First Night

As the game officially began, the outside world was in an uproar. The public hotlines of relevant departments were overwhelmed by furious people – the families of the nearly ten thousand players currently involved.

A game that had just launched killed 213 people on its first day. This was the biggest incident in nearly twenty years, especially with nearly ten thousand people trapped in the game, their lives and deaths unknown. The overwhelmed relevant departments made their utmost efforts to bring the people in the game back to reality. But when they intervened in this incident, they truly understood what helplessness meant.

While planning this incident, Kayaba Akihiko had considered every detail. He himself had abandoned his physical body and entered the network. The result was that this demon had left behind a mess, a mess as seamless as an egg. The relevant departments, like flies, could only stare at the egg and weep without tears.

Under their inaction, the relevant departments could only appease the enraged public on one hand, and on the other, formulate plans to transfer the players, as those trapped in the game also needed daily nutritional supplements.

Compared to the grieving and angry crowd, a joyful atmosphere permeated the special ward of the capital's largest hospital. The ward was spacious and clean, equipped with everything one could need. It didn't look like a hospital room but rather a luxurious living space.

A group of people stood by the snow-white hospital bed. Leading them was a middle-aged couple. Beside them, a doctor was respectfully explaining something.

The middle-aged couple listened to the doctor while frequently looking at a young man lying on the bed. The young man on the bed had his eyes tightly closed, his face pale, like a critically ill patient. On his head, he wore a device resembling a boxing helmet – it was the NerveGear...

"I deduce that the electric waves contained within the NerveGear stimulated your son's brain nerves, causing the dying brain nerves to regain vitality. This is an unbelievable matter. I dare not believe it, but your son's condition is indeed so incredible. I can only infer this," the doctor said. His face was grizzled, and a trace of authority lingered in his features. However, when facing the middle-aged man, he tried his best to suppress his usual demeanor and adopt a respectful posture.

The middle-aged man had a broad face and thick eyebrows. His pair of tiger-like eyes were as calm as water, but the occasional flash of brilliance within them was sharp and piercing. Hearing the doctor's irresponsible deduction, he lightly furrowed his thick eyebrows, staring at the old doctor, a cold light shining from those tiger-like eyes.

The old doctor felt as if a great mountain was pouncing before him, threatening to crush him to the ground, making him forget to breathe.

Beside the middle-aged man was a beautiful woman. She timely tugged at her husband's hand, stopping him from exerting pressure. At the same time, she asked the slightly dazed old doctor, "Doctor, is there still a possibility for my son to wake up?"

The old doctor snapped back to attention, realizing his back was already drenched in cold sweat. He immediately lowered his gaze subserviently and said, "Your son's vital signs have all returned to normal levels. The possibility of him waking up is very high, but..." He paused, hesitating. However, upon seeing the subtle change in the middle-aged man's expression, he immediately continued, "I'm afraid your son will have to wait until the SAO is successfully cleared. And if Kayaba Akihiko's words are true, then if your son dies in the game..."

The old doctor didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear. If the person woke up, everyone would be happy. If they died, it would be the game's fault.

The middle-aged man looked slightly displeased and said faintly, "You may leave."

The old doctor felt as if he had been granted a great amnesty. After greeting them, he hurried towards the door. The six bodyguards in black, blocking the left and right sides of the door, silently moved their tall figures, allowing the old doctor to exit unimpeded.

After leaving the ward, the old doctor discovered he was soaked in sweat. He sighed in relief while patting his chest, calming his pounding heart. He thought thankfully, Fortunately, the patient requested to experience a virtual reality game during the short time before his life ended. I didn't dare to stop him at the time, otherwise, I'd probably be reading news about his untimely death on the street or perishing in a fire tomorrow.

After the old doctor left, the middle-aged beautiful woman in the ward sat on a chair by the hospital bed, gently stroking the young man's pale face. Tears streamed down her well-maintained face.

"This is fate, heaven has opened its eyes," she said, her language surprisingly being Chinese.

The middle-aged man gently placed his hand on the beautiful woman's shoulder and comforted her, "Don't think too much. Xiang is a blessed child; heaven will look after him."

The beautiful woman nodded slightly, but the tears couldn't stop.

"Is there no way for Xiang to wake up now?" she asked unwillingly.

The middle-aged man sighed. After he rose to power, he had almost forgotten how to sigh. But the moment his son announced he only had one month to live, the act of sighing was like embers reigniting, stubbornly fixed in his blood.

Although he had never sighed in front of outsiders, facing his son, who always wore a faint smile, only sighing could alleviate his distress.

He sighed at his inability to prevent his son from walking towards death, despite all his power. He never expected a twist of fate, where his son escaped death's grasp only to fall into another predicament, one he was equally helpless to resolve.

This made the middle-aged man angry at himself for his uselessness.

"Xiang being trapped in the game might not be a bad thing. Wasn't his lifelong dream to travel the world?" The middle-aged man, unwilling to let his wife worry, changed the subject.

Hearing this, the middle-aged beauty's eyes became distant. She recalled her son, who rarely showed enthusiasm while lying in bed, holding a book titled "The Vastness of the World."

Thinking of this, the beauty's affection grew even deeper as she gently stroked her sleeping son's handsome face.

That face was exactly the same as the one Wang Yang saw in the mirror.

The day-night cycle in SAO is the same as in reality. It must be said that Kayaba Akihiko is truly a monstrous genius to have developed such a realistic virtual environment.

As night fell in the real world, SAO also welcomed its first night. At the same time, as the clock struck eight in the night, the game saw its first player death.

However, no one knew yet that the first player had already died. Most players were honestly staying in the inns of the Town of Beginnings, falling asleep with hope, expecting to wake up in their familiar rooms.

Of the thousand people who had participated in the closed beta, over three hundred chose to abandon the idea of leveling up at night due to the high risk. The remaining seven hundred-plus ventured out into the night to level up.

A small portion of players, not having the right mindset, fearlessly charged towards the monster spawn points in the darkness. These players had not participated in the closed beta and were completely unaware that monster stats would increase by thirty percent at night. However, with risk came reward; monster experience and item drop rates also increased by thirty percent at night.

This was a hidden setting known only to closed beta players. Therefore, most closed beta players were heading towards unexplored areas with this in mind, aiming to obtain good equipment on the very first night.

Arthurslin's team naturally had the same idea. When Arthurslin was called to the meeting point, only one person was left to provide support, while the rest went to prepare supplies for the night.

The meeting place was in front of a fountain in a small plaza on East Street. Wang Yang had been brought here by Arthurslin over an hour ago and had endured the hostile glares of a Spear User for more than an hour.

Displeasure, dissatisfaction, and disdain were clearly conveyed through his eyes, with no attempt to conceal them, causing Wang Yang's anger to simmer. Arthurslin stood awkwardly to the side, unsure of what to do.

The reason for this was that the Spear User considered Wang Yang a burden. If it were any other time, the Spear User would only be dissatisfied at most. But now, with the game involving life and death, the disadvantage of bringing along a burden was magnified infinitely.

If he couldn't make the decision alone, Wang Yang probably wouldn't have been standing there for nearly two hours.

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