Chapter Fifty-Two: Perhaps There Is a Gatekeeper

Inside the office, the three of them reached a crucial point in their conversation. Huang Wei's train of thought drifted, and he subconsciously pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. Just as he was about to light one up, he caught Director Yan's resentful gaze.

Sigh, it was truly a pity that Director Yan didn't smoke.

Huang Wei silently tucked the cigarettes back into his pocket and softly analyzed, "Ren Ye possesses the 'King's Decree' identity trait, which allows him to turn two players and absorb them into his own faction. Now that we've obtained the Songstress identity card, changing her allegiance from the imperial court faction to Prince Huai's faction will consume one of those traits. Therefore, you must use the remaining one with caution. Personally, I think until we figure out whether the Princess Consort is friend or foe, you shouldn't expose this trump card."

"I agree with Old Huang's opinion," Yan Duoduo nodded slightly. "The core gameplay of this Star Gate is faction confrontation, and the role of the King's Decree is greater than that of the Nation-Guarding Sword and the Imperial Brush."

"Understood." Listening to their analysis, Ren Ye voiced another concern that had been lingering in his mind: "There's still one question I haven't figured out."

"What is it?" Yan Duoduo gracefully picked up his teacup.

"Look here, the player holding the Songstress identity card has already been killed by me," Ren Ye looked at them curiously. "In other words, Liu Ling'er's character has died in full view of everyone. If I take someone else in and activate the Songstress identity card, what will happen? Won't Liu Ling'er just revive? If that's the case, it means Liu Ling'er's player identity would be exposed right at the start... How is that even playable?"

The experienced Yan Duoduo tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. "I don't think you need to worry about that. I've read your report very carefully a few times over. The Cool Breeze Prefecture Star Gate has a massive worldview. The entire dynastic transition, historical trajectory, and the 'aboriginals' within this Star Gate all resemble a minor world formed after the shattering of a high-tier Star Gate. It shouldn't have such a stupid bug."

He used a lot of technical terms, leaving Ren Ye slightly bewildered. "What is a high-tier Star Gate? And what is a shattered minor world?"

Hearing this, Huang Wei couldn't help chiming in to explain, "Legend has it that in an era so ancient it's untraceable, the Star Gates formed a complete world, with an inner space that had no boundaries and was too vast to measure. But for some reason, the complete Star Gate shattered, forming countless massive spatial fragments, which we call high-tier Star Gates. After who knows how many more years, these high-tier Star Gates shattered once again, ultimately forming the Gates of Star Traces we have today... Their internal spaces vary in size, and most civilization relics are incomplete and damaged, with only the clearance tasks remaining relatively intact. Therefore, a Star Gate like Cool Breeze Town, which possesses dynastic history and a relatively complete worldview, is extremely rare. Director Yan deduces that it is a singular space born from the shattering of a high-tier Star Gate, and its internal heritage must be extremely rare."

Ren Ye digested this information and couldn't help asking again, "What is the basis for these judgments of yours?"

"Accumulation." Yan Duoduo crossed his arms and looked at him. "Take the Vigilantes for example. Players with various professional inheritances travel through different Star Gates, and their experiences and collected information are compiled into reports sent to headquarters. Gradually, we can deduce some truths. Of course... we also have many bigwigs in special professions who specialize in researching Star Gates."

"Oh." Ren Ye nodded slowly. "Are there still high-tier Star Gates now?"

"Star Gates above Tier 4 are all called high-tier Star Gates," Huang Wei said immediately. "For example, the Vermilion Bird at our headquarters..."

"Ahem."

Seeing Huang Wei getting carried away with his bragging and unable to stop himself, Yan Duoduo coughed dissatisfiedly twice.

Huang Wei awkwardly scratched his nose and immediately mumbled, "Once you truly become a Vigilante, you'll gradually understand it all. The matter of the Gates of Star Traces is too vast and complex; I could sit here and lecture you for a month and still not finish. Just remember that Star Gates rarely have bugs, and if they do, they get patched very quickly, so you don't need to worry about Liu Ling'er's situation."

Hearing this, Ren Ye suddenly recalled some information he had once read in Huang Wei's notes: "Patched?! You mean Gate-Eyed Ones...?"

"Right, Gate-Eyed Ones." Yan Duoduo instantly grasped Ren Ye's meaning. "The existence of Gate-Eyed Ones is precisely to prevent deviations in the Star Gate world. Cool Breeze Prefecture definitely has a Gate-Eyed One as well. Hehe, for all you know, while you players are fighting and doing tasks, he might be right there observing in secret."

"Does he exist in human form?" Ren Ye pursued the question.

"Not necessarily. Gate-Eyed Ones are formless and can transform; it depends on the background of your Star Gate. In a supernatural one, it might be a ghost; in a pet-themed one, it might be a pig... As for your Star Gate, it will most likely be a person, and an entity of transcendent wisdom." Yan Duoduo was very patient with Ren Ye and explained in great detail.

"If I can cozy up to the Gate-Eyed One, would I be invincible?" Ren Ye desperately wanted to take a shortcut.

"Hahaha!" Huang Wei laughed out loud. "It represents the rules of the Star Gate, and its reason for existing is to maintain balance. To put it bluntly, no matter how good your skills are, you can never make it violate the rules."

Inside the office, the three of them repeatedly deliberated over the information Ren Ye provided and made numerous contingency plans for their next entry.

To be honest, these contingency plans were merely "talk on paper," because the gameplay within Star Gates was bizarre by nature, and coupled with the continuous and repeatable nature of the Cool Breeze Prefecture Star Gate, its subsequent content could never be easily guessed. Otherwise, if massive real-world organizations relied on vast pools of talent, wouldn't they completely monopolize it?

...

They chatted until evening.

When the three of them went to the cafeteria together for dinner, Huang Wei hid in the restroom and smoked twelve cigarettes back-to-back—a precise count because Ren Ye had stood outside counting them one by one.

After finishing them, Huang Wei's face looked as though it had been smeared with manure, terribly sallow.

"Feeling good?" Ren Ye asked, pinching his nose as Huang Wei walked out.

"...*Sigh* Feels good, there's nothing quite like cigarettes. Smoking twelve of anything else wouldn't hit the spot." Huang Wei's hair practically had smoke rising from it.

"You don't have kids, and you don't have a wife," Ren Ye looked at him with concern and said, "Buy an insurance policy and put my name down."

"You play nice with Brother Huang, and when I get old, everything I have will be yours." Huang Wei affectionately patted his good son's head and walked into the cafeteria with him once again.

As soon as they entered the restaurant, Ren Ye saw that Yan Duoduo was already sitting in a corner, having served himself a bowl of rice with some greens, eating slowly and chewing carefully.

This kind of leader really won people over. Many people proclaimed every day that they shared the joys of the common folk, but in reality, they ate private meals or even had drinking water delivered separately. After all, by worldly standards, Yan Duoduo was at least at the level of a high-ranking regional official, and many people at that rank would maintain a well-calibrated sense of distance from their subordinates.

Yet he didn't. Eating and chatting with him gave people a sense of profound calmness and elegance, and it didn't feel forced at all.

Huang Wei and Ren Ye got their food and sat opposite Yan Duoduo.

"Swish!"

While eating, Yan Duoduo picked up a brand-new set of documents and pushed them across the table. "Headquarters has approved the person you wanted."

"Really? So fast? Headquarters has got efficiency!" Huang Wei was overjoyed, snatched the documents, and flipped them open to take a look. "Yes, this is the kid—Kyoto's number one psychiatric case."

"Huh?" Ren Ye was stunned. "Who? Is this someone found for me...?"

"Right, this is the new teammate found for you. The two of you will enter the Cool Breeze Prefecture Star Gate together." Huang Wei turned his head to look at him. "Take a look at the file and get familiar with him in advance."

Yan Duoduo took a sip of water. "He'll arrive in Shanghai by tomorrow morning at the latest."

"A new teammate... who's a psychiatric case?!" Ren Ye was dumbfounded, snatched the file, and started reading.

On the first page, the first thing that came into view was a handsome photo of a young man. In terms of appearance, he possessed at least eighty percent of Edison Chen's peak looks.

Below the photo was detailed personal information.

"Name: Tang Feng."

"Gender: Male."

"Ethnicity: Han."

"Age: 23."

"Position: Former Tier 1 Kyoto Vigilante, psychological counseling specialist, psychiatric specialist at the Vigilante Hospital (currently suspended, undergoing self-treatment)."

"Black Marks: Prior to suspension, he conspired with a chaotic-faction player in an attempted robbery of the Kyoto Imperial City District's Vigilante Star Source Vault. Consequently disciplined internally, issued a nationwide unit reprimand, and given one major demerit. Later, judged by the Kyoto Vigilante Disciplinary Committee to be in an extremely unstable mental state due to the influence of his inherited profession, but considering his astonishing potential and the fact that no severe actual damage was caused, he was temporarily neither expelled nor criminally prosecuted, with the decision made to monitor his condition before considering re-employment."

"Inherited Profession: Unknown (Star Gate inheritance not yet cleared)."

"Tier 1 Title: Psychologist."

"...!"

Ren Ye glanced over Tang Feng's personal information, his mind a mess and his expression completely blank.

"...Why pick him?" Yan Duoduo looked at Huang Wei with an equally bizarre expression.

"Judging by Ren Ye's current account, a player's inherited abilities cannot be used within the Cool Breeze Prefecture Star Gate," Huang Wei paused. "But I believe... by the final stage, this restriction will definitely be lifted. I want to gamble on it. If it opens up, Tang Feng will definitely be a massive asset to Ren Ye. And you know his intelligence as well..."

"Cut the crap, I think you're taking revenge on me," Ren Ye turned to glare at Huang Wei. "A guy who wanted to rob his own unit's vault, and you're talking to me about intelligence?! Besides, the identity card I can hand out is a Songstress! Do you know what a Songstress is? A Songstress is a woman... You're handing me a trap-card crossdresser?"

"Don't get emotional, you don't understand Tang Feng's past," Huang Wei waved his hand earnestly. "He's a legend all over Kyoto, and he's also the only Tier 1 Vigilante who has been individually summoned by multiple departments at headquarters..."

"He's a damn legend alright! Plotting with a chaotic-faction player to rob his own unit's Star Source Vault, and the most important part is... that idiot actually trusted a chaotic-faction player!" Ren Ye was on the verge of a breakdown. "I just wanted a normal woman! A normal one!"

...

Kyoto.

In a high-end residential complex, a family of four was sitting in the dining room eating.

"Dad, I'm going on a business trip," Tang Feng said from the left side, his features handsome.

"Aren't you suspended?" asked the refined-looking middle-aged man holding a rice bowl. "Did that crappy company of yours come back to life?"

"Mm," Tang Feng nodded slightly, his eyes innocent. "Dad, lend me 150,000."

"Why do you need to borrow that much money?!"

"What else would I borrow money for? Spend it, squander it, flex a bit." The youth casually stated his simple and unpretentious reasons.