The Nightmare Rising Stars screen stood in the central hall.
This hall was different from the magnificently decorated core hall. It followed a modern industrial style, dominated by black. Black curtains covered the walls, dotted with scattered silver and gold fragments. From a distance, it resembled a dreamy summer night sky full of stars. But upon closer inspection, faint bloody handprints could be seen on the curtains. The tiny metallic fragments were actually pieces of human dentures glued onto the fabric.
In the game, a player was defined as a newcomer if they had participated in fewer than 52 games. Based on the average frequency of one game per week, players who had been in the game for less than a year were considered newcomers. Newcomers had their own rankings and promotional lists, among which the Nightmare Rising Stars List was the highest honor.
There were ten screens in the Nightmare Rising Stars Hall. Only the top ten newcomers of the day could appear here. The competition had always been fierce. Many players would briefly make it onto the list, only to be squeezed out moments later.
But today, the atmosphere in this fiercely competitive hall felt… strange.
That was because the second, third, and fourth screens were all playing Bai Liu's small TV.
Wang Shun hurried over and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Bai Liu had rushed into second place, but the third-place Du Sanying and fourth-place Mu Sicheng had both placed Bai Liu's small TV at the center of their own screens. From a distance, it looked as if Bai Liu alone occupied three spots on the Nightmare Rising Stars List.
Many viewers who hadn't been following Bai Liu were drawn into confusion.
"Who is this newcomer? One person occupying three screens? Impressive."
"That's Bai Liu! The one who caused such an uproar on the forum before! Clearly, you haven't been keeping up with the gossip. Back then, a bunch of people said that once he met Puppet Zhang, he would either die or become a puppet. Tsk. Who would've thought Puppet Zhang would end up becoming his puppet instead?"
"I remember a lot of people on the forum mocked him because he earned so many charged points in his first solo game. A bunch of low-level players were jealous and said he was too pretentious, that he'd be struck by lightning sooner or later. Now he's on the Nightmare Rising Stars List. If this newcomer is ruthless and happens to catch a few of those people in a game and kills them, I wonder who'll really be struck by lightning."
[Cleared Exploding Last Train's true ending: 30,000 points rewarded.]
[Cleared Exploding Last Train's true ending: 100 attribute points rewarded (can be allocated freely on the attribute panel).]
[Reward for collecting the Exploding Last Train Monster Book – Exploding Passengers page: 20 broken lenses (unknown quality). All broken lenses must be collected to unlock the complete item.]
[Reward for collecting the Exploding Last Train Monster Book – Brother Thief page: One Thief's Black Finger (good quality) and 60 broken lenses (unknown quality). Equipping the Thief's Black Finger grants a third hand capable of stealing items unnoticed. All black fingers must be collected to unlock the complete item.]
[Reward for collecting the Exploding Last Train Monster Book – Ghost Mirror page: Mirror Frame (unknown quality). Core tool used to hold broken lenses. 400 broken lenses are required to assemble a complete mirror.]
[Total reward for collecting the Exploding Last Train Monster Book: Passengers' Blessing (excellent quality). The passengers are grateful for being freed from their painful fate and have bestowed their blessing upon you. Whenever you sit in a vehicle seat, their souls will guard you and prevent monsters from harming you.]
[Note: The vehicle cannot be forcibly brought in by the player. It must belong to the original scene.]
[System: Comprehensive evaluation of player Bai Liu's small TV.]
[The Exploding Last Train gameplay video received 153,266 likes and 186,385 bookmarks. A total of 94,802 points were obtained through charging. Meanwhile, 1,359 players disliked the video. At its peak, over 100,000 viewers were watching simultaneously. Player Bai Liu's game video undoubtedly received extraordinary attention.]
[The comprehensive data of player Bai Liu's small TV has exceeded 300,000. Along with the Siren Town video rating, it qualifies as a flashing silver badge video. However, due to the 1:122 dislike-to-like ratio, it has ultimately been rated as a bright silver badge. This qualifies it for entry into the VIP Library. Player Bai Liu's game video has entered the VIP Library.]
[After entering the VIP Library, players who wish to watch Bai Liu's Exploding Last Train video must become system VIP members and pay 60 points. The points will be split 50:50 between player Bai Liu and the system.]
[Bai Liu's small TV has earned the following achievements:]
[First player in recent records to leave the Graveyard Dancing Area.]
[Second place on the Nightmare Rising Stars List.]
[One of the first players in recent records to clear Exploding Last Train.]
[After Spades, the first player to enter the Nightmare Rising Stars List in his second game.]
Bai Liu stepped out of the exit and found Mu Sicheng leaning against the doorway, waiting for him.
When Mu Sicheng saw Bai Liu, he looked him up and down with complicated eyes.
"I knew you must've had some trick up your sleeve, but how did you get out alive? That was a god-level NPC…"
Bai Liu gave him a meaningful smile. "Do you want to know?"
Mu Sicheng hesitated for a few seconds before nodding.
Bai Liu calmly spread his hands. "Pay points to buy the information."
Mu Sicheng: "..."
"Fuck. You just earned nearly 100,000 points from charges, and you're still trying to squeeze money out of me? You really only see money." Mu Sicheng looked utterly depressed. "Forget it. I don't want to know. How much have you scammed from me so far?"
Bai Liu's smile turned even more amicable.
"You only have one Black Finger item, right? It's designed for thieves. It should be very useful to you. Do you want it?"
"I happen to have one here." Bai Liu looked at Mu Sicheng innocently.
Mu Sicheng: "..."
"How much?" Mu Sicheng asked numbly, already preparing to pay to avoid further disaster.
Bai Liu smiled brightly. "I want the remaining 320 mirror fragments."
"…I only have 80 broken lenses." Mu Sicheng frowned. He stared at Bai Liu for a few seconds before suddenly realizing what he was plotting. "Damn, you want me to help you collect the rest of the broken lenses? Why?!"
Bai Liu remained unhurried. "You also want to collect the Black Fingers from the other players. You might as well help me collect the broken lenses, too."
Bai Liu hadn't expected that all the items awarded this time would be incomplete. It would take five Black Fingers to form the complete "Third Hand," and 400 broken lenses to assemble the mirror item. There had been five players who cleared the game. Each received one finger and 80 broken lenses—exactly one-fifth of what was required. Even if the items were high quality, possessing only one-fifth made them unusable.
There was no need to discuss the Thief's Black Finger. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell it was essential for Mu Sicheng. He would definitely try to collect all five fingers.
As for the broken lenses… it was still uncertain who would ultimately gather them all.
Mu Sicheng sneered. "Bai Liu, have you forgotten that Fang Ke and Liu Huai are guild players? Any good items they get have to be handed over to their guild. The Thief's Black Finger has strong personal attributes. It's not very useful to them, so they might not be required to hand it in. I can pay them to sell it to me."
"However, the broken lenses are different. They're marked as unknown quality because they come from a god-level NPC. The last god-level item was your whip. You were ridiculously arrogant in that game—your judgment was terrifying. Everyone saw that you, an F-grade panel player, could wield that kind of power." Mu Sicheng crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "So how powerful do you think an item made from the god-level NPC's broken lenses will be?"
"The broken lenses Fang Ke and Liu Huai have will definitely be handed over to the King's Guild. The King's Guild will absolutely try to gather all the fragments and assemble the complete item."
"However," Bai Liu said thoughtfully, "there are still 80 broken lenses with you, me, and Du Sanying. What methods will the King's Guild use to obtain them?"
Mu Sicheng raised three fingers. "I can think of three."
"First, purchase. They'll offer a high price to buy them from us. Bai Liu, I regret to inform you that Du Sanying has already sold his broken lenses to the King's Guild for 60,000 points."
Bai Liu sighed softly. "As expected, Du Sanying always manages to create trouble for others. Still, spending 60,000 points on fragments with unknown effects—the King's Guild is truly wealthy."
Mu Sicheng continued, "Second, theft. That's my specialty. They'll find someone with stealing skills or items. Guild players might follow us into games and try to steal the fragments mid-instance. But don't worry—no one steals from me unless they're insane."
"Third"—Mu Sicheng wiggled his three fingers with a grin—"the simplest and most profitable method. I think you've already guessed it."
Bai Liu lifted his eyes calmly. "Kill me in a game. Everything I'm carrying becomes theirs."
"You killed one of their senior players. They invested heavily in raising Puppet Zhang, only for him to be eliminated by you." Mu Sicheng exaggerated his tone in mock menace, though he wore a careless smile. He clearly didn't care about offending the King's Guild. "You've thoroughly offended them, and now you want to steal their broken lenses too. Do you have any sense of self-preservation? They'll hunt you to the ends of the earth."
"I do now," Bai Liu replied lightly. "Unfortunately, it seems a bit late." He glanced at Mu Sicheng and suddenly laughed. "Even so, you didn't sell your broken lenses to the King's Guild. You kept them. Does that mean you're prepared to be hunted alongside me?"
"You're delusional." Mu Sicheng snorted and looked away. He shoved his hands into his pockets, then abruptly pulled one out and punched Bai Liu in the shoulder.
"You were the one who wanted to cooperate first, right?"
Bai Liu staggered slightly from the hit. At the same time, a system notification sounded.
[System Tip: Player Mu Sicheng has given player Bai Liu 80 broken lenses.]
"Oh, right." Mu Sicheng seemed to remember something. A strange smile appeared on his face, as if he were oddly excited at the thought of confronting the King's Guild. "What should we call our combination?"
"When Puppet Zhang was chasing me, I told Liu Huai that once we killed him someday, our combination would become famous. Back then, I gave our duo a really tacky name—Thief and Assassin."
Later, the thief stole the assassin's knife, and the assassin cut off the thief's hands with that very blade. The once-insurmountable puppet master who controlled everything had ultimately been executed by the newcomer Bai Liu. The unimpressive duo name had long since faded from the forums.
"How about we give our new partnership a name?" Mu Sicheng suggested suddenly.
Bai Liu didn't care much about such things. But since live broadcasts thrived on entertainment value, having a duo name would indeed attract attention. He glanced at Mu Sicheng. "What do you want to call it?"
Mu Sicheng's eyes darted around. "…What about Thief and Schemer?"
Bai Liu couldn't help making a deadpan expression. "= ="
Did this person only know how to name combinations after professions? If Mu Sicheng knew that Bai Liu's original identity was a wanderer, he might suggest something like Thief and Wanderer…
"In that case," Bai Liu said thoughtfully, "we might as well call ourselves… Wanderer and Monkey."
Silence lingered for a few seconds. Then Mu Sicheng exploded. "Fuck! Bai Liu, what are you implying?!"
Mu Sicheng could never have imagined that this seemingly ridiculous name, casually coined by Bai Liu, would one day sweep across the entire game. It would become a nightmare combination that struck fear into countless players.
Whenever they heard the sharp laughter of a monkey and saw the smiling young man in a white shirt and suit pants, the outcome of the game had already been decided.
In this world of endless terror, the laurel crown and the monkey would always belong to Wanderer and Monkey.
The curtain was about to rise on the eve of their victory.