Chapter 118: Wu Chang's Wish

"What wish did you make?" Wu Chang couldn't help but ask.

Being singled out by a Miracle Committee member, He Wei's wish was likely extraordinarily absurd.

He Wei said aggrievedly, "I just wanted to customize two works with more impact than my treasured collection."

Wu Chang frowned slightly; this wish was indeed difficult, but not impossible to fulfill.

After all, with AI so advanced, couldn't they arrange whatever you wanted to see?

He said irritably, "Tell the truth."

He Wei wore an honest, simple smile and said sheepishly, "I also wanted to witness it with my own eyes, not through a screen."

Hah, found the problem.

Disgust appeared on Wu Chang's face; he knew that if this kid He Wei gained the power to have every wish come true, the world would never know peace.

Even if the Evil God's main body came over, it would suffer terribly.

Wu Chang sighed, tilted his head toward the golden mask, and asked, "And then? Why were you singled out? Did you anger them?"

He Wei looked around and whispered, "Not exactly. When they realized my wish couldn't be easily fulfilled, they were quite happy. They said they'd take me back to headquarters to make a wish directly to the Great Miracle."

Oh? An unfulfillable wish is even more welcome? Wu Chang pulled He Wei closer, confirming the details of the wishing process.

According to He Wei's description, like everyone else, he first shouted out his wish, except his was so absurd he only murmured it softly.

But the moment the wish was spoken, it quickly drew the attention of all Committee members.

The Miracle Committee member wearing the golden mask headed straight for him, saying he would personally listen to the wish, use his own Miracle Power to resonate with He Wei's wish, and help him establish a connection with the Great Miracle.

After the Great Miracle still couldn't fulfill his wish remotely, the golden mask, as if he'd found a treasure, singled him out and intended to take him back to headquarters.

After hearing He Wei's account, Wu Chang and Xiang Jianxing exchanged a glance; both felt this was an opportunity.

The key to breaking the 'Wishes Come True' dungeon must be related to the Miracle Committee.

As Yifu City's governing body, the drones had not discovered the Miracle Committee's headquarters.

To enter the headquarters, just like entering Dream Plaza, a special method must be required.

What He Wei encountered should be one such method.

Namely, possessing a wish that is nearly impossible to realize under normal circumstances.

The two immediately relayed their discovery to Shi Ning and the others.

He Wei recovered from the panic of having his secret exposed, belatedly looked at Wu Chang, and asked:

"Boss, why do I feel you're exceptionally calm, not worried at all about the current situation? Boss, do you know what's happening?"

Wu Chang was about to use his usual 'truthful lies' to brush it off, but before speaking, he remembered Xiang Jianxing was beside him and immediately changed tack, saying in a stiff tone, "With your extensive connections you still don't know; how could I possibly know what's happening?"

He Wei laughed, "That's true."

Xiang Jianxing, standing nearby, shook his head upon hearing this, thinking to himself that Wu Chang was still too honest, lacked experience in lying, and his demeanor was too unnatural. He could only fool college students who hadn't entered society yet; anyone with more experience would see through it at a glance.

He'd have to remind him later.

While Wu Chang and He Wei were talking, Shi Ning on the other side had already made his judgment.

He instructed the few people who had infiltrated Dream Plaza to follow He Wei's method, attempting to become special candidates and gain qualification to enter the Miracle Committee's headquarters.

Although they had found the right method, making an absurd wish was not an easy task.

Making wishes in Dream Plaza came with many restrictions.

The first point, and the most important, was sincerity of heart.

The wish you make must be one you deeply desire in your heart, one you have recalled in your mind many times.

A wish concocted temporarily because it's hard to achieve would not be considered a wish from the bottom of your heart.

For example, if you, as a Paradox Interactive player, knelt in Dream Plaza praying for world peace, even if you shouted until your voice was hoarse, it would not be regarded as your true wish.

For most Abyss Game players, their wishes were nothing more than surviving the dungeon, becoming stronger, or leaving the dungeon.

Those with greater ambition merely wanted to climb higher and become high-ranking officials in the Administration Bureau.

To the Great Miracle of Yifu City, these were perfectly normal wishes, nothing difficult to handle.

For such wishes, the staff in the plaza had only one response: "Please continue wishing; once enough Wish Power has accumulated, a miracle will occur."

After summarizing the failures of the several individuals, Shi Ning identified several rules.

First, the wish must be related to oneself; even if you truly were a saint wishing for world peace, it wouldn't count as your wish, and similarly, destroying the world wouldn't either.

Second, the wish must be specific; vague wishes are usually ignored.

One Administration Bureau member wished to obtain the power to control everything.

How to control? How is control determined? What could you do after gaining control? Without these detailed settings, a mere vague concept cannot become a wish.

But if you filled in all these settings, it would no longer be a single wish, but would become many wishes.

Third, the wish must be direct, achievable in a single step.

Faced with a multi-step wish, the wish would be automatically categorized; for example, wanting to become the world's richest person would be simplified to a desire for money, automatically downgraded to becoming wealthy, after which the more sincere your heart, the wealthier you become. Having summarized these three rules, only Xiang Jianxing and Wu Chang remained in the plaza; all other teammates had declared failure.

After some thought, Xiang Jianxing conceived the wish he wanted to make.

He said softly, "I want to use the Abyss Layer Two flying sword 'Zhen Yuan' as my natal flying sword to unlock the Sword Immortal class change."

The flying sword Zhen Yuan, a legendary S-rank flying sword, only appears in S-rank dungeons related to sword cultivators.

Xiang Jianxing's wish sounded like two wishes, but in reality, it was not.

As long as he could defeat Lu Dan, Xiang Jianxing's sword cultivator class change was just around the corner, and since Sword Immortal is an advanced class of sword cultivator, rounding it off, Xiang Jianxing could be considered to have experienced a mini version of the Sword Immortal in his youth.

His wish was simply to use the flying sword Zhen Yuan to chop off the prefix before his 'Sword Immortal' title.

Xiang Jianxing's wish was related to himself, specific enough, and direct enough.

As soon as this wish was made, it indeed attracted the attention of the Miracle Committee member.

The Miracle Committee member wearing the golden mask walked toward Xiang Jianxing and said:

"I sense a special Wish Power from you; your wish is temporarily difficult to realize, but I can use Miracle Power to resonate with your wish and transmit it to the Great Miracle."

"If your wish is pure enough, the Great Miracle may make an exception and grant it, letting you become one of us."

The Miracle Commissioner's words instantly drew the attention of the other citizens in the plaza, who looked at Xiang Jianxing with eyes full of envy.

Xiang Jianxing was very cooperative, letting the Miracle Commissioner place a hand on his shoulder, then he repeated his wish.

No need to guess — the wish was doomed to fail.

Flying Sword Zhenyuan, a prop produced from the Abyss Level Two S-rank instance, a vicious piece of work capable of slaying evil gods on Abyss Level Three — the sword Qi it casually emitted was enough to tear apart the runaway Wish-Granted instance.

That so-called Great Miracle, if it really had the strength to procure Zhenyuan, wouldn't be trapped in a B-rank instance in the Wasteland Realm.

After Xiang Jianxing finished his wish, the Miracle Commissioner stepped back half a pace, and a tear slashed by a sharp weapon appeared on the lapel of his suit.

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow at the sight — the Great Miracle wouldn't really be that bold, going to chat with Zhenyuan about a job switch, would it?

After a brief silence, the Miracle Commissioner's gaze toward Xiang Jianxing shifted, his eyes growing fervent and excited.

"I felt your wish — it is very pure, and you are a special person. Come back to headquarters with us later; the Great Miracle will surely be very glad to meet you."

Xiang Jianxing smiled and replied, "I'm honored."

After Xiang Jianxing, it was Wu Chang's turn.

Wu Chang did not speak his wish aloud, but recited it silently in his heart.

Before he had finished silently reciting his wish, the Miracle Commissioner's gaze was like drawn by a powerful magnet, forcibly wrenched away from Xiang Jianxing and onto Wu Chang.

The Miracle Commissioner was sweating — the sweat on his forehead streamed down in rivulets through the seams of his golden mask; anyone who didn't know better would think there was a faucet installed inside the mask.

As a veteran Miracle Commissioner, he had a premonition of the ill omen in Wu Chang's wish. If he could, he would love to pretend nothing had happened and skip past Wu Chang.

He could even hand the golden mask straight to Wu Chang and let Wu Chang take over his seat as Miracle Commissioner.

Too bad he couldn't.

His duty did not permit him to run.

Under Wu Chang's hopeful gaze, the Miracle Commissioner swallowed and repeated in a trembling voice:

"I felt from you a special power of wishing. Your wish is temporarily hard to fulfill, but I can use the power of Miracle to resonate with your wish and transmit it to the Great Miracle."

Wu Chang put on a naive, sweet, expectant face and said, "That's wonderful — let's get started."

He grabbed the Miracle Commissioner's hand, placed it on his own shoulder, and began silently reciting the wish he had just made.

"I really am not cheating — please stop the administrators of Abyss Game from targeting me."

As Wu Chang silently recited his wish, the Miracle Commissioner before him began convulsing violently.

The golden mask on the Miracle Commissioner's face — symbol of his status — was crushed into powder by an invisible force, and the Miracle Commissioner himself became like an aluminum can tossed into an industrial crusher.

The kind filled with carbonated drink, no less.

Fizzing juice sprayed everywhere, and the remaining flesh and blood was ground by some unknown force into a layer of twisted, folded skin.

"You killed the Miracle Commissioner, gaining 500 experience points."

"Player level differs too greatly from the Miracle Commissioner — experience gained is doubled."

"The rarity of your wish defeated the Miracle Commissioner, successfully obtaining the status 'Lesser Miracle's Blessing' from the target."

"You obtained Miracle Commissioner Authority."

Wu Chang:? No, bro, you came here to scam me?

He wiped a handful of unidentified liquid from his face, tossed the severed hand on his shoulder — the only intact part the Miracle Commissioner had left — to the ground, and shouted innocently to the surroundings:

"Everyone saw it, right? I didn't do anything — he fell down on his own. You can't go framing people like this!"

Caught a bit of a cold, so the chapter's a little late. If I'm better by the weekend, I'll try for three updates. On behalf of this kid working so hard, dear brothers, drop by from time to time — don't let the book die on the shelf.

(End of this chapter)