The Second Batch of Players

The Human Federation, Night Orchid City.

Fishing and Hunting District, 5 a.m.

The sky was growing pale, and as a large fleet of fishing boats returned with blaring horns, lights crisscrossed outside the window. The fishing harbor was bustling with activity.

After rubbing his sore, tired eyes, Jiangzhou turned his gaze from the window back to his computer screen.

A notification had popped up in the upper-right corner, showing that the compressed file had finished downloading.

He despised online scammers. He had once been scammed himself.

After kicking the Welfare Officer out of the group, the group owner, "Kindergarten Principal," had planned to delete the scam link, but Jiangzhou stopped him.

He believed reporting it was the right thing to do.

Perhaps his actions could save many innocent teenagers from being deceived.

But before reporting it, he needed to collect information about the scam link.

Federal cyberpolice had to process a large number of reports and complaints every day. Gathering and organizing evidence before submitting a report could ease their workload and help scam cases get handled sooner.

He clicked the shield icon on his desktop, putting the computer into network protection mode.

Then he used the Safety Shield to scan the compressed file downloaded from the link for viruses.

To his surprise, the file contained no viruses.

"Could it be a prank?"

As for the compressed file actually containing a cracked version of Dark Land, he couldn't possibly believe that.

The scammer's intentions were far too obvious.

Not only had the scammer revealed what he was after after just a few messages, but the webpage behind the link was also shoddy. They hadn't even bothered to download a webpage template. It was amateur work.

And the Moon Eclipse Clan's powerful network technology couldn't be breached by anyone.

Puzzled, he opened the compressed file and began extracting its contents.

The extraction was complete in less than a minute.

Since the files required a Virtual Game Pod to run, Jiangzhou transferred them to the pod connected to his computer and pressed the compatibility button.

The game finished adapting shortly afterward.

Jiangzhou got up and climbed into the pod.

After the neural connection tubes automatically attached themselves to the various parts of his body, darkness gradually enveloped Jiangzhou's vision. When it cleared, he was standing before a virtual desktop.

There were sixteen game icons on the desktop. Each one held memories from a different stage of his life, but he had quit most of them.

At the bottom of the desktop was the game he had downloaded through the link. Its icon depicted a monster wreathed in crimson flames.

Although the game had passed the virus scan, Jiangzhou enabled the safety function just in case.

The origins of this feature went back to the technological boom that began when the Moon Eclipse Clan first arrived on Earth and brought humanity advanced virtual technology.

The emergence of this new technology had led to a surge in virtual games, including plenty of horror games.

Someone had once used materials from the Moon Eclipse Clan's publicly released Virtual Engine Library Materials to make a horror prank game. A player downloaded it, tried it out, and suddenly died of a heart attack.

After that incident, all Virtual Game Pods had to be equipped with safety monitors. They could judge a player's condition by tracking hormone levels and heart rate. In an emergency, the pod's built-in alarm system would immediately send a distress call to nearby medical stations.

When Jiangzhou clicked the game icon, a crimson formation engulfed in flames appeared in his mind.

An intense dizziness followed, as if an invisible whirlpool were pulling his consciousness inside.

When the weightlessness faded, the sight before him left Jiangzhou dumbstruck.

The sky was covered in black cracks, and endless volcanoes spewed flames. Terrifying monsters roamed the land... The smell of scorched earth and sulfur entered his lungs with each breath, bringing a slight burning sensation.

The sweeping aerial view was astonishingly realistic, immersing him in the scene at once.

The terrifying end-of-the-world landscape also made his heart race.

His view suddenly plunged downward, heading for a ruined village on the surface.

The intense sensation of falling made Jiangzhou cry out.

Just as his view was about to hit the ground, darkness suddenly swallowed everything.

Then a huge blue crystalline wall made of grid-like panels appeared before him. It stretched endlessly in both directions and soared into the sky.

Most of the wall's compartments were empty. Three grotesque monsters were locked in the compartments at the very bottom.

A prompt sounded in Jiangzhou's mind:

[Welcome, Challenger, to Monster World. Please begin creating your initial character.]

At that moment, Jiangzhou completely lost his composure.

It felt as though he'd been holding his nose, preparing to take a tiny bite of some disgusting food, only to discover that it was actually a delicacy he'd long yearned for and dreamed of.

The immense reversal sent his emotions into a tumult, and he couldn't help shouting:

"Holy crap! What the actual hell!"

Fifteen minutes later.

[Kindergarten Little Class Chat Group (Online: 32)]

Little Class - Black Ball: Actually, I think the Moon Eclipse Clan's arrival has been a good thing for humanity. Their base is on the moon, so they don't affect our living environment. They're a lot better than troublemaking forces like the Crimson Flame Clan that came here as refugees.

Little Class - Iron Hammer: Exactly. The Moon Eclipse Clan brought us all kinds of new technology, improving our quality of life. They've never oppressed humanity either, so they're a pretty friendly alien faction. It's just their prices that are damn outrageous!

Jiangzhou, who had been gone for quite a while, returned to the group.

Little Class - Drunk Milk: Guys, we've got a problem!

Little Class - Cute Kid replied to Little Class - Drunk Milk: Did you get scammed again because you didn't turn on the safety feature?

Little Class - Iron Hammer replied to Little Class - Cute Kid: Or maybe Drunk Milk actually downloaded the official game. (Funny.jpg)

Faced with the group members' teasing, Jiangzhou immediately typed a message and hit Enter:

Little Class - Drunk Milk: I really did download the official version of Dark Land. It really is the 100% virtual reality game they advertised. The experience is incredibly realistic. Hurry up and download it, then we can explore together once you've installed it.

The group members responded to Drunk Milk's message with a barrage of funny faces.

Little Class - Marble: Would you rather believe Drunk Milk, or believe that I'm Qin Shi Huang reincarnated? (Funny.jpg)

Iron Hammer replied to Marble: Of course I believe you're Qin Shi Huang reincarnated. I'll send you 50 later. Then you can make me whatever you want, depending on your mood. (Funny.jpg)

Faced with the group's disbelief, Jiangzhou typed another message:

Little Class - Drunk Milk: I swear on my little brother, I'm absolutely not messing with you this time. Hurry up and download it. We can finally have fun together again.

Seeing Jiangzhou repeatedly insist that they could really download Dark Land, the group members began to waver.

Little Class - Cute Kid: Holy crap, could it actually be real?

Little Class - Iron Hammer: Knowing Drunk Milk, he probably wouldn't joke about something like this.

Although they found it hard to believe, they chose to trust their old friend of many years and clicked the link to download the game.

Half an hour later.

The group was flooded with messages tagging members and exclamations of "Holy crap!"

Because the link the Welfare Officer had shared really did let them download the official version of Dark Land.

The group owner, Tong Xin, was still asleep, but the constant tagging notifications woke him up.

He reached under his pillow for his phone and began scrolling through the group chat, still bleary-eyed.

"Principal, wake up! Something huge has happened!"

"Principal, how can you still be asleep at a time like this..."

The more he read, the more alert he became. Tong Xin sprang out of bed and hurried to his computer to wake the screen, then clicked the pinned link.

The page switched to the download screen, and he clicked "Download" without hesitation.

A notification appeared:

[The game has reached its download limit. The uploader has not enabled additional downloads. Unable to continue downloading.]

The notification sent Tong Xin into a complete meltdown.

He immediately typed a message in the group chat:

Kindergarten Principal: Guys, why does this link have a download limit? It won't let me download it anymore.

Little Class - Drunk Milk: No idea, but you have my condolences for one second.

Little Class - Black Ball: Hahahaha! That's what you get for sleeping in. You even missed out on a free 128,888-dollar game. I can practically picture you gnashing your teeth in front of your computer right now.

Little Class - Iron Hammer: Sleeping makes you miss out. At our age, we should be staying up late. Look, we all got the late-night bonus, but you didn't.

Little Class - Cute Kid: Principal, the only person who can save you is the Welfare Officer. Hurry up and get on your knees and apologize.

Kindergarten Principal: You guys are the worst... I'm going to find the Welfare Officer and beg for forgiveness right now.

On the verge of a breakdown, Tong Xin immediately opened his system message list, found the Welfare Officer's profile—the one he'd kicked out of the group—and chose to add him. A prompt appeared:

[Would you like to add "Welfare Officer" as a friend?]

Below the prompt was a field for a note.

After thinking for a moment, he typed several hundred words of apology in the note field, admitting his mistake and sincerely expressing his remorse. He hoped the Welfare Officer would let bygones be bygones and show him some generosity.

Tong Xin felt that he'd never written an essay in school with such sincerity and care.

After revising the wording several times, he pressed "Send Request," filled with hope.

The next second, a notification appeared:

[Welfare Officer has enabled the feature that blocks friend requests from strangers. Friend request failed!]

Seeing the notification, Tong Xin completely lost it and slammed his fist onto the desk.

"Damn it!"

New chapters will be posted a little after 8 a.m. every day during the new-book period, two chapters a day.