These things didn’t seem to be of much help to Brian Carter, so he continued reading. The latter half of the notebook was his father’s diary—records from when his father was still alive! Brian Carter’s eyes grew moist, and he couldn’t help but recall memories from his childhood, flooding back like a tide. His father was a quiet man, but he knew a great deal and taught Brian Carter many things. Although there weren’t many words exchanged between father and son, whenever he was with his father, Brian Carter always felt a sense of warmth and happiness. When he was in his early teens, his father began teaching him things about virtual games. But later, his father suddenly took him back to Ningdong, became deeply depressed, and never touched virtual games again. A few years later, he was involved in a car accident. Brian Carter had always been unable to let go of his father’s passing.

He didn’t know what had happened back then to make his father return from Yinhai to their hometown Ningdong. Brian Carter really wanted to know the reason. When he asked his mother, she always remained silent. Not wanting his mother to dwell in sadness, Brian Carter stopped pressing her. He wondered if he could find some clues in his father’s diary. The first dozens of entries described his father’s journey of struggle, how he rose from an unknown nobody to climb the ranks of professional players, and together with his partner Blake, founded the Demon God Studio. At that time, they ranked third and sixth respectively on the professional player leaderboard, and Demon God Studio became one of the top five studios in the country, enjoying a period of great prosperity.

Blake? Demon God Studio? Why had his mother never mentioned that his father had such an experience? Why did his father later leave Demon God Studio? Brian Carter had heard of Demon God Studio before; in recent years, it had developed rapidly, merging with five or six other studios in succession, and, together with Black Dragon Studio, was known as one of the two giants in the domestic virtual gaming industry. As for Blake, he had become the undisputed top expert on the professional player leaderboard.

Brian Carter vaguely sensed something—perhaps his father had some unavoidable reason for leaving back then.

Continuing to read, he came across an event: back then, top experts from around the world were invited by Tianxia Group to participate in the development and beta testing of a game called “Dictator’s Sword,” which became sensational news at the time. Game development and data programming were his father’s strengths; he wrote a lot of data, and after careful review by the Tianxia Group development team, only minor modifications were made before it was adopted.

Wait, Dictator’s Sword! That’s the virtual game about to enter open beta!

Those who participated in the development and beta testing back then are now either old or retired. Unexpectedly, the game his father helped develop and test was about to be released to the public.

A strong sense of pride welled up in Brian Carter’s heart—he had such an amazing father! He wondered which part of the development his father had been responsible for.

With his father’s abilities, there was no way he should have ended up so destitute. Even if he failed for a while, making a comeback should have been easy. Why did his father become so despondent after leaving Demon God Studio? It was a mystery he couldn’t unravel. As he continued flipping through the pages, Brian Carter found that about fifty or sixty pages had been torn out—the story was only half-told. Brian Carter desperately wanted to know what happened next, but there was no way to find out. He wondered if his mother knew where those missing pages had gone. Thinking of the look of unwillingness in his father’s eyes when he died in the hospital, Brian Carter knew his father must have had many unfulfilled wishes.

Dictator’s Sword—this game had once been his father’s hope. Suddenly, Brian Carter felt an endless surge of motivation; he absolutely could not let his father’s spirit be disappointed.

He carefully flipped through the diary, wondering if the pile of incomprehensible data recorded earlier was related to Dictator’s Sword. His math wasn’t good, and he had stopped studying after graduating from junior high. Faced with such a long string of numbers, his head was about to explode, let alone try to organize them.

On the last page of the diary, a string of numbers caught Brian Carter’s eye: 28, 22, 218, 1, 92, 12…

The numbers were extremely jumbled, suggesting that his father’s mind was anything but calm when he wrote them down.

What did these numbers mean? Radio code? Didn’t seem like it! Could they have some special significance?

His father must have left them for a reason. After all, this notebook was his father’s most important keepsake. These numbers might be some kind of important code.

Brian Carter racked his brains but still couldn’t find any answers. Forget it, he thought, better set it aside for now—maybe he’d find the answer someday.

Just as he was feeling troubled, a loud crash came from the direction of Grace Harris’s room, as if something heavy had fallen. The villa’s soundproofing was quite good; if it were just something ordinary falling, it shouldn’t have made such a noise. Brian Carter didn’t have time to think—was something wrong with Grace Harris? He sprang to his feet and rushed toward Grace Harris’s room.

Arriving at the door, Brian Carter knocked hard and called out, “Grace Harris, are you okay?”

After a moment, a faint cry for help came from inside, mixed with painful groans.

Something had happened! Brian Carter couldn’t care about anything else. He took a few steps back, then charged forward. With a bang, he crashed open the door and rushed inside.

Chapter Three Acupuncture