God of Video Games

Waking up, Malone suddenly realized he was no longer in his own bed; although he was still wearing his pajamas, he had somehow stood up, and the floor beneath his feet was not the floor of his bedroom.

Malone looked around at everything—the stark white floor, the stark white walls; the entire room looked like something... existing outside of reality.

"What kind of hellhole is this?" Malone looked up at the ceiling—it was the same stark white expanse. Only now did he understand the source of the strange feeling he'd had upon waking: while the ceiling of his own room was also white, it was much darker and stained from years of neglect.

"Hey, is anyone there? Where is this?" Malone put on his slippers—for some reason, they were neatly placed by the bed—and walked across the spotless floor, searching for the reason behind all this.

After searching for a long time, Malone discovered that this room of a dozen square meters had neither doors nor windows. He had no idea how he had arrived here, or who had brought him to this place.

Just then, a man in white appeared out of thin air in front of Malone—the man's body floated in the air, wearing a long, robe-like garment that resembled a lab coat.

What surprised Malone was that he could barely make out the man's features—it wasn't that Malone was nearsighted or anything else; it was just that every time he looked at the man's face, he felt as if it had changed into someone else's.

"I am the God of Video Games," the man said, his voice sounding... how should one put it, androgynous?

"Foolish mortal, do you know that you have sinned?" The man's voice continued to drift—yes, it truly drifted; even though he was within arm's reach, Malone felt as if the voice was sometimes near and sometimes far.

"Stop playing the mystic!" After a moment of shock, Malone quickly regained his composure and scolded loudly, "You think you're a god just because you're floating in the air? Hmph, I know your tricks. Is that a steel wire? Or nylon thread? Let me see..."

"Foolish mortal, how dare you show disrespect to this God!" The man seemed angered, and then...

With a "crack," a pale blue bolt of lightning descended from the sky... from the ceiling, striking the top of Malone's head.

"Ah!" Malone let out a miserable scream—he hadn't seen the lightning, only felt as if his entire body had been scorched by something. A pungent, burnt smell spread from his skin, and at the same time, Malone felt his internal organs churning, as if they were about to be vomited out of his throat.

He... he really was...

Malone fell to his knees, his hands bracing the floor in front of him. He looked at his hands and saw that parts of the skin had turned charcoal black.

The intense pain in his body made Malone tremble all over. Whether the guy in front of him was a real god or just a charlatan, Malone didn't dare move again, fearing he would suffer even more.

"You shall receive divine punishment because you killed low-level players," the man declared in an incredibly firm tone.

"Killed low-level players?" Malone let out a howl like a slaughtered pig.

"Well, enough idle chatter. I have other things to attend to, so let us begin your punishment now," the man said to himself.

"Let me check your file..." the man muttered, "Hmm, you are an orphan. How strange. You actually return to the orphanage that raised you every week to visit the teachers and children, and you even use your own money to buy gifts for those kids... A person like you, why would you kill low-level players? Is the feeling of bullying the weak really that attractive? Humans truly are a foolish species!"

"How do you know that?" Malone hadn't expected the other party to know his affairs so clearly.

In fact, as an orphan, Malone had tasted the feeling of being bullied more than once, and he knew it didn't feel good. In daily life, he looked down on those who bullied others, but in games, it was as if the dark side of human nature was infinitely magnified, and even Malone, who hated bullying the weak the most, had ended up doing exactly that.

"Foolish mortal, your behavior of killing low-level players in games has seriously affected the development of the video game industry; furthermore, it is an act of bullying the weak. Now, this God announces your punishment—I will cast you into the world known as 'Azeroth,' where you will experience what it feels like to be trampled by the strong as a weakling yourself."

The God of Video Games announced the punishment for Malone.

"W-what? Go to Azeroth? As a weakling, to be trampled by the strong? Are you joking with me?" Malone shouted.

Regardless of whether this guy was telling the truth or not, if it happened to be real...

Malone didn't have much attachment to the world he lived in; his work was exhausting and the pressures of life were heavy, but...

The world of Azeroth was not a place where a mortal could survive!

Malone had some understanding of the background of the Warcraft series. He knew that even if he weren't a quasi-shut-in who lacked exercise, even a soldier from the U.S. Navy SEALs would just be fodder for the natives if they arrived in Azeroth!

The world of Azeroth was home to many terrifying races—Orcs, Trolls, Tauren—not to mention these naturally strong combat races, even the humans in Azeroth were said to be different from those on Earth, being much taller and stronger.

Beyond these common races, Azeroth was a world of magic, not to mention the existence of beings like the one standing before him.

"Wait, you can't send me there! Didn't you punish me because I bullied the weak? Then what is the point of sending me to a world to be bullied by the strong? Do you think bullying the weak is right? If so, why am I being punished?"

Malone blurted out a long string of words in one breath.

At the critical moment, it seemed his philosophical thinking saved his life—or at least half of it—because his words clearly made the man hesitate for a moment.

"Interesting. You are not the first mortal to receive such a punishment, but you are indeed the first to say this to me... The last mortal who was punished... hmm, let me think, what was the reason? Oh right, he used cheats in the game."

"When I sent him to another world, he was very happy and told me he had long wanted to experience the life of an otherworldly novel. But he died there in less than a day, seemingly eaten by a few wild dogs..."

The man spoke of things that sounded terrifying to Malone as if they were nothing.

"However... since you put it that way, I will make some changes. Watching the same old slaughter is a bit boring... Then I shall bestow upon you power, power that will allow you to grow very strong. But be careful once you possess this power. A friendly reminder: the world of Azeroth is the most unfriendly world for transmigrators..."

Malone felt the man's voice becoming increasingly blurred—no, it was his own consciousness that was fading.