Chapter 3114: After Divorce, Forced to Compete with My Ex-Husband for 45

Endless Killing Space went live, and the game section of Star Network was almost flooded by this term.

When the internal test slots opened for applications, the number of applications exceeded one million within just two star-hours. Jin Chen's follower count on Star Network had surged to an astonishing figure after several rounds of buzz from the Rust Bone Star incident, including many genuine fans who followed his game works. Those old players who had been following his earliest indie games were especially curious about this new work titled Endless Killing Space.

Wang Jia was one of Jin Chen's earliest players, having followed his first indie puzzle game since its release. As Jin Chen's works matured and their narratives grew more complex, Wang Jia played every title, completed every one, and some he even replayed several times.

On the day the internal test slots opened for applications, Wang Jia promptly waited at the terminal and submitted his application. When the notification confirming his internal test eligibility popped up, he couldn't help but excitedly swing his fist.

He lived in a mid-range residential area of the Primary Star Administrative Region, had a stable job and a warm family; his life could be described as ordinary but fortunate, and he had never experienced any real setback. After work he played games, on weekends he went out with his family, and occasionally he dined with friends. That night, after his parents had fallen asleep, Wang Jia went to the Study, put on his holographic helmet, and lay down in the game pod.

His consciousness plunged into darkness, then lit up again in a soft glow.

You stand on a street.

Morning sunlight filtered through gaps between buildings, and the shop signs along the street appeared in your view: the bakery you visit weekly for bread, the small tavern you occasionally stop at with coworkers for a drink, and even the large tree you pass every day on your way to work.

This is the area where you live.

You open the game menu and check the map. The markings on the map match your memory exactly—every street, every landmark, even the obscure alleys you never noticed—are precisely recreated. You zoom in on the map and see the building where you live.

It feels as if you didn't enter a game but simply stepped out on an ordinary morning, walking down a street just like any other peaceful day. Yet why would such a cozy everyday scene be called Endless Killing Space?

Your doubt didn't last long. The map's quest points soon appeared, with guiding lines stretching across the street toward different directions. Following the lines, you made a brief stop at the familiar coffee shop; while waiting for your coffee, a line of text popped up on the panel: 'Please read the book on the table.'

You pick up the book and open it; the cover shows a street corner with two people standing in the sunlight.

After completing the simple interaction task, you closed the book and put it back on the desk. As you stepped out of the foyer, someone happened to turn the corner across the street; after a few coincidental encounters, you quickly got to know each other.

That name kept appearing more often in the mouths of various NPCs—neighbors mentioned it in casual chats, coworkers brought it up at lunch, and you began to notice this person's presence in different scenarios. Everyone around liked this person very much, including the player themselves. Though the person's appearance varied from player to player, they shared the same name: the Crowd Favorite, codename CM.

The game's first stage proceeded in this warm atmosphere until a certain node, when two options popped up before you.

Option One: You notice the Crowd Favorite intruding into your life, giving you a subtle sense of discomfort; you quickly cut ties with the Crowd Favorite and move away from the current area to start a new life.

Option Two: Continue being friends with the Crowd Favorite and maintain this relationship.

You hesitated slightly, vaguely sensing that these two options hid different paths ahead, but you couldn't predict which was correct.

And you, who had already sensed something was off, chose to cut ties.

You distanced yourself from the Crowd Favorite, refused their invitations, stopped replying to their messages, quit your job, moved to another area, and began a new life; everything became ordinary again.

Three months later, a new colleague joined your new company.

That person had outstanding looks and an outgoing personality, quickly clicking with everyone around, yet among all your coworkers he treated you best; you shared a unique rapport and destiny, and gradually he became an indispensable part of your life. Through your initiative, he entered your life and your social circle.

A panel then appeared before you: 'Do you want to establish a deeper binding relationship with him?'

This time, you willingly chose: Yes.

Achievement unlocked: Dependence of the Crowd Favorite.

Then the game screen shifted, jumping to the interface of Option Two.

In the game, your relationship with the Crowd Favorite grew better and better, gradually exceeding the bounds of friendship.

You poured large amounts of time, money, and emotion into the Crowd Favorite, being at his call whenever he needed. To outsiders your relationship seemed inseparable, you yourself felt extremely happy, believing you had finally found someone who truly understood and cared for you.

But for some unknown reason, your work began to show problems, with avoidable mistakes appearing frequently, clients' trust in you declining, and project progress stalling.

Your social circle also shrank; you realized your friends weren't sincere toward you, and only he was your soulmate.

Your important decisions also started to deviate: you gave up a promising promotion opportunity because the Crowd Favorite said the job was too busy and would affect your time together; you even began to distance yourself from your family, since the Crowd Favorite said his family situation was complicated and seeing you close with your kin made him feel lonely, yet in your interactions you actually came to view your own family as hateful.

Each choice seemed reasonable at the time, made to protect this precious relationship, but you realized your life was gradually heading down an irreversible slope.

The stage ending arrived. You sat on the sofa in your apartment, having lost your job, your friends gone, your family estranged after repeatedly being neglected; you suffered many external injuries that left you battered and bruised, and they made you deeply distrustful of the outside world.

But it didn't matter; you still had CM's companionship.

In your eyes, the Crowd Favorite had become dazzling, like the sole sun in your life; the Crowd Favorite had paid a great price to help you recover some of your losses, and although you could no longer return to your former life, you remained deeply moved and regarded the Crowd Favorite as your sole salvation. After experiencing bankruptcy, abandonment by all, and having nothing left, you could no longer live without him.

Achievement unlocked: Salvation of the Crowd Favorite.

The screen switched again.

You found yourself standing on a street again. The sunlight was fine, the air humid, the street clean and bright. A Heaven's Pride appeared in your view, someone as radiant as you once were, full of vigor and enjoying a happy, smooth life.

At the street corner you met him, and you watched the young man's back; in the sunlight he looked tall and confident, just like looking at your former self.

But you also saw the Crowd Favorite appear before that person, just as he had once greeted you, smiling and becoming friends with the Heaven's Pride, his smile shining brightly in the sunlight.

——

Wang Jia watched the two receding backs, suddenly stunned—how had everything become like this? This isn't a game, is it?

He suddenly recalled that, when he first entered the game, the spawn point had a book that needed to be read; its cover was exactly the scene he saw before him. He was the Heaven's Pride whom the Crowd Favorite had approached, and also the dark madman lurking in the corner after losing everything.

He was drenched in cold sweat, hastily opened the game menu to find that book, and the moment he turned its page, the trigger condition activated: Option Three.

Option Three: The player becomes a god's-eye view, observing how the Crowd Favorite siphons fortune, weaves conspiracies, and destroys the career, dreams, and trust of friends that you once took pride in. Fortune Value nourishes the Crowd Favorite, making him ever more radiant. And you—once the vigorous Heaven's Pride—after your fortune is drained, you fall into a shadow in the corner, ignored by all.

Achievement unlocked: Endless Killing.

Players can return to any stage requiring a choice to take revenge on the Crowd Favorite—with knives, guns, schemes, or any means imaginable—until the one who took everything from you is utterly annihilated.

Meanwhile.

Chi Mo, trapped in this holographic game, had his soul turned into a data avatar scattered across each player's revenge route.

When players choose revenge and kill the Crowd Favorite in various ways, that pain synchronously affects his true body: the cold of a blade piercing, the searing heat of a bullet shattering, the humiliation of a scheme overcoming, the despair of betrayal—countless torments flood his consciousness at once. He wants to escape, but there is nowhere to run. He wants to die, but in the world written by Jin Chen, death is merely the start of a new round of suffering.

After each death, he is reset and then waits for the next player's revenge.

As for the original Children of Fortune—Steve, Yun Wu, and Yan Xu—they received another internal test version; before them stood a Chi Mo split from the main body, a soul avatar made especially painful for slaughter, prepared specifically as their revenge target.

In this version they reverted to their former memories; in the stages where Chi Mo had bewitched them into making biased choices, they gained new options—past patterns, like 'yesterday's death'; future patterns, like 'today's life'.

After the game went live, on Star Network's game forum players shared their experiences, discussed the anger and experiences of different betrayals, and exchanged revenge tips and methods.