Chapter 23: Luck is relatively good

Tiangong Gaming Platform Company Headquarters.

Xia Shan sat at her desk browsing the newly uploaded games on the gaming platform.

She was an ordinary employee of Tiangong Gaming Platform, but she was an absolute rarity in the programming world—a female programmer.

Xia Shan's job position was ordinary, but her identity was anything but, because her father was one of the heads of the game review department.

Originally, with her father's help, Xia Shan had the opportunity to join the game review department, a sort of civil service unit, but Xia Shan refused.

The reason for her refusal was simple—she hated her father, and the reason she hated him was equally simple.

Despite being one of the heads of the game review department, her father didn't play video games and even held the opinion of her grandfather's generation, believing video games were a bad thing.

This arrogance made Xia Shan, who loved video games, extremely detest her father. In defiance, she secretly applied for a programming major but was still arranged to work at Tiangong's official gaming company.

"Holy Spirit? A game released three hours ago by the Thirteenth Game Company... Thirteenth, Thirteenth..."

Among a pile of newly uploaded small games, Xia Shan noticed a game with a size of over 5000G, which naturally caught her attention.

VR games were getting bigger and bigger, with sizes around three or four thousand G being very normal, but anything over five thousand G was considered a super production.

Only large game companies could create such super productions, and Xia Shan didn't recall any major game companies on Blue Star named the Thirteenth Game Company.

Wait...

"Thirteenth, are you making a new game again?"

Xia Shan took out a round, chubby little ball with a pixelated electronic screen on its surface. The screen showed two eyes made of pixel dots. As Xia Shan shook it, the eyes snapped open.

This was a popular electronic pet in the world, advertised as holding Tiangong No. Thirteen in your hand to nurture.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh." The round ball emitted three sequential electronic sounds.

The Tiangong No. Thirteen that Xia Shan owned was different from the ones on the market; it was an internal version derived from the core consciousness of the system, essentially representing Tiangong No. Thirteen itself.

"Over 5000G... The VR game you made when I was just starting college was 6000G."

Xia Shan took out her VR headset, wanting to download and try Holy Spirit. She had experienced a game made by Thirteenth three years ago.

But that thing could hardly be called a game. The graphics were good enough to be used as virtual tourism software, but the gameplay involved nothing more than walking, so it could barely be called a walking simulator.

"I'll download it and check it out." Just as Xia Shan was about to click download, a message popped up.

'You do not have the qualification to play.'

"Activation qualification..." Xia Shan logged onto the Holy Spirit's official website, which was highly simplistic. She found the page to obtain an activation qualification and clicked in without thinking.

Maybe girls with less hair have better luck; the moment Xia Shan clicked her mouse, a message popped up.

'Congratulations, you have obtained the qualification to play "Holy Spirit". This qualification has been bound to your identification and cannot be transferred to others.'

After reading the message, Xia Shan immediately put on her VR headset and started downloading Holy Spirit. With her company's internet speed, a 5000G game would take about half an hour to download.

"Thirteenth, what kind of game is this?" Xia Shan asked Tiangong No. Thirteen on her desk before entering the game.

"Very fun, very fun, very fun."

Tiangong No. Thirteen responded with an electronic voice.

"I'll trust you one more time."

Xia Shan remembered being tempted by Tiangong No. Thirteen in a similar manner three years ago. She chose to log into Holy Spirit, closing her eyes as she did so.

Three years ago, the game that Tiangong No. Thirteen made had a part of the login screen that was excessively bright, increasing her myopia noticeably. This time, she took precautions.

The first thing Xia Shan felt upon entering the game wasn't blinding light but a gentle breeze blowing against her face.

Wind? Where did the breeze come from?

In astonishment, Xia Shan opened her eyes and found herself in a pure white space with a data interface displayed before her.

'Please enter your game ID.'

Holy Spirit was an online game? An online game created by artificial intelligence?

Xia Shan was instantly intrigued and entered her commonly used ID, 'Black Hair Chang Qing,' which symbolized her hope to lose less hair when staying up late.

She took great care in customizing her character's face to be beautiful, and chose the Gunner class.

Because one of the Gunner's advanced classes was the Mechanic, Xia Shan, who had been interested in tinkering with various mechanics and codes since childhood, found it appealing.

Just as she completed her registration, Xia Shan realized this was a game made by artificial intelligence.

Where did Tiangong No. Thirteen find so many reference materials for the professions?

This question lingered in Xia Shan's mind when the next scene made her brain go blank.

Her mind genuinely froze, and her eyes widened because the starter main city, Lionheart City, of Holy Spirit had already unfolded before her.

There was no excessive brightness; the pure white city walls of Lionheart City interwoven with golden patterns gave Xia Shan a sense of standing under a world wonder.

What truly froze her mind was the breeze blowing towards her and the aromatic scent of flowers flooding her nostrils.

Realizing this, Xia Shan quickly crouched down and grabbed a handful of soil. The grainy texture seeped into her fingertips; this sensation was too real. But three seconds later, the soil in her hand vanished, reminding her she was in a game world.

"Thirteenth, what have you done?" Xia Shan had some VR game design experience for a year or two and knew that creating such detailed realism was only achievable by a few top-tier game studios in the world.

No one answered Xia Shan. She then realized she was already in the main city of Holy Spirit, now playing as a female Gunner named 'Black Hair Chang Qing.'

The scenery around her was no longer the dull office but the bustling streets of Lionheart City, with a kind-faced novice mentor manning the entrance of the profession guild, issuing newbie quests.

Xia Shan looked around the street, occasionally spotting one or two players hopping and running past her.

She didn't hurry to complete the newbie quest, instead, she lightly slapped her face. She only felt a slight pain, but the sense of touch was present.

What about the physics engine's effect? Xia Shan picked up a rock from the ground, and a system prompt appeared.

'You picked up a pebble.'

Pebble.

Throwing item.

Level requirement: 0.

Description: A pebble found everywhere.

Equipment attributes: Attack power 1~1.

It even had a prompt?!

Xia Shan threw the pebble into the distance, and it traced a perfect arc before landing.

The physics engine seemed flawless; what should she test next?

At this moment, Xia Shan took on the role of a game tester, although she had a different approach compared to other testers. She thought of a terrifying test direction...

Whether this game called Holy Spirit could allow players to perform clever tricks like other realistic simulation games.

When Xia Shan realized the physics engine of Holy Spirit was highly similar to the real world, she had already started viewing Holy Spirit as a simulation game rather than an MMORPG.