"Beep, beep, beep..." Watching the QQ avatars flash one after another gave Ye Fengxing a serious headache. Were these guys all freeloading layabouts with nothing better to do? They pinged him from morning till night, once every five minutes. When he didn't reply, they actually doubled down.
"I'm here. What the hell do you want?" Unable to take it anymore, he clicked a random message and replied.
"Shit! Ye, you're not dead?" The guy on the other end was clearly a little surprised.
"Spit it out. Talk or fart, just get on with it."
"Bro, why the hell are you selling your account? That account's godlike! Even if you've renounced the mortal world and decided to become a monk, you can't just sell it to some random stranger. Why not let me have some fun with it?"
"If I'm entering the monastery, naturally I must relinquish all worldly possessions. How could a game account be an exception?"
"If your heart already belongs to the monastery, what does your body matter, let alone a game account? Why don't you buy a few bottles of gasoline and a lighter tonight and 'leave the mortal world' for good? First thing tomorrow, I promise I'll call the crematorium right on time. We'll tell everyone you got hooked on Falun Gong a month ago or something."
Ye Fengxing was speechless. When it came to talking bullshit, this guy was worth two men. He was hopelessly outmatched. Come to think of it, it was already 2456. Did things like Falun Gong still exist on Earth? Where had this brat even heard of it?
"Bro, I'll take good care of all your ladies. And your vast fortune, too. I'll keep it safe, so you can go in peace."
Damn it, not only did this brat spew bullshit nonstop, once he got going, he couldn't stop.
"That's enough. I just want to play a new game. What's the point of keeping the old account? It's not going to lay eggs."
"Shit! You still can't sell it to some random stranger! How can you let some nobody sully the name One Leaf Windwalk?"
"Sully my ass! Names and all that crap mean nothing! Oh, right, hurry up and sell your Blood's Temptation account, too. Once Cloudsoar launches, get your ass in there. I need you, bro. And Xiaoxiao, too. Get him in."
"As if you need to tell me. We've been waiting years for Cloudsoar! We're just not as awesome as you-we couldn't get closed-beta accounts. When the servers open, you'd better show us the ropes."
"There's not much to show you." Ye Fengxing lit a cigarette and smiled. "Almost all the closed-beta content will be replaced for the open beta. I'll be a rookie just like you."
"Shit! What are we supposed to do, then? We were counting on your wise and mighty leadership! At least we wouldn't have to rack our brains clearing the early dungeons. And this is the answer you give us?"
"Can't do anything about it. Blue Star has to take precautions so closed-beta players can't abuse their advantages and run wild."
"Exactly! They definitely need to watch out for people like you!"
"Piss off!" Ye Fengxing promptly closed the chat window.
The stubble-faced man rose and stretched. Suddenly, silver light flashed in his eyes, and dozens of figures appeared in the otherwise spacious living room, some standing, others sitting. It was an eerie sight.
In the blink of an eye, every figure vanished without a trace! Anyone who witnessed it would surely have cried, "A ghost!" Or simply rubbed their eyes, wondering whether a lack of sleep was making them see things.
Dozens of people had appeared out of thin air in a split second. Anyone suddenly confronted with such a thing would have been startled.
Except... all that talk of "dozens of people appearing out of thin air" was an illusion. Those dozens of figures were, in truth, all one person-Ye Fengxing.
Human eyes were peculiar things... When a moving object reached a certain speed, the naked eye could no longer make out its position as it moved. Because it was moving too fast, the eye instead saw an image of where it had been before. That image was commonly known as an "afterimage."
Just how fast did this guy have to be to produce dozens of afterimages in an instant?!
Could a human... really move that fast?
At some point he could no longer remember, people had asked Ye Fengxing that very question. His answer then had been, "If you still consider me human, then yes."
It was now 2456, and Earth was changing by the day, long since transformed beyond recognition. There was no denying the boundless power of technology! Thanks to its influence, nations grew richer and stronger, people lived ever more comfortably, forests and rivers dwindled, and spacecraft ventured ever farther...
Amid this splendid state of affairs, people grew increasingly concerned about one thing: how to "live" better.
Although technology kept advancing, human constitutions kept deteriorating. People were like cabbages grown in greenhouses, or fat chickens raised on feed. Sure, they grew bigger, but the flavor was still somehow... not quite right.
Some things were simply better all-natural!
People had understood that more than a thousand years ago, but technological progress was unstoppable. Everyone lived that way. Even if they all understood the principle, what could they do? Abandon electrical appliances and head into the forest to live like Tarzan?
Believe it or not, a tiny handful of radicals really had taken the lead and tried it. Quite a few of them, however, ran into trouble...
"Ah!! A snake!!"
"Ah!! What kind of bug is this? Help, I've been poisoned!!"
"Ptooey! What the fuck is this water? Why does it taste like dye?"
"What are you doing? Is living here against the law, too?"
"Not exactly, but the XX municipal government has designated this a logging zone. If you'd like to be turned into disposable chopsticks or A4 paper, be our guest."
Ideals were beautiful, but reality was often cruel.
How could people be given better lives? That question had once stumped many senior government officials, successfully leaving them with bald patches atop their heads.
Then, one day several hundred years ago... for reasons unknown, the Chinese government suddenly began distributing a booklet on a massive scale. Its title was the Basic Internal Cultivation Manual.
Almost no one knew where the original manuscript for that slim little booklet had come from, and the Chinese government remained deeply secretive about its origins.
None of that mattered. What mattered was that this thing worked!
Ever read a martial arts novel? Oh, sorry. Those were pretty popular a few hundred years ago, but hardly anyone seemed to read them anymore. No matter-as long as you knew they existed. After practicing the Basic Internal Cultivation Manual, you might become like those martial arts masters, scaling walls and leaping across rooftops, impervious to blades and bullets, able to wound people with plucked flowers and leaves!
The Chinese government did not ban overseas sales, so people around the world had the opportunity to buy it. In time, almost every household owned a copy of that slim little booklet.
Not long afterward, the US government also solemnly announced to the world that its human genetic engineering project, conducted in secret for XX years, had finally been successfully "completed"! Humans modified through the process could gain special abilities, such as freely stretching and compressing their bodies, becoming as hard as iron, or possessing the immense strength of a robot... Some more advanced subjects could even manipulate natural fire, frost, air, lightning, and even XXX.
These genetically modified warriors were commonly called "Espers."
In military research, the importance of individual combat capability was once again brought to the table, becoming a subject that governments around the world studied with painstaking intensity. The reason was obvious to everyone.
Who was stronger, an Ancient Martial Artist or an Esper?
No one could answer that question. People loved discussing it in their leisure time, offering their own opinions and arguing endlessly.
Some people had also asked Ye Fengxing that question. His answer then had been, "I don't know yet... At least, the few of us haven't fallen."
Three days later, a certain stubble-faced man lay down once more in his rather old gaming pod at home. He quietly glanced at the strip of calligraphy hanging on the wall, suddenly smiled, and closed the pod's lid.
Ye Fengxing inserted his game card. Light flashed before his eyes, and the login screen for Chronicles of the Sky appeared.
Bleak yet stirring music played on and on as sweeping, epic battle scenes flashed past in succession, accompanied by a deep, resonant voice slowly narrating...
"This is a world of swords and magic, a world of turmoil and chaos. After long and arduous explorations through the distant ages, ancient demons arrived here. Brutally, they tore wound after wound into this ancient land, bringing its living creatures endless pain, suffering, death, and disaster... Warriors, please..."
Without another word, he skipped it!
He had already watched this cinematic during the closed beta. The first viewing had been quite stirring, but by now... enough said. Time to get down to business!
A shimmer of watery light... Ye Fengxing was a little surprised. Why had the login screen changed again? The sweeping sky, lush grass, and quiet little lake were elegant enough, but all the passion and tragic grandeur built up by that lengthy cinematic had vanished in an instant...
A blunder! An absolute blunder! Whose idea was this? They deserved to be dragged outside and beaten!
Ye Fengxing was pondering how to tear into Blue Star's game engineers later when ripples suddenly spread across the lake. A graceful figure parted the water and glided toward him, silk sleeves fluttering and skirts billowing. She looked like the goddess of the Luo River herself, wreathed in an ethereal aura.
Damn you! This was clearly a Western fantasy MMO, and you just had to cram in all these Eastern elements! Those meddling bastards-I was going to tear those idiots apart later!
Ye Fengxing cursed inwardly. As the woman drifted closer, he looked up and let out a surprised "Huh?" That face, that bust, that slender waist-why did they look so familiar...? A moment later, an exceedingly strange smile suddenly appeared on his face...
Holy shit! Wasn't this that girl Yun Xixue...?
Before you continue