Chapter 27: Getting a Big Prize in the Lottery!

Chapter 27: Getting a Big Prize in the Lottery!

He only had a few minutes to rest.

Inside the recording studio, Zhang Ye was sweating profusely. He was really worried. No matter how he racked his brains, it was to no avail. Right, there was still one last lifeline!

The Lottery!

He could only place his only hope on the game ring. He should still have the ability to have a chance at the Lottery. Whether he could ride out this storm depended on the outcome of the Lottery. Maybe he could draw an item that gave people mass hallucinations? Maybe an item that could rapidly increase his creative composition of words? Success or failure depended on this! Zhang Ye could only go for broke as he opened the game ring’s virtual interface and checked his Reputation score.

Reputation points: 305,931.

Upon seeing this number, Zhang Ye was dumbfounded. It took a while before he understood how his Reputation points had increased so much. The first reason was the addition of Reputation points from Xiaoli’s suicide matter from the previous night. The program “Talk About the World” was also uploaded onto the internet. The second reason was the 30,000+ Reputation points obtained from the previous day’s “Late-night Ghost Stories”. With the rating improving by the day, there were more and more Reputation points gained every day. The third reason was, of course, due to the Beijing Times report today. This was a major newspaper that had a circulation rate of a few hundred thousand in the capital. Even if half of those who had bought the papers had read Zhang Ye’s news and only a half of those half had marveled at the two poems or were impressed by how Zhang Ye used the modern poems to save a life, that was sufficient to add more than a hundred thousand Reputation points. Exposure, achievements and fame added to his Reputation points.

Great!

The Reputation points were enough for him to draw three times at the Lottery!

Zhang Ye tapped the “Lottery” purchase button and began his first attempt at the Lottery. The needle began moving as he chanted, “Please not something from the Consumption Category! Not a Consumption Category item!” No one could see the virtual game interface in reality, so he was not worried about it.

But he was born unlucky!

The needle firmly stopped itself in a Consumption Category region!

Bada, a Treasure Chest (Small) appeared in his inventory. Zhang Ye helplessly took out the treasure chest and placed it on the floor. Avoiding the gaze of others, he opened the chest. There was a little circular band. It looked like the halo band seen above angels in movie productions. The only difference was that the color was black.

[ Unlucky Halo ] : Effective once it is worn. Lasts for 5 minutes. Triggering specific conditions will cause those around the player to enter a state of bad luck.

What does this mean? It has the same effect as the Unlucky Sticker? Only that it’s an “area of effect” type this time? What were the conditions? It won’t be attacking indiscriminately, right?

Zhang Ye did not study it much and first stuffed the Lottery item into his game ring. Following that, he puffed on his palm a few times. It was too depressing. What sort of sh*t hands were these? He had drawn from the Lottery four times, since he magically obtained the game ring. However, every time it was a Consumption Category treasure chests. Even though the Consumption Category region took up the largest proportion on the wheel, it shouldn’t happen all the time, right? At least let me see what Stats Category and Skills Category are. The probability of hitting the Special Category was too low, so he did not have any hopes for it, but the Stats and Skills Categories still had a non-trivial probability of hitting them!

Again!

I don’t believe it!

Zhang Ye frowned as he breathed in like he was practicing qigong. After messing around for a while, he spent another 100,000 Reputation points to buy a chance at the Lottery, despite his painful heart!

He clicked on the Lottery!

The needle began moving again!

It was all random. At least, Zhang Ye still could not see any pattern up until now. He could only stare and chant, waiting for the needle to slow down before he could see what it was! Skills Category! Stop! Stop! Aiyah, it did not stop! Another Consumption Category! Quickly get past it! Just a bit more! The needle was obedient this time as it grinded forward by a bit! Move some more! Move some more! It’s not enough! Almost got it! As Zhang Ye eagerly watched as the needle seemed to use all its strength before stopping, it suddenly moved that tiny bit as its final rally!

Click!

Special Category!

It had actually stopped at the Special Category region, which had a 1-2% chance of being picked!

The Heaven’s have shined their light on me; I managed to get a grand prize! Zhang Ye was finally delighted. The time for the Lottery to give out its prize had come. There was no item to receive, nor was there a treasure chest to be opened. There was just a system message.

Special Category awarded: Opening the Merchant Shop, adding the right to purchase item, "Memory Search Capsule".

After that, the virtual game’s interface for the Merchant Shop opened. When he clicked it open, there was an item inside.

Memory Search Capsule: Effective upon consuming it. Helps the player search a memory or subconscious memory and permanently reinforces it. Lasts for five minutes. Costs 100,000 Reputation points.

Zhang Ye still remembered the Special Category’s introduction. It was written that it would allow the purchase of a certain item. It seemed like the method to obtain magical items was not just limited to the luck of the draw. He could also use the random chance from landing on the Special Category to give him the right to buy an item. He could buy an unlimited number of the items in the Merchant Shop, as long as he had the Reputation points. He would no longer be restricted to the limitations of the random chance in the Lottery. This discovery made Zhang Ye excited!

Memory search?

Could this solve the problem he was facing?

Time was running out, so Zhang Ye didn’t spend too much time thinking about it. He looked at the remaining 100,000 Reputation points he had left and decided against the Lottery. He could not afford it. As such, he opened the Merchant Shop and spent 100,000 Reputation points to buy one “Memory Search Capsule”. He only had a few thousand Reputation points left as a result.

Ding!

With the successful purchase, the item automatically entered his inventory!

Zhang Ye quickly opened up his inventory and, with a grab, pulled out a black and white capsule. It looked like something one ate when one had the cold. Gritting his teeth, he swallowed it. As he crunched on it, he felt his eyes go blank before he could even decide on its taste. His brain’s activity suddenly increased, as several scenes flashed before his eyes. Zhang Ye was filled with worry about the “Ghost Blows Out the Light” script, so all his thoughts were focused on it. So with a thought, the scenes in his brain suddenly jumped to the scene of him back in school in his previous world. It was the weekend when Zhang Ye had just bought the entire “Ghost Blows Out the Light” set after school. It had books written in simplified script. The moment he reached home, he excitedly flipped through them to read it!

One page…

Ten pages…

Twenty pages…

It was all scenes of him flipping through the books. It was as fast as a movie playing!

At this moment, the effective duration of the “Memory Search Capsule” ended. Zhang Ye returned to reality from his weird memories. Only five minutes had passed in reality, precisely the effective duration of the item. However, the speed at which he thought was clearly much faster. The concept of time was completely different. In his memories, Zhang Ye seemed to have spent several hours reading. With a blink, Zhang Ye was delighted to discover that after reliving those memories of reading “Ghost Blows Out the Light”, every word in the novel was remembered by him clearly. He could recite them from memory easily! The Memory Search had helped him dig out buried memories and had reinforced those memories! Although the Memory Search did not completely let him recall the hundreds of thousands of words in “Ghost Blows Out the Light”, it had reinforced about a quarter of the content in his memories. Previously, Zhang Ye had only narrated about tens of thousands of content during the earlier segments. Hence, with his current memories, he could easily narrate another 200,000 words with his eyes closed!

It’s done!

There’s no need to worry about the script anymore!

This item had come at an opportune moment! Besides, as long as he had enough Reputation points, he could buy an unlimited number of Memory Search Capsules. There would no longer be any worry about trying to recall artistic works from his previous life!