1 What bull-feces is this reward?!

"Stupid game!" Liu Fu Jie shouted in annoyance as he smashed the keyboard onto his desk. This was the country's best professional gamer in his natural habitat.

"Brother Jie! You have to win!" A loud voice sprang from the other side of the headset.

"This is bullsh*t! This game is rigged!" Fu Jie responded, "Why do I have to win?!"

"Don't forget about the prize. I'm 99% sure it's that gear you always wanted."

"Damn it all! I'm going straight in. Cover me." Fu Jie cracked his knuckles and stretched his head towards the left and then towards the right before immersing himself in the game.

"Roger that!"

They raided the town hall, fought the demon boss, and lost. Built a troop and fought the boss again. Won and backstabbed the troop; robbed the troop and ran away, eradicated the small NPC's, and leveled up. Joined a new troop and upgraded their armor. Fought the final boss; won, robbed, and killed the troop.

After another one hour and thirty minutes of hard work, Fu Jie sighed and stretched his sore hands. It hurt, but it was worth it. His forehead was completely drenched in sweat, but at least he won. That was the only thing that mattered right now: He won!

"Big bro... You won..." The boy on the other side seemed to have not been able to believe it, but a second passed and the shock turned into joy as he exclaimed, "You won!"

"Who am I?" Fu Jie responded with a question filled with pride.

"The Great Mo indeed!"

Yet another victory for the Great Mo.

The great mo[1] was the username of the current superstar of the gaming world. The rich, handsome, and talented professional gamer, Liu Fu Jie, who had it all. If there was one thing he lacked though, it was manners.

"Now get lost! You useless f****r," Fu Jie replied before abruptly cutting off the connection.

A notification popped up on the computer screen, [Congratulations!! Player 19061, username: the great mo. You have won first place in this month's Super-sky event hosted by us. We are glad to inform you that you are now entitled to the grand flame sword and the special prize promised beforehand. The special prize would be sent to your address within the next 3-4 weeks. Hope you have a nice day. Well wishes from the Crimson Sky team (: ]

"...." Fu Jie clenched his fist as he read through the automated message, anger boiling inside of him. "F**k this sh*t!! Where's my motherf***ing gear?!" the perfectly fine keyboard was smashed against the desk once again, shattering into multiple pieces this time.

Before he could destroy the computer screen as well, his phone rang and at the same time, somebody knocked on his door.

"Who the hell is this?!" Fu Jie answered the phone rudely.

"Young Master, your father wants you at dinner tonight. I had already sent a bodyguard over to escort you." The voice of a middle-aged man came through, calm and composed as if already used to the young man's rudeness.

"Tell him I can't make it. I have more important stuff to do."

"Sir, your schedule for today is empty."

"It's filled!"

"Young master, I checked. It's empty." The man on the other side of the call spoke, "You have nothing better to do today."

"Tch- Stalker," Fu Jie immediately cut the call without bothering to respond.

Annoying. It was all annoying!

Today wasn't going as planned.

His phone dinged with an incoming text: 'your presence at dinner is mandatory.'

He ignored the message and proceeded to play crimson sky, getting ready to purchase the new royal red armor costing 199 USD, a limited edition, in-game purchase. He clicked on the confirm purchase button without a second thought, but his purchase could not be completed as a continuous error showed up on the screen.

Ding, He received another text message: 'your credit card has already been suspended.'

"Damn!" Fu Jie cursed as he saw the awful message.

.

.

.

Quietly sitting at the awkward dining table, dressed in a formal white suit, Liu Fu Jie couldn't help, but feel uncomfortable. In his mind, he wished for this night to end quickly and to leave this place peacefully, but contrary to his wishes; his father spoke up, "Your brother is joining us tonight."

"What do you mean?" his face twisted in disgust as he heard his father.

"He has been abroad for far too long, it's time that he came back and learned how to manage the company," His step-mother commented from the side without even bothering to look up as she cut the stake that she didn't even enjoy eating.

"Why wasn't I informed?" Fu Jie asked as he tried his hardest to hold back his anger.

"For what reason should you be informed? So you could run away again?" his father glared back at him.

"Do you have to push me like this? Do you enjoy tormenting your son?!" Fu Jie raised his voice in anger.

"I really do enjoy it! I have tried to straighten you out so many times but you still want to act like a child and play around in your computer all day." His father put down the fork he was holding as he shouted at Fu Jie, "you have been nothing but a disappointment to me. Why should I be mindful of your feelings?"

"Playing around? That's my job!! I am a professional gamer, I get paid for it! When are you going to understand that?!"

"Paid? The monthly pocket money I give you is ten times more than what you make in a year with that pathetic job of yours."

Fu Jie scoffed as he heard his father, "it's all about money with you, isn't it? I'm doing what I love and I cannot sit here and listen to you degrading my job like this."

"You have absolutely no right to raise your voice against me, young man." His father yelled and at the same time, the door opened and another young boy around the age of nineteen entered the room.

"Dad..." the boy spoke.

"Look at your brother and learn something. At such a young age, he brings value to the company. How could you even compare?"

"That's right! I'm not worthy of being your son, so you can just take that boy and replace me with him like you always do." Fu Jie abruptly stood up and walked away, forcefully bumping against the young boy on his way out. Just one step away from the door, he heard his father's voice, "I'm selling that apartment of yours, move back into the main house by next week."

Fu Jie slammed the door behind him as he heard this and strode down the hallway of the luxurious hotel.

Instead of going back home, he decided to go to one of his online friends' house for the next few weeks. After a few sleepless nights of gaming, he was exhausted enough to forget all about the issues concerning his father.

After two weeks, he decided to go back to his apartment and rest, only to realize that his apartment had been emptied inside-out, ready to be sold. Only a box was left behind, in front of the apartment. He picked up the box and read the label pasted on it. It was sent from the headquarters of the crimson sky game, probably containing the special prize he had completely forgotten about.

"Damn! I'm still mad at them for fooling me." He spoke to no one in particular.

He went inside the apartment and opened the package. Thankfully, the passcode of the apartment had not been changed yet.

Inside the box was a single book, carefully packed like a treasure.

"I'm going to sue the entire crimson sky company! Are they scamming me?!" he threw the book aside and picked up his phone to call the number that was given on the label of the package belonging to the sender.

"Hello! You have reached the crimson sky helpdesk. How may I help you?" A sweet female voice answered the phone.

"F**k you people." Fu Jie cursed without discrimination. "Are you kidding me? Not only did I not get my crimson gear, but you send me a book?! This is fraud! You're messing with me!!"

"Ah...calm down sir. Can you please explain the situation?" The girl asked.

"I'm the great mo, this month's winner of the super-sky event. Do you still not understand?"

"The great mo? Oh! I know you, sir. You were the one who won the special prize!" The girl spoke in a delighted tone.

"What f***ing special prize?! You guys lied to me!! Where's my crimson gear??"

"Calm down sir. The crimson gear can only be attained by completing the final level of our game. There's no other way to get it."

"Do you think I'm a fool? You people promised a one-of-a-kind special prize, the crimson gear and now you have the face to go back on your words?!"

"Sir, we said no such thing. We promised a special prize, but did not elaborate on what that was. Are you unsatisfied with the prize somehow?"

"Unsatisfied?! Should I be satisfied then? I spent hours playing that game just to win that crimson gear, I am beyond unsatisfied."

"Sir, this has nothing to do with us. We gave you what we promised. It is your own fault for assuming that the special prize was going to be the crimson gear."

"What type of sh*tty management is this?! Who gives a book as a special prize for winning a game?!"

"Sir, the prize is indeed a one-of-a-kind treasure that was organized by the maker of crimson sky directly. We did not lie to you in any way."

"Your maker? Who the f**k is that sh*thead?! I want to talk to him!!"

"Sir, I'm afraid we cannot let that happen."

"Why the hell not?! Do you know who I am?!"

"Sir, it doesn't matter who you are, you still can't meet our maker."

"Why? Is that f**kwit dead or what?!"

"Not dead, but you still can't."

"I'm going to sue you all!"

"Sir, you can do as you please. We have done nothing wrong so naturally, your threat does not work against us."

"Just you wait!"

"....Sir, if it makes you feel any better, that book was written by the maker."

"...." It took Fu Jie a minute to respond, "What?"

"You should read it first before making any hasty decisions. You are one of our top players so naturally, we have no intention of deceiving you and we consider you as deserving of knowing how our game came to be." The girl successfully diverted the topic.

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"I'm sure you have heard the rumors that our game was based on the story of Bai Ling....?"

"Is it not?"

"No. Our game is indeed based on a novel and that novel is right now with you."

"What the heck?"

"We promised a special one-of-a-kind treasure to the winner and that book is our most valued treasure."

"Are you joking around with me?!"

"Good day, sir." The phone call ended as the girl hung up first making Fu Jie curse her even more. He redialled the number, but instead of it ringing—an automated voice came through, "the number you have dialed is no longer in service."

He had not expected the rumors about the crimson sky to be so true. It was said that they had the best legal team under them hence, taking any legal action against them was utterly useless and the location of their headquarters remained a mystery, making it impossible for people to barge in and cause any trouble for them. Not only that, but their helpdesk could only be reached once, and even if you redialled, you'd no longer be able to contact them. At first, all of these mysteries were the initial reason why Liu Fu Jie was interested in the game, but after playing for a few weeks, he was automatically addicted to the crimson sky. Only now had he realized how shady the developers of this game actually were.

He threw his phone aside and picked up the previously discarded book. The book had a pretty antique look to it, the cover was made out of black leather and the pages were sown in. The pages themselves seemed to have a brown tint on them, some letters rubbed off and some pages torn from the edges, indicating how old the pages were. On the cover was the title of the book, written with red ink: The midnight musician by Bai Ling.

"Bai Ling? So the maker calls himself Bai Ling? What type of joke is this?" even though he was dissatisfied and constantly complaining about the prize he won, he still sat down and read through the book. At first, he found the story to be like a cheap version of the original myth of Bai Ling, but after reading more than twenty chapters, he had long forgotten his initial dissatisfaction and was completely immersed in the story, finding it to be quite interesting.

Liu Fu Jie didn't realize when, but he had read the whole book in a single sitting and had somehow fallen asleep.

The next morning he woke up to a near heart attack.

He woke up to the hardness of his bed that had always been soft, yet, suddenly, it felt like the bed had been replaced by a hard stone plate. His hand tapped around in search of his phone, but it could only grasp onto something thin and soft. His eyes went wide open as he looked at his surroundings. He was no longer in that old empty apartment of his. He woke up on top of a tree in the middle of the wilderness and rubbed his eyes a few times, thinking that it may be a dream. But dream or not, one thing that didn't change was his fear of heights.

"What the actual f**k is this?!! @#$!@#%$&&*%$#@%$#^$%" A string of profanities slipped through his tongue as he clung on to the branch for his dear life.

[1] The character used for 'Mo' means "devil magic"

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