Volume 3: Star Tower Chapter 36: Punishing the Heart (Part 2)
The girl was smiling and talking, with three layers of clothes on her body, looking like a fairy. The rapier in her hand had intricate patterns but a cold light.
Her perfect figure and stunning face had attracted countless otakus in her past life...
Tang Zheng knew that the person to be killed in the seventh round was probably the person he thought was the most unkillable, but he really didn't expect that it would be her.
Tang Zheng had forgotten her voice, her appearance, and almost nothing.
However, when we meet again, I can still react immediately.
"It's been ten years." Tang Zheng said.
"Has it been that long?" the girl asked back with a smile.
"Well, I almost didn't recognize you."
"Nonsense, it's only ten years. You're old, but I'm not. I'm just a string of data!"
Tang Zheng's smile froze for a moment, and he thought to himself, that's right.
Ten years sounds like a long time...
But the scenes from my past life now surged back, as if I remembered every detail clearly...
"Hey, Gentleman! You're such a weird newcomer , why do you have such a weird name?"
"Are you my father or my mother? What do you call me when you are just a bunch of data?"
"Of course I will! The master is in seclusion. From today on, you will learn from me. Come on, call me Senior Sister and let me listen!"
"You? Senior sister? It's only this big?"
"As long as she is older than you, she is my senior sister!"
"Where's it big?" Tang Zheng looked it up and down.
"Every part is bigger!" The little girl put her hands on her hips and actually adjusted the size of a certain part directly.
"Well, this string of data... is so willful." Tang Zheng admitted defeat.
As soon as they met, they started to confront each other in a very childish way. However, it was this kind of confrontation that made Tang Zheng feel an unprecedented sense of reality.
The game was so real that he couldn't believe it.
They ate, drank, lived and slept almost together, and never separated for a whole month.
"Gentleman, you are too stupid. You can't even learn such a simple breathing exercise?"
"It's obviously you who didn't teach me clearly. Otherwise, I should find another senior sister."
"Stop talking nonsense. If you change one, it won't be a string of data anymore. Keep practicing!"
A month was spent mostly in fighting and playing, and I didn't feel it was that hard.
Every morning, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl would teach him, who had just entered the game, how to breathe in and out, how to use skills, how to kill monsters, how to die, and how to resurrect.
However, the time in the Novice Village is very short after all...
"Gentleman, didn't the master say that we are not allowed to go down the mountain? Don't listen to what those people say down there! They are all lying!"
"Gentleman, what did you bring back? Take it! Your senior sister doesn't need it..."
The virtual reality games at that time were so realistic.
At Tang Zheng’s age, he really couldn’t tell whether the outbreak of the conflict between them was the inevitable advancement of the plot or a plot driven ?
Until he read the strategy guide on the forum, titled "The Guide to Obtaining the Ultimate Growth Equipment [Sha Luo] from the Demon Lady of Sha", the first item in the guide required the favorability with the Demon Lady of Sha to reach over 90%.
That Demon Girl was his senior sister , an NPC who taught novices. She was also the first person he regarded as a friend and had been with him for a month!
Then, the world channel was filled with various announcements...
"20,000 gold for level 30 growth equipment [Shaluo], some with price secrets."
"30,000 gold for a piece of [Shara]. White and pink can be bargained for..."
"I'll take [Sha Luo], both game currency and RMB are acceptable, we can trade in person."
Ten years ago, the lowest-end gaming hardware was almost free, but all game time was generally very expensive. Therefore, when the server was first launched, the game coins that could be freely exchanged for game time generally sold very well, with a ratio of almost 20 to 1 with real money. Moreover, now that studios and large guilds are still leveling up, they have not squeezed out the space of gold farmers, so the depreciation rate of game coins is not fast...
At that time, Tang Zheng subconsciously looked at the favorability between himself and his senior sister.
100%!
When he kills the Demon Lady, [Shara] will definitely drop, and he can even choose the color!
On the Qisha Island, white lights flashed.
One warrior after another was eliminated.
But now Tang Zheng just wanted to laugh out loud.
…
At that age ten years ago, I didn’t even know what betrayal meant.
Isn't it just a game? Isn't it just an NPC? Isn't it just killing a boss?
so……
Tang Zheng didn't want to recall it anymore.
During the ten years of fighting, he never forgot that when he raised his hand, there was a voice beside him saying "Idiot, raise it higher"; when he attacked, there was a voice beside him saying "Too slow, try again".
The figure who would either gently raise his hand or playfully launch a sneak attack on him from behind had actually never been erased from his memory.
Just a friend for one month, just a string of data...
When Tang Zheng was 13 or 14 years old, he also frantically searched the Internet for the question of whether artificial intelligence was real. He read countless academic reports, related papers and even science fiction novels, but still couldn't get an answer.
Later, he saw a post written by a technical player, in which he analyzed the setting problems of the novice guide NPC and why the player was required to kill her - the official wanted to use this to make players realize that this is a virtual world and that they are not allowed to develop feelings.
After reading this post, Tang Zheng agreed with it deeply and never looked up any related information again.
But, those laughters never faded away...
"Yes, Senior Sister, I don't want to lie to you anymore. What they said is true. I have committed many evil deeds and killed countless people! I am the Demon Girl they are talking about. Do you want to expose me?"
"Haha, gentleman, although you are very talented, it is not so easy for you to kill me."
The battle lasted for forty minutes and Tang Zheng won.
It was also during that battle that he realized how strong he was and that he could even defeat an S-rank single-player boss!
He remembered that his senior sister had asked him: "If I let you choose again, would you still kill me?"
Tang Zheng remembered his answer clearly.
No!
If he could see her a second time, he would never kill her.
Unfortunately, he later found out that this was just a one-time mission. He never saw his senior sister again, and this NPC also disappeared in his gaming career.
The warmth, unprecedented care, and hands-on teaching of that month were all explained away by “a string of data”.
In the past ten years, Tang Zheng never met her again, so naturally he didn't have a second chance to choose whether to kill her or not.
Unexpectedly, the second time I met her was on the Seven Kill Island, in such a weird and illogical scene!
Last time, as long as he succeeded in killing her, he would be able to obtain [Sha Luo], which would allow Tang Zheng to earn more than a thousand yuan, so that he would not have to worry about food for the next four months. Tang Zheng did it with his superb performance.
This time...
As long as he kills her once more, he can pass the seven rounds of tests and become the Star Lord of the Seven Killers!
Every warrior only has one chance to enter the Tower of Stars. Compared with a mere four months of food rations, it is of far greater significance!
Tang Zheng certainly wanted to know what the Taihao Wheel was. He also wanted to know how to directly call upon time to fight for himself since his star sign represented time...
However, he also clearly remembered that he had said that if he had the chance to meet her a second time, he would not kill her for anything.
"The person I think is the most unkillable is just a string of data. It's already funny, okay?" Tang Zheng smiled and looked at the girl, "Change someone else, don't make trouble."
Tang Zheng has figured it out now.
If she was just a string of data, then his best friend at that time was just a string of data, which was ridiculous.
If she wasn't a string of data, it would be equally ridiculous for him to kill her for just over a thousand dollars.
From any perspective, he is a ridiculous and pathetic person.
“In the Star-Seeking Tower, killing monsters or people is not a difficult task. But in the final seventh round, you have to kill your own heart…” Only at this moment did Tang Zheng completely understand where the difficulty lies.
Last time I knew she was data, this time I also knew she was an illusion.
Not real.
None of it is real.
Moreover, there are a lot of benefits if you try your best to defeat her.
As long as he really did this, he might never be affected by any evil illusions from now on, because he had already killed his own heart, so who else could he not kill in the future?
The Lord of the Seven Killing Stars, is this the result you want step by step?
Just when Tang Zheng was recalling the bitter past and thinking about the sweetness of the past, the rapier in the hand of the girl opposite him had already shaken out a string of sword flowers. Just like the battle that year, her every move was sharp and full of murderous intent.
With a sound of “whoosh”…
The stars behind Tang Zheng rose up, and the Han Jiangxue in his hand blocked the rapier in the girl's hand, and the scattered sword energy made wounds on him.
However, there was only a smile in his eyes. He slapped her chest with the fan dagger in his left hand. Then, as she reached out to grab the dagger, he loosened his hand holding the fan dagger and stretched out his hand to pull the fan pendant.
The star power in Tang Zheng's body flowed rapidly, and his footwork and martial arts skills started in the next second. In just a few seconds, the Han Jiangxue in his hand had exchanged more than ten moves with the sword in the girl's hand.
His footsteps moved like a ghost, circling the tree behind the girl several times, and finally, he reached out and pulled the fan pendant...
Boom!
The girl fell backwards and hit her back against a tree.
The rapier in her hand also fell down, and the whole person was controlled by the silk thread on Tang Zheng's fan dagger on the tree, tightly, without any chance of escape.
The fan dagger in Tang Zheng's hand had broken once. He pulled out the connecting wire at the broken part, left the fan pendant there, put away the fan dagger and Han Jiangxue, and turned away.
"You won't kill me?" The girl said with a smile, "It's just a string of data..."
"Oh." Tang Zheng responded with little interest.
"There is a reward..." the girl said with a smile behind him.
"Oh." Tang Zheng shrugged and just responded with this sentence. Without looking at the girl again, he quickly left towards the beach.
