After an Infinite Flow Player Retires

Ye Jia opened the notebook.It looked very old. The specially treated paper gave off a strange blue glow, making the writing more easy to decipher.On the front page was a crookedly written line of words that had become blurred over time.Happy Father’s Day.The handwriting was childish but every stroke was clearly written very seriously.Ye Jia’s gaze lingered on those words for a moment and his actions paused ever so briefly before he proceeded to turn the page over.Ji Xuan sat beside him with his scarlet eyes half narrowed. He watched the young man before him thoughtfully.Ye Jia carefully flipped through the contents in the notebook.It seemed to be a diary. The dates were not consecutive and the lengths of each entry were not consistent but the contents were very similar, mostly recording daily trivial matters. It seemed to be something the old man had used to write his thoughts down whenever he felt like it.Even after Ye Jia finished going through the notebook, he didn’t find anything useful.“How was it?” Ji Xuan asked.Ye Jia shook his head and frowned, “Nothing at all.”That can’t be.That notebook had been specially treated so that it wouldn’t corrode and it was even specially hidden inside the former director’s body. There couldn’t possibly be no information related to the door if it was something protected and preserved so carefully.Was it just because it was a gift from his daughter?Ye Jia went through the notebook again. The pages rustled with each turn of the pages. Blank space and blank spaces, words and words, they quickly flashed past before his eyes.…...Wait a minute.Ye Jia’s eyes widened.It wasn’t that there wasn't any information in here. Instead…..It had been encrypted.His back involuntarily straightened. His eyes stared fixedly at the small black book before him as he concentrated very hard.After all those years inside the game instances, Ye Jia was no stranger to this kind of encryption. Generally speaking, in order to decrypt it, one must figure out a string of characters, that is, the key. If someone tries to decrypt it without that key, it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack; almost impossible.Ye Jia, who seemed to have suddenly thought of something, was a little stunned.He slowly turned back to the first page of the notebook.-----Happy Father’s Day.On the light blue paper, those crooked characters were particularly eye catching.The former director ------- His maternal grandfather…..what did he regret the most?Driven by ambition, he had opened the door and caused the death of his daughter.If that was the case…...what could the key to decoding the encryption be?Ye Jia’s fingers lightly stroked the edges of the page as an indecipherable look appeared in the depths of his eyes.He turned to look at Ji Xuan, “Do you have a pen and paper?”Ji Xuan nodded. He hooked his pale finger slightly and a pen and paper flew over from one of the rooms not far away and came to a stop in front of Ye Jia.Ye Jia gave his thanks and then began to write something at his desk. He then proceeded to test it out one after another.-----Mother’s name.No.------Mother’s birthday.No.-----Mother’s death anniversary.Also no.Ye Jia was a little stuck. He raised his head and looked at the four or five pieces of paper before him that was covered in scrawls and frowned.If none of these were the right ones, what else could it be?Ji Xuan who was still bearing the appearance of a child bent down beside him and frowned when he saw the scribbles, “What is this?”Ye Jia snatched back the piece of paper from his hands, “Decoding.”He pointed at the small notebook, “I believe the former director has encrypted information in his notebook. The reason is…..”Ye Jia suddenly stopped.The reason.What was the reason for it? To hide it from Mother?This small notebook had been hidden inside his body the entire time. If it contained information about closing the door, as long as Mother finds out about the notebook's existence, she wouldn’t try and decode it and just directly destroy it.In that case, the contents were encrypted against humans, not ghosts.I see….If Qi Shengze had already figured out how to close the door, rather than spending time writing it down, wouldn’t it have been better to directly tell the Bureau?But he had chosen to encrypt it and keep it in his notebook, even going as far as hiding it in his body ----- As you should know, the door hadn’t been opened at that time and even the game hadn’t come into existence.Ye Jia’s fingers tightened around the notebook, the tips of his fingers turning white from the force.------ Looks like things aren’t as simple as how it seems back at the Bureau.But, in that case, at least the scope of what the key to decode the encryption could be has narrowed down.It wouldn’t be any public information. Things like names, death anniversaries and birthdays were too obvious. If he was trying to protect it from the people from the Bureau, using them as the key to decode it would be completely meaningless.What else could it be?Ye Jia lowered his eyes and his gaze fell onto the front page of the notebook. He then reached over and gently stroked the smooth paper surface with his fingers.In an instant, like bright lighting suddenly cutting through the dark night, a long-forgotten memory flashed across in his mind----He was slightly startled. The tip of his fingers stopped for a moment on the words ‘Father’s Day’.In Ye Jia’s memory, his mother and her father didn’t seem to have gotten along very well. He had never met his grandfather before and he also rarely heard his mother talk about him.The only time she talked to him about her father was on a certain night.Ye Jia couldn’t remember the reason for it anymore. He could only remember a small fragment from that day.The graceful-looking woman had her head slightly lowered and she appeared to be immersed in her memories. Her voice was gentle as she spoke into the dark night, “My father is a very busy man, he almost never comes home. I would always miss him when I was young and would prepare a gift to be brought to him every Father’s Day but none of them managed to arrive in time…..He never called me back or showed his face. This went on for two or three years. In the end, I gave up. After growing up later, I realised……”She laughed:“Turns out the day for Father’s Day changes every year and I only remembered the date from when I was four. This resulted in all my gifts being taken as a prank and rejected before it could even reach him.”At that time, the young Ye Jia only raised his head and looked at his mother ignorantly.The woman’s face didn’t have any particular expressions but it still gave off a somewhat sad air ---- This sadness left a deep impression on Ye Jia.Coupled with the impact of his mother dying in front of him, every memory Ye Jia had of his mother was particularly precious.So although a lot of time had passed, he could still recall it very clearly.Mother…...Four years old, Father’s Day.Ye Jia was stunned for a moment. He took out his phone and flipped through the calendar.Using the year, month and day as the key, he began to decode the notebook before him.Ten minutes later.Ye Jia slowly straightened up. His gaze fell onto the paper filled with words before him and there was a strange light in his eyes.…..It worked.The contents of the first few sentences in the notebook had successfully been decoded. This meant that the key was correct.In fact, the decoding in itself…..gave him a lot of information.The purpose of concealing the information this way was twofold. It was not only done to prevent people from knowing the contents, but it was also done to allow the right person to decode it.This date, only Mother herself knows.At the time of writing this diary, both her and her husband had been confirmed dead.And the only immediate family left was……..Himself.Ye Jia pursed his lips tightly. His pupils constricted.This diary would have been impossible to decipher if it wasn’t him. This meant that from the moment his grandfather was placed in confinement, he knew very well that Ye Jia, who was still young at the time, would play a very big role in the future.He knew that Ye Jia would definitely live until this moment and see this diary.This was…...written specially for him.The truth of the matter seemed to have slowly unfolded before him.The tips of Ye Jia’s fingers trembled slightly. He couldn’t tell whether it was due to excitement or fear, or both.He took a deep breath, lowered his eyes and continued with the decoding..Blast hid his presence and followed closely behind the burly fierce ghost through the underground tunnel.The underground passages travelled in all directions, the walls all containing traces indicating that it was only recently excavated.The deeper Blast followed, the more alarmed he became. He felt that almost the entire M City had been hollowed out underground.Faint light peeked through the earth not far ahead.The sound of heavy objects falling could be head overhead. Dirt and gravel scattered onto the ground.Blast lowered his body slightly and used the faint light to look ahead.Countless pale limbs appeared in his field of vision. Layers upon layers of corpses were stacked on top of each other with almost no end in sight. There were so many, it was almost impossible for Blast to tell how many there were.There was the clanging of chains.Countless souls were being extracted out from the corpses.Under the shroud of extremely thick yin energy, those souls that were originally thin and transparent were dyed a dark colour and forcibly turned into ghosts.One by one, they were thrown into the underground passage. They let out miserable cries calling for help but were whipped by the fierce ghost’s thorny whip and forced to continue walking.Threatened by the fierce ghost, those new ghosts could only continue to dig.They were probably trying to dig for that malice-filled black fluid.Blast stared fixedly at the despairing souls ahead and ground his teeth angrily. His knuckles cracked from how much force he was using.Although he really wanted to do something, but…..Although he may not be resourceful enough, Blast was still quite clever when it came to fighting. He was very aware that he is currently in the enemy camp and will only bring harm to himself if he acted too rashly.At this moment, faint voices could be heard coming from the passage above his head. Most of the contents couldn’t be heard clearly but Blast was able to capture a few key words:“…….direct descendant, Ace…….”He was slightly startled. He looked up in the direction from which the voices came from.Were those ghosts talking about Ace?Blast turned to take one last look at the tormented souls before turning and leaping out of the cave determinedly.His actions were light and his movements were agile. When he landed, he hardly made any sound.This was already the city centre of M City.The sky was even darker here than in the outskirts of the city. Everything was shrouded in red and black, the oppressive feeling making it difficult for one to breathe.The surrounding buildings were complete ruins. Large piles of building remnants stood against the gloomy background, looking like giant monsters.Blast looked over in the direction of the voices and saw two fierce ghosts walking towards the city centre one after the other.He secretly followed behind them and listened carefully.The two seemed to be talking about the underground tunnels being dug out as well as the humans that were sent over.“…...A thousand and two hundred came from the east. They have already been thrown in.”“How many more will be needed to dig out all the springs?”“I don’t know. Tens of thousands maybe.” That fierce ghost replied indifferently, “These aren’t things we should worry about. Just do what you need to do.”The fierce ghost whose body was like jelly and had four or five faces on its head shrank back timidly:“B-but…….”“But what?”“The direct descendants are too scary…..” It trembled visibly to the naked eye and all its faces grimaced, “I really think I will be killed……”“Then try not to get yourself killed.” The other fierce ghost’s attitude was very indifferent, as if it didn’t care about its companion at all, “Anyway, you only need to survive this month.”“This month?” The jelly-like monster jiggled as it hurriedly tried to keep up, “I won’t need to pass on messages to them after a month?”“Heheheh.” That fierce ghost snickered darkly, “That’s right.”“After a month…….Mother won’t need them anymore.”…….Won’t need them anymore?What did that mean?Blast’s eyes widened in shock. His concealment weakened a little.Before he could figure the situation out, the fierce ghosts before him seemed to have suddenly sensed something. They both turned around, their eyes carrying a malicious light, “Who is it?!”Shit.Blast’s entire body froze.His ability to conceal himself wasn’t too good. It was enough to fool the slower ghosts but as soon as he encountered higher levelled ghosts with high sensitivity, the chances of him being discovered was very high.Blast hurriedly retreated, managing to avoid one of the sharp claws attacking him, and turned and fled towards the building ruins.Sweat dripped from his forehead.-----Gotta get out of here fast..There was quite a loud commotion outside.Ye Jia was pulled out from his extremely focused state because of this commotion. He furrowed his brows slightly and turned to look in the direction of the noises.“What’s going on?”Ji Xuan went over to the window and narrowed his eyes. With a voice belonging to a child, he said:“Looks like an intruder broke in.”Intruder?Ye Jia was stunned.A few familiar faces appeared in his mind.Someone who has the ability to come so far and be so reckless…..There was probably only that person.Ye Jia immediately stood up, causing the few sheets of paper that had not yet been filled to fall to the ground. He frowned, “I’ll take a look.”Ji Xuan turned and stopped next to him, “No.”Ye Jia was surprised, “Huh?”Ji Xuan looked at Ye Jia, “If you come forward, it would attract the attention of the other ghosts and can make Mother suspicious.”He took Ye Jia’s hand and made him sit on the sofa, “I’ll go.”Ye Jia’s brows furrowed even more deeply, “But…..”Ji Xuan: “Don’t worry, Mother is not in the city at the moment and if anything happens, the underlings I have placed under Mother will come in handy.”Ye Jia thought for a few seconds before sighing, “…..Alright.”“But……” Ji Xuan then added.He narrowed his scarlet, blood-like eyes, the eyes shining a sly light, “It is still very dangerous.”Ye Jia frowned, “Indeed. Otherwise……”Before he could finish speaking, the young boy before him interrupted.Th other party raised his small face and looked at Ye Jia pitifully.He raised a finger, pointed at his check and said with a tender voice belonging to a child, “A good luck kiss please?”Ye Jia, “…….”As expected of you.Ji Xuan, “Gege, you still owe me a night, remember?”Ye Jia, “……….”Looks like there really was such a case.Back at the capital, before he could finish giving back the time he owned, he was interrupted by the information revealed by Puppet Master.Ji Xuan, “And a goodnight kiss……”Ye Jia, “I have never agreed to a goodnight kiss!”Ji Xuan tapped his cheek again and said obediently, “If you kiss me this time, I won’t ask you for a goodnight kiss.”Ye Jia, “…………………………………….”He took in a deep breath and squeezed the bridge of his nose helplessly. He then leaned down and very quickly touched the other party’s cheek with his lips.The moment his lips were about to touch the other party’s cheek, the other party turned his face over.Ye Jia wasn’t able to react in time and he felt a soft and cold sensation on his lips.He trembled and jerked back.That sudden action caused him to lose his balance. The next second, a pair of sturdy arms wrapped around his waist.The man who was extremely close at hand had his lips slightly raised. His voice was low and husky:“Be careful, gege.”Even despite becoming a ghost with no body temperature, Ye Jia could still feel a hot and strange feeling spread from his lips, making him extremely uncomfortable.Ji Xuan didn’t push things too far.To escape from the other party’s wrath, he went over to the door in just a few steps and, before leaving, he turned around and smiled at Ye Jia:“I’ll be back soon.”When Ye Jia returned to his senses, the other party was already gone.Ye Jia, “……..”This trick again!!Fuck!He sat back down with a dark expression and then proceeded to pick up the scattered pieces of paper from the ground and continue with the decoding.But the sound of the pen writing didn’t continue for too long.As soon as that sound stopped, the room fell silent.A long time later, Ye Jia expressionlessly raised his hand and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. His scarlet eyes flashed a vicious light.When Ji Xuan is back later, he’s going to beat him up..Blast panted heavily.Behind him was an alley filled with ruins and not far ahead was a collapsed high-rise building. There was no way out.Blast gritted his teeth and jumped up, but before he could take more than a few steps, he saw several ghosts appear above too.He reflexively attacked.Scorching flames filled the air, shining bright under the dark sky.All the ghosts that came into contact with the fire wailed miserably. As if they were alive, the fire wrapped around the ghosts and reduced them to ashes in an instant.But more fierce ghosts continued to appear, brandishing their sharp teeth and claws as they charged towards him.He was forced back.A ferocious roar sounded from behind.Blast was startled. He turned to look behind him ---- He was completely surrounded. There was absolutely no way for him to be able to break out of this encirclement.Well then…….He can only fight.Blast’s eyes burned with fire. His lips were slightly twisted as he revealed a taunting smile. A large ball of flames rose from his palm.More ghosts charged over.At this moment, a lazy voice belonging to a man sounded not far away, “I was wondering what you were making a fuss over.”The fierce ghosts and Blast’s actions stopped. They all looked over.A tall and lean man stood tall on top of the ruins. His pair of sinister scarlet eyes narrowed slightly as his thin lips hooked into a smirk:“Against a tiny bug like this, you’re all taking so long……”Blast’s pupils constricted.------Ji Xuan!He gritted his teeth angrily, his teeth grinding from the force. His eyes remained fixed on the man ahead, as if he wanted to tear off the other party’s skin.“Shameful.” The man looked down at them from above.Those cold and dark eyes clearly didn’t belong to a human. It looked down at them as if he was looking at an insignificant speck of dust.“AHHHHH-------” Blast let out a bloodcurdling scream from the depths of his throat. The fire in his palm burned even more brightly. With great anger, he charged straight at Ji Xuan.The next second, a scarlet wave of blood rose up. It looked like a monster ready to devour the other party any moment.For a moment, the entire place was deadly silent.All the fierce ghosts could only stare at Ji Xuan blankly.Ji Xuan smiled, “You were too noisy for gege.”The next second, humongous waves of blood crashed down from all directions, swallowing up all the fierce ghosts present in an instant.The man glanced indifferently at the empty space before him before turning around and disappearing into the air..It hurts…….it hurts.His entire body felt like it had been disassembled and then reassembled again. A heavy suffocating feeling pressed down onto his chest, making it difficult to breathe.It was pitch black.Am I…...dead?The weight on his chest suddenly disappeared and cold and dry air rushed into his throat, scratching against his trachea and lungs like knives. Thick smell of blood filled his nose and mouth. He was in such a dizzy state, he felt as if he was trapped underneath a pile of ruins.Blast coughed hoarsely.“Hey?……...Hello?!”A familiar voice travelled over from the distance. They sounded very anxious.Warm hands patted his back, encouraging him to slowly breathe a little better.He opened his eyes with great difficulty.Through his blurry vision, he saw a young woman look down at him with a look of concern:“Hey, are you okay?”It was…….Wei Yuechu.The Wei Yuechu who had been stabbed in the chest by Ace’s scythe and fell into the dark and bottomless abyss.The young woman patted his cheek, “Are you awake?”Blast was a little dazed.His lips moved wordlessly before he could finally ask in confusion, “Did I…...go to heaven?”Why else would he be seeing a ghost here?Wei Yuechu, “…………………”The corners of her lips twitched. She took a deep breath and slowly reached out to grab a thick book nearby that looked like it would hurt if one was hit by it.Heaven my ass!