bookbashuk Chapter 105 New Prophecy: Old Chen's Comprehensive Development of Intelligence and Body
Chapter 105 New Prophecy: Old Chen's Comprehensive Development of Intelligence and Body
At 3 a.m., the night breeze in Anshi was cool.
Chen Zhongyi leaned against a roadside utility pole, wishing he could vomit his guts out.
"Alright, stop making a fool of yourself here."
Lu Dan put one hand in his pocket and grabbed Chen Zhongyi by the collar with the other, dragging him forcefully into the stairwell.
"Anyone who didn't know better would think I'd given you a huge amount of medicine."
Lu Dan's home was still the same as before, with the smell of books and paper mixed with a faint tobacco scent.
"Sit anywhere, just don't die in my house."
Lu Dan tossed Chen Zhongyi onto the small sofa and turned to walk to the workbench in the corner. It was piled high with discarded manuscripts and unknown sketches, and the computer was still on.
His fingers precisely located a card among a pile of clutter.
This card is like a vicious comic strip, constantly updating the holder's miserable situation.
Lu Dan held it up to the lamp, and the originally static image began to move.
"Wow, your drawing skills have improved!"
He scoffed lightly, but there was no hint of a smile in his eyes.
The contents of the card changed, becoming a grand and cruel panoramic view.
In the center of the picture is a large mountain, with a pale, blood-red crescent moon hanging on the left and a blinding, scorching sun on the right.
At the foot of the mountain, two almost identical villages stand facing each other like mirror images.
The most shocking thing in this landscape painting is the corpse.
Of the hundred Lu Dan, some were devoured by wild dogs, some were beaten to death by villagers, some were buried alive in the soil with only one hand showing, and some were hanged from the old locust tree, drifting in the wind.
They lay in various poses, their deaths tragic, covering every inch of land leading to the mountaintop.
At the summit stood two living Lu Dan. One wore a tattered cotton-padded jacket with golden light bursting from his chest, while the other wore a red robe with long hair that danced wildly like snakes.
They stood side by side, vying with the grinning clown across from them for a golden eyeball that floated in mid-air.
The eyes are painted very realistically, and you can even see the flowing divinity deep in the pupils, gazing at the viewer through the paper.
Lu Dan took the card, turned around, walked to the small living room, and shoved it directly in front of Chen Zhongyi, who was still not recovered: "Wake up and take a look at this."
Chen Zhongyi opened his eyes groggily, his gaze focusing, and the visual impact of a hundred corpses struck him like a heavy blow to the top of his head.
"Holy shit!" He jerked back, the effects of the alcohol instantly disappearing. "It's you?! Are all these dead bodies on this mountain yours?!"
Chen Zhongyi swallowed hard, his throat bobbing. "How can there be so many ways to die? Is this the 'Twin Village' you were talking about?"
"That's right." Lu Dan's voice was flat. "That's what I experienced in the last game."
"To break this deadlock and find the only way out, I died a total of 100 times. The lively me you see now is someone who crawled out by stepping on these 100 corpses."
He pointed to the two figures on the mountaintop in the picture: "In the end, I merged with another version of myself from another timeline and successfully produced the script."
Chen Zhongyi looked at Lu Dan and felt that the familiar face looked somewhat unfamiliar under the light.
"This is too..." He opened his mouth, but couldn't find the right words.
"Is that too perverted?" Lu Dan spoke for him, "You'll get used to it. On set, anyone who isn't perverted becomes fertilizer."
As he spoke, Lu Dan flipped his wrist, turning the card over: "But that's all in the past. The important thing is the back."
On the back, lines of dark red blood-red characters slowly and viscously emerged:
[Title of the play: The Dark Room]
【type:?】
[Description: Trapped in a room, awaiting death...]
[Character Binding: ?]
[Hint: Which of A, B, C, and D will die first?]
[Small print: Confirm your answer, don't hesitate.]
Extremely brief, yet it exudes a sense of oppression.
"What's this?" Chen Zhongyi leaned closer. "A secret room?"
"Is this the script for my next performance?" Lu Dan stared at the question marks, his brows furrowing slightly.
"As is typical on set, the difficulty of the script increases in a spiral."
"The last game was a village where gods and demons danced wildly, but this time it has suddenly become an extremely closed-off, information-scarce room game. It is probably about psychology, logic, and even human nature."
"Look at this hint." Lu Dan pointed to the blood-red characters, "Who will die first, A, B, C, or D? This is a sequencing question."
"In this script, deaths are likely to occur in a specific order, or someone may have to die."
"The most troublesome thing is," Lu Dan sighed, "that even my role and identity are question marks this time, which means I might not even know who I am before I have to start running for my life."
Chen Zhongyi felt a chill run down his spine; the effects of the alcohol had completely worn off.
"Brother Lu, this is too much! Even murder mystery games provide an identity book, but this is just blind."
"You'll get used to it." Lu Dan put away the card and tossed it onto the coffee table. He turned to look at Chen Zhongyi, his eyes sharpening.
"I brought you to my house not to show you my trophies, but because you unlucky fellow might end up on a film set."
"What?" Chen Zhongyi's heart skipped a beat.
"Take out your phone and open the Film Studio app."
Chen Zhongyi frantically pulled out his phone, his fingers trembling several times before he finally unlocked it and opened the black and white app.
A pop-up appears on the personal page:
Name: Chen Zhongyi
[Level: Trainee Actor (1/5)]
Points: 300
[Next scene's script time: 4 days.]
"4 days?"
Chen Zhongyi stared at the red countdown timer, his voice rising several octaves: "Wasn't it supposed to be a reality invasion? Why am I involved in going in?"
Lu Dan leaned closer for a look, and finally nodded: "As expected."
"The real-life scenario we just described at the water restaurant was, at best, just us giving you a preview of the script."
"This countdown shows that the film set had actually chosen you a long time ago, and the restaurant scene was just a side story."
"The scenario four days from now is the real beginner's village prepared for newbies like you."
"Am I doomed?" Chen Zhongyi asked in despair, burying his face in his hands and shrinking into the sofa. "I don't know anything! I've relied on you guys to carry me through. If I have to go in alone..."
"What's the panic?" Lu Dan slapped him on the back of the head. "That's why I sent you. Four days. As long as you're not hopelessly stupid, you still have a chance of surviving."
"Listen, Old Chen."
He pulled over a chair and sat down backwards on it.
"Beginner scripts are usually quite easy, but you can't be careless. The difference between them and our previous realistic scripts is that you're playing the role."
"Play a role?" Chen Zhongyi asked, somewhat bewildered.
"That's right, you were just being yourself in that restaurant, crying when you wanted to cry, and vomiting when you wanted to vomit."
"But in the script, you will have a character identity." Lu Dan held up a finger and shook it seriously. "Remember my first ironclad rule: never go out of character."
"If you get a role that's a murderer, even if you're so scared you wet your pants, you still have to smile at me while holding a knife."
"If you get a blind character, even if ghosts are dancing right under your nose, you have to pretend you can't see them."
"If there's a serious case of OOC (Out of Character), the production team won't even need to do anything; they'll just eliminate you on set, understand?"
Chen Zhongyi nodded as if he understood, his face pale: "If I were to play a dead person, would I actually have to die?"
"Tsk, how come you can apply this so well?" Lu Dan rolled his eyes. "If I really asked you to play a dead person, then just lie down and be done with it. That's a way of life too."
"Open the store and let me see what you can buy with your points."
Chen Zhongyi obediently did as he was told and handed over the phone.
Lu Dan took the phone and his fingers flew across the screen.
300 points is an incredibly generous amount for a newbie like Chen Zhongyi who is just about to enter the dungeon.
But in Lu Dan's eyes, having the 300 or not makes no difference.
Attack weapons are too expensive; I can't afford good ones, and inferior ones might just kill me first.
For defensive items, one-time purchases are too wasteful, and permanent ones don't have enough points.
Functional items? Chen Zhongyi's brain probably couldn't handle complex logic props.
Lu Dan's gaze finally settled on a skill.
A meaningful smile appeared on his lips. "I've got it. This is practically tailor-made for you."
"What? What kind of divine skill?" Chen Zhongyi leaned closer, his face full of anticipation.
[Skills: Physically and Mentally Superior]
[Type: Passive/Amplification]
[Introduction: Your physical abilities and intelligence will be comprehensively enhanced throughout the script.]
The higher the difficulty of the scenario, or the more dangerous your situation in the scenario, the higher the amplification multiplier, with a maximum amplification of 200%.
[Note: A strong physique and high intelligence can really help you, unless you're a combination of being weak and mentally challenged.]
Points: 300
Chen Zhongyi looked at the small print in the contact name and felt offended: "Is this a insult?"
"Be confident, remove the 'is it' part." Lu Dan clicked on the exchange directly. "This skill may not look that great, but I think it's a divine skill."
"For someone like you who has gone through a script once, you don't need to be that strong."
"Just a little faster than others, a second quicker in thinking than others, can be the difference between life and death."
As the points were cleared, a faint white light entered Chen Zhongyi's body.
He clenched his fists, then shook his head. "I don't really feel anything. Why do I still feel so useless?"
"This skill only takes effect when it's in the script." Lu Dan tossed the phone back to him.
"So I'm just going to go in naked like this?" Chen Zhongyi asked, a little scared. "Not even with a band-aid?"
Lu Dan sighed and operated his phone for a while.
Then he took three candies out of his pocket and tossed them to Chen Zhongyi.
Chen Zhongyi took a look:
[Item Obtained: Regeneration Candy x2]
[Item Obtained: Potent Regeneration Candy x1]
"Ordinary regenerated candy can treat external injuries, stop bleeding quickly, and restore a lot of physical strength."
Lu Dan explained, "According to the description, the potent one has a high probability of pulling you back from the brink of death."
He leaned back in his chair, rubbed his temples, and looked somewhat tired: "It's 280 points in total. Consider it a loan. You can pay me back with interest when you come back alive."
Chen Zhongyi looked at the candy, his eyes suddenly reddening: "Thanks..."
He sniffed. "I'll definitely come back alive. When I do, I'll treat you to a foot massage and order the most expensive set meal."
"Get lost!" Lu Dan waved his hand dismissively, "Go home and sleep, don't bother me."
"If you don't leave, I'll throw you out. Come back to me tomorrow at noon, and I'll give you special training."
After kicking the profusely grateful but somewhat reluctant Chen Zhongyi out of the room, silence finally returned.
Lu Dan locked the door, leaned against the door panel, and let out a long breath.
He glanced at his points balance: 1320 points.
I fought tooth and nail in Twin Village and earned 1000. The real-life script settlement reward was also quite substantial, with 600.
"Being a good person costs money."
He muttered something, dragged his feet back to the bedroom, and lay down on the bed.
The moonlight from the window shone on him.
darkroom……
A, B, C, D...
Lu Dan closed his eyes, his mind filled with questions.
Will I be this lucky again this time?
Sleepiness overcame him, and Lu Dan fell asleep.
In his half-awake state, he seemed to hear a faint scratching sound of a pen cutting through paper...