Chapter 237

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his own living room. The familiar ceiling.

Li Cheng stretched, then pulled out an electronic pet egg and released Hui Yu.

"Hey!"

Hui Yu landed on the ground warily, one hand transforming into a spiked club, the other into a chain saw sword.

Seeing he was still in his living room, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's going on? Wasn't this supposed to be a script mission?"

"It's already over."

Li Cheng said casually, "This one was full immersion mode—the kind that seals your inventory."

Players entering extraterrestrial script missions always teleport in and out instantly; no gap is detectable from the outside.

If you die accidentally during a mission, one moment you're a healthy living person, the next you're a shattered corpse or charred meat.

"Huh?"

Hui Yu reverted his hands to normal, pouting with lips raised so high they could hang a water bottle.

"There's nothing to be sad about."

Li Cheng scratched his head. "Eighty percent of this mission's plot happened inside the illusion. There was no room for you to shine."

"Not appearing for a while still feels like a loss."

Hui Yu sighed heavily: "For an anime character, losing screen time, seeing personal storylines dwindle, losing uniqueness—

means you're nearing death. Think of Yamcha in heaven."

Yamcha has suffered enough—don't torment him further.

Li Cheng's eye twitched as he watched Hui Yu, like Xiang Linshao, lean against the wall and shuffle toward the study, muttering as he went: "Not killing leads to endless hatred;

not killing, what difference is there between strong and weak;

not killing, all sentient beings are karmic debt;

not killing, dreams and bubbles are empty."

Hey, Special Affairs Bureau? There's a psycho killer in my house!

Shaking his head, Li Cheng opened his log to check his mission rewards.

【Player Overall Performance: S+, Game Coins and EXP gained increased to 160%】

【Mission Reward 1: 1300 EXP】

【Mission Reward 2: 1800 Game Coins】

After applying the 1.6 multiplier, Li Cheng gained 2080 EXP and 2800 Game Coins, leveling up from Lv15 (340/1500 EXP) to Lv16 (920/1600 EXP).

His total Game Coins reached 12,393—again surpassing the ten-thousand mark.

"Hmm, now that I think about it, this mission wasn't that hard."

Li Cheng took a soda from the fridge and muttered to himself: "From the normal timeline, William already had all the escape tools—he just suffered brain shock and fell into hallucinations.

The player's job was to retrace the Journey to the West, collect the tools again, strengthen resolve, and help William break free from the illusion."

And since the mission objective was 'survive five hours,' not 'escape the asylum,'

even if the player failed to break the illusion, they'd still survive the time limit—merely having their frontal lobe removed before being teleported back to reality."

From this angle, the Death Arena system was surprisingly humane—didn't deliberately set up a no-win scenario.

【Mission Reward 3: Random Item ×1, Quality Based on Completion Rating】

【Mission Reward 4: Shangcheng VIP Trial Card ×1】

Here it comes—the thrilling unboxing moment.

Li Cheng rubbed his palms, closed his eyes, and tapped the chest—only opening them when the notification chime sounded.

In the last empty slot of his inventory lay a walkie-talkie.

【Item Name: Fireline Police Walkie-Talkie】

【Type: Universal Item】

【Quality: Fine】

【Effect: Call for Backup. Upon use, instantly summons a fully armed officer to fight for you. The officer can partially understand user commands and lasts up to one hour. If the officer is downed by enemies, additional forces will be summoned.】

【Cost: One dozen donuts, at least 100 Spirit Power】

【Cooldown: 24 hours】

【Usage Condition: Registered U. S. Citizenship, Possession of Police ID】

【Note: After the initial officer is downed, subsequent reinforcements upgrade gear progressively—from Glock pistols, rubber batons, and stun guns, to AR rifles, bulletproof vests, and shotguns. If further reinforcements are repelled, police cars, armored vehicles, and helicopters may be summoned.】

【Note: Reinforcements can upgrade a maximum of four times. Each upgrade increases Spirit Power cost by 30. If a fifth wave is summoned, cooldown extends to 48 hours.】

【Note: We found one kilogram of bullets inside the deceased suspect's body—evidence he died from heavy metal overdose, not excessive police force.】

Holy shit, this is GTA's five-star wanted level in real life?

Li Cheng's expression was priceless as he pulled the walkie-talkie from his backpack and examined it.

The item looked no different from a regular walkie-talkie, except for a distinct marking on the rubber handle—

BlueLivesMatter.

Here, 'blue' refers to the Thin Blue Line, originating from the blue uniforms of the Metropolitan Police in Britain, used in the U. S. and UK to honor fallen or frontline officers.

Judging by the description alone, this item was quite useful.

Five waves of reinforcements, each stronger than the last, all armed, with the ability to summon armored vehicles and helicopters.

One-hour duration was enough to handle any ambush.

A true beginner's god item—satisfying firepower, survival, relocation, and delay needs all in one.

But for mid- to high-level players, its cost-effectiveness dropped sharply.

In high-stakes duels, to influence the battle, you'd need at least the fifth wave's armored vehicles and helicopters,

There wasn't that much time to gradually upgrade the police force, nor that many Spirit Power points to splurge on a single piece of equipment—fully upgrading the wave count alone would cost 800 Spirit Power points.

"And you'd also have to register U. S. citizenship and hold police credentials—truly a hassle."

Speaking of which, it's a bit of a hellhole—even Skid Row has an American embassy, along with USCIS (U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services).

For run-ren, it meant being repeatedly fleeced by smuggling snakeheads and immigration lawyers, going into factories to haul bricks, washing dishes in restaurants to pay off debts, and fantasizing in dreams that one day they'd get a U. S. green card.

But for Transcendents, U. S. citizenship was within easy reach—USCIS couldn't wait to plaster advertisements in every corner of Skid Row, informing any player that as long as they wanted U. S. citizenship, they could just go over and snap a photo, and even the N-400 form would be filled out for them by immigration officers.

Other countries were mostly the same, hoisting banners high to welcome Transcendents to naturalize.

I'll tell you what, don't you dare talk back, you hear me? On the killing field, granddad is granddad—day in, day out, it's nothing but eating and drinking, nothing else.

Li Cheng put the walkie-talkie away—this piece of equipment had no real use for him; better toss it on the auction house.

Summoning-type premium item equipment was a bit pricier than same-tier equipment; it should fetch three or four thousand game coins at auction.

His attention was mainly focused on the last mission reward—the Shangcheng VIP Experience Card.

(End of chapter)