Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

The storyline of the game did not depend solely on Zha Feng. There were other screenwriters in the Fenghuo Gaming Company. Sometimes, they also cooperated with other well-known, freelance scriptwriters. It was said that Zha Feng really admired Gen Urobuchi, a scriptwriter from Japan. He felt that Urobuchi was a “soldier of love” who could bring “love” into this cruel and miserable game, so that the players would always remember it.

Apart from the storyline, Zha Feng was responsible for other things like the worldbuilding, gameplay, technical settings of the game and so on. Zha Feng was the reason behind the freakish difficulty of this game. He was the one to blame. According to him, this would allow the players to experience the most realistic and cruel Jianghu[1] experience...

For the players, realistic and cruel or whatever, all of it was a trap. Even if they completed the tutorial, the combat of the game would still be dastardly difficult!

Zha Feng’s storylines were also the deepest and most tortuous. Whenever he got to creating, he always wrote it from the POV of the player-controlled character. Hence, now that he was intoxicated, he almost felt as if he had personally entered his own game world. He became a man called “Zha Feng.”

Zha Feng soon became a part of Jianghu, and a martial artist too, at that. For ordinary folk, the so-called Jianghu members were often nefarious and unpleasant. They were unproductive, aggressive and fierce. Sometimes, they would even come fully armed and casually rob the people in the village in an oppressive manner.

Of course, all factions and sides of things had their own exceptions. The nobler variety of Jianghu members were equivalent to mercenaries who accepted various quests for payments. They could even be regarded as hunters. Many relied on the Jianghu people and the martial artists to deal with the devils and monsters that were dangerous and harmful to the human race. After all, people like priests or monks were also regarded as people of the Jianghu.

In fact, most players would accept the quests, because they were exactly that – quests. As long as they completed it, they would be rewarded. Perhaps, they could even get the “best sword in the village”...

The main questline of the players was also a process of accepting quests and completing quests. The quests also unlock more of the storyline. After all, players had to find out more about themselves, get revenge for their loved ones, and the usual. They had to first do something for some elites, the influential people. Only then, would they receive some information.

Of course, there were also some players who threatened and blackmailed their way through. As long as they were bold and skilled enough, they could easily have the elites by a thread. Of course, they had to be prepared, as the elites might retaliate. Naturally, if they do, it would turn into a fierce battle. Rumors had it that owning more orange coded achievements would always result in one having tough fights with many powerful elites.

Generally, when players spoke to an NPC, there would often be four options to choose from. All four choices had different attitudes. The fourth option would always be in such a tone —- —-

Hey, hey, you better quietly listen to grandpa, or I’ll kill you!

Naturally, after saying something like this, a battle would ensue, unless the player was dealing with an NPC that was inherently weak in nature. As long as they beat the NPC, or even kill the NPC, they could continue to obtain more hints on where they should head to for their next quest.

So, in a sense, players would still be able to progress through the storyline by killing and killing all the way. Otherwise, they would have to accept the NPC quests and help them do a little something or kill some monsters...

Currently, in the game world, Zha Feng was taking a more conventional route. He accepted any quests that he came across. After all, many NPCs were powerful. If he wanted to progress through the plot by killing his way through, it would probably be way more difficult than just accepting quests.

This game gave the players the feeling that people were more difficult to kill, compared to monsters!

Zha Feng was currently hunting a group of undead curs. If he fought them one at a time, all would have been well. However, if he provoked a group of them, death was more than a certainty

However, players always made mistakes. He inadvertently provoked a group of curs. He found himself completely surrounded. Escape was not possible. He watched his own HP bar plummet. Snow fell from the sky. As it was already evening, his surroundings were rather dark, setting a rather depressing tone to the scene!

As he was currently intoxicated and seemed to have actually entered the game world, for the first time, Zha Feng felt that he had really gone a little overboard in creating these little critters that attacked in a group...

However, just as he was resigned to the death-respawn-repeat cycle, a plainly dressed young girl appeared. The most noticeable part of her body was the sword attached to her waist.

The sword looked like a sword that was used for performance arts. It did seem threatening in the least. However, when the girl drew the sword, the entire world turned into the dawning of a new day!

Without hesitation, the girl rushed into the group of undead curs. She danced swiftly with her sword, slashing through them like the wind. She had put her life on the line to protect a complete stranger.

At that moment, Zha Feng’s eyes saw nothing but the girl who danced ever so gracefully with her sword. He had no idea why such a character would appear in his own game world. A phrase that he had always lived by was precisely this —- —- you cannot be selfish to the point where you think that others are not selfish.

Out of all the NPCs that he has created, almost every single one had been self-serving. They probably only treated the players amicably when there was an equivalent exchange. For example, the sword god Li Xiye indeed acknowledged the potential of the players. He also believed that the players could serve as his sword’s whetstone. Thus, he would not mind helping some players at certain times, but he never did it for free.

Other NPCs were worse than Li Xiye. They treated players like tools. When they have drained all the value out of the player, they eventually discarded them

All in all, this world was filled with wickedness. Fortunately, the players were only playing a game; it was not the real world. Such a world would have only driven the players to insanity!

For players, the more depressing the game was, the more they wanted to use violence to rebel and destroy. It was addictive!

However, in such a dark, miserable, depressing world, someone that actually took the initiative to come out and save the other players had appeared. Wasn’t this heartwarming?

In an attempt to save him, Zha Feng watched the gray-clad girl get injured before his own eyes. Then, he did something that many players would do —- —-

Firstly, he saved the game file. Then, he lobbed off the head of the young girl who had just rescued him, to see if she had any loot. The sword hanging off the girl’s waist was gorgeous. It was most probably a godly weapon...

He read its flavor text —- —-

Flying Rainbow Sword (+0), a sword used to perform sword dances, not designed for killing.

It was clean equipment[2].

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Translation note :

[1] “Jianghu” (lit. “rivers and lakes”) is the community of martial artists in wuxia stories and, more recently, outlaw societies like the Triads.

[2] “Clean equipment” () refers to the equipment in games that still have their default stats, untouched, not scrolled, enhanced, or upgraded before.