Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Preliminary Understanding of the Star Gate

This small theater was not large, and its interior decor was old and crude, yet the dressing room remained clean, tidy, and free of any unpleasant odors.

Mr. He sat beside the vanity, holding an eyebrow pencil, meticulously tracing his makeup. Judging by his attire, he was portraying the role of a *Qingyi* in Peking Opera.

A short while later, a young man and a young woman entered the dressing room and said respectfully, "Mr. He."

The man on the left appeared to be about twenty-five or twenty-six, with a robust build, strong, chiseled facial features, and a handsome appearance. Beside him stood a graceful, delicate-looking young woman in a solid black dress; her face was somber, and her eyes appeared somewhat hollow. This pair, who looked quite well-matched, were named Xing Tao and Guo Cai'er. Both were "Copper Bell" members of the Bell Society. Furthermore, Guo Cai'er was the daughter of Wang Hong, and both she and Xing Tao were undercover players from the Qingliang Mansion Star Gate.

The two real-world teammates whom Wang Hong could not betray were none other than these two. It was common knowledge that before the Qingliang Mansion Star Gate opened, there were two other Star Gates that served as "preparatory" missions. The Bell Society had secured three entry tokens during those two preparatory missions and selected these three individuals to enter.

However, unexpectedly, during the first act, Wang Hong, who was responsible for the team's information gathering, was killed outright.

"My mother is dead. That Prince Huai must be a player," Guo Cai'er said, standing to the right in a low, flat tone, though there was little sign of grief on her face.

"My condolences," Mr. He replied indifferently. "Prepare for the next entry. I will handle the rest."

"Let's just find the player acting as Prince Huai in the real world and kill him," Xing Tao interjected straightforwardly. "I’ll take a few people to handle it. I guarantee he’ll die even more miserably than that president who soiled his pants!"

Mr. He turned his head slowly, looking at him with calm eyes. "Your and Cai'er's primary mission is to successfully clear Qingliang Mansion and obtain the extremely rare legacy there. That is more important than your lives. Do you understand?"

Xing Tao swallowed hard under the other's gaze and nodded slightly.

"Mr. He, what do you intend to do?" Guo Cai'er asked softly.

"According to your account, the character of Prince Huai holds too high a perspective, possesses formidable status and abilities, and is certainly not aligned with the imperial court. Now that we’ve lost an undercover player, you two alone cannot control the overall situation." Mr. He turned his face toward the mirror, lightly touched the lipstick box with his index finger, and began to apply it evenly to his lips. "Players can obtain each other's entry tokens by killing one another. If we kill this person, we can send four people next time the door opens, and one of them will be Prince Huai. That would stabilize the situation significantly."

"I am currently unsure if a player from a non-Qingliang Mansion Star Gate would receive the token after killing 'Prince Huai'," Guo Cai'er reminded him.

"Then bring him back for you to kill," Mr. He shrugged. "That’s safer."

"Can you find him in the real world?" Guo Cai'er asked with clear logic.

"In the two preparatory Star Gate missions, we killed three 'Watchmen' and tricked one to his death," Mr. He replied with a faint smile. "In the end, the one we tricked to his death managed to leave with his token using only his corpse. That token... was a brush."

Guo Cai'er grasped the implication immediately. "After I entered, I received an imperial court mission and am currently in the capital helping Emperor Jing lay out the tomb of the former dynasty's princess. In my perspective information, the old emperor did indeed gift Zhu Zigui an imperial brush..."

"Correct, I have already read the report you wrote." Mr. He put on his headpiece and stood up slowly. "The imperial brush is Prince Huai's entry token, so Prince Huai must be played by a Watchman. I’ve sent people to scout; this player should be in Shanghai... You two go. I will take eight Copper Bells with me."

Guo Cai'er remained silent for a long time. "Please, you must capture 'Prince Huai'."

Mr. He turned around, gestured with a delicate hand, and asked in a theatrical voice, "The pain of losing a mother, an irreconcilable enmity?"

"Ha," Guo Cai'er sneered. "We had already severed our mother-daughter relationship. I meant... if we can successfully kill Prince Huai, no one will be able to compete with us in the Qingliang Mansion Star Gate."

"Yi-ya-ya-ya!"

Humming in a theatrical style, Mr. He flicked his sleeves and walked toward the door with small, measured steps. "Ten months of pregnancy, the grace of nurturing—how should this servant repay it?"

Guo Cai'er stood frozen in place, saying nothing.

Xing Tao remained silent for a long time before decisively fawning, "Cai'er, offer your condolences... If you feel uncomfortable, just hit me, give me two slaps..."

"Let's go." Guo Cai'er walked away.

Five minutes later, the theater curtain slowly rose, and a few middle-aged and elderly audience members watched the stage while eating fruit.

Mr. He, dressed in a green robe, struck a pose and sang in a clear, resonant voice: "Esteemed patrons, the show begins now!"

Outside the door, the shifty-eyed young man responsible for serving Mr. He spoke into his phone: "Have you contacted that player who sells information about the Great Qian Dynasty? Oh, good. Tell him the price is his to name—cash or Star Source are both fine. Yes, we are heading to Shanghai tonight for a face-to-face transaction..."

...

The next morning.

Ren Ye woke up feeling groggy, his body still exhausted and his spirit low. It wasn't until he drank two bowls of the leftover soft-shelled turtle soup from yesterday that he felt a bit better.

It seems the aftereffects of the Princess's ultimate move will last for some time. Am I really going to lose my lifespan? Ren Ye wondered, feeling a bit anxious while alone at home.

"Ring-ring!"

The phone rang.

"Hello?" Ren Ye picked it up. "Who is this?"

"It's Xu Peng from yesterday, remember?" a slow, drawling voice replied.

"Oh, right. What's up, brother?" Ren Ye immediately recalled the man's dull, vacant expression.

"I'm downstairs at your place. The Boss sent me to pick you up," Xu Peng said. "Today, I’m responsible for teaching you some knowledge about Star Gates."

"Alright, give me a minute, I'll be right there." Ren Ye set down his bowl and headed straight for the bedroom.

...

At 9:00 AM, in an ordinary office at 88 Lianhu Road.

Xu Peng sat in a chair with a pile of documents and asked politely, "You look very pale. Do you want some medicine?"

"...No, thank you." Huang Wei had specifically instructed Ren Ye last night not to eat anything Xu Peng offered.

The two sat opposite each other. Xu Peng scratched his messy, bird's-nest hair, pulled a bag of herbal medicine from under the table, and downed it right in front of Ren Ye.

"What is that you're drinking?" Ren Ye asked curiously.

"A medicinal soup I made myself, for nourishing the Yin and kidneys," Xu Peng smacked his lips, unsatisfied. "Added too few fire centipedes; the flavor is a bit weak!"

Ren Ye felt his stomach churn at the remark. "Is this stuff actually useful?"

Hearing this, Xu Peng felt his professionalism challenged and looked displeased. "No one makes medicine more targeted than mine. The Boss once drank a bag and stayed at a club in the south of the city for two full days."

"That potent? Give me a bag later." Ren Ye became interested, thinking he could test it on Er Leng.

"Today's is finished. I'll brew some and bring it to you later. But if you like it, you'll have to pay for it next time; I have costs, too..." Xu Peng nodded obediently, spread the documents out on the desk, and folded his arms. "I don't have experience teaching others, so the process might be a bit dry, but if you don't understand something, feel free to ask."

"Understood."

Ren Ye nodded immediately, his playful expression gone. He was genuinely eager to understand the Star Gates.

Bright sunlight poured into the room, shining on the faces of the two young men. The learning atmosphere was excellent.

Xu Peng sat by the window and said softly, "Within the legacies of the Star Trace Gate, there are twelve conventional career systems and three extremely rare ones. They are perfectly categorized and infinitely varied. Take me, for example: I am a Light-type professional, currently in the first stage, with the stage title—Barefoot Doctor."

Ren Ye nodded slowly. "Old Huang told me his stage title is Blood-Eyed Monk. But I don't understand, what does this stage title actually mean?"

Xu Peng pondered for a moment. "A stage title is a summary of your current professional characteristics. Take me, for example: I am an 'Unordered Inheritor.' I previously experienced a small-scale ancient-style Star Gate where the specific mission was to rescue a royal physician and save his family. After clearing the mission, I received his legacy ability—becoming a 'Barefoot Doctor,' belonging to the Light-type career sequence. As for the Boss's 'Blood-Eyed Monk,' it's because he experienced a mythological Star Gate and obtained a bloodline legacy there. He belongs to a Power-type career sequence; his abilities lean toward offense, but his intelligence is a bit low. A brute, you know?"

Ren Ye became increasingly curious. "So, what are your abilities?"

Xu Peng replied with a touch of pride, "Simply put, my abilities are all for saving people, such as medicine making, remote pulse diagnosis, and so on. In short, it’s all about great love and healing the world... but the professional missions for my stage are very unfriendly."

"...How so?"

"I need to taste three thousand different herbs and one thousand different poisonous insects. I also have to develop a miraculous medicine for severe illnesses, successfully promote it, and gain the respect of a certain group of people." Xu Peng said helplessly, "It's too hard... the organization won't let me sell medicine. But if I don't complete these two missions, I can't advance to the next stage."

"Three thousand? There aren't even that many herbs in the world, are there?"

"There are in the Star Gate."

"...What if you taste something and die?" Ren Ye asked.

"Then that's considered a sacrifice for scientific research," Xu Peng said with a sad expression.

"I salute you."

"However, I am an Unordered Inheritor. Perhaps by the second or third stage, I will have learned all the physician's legacy abilities. To advance further, I can only keep traveling through Star Gates, looking for subsequent matching career legacies to slowly improve." Xu Peng continued, "This is the drawback of being an Unordered Inheritor; you have to figure out many things yourself, but you also have the chance to become a god."

Ren Ye stretched his neck. "Are there really gods in the world?"

"No, currently not one," Xu Peng replied with certainty. "I don't know what stage the big shots among the Watchmen are at; that's all classified."

"Oh." Ren Ye nodded.

"Back to the previous topic. Whether it's an Unordered or Ordered inheritance, the career systems are infinitely varied, and everyone's path is different." Xu Peng said gently, "Let's use me as an example again. When I perfectly inherit the 'Royal Physician' legacy and learn all his abilities, the remaining path must be walked by myself. Suppose I later travel through a modern Star Gate that has a medical genius legacy from a Western hospital that matches me well, and I clear it... then my future abilities might involve modern medicine. My subsequent stage title might change to something like 'Chief Surgeon' or 'Surgical Expert,' with ability characteristics potentially involving surgical precision, physical mutation, or even virus creation. But my previous abilities would still be retained."

Although this was not long, it contained a massive amount of information. Ren Ye pondered for a while before trying to summarize: "Although you are a Light-type professional, the scope of this career is very broad. Every Light-type player has unique plasticity in their ability characteristics. Is my understanding correct?"

"Completely correct," Xu Peng nodded slowly. "There are fifteen career systems in total in the Star Trace Gate. Although some are stronger or weaker in the early stages, every player is unique and can live out their own life."

"Understood."

"Good. Regarding the classification of careers, you can read the internal manuals of the Watchmen; otherwise, we wouldn't finish in a day and a night." Xu Peng pushed an internal book toward Ren Ye. "What I want to tell you next is the faction division in the real world and the Star Gate world."

"Alright."

"Let me ask you, what do you think... is the meaning of our existence as Watchmen?" Xu Peng asked with a very serious expression.

Ren Ye thought for a moment. "Managing ordinary people shouldn't require you, right?"

"Correct. Where there is light, there is darkness," Xu Peng said word for word. "Our meaning is just like the police. There are countless legacies in the Star Gate world, and among these legacies, there are naturally evil ones... I heard from Captain Huang that you encountered Bell Society players in the Qingliang Mansion Star Gate. They are a very large evil player organization... also known by us as the Chaos Faction."

"Very large?" A sense of discomfort rose in Ren Ye's heart as he heard the other describe the Bell Society.

...

Shanghai, on the city ring expressway.

Mr. He sipped his coffee elegantly, turned his head to look at the scenery outside the window, and said, "First, contact the player selling information about the Great Qian Dynasty in the group; we will trade with him tonight. Also, contact our local comrades; I want to personally scout for information regarding Prince Huai..."