Beginner difficulty?

[Hardcore Gamer Chat Group (Online: 10)]

Family-Sharing Godfather: Why isn't Godfather back yet? Could he be so engrossed in the Calabash Brothers saving their grandfather that he can't tear himself away?

So Poor I Eat Dirt (Admin): Maybe he's calling the police, trying to recover the massive 20 yuan deposit stolen from his bank account. His streaming payment won't come through until the day after tomorrow, and that's Brother Li's food money for tomorrow. (smirk.jpg)

Fun Without Paying: Godfather has fallen. Next godfather, please step up.

Murderous Intent Awakened: Enough talk. Kick Perks Officer out first. Whichever admin added him, send everyone in the group a red packet as an apology.

Just as the group members were heatedly discussing Gold-Farming Gamer's disappearance, the man himself returned.

Gold-Farming Gamer: Brothers, hurry up and download the game! Perks Officer really is handing out perks. His link got me a cracked version of Darklands. It's incredible! The models are one hundred percent realistic. I haven't tried the story yet, but the realism is definitely no exaggeration. It's amazing.

So Poor I Eat Dirt replied to Gold-Farming Gamer: Are you trying to add another victim to the count?

Family-Sharing Godfather replied to Gold-Farming Gamer: Brother Li, I trusted you so much, yet you're trying to trick me into downloading Calabash Brothers. (wiping tears.jpg)

Fun Without Paying replied to Gold-Farming Gamer: Brother Li, you've always looked out for us. Why have you picked up Eat Dirt's bad habits and started scamming your adorable groupmates? I'm not watching Calabash Brothers.

Faced with their doubts, Li Zheng sat at his computer desk and hammered out a line on his keyboard:

Gold-Farming Gamer: We've played games together for so many years. Don't you know what kind of person I am? I stake my reputation on this being absolutely legit. Hurry up and download it so we can try the game together. I'll say it again: this link really lets you download a genuine copy of Darklands.

So Poor I Eat Dirt (Admin): I suspect the person online right now isn't Brother Li, but Perks Officer, who stole his account through the link... Let's check the password: what do you do when there's a bug in a game?

Gold-Farming Gamer: There are no bugs, only features.

So Poor I Eat Dirt (Admin): Authentication complete. This really is Brother Li. Brothers, I'm going in first. If I get scammed, so be it.

Murderous Intent Awakened: Hard to believe, but the password checked out. I believe this is Brother Li. Brothers, I'm going in too.

Family-Sharing Godfather: Godfather, I shall continue following in your footsteps.

Gold-Farming Gamer: Don't rush, everyone. Let's discuss our starting classes first and put together a suitable progression team.

[Challenger "Ye Liuyun" has entered the game. Creating an initial monster body cost 1,000 Sacrificial Power. Remaining Sacrificial Power: 139,278.]

[Challenger "Wang Xuan" has entered the game. Creating an initial monster body cost 1,000 Sacrificial Power. Remaining Sacrificial Power: 138,278...]

Notifications of players entering the game rang out one after another in Qi Sheng's mind.

Looking at the now-silent group chat, Qi Sheng clicked "Leave group," and a prompt immediately popped up:

[User: Perks Officer. Are you sure you want to leave the Hardcore Gamer Chat Group?]

Qi Sheng reached out and clicked "Yes," and the group chat window disappeared from his desktop.

Recruitment of the first batch of players was complete.

To recruit these players, he had specially created a fake link.

The players thought they were playing the real Darklands. In fact, there was no game behind the link at all, but a Soul-Guiding Spatial Formation that could extract their consciousnesses and send them to the Monster World, where they would undergo Life Reforging and receive perfectly compatible monster bodies.

But the players in the group clearly hadn't noticed this issue, believing they had downloaded a free cracked version of Darklands.

One thing was certain: after experiencing the game, they would shower him with gratitude in the group chat.

They might even hail him as their new godfather.

But Qi Sheng had already achieved his goal and couldn't be bothered to read the compliments and flattery that would follow. What mattered more to him was the revenue the players would generate for him.

Emperor Tomb Village was still suffering damage from the energy of the Terrifying Dark Tide. Maintaining its defensive barrier required a large daily expenditure of sacrificial power. If the players couldn't generate income for him, his remaining sacrificial power would soon run out.

Just then, a pale blue ball of water suddenly popped up beside him.

[Boss, are the recruits this time people from your former homeland?]

"Before I crossed over to the Monster World, I was one of them. But that world underwent certain changes while I was away, and many Alien Races Faction forces appeared," Qi Sheng replied with a nod.

The ball of water floating beside him was named Guide. Its ability was very unusual: it could turn whatever it scanned into data and display the information.

The Newbie Guides accompanying the players were all its avatars.

Over the hundreds of years since he had crossed over to the Monster World, he had inherited Emperor Zhao's origin power, and Guide, who had once followed Emperor Zhao, had become one of his Four Devoted Servants.

Guide handled all the data processing for the Challenger System-the player recruitment system-he had devised.

[They've already entered the Monster World. Want to take a look?]

Qi Sheng nodded and waved a hand. A screen of light appeared before him, displaying the players entering the game for the first time.

"How is this game any different from reality? Even the pebbles on the ground are modeled perfectly."

"After years of watching Calabash Brothers, I finally downloaded the real game. Perks Officer in the group is my new godfather from now on."

"It's so realistic. As expected of a super virtual reality game the Eclipse Race spent ten years making. It's simply perfect."

White light flashed, and ten figures appeared in Emperor Tomb Village's central square.

Of the ten players, two had Eagle-Headed Demon phantoms floating behind them, and two had Gargoyle phantoms. The remaining six had chosen Black-Armored Snake as their starting form.

"Brothers, let's leave Novice Village and hurry up and level while the servers have just opened. We'll be relying on this game to get rich from now on. It has the most Pay-to-Win players of any game right now, so we need to make the most of our early development time," Li Zheng said.

"Brother Li, why are we the only ones in Novice Village? Where are the other players? Didn't they say it sold a million copies in ten minutes? The game should be packed."

The player who spoke looked very young. The username "So Poor I Eat Dirt" hovered above his head, and an Eagle-Headed Demon phantom floated behind him.

Before Li Zheng could answer, the young man beside him with "Murderous Intent Awakened" floating above his head said calmly:

"Obviously, we've entered a separate channel. Otherwise, with millions of players flooding in at once, wouldn't Novice Village burst?"

"True."

"Let's leave the village first. Leveling is what matters most early on."

"We'll listen to Brother Li. You're the expert at games."

Following the blue stone-paved road, the party of ten passed through the energy barrier and entered the black mist.

An indescribable fear immediately welled up within them. They could faintly hear bones crunching and anguished wails... All kinds of sounds intertwined in their minds, even producing intense dizziness.

Just as Li Zheng and the others were about to lose themselves, the black mist ahead dispersed, and their view abruptly opened up.

[Emperor Tomb Mountain Range]

A line of golden text appeared before their eyes, then quickly faded.

A crimson world lay before them. Beneath the vast sky, a dark red crescent moon hung slanted on the horizon. The clouds were stained red by its lingering glow, and lightning flickered within them as they churned.

At the far end of the horizon, they could see volcanoes still spewing flames. The air was thick with the smell of sulfur and scorched earth, and rolling waves of heat swept toward them from afar.

The sight of this world on the verge of collapse shocked everyone in the party.

"Whoa, that's incredible. It feels like those erupting volcanoes could drown us any second," Eat Dirt remarked.

"Stay calm. The scenery outside Novice Village looks scary, but there definitely won't be any powerful monsters. It'll give us a chance to adapt and grow." Though shocked himself, Li Zheng offered what he considered a reasonable analysis.

Just as he finished speaking, a thunderbolt tore through the heavens, and pitch-black cracks instantly spread across the entire sky.

A colossal scarlet beast ripped through the clouds, revealing its ferocious form.

Its enormous body was covered in scarlet scales like burning flames, each brimming with tremendous power and boundless majesty. Its open eyes resembled two rubies, deep and piercing.

A deafening roar resounded through the heavens, making even the air tremble.

Golden patterns lined the edges of the monster's broad, powerful wings. Each beat whipped up hurricanes that sent the trees below swaying wildly and dust flying.

Even from far away, Li Zheng and the others were caught in the blast, forced back step after step by the fierce winds.

The giant beast abruptly accelerated in its descending flight. Like a scarlet bolt of lightning streaking across the sky, it plunged toward some unknown target below with the momentum to destroy everything.

At that moment, time seemed to freeze. All things fell still, and that scarlet figure alone became the sole focus of heaven and earth.

As its body was about to touch the ground, tremendous waves of heat swept outward with a deafening rumble.

Boom!

The earth shook violently, and a mushroom cloud rose into the distant sky.

A moment later, everything fell silent, but Li Zheng and the others remained rooted to the spot, the shock within them beyond words.

After a long while, Eat Dirt turned to look at the dazed Li Zheng:

"This is the starter area you said wasn't dangerous?"

Li Zheng swallowed and continued his analysis:

"Could this just be an opening scene, something like a cinematic? It won't actually threaten us. After all, we're beginners. There should be an adjustment period where the difficulty gradually increases..."

Before he could finish, a beast's roar came sweeping in with fierce winds. The terrifying sound waves blasted their eardrums with stabbing pain.

"Don't panic. It's just a taste of the intensity at the start. It won't affect the low-difficulty beginner mode afterward."

Li Zheng wiped away his nosebleed and stubbornly continued his analysis.

[I like this guy's personality. Self-deception is his specialty.]

The ball of water following beside Li Zheng gave him a thumbs-up.

Li Zheng: ...