The sunset is not visible in the canyon; only the massive shadows cast by the mountains block out the last rays of sunlight.
The white Ghost drifted back to its original position, leaving only the great Kronos and the Butterfly of Deep Space standing there.
Monsters from the caves and crevices began to emerge and walk, emitting muffled buzzing noises. A large red spider crawled out of a burrow, rustling as it approached the group, hissing.
Bian Ziyuan clicked the mouse, and the sword in the ranger's hand cleaved the spider in two at the waist. The spider collapsed to the ground and quickly disappeared, leaving behind a few gold coins and a piece of tattered leather armor.
The Butterfly of Deep Space scoffed, saying to Kronos, "The canyon at night is full of foolish monsters, it's too annoying. Let's find somewhere else to talk."
"No need." Kronos said, waving his hand. A dazzling light emanated from his fingers, illuminating the entire canyon. The spiders, big-eared monsters, earth dragons, and zombies that had just crawled out of the canyon all lay prostrate on the ground, too afraid to move.
" Kronos, are you ready?" asked the Butterfly of Deep Space.
Kronos said, "I have no problem, but I know nothing about the outside world and don't know how to answer other people's questions."
The Butterfly of Deep Space said, "It's alright, just answer the questions according to your understanding."
Kronos nodded, said nothing more, and his tall body slowly became transparent until he disappeared. The light in the canyon also faded, darkness once again enveloped the area, and the monsters that once roamed the land regained their vitality.
Bian Ziyuan knew that as the night deepened in the canyon, the monsters would become more numerous and increasingly difficult to deal with. He quickly used a time-space scroll to send the Butterfly of Deep Space to York Town, then saved the game and logged out. This was the first map new players entered, and also the safest place in the entire game.
As agreed with Ghost, he was to find a way to hack into all the terminals on this local area network and connect the background of the smart chat program running on the terminals to his game, so that Kronos could replace those programs in answering the testers' questions.
This was a rather complex hacking project, but it wasn't difficult for Bian Ziyuan, a computer genius, especially since " Ghost " would be secretly helping him. The most crucial factor was time, but fortunately, meals and lunch breaks slowed down the testing process. Bian Ziyuan took out his external hard drive, which contained many programs he had developed.
While everyone was eating, Bian Ziyuan began to work diligently at his keyboard. He didn't expect his actions to escape the eyes of the experiment designers, but he just needed to get it done before they realized what was happening. This was a perfect plan he and Ghost had devised.
The girl next to him was eating her lunch in small bites. Seeing that Bian Ziyuan eating, she couldn't help but wonder, so she turned around and asked, "Hey, classmate, why aren't you eating?"
"Not hungry," Bian Ziyuan replied casually.
"Oh, you finally said something!" the girl said. "I thought you could only say 'hmm'!"
"Hmm," Bian Ziyuan said.
The girl chuckled and said, "You're really funny. You were playing games while everyone else was taking the test, but now that we're eating, lots of people are playing games, but you're not. What are you doing?"
Bian Ziyuan had just finished modifying a few lines of code and was testing it on his local machine. To avoid arousing suspicion from the girl next to him, he casually brought up a chatbot and said, "Isn't this work?"
The girl said dismissively, "Pretentious."
Bian Ziyuan hummed in agreement again. The more he did this, the more curious the girl became. She leaned over to take a look and saw that Bian Ziyuan had typed in the chat box. "What is the biggest difference between humans and gods?"
The chat window only displayed two words: "Wisdom."
She certainly didn't understand that this was a secret code agreed upon by Bian Ziyuan and Kronos, and also the same question that Kronos had answered earlier from the " Ghost."
"Talk to a robot about philosophy?" the girl asked dismissively.
Bian Ziyuan chuckled, pleased with himself for successfully connecting the chat program and the game. Unexpectedly, the girl misunderstood and asked, "What are you laughing at?"
"Huh?" Bian Ziyuan turned his head and paused for a moment, then quickly said, "Oh, it's nothing. I was just saying that this kind of test is ridiculous."
The girl used her chopsticks to move the meat in the dish to one side, and said with deep agreement, "I think so too. I really don't know what they're up to."
Bian Ziyuan said, "Perhaps... this is a psychological test."
The girl said thoughtfully, "Possibly." Then she added, "My name is Chen Lingling, I'm a finance and accounting major at the School of Management, Three Wu University. What about you?"
Bian Ziyuan said, " From Three Wu Computer."
Chen Lingling glanced at the lunchbox on Bian Ziyuan's table and said, "Why aren't you eating? The food's getting cold."
Bian Ziyuan grunted again, picked up his lunchbox, and ate absentmindedly. Chen Lingling chatted with him about school in a casual way, and he just kept responding with "uh-huh." Cheng Lingling got bored, and after a few words, she stopped talking, put down her lunchbox, and took a nap on the table.
Bian Ziyuan connected the game to all terminals on the local area network, essentially installing a shortcut to the game on each computer, disguised as a chatbot. He then registered over two thousand game accounts, with each chatbot acting as a player.
In this way, as soon as someone opens the chat program on their computer, that account has actually entered the game "Forbidden Land of Magic." The desktop chat interface won't change, but the person they're chatting with has become Kronos in the game.
This matter sounds simple, but it's actually very complicated. If it weren't for the Ghost's help, Bian Ziyuan knew that even if he had several days, he might not have been able to do it so perfectly. He didn't know how the Ghost did it, but it solved the most difficult parts for him.
When Chen Lingling woke up from her afternoon nap, she stretched and turned her head to see Bian Ziyuan asleep on the table. She snorted and said, "Pretending!"
In her eyes, this person works while others eat, plays games while others work, and now that everyone is awake, he's sleeping again—a typical pretentious act.
She opened her chat application, and the screen flickered slightly as it started. Chen Lingling felt that the startup speed seemed a little slower than in the morning.
She hadn't decided what to ask yet; she'd already asked everything she could that morning. So she just typed two words: "Hello!"
A message popped up in the chat. "Welcome to York Town. You can get your tutorial from the mayor."
"What?" Chen Lingling was taken aback. "What's York Town?"
Bian Ziyuan Meimei, and when he woke up it was already past three in the afternoon. He turned on his computer and entered the game. The game started much slower than usual, and when the progress bar finished, he had no interest in paying attention to anything else.
York Town's main streets were packed with adventurer parties, and countless dialogue boxes kept popping up, obscuring people and buildings, so much so that it took him a long time to find Kronos's location.