Chapter 47: Reforged and Remade
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Apart from silence, Li Xin had nothing to say.
Of all the possibilities, why did he have to draw the "Reforge" skill—and it was a one-time use! Once activated, all the skills he had earned as a master player would be for naught, as if he had drawn water with a bamboo basket.
If the NPC were standing before him now, Li Xin was certain he’d have taken a knife to him without hesitation.
“No wonder, no wonder he told me to be prepared. So the King of Games had already planned for this.” Li Xin muttered, his mind a whirl of emotions, unable to fathom why the game chip insisted on his reforging.
Was it dissatisfaction? Clearly not.
Then for what reason?
“Hey, NPC, are you messing with me? I went through all that effort just to earn this new title.”
[NPC]: Accept it with humility; everything exists for a reason.
“Then tell me, what exactly does this ‘Reforge’ mean? Is it like other games where you reset your stats and redistribute them yourself, or does it wipe my data clean for a complete restart?”
[NPC]: Archive erased, begin anew.
“…”
“What about my Qian Kun skill? What about all my hard-earned progress?” Li Xin’s voice trembled with agitation, nearly erupting into a roar.
[NPC]: Qian Kun skill will be preserved.
After a brief pause, not waiting for Li Xin to respond, the NPC continued: This instance of reforging is a decision made by the game program itself. I have no authority to alter it. However, as a reward for summoning me to revive you, I can tell you a secret as compensation.
Hearing this, Li Xin nodded in agreement.
Activate the new skill now? Of course not. With over three minutes left, Li Xin intended to make the most of it and question the NPC further.
“Do you have a name? Calling you NPC all the time feels a bit odd.”
[NPC]: You may call me Roland.
“Roland, you’re like an intelligent assistant, right?”
[NPC Roland]: Correct. Time is short—could you ask something useful?
“Uh…” Li Xin felt an odd embarrassment, unexpectedly looked down upon by an artificial intelligence.
“Three questions. First, the game and reality can truly overlap. Qian Kun’s myriad transformations—even let me attack real enemies.”
[Roland]: The very existence of the King of Games is meant to merge reality and gaming into one.
Li Xin nodded, understanding most of it, and after a brief hesitation, continued, “Second, whenever I enter the state of phantasmagoric virtualization, all my in-game stats soar rapidly. I can win without restraint, but it feels dull—there’s no challenge. Besides, I’m afraid to use it too often; people might notice strange phenomena on screen.”
[Roland]: Victory is both the King of Games’ ultimate goal and the core mission bestowed upon players by the developers. However, after your growth through these ten levels, the program has discovered many shortcomings and proactively initiated adjustments. This reforging is meant to imbue your experience with deeper meaning.
[Roland]: As for the strange phenomena you mentioned, the program will make appropriate adjustments after the reforging. You can review the attribute panel then for details.
Li Xin accepted this answer, sighing in relief and feeling faintly pleased.
“Third question: what’s the use of upgraded titles? Take the first-level ‘Spirit of the Game’—I’ve yet to sense any special significance.”
[Roland]: Sorry, you’ll need to discover that on your own.
“…”
Li Xin was left speechless. It seemed this must be classified information, beyond Roland’s clearance.
Ding!
[Roland]: The summoning time is about to end. I’ll now share a special secret with you.
Li Xin’s heart tightened inexplicably; he sensed that what Roland was about to say would be of utmost importance.
And sure enough—
[Roland]: As your titles advance, your body will gradually become stronger. The illness that has tormented you will be completely cured. Due to restrictions on my authority, I can’t say more. This, too, is something you’ll have to explore for yourself.
Roland’s words struck Li Xin like a bolt from the blue, sending shockwaves through his long-calm heart and mind, each wave of shock crashing over him in relentless succession.
No wonder his symptoms had been growing less frequent and shorter in duration. Li Xin had always attributed this to the hospital treatments he’d received over the National Day holiday—after all, he’d never been hospitalized before, only ever relying on medication. Now he realized it was all thanks to this miraculous game.
Thinking back, it all began to change subtly from the moment he first entered the ICU and used virtualization to turn reality into a game.
[Roland]: Summoning time has ended. Until next time.
“See you next time,” Li Xin hastily replied.
Ding!
[System message]: Would you like to use the Reforge skill now?
Yes.
In an instant, a beam of white light shot down from above his field of vision, majestic and overwhelming like a divine radiance. Just as Li Xin was about to marvel at it, the light transformed into a gaping maw, wholly devouring the little figure on the central screen.
Beep, beep, beep, beep…
A series of urgent notification sounds rang out, and Li Xin’s consciousness was plunged into a pale, endless expanse, where countless lines of code were running, assembling, and disassembling at dizzying speed. It was just like those scenes in high-tech CPU integration videos online—clearly, the King of Games chip was hard at work.
Old data was being cleared, redistributed, and new features were being added.
For some reason, Li Xin felt that this reforging was more like a major version update for the game.
“Ah… it hurts!” Li Xin suddenly clutched his head with both hands.
Data reallocation was an enormous workload. He had no idea how large the chip’s storage was, but to fuse reality and gaming, it must be at least several hundred gigabytes.
Such a massive task sent his brainwaves into unprecedented overdrive. Li Xin lasted barely ten seconds before his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.
Purple electric arcs, fine as silken threads, flickered and flowed intermittently across his body.
An hour later, with Auntie Zhang’s help, Wang Xiaoqian finally managed to shower and change into clean clothes, feeling much refreshed. Auntie Zhang volunteered to run to the market and cook a nice meal for the two of them that evening, leaving the apartment cheerfully.
Wang Xiaoqian lingered before the mirror, admiring her beauty.
Suddenly—a scream!
Auntie Zhang’s terrified shriek echoed up from below. Wang Xiaoqian’s expression changed at once and she rushed downstairs in a panic.
Li Xin was collapsed on the floor, his face contorted in pain, lips bluish and twitching. His limbs trembled violently like a seizure, frothy white saliva spilling from the corner of his mouth, filling the air with a sharp, acrid odor.
Auntie Zhang, strong from years of farm work, had already managed to drag Li Xin onto the sofa by the time Wang Xiaoqian reached them, and was dialing the private doctor.