Divine Work

System: Soul connection... connection successful...

System: Initiating Martial Arts Transmission System...

System: Initialization complete. Martial Arts Transmission System is now active.

As a series of system prompts echoed in his mind, Lin Qi, slumped in the dilapidated martial arts dojo, let out a deep sigh of relief.

System: Please set the initial game connection fee. This fee will be entirely borne by the player.

System: The higher the fee, the closer the player's initial physical condition will be to their natural state, the shorter the death and revival time, the higher the revival cost, and the higher the player's soul connection integrity and all sensory feedback, including pain.

"A game? Of course, it should be as real as possible. Let's set it to the maximum."

Hearing that the players would bear all the costs, Lin Qi chose the maximum value without hesitation.

System: Please provide a game description.

"A description?"

"It needs to sound grand and impressive, preferably giving players a sense of challenge. That should make them want to click on it."

Lin Qi pondered for a moment, then began typing the description on the system panel.

"A hundred nations at war, myriad races vying for dominance, life ascending, stepping onto the divine path. The legend of the martial artist will be written by you."

"This game boasts 100% virtual reality. Due to its extreme realism, please download and play with caution. It is not suitable for players without a certain level of strength."

System: Are you sure you want to confirm this game description? It cannot be modified once confirmed.

"Confirm!"

Lin Qi scanned it carefully, confirmed there were no issues, and clicked the confirmation button on the system bar.

System: The game has been uploaded to the Earth network and will launch in thirty minutes. Please wait, host.

Earth, Year 2325.

"Aim! Deep breath, keep breathing, focus your mind, and relax your entire body. The aiming reticle will narrow its range accordingly."

"The more peaceful your state of mind and the calmer your heartbeat, the smaller the aiming reticle's range will become."

"Don't rush at this point. Wait for the reticle to shrink to its limit."

"Now!"

Inside a virtual game pod, Fang Zhen, a man nearing thirty with a resolute face and a thick beard, resembling a big brother figure, explained aiming techniques to his livestream audience while piloting a colossal mecha.

With a bang, a single shot struck a mechanical behemoth that had been evading five kilometers away amidst a sandstorm.

Beep.

The mechanical behemoth five kilometers away lit up with a red marker, indicating it was dead.

"One shot, one kill! Brother Zhen is amazing!"

"Is this the skill of a professional player?"

"Brother Zhen, with your level of play, are you really planning to retire from the team in six months? Your skill is on par with players from the top sixteen teams that make it into the Mecha Continent national competition."

The viewers in the livestream chat exclaimed and marveled at Fang Zhen's extreme-range snipe.

'Mecha Continent,' a virtual game with a 75% virtual reality rating, was one of Earth's most popular mecha combat games in recent years.

For ordinary players, let alone controlling a mecha with fluid movements, even hitting a target a few hundred meters away with a normal shot required two to three months of practice.

Hitting a mechanical monster five kilometers away with a single shot, under such severely hindered visibility, was nothing short of miraculous.

"As I get older, my reactions and everything else are definitely not as good as when I was young. Plus, my age is quite advanced for a professional player. Even if I don't retire this year, I'll likely be outperformed by the rookies in the team next year," Fang Zhen sighed. "Alright, enough about that. Today, let's see if there are any fun new games."

The viewers in the livestream chat didn't doubt his words.

The professional virtual esports scene was like that – not only was the competition fierce, but players were also living off their youth. Their peak performance generally lasted until around twenty-five, making thirty truly old.

Therefore, many professional players in the competitive scene chose to become streamers or pursue other side professions when they got older.

Fang Zhen started streaming five years ago and had gained some recognition in the Mecha Continent game streaming community. His viewership occasionally ranked within the top 100 on the game streaming charts.

As the viewers in the livestream chat were discussing, Fang Zhen clicked on the game lobby interface, and a new game with an icon featuring five black dragons quickly caught his eye.

"What the heck!"

"4999! What kind of masterpiece is this!"

Fang Zhen rubbed his eyes, afraid he had miscounted a zero.

Nowadays, with the widespread adoption of virtual game engines, even small studios of a few people could produce virtual games. Consequently, a massive number of new games appeared daily on various gaming platforms.

Most of these games were priced under one hundred, and even AAA masterpieces rarely exceeded five hundred.

However, this new game, titled High Martial Descent, was priced at ten times the norm. This was a game that ordinary people simply couldn't afford.

At this moment, the audience in the livestream chat erupted.

"This game's virtual reality is advertised as 100%!"

"100% virtual reality? That's definitely bragging. Even world-class game development studios can't produce games with virtual reality exceeding 80% now. I've never even heard of this 'Expensive for Realism' game developer. How could they possibly create a 100% virtual game?"

"I've seen arrogant games, but I've never seen a game this arrogant. It costs 4999, and each death requires a 648 to revive. If you don't revive within 24 hours, your account is deleted. I'm not worthy."

"But the manufacturer did a pretty good job making it seem real. They're actually limiting the first batch to just ten trial spots."

"This game is definitely fake. If there were a 100% virtual masterpiece, even if it were still in development, it would be headline news. Let alone that they've already released a trial version; the news would be flying everywhere. If this were truly a 100% virtual masterpiece, I'd livestream myself doing backflips while eating noodles."

"Too real. It's not suitable for people without a certain level of skill. This manufacturer really dares to brag. Brother Zhen, let's go for it!"

Everyone watching the game introduction for High Martial Descent was discussing it animatedly. The intensity of their discussion caused Fang Zhen's livestream to surge in popularity. In less than thirty seconds, the viewership had tripled or quadrupled, catching up to well-known gaming streamers.

Fang Zhen saw this as an opportunity.

"My brothers, since everyone is curious about what kind of game this is, I'll be the one to reveal it for you." Fang Zhen gritted his teeth and chose to pay the 4999. "It's all about authenticity. If it's not authentic enough, we'll get a refund within two hours, and then we'll all report them together to let the manufacturer know what 'authenticity' really means!"

"Brother Zhen is mighty!"

"4999! How dare the manufacturer even think of that."

Everyone agreed. Since the streamer was paying, they only needed to watch. Their main contribution was their presence. They felt like they'd lose if they were the ones paying for this game.

"Too real, huh? Let's see just how real it is!"

Fang Zhen smiled as he looked at his increasingly popular livestream and clicked on the High Martial Descent game icon.

A dim little room, with the flickering light casting intermittent shadows. The corridor outside the iron bars occasionally let out gusts of wind, leaving Fang Zhen, who had just woken up in the room, bewildered.

"What's going on? Where am I?"

"Wasn't I about to play High Martial Descent? How did I end up in a place like this?"

The stench of something rotting, the cold metallic feel of the chains on his hands and feet, and the biting wind blowing into the room from somewhere caused Fang Zhen to tremble uncontrollably. An idea then struck him.

Kidnapped!

Have I been kidnapped?

"Name?"

Before Fang Zhen could recover from his fear, a stern, cold question made his ears perk up. He instinctively replied.

"Fang Zhen, the 'Fang' from direction, the 'Zhen' from vibration."

"Age?"

"29."

"You're… a bit old. You don't seem very useful."

"No, I'm still young, I have plenty of savings, I can still…"

As the serious voice continued to question him, Fang Zhen gradually regained his composure, and his vision cleared.

He saw a handsome young man outside the iron bars, dressed in a black martial arts uniform, with a pale complexion. The youth was sitting quietly at a metal desk, holding a pencil, looking up as he asked questions and recorded notes in a small notebook.

"Am I in?" Fang Zhen looked at the handsome young man before him. Although the clothes were different, the tone and demeanor were unmistakable. He quickly tried to explain, "Big brother, there must be some mistake. I've never done anything illegal. I'm just a game streamer; this must be a mistake."

"Don't try to get familiar with me; I don't know you."

"Then, Officer?"

"Be serious. Call me Dojo Master, or Lord Lin Qi."

"Dojo Master? Lord Lin Qi?"

Fang Zhen's mind couldn't quite process this. He was completely unable to determine who this young man named Lin Qi was.

A kidnapper?

An uncle?

Someone mentally unstable?

"29 years old… 29 years old…" Before Fang Zhen could react, Lin Qi looked at his notebook again, twirling the pencil between his fingers, and muttered. He then looked up at Fang Zhen. "In that case, you'll have to prove yourself. Two thousand squats, within two hours. You can start."

"…" Fang Zhen was bewildered and a little scared.

What the heck does 29 years old have to do with this!

And two thousand squats in two hours? Are mental patients this playful nowadays?

"Need my help?"

"No! I'll do it myself. I can do it, believe me."

Fang Zhen didn't dare to think of anything else as Lin Qi started to get up. He quickly began doing squats, unconcerned about the chains on his hands and feet.

One… two… three…

"Hmm, not bad. Quite standard. Since you don't need help removing the chains, then forget it." Lin Qi nodded slightly as he watched Fang Zhen frantically doing squats. He then got up and left the dim basement.

Old Cat is back/(ㄒoㄒ)/~~