DANMEI Reading List (RAW) Pt. 2

367. High Energy QR Code

Translator: Isohungry Translations

Chapters: 251 + 19 Extras

Tags: worldhopping, gong MC, unlimited flower, clever MC, game elements, comedy

Synopsis:

Xing Ye entered a strange world full of traps and snares after scanning his 'deceased' brother's QR code to investigate the truth behind his death.

The first world:

System: Novice world, 4 players, PVP mode. Because your luck value is too low, you will be doing a 1v3.

Xing Ye: ......

System: You will not be told the rules or the identities of your opponents. You must discover everything by yourself.

Xing Ye: ......

System: You obtained a task prop: Mirror. It has no special skills and can't move or talk. It thinks everybody is ugly.

Xing Ye: ......

System: How did you win?

Xing Ye: I just killed them all.

Impressions: I love it! Probably one of my fave gong MCs~

So our MC's little brother dies of sudden cardiac arrest. Lil bro is healthy, no problems at all, so our MC thinks there's foul play. However, after some investigation, its really just...sudden heart attack. So our MC turns into...unscientific causes. He remembers their last talk and the QR code he saw on his brother's phone. He REDRAWS it FROM MEMORY, scans it and enters a game where he is asked to choose camps. A following fate player or challenging fate player. Following fate players are LUCKY but they're subject to the System's rule while challenging fate players are UNLUCKY, but they have more freedom in the early stages. Our MC chose to be a challenging fate player.

Arc 1 - Mirror, Mirror, Look at Me (Chapters 1-18) - Fairy Tale world. There was once a queen who became ugly so she banned all mirrors in the Kingdom. Our MC becomes the most beautiful girl in the land and picked up a magic mirror. Mode of play is to avoid the endings set by the following fate players. Our MC reaallly demonstrates his out-of-the-box thinking. He also meets shou here which is a former-player-turned-into-magic-mirror props.

Arc 2 - Who Took My Head (Chapter 19-48) - Campus world. There are seven mysteries on the campus which is related to the task objects the players are looking for. MC's identity is a rich delinquent student. Takes advantage of his identity's MONEY to make the NPCs his informants on the other players. MC meets some of his teammates here, a strong girl and a healer guy. Discovers the true story behind the campus mysteries. MC also learns shou's identity in real life. They are acquaintances, and shou made a major influence in MC's life.

Arc 3 - There Are No Liars in  Puppet City (Chapter 49-78) - Fantasy. MC & team plus shou gets turned into puppets. They live in a City of puppets who were given human nature. They must find the only puppet who does not lie and fulfill his wish. #spoiler MC's teammates find out about the System's conspiracy...that following fate players will eventually turn into props.

Arc 4 - Human-Face, Beast-Heart (Chapter 79-108) - Hard Mode. MC gets amnesia everyday (his memory will 'reset'), mania and transvestry(?). Has to find the alien 'parasite' in the hospital before everyone gets parasitized. Meets a new teammate who are good to and good at girls. I like MC's character here...like shou said, MC is more fun/daring when he didn't have his memories.

Arc 5 - Where Am I? (Chapter 109-133) - MC and team gets into a new world and they have to guess where they are. #SPOILER!!! They're in the spiritual world of a suicidal patient. They also get a glimpse of the System's behind-the-scenes and MC finds out what happened to his little brother (Lil bro is so cool!)

Arc 6 - Cruise of Greed (Chapter 134-165) - MC and players gets sent into a cruise ship to gamble. He meets the womanizer teammate there and he opens up a new branchline on his own XD XD XD Anyways, MC beats the System on this one.

Arc 7 - Sacrifice to the Mountain God (Chapter 166-201) - MC gets sent to a village. His identity is one of the sacrifice to the Mountain God. Uncovers the mystery in the village and true identity of the mountain god.

Arc 8 - Hunting 30 Million (Chapter 202-235) - Train scene. MC gets hunted by 19 other players while on a moving train. Really kudos to MC's teammates! And womanizer guy once again, is playing a different game XD

Arc 9 - Final Stage (Chapter 235-251) - MC gets sent into a parallel world to defeat 'himself' and his resurrected little brother. MC wins against the System and everyone gets released from the game (shou wakes up in the real world) but their memories are erased.

Extras -Finding Memories (Chapter 252-269) - Shou enters the game (MC is his prop item, a book!) and needs to revive the demonized town in order for him and MC's team to get back their memories. We get to see a game under shou's POV, a lucky player, and it really is quite different from MC's game mode, more...positivity (lovely sunshine shou!) Shou chooses to see the kindness in everything over the maliciousness of the System. 

Extras - Concealing the Sky (Chapter 270) - Extras about MC's little brother~ Cool guy~

I like this! I love clever MCs! Like I said, I love his outside-the-box thinking, taking advantage of the loopholes of the System rules...or not just blindly believing what the System tells them. MC gets the true ending by going beyond what the mission is asking him. MC is also really resourceful, even if he gets put into a disadvantaged identity, he is still able to make it work and even take advantage of it. (The System likes to make him cross dress XD)

Also surprised that MC isn't a lone wolf type. He is actively bringing his team members and we see character growth in each of them. Each of them is interesting, I especially like the strong girl and the womanizer guy XD Even MC's little brother, he is actually really cool, not the type to be protected, but a high ranking player who would rather die than become a prop. 

Hmm... what else, I like the romance, it is SLOW ROMANCE, but there's actually a reason and a very valid one. MC chose to take it slow cos he feels that it is unfair to shou. Although he doesn't treat shou as a prop, but in reality, shou IS a prop, so they're in an unequal standing. Shou is dependent on him/he can control shou's life and death so he didn't want to determine their relationship just yet and want to properly chase shou once he wakes up in his own body.

Overall, the setting is a normal unlimited flow (game wants to trap players) but MC's way of solving made it different from the others. Favorite arc is campus arc and gambling arc. Lots of interesting characters.

Nearest reco: The Earth is Online/Card Room for the game elements/unlimited flow. And Don't Pick Up Boyfriends From the Trash Bin for MC's unusual way of finishing the missions.