631-635

Chapter 631: Game Trailer

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"If you were given a new life in a parallel world, what would you do with it?"

In the darkness, a magnetic voice whispered in one's ears.

"Whoosh..."

It sounded like the wind or perhaps someone breathing. Then, the darkness gradually brightened and a scene shown from a first-person perspective emerged as if someone was slowly opening their eyes.

There was a clouded sky in front. The person raised their hand, rubbed their eyes, and then struggled to sit up.

As their line of sight turned to the side, what came into view was a dilapidated city under a blanket of dark clouds.

This city was very weirdly built. There were many old thatched cottages on both sides of the street but behind these cottages, there were tall buildings adjacent to each other, just like modern residential quarters.

"Unfortunately, you've been reborn in a dark and turbulent era..."

By the ear, the magnetic male voice continued to narrate without any fluctuations in his voice, "You may be a thief or a farmer or a wandering bard..."

Immediately, the person's field of vision shuddered briefly and then slowly rose as if the person had stood up from the ground.

Next, they looked around and the camera immediately showed the entire neighborhood. This was a muddy and messy street and the ground was filthy. At this time, a few shabbily dressed and sallow-looking pedestrians were walking by, but they paid no mind to the owner of this vision.

"When you wake up from the darkness, the first thing to do is none other than to find ways to adapt to this body..."

The male voice continued to narrate calmly. Following his words, the scene trembled again. It seemed that the owner of the line of sight had staggered a few steps forward before standing firm.

The sound of low strings played slowly with the music of a cello, but the tune was as gray and despairing as the city up ahead. The owner of this vision began to stagger toward the nearest medical station.

Immediately, the screen went dark, but the background music gradually soared...

"This is an era when human lives are as cheap as paper. This is an era of chaos and turbulence. This is an era of a civilization dying..."

The man's voice became tinged with inexplicable emotions and the scene flashed again in the next second. A monster as huge as a mountain stood at the horizon!

The body of this monster was wondrously large. Its upper body was like an inverted triangle and its lower body was full of tassel-shaped organs that looked like grapes.

"Awoo—!"

The vertical bloody jaw at the monster's chest suddenly opened and a roar that shook the world reverberated from the horizon. The sound waves were visible to the naked eye!

"An ancient evil god who enslaved mankind has destroyed the palace of our civilization and humankind descended from glory to its final steps..."

Following that, the scene flashed again and a peculiar church appeared in the picture. This time, the scene did not adopt a first-person perspective but the regular third-person perspective instead.

One could only see strange patterns and symbols flickering dimly on the church and the more retro medieval buildings by the church.

"Most humans bowed their prideful heads, surrendered to the ancient evil god, and regarded themselves as the god's clan..."

After this sentence, there was another cut, switching to a scene of a bomber that looked dilapidated. The bomber flew over the city, and then tossed down rust-stained iron barrels.

"Boom!"

"Boom, boom, boom!"

A series of fireballs rose from below the city and the fighter took a turn and flew into the horizon.

"However, there's still a group of people who are unwilling to surrender. They've been fighting for four hundred years and are unwilling to lower their noble heads..."

The voice continued. "The Joint Resistance Army... The Divine Fusion Empire... Who can define the destiny of mankind?"

At this time, the background music was in full swing as if hundreds of people were singing in anger at the same time!

With the swell of the music, the images in the video began to flash rapidly. Each showed a scene — a farmer plowing the wheat fields, a thief walking in the crowded busy city, a few burly men in a brawl at a bar...

The screen flashed faster and faster, and more and more magnificent images began to appear. Some showed two warriors in iron armor fighting bloodily in the wilderness or black-robed rangers slaughtering soldiers in dark alleys or glistening yellow bullets spat out in the assembly line of a factory...

"When technology and divine power clash, when gunpowder and divine magic attack each other, when death and new life begin to chant..."

"Hum—!"

At this moment, the background music finally arrived at the end, and at the end, a resounding horn began to blare out, and then stopped abruptly!

"What can you do in this age of decline?

"All you can do is try to survive... That's all."

The man's voice gradually became softer and in the end, there was only a deep echo, like embers slowly dying out.

By now, this three-minute video had ended completely.

"I... F*ck..."

In a university dormitory, a fat man wearing a black T-shirt slowly took off the V.5 Haptic Shock Helmet on his head. He leaned back on the sofa and could not recover for a long while.

There was only shock in his eyes.

"How about it, Mike, this game trailer is truly awesome, right?"

The roommate on the side said excitedly, his eyes flashing like a hungry wolf's. "Can you believe it? Blackwatch claims that this video is a live demonstration, which means that when we enter the game, the scenes we see will be of this image quality!"

"Is this still a game? I'll even believe you if you told me it's a film production!"

Fat Mike jumped to his feet. "What are you waiting for, when will this game be released? How much will it cost? What kind of gaming helmet do I need? I'll get it ready now!"

"Hold on!"

The roommate immediately laughed dryly when he heard these words and he grabbed the eager little fat man. "How can it be on sale now? Today is just a game preview. There's still a month before it enters closed beta testing."

"What, a month before beta testing?"

The little fat man's face suddenly crumpled when he heard these words. He collapsed on his bottom onto the sofa, as dejected as if his parents had just passed away. "That's no good at all. It'll be three months at least between the closed beta and open beta, right?"

"Duh. I suspect that it won't even be just three months, more like at least half a year!"

As the roommate spoke, he suddenly raised his right hand and pressed gently on the watch-like device on his wrist. Then, a translucent web page popped up and hovered above the watch.

"Blackwatch's official website said that this game is called Ancient Civilization, which is an era-transcending 3S masterpiece. Closed beta testing begins on the 1st of next month. At that time, 100,000 accounts will be distributed randomly around the world. Matching game equipment will be included for free!"

"What?"

The little fat man's eyes bulged when he heard this. "100,000 sets of game equipment given out for free? The best game helmet on the market can reach 100,000 USD. This game is so realistic, how can the supporting game equipment cost any less than one hundred thousand dollars? In other words, they plan to give away ten billion dollars' worth of game helmets?"

"It's Blackwatch, after all, this bit of money is probably not a big deal to them..."

The roommate's focus was not on this. After he saw this promotional video, he notified Mike as soon as possible. Only now did he pay proper attention to the text description under the video. At this point, his eyes were also getting brighter.

According to the description, this game called Ancient Civilization would use the latest gaming equipment developed by Blackwatch. It was not a game helmet or a V-series haptic shock chair, but a piece of even more high-end equipment — a game chamber!

"It turned out to be the ultimate game device from web novels — a virtual reality game chamber?"

The little fat man beside also poked his head over. When he saw this explanation, the fat all over his body quivered suddenly as his face revealed an unbelieving expression. "I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"Sure enough, it's Blackwatch!"

The roommate on the side was also clutching his face excitedly. "When we were still in elementary school more than ten years ago, Blackwatch first introduced virtual reality helmets and haptic shock chairs. Many media were speculating that Blackwatch was probably about to invent the game chamber, but there has been no news for more than ten years. I thought that the company had used up all its tricks. To think that after more than ten years, the game chamber has appeared!"

"This is a big move!"

The little fat man looked up to the sky and laughed three times, then urged. "Go down quickly, quickly scroll and see what else is said below?"

At this, the roommate used his mind to control the screen to continue moving down. "The game chamber is currently equipped with constant temperature facilities, immersion facilities, and life support facilities, which can monitor the user's vital signs. After the user enters the game, they can be fully immersed in the game. Even if the user has an abnormal physiological reaction due to excitement after entering the game, the game chamber can maintain the vital signs of the user and automatically make an emergency call!"

"This technology..."

The little fat man exchanged a glance with his roommate, rather puzzled. Could a game really terrify a person to the point of causing real health issues?

Immediately, they continued to scroll down, only to see that the following paragraph turned out to be the background introduction of the game.

"What! The background of this game is set in the 24th century on Earth?"

"What! In this game, mankind encountered an ancient evil god in the 21st century? After a cataclysm, mankind was divided into two camps?"

"What! Under the Joint Resistance Army's forces in the 24th century, in addition to the forces of the four continents, there's also a fifth force named Blacklight City?"

The small, fat Mike could not help yelling. "A self-insert... I'm losing it, Blackwatch has put itself into the game, and set itself as the fifth force of the Joint Resistance Army on the same level as the four continents..."

"But as the description says, there are two major camps among the human beings. The Joint Resistance Army is just one of them and the other is the Divine Fusion Empire that has joined the troops of the ancient evil god?"

The roommate wore a contemplative expression. "Blackwatch Corporation is something else. This 'fusion' is the 'fusion virus' epidemic from more than ten years ago, right? It was the epidemic that created countless psionicists in our human society. Now Blackwatch Corporation has put a diabolic spin to everything, demonizing the epidemic as a kind of evil god?"

"It would seem so..."

The little fat man nodded but did not have much of a response. "This isn't a big deal. I'm okay with it. After all, Blackwatch Corporation contributed greatly during the epidemic."

The two of them became increasingly engrossed in their discussion and could not wait to play this game right away. After all, based on the description, this game would have the world's first physics engine that fully replicated reality. Any man who harbored the dream of rushing gallantly into a battlefield would be tempted, especially in this era when the virtual reality industry was extremely developed.

The conversation between the two was just a microcosm of the ten billion people on the planet. At this time, on the Internet, with the release of the game trailer of Ancient Civilization, the entire world was plunged into a tsunami of astonished cries...

[What? A 3S-level virtual reality masterpiece? 100% immersive simulation? The world's first era-transcending online game?]

[Following the V-series virtual reality helmets and haptic shock chairs, has Blackwatch finally begun working on the concept of gaming chambers?]

[Surely I'm not dreaming? I've been waiting for this kind of 100% immersive game chamber to appear, thank God, it came out in my lifetime. And it's already so complete the moment it appeared!]

[Blackwatch's developments cannot be missed!]

[Why do we have to wait for a month? Why is there a closed beta? I won't stand it! I want to play Ancient Civilization, I'm about to die of boredom otherwise!]

While countless people exclaimed in glee, there were naturally the same amount of voices opposing it, and most of these people opposed it because this game turned out to be an online game.

[It's an online game? Never mind then. Bye! I'm a cultured stand-alone game player!]

[Blackwatch Corporation isn't afraid of failing to deliver? They brag so much and I believe it if it's a stand-alone game, but this game is an online game? You can all forget about it. Online games are always about ten years behind stand-alone games, whether in terms of graphics quality or story.]

[OP, stop being ridiculous. You can assume so much just by watching a promotional video? What's wrong with online games, when has Blackwatch disappointed us?]

[Is this because they have no money to build the Dyson cloud? So, they come up with an online game to scam money from people? Blacklight: first they get you hooked, then they make you open your wallets!]

[Stop arguing, I believe in Blackwatch. If you don't believe that an online game can be a high-quality product, then judge the game when it comes out. Anyway, 100,000 devices will be given away in the first round of closed beta testing. We'll see how good it is then!]

In addition to the voices of support and opposition, there were many voices of doubt and the point brought up by these people was that the promo was too exaggerated. It did not look like a game at all, but more like it was shot directly with high-definition equipment.

Some people also questioned the safety of the game chamber, believing that this kind of immersion would endanger the player's mental health. In particular, the game was also set in a dark and bloody era, so that fighting and conflict were almost inevitable.

In accordance with Blackwatch's consistent style, the bloody images in the game must be extremely real. If minors were playing this game at that time, would it not harm their framework of values?

Countless people hold different opinions. During this period, the entire Internet became a battlefield...

Chapter 632: Male Player, Female Avatar?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The public was naturally in an uproar regarding the actions of Blacklight Biotechnology, but the continents of the Earth Federation were in a dazed stupor.

This was because they knew about the existence of the Consciousness Stealer. Although they did not know what happened that year, they were a little confused about Blacklight Biotechnology's approach.

Why should the Consciousness Stealer be included in the game and what was Blackwatch's intention?

Did they run out of inspiration? They could have picked anything as a story, but they chose this of all things?

This game was rated PG18, right? The promo looked a bit too bloody. If the game was to be approved, it would have to go through some censors...

This was what the governments of various countries were thinking.

The next day, before everyone's eyes, Blacklight Biotechnology finally opened the registration entry for the closed beta game. Hundreds of millions of people came to sign up at once, almost shutting down the website's server.

The information needed to be filled in for registration was very simple, mainly personal information and contact information. Still, it was strange that in addition to asking the player's average daily login time, the applicant was also asked if they had military experience, whether they had trained in mixed martial arts and received military training, and so on.

Soon, in just three days, Blacklight Biotechnology officially announced the list of 100,000 closed beta personnel. It was just surprising that well-known professional gamers did not occupy a lot of these 100,000 slots. After all, during a game's closed beta, priority was typically given to those world-renowned professional players because these players were the cornerstone of the game's closed beta.

The quotas issued by Blacklight Biotechnology were more for veterans with military experience or instructors who had retired from special forces. On the contrary, there were not many quotas for professional gamers.

In addition, Blacklight Biotechnology also ordered the DNA samples of these people, so that the closed beta testers on the list would send their DNA samples to the local Blacklight Biotechnology branch. To justify this, it was announced that the DNA would be used to bind the player's identity.

Although the need for DNA sampling had caused dissatisfaction among a small number of people, most people still had no objection. Before many envious, resentful eyes, the products were shipped out after the DNA samples were obtained. Since Backlight Biotechnology had informed the world of this in advance, the efficiency of the clearance process was extremely high and within seven days, all the game chambers had been sent to the closed beta players around the world.

Moreover, the issue of scalpers had long been considered by Blacklight Biotechnology. When the closed beta test name list was verified, everyone was reminded that the game chamber had a special DNA authentication system that only allowed the beta test player to use it. Even if it was resold or sold in other ways, others could not use it.

This would enable the game chamber to be accurately distributed to the hands of each designated target without being resold or used for other purposes.

...

Shi Yangyu was a fifty-year-old young man.

Hmm, well, based on his physical fitness, he could still be considered a young man.

Born in 1994, he served the country and worked as a volunteer soldier in China. After retiring from the army, he settled down in his hometown and became an armed police instructor with a monthly salary of 5,000 RMB.

However, when he was young, with the increasing housing prices and frequent occurrences of strange incidents in the capital and entertainment circles such as "Daily salary of 2.04 million!" and "Selling OEM products isn't worth it"... Internet users generally began to awaken. After realizing that they were just sitting ducks waiting to lose their money, the new trend of "no marriage, no kids" gradually began to sweep across China.

Shi Yangyu was one of the people who followed this trend, so even though he was now fifty years old, he was still single and glad about it.

With the powerful rise of Blacklight Biotechnology in recent years, the technology for extending life and delaying aging continued to be innovated and made cheaper. Nowadays, except for the citizens of some remote and poor small countries that could not afford these costs, the entire Earth Federation had popularized Blacklight Biotechnology's products. There were no real elderly people in the world. At most, they were middle-aged people whose physical ability was akin to a 50-year-old.

Shi Yangyu received the age-reversal treatment five years ago. Although he was now fifty years old, his appearance and physical functions were still maintained at about thirty years old and this state could be maintained for about fifteen years. This meant that when he was sixty-five years old, he could get this treatment again and continue to extend his life.

Therefore, he still worked in the armed police detachment. Although he had no wives or children, he enjoyed it because, in the 2D world, he had plenty of waifus.

Shi Yangyu's usual hobby was to read comics, binge on dramas, and occasionally watch some hentai. At the same time, he was also a noble stand-alone game player, having played games such as GTA 8, The Elder Scrolls 8, Red Dead Redemption 4, and Cyberpunk 2099.

Although he was not a professional player, his skills were not inferior to those professionals because he was proficient in fighting and firearms. In today's mainstream games that relied on brainwave control, his profession gave him a great advantage.

Therefore, when he learned about the closed beta of the new game, Ancient Civilization, of Blacklight Biotechnology a week ago, he signed up for the closed beta with the idea of ??trying it since he had nothing to lose.

What he did not expect was that he won the bid!

When he heard the news, he was overjoyed. Every day he would count on his fingers to estimate the arrival date of the game chamber. Today, he finally received a call from the courier when he was at work.

He asked his android to receive the courier, then he simply asked his leader for a half-day off and returned home delightedly.

When he got home, the courier boy who was a part-time installer had already installed the game chamber in his bedroom. This was a streamlined game chamber. The shape looked like a carrot with a round head and a pointed tail. Its upper part was covered with a black translucent plexiglass cover through which he could faintly see the inside.

Next to the game chamber was something much more extravagant. It was as tall as him and looked like a server case. It was completely sealed as well, with fine print on its surface spelling out what to take note of.

"Master."

A charming-looking android with a big chest and a perky butt came over. She smiled and said, "Earlier, the courier said that disassembly of either the game chamber or the supporting console isn't allowed. Once disassembled, any warranty will be invalidated immediately. Blacklight Biotechnology will not repair it and will cut off your right to log in to the game through the game chamber."

"Oh."

Shi Yangyu just kept observing the game chamber in front of him and nodded absently at the words of the android. He circled the game chamber several times, then seemed to think of something and quickly commanded, "Hurry up, Tsunade, make me some noodles now. After I've eaten, I'll enter the game!"

"Yes, Master."

The android bowed slightly, turned, and walked out of the room.

Shi Yangyu could not help but rub his hands in excitement. He walked to the cover of the game compartment and pressed a red button on it. Suddenly, the cover opened directly on both sides, revealing the black padding made of waterproof material inside the game compartment.

"It's not bad inside, it looks pretty luxurious."

Shi Yangyu nodded in satisfaction. He simply took off his slippers and lay down directly. Then he pressed the button to close the door inside and suddenly the lid of the game compartment closed again, shutting him inside.

"Beep..."

"User entry detected, identity verification in progress..."

"Identity verified, matching user's brain waves..."

"The temperature is a little high. Do you want to turn on the thermostat?"

A sweet female voice slowly resounded within the game compartment.

"Not for now."

Shi Yangyu did not enter the game right away because he was still waiting to have a meal first and then use the bathroom so that he could enter the game in a prepared state. After all, he had waited for so many days, so it did not matter if he waited a little longer.

Thinking of this, he asked again, "Game chamber, what's your name? In addition to being able to enter the game Ancient Civilization, what other functions do you have?"

"Mr. User, I'm a smart game chamber, Model X1118, produced by Blacklight Biotechnology. My property number is xxxxxxxx. I don't have a name at present. You can name me.

"At the same time, my function is limited to entering the game Ancient Civilization. Apart from this function, I have no other functions for the time being."

The voice said suddenly.

"What?"

Shi Yangyu was a little taken aback. "You mean you're an exclusive game console? This is too extravagant. Don't you even have the function of playing other games?"

"I'm sorry, it's true."

The voice continued to explain, "The reason for this is that Blacklight Biotechnology uses the most advanced consciousness immersion technology at present, abandoning the traditional VR technology of retinal imaging, but directly transmits vision, hearing, smell, touch, and such into the player's brain. Besides Ancient Civilization, no other games support this technology."

"So, that's it..."

Shi Yangyu was a little disappointed at once. He had wanted to use this game chamber to visit the high-heeled shoe store in GTA 8...

"In that case, I'll just call you... Lili."

"Yes, Lili is pleased to meet you, Master..."

After a conversation between Shi Yangyu and the game chamber's intelligence, he gradually learned more about the characteristics of the game. In particular, besides vision and sound, this game chamber could make people feel the sense of touch and smell, which shocked him to no end.

After all, for so many years, the so-called in-game tactile sensation was just a gimmick. Most game companies wrapped the user's entire body with the electrode technology of the "tactile suit" and used electricity to stimulate people's nerves to produce corresponding feelings. This feeling was stereotyped and repetitive. It could not be compared with the original senses of human beings.

Now, this technology could finally be realized through brain waves...

Blacklight Biotechnology had been holding back an ace...

Shi Yangyu could not help sighing.

Soon, the android Tsunade made a bowl of egg noodles. Shi Yangyu quickly left the game room and devoured the noodles, then went to the bathroom to wash up again, before he returned to the game room and lay down comfortably inside.

"Lili, start the game, my broadsword is already thirsty!"

"Got it. Entering the game — loading... Connecting consciousness... Three, two, one!"

"Rah!"

Following Lili's words, Shi Yangyu only felt that his vision suddenly turned black. His consciousness seemed to have passed through a narrow and dark tunnel. When he regained consciousness again, he found that he was standing in an illusory space surrounded by white light.

"Huh? What's going on?"

Shi Yangyu spoke and then he realized that he could not feel his own body as if he had become a ghost, only wandering in an empty world.

"Master, don't worry, you're now at the game entry interface."

What reassured him was that Lili's voice came at the same time and then an illusory figure appeared in front of him. It was the appearance of a person without facial features.

"What's this?"

"This is the character you created. Now it's the customization stage. After you enter the game, you'll use this character to move around in the game."

Lili reminded. After she spoke, Shi Yangyu only saw a customization panel appear in front of him out of thin air, on which there were facial features, body shape, hairstyle, skin color, and other options.

Seeing this familiar stage, Shi Yangyu's initial flustered mood due to his not being able to sense his body was now completely relaxed. He smirked and a bold idea gradually emerged in his mind...

Three hours later...

A beautiful blonde girl with silky smooth hair and a high nose appeared in front of Shi Yangyu. The girl was about 1.7 meters tall and looked like a Persian cat. Although her face was expressionless, her body exuded amazing charm, especially those eyes, which were even more alluring.

"Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! The heroine of Fate/Stay Night is so beautiful!"

Shi Yangyu exclaimed in praise. He looked at the naked blonde girl in front of him, his gaze was intoxicated. "Of course, I have to use a female character to play the game. The name of this character should be called Saber."

"Sorry, this name is already in use."

Lili immediately notified, "Please change to another one, Master."

"???"

Shi Yangyu widened his eyes and he said with a bit of sorrow, "It's over, I forgot about that... If that's the case, I'll name her Artoria Pendragon..."

"Sorry, this name is already in use."

"Then, name her King Arthur!"

"Sorry, this name..."

"Saber King Arthur!"

"Sorry..."

"..."

After some trials, Shi Yangyu finally gave up. He gave himself a conventional name of "Juyang Jushi"1, and then he created the character successfully.

Then, a character attribute card appeared in front of Shi Yangyu.

"Name: Juyang Jushi."

"Gender: Female."

"Age: 18."

"Race: Human."

"Attributes: Strength 8, Constitution 10, Size 9, Agility 11, Charisma 14, Intelligence ?, Perception ?"

"Occupation: None."

"Professional skills: None"

"Special skills: None."

Looking at these stats, Shi Yangyu suddenly wondered aloud, "How are these attributes determined, did you roll a dice?"

"No, this is automatically judged based on the character you created."

Lili replied, "After the attributes of each character created are digitized, it would be about 10 points. This is an average value. The character you created is a female character with a thin body, so her strength is slightly weaker than the average. But this comes with an advantage too. Your agility is slightly higher than the average. Plus, according to the system's judgment, your appearance is extremely attractive, so it's judged to be 14 points after digitizing.

"As for the intelligence and perception attributes, because it depends on the player, it's temporarily impossible to determine."

"In other words, if I design my character as a three-meter tall man, can my strength be further enhanced?"

Shi Yangyu suddenly seemed to understand something.

"Of course, but the maximum height of the character created by the system is limited to 230 cm, so your strength can reach up to 15 points, but your agility will also be reduced accordingly."

"Then, how do I improve my attributes? Through upgrades?"

"All the physical rules of this game are based on reality, so there's no upgrade system."

Lili replied, "But all attributes can be enhanced through training, that's for sure."

Hearing Lili's words, Shi Yangyu could not help being a little disappointed. Although this game was fun, according to the explanation of the intelligent AI, it was a little too hard-core...

Thinking of this, Shi Yangyu no longer deliberated over this. He immediately chose to enter the game.

Immediately, the progress bar that lasted for half an hour began to load...

Chapter 633: Patch

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Shi Yangyu did not quite understand why it took half an hour to load the game for the first time.

Still, in this half an hour, he got a grasp on the rules of the game.

To put it simply, the designer of this game seemed to have extreme perfectionism. All the details in the game functioned 100% according to reality. For example, in the game, one needed to eat and drink, take baths, wash up, and even use the restroom.

Not only that, but players also had to sleep and rest, and needed to recover if they got injured.

He could still understand these restrictions, but the main thing was that players could not just go offline anytime and anywhere? This was a little strange.

According to the Game Rules, to go offline, a player had to return to their dedicated room to do so. If they did not, they would have to bear the consequences.

Moreover, if the character was seriously injured, their mobility would be greatly reduced, and they might even die due to wound infection. This was unlike ordinary games where one could still leap around actively as long as there was a trace of life left.

If the player's character died, the player had two choices — either rebuild the character or choose to respawn. However, when respawning, they needed to wait for half an hour, and all their equipment and previous physical attributes they had trained would be lost. The respawn point would be at the beginning location.

To put it simply, this game was completely designed based on reality. Whether in terms of its physics engine or chemistry engine, it was the same as reality.

Finally, the right to final explanation of the game belonged to Blacklight Biotechnology.

After reading these rules, Shi Yangyu could not help feeling a little speechless. He did not know how fun the game could be if it was designed like this, but was this not the world's first game with all five senses incorporated? Since the players had no other choices, this game would probably be sought after by a considerable number of people anyway.

However, fortunately, at the bottom of the game rules, there was an option to leave a comment. Seeing this, Shi Yangyu immediately left a message: "Although I haven't entered the game yet, according to the Game Rules, I hope to make the following suggestions:

"1. Can you cancel the setting that players can't just go offline anywhere? After all, the game is just a pastime. Although it claims to be 100% faithful to reality, there's no need to be too rigid.

"2. Can the death penalty be reduced? The penalty of clearing out the player's account after death is too harsh. I personally recommend that the physical attributes of the player be retained, otherwise, this setting will discourage a considerable number of casual players.

"3. The setting of pooping and peeing must be removed, it's disgusting!

"4. I wonder if there's a function to do 'that'? I strongly request 'that' be added in! Please make it happen, boss!"

After writing this carefully, Shi Yangyu felt that his suggestions were fairly pertinent. He glanced at the progress bar and it had reached the end. Seeing this, he immediately clicked the send button and submitted his suggestion.

Then, Shi Yangyu's vision went black again.

"Ugh..."

An indescribable sensation washed over him. Shi Yangyu only felt that he had regained his sense of the body, but his entire body was limp. His nerves felt weak and powerless, making it difficult for him to even open his eyes.

"Wake up, wake up!"

There was a female chirping voice in his ears. Shi Yangyu tried his best to open his eyes, but only saw a blur in front of him. He could only see the light on the top of his head and there was a figure sitting in front of his bed. After he had opened his eyes, the figure stood up excitedly and kept nagging him.

"Juyang Jushi, you're finally awake!"

He only heard the female voice saying, "You fainted in front of my pub two days ago and had a very serious fever. I thought you wouldn't survive, but to think that you've stubbornly made it through. How delightful! "

Shi Yangyu opened his mouth, but he felt a burning dryness in his throat, and he could not even say a word.

"Goodness, look at me chattering on. Have some water first..."

The figure quickly walked off and when she came back again, she had already brought a bowl of water. She helped Shi Yangyu up and he gulped down the whole bowl of water.

"Phew..."

Shi Yangyu heaved a sigh of relief, but his body still felt extremely weak. This incomparably real sensation even caused him a little panic because it was too real. Whether it was his limp body or the bowl of water he drank, it was just like reality!

At this moment, he even wondered if he had transmigrated to another life.

He slowly opened his hands and placed them in front of him, looking at them with a somewhat blurred vision, only to see that they were a pair of pale, slim hands, with thin fingers, slender joints, and fair skin. This was not a man's palms at all...

What shocked him the most was that these hands were full of minuscule details. Whether it was their fingerprints or palm prints or the hairs on the back, so thin they were almost invisible, they were all very lifelike. He tried to clench his fists and his hands correspondingly produced the same tactile sensation...

"This, this, this...."

Shi Yangyu looked at all this in a blank daze. The astonishment in his heart was beyond words.

Was this a game? This was not reality? Could it be that he had transmigrated?

"Alright, you're a little weak now. I'll bring you a bowl of food."

The woman next to the bed continued. "When you can get out of bed, you can be a dancer where I work. After all, you have amnesia. You have no support in Blacklight City, which you aren't familiar with. If you leave, with your appearance, in less than two days, you'll be seized by human traffickers and sold to the rich..."

With that, the woman turned and left.

Shi Yangyu listened to all this silently. His vision became clearer and gradually, he could see everything around him. At the same time, there was a "ding" notification sound in his mind and there appeared a translucent interface in front of him that only he could see. There was a prompt on it:

[Task notification: This task is a novice task. Player "Juyang Jushi" can choose to temporarily stay in "Madam Mi's Pub" as a dancer and gradually become familiar with Blacklight City or choose to leave at any time and give up the novice task.]

[However, please note that any action will have a chain reaction. After choosing to leave "Madam Mi's Pub", "Madam Mi's Pub" will no longer be a shelter for the player "Juyang Jushi".]

Seeing these two prompts before him, Shi Yangyu could not help frowning and murmured, "This is the novice task of the legend? And my life experience is reduced to an unidentified memory loss? I'm currently being adopted by the proprietress of a pub?"

However, after saying this, Shi Yangyu got a fright because he realized that although his voice was a little hoarse, it still sounded a little melodious. It was a woman's voice...

Thinking of this, Shi Yangyu immediately moved out of the bed. He braced his somewhat sore and feeble body and came to the mirror, and suddenly saw the figure of a beautiful blonde girl!

"My gosh..."

Shi Yangyu's mouth suddenly twitched and a sense of absurdity seized him. Although he did take the initiative to build this female character, he never expected that the sense of immersion in this game was this godlike. Everything that this body conveyed was almost no different from reality!

No wonder the game stated that this game would be the player's second life...

Shi Yangyu's mouth kept twitching and the "her" in the mirror was doing the same. As the character was too gorgeous, even this kind of absent-minded expression was fascinating.

"Wait!"

A deranged idea suddenly flashed across his mind. Once it occurred to him, it could not be suppressed, growing like mushrooms after rain. His breathing became more and more rapid, and at the same time, he raised his hands tremblingly, and with a tentative gesture, slowly reached out to his chest...

"Ah~"

...

Five days later, the game Ancient Civilization did not become less of a hot topic just because there were only 100,000 closed beta players. On the contrary, the popularity of Ancient Civilization was through the roof and all of this was thanks to the 100,000 closed beta players who were madly bragging giving feedback on the Internet.

At the same time, many closed beta players also keenly sniffed out the possibility of business opportunities. They made the gameplay into videos and sent them to major video websites in the world, which also attracted an astounding wave of response from the world —

The ultimate degree of freedom, the game graphics that were as real as reality, the incredible immersion, and even the feedback from the NPC were like that from a real person...

Countless advantages piled together to form a strong wave, intensifying the storm of hype surrounding Ancient Civilization.

At this time, Chen Chen was sitting at the desk, listening to Little X's report.

"At present, 100,000 closed beta players have entered the game."

Little X reported, "The average online time of each player is 14 hours per day, accounting for 58% of the time each day.

"The probability of players entering the game in the closed beta is 100% for the first time, 95% for the second time, 93% for the third time, 92% for the fourth time, and as for the fifth time, which is today, the number of players entering the game is 91,300, which is 91.3%. The player retention rate exceeds 90%."

"That's not a bad figure."

Chen Chen nodded, somewhat satisfied.

"The main reason many players did not enter the game again, in addition to factors such as having to work, is that the game is too close to reality and the death penalty is too high."

Little X said, "At present, we've received more than 330,000 suggestions for improvement from the closed beta players. The most mentioned suggestion is regarding the death penalty for players. Everyone thinks that the death penalty is too serious and doesn't conform to the rules of a game.

"And their second most mentioned suggestion is the problem of going offline. Many players think that they'll occasionally have an emergency and they can't possibly return to their hideout to go offline every time."

"Indeed, if it were me, I wouldn't like these inhuman rules either."

Chen Chen said thoughtfully, "For real players, it's a game after all and it's a game full of fighting and killing elements. If this is the case, it's difficult to avoid death. No one wants to start from scratch again each time they die."

"So, what should we do?"

Little X asked curiously.

"We can record the physical fitness of each player after they've trained."

Chen Chen thought for a while and suggested, "When the player dies and we print a new body, we'll directly print them out at their peak physical fitness. In this case, even if they die, their hard-won physical fitness would not be lost."

"That's a good idea!"

Little X's eyes lit up instantly and she reminded. "In this way, we can also open the bank of Blacklight City to the players. All player characters can deposit their money and valuables in the bank, so the death penalty can be further reduced."

"At the same time, the problem of logging off can be solved."

Chen Chen continued. "After all, their bodies in the end dimension have God chips, so when they go offline, we can take the initiative to control their bodies to locate the nearest hiding point so that the game's character won't die just because there's no one controlling them after the player has logged off."

"Uh-huh!"

Little X nodded and then reported again, "The third suggestion mentioned by them is that the physical functions of their bodies in the game are too realistic. Many players are doing the novice tasks that we've arranged. These players haven't come into contact with any combat. However, there's still a small number of players who aren't satisfied with this. They felt that all this was a game, so they did whatever they wanted in Blacklight City.

"After several fights with gangsters, many of these players have died, but there are still some players who haven't died but have lost their arms and legs. These people find that their injuries are too difficult to heal, so they asked us to change the body's physical system to allow injuries to heal quickly."

"This is indeed a serious problem."

Chen Chen could not help thinking about it. If this problem was not solved, the gameplay would be greatly reduced.

"It's not just that."

Little X suddenly complained, "These players also pose a serious insidious threat to the safety of the city. It's just an increase of 100,000 people now, but the burden on Blacklight City is already significant. When those players arrive, they also account for a lot of the crime rate. The crime rate in Blacklight City has soared in the past few days and there's panic in the city.

"At the same time, the thousands of android NPCs and hiding places used for novice missions are almost running out. At most, we can only take in 100,000 players at the same time. Any more would be impossible to bear. When the game is opened up to the world in the future, I'm afraid the entire Blacklight City is going to be completely messed up..."

"After all, humanity is the 'fourth natural disaster'. Of course, I understand."

Chen Chen thought for a while and said after some deliberation, "I've planned to launch 5,000 low-orbit communication satellites in the end dimension in the near future, covering the entire world without any blind spots, so that the game characters can run around the world. At that point, they can go wherever they want, it's all up to them. This way, the pressure on Blacklight City will be alleviated indirectly."

"But if so, the medical treatment system also needs to keep up with them..."

Chen Chen added. "We can transport several fully-automated medical platforms to the end dimension and set up several rapid treatment centers within the Joint Resistance Army. Injured players can quickly heal the character's injuries by spending money. This will solve the player's injury problem.

"At the same time, for the next step, I'll cooperate with the other four Joint Resistance Army forces in the end dimension and open a 3D printing factory on their side, which will also draw away some of the players. Still, all this will come later... "

At this point, Chen Chen could not help but smile and joke, "Perhaps soon, we might be able to take back the end dimension with an army of billions of players..."

Chapter 634: Reward and Punishment

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

A month later, Shi Yangyu walked out of Madam Mi's Pub with a weathered, experienced face. He looked at the people coming and going in the street and was keenly aware of the great forces that shaped each life.

Finally, he was leaving this d*mn place...

Over the past month, heavens knew what happened to him. Apart from helping the proprietress do odd jobs and receive guests at the pub, he had to practice various dances with the proprietress most of the time.

After a month, the proprietress' purse was increasing in size but he was getting thinner day by day, and even his spirit was significantly traumatized.

Yes, it was trauma.

After all, every day he had to go to great lengths to entertain those big rugged guys. Surely any man with a normal mentality would not be able to bear the lewd stares of those NPCs, right?

Sometimes, he even had to endure the NPCs' vulgar grabs and on several occasions, some big hunk had even forced his way in when Shi Yangyu was sleeping in the middle of the night. Even so, fortunately, Shi Yangyu's fighting skills eventually preserved his virginity.

As he silently marveled at how lifelike the NPCs designed by Blacklight Biotechnology were, Shi Yangyu groused inwardly that all of this was too d*mn realistic. If he had not been a man, one who was an armed police instructor, he would have lost that night. This game deserved its PG18 rating and was exceptionally obscene ...

Although he wanted to complain about the game, it would be impossible for him to give up this game. Over this period, he had already come to regard this game as his second life and was completely immersed in it.

While thinking about his next plan, he walked to the small square outside the pub expressionlessly. Before the stunned eyes of passers-by, he took out a cigarette and placed it in his mouth, but before he could take out the lighter, a dozen men had rushed over, fighting to light the flame by his mouth.

"..."

Shi Yangyu secretly disdained them. "Heh, men..."

After lighting the cigarette, Shi Yangyu was bored and opened his own attribute panel. At this time, his attributes had undergone considerable changes —

"Name: Juyang Jushi."

"Gender: Female."

"Age: 18."

"Race: Human."

"Attributes: Strength 9, Constitution 10, Size 9, Agility 13, Charisma 15, Intelligence 10, Perception 11."

"Occupation: Dancer."

"Professional skills: elementary pole dancing, elementary striptease, intermediate hip-shaking dance."

"Special skills: flirtatious glancing, advanced fighting, advanced military boxing, advanced fighting technique."

During this month, he had gained one point of strength, two points of agility, and one point of charisma. Shi Yangyu knew that these were all trained because he had been forced by the proprietress to dance every day during this period. Of all the games he had ever played, this game was the one where leveling up was the slowest yet most hardcore.

Still, fortunately, even though he felt tired after training and his muscles would secrete lactic acid and turn sore, after the pain switch was reduced to zero, these feelings could be blocked.

It was this function that enabled him to hold on for a month, otherwise, he would have broken down and fled.

He originally wanted to keep going, but unfortunately, the proprietress had already started to push him out. She paid him 10,000 coins in the Joint Resistance Army's currency as this month's wages.

Within the area of this Blacklight city, the purchasing power of 10,000 Joint Coins could allow an ordinary person to live for about half a year, but as far as Shi Yangyu knew, this was not a lot of money.

Each player also had a forum function. As long as one had the attention to spare, one could browse the forum while working.

Shi Yangyu saw it on the forum a while ago. Many closed beta players killed their characters directly after figuring out the game's routines. Then, they chose to rebuild their characters and created a tough man with a height of 2.3 meters. After entering the game, the novice's task was to join a local gang or bodyguard organization, and the daily salary could reach more than five hundred Joint Coins.

As for his actual combat ability, Shi Yangyu felt that he was by no means inferior to those players who only relied on their physiques. What was more, this was not a third-rate online game focused on upgrades. There was almost no difference between its physics engine and reality. He only had to wield a small dagger to be able to easily kill any target.

Thinking of this, Shi Yangyu could not help but feel a little tempted. Maybe he should go to the bodyguard agency in Blacklight City to give it a try.

This was because on the forum, he had also seen many posts about the purchase of Joint Coins.

There was no shortage of peddlers everywhere in the world. The main point of those posts was to purchase Joint Coins and the price could reach a 1:1 exchange, which meant that if someone sold 10,000 Joint Coins in their possession, they could obtain 10,000 USD in reality.

This was already a windfall and some players with poor backgrounds who were incidentally qualified for the closed beta could use this game to embark on the path of getting rich overnight.

Still, Shi Yangyu had no plans to ??exchange currency for the time being, because he was not short of money. At least, ten thousand dollars was not too large a sum to him. Why was he single, after all? Being single meant he only had to feed himself, so although he was not rich, he never faced any financial pressure.

However, if it was one hundred thousand dollars or one million dollars, then he had to consider it carefully. After all, it cost a lot to get the age-reversal treatment and he also wanted to get a new car in reality.

Still, just as he was thinking this over, the three handsome men had appeared before him. They were all over two meters tall, with bulging muscles.

"Juyang Jushi, it seems that your novice mission has been completed."

One of the big guys interrupted Shi Yangyu's pondering. "Our boss wants to see you, come with us."

Shi Yangyu raised his head when he heard these words and frowned slightly. "You guys are also players? How do you know my name?"

"Hahaha, is there anyone in all of Blu Street who doesn't know the name of Juyang Jushi, the stripper?"

With a wretched smile, the big man mockingly said, "Although we know that you're a man in reality based on your name, your customization skills are truly something else to be able to create such a beauty. Our boss would like to invite you to join us and make a lot of money in the game."

"Oh, then I'll give it a shot."

Shi Yangyu also stood up indifferently. He patted his buttocks carelessly. His plump buttocks jiggled slightly, causing the hearts of the native residents who were frequently peeking around to skip a beat. "How are we going there?"

"By car, of course."

The big man pointed to a black retro car by the curb. "This car was just bought by the boss two days ago. It cost more than 300,000 Joint Coins."

After their exchange, Shi Yangyu got into the car directly and then the car drove into a dark alley.

A few minutes later, Shi Yangyu met the boss behind the three players.

This was a fat man wearing a black tuxedo. At this time, there was a large amount of food on his table. Shi Yangyu glanced over. Hmm, all of it was high-carbs, high-fat stuff. No wonder it took only a month for this man to become this fat.

"Juyang Jushi, come, come, sit down!"

Seeing Shi Yangyu's arrival, the man waved for Shi Yangyu to sit down without even wiping his mouth. He seemed to notice Shi Yangyu's contempt and grinned suddenly. "Can't help it, in reality, I'm quite the glutton. I've eaten myself into the hospital several times. Fortunately, there's no such restriction in this game. As long as I have money, I can eat all the delicious food in the city. Even if I die, I can just rebuild a new account."

"You've bought the car one month after the game was launched and three closed beta players are working for you. It seems that you did make a lot of money."

Shi Yangyu nodded and said.

"Haha, I didn't make the money."

The fat man smiled, shook his head, and flaunted. "I don't have the drive to work hard for thousands of game coins. I just need to open a post on the forum and declare that I want to buy game coins. Naturally, some players will come to me. Isn't this a quick method to get money?"

"So, you were the one who bought the Joint Coins on the forum?"

Shi Yangyu immediately glanced at the forum. "Caesar Reinhardt, is this your game nickname?"

"That's my real name."

The fat man said with a chuckle, "I belong to the Reinhardt family in Europe, mainly doing financial investment. You may not have heard of us, but Shengangdi Capital is our family's property. In addition, we also operate sixteen financial companies, five..."

"Wait!"

Shi Yangyu waved his hand impatiently. "Don't talk about reality in the game. My time is limited. Why don't you tell me how you plan to cooperate with me?"

Hearing these words, the fat man's eyes lit up. He stared wantonly at Shi Yangyu until Shi Yangyu had goosebumps all over. Then the man flashed a lewd smile. "My request is very simple..."

Shi Yangyu raised his eyebrows upon hearing this.

...

A few minutes later, as screams came from the warehouse, Shi Yangyu cursed and walked out of the alley.

There was a wound with a depth of four to five centimeters in his arm, deep enough to reveal bone. The blood constantly flowing down his arm was evident too. If he were a normal person, he would have fainted from the pain, but for Shi Yangyu, he still looked the same, only his face was a little pale.

He had turned this pale out of fury.

"D*mn idiot!"

While leaving the alley unhurriedly, Shi Yangyu scolded. "He knows that I'm a man but he still gets ideas about me? This time, I've taken your lives. You'd better not show your faces again or I'll kill you each time I see you until you all delete your accounts!"

With that, he left, muttering angrily. At the same time, his uninjured hand also carried a black leather suitcase, where he had collected more than one million Joint Coins from the warehouse.

It was not until half an hour later that the scene in the warehouse was discovered by passers-by and the police were called.

When the police arrived, there were a total of four corpses in the warehouse, all of which had been cut beyond recognition and were dead beyond dead.

"Sheriff, the four dead are all outsiders."

A police officer handed the information to the sheriff. "They were all tortured to death by a dagger-like weapon. The murderer's methods were very cruel. Each person experienced at least thirty-six cuts and the boss among them experienced even more — seventy-two cuts.

"It can be seen through surveillance that the murderer was a young woman with blond hair, of medium build. She was proficient in fighting and assassination. She seemed to have received formal military training. This is another case of conflict involving the outsiders... This is already the 332nd case in the month."

"D*mn outsiders..."

Hearing this, the sheriff's face could not help clouding over. He hated the 100,000 outsiders who suddenly came to Blacklight City.

Although these people had only appeared in Blacklight City for about a month, they were incomparably cruel, without any laws and morals to speak of. They dared to kill people and steal cars on the road at every turn, and would even rush forward with a knife after being surrounded by dozens of police officers.

They were a group of desperadoes!

Fortunately, Blacklight City had strict management of firearms. Otherwise, even the police would suffer heavy casualties...

However, regarding this situation, the higher-ups' reaction was very strange. They had already instructed these police stations that they did not need to pay attention to the conflicts between these outsiders. Only when they attacked the local residents would the police need to severely crack down.

"Okay, dispose of the bodies of these people, you know the rules."

The sheriff commanded unwillingly and then these police officers collected the corpses and transported them directly to the corpse truck. Without even the process of any trial, they were thrown into the sea at the pier...

This incident was just one of countless conflicts in Blacklight City. With the influx of 100,000 players, it had begun to exert tremendous pressure on Blacklight City. To limit these lawless players, Chen Chen had already told the X-112 here that, once a player killed an innocent NPC or performed other criminal acts that endangered the safety of the city, a Black Knight should be immediately sent to kill them.

It was just like playing GTA. Once the player committed a crime, they would become wanted by the police regardless of whether there were witnesses around them.

Nonetheless, in Ancient Civilization, it was not as easy to escape the police's pursuit as it was in GTA. Rather, the player would remain wanted until they escaped Blacklight City or were killed...

Only this would deter those players of the chaotic evil alignment.

...

"Sir Godfather."

Little X slowly walked into Chen Chen's office. "When I was monitoring the Internet, I found a consortium named Reinhardt in Europe offering a bounty on the black market for a player of Ancient Civilization.

"They're offering three million dollars as a reward for the true identity of the player named 'Juyang Jushi', and at the same time, contacted our customer service, trying to find a breach from our side..."

Chen Chen raised his head slightly when he heard these words and sneered. "So that's happening?"

"The specific reason is very simple, just because when a member of this consortium was playing the game..."

Before Little X finished speaking, Chen Chen raised his hand and interrupted. "No need to explain all that. I'm not interested in their conflicts in the game."

"Then should we take note of this?" Little X asked.

"I don't care who is right or wrong in the game. I only know that offering a reward to uncover the true identity of the player is a slap in our face!"

Chen Chen said coldly, "If even the privacy of a player isn't well protected, wouldn't our credibility be greatly compromised? It will even affect our plan to recover the end dimension.

"X, make an immediate announcement to inform the world that, in light of that guy's act of offering a reward for the real information of other players, no matter who he is or what status he holds, we'll directly and permanently ban his account, and he'll never be allowed to enter Ancient Civilization!"

Chapter 635: Officially On Sale

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Chen Chen walked out of the time machine and once again arrived at the era where civilization was near its end.

The Black Knights on the side had been waiting for a long time. At this time, a Black Knight stepped forward and X-112's voice came from it. "Sir Commander, long time no see."

"It's been a long time indeed."

Chen Chen nodded. He looked at the piles of materials in the warehouse and the androids coming and going, and asked immediately, "Is everything running smoothly after those players arrived?"

"Except for some disturbance in public security, I suppose... It's going well."

X-112 felt a little helpless. "The entire Blacklight City is anxious. After all, many natives have learned of the fact that a group of outsiders has arrived.

"To the residents of Blacklight City, these players are desperadoes. Every day, innocent native residents are robbed and harassed, and many people also learned from those players that all this is just a game, that they came from another world. This made everyone even more worried and the natives have even begun to march on the street, hoping that we'd expel those who caused the anxiety and disturbance."

"Erm..."

Chen Chen frowned when he heard these words, showing a pensive look. "If that's the case, it's indeed time to plan in more detail."

"By the way, Sir Commander."

X-112 said again, "Several other forces in the Joint Resistance Army have also inquired about this matter. Some time ago, they sent an emissary to ask these people what's going on. They also hope to meet you."

"I won't meet them."

Chen Chen waved his hand. "I originally planned to channel some players into their territory of power after the official launch of the server in the future, but now it seems that this isn't a secure method. Sooner or later, the players and the natives will have fierce conflicts. In that case, let's just rebuild the city."

"Rebuild the city?"

X-112 curiously said.

"We have only one city, Blacklight City, not because we don't have the conditions and financial resources to establish other base areas, but because of an insufficient population."

Chen Chen said, "But if we have a large number of players joining, the situation will be different..."

As he spoke, Chen Chen suddenly waved his hand, and an image of the world map emerged out of thin air. Chen Chen tapped lightly on Greenland. "This is the location of Blacklight City, this is the location of Northern America City, and this is the location of China City...

"The territory of the Divine Fusion Empire is in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, and the territory of the Joint Resistance Army is in Northern America and South America..."

Chen Chen silently sketched something on the world map, sometimes contemplating, and sometimes wearing a look of realization. "In the future, players will continue to show up in increasing numbers and the demand for resources will be extremely high. With this in mind, we can build a new city in the North Sea Continent, China, India, and so on.

"At that time, this dimension will be split into three factions. The Divine Fusion Empire will be one major force and the other two major forces, the Joint Resistance Army and the players, can form an alliance."

"Then, we might need more than one city."

X-112 reminded. "At least hundreds of cities are needed. Otherwise, we'll not be able to take on so many players. However, resources, labor, and time needed for all this will cost us immensely."

"These aren't problems."

Chen Chen flashed a secretive smile. "The players can build cities on their own, right? We just need to give them tasks and tell them what to do and how to do it. That's all.

"It doesn't matter if we don't have money. We can use virtual game currency as money. It doesn't matter if we don't have resources too. They can mine and haul them by themselves. At the same time, as long as the pain system is shut off, they'll be the most tenacious, diligent workers."

"Oh, we can still do that?"

X-112 was struck by the realization.

"What the player wants is very simple."

Chen Chen sighed, spreading his hands. "Looking at the cities that they built with their own hands rising from the ground, watching themselves offering light and heat to the world — this sense of accomplishment is unparalleled. What does it mean to create happiness through effort? This is it..."

It was carried out as planned. Chen Chen asked X-112 to create a plan, which enumerated every detail of what would happen after a player came here. In the plan, the city did not need to be so vast and beautiful. A standard medieval city was enough.

After controlling a few large ships and transporting the first batch of materials and a time machine, Chen Chen had already thought about the location of these cities. They were all the relics of the harbor cities from the old era. These areas had a common characteristic, namely, the geographical position was superior and conducive to development. After getting there, the Black Knights would set up the initial camp to welcome the first batch of players who came here.

A standard player camp was equipped with a 3D printing factory that could continuously manufacture the bodies of game characters, a shop that sold supplies, a black sphere teleportation station that could transport players to other camps, a hospital that could heal any injuries, and a defense camp where the Black Knights were stationed.

Except for these five departments, the rest would all be created by the players.

Of course, the players could not just be treated merely as workers, otherwise, they would complain that this game was just a "Build-a-House Simulator". Therefore, hunting, mining resources, fishing, and other tasks were also given to the players by Chen Chen. What X-112 had to do was to issue the tasks in an orderly manner to make it fun for the players.

As a reward for the players, Chen Chen also naturally crossed out the original Joint Coins and changed it into a virtual currency. The virtual currency could buy anything they wanted in the camp such as food, weapons, wilderness survival items, teleportation costs, the opportunity to get treatment for injuries, and so on.

The real world had become the industrial logistics base of the end dimension. Rockets and satellite launch materials were transported over. In the next few months, Blacklight City would continue to send satellites into space, allowing thousands of satellites to cover the entire earth, so that no matter where a player went, they would not crash due to a loss of signal.

When everything was ready, Chen Chen also issued a corresponding notice in reality:

"After three months of beta testing Ancient Civilization, it has been confirmed that the game is 100% safe and most of the hidden bugs have been eliminated. Therefore, we announce that from next Monday (1 June 2044), Ancient Civilization will be officially launched and the matching game chambers will also be on sale today. All this will be available for sale on the official website of any Blacklight Biotechnology branch in the world. At the same time, we have also revised the game rules —

"1. We've modified the player's birthplace. From now on, new players who enter the game will be born at one of the 50 designated spawn points, and will no longer be born in Blacklight City.

"2. Because a large number of players obtained game currency through illegal means to maintain the balance of the currency system in the game, from now on, we'll modify the currency mechanism to remove the Joint Coins from the currency and use virtual currency instead. The virtual currency is named Ancient Coins. The beta test players' attributes will be retained, their money will be cleared, and the old currency will no longer be able to purchase any items from the player's camp.

"3. The game has opened the construction module. From now on, players will receive a large number of construction tasks after entering the game, and to encourage players to participate in camp construction, the rewards for construction tasks will be two to three times that of other tasks.

"4. The red name mechanism 1has been modified. From now on, players who kill their own forces will be hunted down by various camps. Specifically, other players may receive corresponding hunting tasks, by which killing red name players would result in rich rewards; at the same time, hurting innocent NPCs will cause a player to become wanted by the NPC's own faction, and they'll lose the qualification to enter the city of said faction until they die once.

"5. According to the suggestions of most female players, the game has opened the reputation points module. Each person earns 12 points per year. Players who verbally harass the opposite sex (including but not limited to players) will have 1 point deducted after verification. 3 points will be deducted for subjective malicious contact with the body of someone of the opposite sex. 12 points will be deducted all at once for forced copulation with the opposite sex. Those who have zero points within one year will have their account banned, never to be restored.

"6. According to the discussion of the game planning team of Blacklight Biotechnology to maintain the fairness of the game, the exchange channel of real currency and virtual currency is closed for now. Any action in the game that involves transactions in reality is not protected by the game. We hope you understand.

"At present, the first batch of game chambers will have 1 million units sold, each priced at 100,000 USD. Action speaks louder than words, join Ancient Civilization now and begin a new life with us!

"Sincerely, the Blacklight Biotechnology Game Department."

With the release of this announcement, there was an uproar all over the world. Although the game had only operated for three months and hardly any advertisements had been put out, it was after all the first game in the world involving all five senses, a high degree of freedom, and a 100% simulation of reality. Without any need for advertisement, solely through Blacklight Biotechnology's prestige and the comments from the 100,000 beta test players, Ancient Civilization became a hot topic that flooded the world's platforms.

Except for those who had no contact with the Internet, there was almost no one who had not heard of this game. Plenty of avid gamers had even become premature fans of Ancient Civilization before even playing it, and their wealth of knowledge about the game would stun anyone.

This announcement caused an Earth-shattering wave of responses. The official website of Blacklight Biotechnology, major forums around the world, and even the news media of various countries had immediately issued the news that Ancient Civilization would be officially launched.

[The ultimate in virtual reality? When a game simulates all five senses, can you still distinguish between the game and reality?] — Northern American Associated Press News.

[Ancient Civilization is officially launched. Experts claim that this type of technology is not just a game, but may also embody the future of human civilization?] — Reuters.

[Biology, medicine, resources, military, aerospace... Along with today's game, how many industries must Blackwatch monopolize before it will give up?] — United Press International.

[Announcement that Ancient Civilization is launched—is the greatest online game in human history about to be born?]—Sina Express.

On the Internet, everyone was also very eager to talk about this topic. However, unlike some media's pessimistic spin, those players who looked forward to this game were celebrating and constantly discussing the newly released rules.

[It felt like a pipe dream, but finally, it's officially launched! I thought there'd still be an open beta after the closed beta.]

[This game has a very high degree of completion. Apart from modifying a few inhuman rules at the beginning, there are not many changes. Compared to CD Projekt RED who likes to sell semi-finished products and Ubisoft who gives free games riddled with bugs, Blackb*tch has way more of a conscience!]

[OP, are you dreaming, can those even be compared? Blackb*tch is the world's largest private economy, with authority comparable to that of a continental government, and its financial resources can compete head-to-head with Northern America and China. CD Projekt RED and Ubisoft are just ordinary game companies, at most they're relatively large ones. Can they compare to Blackb*tch? Just Ancient Civilization alone probably costs an investment of over 100 billion.]

[They are indeed very conscientious. For most game companies, closed beta data will not be retained, but now Blackb*tch is only eliminating the money earned by the closed beta players during the testing, but retaining their physical fitness.]

[Hey, then isn't this unfair to new players?]

[The red name mechanism and reputation points are too unnecessary, right? I'm stifled enough as it is in reality, but I can't do whatever I want in the game? Then why should I play this game?]

[Because it's not meant for you but other people then! Surely you mustn't have a female family member, otherwise would you not mind if they are wantonly dishonored by others when they play the game?]

[The commenter above the last is disgusting. His speech shocked me. Does he think he can do whatever he wants in the game?]

[The game cannot exchange real money for game currency? What kind of idiotic plan is this, doesn't Blackb*tch want to make any money?]

[As if Blackb*tch is short of money? This is the best joke of the century!]

[I think this rule is very good, it protects the rights of us common players. By the way, you guys keep saying "Blackb*tch, Blackb*tch", what does Blackb*tch mean?]

[Blackb*tch is the nickname for Blackwatch in the gaming world. You should know that Blackwatch was once a Chinese company, and its Chinese name translates literally to "Blacklight", but the English version means "black watch", so we started calling it Blackb*tch (TN: In Mandarin, the phrase for "black watch" and "black b*tch" sounds the same.)...]

[One hundred thousand USD is so expensive. I'm now in the third grade of elementary school and my weekly living expenses are only 100 dollars. If I want to afford a game chamber, don't I have to wait until after college then?]

[Haha, elementary school students can forget about it. This game is PG18. You can't enter this game if you're under 18 years old. You should wait until you grow up to play!]

...

The Internet was full of discussions about Blacklight Biotechnology and the game Ancient Civilization. In reality, some people with sufficient resources kept watch over the website that night, waiting for the arrival of midnight.

It was because that was when the game chambers would go on sale.

Although the price of 100,000 USD would eliminate a considerable part of the population, many people who had never been in contact with games had also received a lot of information from the videos released by those closed beta players and the publicizing of the premature fans.

For example, how all five senses in the game were comparable to reality, how players could change their sex in the game, customize their faces to be beautiful, enjoy delicacies and even sex... These conditions alone were enough to make countless people feel a rush of excitement, especially those who felt that reality was not complete enough, who wanted to experience a second life in the game.

Around the world, more than one billion people, comprising countless players as well as scalpers and purchasing agents, would compete for the first million game chambers tonight.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night for this group of people...