and then you’ll have the leverage that will be the envy of all the other players.”
After taking in all Han Fei had to say, Huang Yin started to get persuaded. “You… do have a point.”