Marriage Concerto (Small Thing Called Love)
Chapter 79 – Extra 3: Game (1/3)
It was during the first year of high school when Ding Meng became seriously ill.
Having stayed in the hospital for over half a month, Ding Meng's body weight eventually reached 83 jin[1]. But considering her height, 167 centimeters[2], she was still too light.
Due to Ding Meng's health having stabilized, the doctor suggested for her to return home to recuperate. Though Ding Meng was still a bit thin, there were no other apparent problems. Also, it was ill-mannered to continue occupying a hospital bed despite her bearable condition.
Once Ding Meng returned home, due to her health issue, she immediately received VIP treatment from her parents.
Her parents did not make her do any housework, no need to read any books, and procedures regarding her absences from school were also handled. So every day, all of Ding Meng's responsibilities were to eat to sleep, sleep to eat, and obediently grow fat.
At first, this kind of lifestyle felt quite comfortable for Ding Meng. But as time went by, boredom took over. Her mother forbid her from leaving the house so she couldn't go out shopping with her friends. Day by day, Ding Meng stayed at home staring at the ceiling; bored. Eventually, thanks to Ding Meng's constant begging, Mama Ding gave a computer for her to relieve her boredom.
And since then, having received a computer, Ding Meng's life went through an earth-shattering change.
During that time, computers were far from being as widespread as it is in modern times. If a middle school student wanted a computer, it would be immensely difficult to achieve that wish. On one hand, a computer may be treated as a luxury in a family. On another hand, families may believe that computers would have a bad influence on their children's studies.
Ding Meng recalled that during her days of junior high, the number of students in her class who had a computer could be counted on one hand.
Her tablemate, Qiao Yichen, was one of them.
Qiao Yichen's family was well-off; this point Ding Meng understood. But as for his grades… they weren't affected in the least. He consistently competed for second-to-last place every time.
In all honesty, at that time, Ding Meng envied Qiao Yichen. After all, she could only every Friday go to her frequented internet cafe and have access to the web for 2 hours. However, now…
She looked at the cube-like object at front, snickering.
At the beginning of this period, Ding Meng would just be glued to the screen watching TV series. But one day, she inevitably stumbled onto her class's group chat.
Qiao Yichen: Are you playing 《The Jianghu is Indomitable》[3]? Songlin County, seeking a team.
Class Monitor[4]: You came to your junior high school's group chat to request for a team, aren't you desperate.
Qiao Yichen: I have no choice, my high school's group chat is under surveillance by my mom.
Yu Huanhuan: Qiao Yichen you're also playing this game! Me too!
Qiao Yichen: You coming?
Yu Huanhuan: Unfortunately, I'm in Linyi County.
Du Xiao: What kind of game is this? Let me go register.
Qiao Yichen: Not accepting newbies.
Du Xiao: …
Ting Ting: Me me me! I've just reached level 30, please don't abandon me >_<.
Qiao Yichen: I've invited you.
Then, the group chat returned to silence.
In front of the screen, Ding Meng blinked a few. Ever since she enrolled into high school, she hasn't participated in any group chats. This was because every Friday, she would use her two hours worth of internet access all for studying. Although despite that now Ding Meng had free time and even had her very own computer, but she had long drifted away from her classmates and did not feel it would be appropriate to speak.[4]
Thus, Ding Meng exited out of the chat window and tabbed onto the web browser, entering 《The Jianghu is Indomitable》 into the search bar.
The game was the first result that came up. Upon reading over the game's synopsis, it appeared that the game was a Chinese martial-arts themed adventure game. There were 13 styles of martial arts you can choose from. The clothes the character wore in the game looked quite pretty and the game appeared quite fun too.
Using her index finger, Ding Meng clicked with the mouse; the client began downloading.
Ding Meng tilted her head to one side and stared at the progress bar. Simultaneously, she thought about how Qiao Yichen still liked playing games even after enrolling into high school.
When the game finished installing, Ding Meng quickly created an account.
During server selection, Ding Meng clicked on Songlin County without batting an eye.
The game system reminded her to create a character. Gender, female. ID, hmm…
Ding Meng rested her cheek on the palm of her hand and pondered. She then entered: I Want To Grow Fat.
This was her biggest desire at the current moment.
After the character was created, Ding Meng was transferred to the beginner village. All around were people with unique IDs walking left and right. Following the system prompt, Ding Meng began the beginner quests— Nothing more than just running errands for NPC; finding other NPCs, and passing on information.
It is really easy for one to lose oneself to games. Even though it was just simple tasks, Ding Meng still found it enjoyable. Eventually, she grew high enough level to select a martial-arts school to join.
If one wanted to join a school, players have to first go find a priest to get information on the various schools[5]. Wearing her novice gear, Ding Meng scampered off to find the priest.
The entrance to the destination was rather stylish. After admiring it at the door for a while, Ding Meng entered further in. The priest was inside leisurely drinking tea. When Ding Meng walked towards his side, the priest opened his mouth and asked for money: "If you want information, first pay money. Each school costs 10 gold."
Ding Meng: "…"
The system did not say money was needed! Furthermore, it was so expensive. Is the game trying to rip the players off!
Ding Meng did not want to pay the money. From doing all the errands earlier, she was only able to accumulate 100 gold. Thus, Ding Meng thought for a bit, then decided to go on the game's forums to find information on the schools.
The information regarding the different schools was abundant on the forums. Ding Meng snickered as she browsed through the forums, thinking that the game was foolish. She was able to save 130 gold!
Then, in the end, Ding Meng saw a system prompt that broke her heart.
The player must at least listen to the information given by the priest on 3 schools. Otherwise the apprenticeship will not occur.
Ding Meng: "…"
This game is completely shameless when it comes to cheating the player out of their money.
Though reluctant, Ding Meng returned to the priest and listened to 3 schools' worth of information, losing 30 gold in the process.
Before, when Ding Meng was browsing the forums to consider which school to join, there were large detailed walls of text explaining the pros and cons of each school. In reality, Ding Meng never really finished reading it and was rather inclined to joining one of three schools:
Bloodstained Sect[6], the game's biggest evil sect. The name sounded really cool. Auspicious House[7], the name was what got her attention. Moreover, because of the nature of this school's martial arts, the player is able to accept tasks from other players. Upon completion, the rewards received will be whatever the parties involved had agreed on beforehand. Peace Blossom Fortress[8], who specialized in refining various odd drugs. Because the game regularly updates the game with new mysterious refining methods, players are completely clueless when it comes to knowing how effective the drugs really are. Due to this one would often see students from Peach Blossom Fortress going one-on-one with another through taking one another's refined drugs. Ding Meng thought this was rather intriguing.After thinking about it for a bit, Ding Meng eventually decided to join the school with the most pretty clothing; Auspicious House.
The boss of the Auspicious House was Han Cen. Before, when the other schools were being introduced, Han Cen was also shown to be the master of Bloodstained Sect too. Ding Meng thought that the employees of this game's art department were really lazy, unwilling to create new characters.
After finding Han Cen to join the Auspicious House and receiving the school's uniform, Ding Meng quickly switched her clothes. While doing so, her taskbar began filling up with several tasks. One of them was to be unlocked once she reached level 30.
As Ding Meng quickly finished tasks to level up, watching the loading bar filling up over and over again, her heart also came to be filled with peace.
Ding Meng believed she finally understood why Qiao Yichen liked to play games.
One afternoon, she finally brought her character to level 30. Ding Meng quickly ran to unlock the last task.
The system prompted a line of words: A wrong decision made in a moment of weakness may be a heaven-sent opportunity, or it can also be hell. Do you still want to unlock?
Ding Meng was intimidated by this system prompt. It was as if the next second a monster would be released from Pandora's box.
Puckering her lips, Ding Meng restrained herself from going to the forums to look for a guide. Games should be played without any spoilers, only like this it would be fun. After thinking about it for a while, Ding Meng clicked to unlock the task.
She was then sent back to the Auspicious House, in front of Han Cen.
Ding Meng, who was operating a cute little girl with the name "I Want To Grow Fat", jumped right in front of Han Cen. Han Cen, with his pair of dark eyes, glared at her and spat out: "Go to Gufu, and kill Gu Zibi."
Ding Meng blinked her eyes; this task seemed typical. But she didn't know whether this BOSS was strong or not, nor did she know whether she could kill it or not.
The system then prompted a dialog box: Click to accept the task.
She had no choice but to accept it.
After accepting the task, Ding Meng followed the instructions and went to Gufu. Gu Zibi was the young master of Gufu, the richest man in Songlin County. In this game, if one wanted to join the school at Gufu, the player will then be exposed to the business aspect of the game. A variety of fields were available to the player such as blacksmithing or selling merchandise. Joining Gufu meant walking down the path of a businessman.
After "I Want To Grow Fat" turned a few corners, Gu Zibi was found.
He was sitting in his courtyard watching the moon.
When Ding Meng came closer to him, he turned his head over and looked at her: "Was it Han Cen who ordered you to come kill me?"
Ding Meng felt a bit dumbfounded, did this Boss have to chat with the player before battling?
After Gu Zibi finished his question, he stood up and said: "If you don't kill me, I will give you a thousand gold."
The system prompts. Accept 1000 gold, or continue with the task?
Ding Meng was completely befuddled with the game's train of thought.
But nonetheless, as a natural money grubber, Ding Meng instinctively chose to accept a thousand gold.[9]
After receiving the money, a system message appeared on the world channel: Player "I Want To Grow Fat" betrayed their martial school. Boss Han calls for all disciples of the Auspicious House to kill the player.
Ding Meng: "………………………………"
The game's intention was to cause trouble all along!!!![10]
After the system messaged was announced, the world channel was filled with clamor.
【World】Two Milk Custard Buns: Uwaaa! It's been one year! There is actually someone who tried to brush through this task!
【World】Wind Listening Peak: Another good show, I'm excited!
【World】Vegetarian Monk: Amitabha[11], you must not allow greed to lead you astray.
【World】I Am A Pretty Lady: Responding to Boss Han's order, this disciple here will go kill the traitor! Hope anyone can give me the best equipment, thank you!
Ding Meng: "…"
She immediately withdrew from the game out of fright.
Ding Meng tabbed into the game forums. Sure enough, she found a post about the task.
For disciples newly joining the Auspicious House, a task can be unlocked once level 30 is attained. If it is unlocked, there will be a random task from Han Cen. Furthermore, the task Ding Meng obtained had always been implemented into the game, but the chances of receiving the particular task were slim. Truly, a melodramatic final mission.
Assassinate Gu Zibi.
If one were to accept Gu Zibi's bribe, then the result will be Ding Meng's current situation. If one were to continue on with the task, then the player will be chased and killed by Gu Zibi's Dark Spirit Arts.[12]
The Dark Spirit Arts was a hidden school in this game, the boss being Gu Zibi himself. Rumors are that if one was able to get on Gu Zibi's good side, then he'll invite you to join the hidden school. Players will not need to leave their original school to join this hidden school, but no one knows the method to ingratiate themselves with Gu Zibi.
Even the players who joined the Dark Spirit Arts are completely clueless on what they exactly did that got them favored by Gu Zubi.
Taking a quote from the guide; everything is dictated by the heavens, everything is fated.
All in all, regardless whether the player accepts the bribe or not, they are fated to die either way.
The player who would kill Ding Meng will be rewarded with equipment given by the task giver. Although it is random, according to past occurrences, the equipment is of the highest grade.
Having finished reading the guide, Ding Meng only hoped that she could return time to 30 minutes ago.
Ding Meng will no longer rely on her own instincts while playing games! There's no fun at all!
After that, Ding Meng didn't dare to log back on. Only during the next day, in hopes that everyone's zeal had cooled down a bit, did Ding Meng surreptitiously logged on.
As soon as she got online, she was discovered immediately by someone.
Ding Meng was only level 30 and could only invite death. But fortunately, being low level, the penalty from dying was nothing big. Just that the traumatic damage that would linger afterward was worrisome.
Thus, Ding Meng did not flee, standing still to accept a new life. But while she was preparing to do so, the sky suddenly flashed; a black figure fell in front of her.
Ding Meng, in all her life, has never seen such a handsome back.
[1]: 1 jin is 500 grams. So 83 jin = 41.5 kilograms or roughly 91.5 pounds. (Should I leave it as jin in the future, or would it be better to just straight up translate it as "41.5 kg"?)
[2]: In the raws it was only the numbers 167. I'm assuming it's centimeters.
[3]: 《江湖不好唬》(Not sure how to word this at all. Though I believe that "Jianghu" refers to the pugilistic world in wuxia novels/settings.)
[4]: 但她混成这幅摸样，更不想在群里说话了。
[5]: 想加入门派，要先去蛛网找灵珑要各门各派的情报 (Pretty sure I mistranslated this quite a bit)
[6]: 血衣教 (these names qwq)
[7]: 吉祥屋
[8]: 桃花寨
[9]: 但作为一个金牛座，她遵从本能的选择了接受一千金。 (Mainly the "money grubber" part. Not sure what the exact term should be used.)
[10] 这尼玛的到底是闹哪样！！！！(Completely stumped qwq)
[11] A buddhist thing. In this context, it's kind of like saying "amen"?
[12]就会被顾梓碧的暗鬼门追杀。