MMPS Ch. 60

Chapter 60: The Substitute

Gray Crow Games was in complete chaos. The entire office was staring at the split-screen monitors displaying different live streams, utterly dumbfounded.

Underground Metro had warned them in advance: broadcasting content from Gray Crow: Toy House during the mission was strictly prohibited. Yet now, the situation had spiraled completely out of control. Over a dozen well-known streamers were simultaneously broadcasting footage from the game, providing their own humorous and witty commentary. The viewers’ enthusiasm reached its peak when the one-eyed pixel character’s head displayed the ID “Coal Black.” The barrage of comments completely obscured the screen.

“Wow, it’s the legend himself! Coal Black must be someone from the game company, right? He’s the only one who’s been able to stream this game before.”

“Who’s Coal Black?”

“I’ve seen his recorded streams. He showed his face once. Super handsome.”

…

The office was dead silent. One of the operations staff timidly asked. “Shouldn’t we issue a clarification? We need to state that the game hasn’t been re-released and tell them to stop streaming its content.”

Someone immediately countered. “Issue a statement and let these big streamers get attacked? The current hype is more than we’ve ever had for our previous games combined. If we offend these people, who’s going to promote the game after it’s released?”

Manager Chen, leaning on his aching lower back, slowly rubbed his forehead, weighing the options. Even if they offended Underground Metro this time, they could still rely on Drift Racing later. After all, Underground Metro didn’t have a monopoly on the Aberrant hunting industry.

Finally, he compromised. “Hmm… Issue an internal notice to our own streamers, telling them not to broadcast game footage. As for the others, just let them be.”

“We’ve already called everyone, but we can’t reach Huang Qi right now. His account is currently offline, though.”

The conspiracy of Drift Racing, the boss’s push, and Gray Crow’s indulgence had given the J.S brothers an unprecedented boost.

*

The boss, the hanging man Xiao Ming, was dead. His corpse had fallen into a massive black hole left in the ground. The security door’s countdown hit zero, the lock exploded, and the entire wall was pushed down by the frenzied small hanging corpses. The horde of corpses surged in.

The brick walls, which had parted like curtains, began to slowly close again. The heavy grinding sound urged the interns to act quickly.

They all turned and desperately leaped across the chasm. Yu An took a running start and jumped from the edge, but the chasm was too wide. As he neared the other side, his foot slipped, but his hands managed to grab the edge. He found footholds in the uneven surface of the chasm and began to climb up.

“Technician, be careful.” Wei Chiyue was the first to climb onto solid ground. He reached back and grabbed Yu An’s forearm. Yu An looked up in surprise, meeting Wei Chiyue’s determined and sincere eyes. He didn’t resist the help.

With Wei Chiyue’s assistance, Yu An climbed onto the ground. Wei Chiyue looked up at an empty space above his head. “Damn, I only have half a heart left.”

After taking damage, health was displayed as heart icons above one’s head, visible only to oneself. While controlling Xiao Ming’s arm, Wei Chiyue had been slammed into a wall, losing half a heart. Civilians only had one heart, meaning one more hit would kill him instantly.

Yu An glanced back. Ji Nian was still on the other side, his face splattered with blood, paralyzed with fear. Ai Ke lay in front of him, a fire axe embedded in his back, blood soaking his yellow raincoat.

The moment Xiao Ming’s hanging rope was cut, causing him to fall, the fire axe embedded in his arm was flung out, spinning through the air and striking Ai Ke in the back.

“He’s dead!” Ji Nian shouted, trembling.

Yu An froze. Wei Chiyue raised his voice in urgency. “Forget about him! Get over here yourself!”

Cha Eunjae reacted faster. Using his tall, lean frame to his advantage, he crossed back to the other side of the chasm, grabbed Ji Nian, and turned to run. Wei Chiyue leaned forward to catch them on the other side. With the horde of corpses closing in, Cha Eunjae didn’t have enough space for a running start. He leaped desperately, and Wei Chiyue grabbed Ji Nian, pulling him up. The two tumbled to the ground.

Cha Eunjae didn’t make the full jump and was left hanging on the edge of the chasm. Yu An looked at him and instinctively reached out his hand.

Cha Eunjae didn’t hesitate, grabbing Yu An’s hand. Seeing Yu An distracted, he softly urged. “Save me.”

Yu An lowered his eyelids and pulled him up with all his strength.

The horde of corpses that had been chasing them overwhelmed Ai Ke’s body. Unable to stop at the edge of the cliff, they cascaded like a waterfall into the bottomless chasm. The gate finally closed, crushing the hanging corpses caught in the middle. Rotten blood exploded from the cracks.

Finally, the eerie room, bathed in pale light, returned to silence.

After surviving the ordeal, the two investigators sat down, exhausted, wiping sweat from their foreheads and gasping for breath. Ji Nian was still in shock, kneeling on the ground, dry heaving, his knees trembling. His reaction didn’t seem fake.

“People really can die here.” Wei Chiyue muttered, his head down, wiping sweat from his eyes. Losing a teammate was hard to accept. Death here meant never waking up in the real world.

Yu An stood beside Wei Chiyue for a while. He couldn’t bring himself to feel heartbroken over the death of a teammate he’d only met twice, but he was far more patient than before—listening to the living grieve.

He was also extremely tired. Dragging his heavy feet, he went to check the rewards dropped by the boss.

A colorful gift box with a large bow appeared in front of each person. Only Yu An had two gifts in front of him. One was the final reward, indicating he had dealt the killing blow to the boss.

Cha Eunjae stared at the closed gate, lost in thought. After a while, he shook his head. “Let’s worry about ourselves first. I don’t want to end up like him.”

He was the first to pull the ribbon on his gift box. The lid automatically opened, emitting a white light. A Refinement Badge slowly rose and hovered in front of him.

The Refinement Badge could enhance a character’s combat power, agility, and other professional skills, making it an extremely useful item.

Cha Eunjae sighed in relief and pinned the badge to his chest.

Wei Chiyue and Ji Nian also opened their gift boxes, each receiving a Refinement Badge.

After putting on the badge, Wei Chiyue tested his strength by punching his palm, feeling noticeably more agile. “This is good. The next fight will be much easier.”

Ji Nian hesitated, holding his Refinement Badge. He wasn’t strong or skilled, so even with the badge, his improvement would be minimal. Zero multiplied by 200% was still zero—it felt like a waste. He glanced at Yu An, who was sitting cross-legged in front of his two gift boxes, staring intently as if performing some pre-lottery ritual.

Lotteries were exciting, but only if you got something good. It seemed the Refinement Badge was the guaranteed reward. Yu An thought to himself that if he could get two Refinement Badges, it would be a huge win. The effects of the badges stacked, and with the one he already had, he’d have three badges. The next boss would be a piece of cake.

He decided to take the risk.

Yu An pulled both ribbons at the same time. The two gift boxes opened, releasing a shower of colorful stardust. Two items floated up from the boxes, spinning in front of him.

The colors looked promising. It felt like he’d hit the jackpot. The others also gathered around, curious.

Reward 1: One-Click Outfit Change Button

Description: Allows you to change into any outfit you own at any time. Your female teammates will be so jealous they’ll cry.

Yu An’s mouth twitched. He took the small red button from the air and reluctantly stuffed it into his pocket.

He pinned his last hope on the second gift box.

Reward 2: Affection Meter

Description: This small screen shows how other characters feel about you. You might have accidentally offended an NPC without realizing it. Isn’t that fascinating?

Yu An remained seated cross-legged, completely motionless, as if turned to stone.

Ji Nian and Cha Eunjae, who didn’t play many games, couldn’t fully understand Yu An’s current mood. Only Wei Chiyue sympathetically patted his shoulder. “I get it. It’s like blowing ten 648s^[1] and getting nothing.”

They didn’t have much time to rest. The closed gate began to move forward, and a wall of sharp blades suddenly protruded from the inside, inching closer to them.

“Let’s go.” Yu An tugged at his hair in frustration, grabbed his rewards, and ran down the endless dark corridor ahead. The others picked up their weapons and followed.

The corridor had no lights, so Yu An had to use a flashlight to see. The investigators naturally took the lead in scouting the path, but since Wei Chiyue was down to half a heart, Cha Eunjae took the flashlight and walked ahead.

Yu An didn’t say anything, content to follow behind. He fiddled with the rewards he’d just received.

Forget the one-click outfit change. Let’s play with the Affection Meter.

He held the small, transparent plastic screen up to his eyes and aimed it at Wei Chiyue’s broad back.

The display showed Wei Chiyue’s affection toward him as: Admiration and Trust.

An honest, straightforward guy who didn’t seem good at lying and was very loyal.

Next, he checked Cha Eunjae. His affection toward Yu An was: Indifferent.

He hadn’t been injured yet and was at full health. From the earlier fight, it was clear he was quick to react and extremely agile. His low score in the skill test was probably because he’d run into Ni Lan or Huo Yangui too early.

Ji Nian, also a technician, trailed behind the two investigators, stumbling forward while holding his arm.

Yu An raised the Affection Meter to look at Ji Nian. His affection toward Yu An was: Forced to Follow.

What did that mean?

Does he think I’m a threat but feels he has to follow me to get out of here? Yu An wondered.

The corridor grew darker until they could no longer see the ground. Yu An had to feel his way forward by touching the wall, which had changed from tiles to textured wallpaper.

The flashlight beam was suddenly blocked by a chair.

In the middle of the corridor, a red swivel chair sat quietly, facing away from them. When they crouched to inspect it, the space beneath the chair was empty. No one was sitting there.

“I’ll check it out.” Cha Eunjae said, cautiously approaching with the flashlight, carefully scanning the surroundings.

He tried to use the flashlight to nudge the back of the chair, slowly turning it to face him.

The rusted swivel mechanism let out a long, piercing screech. As the chair turned, they saw a man bound to the armrests with duct tape, his eyes and mouth covered, his legs dangling beneath the chair.

Cha Eunjae jumped in shock. At the same time, they heard the snap of a taut string. A fire axe, suspended from the ceiling, swung down rapidly toward him. Cha Eunjae dropped to the ground, but the axe was too close, and the narrow corridor left no room to dodge.

The blade was about to strike his skull when a cold breeze brushed past his ear. A hand appeared out of nowhere, gripping the heavy axe mid-swing.

Cha Eunjae looked up, following the arm, only to see that the hand was severed at the wrist, black mist swirling around the stump.

The severed hand was struck by the axe and dissolved into a cloud of blood, disappearing. A reassuring face emerged from the shadows of the corridor, pink hair, downturned eyes that looked harmless when smiling.

Zhao Ran tightened his glove buckle, revealing sharp teeth as he spoke. “Everyone here?”

Seeing the interviewer from a dozen meters away, Yu An bit his lip, instinctively starting to reflect. Had he done anything in this round that would lose him points? Did Zhao Ran see him pull his colleague up from the edge of the chasm earlier?