Playing an NPC in a Heart-Pounding Game

Spiritual qi revival. The Dark Realm descends. Players around the world are forced to take part in a deadly game called Heartbeat Game. If they lose, the sealed-off area falls, becoming a playground for ghosts and monsters. Yet Yan Xunzhen gets Heartbeat Game: Special Edition. While other players compete in battles and solve puzzles to escape, his task is to play an NPC. If he breaks character, it is game over. Under the scrutiny of billions of viewers watching the global livestream on Blue Star, and tested by the Dark Realm’s endless parade of ghosts and monsters, he has to play an NPC who must even pay to draw cards! This garbage game! Give me my money back! If there’s one thing that counts as this game’s last shred of conscience, it’s that every character card Yan Xunzhen can draw is one he designed and illustrated himself. The fantasies that once existed only on paper have invaded reality. A melancholy, world-weary girl, blooming like late cherry blossoms, sits indifferently at the heart of a tower called “Holy Radiance.” A swordsman in flowing white robes, cold as snow, cleaves through all the myriad things of the mortal world with a single stroke. A ghost woman born of jealousy walks in finery along a brightly lit street, her vivid lips red as blood. A scheming, sickly last emperor dons a nine-tiered crown woven from thorns amid blood and fire. One after another, these NPCs, each with a distinct personality, peerless beauty, and formidable strength, set off an unprecedented frenzy among players, viewers, and monsters alike, in both Blue Star and the Dark Realm. Behind them, the mysterious organization called “Huan Zhen” becomes one of the most mysterious, dazzling, unpredictable, and fascinating chapters of this bizarre, topsy-turvy age. Blue Star players: We’ve run into a member of Huan Zhen. This instance must be high-level. Dark Realm monsters: We’ve run into a member of Huan Zhen. There must be top-secret intel here. If Blue Star’s players and the Dark Realm’s monsters have any complaint about Huan Zhen, it’s this: “My favorite popular characters all seem to have canon couples!” The mastermind behind Huan Zhen, Yan Xunzhen, who plays every single member: “…” To be honest, I orchestrated half the couples you’re going crazy over. As for the other half… Yan, playing multiple roles, scripting and acting it all out, forced to keep up the act, only to discover someone has even more alt accounts than he does, Xunzhen declares: [Why does the world have such an obnoxious profession as puppeteer?! (Screaming himself hoarse)] PS: 1. Both leads are masters of secret identities. The powerful pair compete in acting, but never reveal their real identities to the public. 2. The secret identities are reused, not disposable one-day personas. 3. Some personas belong to chaotic factions. The protagonist’s moral compass shifts with each persona’s characterization, so readers who mind this should proceed with caution. Theme: The world is a battlefield, and every player is an adventurer. They play their roles in each mission and write their own legends.