Selling Cheats in an Infinite Game

The two most terrifying lines for players of Ark are these: One is the System saying, “The game begins.” The other is Li Weiran saying, “Your cheat is about to expire.” Li Weiran, the first to poach from the developers, an emotionless money-making machine, and the only golden finger dealer across all servers. To repay the 13.9 billion points he owes the System, Li Weiran sells golden fingers in an infinite game, sending the game’s developers into an uproar. As a golden finger dealer, he has a 100% approval rating! Because nobody can survive an infinite-game instance and come back to leave a bad review. (Strike that.) To investigate the source of the cheats, the Ark developers dispatch their most cold-blooded, merciless administrator, Zuo Huai. Zuo Huai goes undercover as a player and infiltrates his way to the top of the rankings. To catch a criminal, you first need evidence. Zuo Huai decides to buy a cheat, just to see. Li Weiran, who’ll risk his life for money, smiles faintly: “I sell to the top-ranked player too. Nobody comes back alive to leave me a bad review.” Zuo Huai: “I heard buying a cheat gives you a random debuff?” Li Weiran: “Don’t worry. It’s like drawing a card. Sometimes you get a minor problem that’s no big deal.” Zuo Huai: “?” Zuo Huai realizes he has a serious problem. His debuff makes his heart race whenever he touches Li Weiran. Former top-ranked player, a bug of a bottom × current top-ranked player, an administrator top Classic infinite-game fiction, plot-focused △ In case anyone asks: a debuff is a negative effect. The cheats sold by the protagonist cause random debuffs. GM means game master, or game administrator. △ Several parts of the story have been revised. Please refer to the official version. △ No story can suit everyone’s tastes. I don’t recommend subscribing to the whole thing right away. If it’s not your cup of tea, feel free to leave. △ Many thanks to @Yinghua Daxianing, a nationally certified master of painting the perfect picture, for authorizing the character card. It’s so cute! **Coming soon: The Stars of Humanity Fall. Please bookmark it! The Society of Truth has orchestrated multiple assassinations around the world. A top life sciences expert dies of acute cellular failure; a genius in high-energy physics perishes in a spacetime tunnel; and the founder of psychohistory bursts into flames in front of an audience during a speech. But none of that has anything to do with Li Zhenfeng. He just sells excavators... That’s right. Li Zhenfeng, the second-generation head of the fabulously wealthy Tiangong Heavy Industries, has a life so empty that all he does is count money. What would be the point of assassinating a pitiful businessman like him? Yet one day, a malfunction sends a satellite he designed and manufactured crashing off its calculated trajectory and straight into his 320-acre private island estate. Li Zhenfeng nearly dies in the blaze. That very night, a military helicopter lands on his private helipad. A silver-haired man with red eyes steps out, his uniform immaculate and his boots crushing starlight beneath them. He is the legendary android general, humanity’s most powerful weapon: Shuofeng. “Mr. Li, by order of the highest authority of the National Defense Committee, I am responsible for your safety. From today on, you are to remain under my surveillance twenty-four hours a day.” Li Zhenfeng: ? This is absurd. He, Li Zhenfeng, is just a businessman. Who would want him dead? He’d originally planned to refuse, complain, protest, and hire a lawyer. But the moment he saw Shuofeng’s face, even more striking than the rumors claimed, Li Zhenfeng let desire cloud his judgment and made a mistake he’d regret forever... Li Zhenfeng: “Then I’ll be in your hands, General.” * Shuofeng was made for war, a steel blade forged by the Alliance at the cost of all its resources. An executor who would never betray them, the embodiment of absolute reason. All of that crumbles after he meets the target of his mission. That refined and elegant young master is also a genius who has earned both acclaim and scorn. He is like a spark, lighting up the cold soul of an artificial intelligence. Shuofeng willingly lets his reason fall apart for him and turns his back on the Alliance for him. Together, they brave every obstacle and tear apart the lie known as Truth. The price Shuofeng ultimately pays is the complete destruction of his chip... The red glow in his eyes fades. Li Zhenfeng’s reflection fills his deep gaze. “Mr. Li, I will stop monitoring you...” “But I will never stop loving you, Zhenfeng...” The stars do not die. They shatter into a brighter galaxy. Human-like AI general top × genius rich young master bottom △ Cyberpunk, heavy-industrial aesthetic △ Not a wish-fulfillment story. The protagonist will be injured and go through low points. △ Not pure fluff, but with a happy ending Theme: There are no shortcuts in life