1599

Final Chapter

A man pushed open the rusted gates of Heavenblessed and ambled along a path illuminated by red lanterns. His magic scrolls had lost their luster, his armor was rusted, his weapon was broken, and the youngster he had once been was nowhere to be seen. He looked up at the white moon hanging in the sky. Time had washed too many memorable moments away, and it would continue to do so until the end of time. He sat alone beneath a roof and shed tears that seemed like they would never end. Life was like an ephemeral dream. The most anyone could hope for was that they had lived like a flower of summer, and died like a leaf of autumn.

……

Epilogue Scenes

Ten days later, Suzhou.

A breeze blew into a room from a small but tranquil courtyard, swaying the window curtains a little. He Yi was resting on a snow white bed with a gauze covering her eyes. Today was the last day of her treatment.

Clack…

The door to the room opened suddenly.

He Yi sat up, gripped her blanket tighter and asked immediately, "Is that you, Lu Chen?"

Li Chengfeng, dressed in his police uniform, stood at the entrance with the WEL championship trophy in his hands. When he heard He Yi’s cry, he immediately started shaking and crying like a child.

Swhoosh…

The trophy slipped through his fingers and hit the floor with a thud. His tears ran down his cheeks like a pair of waterfalls. "It’s me, boss. It’s Li Chengfeng. Lu Chen is still being treated right now…"

She murmured, "Have you won, Chengfeng? Have you defeated Candlelight Shadow?"

Li Chengfeng stared at the trophy on the ground and sobbed, "No, I have not… There is only one WEL MVP in this world, and he is my eternal brother, Lu Chen…"

……

Yangzhou, Yongan Town, at a riverside.

After a Porsche had slowed to a stop, a beautiful girl stepped out and watched the bluish river for a moment. Then, she whispered in a crying voice, "Is there where big brother grew up?"

Behind her, two bodyguards in black uniforms said in a low voice, "We should head back soon, big miss. President Xu is going to reprimand the two of us otherwise…"

The girl shook her head resolutely. "No! Big brother had found Xinran in that world, so I will find big brother in this world as well. I know he wouldn’t leave this world. I will find him, no matter what…"

……

Suzhou.

Beneath a gorgeous night sky, Beiming Xue sat unmoving at a cold transit stop.

She stepped on the debris repeatedly while furrowing her pretty brows into a frown.

Lian Xin said while supporting her shoulder, "It’s time to head back, Beiming. You can’t stay here all night, can you?"

It wasn’t until a long while later that the girl finally answered, "I don’t want to return to the workshop. I will only stare at the big bro’s room and blank out the whole day. I… I would rather leave the workshop forever if big bro isn’t there…"

Lian Xin: "..."

Suzhou, at a certain bar.

Du Thirteen’s face was utterly red from the sheer amount of alcohol he had ingested up until this point. He was so drunk that he didn’t even notice that he was downing a glass of nothing at all.

Gui Guzi consoled him, "Slow down, Brother B. And speak to us if you need to vent. I, Fighting Spirits and Li can all listen…"

Du Thirteen’s hot tears dripped against the table as he uttered, "We haven’t heard anything since Lin Yixin had accompanied Lu Chen to the USA. I’m worried that… that…"

"Don’t worry,” said Li Chengfeng while gripping a bottle of beer and staring at the lamp above his head. “Heavens help the worthy, and Lu Chen is the most worthy of us all!"

A golden-haired beauty leaned against Li Chengfeng’s shoulder with a smile. "Why don’t you treat me to a drink, handsome?"

The policeman simply replied, "Get away from me[1]."

……

Heavenblessed, Dragon Domain.

Rustle rustle…

A hand shot out from beneath a rock and strained against its coarse surface for a bit. Then, a Level 241 warrior pulled himself up the rock before chuckling, "Dragon Domain. Finally, our paths cross once more!"

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind blew against his body. It was so strong that he actually tipped backward and rolled down the slope. His long screams echoed, "What the fuck, how is the wind so powerful…"

Half an hour later, a blood-drenched palm clung to the rock once more. This time though, the warrior didn’t want for the wind to reset his progress a second time and leaped over to the other side immediately. He rolled down the entire way like a snowball.

Pa…

Suddenly, he rammed into something and came to a sudden stop. When he looked up, he saw an impossibly beautiful woman staring down at him and saying softly, "Finally… you have reached this place…"

The warrior gripped his fists and began trembling all over. "Do… do you still remember me, Binglan?"

She nodded. "Of course I remember you. You are the reason my Dragon Domain became a land of ruin, are you not?"

The warrior grimaced. "It’s not my fault though? Anyway, I… I wish to become your disciple and serve the Dragon Domain once more. I…"

Binglan brought out a parchment and let it roll all the way to the ground.

The warrior grabbed it and read the end of the long parchment. "I’ve overdrafted by 90 million gold…? Shit…"

……

USA, California.

A beam of sunlight shone against a white bed and stirred a sleepy girl to wakefulness. She opened her eyes to reveal a pair of pupils that looked as pure as a gem. She visibly shuddered before whispering a daze, "I… I’m not dreaming, am I?"

She sat up. The blanket covering her naked body slid down to reveal a pair of curvy breasts so beautiful that even the heavens might be stunned by them.

She glanced at the person next to her before curling her lips into a beautiful smile. "I guess it isn’t a dream after all. Hmph. You said you would take me all night, but you really lasted just 16 minutes, boastful dummy… Mm, it still hurts a little…"

At the small table next to the bed, a bag of DLS with its corner ripped open basked quietly beneath the morning sun.

……

Beneath Dragonbone Mountain Range, Cool Wind Forest.

Two mortal warriors were running across a wide forest clearing. Their IDs were—

ID: Breeze Break

ID: The Scholar Isn’t Eating Today

……

"Your name sounds retarded, man…" Breeze Break said.

The Scholar Isn’t Eating Today waved him off. "I don’t expect you to understand, but trust me when I say: I had to fight tooth and claw to register this ID before anyone else… Anyway, have you finally resolved yourself to teach that brat a lesson?"

Breeze Break said with a deep frown on his face, "You’re aware that Lu Chen is definitely stronger than both of us now, right? I’m worried that we will go for wool and come back shorn!"

The Scholar Isn’t Eating Today replied smilingly, "It will be fine. We just need to play dirty and wreck him with traps[2]. Your technique is better, so you can be the tank. I’ll steal the last hit…"

Breeze Break raised his eyebrows. "Sure. You’re treating us to lunch if we get soundly beaten though!"

"No problem! I’ll just ask Xu Bing to foot the bill for us. She’s your relative anyway…"

Breeze Break: "..."

……

Somewhere else in Cold Wind Forest.

A pair of high-level players was sitting atop the branch of a thousand-year-old tree. They were a warrior in full metal armor and a girl wielding a windy blade.

"Oh no…"

The warrior suddenly took to the sky before unsheathing the golden sword behind his back. While summoning Battle Astral Wind to protect himself, he gazed into the distance and said, "I sense two perverts approaching us from that direction. Give me a moment to take them out, Yiyi. I’ll be back in a jiffy!"

The girl nodded with a smile. "Come back soon, and don’t die…"

"Don’t worry. I’m pretty strong, you know!"

His sword came to life, carving a couple of words on the ground—

This novel has reached the end, my fellow heroes! Author’s Divinity +1!

T/N: And we’re finally finished! There’s actually one more chapter to go, but that’s like 100 words long and a joke chapter. You should still read it though!

Translating this novel has not been easy for many reasons, but the biggest reason of it all is that it doesn’t pay well because of its lack of popularity. Lu Chen’s choice at chapter 16 or something killed most of our readers’ interest even after we tweaked some things to make it more acceptable.

In the sequel’s sequel called "Cutting The Moon", there is actually an extra arc involving Lost Leaf (yes, the author himself) going around slaying the heart devils of his protagonists and ultimately his own heart devil to wake up from his nightmare or something. Lu Chen is actually one of those protagonists. Had this novel been popular enough, I would’ve translated Lu Chen’s mini arc (which is basically one final recap of some of the major events in this novel, and a conclusion that made Lu Chen unique—or should I say, unrivaled—even among all the other protagonists) for you guys to read. Alas, it would practically be charity and I’m already running one such charity—Star Rank Hunter, which I translate and post for free on Reddit—and really don’t feel like doing another. A man’s gotta eat and all that. Not like fucking Mars is making things easy by going on a two month plus hiatus.

All in all though, I didn’t regret translating VRMMO: The Unrivaled. Despite the author’s many, many flaws, his book featured a lot of epic and over-the-top moments that are rarely seen in many other web novels. Also, Lu Chen is a wonderful example of a flawed but fairly realistic protagonist done well. He’s not perfect by any means, but his story is wonderful to follow all the same, which is something you cannot really say for say, Cha Jeong-woo from Second Life Ranker. While that novel is entertaining in its own right, I’m mostly interested in the atrocities he’ll commit in the name of bullshit and not the man himself.

Anyway, I’ll cut my rant short here. Thank you all—especially the sponsors, I’m really sorry that we can’t even entertain you by commenting on your comments since the website update—for supporting this novel, and hopefully we’ll meet each other somewhere again. Ciao!

Nabuch's Note: Aaaaand it's done! Editing this novel, for a gamer like myself, with education that should be identical to the author, was fun. There have been many times I've admired author's ideas (anyone remember my rant about hexagram being used to escape pursuit in Final Dual Valley? Author is a genius!), many times I've laughed my ass off, and many times I've almost gone bald because dead people came back to life or math was just wrong (especially when items boosted healing power AND decreased casting time, author was always waaay off in these). The novel obviously had its flaws, but if I had one word to describe it, it would be "fun". The author had a loooot of ideas, and sometimes it felt like he was mixing them up, thus the confusion. The real life over-the-top soap opera was a cool refreshment between the "epic" Nation War moments where some people thought "Lu Chen, it's just a game though, they aren't REALLY dying in Final Duel Valley". I also appreciate that author was really growing the characters instead of randomly introducing new ones. Blood Alliance and Intelligence Agency were . Because of it, the world felt alive. If you went back and read some of the earlier chapters and character introductions you'd probably be surprised how many of them lasted until the very end of the novel. Our main ASDS cast was unchanged since like chapter 180.

Now, Lu Chen as an MC. Frankly, he's like an arrogant young master. After the beginning of the novel, he's been relying on superior reaction time for pretty much everything. He was faster than everyone else and thus made the best decisions. His skill usage was really, really dumb near the end. Like Mad God Lunge not being utilized all the time, disarming while an enemy is immobilized with the God Binding Art. I don't consider myself a god gamer in PvE, I've been playing Black Desert Online for years and there is literally nothing of the sort there. Still, I can recognize a bad PvE skill usage when I see it. :P Near the end of the novel he felt more like a mechanically good player with amazing equipment and shit for brains, opposite of the beginning of the novel really. A bit of a shame, so my theory is that the virus somehow repurposed his working thinking braincells into reactory braincells whose sole purpose was to send impulses fast enough for him to function. I mean, how do you explain his reaction time getting better once zombie virus was in his body?! In Nation Wars, his strategies were sound. He did rely heavily on the strongest cavalry in the world of course, and as a result, many of his dumb decisions, like chasing enemies into Flowing Cloud's traps, were left unpunished. I still liked his style of counterattacking at the first possible moment. Taking the initiative really did suit him well, considering his superior army and personal strength. With both initiative and strength, even the strangest scenarios seemed at least plausible.

I do think it's a real shame many people dropped the novel because of Chapter 16 and Lu Chen hiding in the closet making He Yi cry. This one decision REALLY hurt the readerbase. I think we really underestimated the impact a single plot point can make for early readers, especially if it's done so early that they feel like dropping the novel isn't much of a loss. Since my fee was fixed, the novel's popularity didn't really affect me, but I honestly believe people who didn't read up to at least chapter 88 and further were and are missing out. I've had a lot of fun.

1. E/N: Might seem random, but it’s supposed to show that Li Chengfeng’s wounds still haven’t healed and he still doesn’t welcome the idea of getting a girlfriend. ☜

2. T/N: since neither of them are assassins, I’m assuming that they mean luring Lu Chen to a minefield or something ☜

Final Chapter

A man pushed open the rusted gates of Heavenblessed and ambled along a path illuminated by red lanterns. His magic scrolls had lost their luster, his armor was rusted, his weapon was broken, and the youngster he had once been was nowhere to be seen. He looked up at the white moon hanging in the sky. Time had washed too many memorable moments away, and it would continue to do so until the end of time. He sat alone beneath a roof and shed tears that seemed like they would never end. Life was like an ephemeral dream. The most anyone could hope for was that they had lived like a flower of summer, and died like a leaf of autumn.

……

Epilogue Scenes

Ten days later, Suzhou.

A breeze blew into a room from a small but tranquil courtyard, swaying the window curtains a little. He Yi was resting on a snow white bed with a gauze covering her eyes. Today was the last day of her treatment.

Clack…

The door to the room opened suddenly.

He Yi sat up, gripped her blanket tighter and asked immediately, "Is that you, Lu Chen?"

Li Chengfeng, dressed in his police uniform, stood at the entrance with the WEL championship trophy in his hands. When he heard He Yi’s cry, he immediately started shaking and crying like a child.

Swhoosh…

The trophy slipped through his fingers and hit the floor with a thud. His tears ran down his cheeks like a pair of waterfalls. "It’s me, boss. It’s Li Chengfeng. Lu Chen is still being treated right now…"

She murmured, "Have you won, Chengfeng? Have you defeated Candlelight Shadow?"

Li Chengfeng stared at the trophy on the ground and sobbed, "No, I have not… There is only one WEL MVP in this world, and he is my eternal brother, Lu Chen…"

……

Yangzhou, Yongan Town, at a riverside.

After a Porsche had slowed to a stop, a beautiful girl stepped out and watched the bluish river for a moment. Then, she whispered in a crying voice, "Is there where big brother grew up?"

Behind her, two bodyguards in black uniforms said in a low voice, "We should head back soon, big miss. President Xu is going to reprimand the two of us otherwise…"

The girl shook her head resolutely. "No! Big brother had found Xinran in that world, so I will find big brother in this world as well. I know he wouldn’t leave this world. I will find him, no matter what…"

……

Suzhou.

Beneath a gorgeous night sky, Beiming Xue sat unmoving at a cold transit stop.

She stepped on the debris repeatedly while furrowing her pretty brows into a frown.

Lian Xin said while supporting her shoulder, "It’s time to head back, Beiming. You can’t stay here all night, can you?"

It wasn’t until a long while later that the girl finally answered, "I don’t want to return to the workshop. I will only stare at the big bro’s room and blank out the whole day. I… I would rather leave the workshop forever if big bro isn’t there…"

Lian Xin: "..."

Suzhou, at a certain bar.

Du Thirteen’s face was utterly red from the sheer amount of alcohol he had ingested up until this point. He was so drunk that he didn’t even notice that he was downing a glass of nothing at all.

Gui Guzi consoled him, "Slow down, Brother B. And speak to us if you need to vent. I, Fighting Spirits and Li can all listen…"

Du Thirteen’s hot tears dripped against the table as he uttered, "We haven’t heard anything since Lin Yixin had accompanied Lu Chen to the USA. I’m worried that… that…"

"Don’t worry,” said Li Chengfeng while gripping a bottle of beer and staring at the lamp above his head. “Heavens help the worthy, and Lu Chen is the most worthy of us all!"

A golden-haired beauty leaned against Li Chengfeng’s shoulder with a smile. "Why don’t you treat me to a drink, handsome?"

The policeman simply replied, "Get away from me[1]."

……

Heavenblessed, Dragon Domain.

Rustle rustle…

A hand shot out from beneath a rock and strained against its coarse surface for a bit. Then, a Level 241 warrior pulled himself up the rock before chuckling, "Dragon Domain. Finally, our paths cross once more!"

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind blew against his body. It was so strong that he actually tipped backward and rolled down the slope. His long screams echoed, "What the fuck, how is the wind so powerful…"

Half an hour later, a blood-drenched palm clung to the rock once more. This time though, the warrior didn’t want for the wind to reset his progress a second time and leaped over to the other side immediately. He rolled down the entire way like a snowball.

Pa…

Suddenly, he rammed into something and came to a sudden stop. When he looked up, he saw an impossibly beautiful woman staring down at him and saying softly, "Finally… you have reached this place…"

The warrior gripped his fists and began trembling all over. "Do… do you still remember me, Binglan?"

She nodded. "Of course I remember you. You are the reason my Dragon Domain became a land of ruin, are you not?"

The warrior grimaced. "It’s not my fault though? Anyway, I… I wish to become your disciple and serve the Dragon Domain once more. I…"

Binglan brought out a parchment and let it roll all the way to the ground.

The warrior grabbed it and read the end of the long parchment. "I’ve overdrafted by 90 million gold…? Shit…"

……

USA, California.

A beam of sunlight shone against a white bed and stirred a sleepy girl to wakefulness. She opened her eyes to reveal a pair of pupils that looked as pure as a gem. She visibly shuddered before whispering a daze, "I… I’m not dreaming, am I?"

She sat up. The blanket covering her naked body slid down to reveal a pair of curvy breasts so beautiful that even the heavens might be stunned by them.

She glanced at the person next to her before curling her lips into a beautiful smile. "I guess it isn’t a dream after all. Hmph. You said you would take me all night, but you really lasted just 16 minutes, boastful dummy… Mm, it still hurts a little…"

At the small table next to the bed, a bag of DLS with its corner ripped open basked quietly beneath the morning sun.

……

Beneath Dragonbone Mountain Range, Cool Wind Forest.

Two mortal warriors were running across a wide forest clearing. Their IDs were—

ID: Breeze Break

ID: The Scholar Isn’t Eating Today

……

"Your name sounds retarded, man…" Breeze Break said.

The Scholar Isn’t Eating Today waved him off. "I don’t expect you to understand, but trust me when I say: I had to fight tooth and claw to register this ID before anyone else… Anyway, have you finally resolved yourself to teach that brat a lesson?"

Breeze Break said with a deep frown on his face, "You’re aware that Lu Chen is definitely stronger than both of us now, right? I’m worried that we will go for wool and come back shorn!"

The Scholar Isn’t Eating Today replied smilingly, "It will be fine. We just need to play dirty and wreck him with traps[2]. Your technique is better, so you can be the tank. I’ll steal the last hit…"

Breeze Break raised his eyebrows. "Sure. You’re treating us to lunch if we get soundly beaten though!"

"No problem! I’ll just ask Xu Bing to foot the bill for us. She’s your relative anyway…"

Breeze Break: "..."

……

Somewhere else in Cold Wind Forest.

A pair of high-level players was sitting atop the branch of a thousand-year-old tree. They were a warrior in full metal armor and a girl wielding a windy blade.

"Oh no…"

The warrior suddenly took to the sky before unsheathing the golden sword behind his back. While summoning Battle Astral Wind to protect himself, he gazed into the distance and said, "I sense two perverts approaching us from that direction. Give me a moment to take them out, Yiyi. I’ll be back in a jiffy!"

The girl nodded with a smile. "Come back soon, and don’t die…"

"Don’t worry. I’m pretty strong, you know!"

His sword came to life, carving a couple of words on the ground—

This novel has reached the end, my fellow heroes! Author’s Divinity +1!

T/N: And we’re finally finished! There’s actually one more chapter to go, but that’s like 100 words long and a joke chapter. You should still read it though!

Translating this novel has not been easy for many reasons, but the biggest reason of it all is that it doesn’t pay well because of its lack of popularity. Lu Chen’s choice at chapter 16 or something killed most of our readers’ interest even after we tweaked some things to make it more acceptable.

In the sequel’s sequel called "Cutting The Moon", there is actually an extra arc involving Lost Leaf (yes, the author himself) going around slaying the heart devils of his protagonists and ultimately his own heart devil to wake up from his nightmare or something. Lu Chen is actually one of those protagonists. Had this novel been popular enough, I would’ve translated Lu Chen’s mini arc (which is basically one final recap of some of the major events in this novel, and a conclusion that made Lu Chen unique—or should I say, unrivaled—even among all the other protagonists) for you guys to read. Alas, it would practically be charity and I’m already running one such charity—Star Rank Hunter, which I translate and post for free on Reddit—and really don’t feel like doing another. A man’s gotta eat and all that. Not like fucking Mars is making things easy by going on a two month plus hiatus.

All in all though, I didn’t regret translating VRMMO: The Unrivaled. Despite the author’s many, many flaws, his book featured a lot of epic and over-the-top moments that are rarely seen in many other web novels. Also, Lu Chen is a wonderful example of a flawed but fairly realistic protagonist done well. He’s not perfect by any means, but his story is wonderful to follow all the same, which is something you cannot really say for say, Cha Jeong-woo from Second Life Ranker. While that novel is entertaining in its own right, I’m mostly interested in the atrocities he’ll commit in the name of bullshit and not the man himself.

Anyway, I’ll cut my rant short here. Thank you all—especially the sponsors, I’m really sorry that we can’t even entertain you by commenting on your comments since the website update—for supporting this novel, and hopefully we’ll meet each other somewhere again. Ciao!

Nabuch's Note: Aaaaand it's done! Editing this novel, for a gamer like myself, with education that should be identical to the author, was fun. There have been many times I've admired author's ideas (anyone remember my rant about hexagram being used to escape pursuit in Final Dual Valley? Author is a genius!), many times I've laughed my ass off, and many times I've almost gone bald because dead people came back to life or math was just wrong (especially when items boosted healing power AND decreased casting time, author was always waaay off in these). The novel obviously had its flaws, but if I had one word to describe it, it would be "fun". The author had a loooot of ideas, and sometimes it felt like he was mixing them up, thus the confusion. The real life over-the-top soap opera was a cool refreshment between the "epic" Nation War moments where some people thought "Lu Chen, it's just a game though, they aren't REALLY dying in Final Duel Valley". I also appreciate that author was really growing the characters instead of randomly introducing new ones. Blood Alliance and Intelligence Agency were . Because of it, the world felt alive. If you went back and read some of the earlier chapters and character introductions you'd probably be surprised how many of them lasted until the very end of the novel. Our main ASDS cast was unchanged since like chapter 180.

Now, Lu Chen as an MC. Frankly, he's like an arrogant young master. After the beginning of the novel, he's been relying on superior reaction time for pretty much everything. He was faster than everyone else and thus made the best decisions. His skill usage was really, really dumb near the end. Like Mad God Lunge not being utilized all the time, disarming while an enemy is immobilized with the God Binding Art. I don't consider myself a god gamer in PvE, I've been playing Black Desert Online for years and there is literally nothing of the sort there. Still, I can recognize a bad PvE skill usage when I see it. :P Near the end of the novel he felt more like a mechanically good player with amazing equipment and shit for brains, opposite of the beginning of the novel really. A bit of a shame, so my theory is that the virus somehow repurposed his working thinking braincells into reactory braincells whose sole purpose was to send impulses fast enough for him to function. I mean, how do you explain his reaction time getting better once zombie virus was in his body?! In Nation Wars, his strategies were sound. He did rely heavily on the strongest cavalry in the world of course, and as a result, many of his dumb decisions, like chasing enemies into Flowing Cloud's traps, were left unpunished. I still liked his style of counterattacking at the first possible moment. Taking the initiative really did suit him well, considering his superior army and personal strength. With both initiative and strength, even the strangest scenarios seemed at least plausible.

I do think it's a real shame many people dropped the novel because of Chapter 16 and Lu Chen hiding in the closet making He Yi cry. This one decision REALLY hurt the readerbase. I think we really underestimated the impact a single plot point can make for early readers, especially if it's done so early that they feel like dropping the novel isn't much of a loss. Since my fee was fixed, the novel's popularity didn't really affect me, but I honestly believe people who didn't read up to at least chapter 88 and further were and are missing out. I've had a lot of fun.

1. E/N: Might seem random, but it’s supposed to show that Li Chengfeng’s wounds still haven’t healed and he still doesn’t welcome the idea of getting a girlfriend. ☜

2. T/N: since neither of them are assassins, I’m assuming that they mean luring Lu Chen to a minefield or something ☜