Level up, level up!

Meanwhile.

When Dai Xiaomei received her invitation to the game's closed beta, a number of other people received invitations too.

Among them was Zhang Tian.

Few people knew who Zhang Tian was.

But mention his handle, "One Sword Opens Heaven," and every gamer had heard of him.

One Sword Opens Heaven, the speedrunning legend!

Sekiro, Warcraft...

He held the top speedrunning records in more than a dozen games!

He excelled at all kinds of games and possessed incredible skill.

Now, he too had received an invitation.

There were others as well.

They all had one thing in common: they were outstanding players or leaders in their respective fields.

There were even martial arts masters and Taoist masters among them...

At that moment, some chose to enter, while others closed the invitation.

In Dai Xiaomei's livestream.

VR technology had flourished like never before in recent years, and livestreaming VR games had become seamless.

Viewers could experience everything fully by putting on holographic headsets.

After putting on her holographic headset, Dai Xiaomei chose to download the game.

The download was fast.

Once she logged into the game.

The scenery changed completely in an instant!

Whoosh!!

As if she had traveled to another world, Dai Xiaomei arrived in a mysterious space.

Looking down, she saw auspicious clouds beneath her feet.

Every edge of every cloud looked incredibly realistic!

Dai Xiaomei was a little surprised.

This login screen actually looked pretty decent.

"Holy shit, seriously? Why does this look so normal?"

"Could this game actually be real?"

"Don't get ahead of yourselves. Game developers have gotten smart. They're scared of losing players, so it's no surprise they'd put some effort into the login screen."

"Just wait. Any second now, you'll see graphics straight out of one of those three-hundred-game compilations from twenty years ago!"

[Congratulations on becoming a Hidden Jun Ninja player!]

[Your character's appearance will match your real-world appearance and cannot be modified.]

[In-game sensory feedback is set to 10% and can be adjusted. (Note: pain feedback cannot exceed 40%.)]

[Please register your name!]

Without hesitation, Dai Xiaomei registered her own name.

[Registration successful. Congratulations on successfully logging into the game!]

[Teleporting. Please wait!]

Whoosh!

A streak of light descended.

The next second, Dai Xiaomei appeared in Hidden Jun Village's square.

Hum...

With several more streaks of light, the other players appeared there too.

Everyone stared at Hidden Jun Village in awe.

Towering mountains.

Trees reaching into the sky.

Babbling streams.

Rows of little wooden houses.

Everything looked so real!

"Holy shit, the fucking graphics look exactly like the trailer!!!"

"What the fuck... why can I feel a chill in my crotch??? They even simulated the wind???"

"Look at this stream. I can actually feel its temperature!!!!"

"Holy shit... how the fuck did they do this???"

Every player stood rooted to the spot, dumbfounded.

How was this a game?

It felt exactly as if they had personally traveled to another world!!

Then the players began doing all sorts of strange things.

Some ran to the stream to drink, feeling the water pass down their throats and into their stomachs, their faces full of bewilderment.

Some hit themselves on the head with rocks and grimaced in pain.

Some ran onto the grass to smell the fragrant flowers.

The more they experienced, the more bewildered they became.

"This is a fucking game????"

"Did I actually travel to another world?!!!"

All the players were dumbfounded.

Dai Xiaomei was even more stunned.

She had come here to expose a fake.

And now...

She had been proven completely wrong!

At the same time, Dai Xiaomei was incredibly excited.

As a gaming streamer, she knew perfectly well that Hidden Jun Ninja was going to be a massive hit.

She was lucky enough to become one of just nine closed-beta players worldwide. That meant her livestream's popularity was about to skyrocket like never before!

Sure enough.

At that moment, comments raced across her livestream.

"Holy shit, it's real! The game is real!!!"

"How the fuck did they do this??"

Elsewhere.

Ye Chen slowly stepped out.

His first batch of villagers had finally arrived!

Dai Xiaomei and the others immediately turned their attention to Ye Chen.

He was strikingly handsome.

He radiated a heroic air.

So handsome!

That was Dai Xiaomei's most honest assessment.

"Heavenly Hidden Ninja is freaking awesome! This NPC looks exactly like a real person!"

"How the fuck did they do this???"

"Wait... look, isn't that the badass who used ninjutsu in the trailer?"

"Holy shit, it really is him!"

Everyone instantly perked up.

Ye Chen looked at the group.

These were his first villagers!

In an instant, all their information appeared before Ye Chen as panels.

Villager: Dai Xiaomei.

Level: ordinary person.

Talent: skilled at interacting with others, possesses a certain personal charm.

Chakra affinity: wind.

The information displayed was simple and clear.

"Dai Xiaomei?"

A hint of surprise appeared in Ye Chen's eyes.

It seemed the players the system had matched him with really were pretty good.

Now it was his turn to put on a show.

How to use these nine players to build up Hidden Jun Village and level it up was his top priority.

Then Ye Chen slowly began to speak.

"Welcome to Hidden Jun Village!"

"I am Ye Chen, the chief of Hidden Jun Village."

"The Shinobi World contains countless nations, large and small."

"The nation we are in is called the Land of Grass!"

"Every nation has its own ninja village, which serves as its fighting force."

"Ninjas can cultivate chakra and perform ninjutsu, attaining abilities ordinary people do not possess."

"Chakra, ninjutsu, and everything else can be purchased with village contribution."

"Every day, I will issue tasks. Villagers who complete them will immediately receive village contribution."

"If you die in the game, you will not lose your ninjutsu or other abilities, but you will lose 10% of your chakra."

"I will lead you all in making Hidden Jun Village's name resound throughout the Shinobi World!"

Ye Chen explained at an unhurried pace.

The players were thrilled.

All those gameplay elements and the setting sounded great!

There was a cultivation system.

There was a village-building and development system too.

Even the scenery was beautiful.

It practically had everything!

"Build our ninja village!"

"Build our ninja village!"

The players shouted excitedly.

They could hardly wait to start cultivating, dreaming of mastering ninjutsu and taking part in village wars.

Seeing this, Ye Chen smiled and nodded, then sent the players the game's terms of agreement.

Naturally, the game's terms were extremely harsh.

They were a rambling, tedious mess.

An utterly one-sided agreement.

For instance, anything they discovered had to be handed over in exchange for a reward.

They were also forbidden from betraying the village chief or the village...

"These terms are way too long. I'm not reading them!"

The players clicked the accept button without even finishing the first line.

Seriously.

What gamer actually read the terms?

As Dai Xiaomei and the other eight players clicked accept, a system notification sounded in Ye Chen's mind.

[Congratulations, host, on completing villager recruitment!]

[Congratulations on receiving Ninja Village Gift Pack ×1!]