Chapter 002 – Ghost Killer Famous Sword

Chapter 2: Ghost Killer Famous Sword

Some people who had the money would put their money into 《Gods and Demons》 to have returns. Others who had time, would put in their time and also received returns. But for Zhou Jian, he invested with both, having sold off all his assets. Since he’s fighting with one’s back to the river (tl: to fight to win or die), no matter how there should also be a little return.

Zhou Jian bet correctly. Of course, this also had an element of luck involved as well. The so-called Ghost Killer was a Thief with Spirit. To put it bluntly, it’s a combination between a Thief and a Psychic. (tl: this line is hard for me since I don’t play games. I’m not used to the terminology.)

Generally, the Spirit attribute of Thieves weren’t over 20. But with each promotion for the Ghost Killer, the Spirit attribute would be greatly enhanced each time. With Spirit, one can have telekinesis, monster control and also used mental attack and so forth.

Thieves were already skilled in assassinations. If added with telekinesis, understanding of mental abilities, tracking without a trace, and achieving realm state with weaponry. Then, the assassination method would reach a point of terror, and the result would be the Ghost Killer.

Zhou Jian wanted to stay low key, but after the new dungeon opened and added with the high reward, it caused him to change his mind. But, he couldn’t rush through the dungeon alone. So, he showed a few of his hands to the Tianzun team and since then, he entered the Tianzun team.

Actually, although Zhou Jian’s profession was a Ghost Killer and his achievement in the future would definitely not be small, he didn’t have enough time to level up. He was just able to master his most basic Telekinesis skill. His fighting strength in Tainzun team wasn’t worth mentioning.

But this dungeon raid was more special. In this raid, fifteen people would enter into combat, of which 14 of them were the combatants. The last one was the “messenger”. The duty of the messenger was that when the 14 other players were fighting against the ultimate BOSS, he would be responsible for an item donated by the NPC, the amulet charm Pandora. He’s supposed to put it over at the Demon Lord’s altar to seal the Demon Lord’s heart.

In this version of the dungeon, the Demon Lord’s minion was responsible for protecting the Demon King’s heart. Its strength came from the heart. As long as the heart was sealed, the minion’s strength would decline, and making the killing a lot easier.

However, surrounding the sacrificial altar of the Demon Lord’s heart was a magma furnace. The heart was suspended above it. No matter how high the level was, jumping into the magma was certain death. Therefore, the only person who could be the messenger was a player with telekinesis ability in order to place the Pandora’s seal on the Demon Lord’s heart.

However, a new problem arose again. The altar was encircled by monsters. And Psychic’s body was fragile and slow. To slowly sneak into the altar among the monsters and seal using the Pandora’s charm was impossible.

Globally, hundreds of teams tried various methods but all ended in failure. In the end, they chose not to have a messenger. Instead, they opted to recklessly fight  against the BOSS but were finally annihilated.

And for Zhou Jian, although his equipment were junks from missions or basic goods from the shops. In terms of physique, his was already much better than the Psychics. If a monster touched him, he would still die. But, he had two skills: the Thief’s Stealth skill and the Psychic’s Telekinesis. So, he’s the most suitable for this mission.

Stealthily sneaking through the monsters and used Telekinesis to throw the seal. Once the world was in harmony, he didn’t even need to do anything else. Just waiting for the boss to die, he would get a huge experience. The system would reward Epic purple gear, six points to be assigned to attributes, 1000 honor values and also the BOSS dropped items.

It was worth mentioning that the treasures dropped in 《Gods and Demons》 could only be seen by their respective player. Each player could only see their own equipment, gold, and potions. The items could slowly be picked up and the equipment were directly related to their respective professions. So, there’s no worry about getting an equipment that couldn’t be used or the need to trade.

Just like that, this would eliminate the problem of looting and unequal distribution of spoils. If, in this setting, one still couldn’t get the equipment intended. Then, could only be blamed on their appearance; better go and support more grannies to cross the road. (tl: do more good deeds for better karma) That’s why Zhou Jian was not afraid of his low level being unable to get the spoils of war.

Zhou Jian, having such a nice dream, logged into the game. However, once he put on the helmet, he received a message that put him from heaven to hell, The system prompted: “Dark Sword” Ghost Killer doesn’t exist. The system has data loss. Cause of loss: unknown.”

F**k!

What sort of joke was this!

Zhou Jian didn’t believe in the supernatural. He tried to log back in but the prompt was still the same.

F**k! (tl: different curse word from prior. Unfortunately, my selection of curses is very limited)

Zhou Jian went mad. Three months of effort. He devoted so much effort to play this game waiting for that tiny sliver of income. He also packed on external debt to buy the helmet. How could this be the result?

These three months, Zhou Jian had not attended most of his classes. Although he could skip class in university, this didn’t mean that there’s no repercussion. Zhou Jian was already noted by a lot of teachers, each just waiting for exam time to finish him off. Frankly, Zhou Jian retaking the exams was almost a sure thing.

In Lingnan University, retaking needed to pay a retaking fee. Each credit cost 100 yuan. Zhou Jian had conservatively estimate a cost of around 1800 yuan. If he didn’t have any income, should he still reached out his hand to ask for money from his impoverished family?

In addition, Zhou Jian ‘s impression among the girls in his class wasn’t very good. After all, in most people’s eyes, even if a good online player could earn a lot of money, it’s still not a proper job. So, even if Zhou Jian had the honor of going to a class full of beauties, his chances of wanting to discuss small love was basically hopeless.

If the game account was lost as well, he’d really lost everything. He had nothing left at all.

Zhou Jian repeatedly tried to log into his account but the result was the same system ruthless prompt. Somewhat depressed, he took off his game helmet. At this moment, the dorm’s door was opened. A 1.85m tall man walked in. This guy had a long nose, thick eyebrows and big eyes, a little bit like a dog. His right hand was turning a basketball. His left carrying a lunch box. He wore a red basketball vest and yellow shorts. His exposed legs were hairy.

The person was named Luo Haishan, nicknamed “The Mule”. He was Zhou Jian’s best friend, from primary school till University. They both took the entrance exam into the Chinese Department of the Lingnan University, and “coincidentally” stayed in the same dorm. Actually, their class just had three guys, and the room wasn’t even fully occupied.

“Amazing, you’re not playing 《Gods and Demons》 today? Aren’t you going to challenge the dungeon today? I’m not even playing basketball just to come back to watch you.” Luo Haishan put down the lunch box. This was Zhou Jian’s dinner. These few months, Zhou Jian had been wholeheartedly playing, and his dinner was bought by Mule.

Zhou Jian helplessly shook his head, repeating the incident that happened to him again.

“That can’t be. Like this also, can happen? Didn’t 《Gods and Demons》 claimed to have the world’s most powerful servers? How is such a mistake possible?”

“I don’t know. I’m going to report to the official website via email. See if there’s any way to recover it.” That being said, Zhou Jian’s heart didn’t have much hope. 《Gods and Demons》 was a world class game. There were too many players. It’s hard to imagine the number of emails the customer service processed each day. And Zhou Jian’s investment in 《Gods and Demons》 was practically zero, the so-called non-Yuan (tl: no money) player. His request wouldn’t be prioritized. Even if he desired to settle dispute also needed to wait until the Year of the Monkey, and the Month of the Horse. By that time, even if he got his account back, its value was far less than it was now. Moreover, even if his email was seen by the customer service, could the system data really be restored?

“It’s okay. Us brothers, our future is long (tl: there will be ample time for that later; We’ll cross that bridge when we get there). Come, let’s eat first.” Mule handed over the lunch box.

Zhou Jian depressingly opened the lunch box. He ate while writing his email to the official website. “Sigh, initially, I wanted to rely on 《Gods and Demons》 to earn a little money. Now, it seems like the 8000 yuan owed to you for the helmet is unlikely to be repaid this year.”

Zhou Jian borrowed money from Mule to buy the helmet. A total of 8200. If he played well in the game, he could earn an income of few thousand per month without issue. Zhou Jian originally planned to settle his debt to Mule within this semester. Now, it looked uncertain.

Mule’s family was well off. His family had a small company. In this day and age, the monthly income of general high-level white collar worker was around 10000. Certainly, the expenses also similarly increased as well. However, 8000 for a student was still a large sum of money, especially since Zhou Jian’s family condition wasn’t much. One year of living expense was also only 5000.

Mule took out two cans of beer from under the bed. He opened one and handed it to Zhou Jian. “Boring, this type of small money I still can afford it. Don’t bring this up again. When you want to borrow the money, I didn’t realize about your ability. From the start, I was already prepared to lose it. However, although you managed to get a hidden profession, the system data loss still catch up with you. This type of thing, who can you blame.”

Zhou Jian knew that Mule said that simply to calm him. If in normal times, he would have to get back the losses, but he’s not in such a mood today. “I’m so miserable but I’m still alive. Even if I can’t get back the account, I still have the helmet here anyway.”

“Haha, well said. Come, let’s toast.”

At this moment, Zhou Jian’s phone rang.

He didn’t want to pick up the phone, but a glance showed that his mother was calling. He could only adjust his mood, picked up the phone and in a gentle tone cried out, “Ma.” (tl:mother)

“Little Jian. I got a call from your teacher saying that you didn’t go to class.”

Zhou Jian suddenly 1 head, 2 big (tl: I don’t know this idiom. Should be headache?). This beautiful teacher in charge was really supportive. Even the counselor didn’t care about this type of trivial matter, she unexpectedly called up til his home. Wasn’t this like beating him three inches deep.

No way about it. This beauty just graduated from school. She worked earnestly until couldn’t be explained.

“Ma, nothing big. I wasn’t feeling well since few days ago. So, had to also skip some classes.” Zhou Jian although filial, but for his mom and dad, lying was more convenient to twist things around. In his words, this was a “white lie”.

“Don’t think your mother is a muddle head. I listened to your teacher saying that you bought a game helmet to play online game daily. The cheapest is also 8000. Where did you come up with that much money?”

Zhou Jian was speechless. His relationship with Mule although was strong like iron, this matter of borrowing money couldn’t be told to his mother.  If she knew that he borrowed money to play online game, she would be angry till… Just to let you know, his student expenses in Lingnan University was also depended on the student loan.

Moreover, he could not explain about online games to her. Zhou Jian truly liked playing online game, but his goal of playing online game was also to make money and lightened the family’s burden. Currently, the profit from playing online game was too high. Don’t say about other stuff, just how much money is earned from the media advertising revenue? Here in the completely self-contained virtual world, where the influence of man was unimaginable. A world of 100 million people but this is, in fact, more than the population of British and France, equaled to a very large population!

Zhou Jian believed that if he continued on playing 《Gods and Demons》, he could change his life which was already difficult. On the other hand, if he wanted to struggle in the society, in this age of undergraduates, and reached out to the sky, it’s much harder than playing 《Gods and Demons》.

Later, Zhou Jian hemmed and hawed around, accepting his mother’s ideological education for more than 10 minutes before being able to finally put down his phone.

Mule smiled to Zhou Jian and said: “Haha, it seems like our beautiful teacher in charge is very concerned about you. To be blessed by the grace of a beauty is difficult, you are blessed ah.”

“I want to faint. This beastly mouth on your head has no virtue at all.”

Mule smiled and sipped his beer before turning serious. “What’s your plan? Are you continuing to play online game?”

Zhou Jian nodded. “I’m not like you, who still have a family for support. There’s no strong point on my body. It’s hard for my current major to look for a job. Four years later, if I am to survive in the Huadu city, where housing had crossed tens of thousands, I need to start now. Otherwise, in the future, there’s no end to my student loan. And, my father is not in good health.”

Zhou Jian lived in the rural area. His parents opened a small clinic there, but his father’s health had not been good. They sold medicine while eating it at the same time. Their lives were very tight. Even the money to construct their new home was borrowed.

Zhou Jian’s burden was heavy. Now the social pressure was too big. Even if Zhou Jian graduated with excellent marks for all the subjects. With no work experience, he could not find a well-paid job in Huadu. Even if found, home debts including loans were enough for him to worry for two or three years. At that time, even wanting to seek love or marry was too luxurious of an affair.

Therefore, while others fantasized about finding love, he’s putting in an effort for his future.

Mule tapped Zhou Jian’s on the shoulder. “I won’t say anything else. This brother has your back. Come, another toast.”

……

The two drank for an hour and finished off half a box of beer. Mule was massive, but Zhou Jian started to have a hangover and went to bed at 10 to sleep.

As for Mule, he’d rented a house on the outside to live with his girlfriend. After Zhou Jian had fallen asleep, he went out to accompany her and promised to window shop with her tomorrow.

Mule’s girlfriend was his neighbor. Both of them were childhood sweethearts. Mule entered himself for examination in Lingnan University Chinese Department was mainly because of her. Her family background was also good. Both their parents already meet each other and said to marry them off after graduation.

Zhou Jian’s other roommate was named Wang Xiao Yin, like Zhou Jian, was also a bachelor. He’s a native of Huadu, It’s the weekend tomorrow. So he skipped classes to go home in the afternoon.

So today, there was only Zhou Jian in the dorm.

In a daze, Zhou Jian had a dream. He dreamed that he became a flying thief – escaping from places, punishing crime, and stealing rare treasures, countless possessions and the adoration of numerous beauties.

The Zhou Jian in the dream was too flamboyant. Therefore, he himself also realized that he’s dreaming. Afterward, because he drank too much, he was woke up by his urge to urinate. This beautiful dream was only halfway through and was thus spoiled.

It really was a strange dream. Zhou Jian muddleheaded crawled up, but suddenly saw in front of his desk stood a man. Being dark, he couldn’t see the face.

Zhou Jian had a scare. His sleepy airs all gone. “F**k, Xiao Yin, so late at night still haven’t sleep. You want to scare to me to death!”

There’s no reply.

Wait, that person was almost as tall as Xiao Yin, but after close examination, their outline was not the same. Besides, Xiao Yin went home today. He’d no reason to be back in the dorms in the middle of the night.

At this thought, Zhou Jian’s heart thumped. Who is this man? What do you want to do here?

Thief? Robber? Murderer?

Zhou Jian’s back felt chilled. His hand subconsciously wanted to find weapon, but only touched his mobile phone.

“Who the hell are you? ”

Zhou Jian opened the backlight lamp. Looking through the light, he almost shouted. That man standing in front of the desk turned out to be … … himself?

“How is this possible!?”

But looking at the facial features and appearance, he clearly was exactly the same as himself. If that was him, then who’s the one lying on the bed?

Was he still dreaming?

Drank too much, the eyes are blurry?

Of course not. This true and clear sense was definitely not fake.

Did he sleepwalked and then gotten killed? And then his soul went out of his body?

The soul was on the bed? And in front of the desk was the flesh?

F**k, are you kidding me!

Zhou Jian’s temper flared up. He rolled off the bed and turned on the light.

The age-old fluorescent lamp flickered, looking as if it could not start up. And the figure also flickered in the flickering light. Just a few seconds was exceptionally long…

Zhou Jian had gotten hold of his cell phone subconsciously. This antique brick bat cell phone component was quite heavy. He thought that if the figure was to rush over. He could throw his phone at him and at least broke the head.

Finally, the whole room lit up. Zhuo Jian’s mouth dropped, large enough for an egg. He just looked at the table, and the whole while he couldn’t speak.

That person was exactly like himself, but without awareness in the eye. But that’s not why Zhou Jian was surprised. After all, he had steel his heart for this. To his surprise, the man was wearing a Tomb cloak from 《Gods and Demons》, his hands a pair of bloody attack claws, legs a pair of gust of wind leggings, and on the feet are boots of speed. (too tired to check accuracy of item names) Looking at the neck and fingers, there’s even assassin rings and gust of wind necklace.

This…this, wasn’t this his equipped items in the 《Gods and Demons》 game?

Zhou Jian felt his head couldn’t function anymore. What’s the meaning of this? Does this mean that this man is his avatar from the game?

In 《Gods and Demons》, the game characters would reflect their true appearances. Of course, if the players were unwilling to reveal their faces, they could select masks or other disguises. Zhou Jian had opted for his original looks. In other words, Zhou Jian looked identical to this guy in front of the desk.

Did his… his Ghost Killer avatar from the game jumped out of the system and come into the real world?

That’s why there’s data lost in the system. If it’s like this, then this explanation was more reasonable but was there such a thing?

Zhou Jian touched the face. It felt like a real person, except that the person had no consciousness, just like a robot.

Zhou Jian suddenly realized an absurd possibility. He wore the game helmet and started the game.

“Di—-“. System prompt: Ghost killer “Dark Sword” profile does not exist. The system has data loses. Reason: Unknown.

However, although the system prompt was like this, Zhou Jian still managed to enter into the “game”. His vision was initially blurry and subsequently cleared. He managed to access his avatar, but his sight was not in the game city. Rather, his familiar hostel 522, and looking at himself wearing a game helmet.

In other words, his consciousness switched from his body into the Ghost Killer “Dark Sword”, but both their bodies were in the same room.

My goodness, this joke is too big.

Zhou Jian moved his “new body”, and examined his attribute: Agility 40, Strength 120, Physical 40, Magic 20, Spirit 20.

He casually jumped, and jumped directly from his desk to the entrance, a distance of over five or six meters.

Zhou Jian took a deep breath and took out a thief key and started his Unlocking skill. He fiddled with the door for a moment or two. Pa! The door was opened.

Ability was exactly like in the game.

He felt a bit confused, and went to the balcony overlooking downstairs. Now, it’s more than 2 in the morning. In the dead of the night, there’s no one outside. And behind the dorm was a mountain. Even in broad daylight, there’s rarely visitors there.

Zhou Jian steeled his heart and clenched his teeth before jumping down.

This was the fifth floor. Although Zhou Jian did a lot of similar actions in the game, but in real life try, he still felt his scalp tingled.

The wind howled. Zhou Jian felt like a bird, his body was so light.

“Pa!”

He safely landed, and rolled to the ground. His legs felt slightly numb but it’s not a big problem. The feeling was more real than in the game.

Looking up at his dorm, that’s almost hidden in the dark. Although this was all very real, he’s feeling like he’s in a dream.

Take off!

Zhou Jian jumped up four or five meters, and directly climbed to the balcony in the second floor, pulling himself with just his arm strength. He jumped again up the dorm like a lizard on the wall. Taking only half a minute of effort. he climbed up to the top floor and returned to his dorm balcony.

Capability was really exactly like Ghost Killer in the game.

Zhou Jian took a deep breath. His mind gradually emerged a mixed emotion of excitement and joy.

Now Zhou Jian was short of money. Very much short of money. Therefore, after he obtained control of the Ghost Killer, the first matter that he thought of was how to use it to make money.

Ghost Killer after all was a Thief and an Assassin. But stealing and murder was illegal in the real world. He couldn’t do this type of things.

Unfortunately, there was no Olympic Games now, or he would use the physical advantage to participate in the Olympic Games. Certainly, he would be able to get a lot of gold and bonus.

Olympic Games was abolished 15 years ago. The main reason was the rise of ancient Wu (tl: martial, meaning ancient martial art etc. I’m using Wu now because it sounded nicer). The disciples of ancient Wu family easily refreshed world records. For them, to participate in the Olympic games was just a measure of whose kungfu was higher.

After humanity suffered disaster in the middle of the last century, ancient Wu started to gradually seep into the present society. In China, there’s seven big ancient Wu aristocratic families. They kept to themselves high above ordinary people. If normally, Zhou Jian would not have any encounter with them.

Go to the ancient Wu family as an elder instructor and take high salary?

It didn’t seemed good. After all, he was still going to school. If the ancient Wu aristocratic family has relationship with the government, and somehow, once the secret of Ghost Killer was leaked out. Perhaps the government would be involved, He’s afraid that the government would interfere for unknown scientific knowledge or in the name of maintaining national security, to put him under house arrest to keep the research to itself. He would simply become a lab rat.

Make money … … Make money … … What’s the most profitable?

It seemed to be starting a business. But what would Ghost Killer going to do in a company? It’s better to open a dojo… …

Wait, start a company, Zhou Jian suddenly had an idea. He could open a bounty hunter company! Specifically to meet those demanding and high risk jobs.

But opening a company was not a simple thing. He needed venue and also capital to register.

Moreover, bounty hunter company didn’t look like a decent company. He estimated that the Government would not approve it. He could only privately engage with people. But the issue come, how to rise in prominence, how to come in contact with employers?

Brushed small ads on electric pole? Perhaps it would be hit by the city council. Even if painted, would anyone believed it?

Imagination is easy, but operation is cumbersome.

Zhou Jian felt that last night alcohol had not gone through. He’s still feeling the buzz. Forget it, better go to sleep first.

He left the game, and put down the helmet. Upon removing, the Ghost Killer in the house disappeared into thin air.

Eh?

Where did this fellow go? He couldn’t be gone just like that? Heavens, please do not play me.

Zhou Jian put back the helmet. He never believed in God, but couldn’t help to recite a few words of Amitabha. He logged into the game, and his consciousness switched out, turning once again to the Ghost Killer.

Looking at the person sitting on the stool, Zhou Jian sighed a deep breathe. My goodness, scared me to death.

Quit the game, Ghost Killer disappeared again.

Zhou Jian repeated the test a few times. He finally determined, as long as the helmet was worn, Ghost Killer would appear. Once, he took off the helmet, Ghost Killer would be hidden.

Later, he called this puppet “Famous Sword” (tl: Either that or Ming Jian. I think I will use Famous Sword here.), With that in mind, Zhou Jian climbed back to bed.

This sleep, Zhou Jian slept very soundly.

He woke up at ten am. If usually, he was certainly not willing to wake up so late. This was because the server was the least occupied in the morning. So, regardless of doing mission or leveling would also be faster.

Today was a weekend. Mule accompanied his woman away. Xiao Yin was at home, leaving Zhou Jian alone at the dorm. He used to get up and put on the helmet to  enter the game. Now he’s suddenly idle. Zhou Jian felt deserted. Still better to think of how to make money with Ghost Killer.

Zhou Jian wanted to go online to search how the masters of the ancient Wu families earned money in their free time. At this time, his phone rang with a strange number.

Once connected, a very sweet voice sound, “Hi, may I ask is it Mr. Zhou Jian? ”

“I am. May I know who you are?”

“Mr. Zhou Jian. I am the 《Gods and Demons》 customer service. We have received your email. You said in the mail that your character “Dark Sword” was gone due to system data loss, right?”

Zhou Jian was startled for a moment. It’s impossible for the staff of 《Gods and Demons》 to see his email that quickly since he’s a low priority. Not to mention, today was a weekend. The customer service staff on duty must be less than usual.

However, doubt after doubt, Zhou Jian was still overjoyed to receive a call from the customer service. “Yes, did you managed to get the account back?”

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