Forever Self-Contradicting
Han Leng laughed at himself humorlessly. He always knew of his own limitations, and was way over his head at that moment. A guy like him would catch a girl’s heart
Admittedly, he was famous and popular in the literary circle. He even attracted many fangirls because of his handsome appearance. Although these fangirls appear to infatuated with his appearance, Han Leng was aware that the fangirls were only attracted to their mental imagery of him. Their imaginations were only this beautiful, because of their distant proximity.
If they really knew him as a person, they would not remain as infatuated as before. Han Leng was a negative, pessimistic person. It was this aloofness that gave off a carefree, easy-going attitude, which always gave a nonchalant feeling to someone else.
Even if he did like someone, he would never be able to overcome the negativity and pessimism at his core. He would never display any passion, or the initiative to pursue a girl. Han Leng did not see the meaning in all of this. There was nothing that could last until the end of times, and being with a girl at the end of the world was no different from being alone at the end of the world.
At least, he still had “literature” as the essence of his inner world. Even if he was alone, at least he could write himself a captivating girl in a beautiful world that he’s written for himself. Wouldn’t that suffice?
To a passionate author who intended to deliver at least one masterpiece to the world, the importance of his inner world was far greater, even moreso than reality itself. Arguably, these were the losers of reality. Even if they struggled for an entire lifetime, they might not yet reach the level of someone who grew accustomed to reality at the moment of birth. So, why not use a pen and ink to write out the perfect life they could have experienced? No holds barred!
Han Leng self-reflected as so, and quickly decided against observing Zhao Youyue. She may have been a character created by him, but she would not be interested in something as boring as love, and would not be interested in a three-dimensional man.
It could not be helped. One of them was a three-dimensional author, while the other was a character in the literary world. Even if they loved each other, how would they cross one dimension and be together?
Han Leng was overthinking again. Lady Zhao was obviously a living, breathing human being. How could she be a character from a story? He might have drunk too much – which was why he had such negative thoughts.
Han Leng was attracting quite some attention in his classmate reunion party, and was undeniably the center of attention. After all, The Great Scholar Han was doing the best among his classmates. To him, doing well in the college entrance exams or enrolling in a university would not benefit him, as he could rely on his writings to live a well-off life. Enrolling to a university was just a way of gathering materials to him.
Thus, quite a few of his classmates took the initiative to toast with him. Han Leng absolutely abhorred alcohol, but he did not turn anyone down on that day. He soon realized that the tipsy buzzing was not so bad. Perhaps this was the appeal of alcohol.
The more he drank, the wider his eyes were opened. He even discovered an endless loop
He truly admired Lady Zhao, and he really liked her, a lot. However, caught somewhere between these feelings of attractions came the idea, “Zhao Youyue would not be interested in something as boring as love; she would never fall in love.” If there comes a day when Zhao Youyue suddenly came up and confessed to him, he would appear dull and uninterested.
This was Han Leng. This innocent, complex, artsy, psychologically challenged, drama queen could also be crazy.
According to his standards of attraction, his love would never, ever be reciprocated. He would be perfectly happy to allow himself to be used by the other person, and end up alone forever.
Perhaps the only thing he was not worried about was that the girl would suddenly fall into the trap of a boring, dull love. She would then become shy, weak and delicate, lovesick. That would be most unsightly. Repulsively so.
However, women in the real world were all like this. Obviously, calling them repulsive and unsightly might just be too much. We could only say that they were highly common
To someone like Han Leng who was a stubborn, crazy genius who thought too highly of himself, “ordinary” would be uninteresting. Women who get upset and suffer abysmal agony, because of picking uninteresting men for no valid reason whatsoever.
Too few women were realistically aware of their own limitations. Before falling in love, they might just seem a little interesting. As single ladies, they might still be demure and full of life. However, once they start falling in love, they would be done for. They would let anything go for the sake of love.
Han Leng had read numerous works from female authors and soon detected a pattern. When it came to works that were catered to women, they stopped writing just about anything else, and stuck to love when romance kicked in. Love could save everything in the world
It was boring and monotonous.
If there came a day when Lady Zhao became such a woman, even she fell in love with him, he would find it boring and mundane. At that time, he would choose to leave the country and completely give up on real-life women.
He believed that Zhao Youyue had the greatest potential to keep him in love and interested forever.
So, do not ever fall in love, Lady Zhao.
Do not be attracted or yield to anyone. You have to remain high up there, above the rest of humanity, looking down at everyone from the tip of her nose, remaining as superior as ever. That would be the most beautiful attitude you could ever have. No girl would ever be on par with Lady Zhao in this world!
Han Leng emotionlessly chugged down the last glass of alcohol and left the party that was becoming increasingly boring. The party was becoming flooded with all sorts of scenes of love confessions and crying farewells, which was all too familiar for him. Perhaps, four years later, they would be doing paired exercises of, oh, it might not be too long. He was afraid that at the end of the military training, he would still have to experience the sadness and reluctance of parting with the leaving instructor.
This was probably how an ordinary person felt. Han Leng had used such sentiments as reference when inking out a fictional character who was supposed to emulate the traits of a normal person. It was fine to put oneself in their shoes then and now, for it helped in his work.
It was high time for him to create a new story. Unfortunately, he did not think that he could write anything that surpassed “Beautiful April” at that moment. However, he might just be able to write something that sold far better. He even had a title in mind – “Dragon Raja.”
Zhao Youyue did not any pay attention to Han Leng’s early departure from the party. She even went to the KTV to karaoke after eating, with a bunch of classmates with whom she could not remember their names. However, she was not interested in singing, and so she was glued to her phone in the KTV. It was a common sight. Every time there was a get-together, someone would always be minding their own business, playing with his phone. The others would quickly tease on the poor soul.
However, Lady Zhao’s side character aura was dazzling. She did not have to bear with any teasing or taunting from anyone else.
To phone addicts, their phones were the most important things to them. Attend a boring social event like a party was already a sign of their acknowledgement. Asking them to put down their phones might just cross the lines.
Of course, it was boorish on more than one level.
If that’s the case, so be it. If you disapprove of her manners, that’s your business. As long as she’s happy, everything is okay hehehe…
A Taoist Nun Friend of Mine
July passed by uneventfully, if you count out the get-togethers and dinner parties. Zhao Youyue could finally relax again. At the same time, she was no longer weighed down by the worries that plagued her heart.
She had unexpectedly received an invitation from Feng Huo Gaming Company, asking her to dub the voices of two female characters. These two female characters were Yan Qingmeng and Jane Doe Su.
Coincidences were truly fickle. Zhao Youyue did not even anticipate meeting the famous game producer Zha Feng at one of the dinner parties attended by her and her parents.
Zha Feng himself took the initiative to greet Zhao Youyue. He was slightly on the thick side, and had an aura that basically burned of extravagance. He looked more like a nobleman than a game producer. God knows why this noble produced games that overflowed with malice and conspiracy…
Zha Feng thought highly of Zhao Youyue. He admired her gaming skills. Her playthrough with “Holy Monk” had been most inspiring. Something even told him that his recent bouts of inspiration had something to do with her live streams.
Players like Zhao Youyue who did not resort to tricks like “The Bow and Arrow of Justice” or “Killer Cliff of Justice” were truly strong-willed ones. Some skills like “Killer Cliffs” were parlor tricks. They just took advantage of the NPC’s lack of intelligence by using the terrain as a strategy to defeat the difficult monsters.
Zhao Youyue had straight up fought her way through every level. It was dignified, and honorable.
This earned a great deal of Zha Feng’s respect. Zhao Youyue was ethical, legitimate, and her playthroughs were pleasant to watch, almost theatrical. If his games were artwork, then Zhao Youyue was a connoisseur who truly appreciated and respected his work!
Players who resorted to cheap tricks and hacks were an affront to his work. It was like serving good wine to those who did not know how to taste it.
Zha Feng’s respect for Zhao Youyue did not just end there. Her recent live streams had increased the revenue of his game. Such effective free marketing left him indebted to Lady Zhao.
The sales and revenue of the game were the least of Zha Feng’s concerns. He was most delighted at the fact that more people were simply playing his game, meaning that he got to torture more humans with its charm and understand his transhuman-like perseverance and ideals
Perhaps all outstanding creators thought this way. Their creations had left the realm of material. It was like a Baptist preacher giving out a sermon, hoping that they would be able to convey their own ideology and worldview to their readers and players. They hope to change more people and awaken humanity as a whole.
He was not like those creators who created whatever that was sellable. These creators had no spines nor ideals of their own. They only meekly conformed to the desires of the world. This resulted in clich stereotypes that would be as virulent and as incurable as cancer, as there are so many fools in this world…
Zha Feng understood that his ideals were unpopular and underappreciated. His games were especially for players who were sick and tired of games that were stupid, idiotic and only sought for their money. Those idiotic players were not even worthy of playing his games!
Luckily, Zha Feng had never been vocal about his ideas. Ironically, he channeled that disillusionment into his work, turning it into elements of “malice,” “conspiracy,” and included it in his game. If not, his reputation would have gone up in smoke
Some would say: how the f*ck could you even start off a master race argument when it comes to gaming. Games are games. How do you even look down on an equal?
What nave idealists. Master races did exist in games, just like how master races existed among novel readers. Those who read famous books could always look down on those who read ordinary and bland stories. If the latter party did not like it, so be it. They were so far beneath that they won’t even know how to appreciate reading material of a higher form! Your disdain is no match for me.
Such was the case with his games. Players who stopped playing games like “Tale of Wuxia 3 – Swords of the Future” after trying it out because they were horribly tortured would gawk at those who seemed to genuinely enjoy dying over and over again. Are those guys mental? Which nutcase would pay for an extensive torture session?
Well, they were just as sane as everyone else. Everyone had a different spiritual animal. Who knows, someone who read bland novels might grow sick and tired of them, one day. They would then move on to famous novels, and slowly grow into their charm.
Once Zha Feng discovered that Zhao Youyue was the daughter of Zhao Jiayi, his already surmountable respect for her only grew. She was Zhao, and that meant that noble blood flowed through her veins. Not bad, not bad at all.
A new idea dawned upon Zha Feng. The characters in his new DLC had yet to be paired with suitable voices. Zhao Youyue was perfect for the role. This could also serve as another advertising card. After all, Zhao Youyue, a.k.a. Ah Yu, was pretty popular, and their reputation precedes them, even in the highly competitive VA industry!
Zhao Youyue’s use couldn’t possibly end there. Apparently, Zhao Youyue was also an accomplished musician. Why not ask Lady Zhao to sing a song or two? He might even compose a song for her character…
Zhao Youyue was still worried that she would not be able to learn more about the contents of the new DLC. She did not anticipate Zha Feng taking the initiative of sending it to her. At the same time, he ‘let it slip’ to her that there was actually another female character in the game, and her role was no lesser than that of Yan Qingmeng.
Zha Feng did not elaborate on it. He did not have to, as Zhao Youyue knew it very well. This washed over Zhao Youyue like a wave and liberated her of all worries. She was most eager to take part in the production of the game. She was far more confident in composing new soundtracks than dub the characters!
Zhao Youyue first received the script and notes related to the character – “Yan Qingmeng.” She soon discovered that this character definitely needed her full time and effort. This was not just another bland, stereotypical fairy
As expected, as Zha Feng was fixated on the process of creating other characters, did he obtain additional inspiration?
Iconic works needed more than one iconic character. When two or more notable characters met and clashed, the produced iconic scenes!
Zhao Youyue read through Yan Qingmeng’s lines. Everything about her had been designed around the idea of charming the players!
The title of a song rose up in her mind “A Taoist nun friend of mine.”
She started to mourn for the players. They were screwed. They were so screwed. This was going to crush them, and you better pray to God that you haven’t maxed out her favorability, let alone married her
The Law of Humane Justice
Zhao Youyue was just starting up Chu Luoxun’s character card. Someone like her who had a maxed out music ability would have no problem churning out world-class soundtracks.
Zha Feng was filthy rich. He would stop at no expense to make his game perfect. When convinced of Lady Zhao’s musical ability, he would be able to be at ease. He would be okay with anything, even if he found it unsatisfactory and unacceptable. Zhao Youyue was not the only one producing soundtracks; many others were in that department.
Every veteran triple-A player would know that those games ended with extensive closing credits that went on for more than ten minutes
A production of this magnitude needed numbers more than individual abilities. But one could not deny that geniuses could offer a lot more to the production! The game would get far livelier than it could possibly be! A lively game was an appealing game.
Now we had Su Li the artist, and Zhao Youyue the musical genius as the soundtrack artist. It could quickly be concluded that the players would easily have a feast on the game’s visual and sound effects. As long as the story matched those other traits, the game would easily become a masterpiece
Zhao Youyue, however, turned down the Yan Qingmeng role. Popular as she may be, she was no actual voice actor. The only reason why she pulled off Yu Shengfan’s voice perfectly was because she was Yu Shengfan, and nothing beats the original.
If Zhao Youyue was not allowed to voice-over the characters she possessed, she would have been in a difficult position. This was why she would only do the voice-dubbing for Jane Doe Su. She had already lived as Jane Doe Su in the literary world. Even if she fails to obtain the character card, she was still essentially, Jane Doe Su. It’s easy to voice yourself.
It was her, and she knew what to say, when to say it, how to say it. She could do it in her sleep!
Zhao Youyue was highly successful in the audtions, thus becoming the voice actress of Jane Doe Su. At the same time, she finally gained access to what Zha Feng considered to be a top secret file, which was related to the plot involving Jane Doe Su. She could finally relax now…
She soon discovered that her exploits in the Two Dimensional Gate had not been deleted. On the contrary, much more content had been added to her ideas. There were new flashbacks of her childhood and explained how she had often watched her mother perform her stage play with a sword, which explained her amazing sword skills.
When Zhao Youyue possessed Jane Doe Su, she let loose on the settings without any restraint. Zha Feng was more or less polishing things up and cleaning the mess left behind by Zhao Youyue. He often came up with rational explanations to justify her traits. If not, how could she be so strong for no reason whatsoever?
It was now established that any plot related to Jane Doe Su deeply moved Zha Feng. This character was worth his full scrutiny. He had even used this character’s emergence as his own burst of inspiration. However, he did not know anything about this character’s backstory. It bled far deeper down the rabbit hole than he could ever imagine
It could not be helped. Such bottlenecks came up when original creators came up with characters who exuded Gu Long’s style – in a world without Jin Yong and Gu Long.
Jane Doe Su could be considered the female version of Ye Gucheng. Of course, they had a set of extreme sword skills that was only exclusive to them “Fairy from the wonderland” [1]!
Jane Doe Su might not have a name, but she could have a nickname. She could be called the “Nameless Empyrean Blade. The heavens had granted her this sword. There was no need to give any reason for it, it was just that awesome.
The similarities between this Nameless Empyrean Blade and Ye Gucheng started from how they would both sought to commit regicide [2]. Their motives were entirely different. Ye Gucheng was just too bored and wanted to find something to fill his hands. However, Jane Doe Su wanted to take revenge on behalf of her mom.
They would stir up a storm and attract the attention of the masses, and ultimately achieve their true purpose. However, they could not help but be blown away by their opponent’s pure kendo style and chose to complement each other…
This could be considered the main plot in the new DLC [3]. However, the players would be exposed to this truth at the last moment.
In fact, besides the usual, bloody killing in the game, players would also have to investigate, gather information, and analyze them. It was a good part of the game, but things could easily go wrong if a halfwit player made his choices without much thought. The players would then see the consequences of his good-willed, albeit bad results after playing the game for some time. When they finally realize the truth, the true killer would have been let off the hook, only to go on with his tyrannical ways, while the other not-so evil guy would have been unjustly killed, his dreams unfulfilled.
That would be infuriating on another level. As it was, all players had to proceed with caution. It was safer to be certain of all variables and possibilities before making a move. If not, they would have to swallow the bitter pill and face the consequences…
The game had been deliberately designed in such manner. It wanted players to know that there was more to it than killing, and that it had ample backstory, history, culture to share.
As long as players took all of this into consideration, they should not run into much trouble. For example, why weren’t the humans extinct yet, considering the fact that they faced waves of assault from deadly beasts on a daily basis.
Technology gave humans in the real world great strength and power, but the animals are not yet all extinct
Players could actually become friends with the monsters in the game. Not all monsters were bad and evil…
The name for the new DLC for Tale of Wuxia 3 had finally been released. It was called “The Law of Humane Justice.” Once the players saw the name of the DLC, they knew in their hearts that it was obviously referring to the character which had been hyped through the ceiling Yan Qingmeng!
We know, we know. Looks like all of us could once again attack the Righteous Fairy?
Who said the Tale of Wuxia 3 was an adventure game. This was all nonsense. It was clearly a large-scaled love simulation game!
Of course, if you want to play a love simulation game, you must first have the capability. If not, you would be stuck at the level of a small boss for all eternity. How are you going to go on with the plot and impress the female characters?
The new DLC’s CG [4] trailer had of course, been released. Its star was once again Li Xiye the “Sword God,” yet again. He played a rather important role in the game. In editions without the DLC, he was a particularly fierce NPC. At the same time, many fearless players were slaughtered trying to kill him. They wanted to see what could result from crossing blades with him, but unfortunately, they never even got to find out if he bled!
The game was a cheat. How are they supposed to kill him if he could not be harmed? On the other hand, he only had to touch them. How does one even fight him!
Li Xiye seemed to be troubled in the CG, as if he had recently been privy to damning knowledge. That handsome face of his was somber and conflicted
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Translation note:
[1] “Fairy from the wonderland” () is a skill from the TV series The Little Fairy. The Little Fairy is a 2006 Chinese television series based on the legend of the Fairy Couple during the Han Dynasty.
[2] “regicide” ()is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a person of royalty.
[3] “DLC” means downloadable content
[4] “CG” means computer graphics