“Eternal World really isn’t just a game.”
Seeing the look of delight appear on Zhang Cheng’s face, Zhang Guang gave a cold snort and continued, “But the Eternal Games Company’s ‘Eternal World’ is, in fact, just a game.”
Zhang Cheng heard his father’s answer and looked completely confused. Wasn’t that a contradiction?
Then he saw his father walk out from behind the desk and raise a question for him: “Between Yongheng Group and the Eternal Games Company, which do you think is in charge?”
Zhang Cheng muttered in his heart, ‘Any normal person would know the answer to this question—it must be the Group that’s in charge. But if you’re asking me like this, then it must be the Company!’
“I think it’s the Games Company in charge!” Zhang Cheng answered with great confidence in his own judgment.
To his surprise, Zhang Guang flicked his hand and gave him a knock on the head, saying irritably, “Of course it’s the Group! You’ve been at the company for so long, and you never noticed it’s always the Group assigning tasks to the company?”
“Xiao Cheng, this is why the police need to collect evidence first, then make hypotheses based on intuition, and finally verify them.” Zhang Guang let out a sigh.
“You did uncover some issues this time, but that was just because you happened to pick the right direction. If something similar happens again and you still skip the step of looking for evidence, relying only on intuition to make guesses, then you’ll end up with the wrong conclusion.”
Zhang Guang returned behind his desk, took out a box of cigarettes from the drawer, but didn’t light one. He just held it near his nose and took in the scent.
Zhang Cheng knew exactly why his father did this: At his mother’s request, his father had quit smoking for many years, and only occasionally relaxed like this.
According to Zhang Guang, the smell of tobacco could bring a little comfort to his otherwise boring life, though Zhang Cheng never understood how his dad could call life boring with a job as an executive president.
Zhang Guang spoke slowly, “There are some things I still can’t tell you, but I can tell you this much: Eternal World isn’t simply a world within a game.
“But the game company doesn’t have the right to interfere with the main progress of ‘Eternal World’—that includes the main storyline, background setting, important character settings, and so on.”
Zhang Guang paused, glanced thoughtfully at his son, and continued, “This isn’t much of a secret among the upper management. Once you get into the company and reach the higher ranks, you’ll learn more.
“As for the incident you mentioned from two years ago, that has always been handled by the Group. The relevant personnel have already been dealt with by the Group, and all traces have been destroyed.
“I know what you want to do, but give up on that idea. This matter never had anything to do with you. Even if you hadn’t gotten Beta Qualification from me back then, it still would have happened. If you want to keep your friend company, just spend more time with her in the game.”
Zhang Guang put away the cigarettes, picked up the glass of water by the desk, took a sip, and quietly waited for Zhang Cheng to digest what he’d just said.
After a while, Zhang Cheng replied, “So the game company’s just an empty shell? Dad, have you been in a cushy job this whole time?”
The corner of Zhang Guang’s mouth twitched, and he choked on his water, coughing a few times before pointing at the door, “Get out!”
Zhang Cheng chuckled at the sight. Why did he keep wanting to act up and challenge his dad’s authority today?
Satisfied with the answers he’d gotten, Zhang Cheng saw that his dad had no intention of talking to him anymore, so he grabbed his phone off the desk and dashed out of the room.
Once the door closed, the pained expression from Zhang Guang being choked disappeared without a trace from his face.
“This brat is still too green. Just a few words from me and he’s already been led astray.” Zhang Guang shook his head, picked up the old-fashioned, leather-bound book he’d been holding down with his hand, and continued reading carefully.
The parchment under the cover was already a little worn, covered with densely packed, strange symbols and images that didn’t belong to any human language.
As his finger slid across the pages, the blue patterns on the parchment gradually faded away.
*****
Zhang Cheng pushed open the door and saw two figures disappearing around the corner of the hallway. He shook his head—his mother and sister had actually come to eavesdrop.
‘The soundproofing here is excellent. They probably didn’t hear a thing from that conversation just now, right?’
Back in his room, Zhang Cheng carefully pondered over the information he’d just received.
The news his dad revealed was critical—the Group could let people enter that game world!
And what exactly was so special about Lu Qiuchen that made his dad say what he did?
He’d considered that maybe his dad was just trying to comfort him, wanting him not to blame himself, but after thinking it over, he dismissed that possibility.
His dad wasn’t unaware of his stubborn streak. Now that he’d glimpsed a sliver of hope to save his friend, how could he possibly stop investigating?
And at the end, his dad even told him to spend more time with Lu Qiuchen in the game… Combining that with what he said before, his dad was clearly hinting that he should keep investigating in secret!
*****
Zhang Cheng never even noticed that, even though his father had been fully aware of and involved in the Game Pod incident, he himself didn’t feel a trace of anger about it.
Having gotten his answer, Zhang Cheng and Zhang Yu left after dinner and returned to their home in the city.
After taking off his shoes and socks at the door, Zhang Cheng dashed into the guest room where the Game Pod was kept. He’d already been itching for this on the way back, regretting that he hadn’t brought his game helmet when he went out. Now, leveling up was his number one priority!
The Open Beta had been running for nearly two weeks, and the Community Operations Department’s work had entered a stable period. On the way home, he’d already put in for extended leave at the company, so next week, Zhang Yu would have to drive herself to work.
Now that Zhang Cheng had the help of a Bipedal Wyvern, he set himself a small goal: within a week, his nickname had to be in the top 1,000 of the Level Leaderboard!
Logging in, Zhang Cheng started checking the names on the Level Leaderboard.
He planned to stop after looking at the top 100. After all, Eternal World was a massive global game with over a hundred million players, and each leaderboard displayed the top million rankings.
- LV51 Lu Renjia [Zang Ai Family]
- LV51 Backstab of Justice [Pinnacle Strategy Group]
- LV50 Lu Renyi [Zang Ai Family]
- LV50 Turkey-flavored Guoba [Haoduo Furries]
…….
- LV50 Big Wet Bro [Scarlet Dawn Guild]
Zhang Cheng felt the corner of his mouth twitch. He’d never paid much attention to the leaderboard nicknames before.
To think that there were still people out there who remembered these ancient internet memes. He’d thought all the top players would have normal names, or maybe use some trendy Yinpa literature or other online buzzwords. He never expected the leaderboard to look like a renaissance of internet culture.
‘Except for that player from the Strategy Group, none of the top ten players even have a serious guild name.’ Zhang Cheng thought to himself, automatically ignoring the words “Pink Rabbit” that had been floating above his own head all this time.
Doing his best to ignore these bizarre game nicknames, Zhang Cheng curiously clicked on Lu Renjia’s profile. The information for the top player on the Level Leaderboard appeared before him.
When he saw “Gryphon” under the mount section, Zhang Cheng understood completely—so this was that super-rich sucker who’d spent a fortune on a Gryphon egg… a true whale.
Looking at the levels on the leaderboard, his competitive spirit was fired up. Even though he was only level 40 right now, and still a long way from his goal of the top 1,000 on the Level Leaderboard,
It didn’t matter, though—a level 62 Bipedal Wyvern would come to the rescue!