"Xiao! Xiao! Good news, massive good news!"
Xiao Jie was just taking inventory at Wuji Studio when he heard Han Luo shouting as he rushed in.
"Can you not be so jumpy all the time?" Xiao Jie asked helplessly.
He really could not quite handle his best friend Han Luo's jumpy personality.
Han Luo did not mind at all, lowering his voice mysteriously. "Guess who I ran into eating out just now?" Before Xiao Jie could even guess, he blurted out the answer, "That punk Liu Qiang!"
Hearing that name, Xiao Jie immediately frowned. "That bastard still dares to show his face? Didn't you beat the crap out of that kid?"
Xiao Jie genuinely held not an ounce of goodwill toward Liu Qiang, the culprit who indirectly caused the studio to disband.
"You know what? I really wanted to thrash him at the time, but who knew that kid would be quite sincere when he saw me, saying he felt terrible about how things went down back then and wanting to give us some compensation. He said there's a recent game gold-farming project that urgently needs top players to pitch in, and he wants to hire me with a monthly salary of fifteen thousand, five major insurances, one housing fund, plus a year-end bonus."
Xiao Jie sneered. For that bastard Liu Qiang, it would be a miracle if anything he said was reliable.
"Did you agree?"
"Hell, am I the kind of person who sells out for profit? Besides, I know what Liu Qiang that kid is like—he's the absolute scum of the earth, so I wouldn't get fooled. I told him I was rolling with you and made him give up on that idea.
"But guess what happened? When Liu Qiang heard I was hanging with you, he got pretty excited and gave me two activation codes for a new game, saying it's a ton of fun and definitely the future of gaming, the kind of game that could completely change our destiny.
"And he swore this game is insanely fun. In his own words, 'It's so fun it's deadly.'
"Plus, it's great for gold-farming. The in-game currency is super valuable, and casually grinding out tens of thousands a month is no big deal.
"I figured this would give our studio a new project, so I rushed back to bring it to you."
With that, he produced a slip of paper and two cards like he was presenting a treasure.
Xiao Jie glanced at the slip of paper, which had a web address on it.
As for those two cards, he had no idea what material they were made of. They were pitch-black with a rather heavy feel, and each had a string of golden numbers written on them. The workmanship was quite exquisite, so they had to be the so-called activation codes.
Xiao Jie took one and looked it over, thinking it really looked the part.
He shook his head instead. "What kind of pipe dreams are you having? Can you actually take that kid's word seriously? Besides, with how advanced information is these days, if there were really such a good game, it would be world-famous by now, let alone leaving him to sell favors."
Han Luo was taken aback, scratching his head. He felt like it made sense, but he still was not willing to give up. "Let's just try it. What if it's real? Anyway, our studio hasn't had any business lately."
Xiao Jie sighed. "Then let's try it."
He turned on the computer, typed out the web address from the paper, and pressed enter, only to find it really was a gaming website.
Old Earth? He had never heard of it at all.
Judging by the introduction, it seemed to be a game with an Eastern celestial-immortal style.
The few game illustrations on the homepage had a rather gloomy art style, exuding the unique decadence of a Souls-like game, but apart from some simple scenery, there were no detailed descriptions of the gameplay.
Looking at the crude website, Xiao Jie had already given up any hope, but seeing how excited Han Luo was, he still could not bear to dampen his spirits.
Let's just try it then.
The two of them each entered an activation code, created game accounts, and chose to download the game. The installation finished quickly.
Looking at the strange game icon on the desktop that looked like a shattered disc, Xiao Jie clicked to enter the game.
First came an inscrutable CGI game animation.
[Beyond the starry skies, there is our homeland—Old Earth.]
On the screen, a magnificent scene of a vast land emerged, the primeval earth rising up amidst trees and molten lava.
[That was once the world of the immortal Ancestral Dragon and the undying Fire Bird. Yet that which is immortal shall eventually rot, and that which is undying shall eventually perish.]
On the screen were majestic dragons radiating golden light and phoenixes radiating crimson flames. They fought and slaughtered each other between heaven and earth, stirring up a tragic and magnificent doomsday scene.
[It was once also the world of giants and desolate beasts. Yet those giants eventually fell, and those desolate beasts returned to ignorance and savagery.]
Giants wielded weapons, manipulating fire and floods, fighting to the death with equally massive beasts. Corpses and blood were everywhere.
[It was also the world of deities and immortals. Yet the Gods perished and the immortals went into seclusion.]
This time, overly bloody scenes did not appear. On the screen were only shattered floating islands, dilapidated palaces and towers, and desolate courtyards overgrown with dead grass, giving off an incomparably dreary feeling.
[It is also the world of humans, your old home.]
The screen shifted to scenes on the earth: thatched huts, pavilions, towns, and markets, with people dressed in ancient Chinese attire moving back and forth among the fields in a bustling scene.
[Yet as the end times approached, terrifying demons walked the earth, cities turned into ruins, and piled corpses and floating blood filled the fields.]
Various monsters appeared on the screen, devouring humans. Cities collapsed and fell into desolation, and skeletons and bones were everywhere in the fields.
[It was once the dwelling place of Sages. Only the Sages knew the truth of this end time; only the Sages could fathom the profound mystery of saving the world.]
Yet when the disaster struck, the Sages also vanished. Some said the Sages returned to nothingness, some said the Sages escaped beyond the Three Realms, and some said the Sages dissipated into the heaven and earth.
[Seven men and women of different appearances appeared on the screen, seemingly the so-called Sages. The images of the seven "Sages" vanished one by one, leaving only a blank space at the end.]
[O exiled Returnees from beyond the starry skies, the long-lost homeland has opened its gates once more. The call of Old Earth guides you to embark on the path of return, to seek the lost Sages and explore the truth of the end times.]
As the game CGI ended, Xiao Jie found that his character had appeared in a desolate little mountain village.
Looking at the game graphics on his computer screen, Xiao Jie's perpetually calm face rare revealed a trace of astonishment.
"This game... is a bit interesting!"
Though the game CGI was a bit nonsensical, the game's art style genuinely made him look twice.
That dilapidated wooden house, that desolate mountain wilderness, the lush trees, and the mottled light filtering down through the branches... the slightly gloomy sky and the sound of the wind in his ears.
Everything was so real, it was almost as if he were peeking into another real world from within his screen.
Only the game interface displayed at the edge of the screen allowed him to realize that this was neither some blockbuster movie nor a real-time recorded actual scene, but a genuine in-game setting.
"How about it? I wasn't wrong, this game definitely has potential," Han Luo said excitedly from the side, rubbing his hands together with an eager-to-try expression. "Now our studio finally has a project."
Xiao Jie nodded slightly. Indeed, although he had not played the game deeply yet, based solely on this graphical performance, the game had immense promise and was very suitable as Wuji Studio's new project.
Before you continue