World of Warcraft and Diablo

Li Shaolin was feeling very depressed today.

He had finally managed to get a weekend off, and after finishing all the chores around the house, he happily put on his headphones, ready to grind some dungeons. His best friend, A'Q, had already pinged him on QQ several times. The Chinese server of World of Warcraft had just launched Wrath of the Lich King, and since it was already the 3.35 version, he could queue for random dungeons. Finally, he wouldn't be rejected for having poor gear. There was a saying: "Why won't you group with me?" "Because your GS is low." "Why is my GS low?" "Because you won't group with me." This was a common macro many players used to mock those who blindly chased Gear Score. Now, with the random dungeon finder, even casual players could be just as formidable as the rest.

Li Shaolin and his friend A'Q queued for a small dungeon together. He played a Death Knight, and A'Q played a Shaman. In truth, he was mostly riding the coattails of that guy being a healer, which allowed them to get into dungeons instantly. They were halfway through the run when the system suddenly prompted: Due to a server malfunction, the system will shut down in 5 minutes. The players in the party were instantly speechless. Li Shaolin, too lazy to continue, simply closed the window and logged out. He opened his browser to check the news, but no official announcement had been posted yet. However, major forums were already rife with speculation: some claimed the server had been hacked, while others joked that a GM had crashed the system while watching adult videos. Seeing that he couldn't find any real answers, Li Shaolin closed the browser.

"Sigh, this is so boring." He clicked his mouse aimlessly, and after a flurry of clicks, he accidentally opened a long-forgotten folder: Diablo II. "Whatever, I'll play some Diablo." He clicked into the game. He hadn't touched this title in two or three years, but it remained a classic; it was worth a revisit. He casually created a Necromancer. Because he was lazy, the Necromancer was the least demanding class to play—just summon an army of skeletons, hide in the back, and cast some spells; it was essentially a brainless class. He had just created the character, rushed out of the Blood Moor, leveled up once, and put a point into Raise Skeleton when his QQ started pinging wildly, forcing him out of the game. It was that blockhead A'Q: "WoW is back up." Li Shaolin hurriedly clicked back into the World of Warcraft window and logged into his character, forgetting to close Diablo II. Once online, he grouped with A'Q and typed in the party chat: "You start queuing, I'm going to pour a glass of water." He stood up to get a drink.

When he turned back, the dungeon queue had already popped. He rushed to click the mouse, but his hand slipped, and he spilled the water all over the keyboard. Li Shaolin quickly grabbed a rag to wipe the water off. A'Q was already urging him to enter the dungeon, so he wiped it off haphazardly, tossed the rag aside, and continued his WoW journey. Just as things were getting intense, a burning smell reached his nose. He looked down and saw his computer tower smoking. Before he could react, a surge of electricity flickered and traveled through Li Shaolin's entire body. "F***!" he cursed, and then he passed out. On the computer monitor, a QQ window labeled A'Q was flashing incessantly...

He slowly regained consciousness. A blue sky with a few drifting white clouds came into view. "Huh? Why is the sky so blue today? Was the atmosphere modified?" Li Shaolin was lost in thought. "Wait, wasn't I at home playing WoW? How can I see the sky?" He stood up and looked around, only to find himself in a field, surrounded by rows of tea trees over a meter tall, growing lushly. The tea trees were enclosed by a fence, and at the edge of the fence stood a massive tree, so wide it would take six or seven people to encircle it, its canopy covering half the sky. Li Shaolin rubbed his forehead: "Where is this place?" Just as he was feeling bewildered, a cold wind blew, making him shiver. "So cold!" He looked at his body and realized he was stark naked. "Is this even fair? Did I transmigrate?" Li Shaolin cursed in utter despair. With no other choice, he gathered some tea branches and leaves to fashion a grass skirt, tying it around his waist to avoid indecent exposure. Just as he was looking around, a "rumbling" sound echoed. He didn't know how long he had been unconscious, but his stomach was cramping from hunger.

Hunger took precedence. Li Shaolin quickly left the field, searching for a house to see if any kind soul could offer him food. Upon exiting the field, a water well and a small cabin appeared before him, with a faint firelight flickering from within. Overjoyed, he ran toward it. Just as he left the field, a sign caught his eye: Mirror Lake Orchard.

"Mirror Lake? That name sounds so familiar. This... it seems to be a small lake below Stormwind City. How did I end up inside World of Warcraft!" Li Shaolin had run through Elwynn Forest to gather herbs and mine ore when playing his alt characters, so he had some impression of it. Now, he didn't dare approach the cabin, because in World of Warcraft, the houses below Elwynn Forest were usually occupied by things like Defias Bandits. He hadn't figured out his current situation yet, and if he got himself killed, it would be a huge loss. "Rumble, rumble," his empty stomach roared like thunder. "Screw it, I'll die of hunger anyway. I'll just have to check it out!" Regardless of the risks, Li Shaolin strode toward the house.

"Whoosh!" He was startled as a rabbit darted past him and ran away. He was very familiar with this common animal from World of Warcraft; he had killed countless numbers of them when he was bored. He reached out and pushed open the slightly ajar door. Fortunately, unlike in the game, no two knife-wielding bandits jumped out. He poked his head inside and saw a fireplace burning brightly, a table, a chest, a few bags of flour, some wine barrels, and a small wardrobe. Seeing no one, Li Shaolin slipped inside and closed the door. He searched and found food: some bread and a few cups of milk. He grabbed two pieces of bread and devoured them, and his stomach felt much better.

"Since there's food, there must be people. This setup is the same as the game. It seems likely that Defias Bandits roam here. It's probably daytime, so they're all out working. I need to run." After rummaging around, Li Shaolin found two pieces of clothing, quickly put them on, grabbed a few more pieces of bread, and quietly opened the door. He peeked outside, saw no movement, and crept out. He sighed inwardly: "Sigh, to think a dignified college student like me has been reduced to a thief!" Despite his thoughts, his feet didn't stop, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

After leaving the farm, he started running. About 20 minutes later, seeing no movement behind him, a lake appeared before his eyes. A stone marker stood there with three large characters: Mirror Lake. Seeing the lake water, his legs suddenly went weak, and Li Shaolin collapsed by the shore and lay down. "Why am I so unlucky? Sigh, I remember Stormwind City is just above this, but the road is full of wolves and such; I'm afraid I can't make it. My life is miserable!" Since he wasn't hungry anymore, he picked a blade of grass to chew on and let his mind wander. "Wait! World of Warcraft has 10 major classes. As a transmigrator, I should at least have a class, right? I used to play a Tauren DK, could it be...?" But when he arrived, he was completely naked and had nothing on him. He focused his mind, and sure enough, a box appeared in his consciousness:

Name: Li Shaolin

Race: Human (Eastern Warlock)

Gender: Male

Class: Necromancer

Level: 2

Health: 64/64

Mana: 64/64

Skills: Raise Skeleton Level 1 (Use a corpse to resurrect a Skeleton Warrior to fight for you. Requires 10 mana.)

Equipment: None

"Necromancer? Diablo?" Li Shaolin's brain short-circuited. He remembered that when he was playing World of Warcraft, he had forgotten to close Diablo II. He had just created a level 1 Necromancer, leveled up, and put a point into Raise Skeleton. Realizing this, Li Shaolin felt a wave of regret; if only he had used a cheat tool to modify it. Sigh. But this was too bizarre—a Diablo character transmigrating into World of Warcraft. What about his level 80 Death Knight from World of Warcraft?

This Raise Skeleton skill requires a corpse, but I have no strength to truss a chicken right now; how could I possibly kill a monster? Li Shaolin felt a wave of sorrow. Suddenly, from behind a large tree by the lake, voices drifted over. He crept over to look and saw two Defias Bandits who had just killed a wolf and were skinning it. Both wore red masks covering the lower half of their faces, dressed in exquisite leather armor, their daggers spinning like blades in their hands. In the blink of an eye, the wolf skin was peeled off. Li Shaolin hid behind the tree, not daring to let out a breath. The tall bandit laughed: "Good haul today, we actually got four wolves. This fur is enough to sell for several silver coins. It's a pity our carrying capacity is limited; we can't carry four wolf carcasses, so we have to abandon them. What a waste!" The short one replied: "Not bad at all. Usually, the brothers only hunt one wolf each per day. We've done quite well, don't be greedy." The tall one laughed: "True! Haha, let's go." They slung the wolf skins over their shoulders, each carrying a dead wolf, and walked away in the direction Li Shaolin had just come from.

"Haha, heaven helps those who help themselves! Free corpses delivered right to my doorstep. Good thing I didn't run around blindly; it looks like there's a Defias Brotherhood stronghold over there," Li Shaolin thought to himself. After the two bandits had walked far away, about 10 minutes later, he finally dared to reveal himself and walked up to the wolf carcass. "Now, how do I use magic?"

He thought about it, concentrated his mental energy, and silently recited "Raise Skeleton." Sure enough, a ripple of energy surged somewhere in his mind, and waves of cold aura rose from his body, spreading through his entire frame in an instant. The wolf carcass suddenly split open, blood splattered, and a snow-white, skeletal humanoid figure stood up. Red soul-fire flickered in its eye sockets, and it held a Bone Axe in its hand.