"'Mirror in the Dust'-World Premiere! After 266 hours of exploration, we finally uncover the one and only true ending: 'Six Dusts Return to Purity!'"
Gu Fangchen pressed Enter and waited for the video to upload, finally letting out a long breath of relief.
Mirror in the Dust,a xianxia single-player game released half a year ago, hailed as a revolutionary milestone in its genre.
It boasted an almost infinite sandbox map, intelligent AI, and fully interactive NPCs.
Beyond the main storyline were over a thousand side plots,truly a game one could play for a lifetime without growing tired.
As a top-tier game strategy uploader, Gu Fangchen certainly couldn't miss out on this wave of divine popularity.
At present, several of the most-viewed videos covering the game's main endings were all cleared and uploaded by him.
Mirror in the Dust was notoriously difficult to complete.
In the game, a multitude of side quests appeared unrelated on the surface, yet tug on one thread and the whole tapestry would shift.
Sometimes, even after finishing the story, players couldn't tell where exactly they had gone wrong.
So, they had no choice but to start over again and again, testing every detail that might affect the branching outcomes.
If it had been any other game, Gu Fangchen would never have bothered with such a clumsy approach,he'd have just dug into the source code directly.
But Mirror in the Dust's developer, Honglu Studio, was a mystery.
The entire codebase was locked under multiple layers of encryption,no one had ever managed to crack it.
So, Gu Fangchen had spent six whole months, burning the midnight oil, painstakingly testing every possible route.
Through sheer stubbornness,and a touch of luck,he had finally unlocked the final ending!
It could even be said that apart from the game's developers, no one in the world knew Mirror in the Dust as well as he did.
"Still, this ending, 'Six Dusts Return to Purity'... feels like it's missing something."
Gu Fangchen rubbed his throbbing temples and closed his bloodshot eyes.
In the ending, the protagonist had sacrificed himself, defeated the final boss, toppled a decaying dynasty, and ushered in a new era.
A hidden post-credits scene even showed one of the heroines waiting at the Yellow Springs, reuniting with the protagonist's reincarnation.
And yet, the countless crisscrossing storylines still haunted Gu Fangchen's mind, refusing to fade away.
"Forget it. Time for a break."
He shook his head, took a sip of hot water,
"Beep!"
A new email popped up on the screen.
Gu Fangchen blinked and clicked it open.
"Mr. Gu, congratulations on becoming the first player to achieve all accomplishments and unlock the sixth ending of Mirror in the Dust. Our company would like to present you with a special gift..."
"Boom!"
....
"Holy shit,"
Gu Fangchen's eyes snapped open, his face blank with confusion.
The hell? He was on the third floor,how did a semi-truck just crash through his floor-to-ceiling window?!
Was this... seriously how he died?
He froze, then frowned. Wait,if he was dead...
Then what the hell was going on right now?
As his thoughts cleared, he instantly sensed something wrong with both his body and surroundings.
He was sitting on the floor, both hands dripping blood onto a scatter of shattered porcelain.
Dim candlelight flickered around him. Broken bead curtains and tattered veils swayed in the air, shadows rippling across overturned bronze incense burners that still released faint whiffs of orchid and musk.
The windows and doors were all tightly shut.
From outside came the muffled sounds of shouting and chaos.
"Hiss-"
He poked at the wound on his hand, immediately baring his teeth in pain.
Then, his pupils contracted sharply.
On his raised left palm, a strange red pattern had appeared,a tangle of lines forming a demonic flower motif he vaguely recognized.
Gu Fangchen's expression hardened as he yanked down his sleeve.
Sure enough, a vein-like scarlet mark extended from his palm up along his pale arm.
No way...
Heart sinking, he ripped open his collar.
The crimson pattern stretched from his arm to his chest,
And there, near his heart, it was forcibly restrained by a golden seal shaped like a hand holding a flower.
The two powers clashed, locked in a stalemate, neither advancing an inch.
"Heart-Poison Mark? Flower-Grasping Seal?"
A sudden roar filled his mind. Pain exploded in his skull, so intense it nearly burst.
"I transmigrated into Mirror in the Dust... as that background cannon fodder,the fake heir of the Northern Garrison Prince's Residence?!"
In the game, the Northern Garrison Prince's Residence was a major power. But this wretched fake heir? He didn't even have a name.
Because when the game's story began, he was already dead,exposed as a fraud and killed miserably.
From the player's perspective, his existence was barely summarized in a few lines of text.
Rumors in-game called him "debauched beyond measure, a man whose sins could fill volumes."
The head of the largest intelligence agency described him as "a fool in life, a disgrace in death,a rag used and discarded, yet smugly content."
As for the true heir, Gu Yuandao, he once said offhandedly, "I never held it against him. I would have let him work in the residence to atone for his mistakes, but who knew he'd take his own life,hanging himself in the stables during New Year."
Of course, at this point in the story, the true heir still went by Zhang Yuandao,this year's imperial examination champion, who had achieved first place in all three rounds and was the pride of the empire.
He had even been accepted as the direct disciple of the Sage of Yaoshan, receiving the Righteous Qi of the Vast Heavens.
And soon, before all the civil and military officials, he would formally reunite with the Northern Garrison Prince,staging a moving scene of father and son reuniting.
"No..."
"It's already happened!"
Using his elbow for support, Gu Fangchen staggered to his feet and looked around the wrecked room.
It all made sense now.
News of the real father and son's reunion must have reached the Prince's Residence. The original "him",the fake heir,had gone mad, locked himself in, and smashed everything in sight.
Not only a fit of useless rage, but also idiocy,he had even cut his own hand open while throwing porcelain!
Gu Fangchen cursed inwardly. This original body was a total waste of human skin!
Because of sabotage and hidden schemes, this fake heir had been poisoned with at least three incurable toxins, his dantian destroyed, unable to cultivate.
Years of indulgence had left him good for only two things,causing trouble and shouting "Father!"
Now that "Father" was gone, so was his sky.
Gu Fangchen took a deep breath, walked to the door, and pushed,
It didn't budge.
His eyes narrowed. A faint ripple of spiritual energy flashed across the wood.
A sealing barrier.
As expected, the residence's guards and secret shadows must've received orders,to confine him here.
After all, this fake heir had spent his life bullying men and women alike, even kicking dogs that crossed his path.
He was universally hated in the residence,now they finally had their chance to stomp him into the ground.
Once the Northern Garrison Prince and the true heir returned, Gu Fangchen's death sentence would be signed and sealed.
"Honglu Studio, you goddamn bastards,is this the 'special gift' you send to your first player who clears all achievements?!"
His face darkened to the color of charcoal.
Not asking for a divine start,but at least a normal newbie village, right?
What kind of hell-difficulty spawn point was this?!
"Where's my cheat? My one-slash-999 damage mod?!"
Gu Fangchen raised his middle finger to the heavens.
"Not even a single damn cheat code? Your moth,"
He froze mid-gesture.
Because right above his head, two shining golden characters floated in the air:
[Emperor]
His raised finger had stabbed right between them, triggering a detailed pop-up:
[Class: Emperor (1 day)]
[Skill 1: Mandate of Heaven (Passive)]
[Skill 2: Power of Life and Death (Active)]
"...May your mother live long and prosper."