Fork in the Road

After the two teamed up, they followed their understanding of the official-server Legend and went straight to Centipede Cave, which was only slightly above their level. They used the safe-zone teleportation NPC and arrived at the cave entrance in a single teleport, saving themselves the long journey.

This game was so damn player-friendly. Like it.

In the official-server Legend, running from place to place took nearly ten minutes. It was such a waste of time, practically burning through prepaid game time—just another disgusting, despicable money-making scheme by capitalists.

After entering Centipede Cave, the mage kid killed one monster with two Lightning Techniques, while Li Wu's warrior killed them with a single slash each. Centipedes, Black Evil Maggots, pincers—everything died in one hit. Only Evil Pincers could withstand a few blows.

Their experience bars shot upward in chunks.

In the official-server Legend, there was only one elite monster among several hundred ordinary monsters, and killing it would drop a pile of items.

Here, however, just killing a few random monsters resulted in a massive drop.

At first, the two excitedly picked everything up and stuffed it into their bags. After more than ten minutes, they were already able to leave dropped items untouched, their minds as calm as still water.

They only picked up things that seemed useful.

After killing for a while, the two realized that they had still underestimated their own strength—or rather, the absurdity of this game.

After a brief discussion, they returned to town together and headed for the higher-level Zuma Temple!

Inside, they fought until the sky darkened and the sun and moon lost their light.

"Holy crap, a Demon Bell! Don't pick it up—that's mine, mine!"

"Holy shit, a Strength Ring! Mine! You picked it up—throw it out!"

"Even an elite Great Hammer Guard is nothing special. It went down after a few hits from my Dragon Slaying Saber. Boring!"

"Holy shit, Death Gloves with 1–5 attack! This is for you. Tell me when you see an elite item. Pick up the ordinary equipment too. Who knows? They might all be damn elite items!"

As they fought monsters, the two occasionally let out strange cries.

At first, everyone else thought two idiots were bragging. But as they listened, the bragging gradually reached the point where it sounded indistinguishable from the truth.

The players in the internet café who played the official Legend could no longer sit still.

They gathered around to watch. Once they did, they were amazed, quickly becoming absorbed and revealing envious expressions.

Before long, every player who was playing Greedy Blue Moon: Legend had a crowd gathered behind them.

Li Wu had the biggest crowd of all.

The more the Legend players watching from behind looked, the more bitter and aggrieved they felt.

Damn it, they spent real money buying prepaid game time.

They worked hard day and night to level up, waited for bosses to respawn, and risked their lives, only to get a pile of junk. Even their Purgatory had only twenty points of durability left.

And then they looked at these people. In just one hour, they were almost wearing a complete Zuma set—and they even had a Dragon Slaying Saber!

Some people might never reach Rome in their entire lives, while others were born there!

Shanda's trash Legend— even dogs wouldn't play it!

During a break in Li Wu's monster hunting, several people asked ingratiatingly, "Big bro, how are you playing this Legend? Could you teach your little brother?"

Normally, if someone called him "bro," Li Wu would have put on airs immediately.

But Li Wu was busy now. He answered impatiently, "There are flyers over by the counter. Everything's on them. Go read one yourself."

The next moment, a group of people rushed toward the counter, startling the sleepy internet café attendant. Seeing the commotion, the attendant thought a gang of robbers had arrived.

But after taking a closer look, he realized they were only robbing the flyers. In that case, there was nothing to worry about. He went back to dozing on the counter.

"Don't grab them all!"

"Leave one for me!"

"Damn, who the hell is taking several at once? Hey, you over there—I'm talking to you! One per person. If anyone takes more, we'll all beat him up!"

After more than ten minutes, everyone had one flyer in hand and returned to their seats.

Before long, Greedy Blue Moon: Legend had finished installing on all their computers. After registering and logging in, they all began wailing.

The screen displayed: Server full, queue: 1024

Damn it, can't they handle more players? There's even a queue!

Li Wu and the mage kid were both wearing full Zuma sets. They headed straight for Zuma Boss's Lair, killing every monster they encountered along the way. Anyone who blocked their path was slain!

With their hands in their pockets, the two charged forward recklessly, driving straight into the heart of the enemy.

They entered Boss's Lair directly. Before they could react, a blade of light descended from the heavens.

The next second, the two were lying on the ground watching black-and-white screens, killed instantly together!

It was as if the warrior statue in the safe zone had come to life. Clad in golden armor and wielding the Sky-Opening Greatsword, it fought the Zuma Boss with overwhelming might, while the two of them seemed like nothing more than two mosquitoes the warrior had casually swatted to death.

What made Li Wu spit blood was that his Dragon Slaying Saber had dropped.

His world had shattered!

Wu You was thirty years old that year. His family owned a mine—in other words, he was the son of a legendary coal boss.

For the past two years, he had done nothing but loaf around. He had strictly followed his father's bottom line: he and gambling and drugs were mortal enemies. Aside from that, he had tried everything.

A few months earlier, his friends had recommended the online game Legend to him. From then on, he was completely hooked. But after playing a few levels, he found leveling too tiring, so he simply bought a high-level account and started PKing. It was only a momentary thrill.

One day, he checked the official Legend forums and saw Beyond Legend on the second line of the Baidu search results.

What the hell? There was actually a game that could surpass Legend?

When he clicked in, he discovered the doorway to a new world!

This game was called Greedy Blue Moon: Legend, and its weapons and equipment looked surprisingly cool!

When the servers opened, he immediately registered, logged in, and created a character in one smooth motion. After entering the game, he looked around and was delighted to discover that there was even a recharge option.

It supported Online Banking transfers, which was quite convenient. He transferred money directly to the account provided by the other party, then added their QQ account.

Could it be a scam? The thought flashed through his mind and vanished just as quickly. The cost of scamming someone this way was rather high.

He would transfer ten thousand yuan first and test the waters.

A few minutes later, QQ replied: Recharge received. We wish our esteemed player an enjoyable game.

Oh, the customer service was pretty polite.

Wu You bought every gift pack and item in the game mall that could be purchased with money.

During the early stages, he spent a little over twenty thousand yuan in total before there was nothing left to buy. Not bad. It was not too expensive—just the cost of one night's entertainment.

He had even maxed out that ridiculous VIP membership system. VIP15, with nowhere higher to rise, had given him a dazzling pile of equipment.

Wu You curled his lips. He felt as if he had not even exerted himself, yet his opponent had already collapsed. Fine, he would leave it at that for now.

He quickly equipped all the gifted items. He had to admit, there were only two words for it: cool and flashy!

He instantly became the most dazzling guy in the safe zone! A crowd of underlings surrounded him, and flattery and praise continuously flooded the chat. It gave him an enormous sense of satisfaction.

After making a round, he used the membership NPC to teleport directly to Zuma Boss's Lair and practice on the Zuma Boss.

But before he could land more than a couple of hits, two minor soldiers appeared from who-knows-where behind him. Wu You casually used a money attack to beat up the little kids, killing them with one hit each.

Wu You curled his lips. What kind of trash were they? How dare they come to the same map and compete with him for monsters?

When he saw the other party's Dragon Slaying Saber drop, Wu You picked it up and checked its attributes. Trash!

He threw it back down. A mere Dragon Slaying Saber was nothing special. How could it compare with the Sky-Opening Sword in his hand?

He teleported straight back to town and forgot about the little incident in the blink of an eye.

Back in town, he continued enjoying the adoration of thousands. Wu You was deeply moved, completely immersed in the experience!

The feeling was similar to what he had experienced after his family suddenly became rich:

The first time he had flown to the capital and visited Heaven on Earth to broaden his horizons.

The first time he had spent tens or even hundreds of thousands of yuan dining with a female celebrity he had yearned for and taking part in some entertainment activities.

It could not be said they were exactly the same. They were simply identical!

This was the game that a high-end, premium player like him ought to play.

In a while, he would go kill the Woma Boss for a guild emblem and establish the number-one guild in the region!

Now that he had set a goal, how could he leave out his good-for-nothing friends?

Wu You took out his diamond-encrusted Samsung phone and began calling his friends!

Meanwhile,

In the capital, Ice City, and among the Legend players who found the game through Baidu searches, people continued flooding into Greedy Blue Moon: Legend. Their identities and backgrounds varied, but after trying it out, they were immediately hooked and could not stop. In an internet café, a single player was enough to draw a whole group of people into downloading it.

One told ten, ten told a hundred. Word of mouth spread like a virus.

On March 15, 2002, the online game Hot-blooded Legend of Mir reached a fork in the road.