Chapter 14 - Reality (1) (1/2)

At this very moment, Cheng Zhi Chu was sitting on his bed in his bedroom at home leaning against the back of his bedframe. He carefully edited his “Midnight Mansion” strategy guide and planned to post it up onto the Infinite Escape forum when he was done.

Two days ago, he and Bai Yi cleared the “Midnight Mansion” instance and had returned to the real world. Although he had already cleared two instances, the time between the two was too short and he still had a rather surreal feeling.

After returning to the real world the first thing he did was to spend 1000 survival points to buy the countdown service. Although he only had a total of 2350 survival points and spending almost half of it in one go was quite a painful endeavour, but with this service he would at least know when the next instance would start so that he could prepare himself in advance.

Before he placed the order, he was a little hesitant. It was like an exam; seeing that the deadline is approaching he couldn’t help but feel anxious but surprisingly this service also gave him the additional benefit of emotional relief. For example, despite knowing that the next instance would start in a day’s time, he was calm and wasn’t worried at all.

He then spent another 150 survival points to buy burial services for his dead teammates. Like this the system would modify the memories of their close friends and families so that they would think that they had passed away many years ago. Like this, even if they had died, their friends and family wouldn’t have a hard time accepting reality.

If he was to die one day, he hoped that someone could also help him arrange for that service too…….

After mourning for his three teammates, Cheng Zhi Chu’s mood was somewhat low but he is naturally an optimist, so he soon cheered up and moved to the forum to search for Bai Yi’s ID to add him as a friend.

If he could, he naturally didn’t want to die! So in order to be able to live for a long time, he would hold tightly onto this big thigh of Bai Yi’s.

With such shameless thoughts, Cheng Zhi Chu searched for the ID “One Thought” and then sent over a friend request.

The forum ID’s are unique to all players so he wouldn’t make the mistake of messaging the wrong person but out of habit he opened One Thought’s personal details and double checked. After seeing his information, he was stunned and began to suspect that he had searched for the wrong person.

After the name One Thought, he clearly saw the symbol of a red skull which indicates that a player had initiated the “Death Mode”.

Unlike the Reality Mode that he had selected, once a player chooses the Death Mode it would mean that they cannot return to the real world. Until they have managed to save 1 million survival points, they would continuously go through instance after instance. Although players who select this mode would also be rewarded with 30% more survival points, there are still very few players who are willing to take this risk.

On one hand, not a lot of people can withstand so much mental strain and on the other hand, most players cannot use the forum service while they’re in an instance. There were only a few exceptions and they’re usually the great gods in the games like Winter Branch. Despite selecting the Death Mode, he could still use the forum while he is in an instance.

If Bai Yi selected the death mode and had no way of using the forum, he would have said something about it but since he didn’t say anything and even offered to add him as friends himself, he guessed that he had probably added the wrong person……..

Cheng Zhi Chu quietly mumbled to himself and planned to try typing in One Thought again but with different a different spelling when a notification sound was heard from his phone indicating that the other party had accepted his friend request. His new friend immediately sent over a smiley face and greeted him.

Cheng Zhi Chu: “?!” Fuck, who’s this? Why can they use the forum even while in Death Mode??

[Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice: ??]

[Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice: ……Bai Yi?]

[One Thought: Yes, I’m Bai Yi. Why are you so surprised?]

Seeing One Thought’s response and after confirming that the other party is indeed Bai Yi, Cheng Zhi Chu almost spat out the water in his mouth. With his eyes wide with surprise he quickly typed into his phone.

[Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice: ?? Wait?? Why did you choose Death Mode??]

[Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice: And how can you still use the forum while you’re in an instance?? How did you get the ability to do it??]

[One Thought: You can’t use the forum while in Death Mode?]

[One Thought: ……….]

[One Thought: Oh, I remember now. Seems like you really can’t use it. I can use it because I received an unexpected privilege.]

[Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice: What privilege? There’s such a good thing?]

Cheng Zhi Chu was envious to tears. He also want’s this kind of unexpected surprise! If he could use the forum while he’s in an instance, he could check on the strategy guides and trade items with other players whenever he needed to. It was on par to having a cheat that would greatly reduce the games difficulty.

[One Thought: You guess.]

[Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice: Is it because of the beginner’s gift package or did you get it through a lottery?]

“Infinite Escape” calls itself a game so it naturally had many game-like features. You could spend some of your survival points to join in the lottery to win prizes. Cheng Zhi Chu still hasn’t given it a try firstly because he didn’t have time and secondly because he didn’t believe in his luck. No matter what game he played, his luck was down in the pits.

[One Thought: Very smart. I got it through the lottery.]

[Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice: Daddy! Emperor! Master! Please accept this disciples’ bow!]

[Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice: But wait. I’m very curious. You chose Death Mode so that means that you can’t return to reality so how do you charge your phone? Won’t it run out of power very quickly?]

From the other end he received another a cute emoticon.

[One Thought: Nuclear phone. It would always have electricity.]

[One Thought: So, you can send me messages any time. I should see it very quickly.]

[Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice: But won’t this interfere with you clearing the instance? What if a ghost appears and the phone goes off……um…..Am I bothering you right now?]

[One Thought: You’re not, don’t worry. I’m currently in a solo instance and it’s very simple. If something happens, I’ll just reply a little late. Don’t worry about me.]