Everyone curses resource-backed players.
But given the chance, everyone wants to be a resource-backed player.
People with morals and bottom lines would grit their teeth and refuse the temptation.
But players are different.
Players have neither morals nor bottom lines.
The moment she saw Option A, the player's heart was filled with ecstasy—hell yeah! A powerful, handsome, and wealthy sugar daddy had finally appeared! From now on, I'll become his kept canary and smoothly climb to the peak of life!
As for Option B—uh, working hard and climbing the ladder step by step, that can't be called the player's life principle, it's just completely irrelevant to her.
Reality is already this brutal, can't a person have some fun in a game?
Working hard is impossible. It's just not going to happen in this lifetime.
She wants to get something for nothing, to reap where she hasn't sown, to latch onto the richest sugar daddy and be the most arrogant resource-backed player!
The player completely ignored Option B. She was just about to choose Option A when she suddenly remembered something.
In Life Simulator, in pursuit of realism, many of the laws are nearly identical to reality, including marriage law and inheritance law.
The resourceful players had derived a new gameplay style from this, called the "Black Widow Playstyle." Simply put, you marry a rich man, then make him kick the bucket at lightning speed to inherit his estate—this is one of the fastest ways to boost your assets and reputation.
Xia Cheng had once loved playing the "Black Widow Playstyle." In a past expansion pack, she quickly became the world's richest person through the "get promoted, get rich, get hubby dead" strategy, and also successfully wiped out almost all the handsome men in high society.
But behind every game, there's a goddamn game designer. The "Black Widow Playstyle" was all the rage—it was a great strategy, but it greatly reduced the game's difficulty. The forums were filled with friendly greetings like "Did your husband die today?" every day, so before long, the game introduced a new rule: if a player caused an NPC's death, they would be unable to inherit that NPC's estate.
And just like that, the "Black Widow Playstyle" craze was suppressed.
But no matter. Although the "Black Widow Playstyle" was no longer viable, she could still play the "Divorce Playstyle"!
Find a few big shots, flash-marry and flash-divorce a few times, and she could still climb to the peak of life!
With that thought, the player found the NPC and spoke up full of anticipation: "Mr. Duan, would you marry me?"
"Mr. Duan, Miss Xia would like to see you."
The assistant said respectfully.
Having just finished the day's work, Duan Mingxuan was still a bit tired. The sudden mention of this person made him pause for a second before he remembered who this "Miss Xia" was—the girl he had unexpectedly saved today.
But he had already sent someone to take her home just a moment ago. Why would she suddenly ask to see him?
"She said she's extremely grateful that you saved her today, and she has no way to repay you. She wants to express her thanks to you in person."
The assistant added cautiously.
Duan Mingxuan's family was so prominent that even celebrities and power brokers had to queue up for a chance to see him. For an ordinary person to meet the Duan family heir was harder than reaching the heavens. A flimsy excuse like "expressing thanks" would normally be stopped at the assistant's level, never even reaching his ears.
But perhaps because the girl was stunningly beautiful, the usually cautious assistant was willing to take a risk to help her this once.
Duan Mingxuan was cold by nature, but he wasn't willing to be too harsh on his subordinates over such a trivial matter. Without saying much else, he replied succinctly: "Let her in."
The door opened, and a breathtakingly beautiful girl in a white dress stepped into his view.
Even though this wasn't the first time he'd seen her, Duan Mingxuan's gaze still paused almost imperceptibly the moment it landed on her.
He'd felt it the first time he saw her.
She was unrealistically beautiful.
In truth, there's no such thing as a "peerless beauty" in this world, because everyone's aesthetic differs, and their definitions of beauty naturally differ too. Some prefer striking and flamboyant, while others favor pure and ethereal. The two sides might not appreciate each other's tastes, so a peerless beauty naturally couldn't exist.
But the moment you saw this girl, you'd be dazed into thinking that a peerless beauty who unified all aesthetics had truly descended upon the world.
Is it even reasonable for a carbon-based organism to look like this?
But now wasn't the time to think about that.
He raised his eyes to look at her and said calmly, "Is there something you need? If it's to thank—"
Before he could finish, she interrupted him urgently: "Mr. Duan, would you marry me?"
Duan Mingxuan: "…What?"
She pressed her palms together and said hopefully, "Please, please! This is the request of my lifetime! If I can't marry you, then some of my—like my looks, my figure, my social graces, and my beautiful virtues and beautiful personality, and even my soul—will all be destroyed!" (Note 1)
"…"
Duan Mingxuan fell silent.
Isn't the way things are developing a bit off?
Too many women tried to get close to him, and he'd already figured out all their tricks. Generally speaking, they fell into two categories: the "Graceful School" and the "Bold School." The Graceful School typically employed tactics like "staging chance encounters" or "creating accidents," while the Bold School usually went for "directly slipping drugs" or "brazenly making a move." But no matter which approach, none had ever succeeded—he was long immune to all these methods.
But no matter which school, nobody just went straight to proposing marriage, right?
What school was she from?
The Wild School?
He was utterly bewildered. "Are you proposing to me?"
Xia Cheng: "Pretty much. You can think of it that way. Whatever works."
Duan Mingxuan furrowed his brow at her. Although he did feel some faint fondness for her… wasn't this too fast?
He said slowly, "But we only met for the first time today."
Xia Cheng: "If two hearts are true, what need is there for day and night together! Mr. Duan, to be honest, even though we just met today, the moment I laid eyes on you, I fell deeply in love with you."
"…Sorry, I don't quite understand." Duan Mingxuan rubbed his throbbing temples. "Miss Xia, I cannot accept your proposal."
"…Okay then." Being rejected, the girl looked a bit dejected. She was silent for a second, then said hopefully, "Then can you give me half of your assets?"
How could a person be this shamelessly forthright?
Duan Mingxuan was almost amused into anger. "No."
Rejected again, but the girl wasn't disappointed. She magnanimously chose to compromise: "Then can you put my name on your will? Like, if you die a premature death, you'd leave some of your inheritance to me."
Did she have no one left in this world she cared about? He really wished he could live as recklessly as her just once.
Duan Mingxuan was almost too exasperated to even comment. "Why would I leave you my inheritance?"
"Because I'm going to be a Best Actress!" At the mention of this, the girl instantly lit up. "I'm going to become the greatest Best Actress in the world, a legend in film history! To achieve that, I need good resources. But I've already offended Feng Sheng, and he'll probably blacklist me after this. I don't have money either, so if I can't invest in making my own movies, I might never become a Best Actress…"
The young man remained unmoved. He said calmly with interest, "Why must you become a Best Actress? You're so beautiful—even without being a Best Actress, there are many paths you could take."
"You don't understand!" The girl said with conviction. "A life without becoming a Best Actress is a failure! I was born into this world to be a Best Actress! If I can't become one, my life has no meaning! I was born for acting!"
What childish words. No one was born to become a Best Actress.
But the tone she said it in was so natural, so confident, as if she were stating a cosmic truth that had long been verified.
She spoke of becoming a Best Actress as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, her eyes seeming to sparkle with countless stars.
Was it ambition? Or a dream?
It didn't matter—those stars were so dazzling that even he felt a momentary stir.
After quietly gazing at her for a while, Duan Mingxuan spoke. "I can't marry you. But since you're so determined to become a Best Actress, would you consider signing with Starry Entertainment?"
Starry Entertainment was a subsidiary of Huanxing Group, and Huanxing Group was one of the conglomerates controlled by the Duan family.
She hesitated. "But… the chairman of Starry Entertainment is Feng Sheng?"
"That doesn't matter." He said calmly and composedly. "Starting tomorrow, he won't be."
[Struggling is no match for marrying rich—you've proposed marriage to "Duan Mingxuan."]
["Duan Mingxuan" rejected your request.]
[You suggested "Duan Mingxuan" give you half of his assets.]
["Duan Mingxuan" rejected your suggestion.]
[You didn't give up and then suggested "Duan Mingxuan" add your name to his will.]
["Duan Mingxuan" rejected your suggestion.]
Hmph, fine, don't give it then. Did the player care about his money? Just a mere UR anyway—it wasn't like she really wanted it. Laughable, he was so full of himself.
After being rejected three times in a row, just as Xia Cheng was fuming helplessly, a prompt suddenly popped up—
["Duan Mingxuan" invites you to sign with "Starry Entertainment" and become an artist under him. He promises to allocate resources to support you. Do you agree?]
Sign with "Starry Entertainment"?
That wasn't great… Starry Entertainment was part of the Duan family's business. If she joined Starry Entertainment as an artist, Duan Mingxuan would become her boss's boss's boss. In the future, she was planning to take the "Black Lotus" route and become his kept canary—wouldn't that count as having an office romance with her boss?
Hehe, just thinking about it got her a little excited.
The player happily agreed.
["Black Lotus" route has been activated.]
【You have chosen the "Black Lotus" route. Your personality gains an additional "Scheming" attribute, and your "Morality" will continue to decline. If this value drops to a certain extent, it will provoke the audience's aversion toward you. However, in exchange, your resources will see a significant boost.】