Chapter 64: This Game is Toxic_l


    Huang Ping used his phone to exin to his girlfriend about inviting colleagues to stay over at his ce, and she curiously said, “This is the first time you’re inviting colleagues over to your house, right? Didn’t you say before that you don’t like to mix work with personal life?”


    “That was in the past. Xiao Douzi and Monkey are pretty good guys, and our personalitiesplement each other, so I invited them over.


    “Alright, today is Thursday, so I’ll do some cleaning when I get home, and I’ll tidy the room.”


    “No need, tomorrow is Friday, I’ll take care of it. Oh, and I bought some durian,


    it’s in the fridge, remember to eat it tomorrow.’


    Seeing how Huang Ping chatted with his girlfriend, even Xiao Douzi, who had


    no intention to marry, felt somewhat moved.


    This kind of dog food hidden in everyday life tasted especially sweet.


    After finishing theirmunication, the three loaded the snacks and drinks into Huang Ping’s car, and then they drove to the apartment Huang Ping was renting.


    Carrying their things up to the third floor, they found Huang Ping’s rental tidy and neat, with just some things piled up in the living room, overall it felt very


    warm.


    After letting them in, Huang Ping said, “It’s a bit cluttered, we’re in the process of buying stuff and moving to a new home. The new ce is closer to the studio, and it’s also in a good school district.”


    “You’re already considering school district housing?” Xiao Douzi asked in surprise.


    “Yeah. My girlfriend and I want to have two kids in the future,” Huang Ping said with a smile, “I actually wanted to show off my cooking skills, but there wasn’t time today, so nevermind.”


    Squinting at Huang Ping, Xiao Douzi felt an urge to have a girlfriend, as powerful and unstoppable as a primal force.


    Theyid out the pizza and fried chicken, added ice cubes to the c, and the three nners booted up theirputers, importing Monkey’s records, and began to eat and game.


    After receiving the mission to deliver a message to Chang’an, the difficulty of the game suddenly increased, but the experience improved even more.


    Heading east from the Protectorate of Anxi, it wouldn’t take long before they were deep into Tubo territory.


    They had distinctly different features from the Han people, and the five-man squad could easily be spotted, then captured and turned into ves.


    The Tubo soldiers all had war horses, and each cavalry soldier was assisted by a ve child to take care of the horses and maintain the weapons, whereas the protagonist was all alone with nothing.


    Even if Monkey had extraordinarybat awareness, fighting two was his limit, and fighting three almost certainly meant injury; such was the inevitable result of realism.


    Fortunately, the enemy Al was strong, and their own Al was no slouch either, even stronger, in fact.


    just like the protagonist, they were all veteran soldiers. Their understanding of each other was so strong that a single nce or gesture was enough for the teammates to grasp his intentions and know what to do.


    The five-man squad was like a sharp knife, thrusting deeply into the territory


    of Tubo, relentlessly pushing towards Chang’an.


    Outside the game, Huang Ping was something of a history buff.


    He quickly confirmed the time period of the game and found a contemporary map online. He directed Monkey to avoid Tubo’s major towns en route and instead travel through mountain viges.


    Xiao Douzi helped calcte the distance and various expenses, estimated the travel time, and optimized the route based on the weather and other factors. Monkey took the reins of actual operations, and with the three of them working together, the journey became less daunting.


    Thanks to the Al’s excellent response, along the way, the three yers felt as if theirpanions in the game were not just cold programs but living beings.


    The youngestpanion was the Scout, also known as the Meat Bun. After arriving at the Protectorate of Anxi, he tasted a meat bun for the first time and got his mouth scalded by the hot oil.


    But even so, he continued to eat them like crazy, without regard for his own life, stuffing his belly until it was bulging and choking on the food but still continuing to eat.


    In the end, if it hadn’t been for the Squad Leader pping him unconscious, Monkey believed the kid would have literally eaten himself to death. Because of this, he earned the nickname Meat Bun and fantasized daily about how delicious the meat buns in Chang’an must be.


    The oldestpanion was called Mr. Fang.


    Although he was just over forty, the harsh conditions of the western regions- the wind and sun-had merged into his skin, creating deep, knife-hke wrinkles that made him look seasoned and old.


    He typically stayed quiet, only silently preparing supplies during rest time.


    Yet, he was the most indispensable member of the team.


    He was skilled in various survival techniques; he could lie on the ground to hear distant horse hooves and underground water, and he could identify the poison of herbs and snakes at a nce.


    The Squad Leader, on the other hand, was a rough man with a touch of finesse. He had an incredible intuition for battle, his squad of five was like an extension of his own limbs, each member with a different role but working together seamlessly—so close-knit that they could emerge victorious even against enemies three to four times their number.


    Thest skinny member, then, was the team s jester.


    He was a master ventriloquist, proficient in various musical instruments, and spoke four or five foreignnguages. He could even use ventriloquism to imitate different sounds, making him the most reliablepanion when dealing with foreigners.


    Beyond that, he was also a skilled assassin.


    Between his fingernails, he always hid a de coated with poison-a light cut was enough to kill an opponent, and the cause was difficult to trace afterwards. Nobody in the squad used their real names, instead addressing each other by nicknames.


    There wasn’t much deep significance to this, just the feeling that knowing each other’s names would make their connections deeper, and the loss of a teammate would hurt that much more.


    They were the elite chosen by the Protectorate of Anxi, their sole purpose to go to the Tang Dynasty and make their presence known to secure support.


    At such a time, names became a burden; better not to know them.


    Halfway through the journey, resting by the campfire, Huang Ping looked at the screen and suddenly said, “This journey has no oue.”


    “Liu Bei, why do you say that?” asked Monkey, resting his fingers.


    “The Tang Dynasty at this time is no longer at its peak, there are no soldiers left in the country. Even if we reach our destination, we can’t summon a single soldier or a grain of food. The Emperor of Tang will use the existence of the Protectorate of Anxi for political propaganda, but he won’t be able to offer any actual help.”


    “…Is it that bad?”


    “Yes. And looking at the map, supporting Anxi would require opening up a corridor, but that’s no different from going to full-scale war with Tubo.” “So, are you saying that this entire journey is meaningless?” “No, homing is the meaning; to tell others we are still here, that is also the meaning.”


    Rubbing the corners of his sore eyes, Huang Ping felt a bit teary.


    A man in his early thirties, he was least able to endure this.


    Though modern people and ancient ones had different thoughts, the blood flowing in their cultural genes still moved him because of these soldiers. Exhaling deeply, he said to Xiao Douzi, “Xiao Douzi, is the journey n for the next halfplete?”


    “Almost. We still have half of our journey to go. ording to my calctions, we canplete the game in another twenty-four hours.”


    “Only twenty-four hours left,” sighed Monkey. “I haven’t had enough fun yet.” “I haven’t yed much, but I haven’t had enough fun either,” Huang Ping said regretfully.


    The enjoyability of this game was a different kind; an immersive experience brought by its realism, an experience of executing perfect battles in cooperation withpanions.


    The game’s various settings closely matched the overall gaming experience, allowing yers to feel the hardships of The Nameless and the efforts made to reach their goal.


    This kind of effort would surely filter out some casual yers, but it would undoubtedly make a portion of hardcore yers hooked, even treating it as a masterwork.


    Regaining his spirit, Huang Ping said, “Alright, we will continue to workhard and try to finish sooner.”


    Just as he finished speaking, Huang Ping heard the sound of the door opening. Turning his head, he saw his girlfriend standing at the door, looking at them in surprise.


    “You guys… haven’t gone to work?” His girlfriend asked with confusion. Checking the time, Huang Ping was suddenly wide awake and immediately said, “Stop ying, it’s 830, we need to go.”


    His girlfriend looked at the three men, walked to the window, and after opening the curtains, pointed outside at the lights of thousands of homes: “Now, it is 830 in the evening.”


    Huang Ping turned pale and stiffly asked, “So today is…


    “Friday.”


    Monkey, looking at the time in disbelief, finally understood why Huang Ping’s assessment of the boss was what it was.


    The boss’s game… was addictive!