Chapter 110: Wang Ying’s Birthday

“Player Chen Baxian, congratulations on successfully completing the NPC Lin Heier’s mission ‘Assassinate Liu Ziyuan.’ You may now claim your reward from Lin Heier.”

“Player Chen Baxian, during the assassination of Liu Ziyuan, you demonstrated exceptional political acumen, masterfully employing the tactic of ‘killing with a borrowed knife.’ Congratulations on gaining +1 intrigue attribute point, and your ‘Borrowed Knife’ skill has been upgraded to intermediate level.”

Borrowed Knife: (Intermediate passive skill) When the player has a conflict with someone, they can use a third party to deal with the enemy. In special scenarios suitable for this intrigue skill, the system has a 30% chance to provide psychological prompts.

Since entering the game, Chen Hao’s leadership and individual combat attributes steadily improved, but his political attributes remained his weak spot. His goal was to become a regional warlord, where reputation and intrigue were the most crucial political attributes. Reputation could be raised by participating in major events, and with his future memories, he was confident in that. However, intrigue points were a constant headache.

Demonstrating brilliant political tactics to gain system recognition would increase intrigue points, as would receiving guidance from NPCs with high intrigue. The first method was rare and unpredictable; the second seemed simple but NPCs with high intrigue were cunning as foxes, hardly willing to assist players easily.

When Chen Hao mastered the Borrowed Knife skill, he earned one intrigue point; this time, the intrigue point reward was also related to that skill. Gaining even one intrigue point was no small feat, but what mattered more was upgrading Borrowed Knife to intermediate. Intrigue skills had no concept of proficiency; upgrades were highly random, making their improvement rare and valuable.

The Borrowed Knife skill was powerful, with a 30% chance the system would offer psychological hints during suitable situations, increasing the likelihood of Chen Hao’s sudden inspiration next time. His most important task recently had been assassinating Liu Ziyuan. Now that Liu Ziyuan was dead, he was eager to find Lin Heier and collect his reward.

According to his memories, the player’s first base should have been established over a month ago, yet there was no sign of it. He suspected the first command center blueprint in his memory was the one Lin Heier held.

Planning Liu Ziyuan’s assassination had taken Chen Hao two months. Players in previous lifetimes had surely taken less time for this task, as not everyone feared ending up blacklisted by the Qing Court like him. The game had now been running for three months; in about ten days, the second command center blueprint for the Huaxia region would appear. If he didn’t hurry to claim his reward, the blueprint’s value would greatly diminish.

Arriving at the city’s courier station, Chen Hao paid the fare for the coachman to take him to Hebei. Riding a horse would be faster, but the carriage allowed him to rest. Horseback riding consumed more energy and reduced satiety faster, so the carriage was more economical.

Removing the game helmet and logging out, Chen Hao noticed it was time to replace his nutrient solution again. Checking his account on the brain-computer interface, he found just over 20,000 yuan left. He logged back into the “War” game and withdrew 200 taels from his pouch to exchange for real-world currency.

This was the fourth time Chen Hao had replaced the nutrient solution, costing 50,000 RMB each time—a significant expense. With more and more players falling for scams, screenshots comparing reloaded and original bullets circulated on forums, making it harder to profit from reloaded bullets. After daily expenses, he had only saved a little over 2,000 taels.

For most players, 2,000 taels was a fortune, but for Chen Hao’s plans in the Northeast, it was barely a drop in the bucket. Although the exchange rate of taels to RMB remained high, he would not have converted taels if not urgently needing cash.

Converting 200 taels yielded 240,000 RMB, enough to replace the nutrient solution four times. Just as he was about to call Hongda Corporation, a sudden realization struck him, cursing his own absentmindedness. He had been using a nutrient pod recently, while Ban Qianqian used a regular game helmet—he had been so absorbed in the game he hadn’t noticed this detail. Clearly, he was a very unfit boyfriend.

Logging back into the game, he exchanged 500 taels for 600,000 RMB, then saw he had only about 1,800 taels left in-game. Chen Hao sighed. Money was never enough. The 1,800 taels were nowhere near enough to bribe the NPC bandits; at best, he could buy gifts to curry favor with their factions, hoping the smooth talk of the pale-faced villainess would work.

Picking up his phone to call Hongda Corporation, he noticed two missed calls—one from Wang Ying, the other from Xia Weiwei, both his close friends from high school.

Chen Hao dialed Wang Ying first, smiling as he said, “Sorry, I was playing a game and missed your call—did you finally get married and forget to tell me?”

Wang Ying answered calmly, “Today is my birthday.”

Chen Hao’s face flushed with guilt. He didn’t celebrate his own birthday, but Wang Ying always sent him good wishes on hers. She remembered her birthday; it was embarrassing that he had forgotten hers this year. Usually, he never missed it. Recently, he had been so immersed in gaming he didn’t even know the date.

Wang Ying’s birthday celebrations were simple—she would invite a few close friends to a casual meal at a restaurant and explicitly ask for no gifts, encouraging cash instead. For seven years since high school, this was how she celebrated, and Chen Hao had never forgotten or missed it.

If Chen Hao had been more tactful, he might have said he remembered and would contact her later, but instead, he apologized, “I’ve been playing games the past few days and accidentally forgot your birthday.”

“Cut the fake apologies. Dinner’s at Waterside Garden tonight. Don’t forget to bring your little girlfriend.”

Wang Ying hung up. Sitting beside her, Xia Weiwei laughed, “Looks like college changes everyone! I remember Chen Hao never lied before, and now he’s learned to cover up. He’s clearly got a new flame and forgot his old love, but had to blame it on the game.”

“Stop talking nonsense. Who’s his old love?” Wang Ying smiled. “I think what he said is true. Maybe life softens him, but he wouldn’t forget us.”

“Yingying, you’re defending him too much. Honestly, you’re such a great girl, it’s his loss. I should set you up with someone sometime...” Xia Weiwei was cut off as her phone rang. Answering, she teased, “Hey! You finally answered my call, neglecting your friends for your new love? By the way, it’s Yingying’s birthday today—did you remember, or did your new flame make you forget?”

“Heh, Weiwei, you got half right. I forgot Yingying’s birthday, but not because of a new girlfriend—I was just too absorbed in gaming.”

“Yeah, right,” Xia Weiwei scoffed. “Yingying said you have to bring your little girlfriend along tonight, or else the poor girl might get jealous seeing you out with a bunch of beauties. Honestly, Yingying’s such a good girl, always thinking of others—too bad you’re missing out.”

“What are you talking about? Yingying and you are both just good buddies to me. We’re too close for me to make a move.”

“We’re not your buddies,” Xia Weiwei shot back, “We always treated you like a sister...”