Edited by Jules
Xiao Lan was a little pleasantly surprised that Luo’s memory hadn’t been tampered with, but right now there were many players present and it clearly wasn’t a good time for the two of them to communicate. Writing on Luo’s letter to communicate was also too slow, so they should wait to find a chance later.
Xiao Lan gave Luo a meaningful look to indicate that they would talk alone later.
Luo nodded lightly, expressing that he understood.
”Why that person?” Someone raised the question.
At that time, there were nine players present, so why him? Was it a random death, or had he triggered some death condition? Understanding this point was extremely vital for the players.
As Mu Yang looked at his gameboy, he took out his employee card. “I’m guessing it’s related to this employee card. Did all of you bring it?”
The players all touched the employee card that they were carrying.
After confirming it from their expressions, they looked at this employee card on the table and understood. In the company regulations earlier, it seemed there had been a stipulated requirement that everyone had to wear this employee card. Most of the players had worn it. Even Cheng Wenyi who disliked it to the extreme wasn’t an exception.
Who knew if the guy who fell in the trap was a blockhead or didn’t notice the requirement; he didn’t wear the employee card when he went to the meeting, and thus perished.
But it was also because he forgot to wear the employee card that the players had this information.
They didn’t know whether they should feel grateful or sympathetic toward him.
“Then w- when did h- he disappear?” Hua Bei raised the question.
The players each sank into their memories.
Xiao Lan recalled that previously, everyone had all received a message about the meeting, which was why they went to the meeting room together. And Hu Zhai noticed the empty employee card right after returning from the meeting room.
The workstations in the office were arranged according to the number of players. All the players stated that the number of stations in their office corresponded to the number of people, which indicated that when they took their employee cards and entered the offices, there were still nine people.
Then that player called He Kaisui should have disappeared when the players left the offices to attend the meeting.
Otherwise, Hu Zhai would absolutely have noticed the blank employee card during the ten or so minutes before the meeting.
At that time, Xiao Lan suddenly recalled the bell that rang after the boss announced the end of the meeting. He looked at the time; it was now 1:55. It had also roughly been ten minutes since they left the meeting room.
Xiao Lan surveyed everyone. “Do you guys remember what time the boss announced the end of the meeting?”
“1:44,” Luo replied with certainty. “At that time there was also a bell.”
“I- I also s- saw the time; it was 1:44,” Hua Bei also replied.
“+1” Mu Yang said as well, his eyes still glued to the gameboy screen.
Xiao Lan: “When we were in the lounge, the first time we heard the bell and when the boss appeared, it was 0:44.”
Hu Zhai curled his hands around his chest in a scared, girly move. “You’re saying that something will happen at every 44th minute…”
Xiao Lan nodded. “Although this is just my conjecture, the first 44th minute was the official start of the game, the second 44th minute was the disappearance of a player. As for what will happen at the next 44th minute, none of us know.”
Everyone’s expressions grew even more grave.
That also meant that in less than an hour, something else would happen.
And when that player disappeared, they hadn’t noticed anything at all. In this way, it was extremely unfavourable for them, who had to stay alert and predict the danger.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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His expression was calm from beginning to end and he didn’t provide any input, like he was a spectator through and through. His eyes always inadvertently swept over Xiao Lan and Luo, as if every move which these two made was very interesting.
Because of the limited time, the boss mentioned that he had already arranged the work for them. The players still returned to their workstations first and looked at what their job was, lest they fell unknowingly into another hidden death trap.
Still working in the wee hours; truly the miserable life of a game developer.
Xiao Lan took this chance to say that he wanted to go to the toilet, and Luo followed closely behind.
Mu Yang suspiciously asked, “Why do you guys have to go together?”
In his impression, this was something only schoolgirls liked to do.
“Because we’ve always gone to the toilet together. It feels safer like this,” Xiao Lan replied without a change in expression as he duped the underage kid without any conscience. “If there’s a chance, you can try it out too.”
Mu Yang: “…”
It sounded very reasonable, but somehow something about it felt off.
Thinking about Cheng Wenyi who did things in an exquisite and extravagant manner, if he suggested going to the toilet together, Mu Yang suspected that he would be made to clean the toilet for a whole year and write a hundred thousand words every day on what he had learnt.
A tyrant didn’t consider the feelings of others.
Just imagining it, Mu Yang couldn’t help the chill that ran down his spine.
Better to forget it ba…
Xiao Lan and Luo both went to the toilet.
The toilet was very clean; it didn’t have any unpleasant odours at all and there was no dirt. Every tile was spick and span, but the overall area wasn’t large; two big men standing inside was a little crowded.
After verifying that there were no other players or monitoring devices around them, Xiao Lan asked, “When did He Kaisui disappear?”
“He disappeared in the blink of an eye. There wasn’t a struggle, nor was there a change in his expression. At the same time, I also didn’t sense any force fluctuation.” Luo pondered on how to word it. “It was like… his existence was wiped out. As for what actually happened, probably only he knows.”
Xiao Lan frowned. “An incorporeal force?”
Luo: “I guess this force probably has a lot of restrictions. Otherwise, with this power alone, it wouldn’t be a problem to wipe out all the players instantly.”
Xiao Lan nodded. “True. Neither the time nor the death conditions are dispensable. I’m guessing that it has to meet the condition and can probably only take away a person at the 44th minute of the hour.”
If it could truly kill people wantonly, how could they resist this sort of quiet disappearance method? When that time came, what could the players do to resist? They might as well just lie down and wait for death.
“But as the game progresses, perhaps there might be some changes,” Xiao Lan said.
Based on the games he had experienced, the death threat when one first entered the game was the lightest. It was also when there were the most numerous restraints on the triggering of death conditions. As the game slowly progressed, the risk of death would increase.
But in this game, the threat upon just entering the game was a little too powerful, even if it was still restricted by conditions. At the later stages, however, if these restrictions dwindled or even disappeared, then it would really be troublesome.
But now, there were still too few clues, and they knew very little of the monsters’ situation.
Looking at Xiao Lan who had sunk into contemplation and was almost within reach, Luo thought a little regretfully that sir was truly quick to adjust; he didn’t feel awkward at all when he was alone with him. It was truly a shame.
It seemed he still had to work harder.
Not long after.
The two of them returned to the office.
For once, Mu Yang had put down the gameboy which he was practically fused with. He was staring at the screen before him, a solemn expression on his face.
Hua Bei beside him also had a worried face, like a little cabbage that had been exposed to the scorching sun.
“What happened?” Xiao Lan stepped forward and asked.
Mu Yang tossed aside the digital pen in his hand, a little gloomy. “I was assigned character design; I have to draw an NPC according to the content described in the design document.
“Ai…” He sighed and turned his screen towards Xiao Lan and Luo.
They saw a hard-to-describe drawing on the screen. Theoretically, this should be a person; in any case, Xiao Lan vaguely discerned the outline of a head and four limbs.
But this head was twice as large as the entire body and the strokes were crooked and shaky. Without a closer look, one would think it was a germinating potato.
Xiao Lan forcibly evaluated it. “Mn… Very creative.”
He then looked at the description in the design document on the computer. It asked for a young girl. Comparing it with Mu Yang’s drawing…
Tragic, truly too tragic.
The punk youth listlessly played with his gameboy and didn’t want to tackle his work.
At that moment, Luo also walked over to his own computer. “My job is also character design.”
Xiao Lan: “…”
Was the Advent World blind? Why did it want to make life difficult for itself?
Seeing Xiao Lan’s expression, Luo smiled as he picked up the digital pen and declared, “Please believe in me. I’m no longer the past me.”
That posture was unexpectedly extremely self-assured.
Xiao Lan thought about the numerous drawing tutorials he had supplied Luo with, then thought about Luo’s terrifying memory. Could he truly have profited to some extent?
After he sceptically walked over, Xiao Lan shut up.
If he were to believe this abstract artist again, he would be an idiot…
This guy only learned to colour! And the various highly saturated colours were lumped together; paired with his art style that came from deep within the soul, the expansive red, blue, purple, and green were even more piercing to the eye!
It seemed that the children drawing classes had opened a path of no return in his life as an artist.
Luo solemnly vowed, “This contains the essence of the abstract Futurism style.”
Xiao Lan’s eyes carried despair. He could at least still make out the head and limbs in Mu Yang’s art, but Luo’s drawing had already evolved to the degree where a human shape couldn’t be discerned. Even if one abandoned their integrity and aesthetics and lowered their standards, they could only categorise it as Picasso first taking drugs and getting drunk before drawing with his feet.
Luo, this guy ah, was forever reliable and skilful in other aspects. Only in drawing did he persist heavily with his own style and was full of self-confidence; one had to wonder where on earth his self-confidence came from.
Could this be the greatest difficulty in the entire game?
Mu Yang secretly walked over to look at the screen, then quietly sighed with relief and went back.
His footsteps were even more relaxed.
This small movement didn’t escape Luo’s eyes: “…”
Young man, what is with this reaction of yours?
It was like being second last in the exams and realising that the last place was unexpectedly in the exam room.
Xiao Lan walked to his own computer and realised that his task was 3D modelling.
After opening the modelling 3D Max on his computer, he fell silent… This complicated interface was dizzying to look at. Even if he learnt it, he definitely wouldn’t be able to get things done in half an hour.
Sitting beside him, Hua Bei also came closer. “My job i- is U- UI… What’s that?”
They looked at each other, and both of them saw the blankness in the other’s eyes. Does this trash game want to kill us?
“Do you guys… know how to write a design document? I only know how to play games and I don’t know how to design levels ah…” Hu Zhai’s footsteps were timid as he walked in from outside with empty eyes.
He then met four pairs of blank eyes in the room.
It was the mutual, understanding gaze of underachievers attempting to submit a blank paper in an exam room.
Instantly, Hu Zhai understood, and nothing needed to be said.
At that moment, the players who became programmers walked out of the office and shook their heads at them.
Mu Yang walked over to Cheng Wenyi. “Cheng ge, if it’s programming, you can hand it over to me.”
Cheng Wenyi shook his head, gently scratching Shirley’s jaw as he calmly said, “I’m a front-end developer. I need the art resources which you lot produce, but it looks like this doesn’t seem possible.”
Xiao Lan pushed the keyboard to the side. “I feel that this work can’t be completed by players who don’t specialize in this field. The game can’t possibly set up this sort of hurdle where the death conditions are triggered if we don’t finish our work; who would be able to survive?”
Hu Zhai rubbed his chin. “Then… what on earth are the death conditions?”
The game arranged for players to have work that couldn’t possibly be completed, and if the work itself wasn’t the death condition, what was it?
A lightbulb went off over Xiao Lan’s head. “What will happen if a staff errs at work?”
Mu Yang subconsciously said, “Tossed down to fill the sea.”
Xiao Lan and the players: “…”
Do you Lunhui company slaves have it so hard?! Their gazes towards Mu Yang and Cheng Wenyi carried a trace of sympathy.
“The b- boss will come, and have a he- heart-to-heart c-chat with you,” Hua Bei feebly said.
This was the normal answer.
Boss…
Thinking of that boss whose face they had yet to see and that gloomy voice, the players’ hearts trembled.
The last time the boss summoned them for a group meeting, one person was killed right away. This time, if it was a solo heart-to-heart chat… Could they escape from death?
Everyone felt as if a sharp sword was hanging over them.
Baobao Notes
Clenches fist at all the gaming development terms.
I think it would be incredibly funny if someone who specialized in the work was there so they could just…skate by with doing everything right. Probably the Advent World wouldn’t allow that, like with putting the absolute worst artists on the artistry team, but it’s still funny to imagine. Lunhui continues to be Very Concerning with its business practices haha
Thank you so much for translating! <3
As a finance student I want to say that I am also always surprised how chinese authors simplify financial markets like eating porridge) Words like he happen to have a talent in buying stock, like yeah it is so easy everyone can do)
I have not met any programmers in bl communities, not sure whether they are here or not.
From graphic design student – when i read description about how almost every MC easily and simple copes with all areas of this specialization, i literally drown in my tears. Asian novels helped me lower my self-esteem below the waterline
in reality it’s mostly looks like situation in this chapter )
I’m a programmer :3 Nice to meet you. I did a course on game dev during my undergrad. Our team created the first level of Mario from scratch
Programmers? Is a hacker include? Because there’s so many in BL novels, the most popular is the MC from Quick Wear the Face of the Devil.
I’m a computer science student (which means I’ve done a lot of programming), and it also tends to be massively oversimplified. In most novels, they just write something up and it works. It tends to take a lot more effort than that. This seems to be about the appropriate reaction a normal person should have when told to program something.
Honestly, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HluANRwPyNo is probably the most accurate representation. (Most of the comments are also great.)
Ahaha yes, this exactly. I’m actually also a programmer, many times I have to stare into the sun when a novel starts to wax poetic about #hacking. I was delighted that this author had everyone go “yeah you can’t just. Code. Out of nowhere. Must be that the Advent World never intended us to from the start” because that’s 100x more realistic than “and then everyone there learned coding in 15 minutes and immediately modeled a video game from scratch, as any halfway intelligent person could do”
I’ve actually been thinking about that from the start, like is Luo’s…high-frequency trading (?) thing he may or may not be doing even feasible? From a purely programming perspective, it’s not impossible to predict minute trends in constantly changing values and exploit them, but I don’t think you can buy and sell stocks that fast… Anyway, I don’t know much about stocks, but I can say that there’s a surprisingly high correlation between programmers and webnovel fans, at least for several of the novels I’m following haha. But I also might just notice it more because it stands out to me
Hmmm this time the death conditions are harder to guess….
Thank you for the chapter ❤️
wahahahahahaha Lou continues to amaze. my gahd even I couldn’t believe my own doodles, I would stare at them like they’re spawns of evil.. wahaha≧∇≦≧∇≦≧∇≦≧∇≦≧∇≦
Thank you so much for the chapter!♥(｡’▽’｡)❤
“Mu Yang secretly walked over to look at the screen, then quietly sighed with relief and went back.
His footsteps were even more relaxed.
This small movement didn’t escape Luo’s eyes: “…”
Young man, what is with this reaction of yours?
It was like being second last in the exams and realising that the last place was unexpectedly in the exam room.”
ROLF poor Luo 🤣😂
Thank you for the chapter!~ ꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡
Thanks for the chapter! ^^)❤
Oh, there’s finally something that XL is not proficient in due to having no money lol
Thx for the ch ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و And grats on reaching the big 100 :3
for a moment i thought that the money, which Luo earned, came from the sale of his art
thanks for the chapter~
thanks for the chapter! <3
thanks for the chapter! ♡
Poor luo, will root for him in love it drawing, always believe
Happy 100th chapter!!
Happy 100th chapter!!
Sorry, didn’t mean to reply😅
“They could only categorize it as Picasso first taking drugs and getting drunk before drawing with his feet.”
I-
LMFAOOOO
Lmao Tragic!! Too Tragic!!!╮(╯_╰)╭
💜💜💜
i’ll help out brother in the art department ah! brothers let me help QAQ