Ji Li looked at her younger brother's smug expression and suddenly smiled, like snow and ice beginning to thaw.
She extended a slender finger and hooked it under Ji Luo's chin, her voice almost sickeningly sweet. "Little Luo, my dear brother..."
"S-stop! Sis, don't talk to me like that. You're scaring me."
Goosebumps rose all over Ji Luo, and he instinctively backed away.
"Do your sister a little favor?"
Ji Li smiled at him. "Could you... lend me your gaming pod for ten minutes? Just ten minutes. I only want to go in and look at the art and models."
"No! Absolutely not!"
Ji Luo clutched his chest like a wolf cub guarding its food. "Sis, dying in this game costs money! You're a total newbie who's never played hardcore survival games. What if a monster one-shots you? The ten Ash Coins I worked so hard to save would be gone!"
"Those coins are my lifeblood!"
"You cheapskate! I'll send you five thousand yuan in spending money!"
"Is this about money? It's about dignity! Those are my last resort for resurrecting in the game!"
While the siblings engaged in their usual battle of wits in the kitchen over a chance to try the game, another drama fueled by envy unfolded in Lu Ziye's university dorm.
"Lu, you're my own father! My own grandfather!"
"Just let me put on the helmet and take a look! One look!"
Inside the dorm.
Lu Ziye was wolfing down a box of completely cold takeout while Wang, his roommate in the lower bunk, clung to his leg, crying with tears and snot streaming down his face.
Wang was also a hardcore gamer. That afternoon, he had just returned from an elective class elsewhere.
The moment he opened his phone, news of Awakening of the Old Gods was everywhere.
After finally squeezing onto the official website and watching that breathtaking cinematic, he completely lost his mind!
He turned to look and discovered that his upper-bunk buddy, who normally did nothing but attend classes and snore, had the Awakening of the Old Gods forum open on his computer.
And the account logged in was none other than [Passing Pure-Love Warrior], the big shot who commanded the forums!
That sent Wang straight over the edge.
"Lu, when you're too broke to eat, I buy you instant noodles! When you skip class, I answer roll call for you! We're blood brothers with different mothers and fathers!"
Wang clung to Lu Ziye's leg and refused to let go. "You're actually one of the five fucking first-test big shots on the entire internet! How could you keep this from me?"
"Please, lend me the helmet for ten minutes of fun! Even if all I do is pry out a brick, I could die without regrets!"
"Get off, get off! Don't rub those snot-covered hands on my pants!"
Still shoveling down rice, Lu Ziye mercilessly kicked Wang away. "It's not that I won't lend it to you. This game binds to your brain waves and soul frequency."
"Even if you put on my helmet, all you'll get is a black screen. Only this chosen one's head can log in. Got it?"
In truth, Lu Ziye had no idea whether someone else could get in by wearing his helmet, but he absolutely wouldn't risk it.
If Wang got in, he might not only mess around and squander all the Resurrection Coins Lu Ziye had saved, but even accidentally trigger some system mechanism and get the account he had painstakingly ground to level 3 banned. Who would he cry to then?
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! You just don't want to lend it to me!"
Wang slumped to the floor in despair, like a bitter, abandoned wife.
"All right, all right. Stop howling."
Lu Ziye finished his last mouthful and wiped his mouth. "Didn't the official website say it? Once we fix the Portal, they'll release fifty slots for the second test."
"Hurry up and register on the official website. If you're quick enough and lucky enough, maybe you'll win a slot in the draw."
"Right! Register!"
As though clutching a lifeline, Wang sprang up from the floor with a kip-up and rushed to his computer.
"I'm not sleeping tonight! I'll use an autoclicker to hammer that registration button! Let's see them not pick me!"
Watching Wang's crazed behavior, Lu Ziye let out a satisfied burp.
The feeling of being envied by the whole world, of everyone craving the privilege he held...
It was fucking ten thousand times better than being in a relationship!
"Just you wait. Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow, I'm grinding out that Portal no matter what, and welcoming my fifty followers!"
Lu Ziye lay back down on his bed and fell fast asleep, wearing the smug smile of a Dragon King.
Late at night, in the game world.
Inside the dilapidated Church at the Black Forest Edge, only the damaged stone statue remained, along with a lone candle flickering beneath it like a solitary star.
After the five noisy members of the Fourth Calamity logged off, the Church returned to its oppressive, deathly silence.
Only the occasional monster roar beyond the barrier served as a reminder of how cruel this world was.
Inside the divine statue.
Lin En had not gone to sleep.
He stared at the [3,634 points] Faith Points balance in the system backend, grinning like a nouveau riche investor who had just bought the market at rock bottom.
"This is amazing! With the industrial-scale efficiency those five bandits showed in pulling monsters today, getting five thousand points tomorrow to launch the second test is a sure thing."
Lin En had already begun planning what came next.
Once those fifty fresh suckers arrived, he would first have to devise a comprehensive "beginner's guide" and "contribution point reclamation system" for them.
He not only had to get them willingly hunting monsters on the outskirts, but also squeeze every last Ash Coin out of them!
"Weapons have to cost money, right? Resurrection has to cost money, right? Even if they just want a glowing title to show off, I'll charge them eight hundred coins!"
The capitalist soul within Lin En burned fiercely.
Just as he was lost in his beautiful dream.
"O great Lord of Ashes..."
A faint yet deeply devout voice beneath the altar interrupted Lin En's thoughts.
Lin En looked down through the statue's eyes and saw the young nun Sivir kneeling on a prayer cushion.
She wore that coarse robe, washed pale and covered in patches, and her frail body looked especially thin in the candlelight.
The girl tightly clasped the rusted cross at her chest with both hands, pressing her forehead against the cold stone floor as she performed her nightly prayers.
In the original owner's memories, this young nun had guarded the nearly collapsing Church alone ever since the old priest died.
Surviving on weeds and well water each day, she had stubbornly held on until now.
Even when she had nearly been eaten by a monster that broke through the door, she had never stopped praying.
In Lin En's eyes, although the girl had a truly extreme tendency to let her imagination run wild, she was his only genuine native follower in this world.
She was a top-quality employee who required no Ash Coins or wages, yet provided free, pure Faith Points every day!
Now, Sivir's ethereal voice echoed through the Church, carrying a trace of relief at having survived and boundless reverence for her deity.
"My lord... praise be to your mercy and greatness."
"Today, Sivir saw those noble emissaries you summoned. They truly are so powerful!"
"And so... um, so unique."
The girl seemed unable to find a suitable adjective to describe what those five muscular men in oversized shorts had done that day, so she could only settle for "unique."
"I once thought there was nothing left in this world but darkness and despair."
A hint of tears entered Sivir's voice.
"My parents were brutally murdered by the Cultists on their pilgrimage to Winterhold."
"The old priest also died at the edge of the Black Forest while protecting me."
"Everyone says you are a False God on the verge of perishing, and that darkness will swallow this barrier sooner or later."
"But I know you have not abandoned us... you are merely gathering strength in the Abyss, waiting for the day when the ashes will burn again."
Before you continue