Stars Shine Bright

"This game doesn't have a social system. How about I create a group and everyone joins?"

Qian Peng suddenly suggested while everyone was collecting their weapons.

Judging by the comments in the livestream, he was the only one of the ten players who had received early access who was actually streaming.

Furthermore, at least two players were lurking in his stream.

This one-sided disclosure of information made Qian Peng a bit nervous, fearing he might get ambushed by someone while walking down the road later.

With that in mind, Qian Peng emphasized:

"Otherwise, it'll be troublesome to contact each other after the tutorial."

"How do we add each other?" the Dragonkin, stroking his beard, was the first to respond.

Qian Peng walked up to the Dragonkin, "Let's use QQ, I'll scan you."

Dragonkin: "Sure."

Li Li, standing nearby, curiously observed what these Earthlings called adding friends.

He saw that "Amulet Owl" walked up to "Not Iaido, But Drawing Sword," and the latter's eyes suddenly became vacant. After a few seconds, they regained their usual liveliness.

He nodded slightly at the Dragonkin and said, "Thank you, senior." Then he walked up to "Golden Wind" and asked, "Are you a high-ranking member of the top guild, 'Golden Wind'?"

"Golden Wind" simply smiled without responding.

"Golden Wind" was the largest guild in the country, monopolizing many resources within the game, such as alchemy, scroll crafting, and enchanting... Even professional clubs focused on PvP would purchase services from them.

As everyone added each other to the group one by one, Li Li noticed that when "Amulet Owl" invited these people into the group, he would offer some commercial flattery, sometimes before adding them and sometimes after. It was as if these guys were quite famous.

The most exaggerated instance was when he approached "Lost a Leg." After inviting him to the group, he suddenly covered his mouth and exclaimed:

"You're Leg Lord?"

"What else?"

The Shadowfolk shrugged, clearly enjoying the theatrical flattery.

Finally, muttering, "Who's still missing one?", "Amulet Owl" found the Gnome who had been hiding in the corner.

Under everyone's gaze, the Gnome reluctantly stepped forward.

After staring blankly at each other for a few seconds, "Amulet Owl's" expression shifted from confusion to shock, and then to astonishment. He stared intently at the Gnome before him, his tone tactful as he said, "Baron, the global group stage of the Expedition Cup is at the beginning of next month. You—"

"Do you know your club about this?"

The Dragonkin walked over, blocking the two, his tone more serious than ever.

The Gnome, named "I Don't Want to Pay Breach of Contract Fees," squatted on the ground, hugging his head with his hands, and desperately explained, "I didn't know they'd delete character data when reserving the classic server at first, and there was no way to cancel the reservation on the official website."

"You're Baron from the STAR Team?" The others also realized.

"Your team finally assembled a 'Galactic Battleship' this year, and before the season even started, the pilot is already gone," the Elf named "Sakurajima Mai" quipped.

"Despair Expedition OL" still held global professional competitions. Although the discussion volume was average, it had at least experienced past glory.

The STAR Team, to which "I Don't Want to Pay Breach of Contract Fees" belonged, was one of the favorites to win this year.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!!" "I Don't Want to Pay Breach of Contract Fees" wailed in agony, looking like he was about to escape reality.

Seeing these strange individuals, Li Li's confusion deepened.

He knew these people were players of "Despair Expedition OL."

After all, he had posted the recruitment notice on the game's official website.

He could also roughly guess that these people were using Earth's network to add friends.

After all, their souls were still on Earth; only soul projections, like reflections on water, had descended into this world.

But why were these people so certain that this was a game world?

What exactly had gone wrong?

Except for "Level 8 Great Gale," whom Li Li had asked to "further optimize the operation logic," the other players left the initial warehouse one after another after choosing their weapons.

Qian Peng walked at the end of the crowd, watching their backs, and suddenly felt a sense of not belonging there.

Retired three-time champion player, current favorite to win, well-known boss killer, executive of the top guild in the country... Among those whose backgrounds he recognized, everyone could completely crush him.

But then he thought, it seemed his losses were the smallest.

Everyone here could have had equipment worth millions of yuan taken from them.

The reason they were so well-behaved, not attacking NPCs, not dropping their pants in public, wasn't because these players had high morals, but because of the terrifying sunk cost.

The account bans mentioned by the NPCs earlier were truly devastating.

Qian Peng sighed. In less than half an hour of game time, he was already prepared to give up on suing the Expedition Company.

His lawyer had subtly indicated that his chances of getting the money back were slim.

With that time, as one of the first players to enter "Glorious Expedition," he might as well leverage his first-mover advantage and establish a firm foothold in the game.

He'd find ways to earn back those losses later.

Take the 3 million that "Golden Wind" had paid for "Ember," for example.

If this game truly adopted a "real-world" gameplay style, it meant that every quest, every boss in the game would be unique.

On the opening day, that price wasn't really that high.

"Hoo—"

After thinking it through, Qian Peng let out a long breath and looked at the spear in his hand.

[Hardwood Spear (Blue)]

[Attributes: Attack +30, Armor Penetration +10, Accuracy +5]

[Traits: None]

[Durability: 100/100]

[Weapon Description: An industrialized product from the assembly line, affordable, reliable quality, with home delivery available.]

"An initial weapon that's blue-grade, with built-in armor penetration and high durability. It's much better than the original game's Corrosive Longsword, which only had 30 durability at the start."

After introducing the spear in his hand, Qian Peng bowed slightly and walked out through the roller shutter door of the warehouse.

The next moment, he froze in place.

A faint mist enveloped the grass in the early morning, making everything appear unreal. Across the road, at the construction site, the cold light of the neon signs pierced through the haze, forcefully imprinting the silhouette of the distant city onto his pupils.

A giant advertising airship drifted among the towering buildings, appearing and disappearing like a nomad in the sky, plunging into the forest of steel and iron.

Then, the wind came.

It carried the roar of cars, the hum of machinery, the whistle of factory sirens, the pulse of this city.

Standing on the edge of this city of steel and glass, Qian Peng felt his heart clench tightly.

He wanted to open his mouth and vent the inexpressible emotions churning within him.

But he couldn't make a sound.

It was as if he had fallen in love.

But he didn't know what he had fallen in love with.

He understood why the game had no opening cutscene; just a corner of this world was enough to surpass anything.

"A living Iron Wall City!"

"Breathtaking."

"How many NPCs must there be!"

"This is too shocking, I'm making this scene my wallpaper!"

"Damn it, stop gawking and let's go into the city to explore!"

The viewers in the livestream were also stunned by the scene, but only Qian Peng knew that they could only see the city, while he could see, hear, smell, taste, and touch it.

"As you can all see, this must be Iron Wall City before its destruction."

"And the current time is—"

Qian Peng glanced at the abandoned construction site across the road. On its nearly defunct LED screen, the current time was still flickering.

"Alliance Year 1104, January 14th."

"Six months until the fall of the Alliance, the corruption of the world—"

"Until the demise of the last civilization—"

"Until the day hope dies—"

"Until the day players of 'Despair Expedition OL' arrive—"

"There are still six months left."