A Master's Work

Late at night, Star City Media College.

In the men's dormitory, Shao Haoyu sat at his desk, headphones on, completely engrossed in a game.

His roommates had long since gone home for summer vacation, so he did not have to worry about the sound of his keyboard or his commands to the team disturbing anyone's rest. He played to his heart's content.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The notification sound in his headphones failed to distract Shao Haoyu, because he and his companions were running a dungeon.

They had just reached the critical moment of taking down the boss.

"You're all dead!"

The boss, reduced to a sliver of health, let out an ear-splitting roar and suddenly unleashed a devastating AOE skill. Instantly, the entire screen filled with blazing flames and lava, and every team member's HP plummeted in unison.

"The healer's down!"

A terrified cry rang out in the team channel.

The MT at the very front, Haoyu, felt his head buzz as if it were about to explode.

Damn it!

To clear this dungeon, he had poured in a great deal of time and effort, even spending heavily to hire outside help.

The boss was about to fall, yet the healer had actually died!

A bolt from the blue.

Shao Haoyu no longer had the strength to question why the priest, who had been protected best, had been the first to die. Under the boss's fierce counterattack, his team fell apart, its members dropping one after another.

In the blink of an eye, it was a total wipe.

What rotten luck!

Shao Haoyu gloomily took off his headphones and slammed them onto the desk.

He rubbed his stiff face, ready to shut down the computer and go to sleep.

At that moment, Shao Haoyu noticed an avatar flashing in the lower-right corner of the screen, indicating that someone had sent him a message.

Shao Haoyu casually clicked it open.

To his surprise, the message was from his senior.

He immediately grew a little nervous.

Because Shao Haoyu would be going out for an internship in the second half of the year, and the company where he would intern was precisely the one his senior worked for.

This senior, who had graduated many years ago, was the one who had introduced him.

Shao Haoyu hurriedly checked the message.

Fortunately, it had nothing to do with his internship. His senior had sent him a Bilibili link.

Behind it was a brief sentence: Watch this video.

Shao Haoyu opened the link.

A third-year animation graduation project?

The video title made him chuckle sarcastically—what an old cliché.

Works with titles like this were usually exaggerated and bizarre, made as stupidly and hilariously as possible to provoke viewers into mocking them with scrolling comments and harvest a wave of clicks.

But once there were too many videos of the same kind, everyone got tired of them, and they no longer received much attention.

A third-year student in Star City Media College's film and animation department and a Level 6 Bilibili member, Haoyu.Shao curled his lip disdainfully.

Still, since his senior had forwarded it to him, he chose to play it.

The video was very short, only one minute long.

Shao Haoyu finished it quickly.

He was a little dazed.

He could not believe it.

He chose to replay it!

This time, Shao Haoyu put away his careless attitude and watched with exceptional focus.

The scene cut straight in. The camera pushed forward and paused before a long, thick vine.

A beetle with a fat belly, round head, and horns atop its head clung to the vine, happily munching on emerald-green tender leaves.

A ray of sunlight happened to shine upon it, and its dark golden shell, covered in spots, gave off a hazy glow.

It looked beautiful.

Yet this Golden Armored Beetle, feasting away, had not noticed that an Iron-Armed Mantis was quietly approaching.

The mantis stalked forward under the cover of branches and leaves. Its shell continuously changed color and texture with the surrounding environment, disguising itself with incomparable ingenuity.

Only its pair of razor-like forelimbs flashed with a metallic cold gleam.

Once it had reached the right position, the Iron-Armed Mantis suddenly launched an attack on the utterly defenseless Golden Armored Beetle!

Sharp flashes streaked past. In an instant, the Golden Armored Beetle's thick shell shattered into pieces and peeled away, exposing the snow-white flesh beneath.

The next moment, its head fell off as well.

The cut was smooth and clean!

(At this moment, a string of 666 flooded the scrolling comments.)

The Iron-Armed Mantis, having succeeded in its ambush, extended its claws and expertly hooked the flesh out of the shattered shell.

It turned its head, the three eyes on its triangular head staring icily into the camera.

Then it spread its wings and leaped down from the vine.

(Video ends.)

After watching it a second time, Shao Haoyu frowned deeply, then watched it a third time, a fourth time...

Only after watching it more than a dozen times did he send his senior a message: "Awesome plus! Shocked.jpg"

How was this third-year animation technology? Even Hollywood's top-tier CG was no better than this, was it?

Although there was no voice acting or BGM, the silent sixty-second battle was breathtaking. The lighting and shadows, movement, and details had all reached an inconceivable level.

It was as if it were real.

Especially when the mantis turned back to stare at the camera at the end, Shao Haoyu actually felt as though it had treated him as prey.

He shuddered in fear!

If he had to point out a problem, it was that the video image was not especially clear.

But that actually added to the sense of realism.

After thinking for a moment, he added, "It was probably reposted from somewhere, right?"

His senior replied instantly: "I've already searched online, but I couldn't find anything identical. It should be original."

"I forwarded it to several friends in America, and none of them recognized it."

"They also think it's top-tier."

"A master's work!"

Shao Haoyu was momentarily lost in thought.

His senior had studied at America's California Institute of the Arts for three years. He was currently one of the country's first-rate animation special-effects artists and possessed profound expertise in CG.

If his senior called someone a master, then they truly were a master!

Coming back to himself, Shao Haoyu gave the video on Bilibili the triple combo.

Like, coin, favorite.

Then he reposted it to his Moments!

Of course, he did not forget to follow the uploader.

Then Shao Haoyu discovered that this uploader, whose ID was "g93," had currently posted only this one video.

The account had only a little over a hundred followers.

It was nowhere near as good as his own.

But that did not hinder Shao Haoyu's admiration and reverence for "g93" in the slightest!

Gao Jing awoke from his sleep.

He picked up his phone and turned it on, only to discover that it was already past nine in the morning.

He had slept incredibly well last night.

He got up feeling refreshed and invigorated. Even his gloomy, cramped little dwelling looked pleasing to the eye, and he was in excellent condition.

Gao Jing touched the necklace hanging around his neck.

Holding the Copper Anchor, he felt something strange.

The Copper Anchor seemed to be absorbing something. It was like a pond that had been dry for many years receiving drops of rain—although insignificant, they had moistened a little of its soil.

It gave off a faint hint of vitality and life.

Gao Jing did not understand why, nor did he pay much attention to it.

This Copper Anchor was simply too miraculous. Its abilities could not be explained by science at all, and who knew how many secrets it concealed.

Gao Jing would need to uncover them slowly.

He got up and went to the bathroom to wash up, then went out for breakfast, finally returning with a large bag of food and drinks.

He put on his dried outdoor jacket, slung on the backpack carrying his crossbow, and tightly gripped his machete.

"Let's go!"

He teleported to the Great World once again.

In the forest, the familiar stench filled the air, and the giant spider's corpse lay ahead of him.

Fluid was still gurgling from its wounds.

Clearly, time in this world had also stopped when Gao Jing left, only to restart with his arrival.

Gao Jing was not surprised.

He took out the Copper Anchor and examined it carefully.

His heart sank slightly.

One silver scale was missing.

There were eight now.

His earlier speculation had been confirmed!

Gao Jing looked up at the sky, then strode forward.

Previously, he had simply explored aimlessly in the same direction. This time, he had brought a drone with him. As long as he surveyed the surrounding terrain clearly, he would not have to fly about blindly like a headless fly.

However, the tree canopy in this area was too tall and dense, so he needed to find somewhere relatively open, with sparse trees.

After trekking for more than an hour, Gao Jing finally found a suitable location.

The ground here was flat, and when he looked up, he could see a vast expanse of clear blue sky.

Gao Jing quickly took the Mavic 2 and its accompanying display remote controller from his backpack. After a brief adjustment, he sent it flying.

Accompanied by the buzzing noise of its rotors, the drone rose in a straight line.

One hundred meters, two hundred meters, three hundred meters...

The Mavic 2 was fast. It did not take much time to rise above the tree canopy, which stood hundreds of meters high.

Gao Jing stared intently at the remote controller.

The Mavic 2's image transmission function was very powerful. Clear footage appeared in real time on the LCD screen, allowing him to see the general surroundings and terrain.

Yet what Gao Jing had not expected was that just as the Mavic 2 hovered in place under his control and turned one circle, a black shadow flashed into the camera view like lightning.

The screen instantly went black.

All signal data was lost!

Fuck!

Gao Jing nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

The drone he had just bought for ten thousand yuan was gone just like that?

Had that thing just now been a bird?

Had it swallowed the Mavic 2 after mistaking it for an insect?!

Huh???

The contract has been mailed out. It could have been mailed yesterday, but I mixed up the documents, so...

Students who need to invest, hurry up and make your move!

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