Whether the national team has caught up with him is still unknown, but the fact that two top authors in both male and female fiction genres have started creating new books based on the same structural theme is definitely news that piques people's curiosity.
Custom-made books are not uncommon, but it is rare to commission two books on the same subject at once.
Both of them have tens of thousands of die-hard fans. As soon as they post a piece of content or a title, people come to comment and leave messages. In just half an night, the number of comments below exceeded four digits.
"It's said that a lot of money was spent. Where did this tycoon come from? How could he get these two pigeons to publish their work overnight?" Readers discussed among themselves.
These two great authors, one is addicted to abandoning his works and the other disappears from the story every now and then. If they weren't so good, readers would have already pooled their money to hire someone to kill them.
"You have to be rich to just buy someone's services like that." Readers cried out in the comments, "This is a commissioned story, you can't just stop updating and abandon it, can you?"
For the sake of money, the two authors completed the outlines in just a few hours. One was going for the handsome, strong, tragic, and leveling-up story, while the other was going for the academic genius, big shot, and lazy protagonist story.
However, their creative basis is the same; they copied 'casual mini-games' entirely, even directly copying several of the mini-games within them.
They even changed the name without permission—'Despair Train'.
'Despair Train' - players who enter the mini-game will immediately understand.
"Good heavens, this works? Starting with 'This story is purely fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental' and they think they can bypass the rules? This is too ridiculous!"
"The key question is, isn't he essentially profiting off Infinite Game?" He's copied the idea completely, hasn't he? Is he taking advantage of the fact that the game didn't apply for a copyright?
In short, this news left casual game players stunned.
Within half an hour, a player who happened to be following the story shared it in the group chat. Then, like a virus spreading, one group after another, more than a dozen player groups knew about it.
"Really?"
"Seriously, you can search it up. ...Damn, he's really rich, using money to pave the way. But why is he doing this? Is he trying to gather players, or is he trying to attract the attention of certain forces?"
"Isn't this guy afraid of failing and dying? He's really brave."
Actually, they had considered using this roundabout method to reveal the affairs of the Infinite World to the outside world before. Many hands make light work; if everyone pools their wisdom, they will surely be able to destroy the Infinite Game.
But isn't this a matter of valuing one's life? He only has one life, and he really doesn't dare to take the risk. So, after much deliberation, reality ultimately prevailed, allowing this person to take the lead.
"That's incredibly bold. Who is this person?"
Seeing the discussions in the group, Ren Yifei remained silent. It was eleven o'clock, and he was waiting for the information from his identity card.
This can be considered the last favor given to these stepchildren of players by the Wasteland Corner: to help them find the agent, and then follow the clues to ultimately destroy the Infinite Game itself.
The identity card is getting hot.
[Night Three: The Arrogant and Failed Scholar]
[41 players have died; 41% of the Ghost Seal has been unlocked.]
Wow, this is the first time I've seen such a long and informative message, and also the first time I've seen the Wasteland Corner support its players so much. Previous messages were always so confusing; I've never understood anything like this.
Look, the first clue is 'watchdog,' which means that the ghost is a manager without real power.
The second hint is "black whistle," which means that this person has certain authority to participate in judging the game's outcome, and that their judgment is influenced by a lot of personal bias and is not fair.
Now even the phrase "arrogant, failed scholar" has appeared. Let's ignore the first four words, which carry emotion for now, but the rest is a crucial clue. It's like a desolate corner patting the player on the shoulder and pointing in a direction: It's him, it's him, it's him!
In today's society, a failed scholar is roughly equivalent to a student who failed the college entrance examination.
With this reduction, the scope of the inspection instantly shrank even further.
Ren Yifei had an advantage that others didn't: He Jun and the managers likely had a subtle relationship. Therefore, his investigation was simpler; he could directly look among He Jun's old friends and acquaintances.
Looking for men older than He Jun, whose names contain the sound 'xing', and who failed the college entrance exam.
As he was thinking, his hand opened his email.
The next day.
"Drink!" Assistant Xiao Wei, who entered carrying a folder, was startled. After not seeing his boss for one night, he looked like he had been drained of his life essence by a demon. There was red blood in the whites of his eyes, bluish-gray under his eyes, his eyes were lifeless, and his face was pale.
"You're here?" Ren Yifei lazily raised his arm, yawning to cover up his discomfort, his eyes welling up with tears.
"General Manager, what's wrong?" Have you been approached by a female demon?
Judging from his expression, Ren Yifei knew he wasn't thinking anything good. He glanced at him coldly and said, "It's just that some people are not used to sleeping in unfamiliar beds, so there's no need to make a fuss."
"Yes, yes, then I'll order you breakfast."
"A Chinese style, and a coffee too."
When his assistant, Xiao Wei, returned with breakfast, Ren Yifei had already taken a shower. His hair was still wet, but he was sitting up straight, holding a cup of coffee in his hand, his eyes on the computer, seemingly processing documents.
He had shaken off his previous dejected look, and although there were still some dark circles under his eyes, he still looked like a workplace elite and an aloof CEO.
He read the first half of the compressed file sent by the hacker until 2 a.m., but didn't find anything unusual.
Although He Jun was an illegitimate child, he was always registered under his uncle and aunt's names, and most people were unaware of this. Therefore, he was not oppressed by the outside world because of his status as an illegitimate child.
Moreover, Zhong's father would anonymously send a sum of money as child support every year. His uncle's family received a portion, but a lot was still left for He Jun, so he was not lacking in material things.
As for his emotions, he may have suffered some grievances. After all, his mother died early, and his father was better off dead. His uncle and aunt raised him, which was a great kindness. He couldn't expect them to be like his parents.
In this compressed file, He Jun, despite his somewhat extreme and sensitive nature, doesn't seem to have gone astray at this moment. Overall, he's a fairly ordinary boy, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, he'll continue living a simple yet happy life.
"There's nothing he wants here, not even people who pronounce 'xing', not even boys his age."
So Ren Yifei paid the remaining balance and received the second half of the compressed file. Upon looking at it, he saw his assistant, Xiao Wei, had come over that morning.
"How could there be no such person?" Ren Yifei rubbed his temples. He had carefully read through all the information and then searched for all the homophones of "xing" and "big brother" by focusing on key words, but he still found nothing.
"Did this Brother Xing spring out of a rock?"
I thought the later compressed file would contain some important information, but it turned out to be similar to the previous ones—just a very ordinary coming-of-age story for a young man, except…
"How did he end up in the Zhong family and become Grandpa Zhong's caregiver? Was he found out, or did he come to us on his own initiative?"
This is strange because Zhong's father had always made payments anonymously, and theoretically He Jun shouldn't know who his biological father was.
"It seems that everything started to change a month ago, which was also the time when casual games came out."
He Jun suddenly quit his original job and came to the Zhong family, becoming Grandpa Zhong's caregiver. Meanwhile, the first wave of players arrived at the Infinite Mini-Game.
"Is it possible that He Jun and his Brother Xing met in a game?"
Thinking of this, he once again pulled out He Jun's information from the past month, scrutinizing it word by word. Finally, he found a clue in the notes on his phone:
"I did something terrible today. I'm so sorry, so sorry."
"Perhaps it's his own fault. Fortunately, he's still here. He doesn't seem so scary anymore."
Is there anything in this world that exists solely for me? Yes.
"I learned some things by accident, and I want to see that man. I'm not reconciled."
"I saw him. His family looked very happy. I don't know why, but I feel so sad."
...
Whether out of consideration for the rules of the mini-game or for something else, He Jun left only these kinds of vague messages.
Knowing what happened next makes it easy to decipher the information in these comments. But if someone who doesn't know the context clicks in, they'll likely be completely confused.
"So you only learned about your background after entering the Infinite World? Then what did 'I'm sorry' mean earlier? What does 'something terrible' mean? It can't be that he released the Infinite World, can it?"
Ren Yifei noted down his doubts and then continued reading.
After experiencing several terrifying mini-games, He Jun's mindset began to change, as can be seen from his messages. During this time, that person also continued to help him and accompany him through each exciting and thrilling 'adventure' (original words from the diary).
Because of this person's presence, He Jun didn't feel the cruelty and horror of the dungeon at all; instead, their relationship quickly warmed up.
Within just a few days, He Jun completely trusted this person.
However, help and companionship cannot grant He Jun the privilege of not entering the game.
Once you enter the game, there is always a risk of death; this seems to be an ironclad rule that even the administrators cannot shake.
After that, that person was temporarily unable to accompany He Jun into the same game (presumably because the game itself discovered his biased behavior), and He Jun had to start playing the game independently.
Despite being given preferential treatment and being able to know the contents of the instance a day in advance (as revealed indirectly in the secret diary), He Jun was still terrified of the game every day.
Thus, he had his first instance of trying to get someone to grant him immunity—he didn't say it aloud, but his words carried a hypocritical sense of apology, perhaps because he had just returned from studying in Japan.
After that, he became more and more adept at doing this. One day recently, He Jun left a message: "Suddenly I feel very relaxed, and the sun is shining brightly."
But the next day, which was the day before yesterday, he left a message: What should I do?
Ren Yifei guessed that this referred to the original owner being ambushed. However, He Jun had always been very concerned about his image since childhood, even in his private diary he portrayed himself as a harmless ordinary person. Therefore, it was not immediately clear what he meant.
Because he was such an awkward and pretentious person, there wasn't much truly useful information in his diary; much of the content required inference by connecting it to the context and the actual situation.
Once you remove his jealousy of 'Zhong Lan' and his resentment at not having enjoyed these resources, and also remove the goodwill he feels for the person who always helps him, what remains is what is truly useful.
"It's a pity we still haven't found 'Brother Xing's' true identity," Ren Yifei sighed.
But it wasn't all for naught.
At least Ren Yifei has learned one thing: even if someone is an administrator, they still have to log off from the game. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to stay by He Jun's side so often, nor would they care about points like other players.
Furthermore, this person has limited influence on the copy.
Administrators may enjoy more advantages than ordinary players, such as knowing the specific content of a dungeon in advance. But essentially, they are also just players.
"I was wondering why. If this ghost is an administrator, hiding behind the scenes all day, who can find him? But if he's also one of the players, things will be much easier."
After finishing a cup of coffee and having breakfast, the employees gradually arrived at work, and Ren Yifei opened the Daily News.
"Huh?!"
To everyone's surprise, the headline news was: "Terrifying Invitation Code," explaining the rampant spread of a mysterious mobile virus, with hundreds of thousands of people across the country having been infected via email.
There's also a subheading: 'Every casual tap you make could cost you your phone.'
"This title is..." Ren Yifei was admiring it when the door was rudely pushed open. He abruptly closed the webpage, his face cold: "What? Why didn't you knock first?"
Assistant Xiao Wei couldn't stop him and could only give his boss a "good luck" look.
"Do you know something?" Mr. Zhong threw a diary on the table, his face flushed red, like a mad pig.
Ren Yifei glanced down at the page, which read: He hates me, he wishes I would disappear from the world.
Ah, this pretentious writing...