[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-player-reboot":3,"chapter-player-reboot-player-reboot-chapter-98":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Player Reboot",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2272063,4438,"Chapter 98: Deceiving Heaven, Altering Fate (3)","player-reboot-chapter-98",98,"\u003Cp>“Take a look at the writing on this paper—do you recognize your father’s handwriting?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng handed the paper to Xiao Feng, who examined it carefully before firmly shaking his head. “My father’s handwriting isn’t like this.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright, if it were, it’d be simple.” Li Cheng sighed. “Keep looking for other sheets of paper in the room. A mere birth chart couldn’t have shaken Zhao Xinglang so badly—there must be more content.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You Anjian, still gripping his sword, flipped through the books on the shelf. “This old paper and its writing clearly aren’t from the past two years. Could it be related to the wandering Daoist that Lao Feng mentioned—ten years ago?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi shook her head and pulled open a drawer. “Ten years ago, Xiao Feng was only twelve, right? Back then, there were no killing grounds. What kind of wandering Daoist could predict so precisely which woman with what birth chart he’d marry?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Maybe it really was that accurate? I saw an ad for something like that just a while ago.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like Zhao Xinglang trapped in the death loop, Wang Beipo was replaying his final moments, sprinting again through the second floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The life-replay footage only recorded the person’s own movements, not the consequences of those actions. In front of everyone, Wang Beipo walked straight through the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng stepped forward, pressing his hands against the wall, and immediately sensed subtle variations in depth. He pushed firmly along the edge of the depression—and the hidden door opened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Beipo sprinted relentlessly, as if perfectly aware of his destination, heading straight for the center of the corridor and slamming into the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You Anjian’s eye twitched. “Where the hell are there mice on TV? And why’s it on the top bunk? This is wrong.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a skilled player to die so inexplicably proves the force that killed him was no ordinary curse from a common person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second time was opened from the inside. The timing was recent—likely today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng suddenly shifted his voice, speaking in a rich, resonant tone: “Fate is written by heaven; happiness is yours to claim. Want to know your destiny with your beloved? Send your name, like Guo Jing and Huang Rong, to XXXXX to find out.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Follow him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The others trailed behind, annoyed by the two ordinary people’s slow pace. You Anjian simply hoisted Xiao Feng onto his shoulder, while Bai Zhi picked up Xiao Feng’s wife and child.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng analyzed: “Given how fresh the burn marks on the paper’s edge are, it wasn’t Zhao Xinglang who burned it. I lean toward the second explanation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The story’s outline was becoming clear: someone had been deceived by this so-called “Supreme Cavern of the Abyss Scripture for Altering Fate,” hoping to resurrect the deceased Feng family matriarch—and in the end, their wish backfired, triggering a tragedy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Resurrect a corpse that’s been dead for years.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, Zhao Xinglang’s final phone call reveals he knew full well that person would harm Xiao Feng’s family—especially little Feng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stepped out of the study and headed for the foyer. The hurried “tap-tap-tap” of footsteps echoed again from the second floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tap-tap-tap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You Anjian’s eye twitched again. “This joke is ancient—it’s exposing your age!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first time was opened from the outside, then resealed with the original old nails. That happened one or two months ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned to Xiao Feng. “Did you know about this secret room?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng crouched, dipped his fingers into the skull’s interior, and felt the blood’s temperature. “Still warm. Death was very, very recent—almost the same time as Zhao Xinglang’s.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The paper was the same material as the one in the study. On the front: “Supreme Cavern of the Abyss Scripture for Altering Fate.” On the back: “Should anyone suffer unjust calamities and misfortunes, they may seek among relatives or friends a person of great fortune and rare destiny, ****, thereby deceive heaven and alter fate, extend life, eliminate all illnesses, even refine the body under the Yin, shed the corpse, and transform the physical form.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Xinglang must have seen the partially burned paper inside the wooden coffin, realized the truth, confronted that person—and ended up dead himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is my mother’s coffin,” Xiao Feng said hoarsely, recalling the funeral. “She wasn’t cremated.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng spoke, then pulled a timed explosive from his backpack and dropped it into the coffin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A middle section of text had been deliberately covered over with ink.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Normally, cremation rules require complete incineration, but wealthy families like the Fongs always find ways around them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, so that’s it?” Li Cheng nodded. “Then what I saw on TV must’ve been: ‘The internet connects hearts, cherish this bond—click the link, check your destiny sign. True love might be right above you.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, your mother rose from her coffin and came back to life.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The coffin was half-open, its lid nailed shut with rusted iron nails. The degree of rust suggested it had been sealed for years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wait, is this a failed dating attempt jumping straight to flirting?” You Anjian felt cold sweat forming on his forehead. “Next thing you know, the neighborhood committee will hang banners warning everyone not to sext strangers online to avoid scams?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Open it and see.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So the questions remain: Who was that person? How did they kill Zhao Xinglang? What content was missing from the paper? And where was the paper burned?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That is, the person burned the paper to destroy evidence—but didn’t burn it completely, and Zhao Xinglang saw it, triggering everything that followed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hard to say. Maybe he used some kind of detection skill after being attacked. Or maybe he just wandered around, deduced the villa’s dimensions, wall thickness, corridor length—and figured out there was a hidden room. He spent half a day longer here than we did.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or perhaps, a hidden door disguised as a wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng patted the coffin lid with a touch of solemnity. “From the angle of the twisted nails, the direction of splintered wood, the color of the holes in the coffin’s side panels, and the rust stains around them—the coffin was opened twice.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng pried open the coffin lid, grabbed chopsticks, and fished out its contents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your mother’s in good health—she even opened the coffin herself.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the life-replay footage, Wang Beipo’s corpse rapidly melted and liquefied, leaving only a bloody, unrecognizable skull that merged with the blood-soaked bones in the corner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside was a modest space. Ropes hung from the walls, strung with masks, ancient coins, ink brushes, paper fans. In the corner lay a pile of blood-soaked bones. On the floor, a circle of extinguished candles surrounded a redwood coffin nearly two meters long, half-open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng poked through the ashes with his chopsticks and extracted the only sheet of yellow paper not fully consumed by fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the footage, Wang Beipo’s expression was frantic. He flipped his palm—and a long-handled great axe materialized out of thin air. With all his strength, he swung it at the coffin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fabric fragments were unmistakably from a woman’s funeral attire, aged for years and soaked through with corpse oil. The bronze basin, however, was relatively new, its bottom filled with ash, its rim scorched by fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to player forum recommendations for stat allocation, Wang Beipo’s level was at least Lv8, possibly Lv9.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heavy, sticky footsteps echoed down the corridor—clearly different from Wang Beipo’s life-replay footsteps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Possibility one: Zhao Xinglang saw the full clue elsewhere, got too excited, and brought only one sheet. Possibility two: He brought the complete clue, but the person he spoke to took the rest.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng pushed off the railing, flipped onto the second floor, and sprinted after Wang Beipo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng passed over the corpse and stared at the coffin in the center of the candles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you want to know the answer, there’s only one way.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiao Feng shook his head in shock and fear. “I don’t know. Since my mother died, I only come back once a year—for Chinese New Year.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi held the door open so the hidden entrance wouldn’t fully shut. Covering her nose and mouth, she frowned. “How did Wang Beipo find this place?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The general meaning: if anyone suffers calamity and misfortune, they may choose from among relatives or friends a person with a suitable destiny, through some method, alter fate, eliminate illness, extend life, even transcend death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the coffin were fabric fragments and a bronze basin, along with dried stains from the corpse’s advanced decay. No bones were visible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Still searching for fate? Outdated. Just download Momo, Tantan, Soul, Night Chat Nearby, or Find Friends Nearby.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The axe was a rare-quality weapon. Its effect: consume stamina to unleash a powerful slash. Requires Strength stat of 10 or higher.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If I’m right, following him should lead us to the clues.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as the axe was about to strike, Wang Beipo shuddered violently—a substance pierced his chest from behind, crushed his heart, and froze him in place as he slowly toppled forward and fell to the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Cheng glanced at the axe buried under Wang Beipo’s melted corpse. In the Killing Ground game, equipment binds to its holder and detaches upon death—any player can view its stats and add it to their backpack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You Anjian realized. “That’s impossible. His soul scattered long ago. Even a perfect-quality large healing potion couldn’t restore him. Only the Wish Room in the Hidden Realm or the River of the Dead could do it—and even those might not exist. Could it be necromancy?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The footage ended, and the loop began again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This phrase sounded like an insult at first, but here it fit perfectly. Xiao Feng remained silent, unable to imagine how any of this could have happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hahaha, impossible—everyone’s downloaded anti-fraud apps now.” Li Cheng stopped searching and adjusted his glasses. “Hmm, so no other papers in the study?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All three players realized this at once. You Anjian silently drew his sword and stepped sideways out of the hidden door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the corridor stood a skinless corpse, muscles and tendons exposed, gripping the lifeless, wide-eyed head of the villa’s maid as it shuffled forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tip: Press [Spacebar] to return to the menu. Press [←] (left arrow key) to go back to the previous chapter. Press [→] (right arrow key) to advance to the next chapter.\u003C\u002Fp>",1728,"2026-06-19T22:31:22.154Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","e9bdafa106c6fdd7376b9878c163cc6696eb4e53a6a34fc67829eaaf745c4186","player-reboot-chapter-99","player-reboot-chapter-97",612,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fplayer-reboot-cover.jpg"]