Chapter 306: Entering the Game
Xu Shengsheng grabbed several ice creams at the supermarket.
Shen Qingchen took only one, along with a bottle of cold Coca-Cola.
Bai Cha stood by the checkout counter, waiting for them in silence.
When it came time to pay, Xu Shengsheng’s pupils dilated in pure shock.
“Thirty-eight yuan for just one ice cream????”
Her voice spiked into a high-pitched squeak.
The cashier said, “Yes. If you don’t want it, you can go exchange it. Don’t pick from the box on the side—stick to brands you recognize. Those few are all very expensive. Yours costs fourteen yuan.”
The last sentence was directed at Shen Qingchen. Shen Qingchen fell silent as well and went to swap hers.
Although she was indeed a boss, it didn’t mean she was rolling in cash, especially when she had a child to raise. She found four yuan a bit steep, let alone fourteen.
Swallowing her resentment, Xu Shengsheng bought three Little Puddings and two packets of Snow Lotus. Upon getting home, however, she realized the brand was actually “Thunder Lotus,” prompting her to complain bitterly.
“What on earth is this nonsense nowadays! I finished eating it before I even realized it was Thunder Lotus!” She had devoured it all in one go before noticing it was a knockoff.
Hearing this, Shen Qingchen subconsciously glanced at the Coke she had purchased.
Fortunately, it was genuine Coca-Cola, not some knockoff brand like “Co-Ka-Co-La.”
Bai Cha looked at the two of them, her eyes brimming with amusement.
The air conditioner in the house was rather old. While it had no trouble cooling the place down, it made a tiny bit of noise. Coupled with the cicadas chirping outside, it was actually quite noisy.
Still, it was genuinely relaxing.
“Oh, right, Sis! The flowers you mentioned—I put them all out on the balcony for you. But since it’s so hot these days, I placed them in a shaded spot.”
Xu Shengsheng recalled what Bai Cha had told her when the parcel was first delivered.
Those flowers were all Flowers of the Soul, possessing somewhat better vitality than ordinary flowers.
“Alright. Sister Shen, let’s go take a look together.”
“Flowers of the Soul?”
Shen Qingchen asked as she stood up to support her.
“Yes. Though after being brought out, they’re just ordinary flowers… probably.”
The reason Bai Cha sounded somewhat uncertain was mostly because of that plate back when she visited Gu’s father.
It had felt like anything but an accidental drop.
These flowers seemed to be doing fine. Although there were no signs of new growth, they didn’t look like they were wilting, either.
Shen Qingchen gently touched one of them.
It was indeed an extraordinarily realistic flower. Had she not known it was brought out from the game—formed from those souls after death—she too would have found it difficult to believe.
“It’s quite good. Well, whenever you’re free, let’s enter the game,” Shen Qingchen said softly.
If it worked, she would be able to leave something behind in this world.
That would be quite nice as well.
Xu Shengsheng finally remembered the barrage of questions she had wanted to ask back when she first learned about Shen Qingchen.
“So Sister Shen, are you really the number one player? Can you leave the game after S9?”
“Who knows? I’d like to know too. If I succeed, I’ll tell you,” Shen Qingchen chuckled lightly.
Xu Shengsheng fell silent for a moment before plunking herself down on the floor. “So has anyone ever succeeded? Is it that no one can succeed? Is the path ahead for everyone nothing but a dead end?”
“I don’t know.”
The question was truly impossible to answer.
“I don’t know if anyone has ever succeeded. Perhaps even if someone succeeded, they still couldn’t break free from the game.” Shen Qingchen sat down as well, gazing at the flowers before them.
“Do you know about the Heretical Gods in the game? Xiao Cha definitely knows.”
The girl had been marked, after all.
“In truth, people used to speculate that perhaps those entities were players who had escaped the game.”
Yet if that were truly the case, it meant one could never break free from the game no matter what.
It was merely stepping outside the realm of being a player.
Though Xu Shengsheng wasn’t entirely clear on the details, she actually browsed the forums every single day.
Unlike Bai Cha, whenever Xu Shengsheng had free time, she would scroll through the forums to read all kinds of posts, through which she had also come across news about Bai Cha.
It was just that she sometimes didn’t know how to bring it up with Bai Cha, though she was quite worried about her.
“But I heard that Heretical Gods also choose believers, don’t they? Supposedly, chosen believers have a higher chance of survival.”
When talking about posts from the forum, Xu Shengsheng was still rather passionate.
“Though it seems pretty dangerous too. I wonder what the Heretical Gods’ criteria for selecting people are. I also heard that once you reach S-rank, you can even get preferential treatment from the game—is that real or fake?”
Bai Cha: “…”
“Well… entering the game means you’ve already received the game’s ‘preferential treatment.’ Are you happy about this stroke of luck?” Shen Qingchen countered with a question.
Xu Shengsheng felt a pang of sorrow.
“As expected…”
“The game is merely an existence that plays with human hearts and manipulates fate. Don’t trust the game, and don’t trust those Heretical Gods. Becoming their believer won’t increase your chances of survival—it’ll actually lower them. The only reason those chosen tend to survive is that they possessed potential in the first place.”
Understanding dawned on Xu Shengsheng.
“By the way, Sis, what happened with your livestream going haywire in the last dungeon?”
At the mention of this, Bai Cha cast a glance at Xu Shengsheng.
“I’m not entirely sure either. However, my appearance in that dungeon was your face—did you know about that?”
Xu Shengsheng froze. She hadn’t known because she hadn’t watched the stream. She hadn’t had the time, after all; staying at home, her mother could walk into her room at any moment, so how could she explain if she vanished? Entering the Game Town without being in a dungeon meant disappearing directly from the real world.
Furthermore, screenshots couldn’t be taken inside the livestream room.
“Why was it my face?”
Bai Cha recounted the dream that had served as an omen for that dungeon.
“I wanted to ask you back then, but since I was coming home soon anyway, I put it off for a bit to see how things unfolded in the dungeon first.”
“Did you do anything in reality? Or did you obtain something inside a dungeon?”
“No… I haven’t even started my next dungeon yet.” Xu Shengsheng didn’t know why, either.
“Usually, I mostly just study and scroll through the forums; I haven’t done anything else. And even when I scroll through the forums, I don’t leave likes or interact with anyone.”
“Still, Sis, you know what I’m like. If I accidentally messed with something, I might not even realize it myself…”
Xu Shengsheng sounded completely lacking in confidence.
This sounded far too much like finding a scapegoat.
Shen Qingchen chimed in from the side, “In a situation like this, it’s indeed possible your sister has some sort of token on her.”
Xu Shengsheng immediately patted herself down from head to toe.
“I really don’t have anything on me. How about we go into the Game Space to check?”
“Sure, let’s take a look. I’ll take you two to my place—I own a whole building now.”
Xu Shengsheng’s eyes lit up.
A moment later, Xu Shengsheng stared at the dilapidated building before her, falling into deep thought.
“Sis, this building of yours is… quite unique.”
“Just tell me if it’s a building or not,” Bai Cha said, amused.
Xu Shengsheng: “…It is.”
A run-down building was still a building—better than having no home at all.
If this were in the outside world and didn’t pose any safety hazards, one could easily open a haunted exploration venue here—hospital-themed, no less.
So it was actually very useful.
Shrugging off the matter, Xu Shengsheng opened her inventory directly.
“Look, all my stuff is right here. Everything I got came from the first two dungeons; I don’t have anything else.”
