Chapter 1: God-tier Work
System: Soul connection… Connection successful…
System: Beginning to import the Martial Arts Inheritance System…
System: Import successful, Martial Arts Inheritance System officially activated.
A series of system prompts continuously echoed in Lin Qi’s mind, causing him to let out a deep sigh of relief as he slumped in the dilapidated martial arts hall.
System: Host, please set the initial game connection fee. This fee will be entirely borne by the players.
System: The higher the fee, the closer the player’s initial physical condition will be to its original state, the shorter the death revival time, the higher the cost of revival, the higher the completeness of the player's soul connection, and the higher the restoration of all sensations, including pain.
“For a game, authenticity is key, so set it to the maximum value.”
Lin Qi heard that the cost would be entirely borne by the players and chose the maximum value with almost no hesitation.
System: Please set a description for the game.
“A description, huh?”
“It needs to be grand and inspiring, preferably giving players a sense of challenge, so they’ll be willing to click in.”
Lin Qi thought for a moment, then began writing the description on the system panel.
“War of a Hundred Nations, Contest of Ten Thousand Races, Life Evolution, Ascend to Godhood. The legend of martial artists will be written by you.”
“This game has 100% virtual reality. Due to its extreme realism, please download and play with caution. It is not suitable for players without a certain level of strength.”
System: Do you confirm this game description? Once confirmed, it cannot be modified.
“Confirm!”
Lin Qi scanned it carefully, confirmed there were no issues, and directly clicked the confirm button on the system bar.
System: Game uploaded to Blue Star Network. It will open in half an hour. Host, please wait.
...
Blue Star, year 2325.
“Aim! Deep breath, another breath, concentrate, relax your whole body, and the aiming reticle will shrink its range.”
“The calmer your mind, the steadier your heartbeat, the smaller the range the aiming reticle will shrink.”
“Don’t rush at this point. Wait for the reticle to shrink to its limit.”
“Now!”
Inside a virtual gaming pod, Fang Zhen, a man nearing thirty with a resolute face and a thick beard, resembling an older brother, explained how to aim to the people in his live stream while piloting a giant mech.
With a bang, a shot directly hit a mechanical beast hiding five kilometers away amidst a sky full of yellow sand.
Beep.
The mechanical beast five kilometers away immediately lit up with a red marker, indicating it was dead.
“One shot, one kill! Brother Zhen is awesome!”
“Is this the power of a professional?”
“Brother Zhen, with your level of skill, are you really planning to retire from the team in half a year? This level is comparable to players from the top sixteen teams that make it to the Mech Continent National Tournament.”
The people in the live stream couldn’t help but exclaim and sigh at Fang Zhen’s extreme-range sniper kill.
The virtual game ‘Mech Continent’ boasts a virtual reality of 75% and is one of the most popular mech combat games on Blue Star in recent years.
For ordinary players, let alone performing fluid movements with a mech, just aiming and hitting a target a few hundred meters away usually requires two to three months of practice.
Hitting a mechanical monster five kilometers away with one shot, under conditions of extreme visual interference, was absolutely miraculous.
“I’m getting old. My reactions and everything are definitely not as good as when I was young. Plus, my age is quite high for a professional player. Even if I don’t retire this year, next year I probably won’t even be able to beat the rookies on the team,” Fang Zhen said with a sigh. “Alright, enough about that. Today, let’s see what fun new games there are.”
The people in the live stream didn’t doubt Fang Zhen’s words.
The virtual esports professional scene is like that; not only is the competition incredibly fierce, but everyone also relies on their youth. Maintaining peak condition generally until twenty-five is already very good, and thirty is indeed quite old.
Therefore, many professional players in the esports scene, when they get a bit older, choose to stream or pursue other side professions.
Fang Zhen started streaming five years ago and now has some fame in the Mech Continent game streaming community. His popularity occasionally ranks among the top hundred in game streaming.
Just as the people in the live stream were discussing, a new game with a five-headed black dragon icon quickly caught Fang Zhen’s eye on the game lobby interface he had opened.
“What the heck!”
“4999! What kind of god-tier work is this?!”
Fang Zhen rubbed his eyes, afraid he had miscounted a zero.
These days, due to the popularization of virtual game engines, many small workshops with just a few people can create virtual games. Therefore, a large number of new games appear on major gaming platforms every day.
Their prices are generally under one hundred, and even AAA-level blockbusters don’t exceed five hundred.
Yet, this new game called High Martial Descent was priced ten times higher. This was a game ordinary people simply couldn’t afford to play.
At this moment, the audience in the live stream exploded.
“This game actually claims 100% virtual reality!”
“100% virtual reality? That’s definitely bragging. Even world-class game developers can’t make games with more than 80% virtual reality right now. I’ve never even heard of this game developer called ‘Authenticity is Key.’ How could they possibly create a 100% virtual game?”
“I’ve seen arrogant games, but I’ve never seen a game this arrogant. Priced at 4999, each time a character dies, revival costs 648. If you don’t revive within 24 hours, the account is directly canceled. I’m not worthy.”
“But this developer made it quite realistic; the first batch is even limited to ten experience test slots.”
“This game is definitely fake. If there really was a god-tier work with 100% virtual reality, even if it was just in development, it would be front-page news. Not to mention that an experience version has already been made, the news would have spread all over the world by now. If it’s really a god-tier work with 100% virtual reality, I’ll live stream myself doing a backflip while eating noodles.”
“Too realistic, not suitable for players without a certain level of strength—this developer really dares to brag. Brother Zhen, go for it!”
Everyone discussed the game description of High Martial Descent, and the intensity of the discussion caused Fang Zhen’s live stream popularity to skyrocket. In less than thirty seconds, his popularity tripled or quadrupled, catching up to well-known game streamers.
Fang Zhen saw this as an opportunity.
“Brothers, since everyone is curious about what kind of game this is, I’ll test the waters for everyone.” Fang Zhen gritted his teeth and chose to pay 4999. “Authenticity is Key. If it’s not authentic enough, brothers, we’ll quickly refund within two hours, and then we’ll all report them together to let the developer know what ‘authentic’ means!”
“Brother Zhen is mighty!”
“4999! How dare this developer even think of that price.”
Everyone agreed. Anyway, the streamer was paying, so they just needed to watch. The main point was companionship; if they paid for this game, they’d lose.
“Too realistic, huh? Let me see how realistic it is!”
Fang Zhen smiled and clicked on the High Martial Descent game icon, watching his live stream get hotter and hotter.
...
A dimly lit small room, flickering lights, and the occasional whooshing sound of wind from the corridor outside the iron bars left Fang Zhen, who had just woken up in the room, somewhat bewildered.
“What’s going on? Where is this?”
“Wasn’t I about to play High Martial Descent? How did I end up in a place like this?”
The foul smell of something rotting, the metallic coldness from the iron chains on his hands and feet, and the biting cold wind blowing from who-knows-where in the room made Fang Zhen shiver uncontrollably. Immediately, a thought arose.
Kidnapped!
Was I kidnapped?
“Name?”
Before Fang Zhen could recover from his panic, a stern, cold question made his ears perk up, and he instinctively spoke.
“Fang Zhen, Fang as in direction, Zhen as in vibration.”
“Age?”
“29.”
“Your age… is a bit old, isn’t it? Seems not very useful.”
“No, I’m still young, I still have a lot of savings, I can still…”
As the stern voice continued to ask questions, Fang Zhen gradually recovered, and his vision became clearer.
Beyond the iron bars, a handsome young man wearing a black martial arts uniform with a pale face sat quietly at an iron-framed table. He held a pencil in one hand, looked up to ask questions, and made notes in a small notebook.
“Did I get in?” Fang Zhen looked at the handsome young man in front of him. Although his clothes were different, his tone and demeanor were unmistakable. He then hurriedly explained, “Big brother, is there a mistake? I’ve never done anything illegal. I’m just a game streamer. This must be a mistake.”
“Don’t try to claim kinship. I’m not familiar with you.”
“Then, officer?”
“Be serious. Call me Hall Master or Lord Lin Qi.”
“Hall Master? Lord Lin Qi?”
Upon hearing this, Fang Zhen’s mind momentarily couldn’t process it. He was completely unable to tell who this young man named Lin Qi in front of him really was.
A kidnapper?
An uncle?
Mentally ill?
“29 years old… 29 years old…” But before Fang Zhen could react, Lin Qi looked at the small notebook again, his pencil constantly twirling between his fingers, and he muttered to himself. Then he looked up at Fang Zhen, “Since that’s the case, then prove it. Two thousand squats, limit two hours. You can start.”
... Fang Zhen was somewhat bewildered and somewhat scared.
What the hell, 29 years old is proven this way!
And two thousand squats in two hours? Are mentally ill people this playful now?
“Do you want me to help you?”
“No! I’ll do it myself, I can do it, trust me.”
Fang Zhen, seeing Lin Qi about to get up, dared not think of anything else and quickly began doing squats, ignoring the iron chains on his hands and feet.
One… two… three…
“Hmm, not bad, quite standard. Since you don’t need help removing the chains, then never mind.” Lin Qi nodded slightly, watching Fang Zhen frantically do squats, then got up and left the dimly lit basement.
Lao Mao is back / (ㄒoㄒ)~~