Village Entrance Minions

System Prompt: Please name your character.

A blank text box appeared before him.

Xiao Jie thought for a moment and chose a gaming handle he had used in the past—Hidden Moon Follows Wind.

To his surprise, the game lacked any character customization or class selection process; the screen immediately transitioned to his character.

A thin man wearing only shorts stood there, clutching a wooden stick in his hand.

[Wooden Stick (One-handed blunt weapon)

Attack Power: 8 Bludgeoning.

Item Description: A crude weapon fashioned from a tree branch. It can inflict a certain amount of damage when swung with full force. It is said that the wooden stick was the first weapon created by ancient humans, which is why it has become the only possession of the destitute Returnees.]

This is too pathetic, right? They won't even give me a set of cloth armor?

Xiao Jie grumbled inwardly while familiarizing himself with the key bindings. As a professional gamer with over a decade of experience, he grasped the game's control scheme in no time.

WASD for movement, left-click to attack, right-click to block, with run and jump capabilities—it was a standard over-the-shoulder control scheme.

What amazed him was the game's impressive animation module. By making micro-adjustments with the mouse, he could attack and block from various directions. It was somewhat similar to Mount & Blade, but while Mount & Blade only allowed attacks from four directions, this game permitted attacks and defenses from every conceivable angle.

He could also roll and jump, and hold down buttons to charge up heavy attacks, which carried a hint of "Souls-like" games.

But what truly left Xiao Jie in disbelief was the game's realism; both the movements and the impact feedback felt incredibly authentic.

Generally, online game characters feel a bit "floaty" to control, but this game lacked that sensation entirely. The handling surpassed even the AAA single-player titles he had played. The game was almost excessively realistic, to the point where it created a strong sense of latency—even though he had pressed the button, the character's action always seemed to lag by half a beat.

However, Xiao Jie knew this wasn't a flaw. In fact, it was the game's most astonishing feature. This performance was actually closer to real human behavioral patterns. It might feel uncomfortable at first, but once mastered, it would provide a powerful sense of immersion.

Ultimately, all games are a form of simulating reality. The more realistic the simulation, the stronger the player's immersion, and consequently, the greater the sense of achievement upon defeating an enemy.

What surprised him even more was the way he interacted with NPCs; it wasn't through a dialogue box.

He walked up to an elderly NPC to initiate a conversation, only to find no dialogue options. Instead, a system prompt popped up on the interface.

[System Prompt: Players can interact with surrounding characters via voice.]

Voice interaction?

Is this for real? Xiao Jie thought. Is it really this advanced?

"Hello!" he tried saying into his microphone.

The old man actually seemed to hear him, nodding in his direction.

"Hello there, young man. By the looks of you, you must be a Returnee."

Holy crap, it really works! Xiao Jie felt increasingly shocked. This intelligent? Could it be the legendary artificial intelligence technology?

He became instantly intrigued, wondering just how smart the game's AI truly was.

Could it fully simulate the logic of an elderly person's speech and behavior? If it could actually do that, it would be incredible—the level of freedom in this game must be immense.

"Yes, elder. I am Hidden Moon Follows Wind. I have just arrived here. May I ask what place this is?"

"This is Ginkgo Valley. Our village is called Ginkgo Village, a territory of Wind Whisper Province. However, ever since the Great Calamity descended, we have lost contact with the provincial capital. Nowadays, the outside is filled with demons and monsters. If you like, young brother, you can stay here for a few days. Some Returnees came by a while ago, but they didn't stay long before leaving. They headed outside the village, and now, who knows if they are alive or dead... sigh."

As Xiao Jie listened to the old man, he felt utterly stunned.

Although it was just a few simple lines of dialogue, the level of interactivity was nearly indistinguishable from a real person.

Liu Qiang was right; this game was absolutely something that could change the future.

Furthermore, he had to admit that the game's optimization was quite impressive. Despite being an online game, it ran more smoothly than single-player titles, and the visuals were incredibly realistic, even running smoothly on his old rig with a 1060 graphics card.

He couldn't wait to go outside and explore. As long as the combat portion of the game held up, it had a limitless future.

At this moment, Han Luo ran over. Xiao Jie thanked the old man, and the two headed toward the outskirts of the village.

"Don't go out there, it's very dangerous," the old man nagged, his eyes filled with unconcealable worry.

But both of them were in high spirits and paid no mind.

They walked toward the village entrance, brimming with excitement.

Five minutes later—

The two found the first mob in the game.

"This guy looks a bit fierce."

Xiao Jie clutched his wooden stick, hiding behind a bush as he watched the "Lost Soul Bandit" ahead, speaking with concern.

It was a burly man wearing Studded Leather Armor. The tattered armor could not hide his powerful physique; he was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, carrying a large saber on his shoulder. The rusted blade seemed to still have traces of blood on it. The bandit's face wore a twisted, insane expression, yet his eyes were completely hollow—likely related to the "Lost Soul" moniker. Under the ultra-high resolution, he looked particularly murderous.

In contrast, the two of them, bare-bodied and holding wooden sticks, looked pathetic.

"What are you afraid of? It's just a mob near the village entrance. How tough can it be? Let's do it!" Han Luo didn't care at all and was eager to jump in and start the fight.

Xiao Jie thought that made sense. In games with this kind of dark art style, monsters were usually designed to look scary, but they might not be much once the fighting actually started.

Besides, it was just a game. Even if they got killed, it didn't matter; they could just respawn and try again.

"Fine. I'll go up and draw aggro first, you sneak attack from behind."

"Copy that."

The two of them charged toward the bandit, one after the other.

Seeing this, the bandit brandished his broadsword and charged straight at Xiao Jie as well.

Xiao Jie swung his wooden stick, but the bandit neither dodged nor parried, instead bringing his blade down in a direct overhead strike. Intending to test the monster's damage, Xiao Jie had no intention of dodging either, opting to trade blows directly.

Bang! -7.

Squelch! -28.

As the wooden stick struck the bandit, Xiao Jie took a slash from the bandit's blade in return.

Damn it, that's some insanely high damage! What happened to this being a starter mob at the village entrance?

Watching his Health Bar vanish by a third in an instant, Xiao Jie was shocked. The game design was incredibly brutal; even the mobs at the village entrance were this fierce.

Seeing the bandit swing his blade again, Xiao Jie dared not trade blows anymore, instead raising his stick to parry while retreating.

This game featured a parry mechanic; by holding the right mouse button and moving the mouse, one could adjust the direction of the parry. Likewise, one could adjust the direction of attacks. Theoretically, as long as one could judge the opponent's attack trajectory the moment they struck and align the parry to the same direction, one could block the enemy's attack.

However, theory was just theory. Since attack angles could be chosen freely, judging the enemy's attack direction and parrying in a split second was undoubtedly an incredibly difficult maneuver.

The slightest mistake could lead to a failed defense, but fortunately, Xiao Jie's gaming skills were far above average.

Clang! He blocked one strike.

However, the second and third strikes followed immediately, and the blade moved with such speed that Xiao Jie had to parry repeatedly.

Even with Xiao Jie's exceptional gaming skills, he only managed to barely block two strikes. When he went to block the third, his angle was slightly off, allowing the opponent to break through his defense and land a slash on his body.

-33!

Blood sprayed into the air, and with that hit, he was left with only a sliver of health.

Looking at his character covered in blood, an inexplicable sense of unease rose in Xiao Jie's heart, as if his own life were truly hanging by a thread.