The Internet Exploded

[The streamer was right not to join.]

[Early in the game, players from plenty of races were dissected.]

[It wasn't that bad. Some races didn't do that, and most were similar to humans. Some countries dissected players for research, while others chose to trust their citizens.]

[Streamer, streamer, I checked the other Dragon Kingdom players' streams. The Dragon Kingdom wasn't lying to you. Players who joined the Dragon Transformation Pool really do get those benefits.]

[Doesn't that mean the streamer lost out by not joining?]

[Not really. No matter how much the Dragon Kingdom gives him, he can't take it into the game. Space Slots can only hold supplies obtained inside the game.]

[Rights come with obligations. It's not a question of losing out.]

[What a shame. The streamer is one of the very best human players.]

[Plenty of other high-level human players have guns and other firearms. Getting transported with their beds and everything is honestly pretty unfair.]

[Even so, the streamer still blows them out of the water. Whether it's equipment, Spirit Pearls, or his bound Guardian, he's one of humanity's leading players.]

[It's fine. That's a widespread bug in the closed beta. Once the open beta starts, players can forget about exploiting it.]

That was a bug?

Xiao Hao read the chat messages. Space Slots couldn't store materials from the real world; he'd tested that today.

But Xiao Hao didn't think being transported along with one's bed was a bug.

He felt it was a perk the game gave closed-beta players.

Its purpose was to keep players from dying too quickly.

The open beta wouldn't have it because the closed-beta players had brought back information about the game. With the death rate reduced, the perk would naturally disappear.

Xiao Hao had intended to keep reading the chat and dig up more information, but then...

The viewers from other worlds were every bit a match for human netizens. The chat could slide smoothly from exploiting bugs to exploring positions, to exploring...

Please, game, give us a moderator.

With a dark expression, Xiao Hao closed the game panel and continued looking up information.

Because of the animal mutations, the first things Xiao Hao researched were animal habitats across the Dragon Kingdom and all kinds of biological knowledge.

He didn't know whether any of it would prove useful later, but it was better to be prepared.

Morning sunlight spilled down as Xiao Hao sat at his workstation with a gloomy expression.

After what had happened yesterday, they'd actually told everyone to come to work today. Could anyone believe that?

Management's inhumane decision had caused quite a few employees to resign or even go on strike today.

His coworkers discussed yesterday's events in small groups, with no interest in working.

Xiao Hao slacked off along with them, putting on his earphones and watching the news on his computer.

First came reports of several incidents in which people with superpowers had injured others, only to be swiftly subdued by the Dragon Transformation Pool.

Using these incidents, the Dragon Kingdom sent a message to all the players: even people with superpowers had to follow the rules.

Then, while everyone's attention was on those with superpowers, the Dragon Kingdom announced the game and began explaining some basic knowledge about it.

Only through the news did Xiao Hao learn that there were actually ten types of survival game. Besides the deep-sea survival game, there were desert, Cretaceous, space, mist, glacier, floating-island, nightmare, eternal-night, and underground survival games.

That meant there were ten thousand closed-beta players in total, and the open beta would have a hundred thousand.

It sounded like a lot, but spread across a global population of nearly ten billion, the number was insignificant.

After that, the authorities began explaining how to survive if selected to enter the game, the different key points for each survival game, and so on.

The internet exploded over it. Not a single celebrity remained among the top ten trending searches; every keyword was related to the game.

On top of that, netizens uncovered the fact that foreign players were generally stronger than Dragon Kingdom players.

The reason was that the Dragon Kingdom banned guns, while other countries didn't, inadvertently allowing many foreign players to play the game with "cheats."

Many netizens called for the ban to be lifted, but unfortunately, the ban had to stay.

For the sake of social stability, it couldn't be lifted for a tiny minority.

Quite a few foreign netizens even bypassed the firewall specifically to mock the Dragon Kingdom over it.

"Hahaha, the Dragon Kingdom is going backward!"

"Thank goodness I was born in the Cow Kingdom, where guns aren't banned. Now I sleep with a gun in my arms every night."

"Our Bear Kingdom has over two hundred players, and more than a dozen are level ten."

"Our Cow Kingdom has them too!"

"Ahem, when it comes to level ten, our Tiger Kingdom has exactly ten. No more, no less."

"Does the Dragon Kingdom have ten?"

"Probably not. If you ask me, they don't even have five!"

"Of the ten major countries, I bet the Dragon Kingdom ranks dead last!"

"Hahaha..."

Many Dragon Kingdom netizens were furious but didn't know how to respond. Even some habitual contrarians were arguing so hard that they pounded their keyboards.

The facts were right there. There was no refuting them.

"Dragon Kingdom tycoon Wang Lifang has already moved to our Cow Kingdom. You didn't know that, did you?"

"Their big star Fan Ruoruo also came to the Lion Kingdom overnight."

"Ahem, a warm welcome to the Dragon Kingdom's 'Super White Boys' singing group for joining the Tiger Kingdom!"

Only after the foreign netizens deliberately pointed it out did Dragon Kingdom netizens realize that many of their wealthy people and celebrities had moved abroad overnight.

As if they'd coordinated it, they seemed to have known something in advance. They'd begun preparing yesterday and arrived in other countries today. Some of the wealthy had even changed their citizenship already.

To better fit into their new countries, some celebrities even declared that "the air abroad is especially sweet," leaving netizens cursing furiously.

Many fans of the "Super White Boys," including girls deeply involved in fan culture, finally saw their true colors. Gone was the online fighting spirit they'd once shown when defending their idols.

On Weibo, quite a few wealthy people and celebrities who had reached their new countries showed off their newly purchased guns. They dismissed the fans unfollowing their accounts and even mocked them for being consumed by jealousy.

The internet was a complete mess. Watching those foreign netizens, wealthy people, and celebrities constantly show off their guns, Xiao Hao wanted to say something but held back.

If searching for the book title doesn't work, try searching for the author. Perhaps the title has simply changed!

Leaving aside whether those guns could be taken into the game, a hundred thousand people would be randomly selected out of ten billion-a one-in-a-hundred-thousand chance. Wasn't it a little early to be showing off their guns?

Their chances weren't even one in a hundred thousand, because those hundred thousand players included the closed-beta players.

So what if you have guns? Do you have even a shred of self-awareness?

Are you that sure you'll be selected as players?

The Dragon Kingdom was far safer than other countries. Seeing them rush abroad now, like fat little lambs eager to run to the slaughter, Xiao Hao could only marvel at them.

Going abroad did allow them to obtain guns, but if they had them, so did everyone else. That only made the real world more dangerous.

None of them knew that the next time they were transported, only their bodies would go. Their beds and belongings would have to remain in the real world as decorations.

The more gleefully they strutted now, the more embarrassed they'd be next week.

Among closed-beta players, foreign players might have held an advantage, but it was temporary.

After seven days in the survival game, Xiao Hao doubted they had many bullets left in their Space Slots.

Besides, bullets could only handle low-level mobs at best. Against monsters like the Mantis Shrimp, they couldn't even pierce the skin.

Once the game version updated, the level cap would definitely rise. By then, their firearms would surely become ineffective, with pistols barely better than slingshots.

Xiao Hao was still thinking about the game, unaware that Director Liu had already walked up beside him.

"Xiao Hao! Who gave you permission to watch this stuff at work?"

Director Liu had relied on Xiao Hao just yesterday, but after some time to recover, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

He'd actually wet his pants in front of so many coworkers!

Compared with Xiao Hao's composure and courage, he'd ended up holding a grudge against Xiao Hao!

He'd forgotten how he'd shoved Xiao Hao. Instead, he'd justified Xiao Hao's rescue to himself by thinking that the police had already arrived anyway, so whether Xiao Hao saved him or not made no difference. It had been entirely unnecessary.

Xiao Hao unplugged his earphones, and the news broadcast immediately played through the computer's speakers.

"Whether you're currently at work or at school, please follow the instructions of the Dragon Transformation Pool's commander and watch Central News Television attentively to learn about the survival games..."

Xiao Hao looked up at Director Liu and blinked, as if to say, The Dragon Transformation Pool's commander told us to watch this. What? Does your position as director outrank the commander?

Director Liu was so stifled that his face nearly turned red. Hoping to get himself fired as soon as possible, Xiao Hao added fuel to the fire. "Awkward, huh?"

"Pfft..."

"Pff..."

Some coworkers in the room couldn't help laughing, then caught themselves and hastily covered their mouths.

They didn't dare say anything to Director Liu's face, but behind his back, they'd laughed until their stomachs hurt.

They'd been frightened too, but not enough to wet themselves. Yesterday's mutated cockroach had certainly been terrifying, but it hadn't caused any casualties.

Even some female coworkers had reacted by covering their mouths and doing their best to avoid the cockroach. Not one of them had shouted, "One cockroach scares you this badly?" like Director Liu, only to collapse on the floor and wet themselves the next second.

Director Liu also knew he'd become the company's favorite topic of gossip, and he'd been bottling up his anger. Now that Xiao Hao had embarrassed him again, it all ignited at once.

"Xiao Hao, don't bother coming to work anymore!"

Xiao Hao looked calm and unruffled, but inside, he was bursting with joy.

Yes!

Between resigning and getting fired, resigning might seem more dignified, but if he hadn't done anything wrong, being fired brought far greater benefits.

After years of struggling to get by in this world, Xiao Hao had long since learned to set pride aside when there was something to gain.

Holding back his laughter, Xiao Hao pretended to be annoyed. "Then settle my pay, and I'll leave right away."

Director Liu finally felt a little better. "Go collect it from the finance department!"

Xiao Hao didn't stand up immediately. Instead, he calmly said, "The company is firing an employee without cause and without a month's notice. Asking for the legally required n-plus-one compensation isn't unreasonable, is it?"

The n referred to an employee's years of service, with one month's salary paid as compensation for each full year.

He'd worked at the company for two years, so that meant an extra three months' salary.

Director Liu suppressed his anger. "Fine!"

Xiao Hao still didn't move and continued, "I also have unused annual leave and time off in lieu. Pay out the annual leave at triple wages and the time off in lieu at double. If that's acceptable, I'll leave now."

The veins on Director Liu's forehead bulged. "Xiao Hao! This company has treated you well and spared no effort in developing you over the past two years, only to raise an ungrateful wretch! How can you be so heartless?"

Xiao Hao shifted his fingers and lightly tapped the desktop.

Why was he resorting to personal attacks?

Maybe I should just kill him?

I saved this guy yesterday, and today he's calling me heartless?

Forget it. Exposing myself over a piece of trash isn't worth it.

"So your way of developing me was making me work overtime? Oh, right, thanks for reminding me. You'll need to include my overtime pay for the past two years too."

Director Liu choked, feeling as though he'd shot himself in the foot.

Ignoring Director Liu's ugly expression, Xiao Hao continued, "Everything I'm asking for is reasonable. If you refuse, I'll have to take it to labor arbitration. You wouldn't want the company's dirty laundry aired, would you, Director Liu?"

By the company's dirty laundry, did he mean its mistreatment of employees, or Director Liu's embarrassing incident yesterday?

Director Liu trembled with rage. Since taking this position, he hadn't been this angry in a very long time!

A threat!

A blatant threat!

"You'll get it! Now get the hell out!"

Xiao Hao raised an eyebrow, shut his computer, and happily went to collect his pay.

Thank you, Director Liu.

His monthly salary was only three thousand.

Now his compensation alone came to nearly twenty thousand.

That showed just how much unpaid overtime Xiao Hao had originally put in for them.

With the apocalypse approaching, Xiao Hao didn't know how much use money would still have.

But getting under the skin of Director Liu, who preached a ruthless corporate culture, felt pretty nice.

On the way home, even the air seemed sweeter to Xiao Hao.