The game was still too easy

Big bro—danger!

In the bustling crowd, the players with names floating above their heads stood out like fireflies on a summer night. From half a street away, Lin Bai spotted [Lao Mi] and his companion, both dressed as beggars.

And so.

Lin Bai personally witnessed the entire process as beggars clubbed [Lao Mi] and his companion from behind, stuffed them into sacks, and carried them away.

Naturally, he chose to do nothing.

How could an ordinary NPC have such sharp eyes? If someone went from a dashing young gentleman to a beggar, it was only reasonable not to recognize him. Even if they met again later, Lao Mi would have nothing to fault him for.

But the more NPCs Lin Bai encountered, the less this felt like a world built out of code.

Never mind anything else.

The division of labor among those beggars during the abduction had been far too clear.

Some were responsible for diverting the attention of passersby;

Some secretly influenced the route [Lao Mi] and his companion took, guiding them into a secluded spot without either of them realizing it;

Some delivered the blows from behind, while others slipped on the sacks...

The entire process flowed seamlessly, without a single unnecessary movement, as though they had rehearsed it countless times. It was almost absurdly smooth.

Putting himself in their shoes.

Even if he had been in [Lao Mi]'s place, he would have struggled to escape that blow from behind.

Could the underlying computations really produce an operation that flowed like drifting clouds and running water?

Besides.

Players' actions were full of randomness and uncertainty...

This had to be a real world!

That suspicion rose in Lin Bai's heart once again.

But if it was a real world, the players had arrived two days ago, yet the Government Office had taken no measures whatsoever. That did not make sense either;

And if this really was a game, with survival so difficult for its players, where was the fun in playing it?

Realism?

But this already went against the fundamental principles of game design.

Back on Earth, Lin Bai knew of plenty of games that players had abandoned because they were too hard to get into.

He had also seen plenty of games with crude graphics that players flocked to because they were easy to pick up.

After all, a game could not make money purely off professional players. It still depended on ordinary people playing for leisure and entertainment. It had to make people happy!

With life already so busy, who would want to seek out abuse in a game?

Layer upon layer of unanswered questions left Lin Bai utterly baffled.

After turning it over and over without reaching an answer, Lin Bai simply stopped thinking about it.

At the end of the day, he was only a stranger in this world. He had not even figured out the rules himself, so why waste his time worrying on the operator's behalf?

From his perspective, he ought to hope the game drove away as many players as possible.

Securing his own place in the world came first.

As for what went on behind the scenes, he could consider that once he had some strength!

As a Novice Village, Jiamao City was actually fairly large, with six streets running in each direction.

Beyond the western gate lay tall mountains and dense forests, supposedly teeming with ferocious beasts. Apart from hunters, hardly anyone was willing to venture into the mountains.

A river ran through the city, dividing it into northern and southern sections.

The northern bank occupied a smaller area, mostly home to the city's powerful and wealthy households. The southern section was three times its size and largely housed ordinary people.

Martial arts halls, blacksmith shops, carpentry shops, weaving workshops, printing shops, escort agencies, and other trades looked down upon by the city's elite but eagerly sought out by players were all on the southern side.

Among the many professions.

Martial arts halls were clearly more popular with players.

After all, killer-type players who loved competition and pursued destruction made up the majority of players.

As for socializers and achievers, mastering a certain number of spells and skills was equally necessary if they wanted to enjoy themselves in Immortal World.

So.

For players, martial arts and spells were essential needs.

Jiamao City had three martial arts halls open to the public and accepting disciples. The Zhang Family Martial Arts Hall taught fist techniques, with its style called the Five-Element Linked Fist;

The Mo Family Sword Hall taught swordsmanship, its sword style simply named the Mo Family Sword;

The Wu Family Saber Hall was renowned for its saber techniques, and its signature art was said to be the Thousand-Leaf Saber;

Of course.

Joining a fist school did not necessarily mean having to study fist techniques. The Zhang family's school also offered staff techniques, spear arts, and the like, while only core disciples or above qualified to learn its fist art.

Apart from accepting disciples, all three martial arts halls had other businesses as well.

The Raging Wind Gang, which controlled transportation in Jiamao City and the surrounding cities, had the Zhang family's backing.

The Mo Family Sword Hall had connections with the city's wealthy households, and most disciples who graduated from it were sent to serve as guards for the powerful;

As for the Wu family, it had its own escort agency and apparently had ties to the military as well...

This was information that could be gathered openly. Whether they had more formidable backing behind the scenes was not something casual inquiries could reveal.

Players lingered near every martial arts hall. Lin Bai spotted roughly a dozen of them.

[Bitter Melon], [Terminal Laziness], [Shangguan Tiezhu], [Madman], [No Compromise]—there were all sorts of names...

These players gathered in twos and threes, discussing how to join the martial arts halls and which profession offered better prospects. Every one of them was brimming with excitement.

Players entered this world to have fun. Dying once or twice or deleting a character a couple of times while exploring it was perfectly normal.

As long as the game still felt fresh, they would not care at all about suffering a setback or two.

Only after seeing so many players did Lin Bai truly feel that this was a game world. He had not expected so many people to be taking part in the closed beta.

With nothing else to do, Lin Bai pretended to be tired from walking and settled near them to gather the latest information.

Know yourself and your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without peril.

Even if he did not interact with them for the time being, it was still necessary to investigate these players' personalities in advance.

"The Wall-Breaking Martial Arts Hall charges an enrollment fee, but the game hasn't even opened a top-up channel yet. The dev team is way too unfriendly to us beta players," [Bitter Melon] said.

"Basic martial arts are just a stepping stone, and they still won't let us enroll directly. I bet a game that gets its kicks out of making things difficult for players won't even reach the late game before the company goes under," [No Compromise] said.

"I think it's pretty interesting. The harder the game, the greater the challenge!" A faint smile played at the corners of [Madman]'s mouth.

"Actually, I have a way to cover the enrollment fees, but it'll involve a little risk and require a little trust," [Terminal Laziness] said, looking over the others.

"Spit it out! We're not even afraid of dying, so why would we fear a little risk?" The others immediately perked up.

"Delete our characters," [Terminal Laziness] said.

"What the hell kind of solution is that?" [Bitter Melon] said.

"The enrollment fee is five hundred copper coins, and the system gives you two hundred to start with," [Terminal Laziness] said leisurely. "There are four of us here. We pool three people's money in one person's hands, then the other three delete their characters and start over. That gives us another six hundred copper coins. If each of us deletes our character three times, we'll have enough to cover all four enrollment fees."

"Holy shit!" the other three exclaimed in unison.

"You get it now. The risk I mentioned isn't inside the game. It's outside it." [Terminal Laziness] swept a gaze over the three. "You all know how hard it is to get a beta account. Farming money by deleting characters could easily draw the game company's attention. There's a chance we'll get banned."

The other three all fell silent.

"We can do it," [Madman] suddenly said. "The whole point of a closed beta is to test for bugs and improve the gameplay experience. Farming money by deleting characters counts as a bug too. They should thank us for finding this loophole! It's less damaging than discovering it during the open beta, anyway. If they ban us over this, we'll expose them on the forums..."

"I'm in," [Bitter Melon] said. "Once we've farmed enough money, we'll immediately report the loophole to the developers and collect a reward from them too."

"Good idea," [No Compromise] said. "A company this stingy deserves to have its fleece shorn."

After a pause, [No Compromise] continued, "Since we were lucky enough to meet, why don't we form an alliance and stick together in the game? One person's wisdom falls short; three minds go further. This game clearly isn't something you can handle alone. Whenever we run into trouble later, we can talk it over."

"No problem."

"No problem."

[No Compromise]'s proposal quickly won everyone's support.

Having overheard their entire scheme, Lin Bai was dumbstruck.

So these were fucking players. They would stop at nothing for the sake of the game, taking their tricks beyond the game itself. Once they had farmed enough money, they would report the loophole and cut off everyone else's path. Absolutely fucking shameless...

Just a moment ago, Lin Bai had been complaining that the game was too difficult.

Now, he only felt that the game was still too easy.

After all, he was an NPC now. These players could very well end up screwing him over...