HP - Chapter 22

Game Producer

[Settlement of your in-game performance has been completed. Points have been sent to your mailbox. Please check promptly.]

[Points Exchange Store has been unlocked.]

Zhong Xu’s current state of mind was profoundly mysterious.

It was as if she had entered an illusory space—everything in sight was pure white, yet streams of starlight flowed throughout. If she looked closely, she could see layers upon layers of code hidden within the gaps of the starlight.

With just a thought from her, the mailbox and points exchange store automatically popped up on the screen, appearing before her eyes.

“New player Zhong Xu, welcome to my world—'Heartbeat Paradise.' Here, you can fully experience the feeling of your heart racing. Enjoy your journey~”

There were three letters in the mailbox. The first was this welcome message for new players. After reading it, Zhong Xu let out a scoff.

It didn’t feel like a simple greeting for newcomers; it was more like a lofty proclamation: “I am the god here, and I can manipulate you as I please.”

After checking her points, Zhong Xu opened the points exchange store and saw that she had quite a few points. There were many useful items available for purchase, such as revival cards, rebound cards, and other cheat-like tools.

These would give her a higher and safer chance of clearing the next level.

“Hi, Zhong Xu! I’m your new player guide assistant. Let me help you exchange for items next!”

A clear, youthful voice rang out. At the same time, a mechanical butterfly the size of a palm appeared before her eyes, fluttering around the screen, its metallic wings shimmering faintly.

“There’s a new player guide? That’s great,” Zhong Xu said with a smile.

The butterfly flew to the tip of her nose and nuzzled it, as if greeting her: “Yes, you can ask me, your assistant, any questions you have.”

“I want to meet your producer.”

“Huh?” The butterfly seemed stunned.

Zhong Xu continued, “I’ll use all my points to exchange for one chance to meet your producer.”

“Our producer… even I, your assistant, have never met them. If you have any questions about the game, feel free to ask me.”

“This is my only request,” Zhong Xu repeated. “The points I’ve earned should be quite a lot, right? Is exchanging all of them enough for a meeting? Even just five minutes would be fine.”

The butterfly asked blankly, “You don’t need any items at all? The levels will only get harder from here.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

The butterfly seemed troubled and tried to persuade Zhong Xu, fluttering up and down anxiously at a faster pace.

“I only want to meet the producer of this game,” Zhong Xu’s tone was firm, but her expression grew colder. “What’s wrong? You had the nerve to bring me into this world without my consent, but you don’t have the nerve to see me?”

“That’s not it, but no one has ever made this request before…”

The butterfly seemed utterly confused.

As a new player guide, it encountered all kinds of questions every day. But since players had already cleared two levels, their emotions were generally stable, and their requests weren’t too outrageous. The most common questions were about how to return to the real world or how many levels they needed to complete.

Who would ask to meet the producer right from the start?

It was simply absurd!

“Well, I’m making the request now. Go and inform them.”

This player’s attitude was almost… more like a producer than the producer themselves.

Just as the butterfly was fluttering around in a panic, it suddenly seemed to sense something and almost forgot to beat its wings.

At that moment, Zhong Xu also sensed a change in the space around her.

The pure white gradually faded, replaced by spreading darkness, yet the starlight grew even more dazzling.

A deep voice came from above, indistinguishable in gender or emotion.

“Then let’s meet. It’s been a long time since I’ve chatted with a player.”

Zhong Xu could sense that the other’s appearance was more a whim—a way to pass time in boredom. Now that a restless player had come knocking, seeking some amusement, this was a perfect opportunity.

Zhong Xu quietly tightened her grip on something hidden in her sleeve.

She coldly stared straight ahead, where in the ink-like darkness, a figure emerged from layers upon layers of code.

He wore a suit, his figure lean, and on his face was a black butterfly mask covering half of it.

After standing still, he spread his hands and smiled slightly: “New player Zhong Xu, I heard you wanted to see me?”

“Are you the producer of this game?” Zhong Xu asked.

"That's me. Nice to meet you," the producer replied in a friendly tone. "You wanted to see me—is there something you need?"

Zhong Xu had already started walking toward him and nodded. "There is something."

Her attitude was casual; she said she only needed five minutes to meet, but she didn’t seem in any hurry, merely approaching him slowly.

The game producer watched with amused interest.

Hmm... what does this new player want to do? Hopefully, it won’t be too boring...

His train of thought suddenly broke.

When she was only about two meters away, Zhong Xu suddenly rushed forward at extreme speed.

Not understanding her actions, he was first puzzled and didn’t immediately react.

Then he saw her raise something in her hand and advance toward him—his pupils sharply contracted—

She actually—!

By the time he thought to evade, it was already slightly too late.

What Zhong Xu raised was a dinner knife.

She had taken it from the guesthouse in the previous level. Unexpectedly, she could bring it into this space.

Under his shocked gaze, Zhong Xu cleanly and decisively plunged the dinner knife into his neck.

Bright red blood gushed out, splattering onto her face and into her eyes.

The butterfly behind her completely forgot to beat its wings this time, only screaming after falling to the ground: “Player Zhong Xu! What are you doing!”

“Killing someone.”

The game producer, who had held himself so high and mighty, fell to the ground. Zhong Xu crouched down beside him.

Afraid he wasn’t completely dead, she stabbed him several more times fiercely.

The butterfly was terrified.

Looking at the new player before it, it felt suffocated and sensed intense killing intent.

Her face was covered in blood, her eyes as cold as ice.

Wait... wait... it had Zhong Xu’s profile in its database.

Zhong Xu: veteran gamer, freelancer, travel blogger... not some vicious criminal!

Although this player had indeed learned combat skills, how could anyone so decisively plunge a dinner knife into someone’s neck?!

Moreover—

There are plenty of criminal players in our game! But they’re all polite to me, Little Butterfly. How could someone just straight up stab the game producer right away?!

The butterfly’s mind was about to explode.

Zhong Xu slowly raised her face and stared directly at the butterfly. Under her gaze, the butterfly felt a creepy feeling all over... even though it was a mechanical butterfly.

“Butterfly, can he die?” Zhong Xu asked.

"The... the producer? He..."

The butterfly was about to speak when a laugh came from behind.

"Unfortunately, he can’t die," said the producer, wearing an identical suit and the same black butterfly mask, emerging from the code on the other side.

"Have you killed someone before? Why are you so vicious?" He sounded curious, then smiled again. "But it’s really a pity — why would you try to kill me in the world I created?"

"Indeed a pity." Zhong Xu stood up, stepped onto the fallen producer’s face, and waved the dinner knife at the living one. "But be careful—unless I die, this knife will soon be in your neck too."

The game producer’s gaze dropped to Zhong Xu’s foot.

She was provoking him; seeing his reaction, she stomped hard on the corpse’s face again.

"I can see you don’t want to live," he said calmly, his voice unreadable.

"Suddenly it occurred to me..." Zhong Xu bent down and touched the mask on the corpse with her fingers. "Can I see what you really look like?"

Before the words finished, she quickly pulled the mask aside.

Beneath the mask, his facial features were already gone.

"Oh — no face." Zhong Xu’s voice grew more taunting. "You’re a coward. You boast about creating this world, yet you don’t even dare to show your true face."

"Zhong Xu, you’re impressive," he said. "You’ve managed to anger me."

"Good. I was worried you wouldn’t get angry. Otherwise, all those times I simulated killing you in my head would’ve been wasted." Zhong Xu showed no fear. "Besides, I’ve been dead a long time. I don’t mind getting even colder."

The producer’s attention snapped to one phrase: "Simulated killing me?"

Zhong Xu tightened her grip on the dinner knife and stared at him coldly.

Since entering The Typhoon Night Case Files, she’d held one precise objective in her mind: see the game’s creator, then make him die.

She wasn’t afraid of death, but she hated her life being toyed with by others.

She wanted to see what kind of person would gather so many players and toy with their lives.

So she’d rehearsed the meeting—and the fatal strike. The premise was simple: she had to clear the levels to get the chance.

That was why, in the previous round, she hadn’t slacked off; she observed every suspect and ultimately exposed the killer.

Every action was for this one stab. Even knowing it was unlikely she could permanently finish off the game’s creator, revenge would still make her feel better.

"Not bad, Zhong Xu. You’ve brought some fun to my boring life. But I’m not like you—I won’t barbarically stab you back."

The producer nodded, then said to the mechanical butterfly, "Little Assistant, activate 'Kingdom of Gods'."

The butterfly hesitated. "But the player count needed for 'Kingdom of Gods'—we probably don’t have enough right now..."

"Then interrupt the games they’re playing." The producer cut in, lifting a hand. His eyes fixed on Zhong Xu without blinking; a wild madness spread across his face as he cried out, "Activate the game immediately!"

"Zhong Xu, do you know? You’re fortunate! No player has ever entered this level before—because of you... they finally have this chance!"

"Zhong Xu, if you’re not afraid of death, why would I want you dead? I want you to live and truly feel despair... I want you to understand that your actions will have painful consequences."

As he ranted with manic enthusiasm, he suddenly felt a chill at his chest.

He looked down. Zhong Xu had somehow appeared before him; the dinner knife in her hand plunged into his heart.

When he realized it, she pushed forward—driving the blade in deeper.

"Little Butterfly, doesn’t your producer’s nonstop talking annoy you?"

The mechanical butterfly didn’t dare make a sound.

Right now, she seemed crazier than their producer.

Her face smeared with blood, she wore a frenzied, vicious expression as she snarled at him, "From now on, every time I see you, I’ll kill you."

1. 游戏制作人 (Yóuxì zhìzuò rén): Game Producer – God-like authority within the game.

2. 心跳乐土 (Xīntiào lètǔ): "Heartbeat Paradise" 

3. 金手指 (Jīnshǒuzhǐ): Golden Finger"– Cheat or powerful advantage for players.

4. 新手引导小助手 (Xīnshǒu yǐndǎo xiǎo zhùshǒu): "New Player Guide Little Assistant" – Guide NPC

5. 凉凉 (Liáng liáng): Cool off – Slang for dying, informal and slightly humorous.

6. 招猫逗狗 (Zhāo māo dòu gǒu): "Beckon cats and tease dogs" – Casually provoke for amusement

7. 黑蝶面具 (Hēi dié miànjù): Black Butterfly Mask – Producer’s visual signature

Characters / (Players)

• 终栩 (Zhōng Xǔ)

  • Role: Protagonist 

  • Game Role: Later assumes the identity of 宋慕思 (Sòng Mùsī), the idealistic guesthouse owner with a hidden agenda tied to her friend’s death.

• 游戏制作人 (Game Producer)

  • Role: Creator of the game world; god-like figure

• 小蝴蝶 (Little Butterfly)

  • Role: Mechanical assistant 

Sevyn here ~~~

She's back to being crazy LOL