Cheating for a Moment Feels Good, Cheating Forever Feels Even Better

Earth world.

Inside a residential community.

A troll is angrily posting on the forum.

"Damn it, is there no justice in this world? Is there no law?"

"No pay-to-win, no skill required, just a randomly obtained talent that dominates the battlefield? Is this game planner a dog?"

"This game is trash, even a dog wouldn't play it!"

Unlike others who grind levels all night, this player is both bad at the game and loves to play. But because he's bad, he feels extremely jealous of others who are better than him.

The jealousy intensifies, especially when someone is stronger than you due to the game mechanics.

He wasn't jealous of players who spent money on in-game purchases, because spending money on in-game purchases itself proved that others were far superior to him in real life, or had far less scruples.

After spraying, he couldn't wait to play God's Domain all night long.

After being killed by the BOSS again, he decided to vent his frustration on the forum one last time.

The next moment, the prompt appeared before his eyes.

"Holy crap, this is an unexpected quest!"

This venomous critic immediately accepted.

After all, in his mind, there was no question of whether this mission was involved in a conspiracy.

After all, he felt it was just a game, and games never die.

So he selected "yes" and entered the instance.

He went in, he went up, he typed GG, he died...

This is the life of a troll.

After his death, he was only reported in a very small local news section.

"A player died suddenly due to excessive late nights while playing games. We urge all players to be mindful of their gaming time."

The rest remained unaffected.

Many others have had the same experience.

They were just lucky, or rather, had good character, and that's why they came back alive.

Because of this instance, Gao Linzhi also made some settings to ensure a basic survival rate, so as not to cause the collapse of the Earth world.

Generally, only those who are terrible in every way die.

For example, if a venomous snake enters a dungeon and immediately attacks someone, wouldn't that be suicide?

At this very moment.

Zhang Mingzhen knew nothing about this.

Adventure dungeons? Aren't those something anyone can easily clear?

Now, he is ready to begin his challenge of the Training Tower.

According to the instructions, each challenger will only encounter the projection of a player on the leaderboard for their own class; if no one is on the leaderboard for that class, no player projection will appear on that floor.

Upon seeing this setting, Zhang Mingzhen couldn't help but feel a moment of silence for the Priest players who later took on the challenge.

I'm sorry, everyone.

If you encounter my projection, the reward will likely be significantly reduced.

Imagining their expressions when they suddenly face his projection in the tower one day, Zhang Mingzhen's lips unconsciously curled up slightly.

Cheating is great! We absolutely have to cheat!

He then decisively entered the thirty-second floor of the Training Tower, and unsurprisingly, his clone appeared before him.

Same attributes, same skills, same talent build.

This time, Zhang Mingzhen experienced what it felt like to be a monster.

This is way over the limit!

It may appear to be of a low level, but its attributes are those of a high level, making it very easy to misjudge.

Moreover, there were no precedents to follow.

Fortunately, Zhang Mingzhen does have some skills.

Game NPCs cannot possibly consume too many AI resources.

He nearly died several times, only surviving thanks to his recovery skills.

He finally found the weakness of the projection: its lack of flexibility.

In the end, they only managed to wear down their opponent through sheer attrition.

At the same time.

Regarding the guild:

The guild system and guild rankings have been open for some time, and the major guilds in the District 3 are actively accumulating guild experience in order to level up as soon as possible.

The top-ranked guilds have all reached the experience cap for Tier 1 guilds and are preparing to advance to Tier 2 guilds.

With each level upgrade, the guild unlocks more features, and members can enjoy more benefits.

This naturally became an important bargaining chip for major guilds to recruit members.

Moreover, for those ambitious individuals, the real world is too restrictive, but this is the game world.

There are no restrictions, or rather, the only restrictions they face are the rules of the game.

However, the top-ranked guilds are all facing the same problem: upgrading a guild requires a special item called "Guild Upgrade Token," which can only be obtained through guild wars.

The weekly "Cross-Server Guild War" is about to begin, and all registered guilds can sign up to participate.

This is actually just Gao Linzhi copying traditional online games.

This approach also has its advantages, as it helps to identify useful pieces.

He has already set his sights on some chess pieces.

Especially those who are capable of causing trouble and willing to cause trouble.

He wants to see rivers of blood.

The system will randomly match guilds based on their historical performance. The top five guilds will receive valuable points: five points for the champion, three points for the runner-up, two points each for the third and fourth place, and one point for the fifth place.

These points are very valuable; they can be exchanged for guild promotion tokens, and a level one guild needs one token to advance to level two.

This means that the winner of the first week can immediately advance, while the other top five can only seize the opportunity in subsequent competitions, and those who do not qualify will have to wait a long time.

As the snowball effect continues, the strong get stronger.

Guilds that were initially taking a wait-and-see approach are now on high alert after seeing this news.

Winning the first guild war not only signifies a leap in level, but also symbolizes unparalleled glory and prestige across the entire region, laying the foundation for the guild's status as the "number one guild".

The first guild war this week is destined to be fierce.

Some came to test the waters, while others came to advance, determined to make a final push.

Inside the Dragon Diagram Guild's stronghold, a high-level meeting is in full swing.

"Hero Alliance, Ironblood Legion, and Century Imperial City are the toughest nuts to crack on our road to victory."

"Dragon Diagram Frenzy," pointing to the three flags on the virtual sandbox, said, "In addition, Contending for the World, Xuan Yu Tower, Unparalleled, Death God, and Imperial Pavilion are also hiding dragons and crouching tigers, so don't underestimate them."

"Longtu Tengchong" picked up the thread. "We've planted spies within those main adversaries, but they're smart enough to have their own core command groups."

"Hopefully, we can intercept their tactical plan."

"Of course, we also have our own spies in our own backyard; with so many people around, it's inevitable."

"We still need to establish a core group."

Someone in the room sighed softly, "If we could get Chongxing, this Cheater character, to take action, the outcome would be a foregone conclusion."

"Who doesn't think so?" Longtu Tengchong his head. "After returning from District 12, he buried himself in leveling up in various wilderness areas, and all his previous invitations were turned down."

"Now we just hope he doesn't join either side, otherwise there's no point in fighting this war."

"It's a pity, the game's background is too deep, and we're not suited to using traditional methods. Otherwise, we wouldn't have these worries today."

"Dragon Diagram Frenzy" frowned slightly. He knew what "Longtu Tengchong"'s traditional methods were: treat people to meals, drink alcohol, and take them in as dogs.

If it cannot be used by me, then I will destroy it.

Ideas that inevitably arise within a closed system.

He shook his head and said, "Let's go find some players who know him well and sound them out."

"As long as he doesn't join another company, we'll proceed as planned; if things really change... we need to have a backup plan."

A similar sense of anxiety permeated the guild Council Hall of the Hero Alliance.

"Boss, what if another faction tries to Chongxing? Can we fight them?" someone asked.

A bitter laugh came from beside "War Sky": "Then what's the point of fighting? Just admit defeat."

"What nonsense are you spouting? No matter how strong he is, he's still just a human being!" War Sky retorted angrily. "He only has 24 hours in a day, and he's still made of flesh and blood."

"The benefits in this game far outweigh those in reality. You want to surrender?"

"That's a joke!"

Everyone immediately fell silent, trembling with fear.

That's absolutely right.

They cannot surrender; even if they have to Chongxing refuge with others, they will fight to the bitter end.

The enhancement of the body, countless people, almost all the top real rich people, not the kind of fake rich people who are heavily indebted, and the truly creative and highly profitable technology companies, not the kind of fake technology that is fabricated, have all poured into this new world.

"It's not a game."

"They are colonies of a new Age of Grand Voyage!"

"Anyone who chooses to withdraw or surrender is a bullied native, a Native American, or Great Qing!"

"You wouldn't want your children, your parents, your wives to become the conquered possessions of new colonizers, would you?"

War Sky's single sentence instantly ignited everyone's fighting spirit.

This made them abandon the idea of playing the game.

All that's left is the fight.

At the same time.

The Century Imperial City and the "Ironblood Legion" and other forces also extended various olive branches to Zhang Mingzhen, but all were simply rejected.

They offer high annual salaries, villas, luxury cars, beautiful women, butlers, and social status...

But Zhang Mingzhen naturally didn't care about any of that.

What he wants is extraordinary power!

These days, Zhang Mingzhen has begun traversing the newly opened high-level maps.

He left his clone, the Flower Spirit, in one place, while he himself led the Azure-Scaled Dragon Python to fight a level 35 "Horned Beast" monster in a high-level map.

These monsters are tough and scattered, but they offer a lot of experience points.

After clearing the Training Tower each day, he would immerse himself in grinding monsters.

He completely ignored the lobbying efforts of the major guilds regarding guild wars.

Since there's no experience to gain and the promotion benefits are irrelevant to him, why bother wasting his time and effort?

As for the practical benefits he offered, sorry, he's not short of money.

His happiest moments were when he played with his parents, both in his past and present lives.

Or perhaps his parents are watching TV while he lies in bed scrolling through his phone, and when he gets hungry, there's food on the table.

That kind of simple, pure happiness.

This is something they cannot give.

Therefore, he focused on grinding monsters to level up, reaching the level 40 threshold as soon as possible, so that he could finally wear the golden weapon he had been treasured for so long.

He wanted to climb step by step, to the very top, to glimpse true extraordinary power.

However, he was unaware that Gao Linzhi had already set a ceiling for the Earth, allowing it to develop technological power but not to glimpse mysterious power.

Of course, with the advancement of technology, it is possible to resurrect a person.

However, such resurrection raises the philosophical question of "whether this is actually the original person."

Just as I was pondering this, my friends list suddenly flashed.

Upon opening the message, he discovered it was from the wealthy young man who had previously asked him to help him with a grade, "Utterly Empty".

"Is the expert exploring new maps again?"

"You're already this strong and you're still leveling up so relentlessly, how are we mere mortals supposed to survive?"

Zhang Mingzhen replied briefly, "Let's get down to business."

"Hehe, I knew I couldn't hide it from you. Those big guilds like Dragon Map and War Alliance asked me to inquire whether you'd be interested in getting involved in this guild war?"

"Your actions have far-reaching consequences."

"I owe them a lot of favors, so I had no choice but to bite the bullet and pass on the message."

"You don't need to put me in a difficult position, you don't need to consider my feelings. I'm just acting as a mouthpiece."

In the past few days, several groups of people representing various guilds have indeed come to sound out the situation, Utterly Empty was just one of them.

Zhang Mingzhen helpless. While rising to fame was certainly a good thing, it also made him too conspicuous, turning him into the focus of everyone's attention.

However, this is not reality.

The Game System has announcements, but there are no hidden options.

That's not smart at all.

Furthermore, his constant movement means he'll inevitably interact with other players.

He has repeatedly stated that he will not join any faction to participate in guild competitions, yet visitors continue to flock to him, wasting his time improving his strength.

To put it bluntly, this is the dilemma faced by neutral parties when vying for the throne.

He now understood why there was no such thing as neutrality in the struggle for the throne.

If you remain neutral, you become everyone's enemy.

Because everyone is worried about you being a variable.

You say you won't get involved? Who would believe that?

Therefore, neutral parties are often the first to be eliminated.

During the struggle for the throne, even those who appeared neutral actually belonged to factions, one of which was the old emperor's faction.

They gained the old emperor's approval through their consistent performance, which gave them the basis for neutrality.

Or you're someone who can't influence the power struggle; whether you remain neutral or side with someone doesn't matter.

Because others don't need to care about you.

People like Zhang Mingzhen have already single-handedly decided the entire situation.

His neutrality naturally made everyone uneasy.

In fact, it could be said that every guild secretly planned to completely eliminate Zhang Mingzhen.

This includes things like major life events and accidents... eliminating them from reality.

This is the truth.

The profits involved in this game have now reached tens of trillions of real-world currency.

In this situation, Zhang Mingzhen was still too naive.

He felt that as long as he expressed a neutral stance, that would be enough.

However, if it weren't for Gao Linzhi's intimidation, he would have died countless times over.

He simply said, "Please convey my message to everyone: I have no intention of getting involved in guild disputes for the time being."

"But if anyone else is bothered by this matter, I don't mind making an exception and participating."

"Please don't interfere with my leveling up and gaining experience."

"Right now, I only have one thing on my mind: leveling up and gaining experience. Don't talk to me about any of that damn guild wars!"

"Understood, I will certainly convey your message. I will take my leave now." "Utterly Empty." Hearing that Zhang Mingzhen had become angry, she knew she had offended him.

He secretly grumbled to himself that those guild leaders clearly wanted to use him as a stepping stone, and now even this lone expert had become impatient with him.

If pushed too far, they might just establish their own territory and try to compete for it.

At the same time.

Zhang Mingzhen heard another notification: "You have rejected all guilds."

"You have activated a new temporary Illusion Realm instance."

"This Illusion Realm is a simulation of a guild war."

"In the simulation, you will choose to join a guild and help the other party reach their maximum level."

"The deduction of this Illusion Realm perfectly matches reality; what happens in the Illusion Realm is also something that has a 90% probability of happening in reality."