Entering the Game | Entering the Virtual Reality Game World

Star Card Illusions? What the hell were those?

Xie Mingzhe quietly memorized the term, planning to search it up properly later.

After finishing the examination, Doctor Qin instructed him, "Your stomach is still rather weak. For the next three days, eat only liquid foods. After three days, you can resume normal meals, but don't eat anything too stimulating. Understand?"

Xie Mingzhe obediently nodded. "Understood. Thank you, Doctor."

As soon as the doctor turned and left, Xie Mingzhe immediately sat cross-legged on the bed and took out his phone to search the keyword "Star Card Illusions."

A long list of information soon popped up, and the more Xie Mingzhe read, the more shocked he became—

It turned out that all these Star Card Illusions came from a game called "Star Card Storm."

It was a holographic online card battle game that had swept the globe. It had been operating for a full ten years and had over three billion users.

The officials had launched a card league with generous prize money ten years ago. From then on, it spiraled out of control, with many professional card game players making a living from it, along with all kinds of legitimate card gaming clubs.

As a household-name interstellar online battle game, the fact that it had held its position as the undisputed leader for ten years naturally meant it had its merits.

The core of the game was the various cards officially known as "Star Cards."

Star Cards could not only be used for battles on the holographic network, but there were also plenty of fun pet cards that could be materialized in reality. For example, the famous [Long-Eared Rabbit Star Card] could manifest an adorable big rabbit. The illusion was so lifelike that it was as though a real rabbit stood right before one's eyes.

When this game first came out, girls went absolutely crazy for it. Pet cards such as Persian cats, Teddy dogs, Long-Eared Rabbits, and so on took the world by storm. Almost every girl had several pet Star Cards in hand and would summon them to play with whenever she was bored—though they were merely illusions created by holographic projections and did not truly exist, that could not stop them from being cute!

Besides the pet Star Cards beloved by girls, which were nearly sold out, many battle Star Cards also emerged.

Xie Mingzhe casually glanced over some of the highly rated battle cards online. For example, top player Nie Yuandao's premier battle Star Card, [Flame Dragon], could summon a massive crimson dragon and unleash a "Blazing Storm" that swept through the surroundings, burning all nearby illusions to ashes. Tang Muzhou's [Millennium Sacred Tree] was even more outrageous. It could directly summon a sacred tree that blotted out the sky, with countless green vines rapidly stretching and spreading like tentacles, powerful enough to instantly strangle the illusionary creatures around it.

With the emergence of these top-tier battle cards, the leagues held by the Professional Card League became increasingly exciting.

After ten years of development, the Card League had become extremely formalized, and the major clubs had developed very mature business models. More than a hundred million people participated in amateur competitions, the viewership ratings of the top official card leagues exceeded 30%, and the incomes of outstanding professional players were beyond the reach of ordinary people.

It was said that top players like Nie Yuandao and Tang Muzhou could easily earn over a hundred million a year, and their fan counts rivaled those of top celebrities.

This reminded Xie Mingzhe of globally popular esports games from Earth, such as League of Legends and StarCraft. He had played this kind of competitive game in college too. He had not expected this era to be so exaggerated—"Star Card Storm" had practically become a national game, with 80% of people playing it.

This game had an extremely high degree of freedom. All players could create original cards. For instance, the Flame Dragon and Millennium Sacred Tree he had just seen, both top-tier battle cards, had been created by professional players themselves. Naturally, online users could also make and nurture their own unique cards. This was one of the reasons why "Star Card Storm" had remained popular even after operating for a full ten years.

After reading all this information, Xie Mingzhe truly admired the game's developers.

Back in the twenty-first century, he had been a science student and had studied computer programming. The technology back then could not have created a game like this. The engineers of this era were seriously incredible, especially the "Star Card Illusion Projection Technology," which could project cute Star Card creatures into the real world for people's entertainment. When Xie Mingzhe saw the pet that little girl had been carrying earlier, he had almost thought it was real!

According to the internet, the greatest differences between real pets and Star Card pets were shadows and permeability.

Star Card Illusions cast no shadows under light, and people could pass directly through them. After all, they were merely visual effects created by high technology and did not actually exist. That was why Doctor Qin had recognized at a glance that it was a Star Card Illusion—people in this world had long grown accustomed to all kinds of illusions. Xie Mingzhe was the one making a fuss.

Xie Mingzhe wanted to search for more game information when a text message suddenly lit up on his phone. "Xie Mingzhe, this is Auntie Zhang, your landlord. I just checked the records, and you still haven't paid your rent for July. It's 800 Crystal Coins. Please pay it as soon as possible."

Xie Mingzhe froze. Rent? Right, when he had first come to the Imperial Capital, he had found a temporary place to stay and rented a home. But he had spent this month lying in the hospital as a vegetable, so he really had not paid the rent.

Xie Mingzhe immediately used his phone to check the balance on his bank card.

Central Bank: "Dear user, your account balance is: 1,000 Crystal Coins."

Xie Mingzhe: "..."

After paying 800 Crystal Coins in rent, he would only have 200 left.

Judging from the original owner's memories, prices in this world were probably similar to those in 2018 using RMB. How long could 200 yuan last?

How was a poor bastard like him supposed to live? He could not possibly starve to death right after being reborn, could he?

Xie Mingzhe rubbed his temples with a headache, beginning to consider how exactly he was supposed to survive in this unfamiliar world.

Entering the Game | Entering the Virtual Reality Game World

The next morning, Doctor Qin completed Xie Mingzhe's discharge procedures. Xie Mingzhe then went to negotiate with the insurance company and settle the medical expenses.

The medical insurance system in this world was extremely comprehensive. The critical illness insurance he had bought happened to cover accidents, and all his medical expenses were reimbursed. The weight in Xie Mingzhe's heart finally lifted. As the saying went, "Debt-free, carefree." Though he was a little poor now and had no savings, he also had no debts. As long as he only needed to support himself, the pressure would naturally be much lower.