Star Network Forum: Humanity's Rise.
Section: Dark Land—Player Recruitment
[Level 8 Great Gale Guild is recruiting new members. Excellent benefits: a guaranteed 200 in earnings every day. Must participate in group activities and follow the guild's management.]
[Shui Po Liangshan Guild is recruiting active players. Activity levels are tallied daily; anyone who falls short will be kicked.]
[Hero Guild is recruiting powerful players. Applicants must rank in the top 100,000 in the Human Federation region. Attendance at every event is mandatory. The guild leader gives out daily red-envelope bonuses, and the guild has plenty of beautiful, sweet-voiced single ladies.]
After searching for a while, Li Zheng quickly found a familiar guild name.
He opened the post, copied the administrator's account, then opened his chat app and sent a friend request.
Before long, a pop-up appeared saying his request had been approved.
Black Dawn—Little Black: Hey, are you interested in joining our Black Dawn Guild?
Game Brick Mover Party: Yeah. There are ten of us on the team now... Sorry to ask, but what kind of benefits does the guild offer?
Black Dawn—Little Black: Judging by your ID, you're probably a bricklayer. The people on our guild's management team are all well-known entrepreneurs in real life. We can buy all the resources you produce at a high price. All you have to do is join group activities and, once we establish a guild in the game, complete the guild's daily quests to provide resources for its development. Of course, we'll pay you for all of it.
After reading the Black Dawn administrator's reply, Li Zheng was thrilled.
The organization looked powerful, and it seemed like a reliable source of income down the line.
So he quickly replied:
Game Brick Mover Party: We'd be happy to join. There are ten of us right now, and a few more friends will join later!
Black Dawn—Little Black: Great. First, send us a screenshot of your game purchase receipt.
Game Brick Mover Party: Huh? You need proof of purchase?
Black Dawn—Little Black: There have been too many people trying to sneak in lately. We've added several who joined the group just to snoop around for game information, even though they were Cloud Players and hadn't bought the game at all. They were just wasting our time. To prevent that from happening again, we need to verify that anyone who wants to join the guild has bought the game before we let them into the group.
Game Brick Mover Party: ...
When Li Zheng didn't reply, the other person sent a sneering emoji:
Black Dawn—Little Black: Heh. I knew you were probably another Cloud Player. You're the fifth one today. Let's unfriend each other.
After being unfriended, Li Zheng had no choice but to return to the forum and keep looking for a gaming group.
He searched through the recruitment posts and contacted several team leaders looking for new members. Without exception, they all asked him to provide a digital purchase receipt.
Li Zheng understood why they made the request, but he was still at a loss.
They had all downloaded the game through pirated links. How could they possibly provide a digital receipt?
Even after being rejected several times, Li Zheng didn't give up. He kept browsing the forum.
Eventually, he found this post:
[Star Sea Guild is recruiting active Lone Players.]
Recruiter: Star Sea
Description: In my past life, my beloved betrayed me, my brothers turned against me, and my guild's management team stole my fortune. Today, I've been reborn on the day Dark Land launched. I'll take back everything that belongs to me. Join the guild and listen to me explain my revenge plan.
Contact: 234****
After his friend request was approved, Li Zheng asked nervously:
Game Brick Mover Party: Are you recruiting Lone Players?
Star Sea: Yep. You interested in joining, bro? (laughing.jpg)
Game Brick Mover Party: Yeah. There are ten of us on the team, and we'd like to join the guild.
Star Sea: That many? You're all welcome! A warm welcome! (drooling.jpg)
Game Brick Mover Party: May I ask what kind of benefits the guild offers?
Star Sea: Sorry, we're just a guild of Lone Players. We don't have any money to offer benefits. We're all about enjoying the game, not competing for rankings. We're not looking to recruit top players or big spenders, either. But I can guarantee that all members will get a share of whatever profits the guild earns in the future.
Star Sea's reply left Li Zheng a little disappointed.
But right now, they really did need to join an organization so they could share game intel and discuss the game.
After thinking it over, Li Zheng decided to bring his friends into the guild and see how it went. If it didn't suit them, they could always leave.
Game Brick Mover Party: We'd be happy to join.
Star Sea: Welcome, new brothers! You can forward the group chat link to your friends. Have them join first. (Shared link: Star Sea Dance-and-Chat Group)
After Li Zheng applied to join, his request was approved in the next second.
Then he forwarded the group link to the Grind Emperor group.
In response, he got a string of copy-pasted replies: Adoptive Father, you really didn't let us down.
Before long, all ten players in the Grind Emperor group had passed verification and joined the Star Sea chat group.
The new arrivals made the group especially lively. Everyone was sending welcome emojis.
Just then, one of the players in the group sent a message:
Star Sea—Dali Niu: What skills did you guys learn at level 2? I think Dark Grasp and Dark Amplification are both pretty good. Which one did you choose?
Star Sea—Xiao Diandian: I recommend Dark Amplification. Your energy gauge is pretty small early on, so I wouldn't recommend taking an active skill.
The group launched into a heated discussion about which level 2 starting skill to choose.
Li Zheng and the others were completely baffled.
Could you learn skills at level 2? The game didn't seem to have that feature.
Killing Intent Stirred: Sorry to interrupt, but where can you learn your starting skill at level 2?
Star Sea—Dali Niu: ??? Doesn't reaching level 2 automatically trigger a skill-learning quest? (confused.jpg)
Family Shared Godfather: Damn, what skill-learning quest? We never got one.
Star Sea—Dali Niu: No way. It's a guaranteed main quest. How else are you supposed to progress through the main story?
Broke to the Bone: Bro, what main quests? Isn't this game all about free exploration, with quests triggering at random?
Leopard Head Zero Charge: Yeah, the beginner's guide clearly says quests trigger randomly. How could there be a specific main quest?
Star Sea—Mad Shark: Bro, did you join the wrong game group? This is the Dark Land player group. Which game are you playing? (utterly bewildered.jpg)
Star Sea—Night Hawk: Did you join the wrong group? How can there be no main quests? You get one automatically at the start. (confused.jpg)
The string of replies left Li Zheng and the others even more confused.
A few of them went back to the Grind Emperor group to discuss it:
Family Shared Godfather: Brother Li, I think you joined the wrong group. These players aren't playing the Dark Land released by the Moon Eclipse Clan. They're playing a virtual reality game with the same name.
Li Zheng was just as baffled by the question. He opened the forum again and checked Star Sea Guild's recruitment post.
After confirming that it was recruiting players for the Moon Eclipse Clan's latest release, Dark Land, he was even more confused.
Thinking back to the guild administrators he'd contacted earlier, who had said they needed to verify digital purchase receipts before letting anyone into the group, Li Zheng suddenly realized what might be going on.
Game Brick Mover Party: Damn, I think we've joined a Cloud Player group. They're cyber role-playing the game in there. They aren't real players at all.
Broke to the Bone: Hahaha, Cloud Players are terrifying. They can talk about the game so enthusiastically without even owning it. They make it sound like they've actually played.
Family Shared Godfather: I'm dying. Sure, we're playing a pirated copy, but at least it's actually Dark Land. That's way better than simulating the game through chat. Anyway, I'm leaving the Star Sea group.
Killing Intent Stirred: Hahahaha, this group's players are hilarious. Cyber cloud-based virtual reality—the whole game is made up, so they can have whatever they want.