Chapter 2: God-like Opening
The setting sun gradually descended.
Streaks of afterglow shone upon the dilapidated Martial Hall, its floor scarred and broken, with rat heads popping out of the cracks, swaying back and forth, giving Lin Qi an indescribable sense of peace.
"Player Fang Zhen, age 29, body quality detected: Strength 76 kilograms, Speed 7.3 meters per second."
"Evaluation?"
"Elementary school student."
Lin Qi looked at the small notebook in his hand, scratched his head, crossed out the three words "Elementary school student," and added seven more words behind them.
Kindergarten senior class pending.
"Having to act like an NPC and make them obedient, this team is really too difficult to lead."
Lin Qi put away the small notebook, couldn't help but sigh, his gaze directly sweeping towards a corner below his field of vision, and then a translucent panel slowly appeared.
System: The Transmission Martial System has been activated. Current mission one: 'Completely Repair the Obsidian Martial Hall'. Reward: Type B6 Coach Training Machine. Player import limit increased by 40.
Host: Lin Qi.
Age: 25.
Martial Arts Level: Provisional Quasi-Apprentice.
Strength: 92 kilograms. (Quasi-Apprentice standard: 100 kilograms)
Speed: 8.9 meters per second. (Quasi-Apprentice standard: 10 meters per second)
Number of Players that can be Imported: 10 (Host's current online limit is 1, current reserved number is 5.)
The Transmission Martial System, a System that allows people from Blue Star to come to this world through game activation, can also cut off the connection between players and this world at any time, and players can resurrect upon death without him having to pay a price. Its ability can be called heaven-defying.
But now...
Lin Qi felt he had re-evaluated this System.
Although the System could bring players over, their physical quality was clearly not good.
Bang!
Bang! Bang!
"This second-hand generator is really unreliable. The basic power supply is intermittent. And he actually sold it to me for 500 bit. That black lizard's heart is indeed black."
Lin Qi, in the lounge, patted the rumbling iron lump in front of him and couldn't help but complain in a low voice.
Lin Qi was originally just a 25-year-old entrepreneur from Blue Star. He had worked desperately hard since university, opening his own game technology company. He had finally achieved financial freedom recently and could start enjoying life, but fourteen days ago, he suddenly transmigrated to this world.
Transmigrating was one thing, but not even a single piece of clothing was left for him; he came over in his original state, which was truly excessive. Fortunately, his luck was good; he transmigrated directly to the current Abandoned Martial Hall.
While searching for clothes inside the Martial Hall, Lin Qi rummaged through many old books and magazines, which gave him a general understanding of some basic information about this world.
This Blue Star was completely different from the Blue Star he lived on before. It was not only a High Martial World where myriad races gathered but also had a higher level of technology. As for the dangers, they were unimaginable.
In July 2025, the sea level of Blue Star suddenly cracked open, and a great disaster descended from then on.
The Waste Land was filled with powerful monsters unafraid of thermal weapons, and the occasional beast tides could easily destroy cities, making the living space for Human Race on this planet smaller and smaller.
Fortunately, in their later development, Human Race found a way to cope: Martial Artists.
By learning martial arts, breaking the limits of the human body, and evolving life, Human Race gained the power to fight against those powerful monsters for the first time. Subsequently, myriad races appeared, and martial arts flourished for hundreds of years. Even now, Martial Artists have always been people's pursuit, the hope protecting Human Race. Even countries and races worldwide have made martial arts a compulsory high school subject, and the college entrance examination even depends on the martial arts test score.
If the martial arts test score is not up to standard, even if a liberal arts student gets full marks in all other subjects, they shouldn't dream of going to university. And to go to a martial arts university, the martial arts test is the key of keys.
As for finding a job after graduating from university, there's even less to say. The first thing HR interviews at major companies and enterprises do is to have the interviewee take a punch first.
Those who can take the first punch in the interview will take the second punch in the second round of interviews. If they pass all three rounds, they can start work directly without any other assessments.
Also because of the rise of martial arts, various Martial Halls sprung up like mushrooms after rain. The Obsidian Martial Hall, where Lin Qi currently resides, was one of the Human Race Martial Halls established at the beginning of the City of Light Chasing's founding.
Although the place where the Obsidian Martial Hall is now located has become an Abandoned Zone of the City of Light Chasing, a place where even wild dogs shake their heads, the Obsidian Martial Hall covers an area of over eighty thousand square meters. Even though it is dilapidated, it still has some places that can provide shelter from wind and rain, preventing Lin Qi from sleeping on the streets.
"As expected, this generator is difficult to salvage." Lin Qi patted it again forcefully. The power inside the Martial Hall was still intermittent, the lights flickered, clearly not fixed.
"This is a generator, a precision instrument. Do you think it's like those disobedient brats that can be fixed by patting them a couple of times?" A woman, over two meters tall, with fair skin, a high ponytail, and a mechanical prosthetic arm, walked directly to Lin Qi's side and kicked the iron lump several times. Each kick caused the surrounding floor to crack inch by inch. After more than ten kicks, the lights in the hall finally stopped flickering. "Alright, your strength is still a bit small; you still need to practice more."
"Thanks." Lin Qi looked at the bright training ground and couldn't help but sigh, "As expected of a licensed mechanic in the City of Light Chasing, her strength is indeed incomparable to ordinary people."
Luo Qi, 24 years old, an employee at a weapon shop in the City Suburbs of the City of Light Chasing, was also Lin Qi's savior after he transmigrated to this High Martial World, allowing Lin Qi to truly understand this world, this City of Light Chasing.
"Stop flattering me, I won't reduce a single bit for you." Luo Qi rolled her eyes at Lin Qi, raised her mechanical prosthetic arm, and pointed at the old car parked outside the Martial Hall behind her. "I've transported all the things and put them there. Consider the ten alloy shovels as a gift. Three composite longbows, equipped with nine Black Steel arrows. These weapons are high-grade goods made from A5-grade alloy, even the young masters of those Quasi-Martial Artists usually use them. It's a total of 15000 bit. Are you planning to pay in installments or settle it all at once?"
"15000 bit, that cheap? I heard the rent inside the city is going up recently, isn't it?" Lin Qi looked at Luo Qi in surprise. "Also, isn't your sister just in her first year of high school, precisely when she needs intensive tutoring? Selling to me this cheaply means you'll earn a lot less this month. Did you perhaps get a big order recently?"
Making weapons takes a lot of time. As a weapon shop employee, Luo Qi only makes about five or six a month, purely earning some labor fees. A5-grade alloy is very expensive. For three A5-grade weapons, 15000 bit is almost the cost price.
Money in the High Martial World is extremely hard to earn; often, what you earn is not enough to spend. Good job positions generally require Martial Artist Apprentices, while ordinary people with formal identities only earn about two thousand bit a month.
Luo Qi is slightly better off as a mechanic, but only slightly. Earning an extra five or six hundred is good. Living in the City Suburbs, her monthly rent takes up half of her income. The production cost of three weapons is equivalent to losing half a month's salary.
As for going to high school in this world, the cost is extraordinarily high. Tuition alone is six thousand per semester, plus various nutritional expenses needed for cultivating vital energy. It's difficult for ordinary people to afford, and even harder for one person.
"The rent on our side is indeed going up recently. It's not just us; it's the same for all races. The Half-Scaled Race, I don't know what kind of luck they have, actually produced several genius Martial Artists. Their status in the City of Light Chasing has risen significantly. If the Half-Scaled Race pays less rent, the rent for other races naturally has to increase." When Luo Qi mentioned Martial Artists, her eyes also showed envy.
Becoming a Martial Artist is already not easy; wanting to become a Martial Artist before the age of 25 is even harder. On their Human Race side, it's been almost twenty years without any genius Martial Artists appearing.
After sighing for a moment, Luo Qi couldn't help but look at Lin Qi and said, "Don't worry about my matters. I'm a mechanic, so I'm not short of your money. How many installments are you planning to pay back? I suggest ten years of installments. Although the interest is a bit high, you can at least afford it every month."
"No, I'll settle it all at once." Lin Qi reached into his clothes and directly took out eighteen crisp banknotes, each worth one thousand bit.
"You really took that step." Luo Qi looked at the banknotes in her hand, her gaze complicated as she looked at Lin Qi. "Which gang? How much did you borrow?"
"The Great Gorilla Gang from the warehouse in the City Suburbs." Lin Qi didn't hide anything from Luo Qi. "I borrowed 30,000, and have to return 60,000 in two months."
From the first day Lin Qi transmigrated to this world, he was thinking about how to become a Martial Artist, but on the way to the City of Light Chasing's downtown area, he encountered two high school students from a martial arts class. The two were sparring under the bridge, causing the bridge structure to collapse, leading many passersby at the time to fall and suffer serious injuries. He was one of them.
Luo Qi was also on the bridge at the time. Because he pushed Luo Qi before falling, preventing Luo Qi from falling off the bridge, Luo Qi, out of gratitude, took him to the hospital while he was severely injured.
As a Black Household Drifters, the City of Light Chasing didn't care at all and offered no compensation. He had no money, so Luo Qi first covered 2,000 and then gave him another 1,000 to prevent him from starving. Although the hospital healed his injuries, he also owed the hospital 10,000 bit, to be repaid in four interest-free installments, which was equivalent to 2,500 per month.
For a Black Household Drifters living in the City of Light Chasing, repaying 2,500 bit in a month is basically impossible. Black Household Drifters do illegal work, and their food expenses for a day won't exceed 5 bit. Let alone earning 2,500 bit, it would be good to even earn a fraction of that.
As for wanting to become a Martial Artist, just a basic training method book sold casually in the city library costs tens of thousands of bit. Not to mention that practicing the training method blindly is useless; it requires professional guidance, and the guidance fee is several times that of the training method. It's completely out of reach for someone like him, a Black Household Drifters.
"You borrowed so much, you're not planning to do that line of work, are you!"
"Yes."
"You're crazy! You're gambling with your life!"
"To make money, you always have to gamble on something. As for farming, I think I have a good chance."
Since Lin Qi arrived in the High Martial World, he has clearly understood how difficult it is to survive as a Black Household Drifters. There are only two ways to make big money in the City of Light Chasing.
One is to become test subjects for major corporations, and the second is farming.
The Waste Land of the High Martial World is full of dangers, even for true Martial Artists. However, the major cities have limited areas and large populations, so food has always been scarce, especially food that can accelerate the increase of vital energy.
For ordinary people who want to become Martial Artists, vital energy training consumes a lot of bodily energy, which is difficult to satisfy with ordinary food. Fortunately, the technology in the High Martial World is very advanced, and they have created many special plants, among which is a type of blood essence rice.
As long as this blood essence rice is planted in areas with concentrated energy, it not only matures in just ten days but also contains very rich energy. Major cities are generally built on Energy Mines, which can provide sufficient power sources for the cities. Therefore, the closer to the city center, the more concentrated the energy, and blood essence rice has become the main crop planted in major cities.
However, each city is only so big, and the produced blood essence rice is simply not enough to eat. There are many places in the Waste Land filled with concentrated energy, so farming in the Waste Land has become a good way for Black Household Drifters to make money.
As long as they can grow a batch of blood essence rice in the Waste Land, even if it's only ten catties, according to the market price in the City of Light Chasing, which is 200 bit per catty, that's 2,000 bit. The cost of ten catties of blood essence rice seeds is only 500 bit. A four-fold profit is enough to drive many people crazy, let alone Black Household Drifters.
"You're really crazy. That line of work isn't something ordinary people can touch. Even Martial Artist Apprentices who have stepped onto the martial path don't dare to venture there casually. You should just give up. Putting aside your small physique, whether you can find a hidden energy spot in the Waste Land and guard that blood essence rice, you should know that this line of work is now controlled by various gangs. Once they find out, there won't be any good outcome." Luo Qi said speechlessly, "You really go to bars too often. Do you really think everyone can become an urban legend?"
"Jackal Feijin of the Waste Land, and Qi Lan, the Light Chaser of Steel, they indeed broke the gangs' blockade as drifters and even became Martial Artists, becoming legendary figures that all drifters yearn for. But among the tens of millions of drifters in the City of Light Chasing, how many such legends can there be?"
"While you can still turn back now, give up."
"I know a pretty good hospital. With your looks, if you stop being a man, I believe many rich people will like your gentle and refined type."
Luo Qi's words were sincere, and in her eyes, she could even see Lin Qi's bright future, which made Lin Qi momentarily stunned.
Gentle and refined?
Lin Qi considered himself not short. On his original Blue Star, he was a tall guy at 186cm. However, in this High Martial World where everyone trains, junior high students generally reach two meters in height, and high school students are commonly around two point two to two point three meters. His height indeed isn't much, but it shouldn't warrant being pitied.
"Let's forget about this path. The gamble is a bit too big, and I don't have that strong psychological tolerance yet." Lin Qi quickly interrupted Luo Qi, who still wanted to talk. "Do you have a distribution map of the major gangs' forces in the Waste Land of the City of Light Chasing?"
Although there are many monster activities in the Waste Land, there are also many relatively safe places, and these places have many areas with concentrated energy. Major gangs generally occupy these places to grow blood essence rice for sale within the city. Others who want to grow blood essence rice can only avoid these places.
Although the Cangjing Weapon Shop where Luo Qi works is not a particularly powerful weapon shop, it is a well-ranked one in the City Suburbs. Privately, they have provided and transported weapons to various gangs quite a bit, so they should know the range of the major gangs' activities in the Waste Land to some extent.
"Alas, you are just too conservative." Luo Qi looked at the determined Lin Qi, sighed inwardly at his lack of ambition, and directly sent him an electronic map. She turned and left, but before leaving, she still reminded him.
"If you really can't repay that money before the deadline, remember to notify me in advance. I don't think you'd want to hand your body over to those Great Gorillas, right? I have connections here and should be able to sell you for a high price. Maybe I can even leave you one kidney for later use."
"Can I still keep one?" Lin Qi looked at Luo Qi with some surprise, not expecting Luo Qi's connections to be quite solid.
Sixty thousand is not a small amount. It's the income of an official ordinary person in the City of Light Chasing for two years. Lin Qi estimated that his body was only worth sixty to seventy thousand; otherwise, that group of Great Gorillas wouldn't have only lent him thirty thousand.
"How about letting that 29 try it?"
"Sixty thousand at once, even those Quasi-Martial Artists don't earn this much. And he can even keep one kidney and survive! It's simply perfect!"
Lin Qi looked at Luo Qi disappearing into the night and couldn't help but feel a little tempted, but Lin Qi shook his head and quickly gave up on this idea.
Players are different from ordinary people; they can resurrect infinitely. If some forces were to detect a problem and find there are endless little fruits to pick, then the problem would be big when they find him.
Two hours later, in the basement of Obsidian Martial Hall.
"Good stamina, potential." Lin Qi looked at Fang Zhen, who was still barely standing, and couldn't help but nod. With such stamina and perseverance, he is definitely a little farming expert. His evaluation of Fang Zhen immediately increased significantly, and the words 'to be determined' could be directly crossed out. "By the way, how are your kidneys usually? How do you feel right now?"
"How are my kidneys? Feel? Do shaky legs count?"
"You don't feel anything?"
"Brother, should I be feeling something?"
Fang Zhen couldn't help but look at Lin Qi outside the iron bars with vigilance, feeling very flustered. He had been made to do two thousand squats for two hours, and now he was asking about his kidneys and how he felt.
What the hell kind of feeling could he have? What kind of feeling did he want him to have?
Good? Very comfortable?
"Alas, kindergarten seniors really are still not enough."
"???"
Lin Qi sighed slightly, looked at the time displayed on his wristband, and then looked at Fang Zhen, as if waiting for something. Just as Fang Zhen was about to say something, he felt an indescribable sharp pain in his brain and kidneys, followed by a mouthful of dark, old blood spraying out, and his vision went black.
System: You are dead.
"Game? This is a game?!"
Fang Zhen looked at the System prompt, his eyes wide, completely stunned.
Have game developers nowadays become so good at playing?