As she stood on the streets in front of the Mansion of the Dead, Yin Xiaoqi was clenching her teeth and sulking inwardly.
Even now, the thought of such a life-like setting for a game had never crossed Yin Xiaoqi’s mind. After all, this was all too real. It was something that was simply impossible to achieve with the current virtualization technology.
After attempting to calm herself down, Yin Xiaoqi started to scout around and look for clues that could help solve this level.
That rapt look that Yin Xiaoqi had on her face when she was looking at her surroundings sparked the curiosity of some neighboring players.
“Are you a new player? What class are you in? Want to join our guild? Don’t be mistaken, our guild may seem quiet but that’s because it was formed only quite recently. In the future, this guild will no doubt make it to the Top 100! After all, our guild leader is none other than…”
As she listened to the man rambling in front of her, Yin Xiaoqi began to analyze the hidden clues in his words.
Then she felt that something wasn’t quite right.
Instance Dungeon! Forming teams! Spawning! Leveling up!
She did not know much about gaming, but judging from the man’s words, she could only come up with one – this was indeed the world of the game.
In order to confirm that this was true, a thought popped into her mind. She wanted to try summoning the operation menu.
In a flash, the menu of the game Battle Online came into view. The top of the menu was lined with the shop, characters, and settings icons.
“Am I truly in the game?” Yin Xiaoqi looked up, seriousness etched on her face as she questioned the man in front of her.
When the man heard what she had asked, he pulled a strange face at her.
“What do you mean?”
Yin Xiaoqi, in turn, furrowed her eyebrows. Instead of explaining herself, she hastened toward the zone where the players had gathered.
After half an hour of probing, she confirmed her point from the few isolated phrases exchanged between the players.
However, Yin Xiaoqi still had many doubts in her mind.
If this game has such advanced technology, why haven’t I ever heard of it before?
At that moment, Yin Xiaoqi suddenly recalled the comments she had seen on the dark web recently.
There was one that had mentioned a highly realistic game. However, the web portal to this game remained a mystery.
On top of that, it was said that dying in the game would carry some injury to the person in the real world.
Back then, Yin Xiaoqi treated this piece of news with contempt, thinking that it was only made up to muddle with the minds of people.
Except now, she suddenly believed it.
Not only that, but she also surmised that she was now in the scenes of that very game.
This thought made Yin Xiaoqi inexplicably fidgety. After all, if she hurt herself in the game, she would injure herself in reality. This was not a trivial matter. She was gambling with her life.
“What are you thinking about?”
At that moment, a figure appeared right beside her, giggling away while watching her.
“Bei Li!”
When she saw him, Yin Xiaoqi vigilantly took a step back, positioning herself into a fighting stance.
“Don’t think senselessly. How can there be a game where players who get hurt will receive the same effect in reality?” the old man that was morphed from Bei Li said with a smile.
“Then, how do you explain the highly realistic feature?” Yin Xiaoqi’s vigilance did not falter the slightest. She lifted her right leg slightly, ever ready to produce a blow.
Bei Li held her forehead in exasperation, “Haven’t you heard about the game Battle Online? If you haven’t, could you at least try and learn about it?”
“Really?”
“Really!”
“Then, how about the treasure that was promised? Why would this game be the final treasure?” Yin Xiaoqi once again bared her sharp teeth, which glimmered like a tiger’s fangs.
“After this, you will receive the Ultimate Quest. Follow the steps given to complete it, and you will be rewarded with an extraordinary bonus. I promise that you won’t be disappointed!”
“Don’t you try and lie to me again, I won’t fall for it!”
“I haven’t lied to you from the very beginning. Trust me, you’ll love this gift!”
“Who on earth are you? Why are you doing this?”
Bei Li shook her head, “Don’t ask why. Just remember what I’ve said. Whether it’s an illusion or reality, I’ll leave that to you to decide. As of this moment, your quest begins. Grow with your own talent, don’t let me down!”
Bei Li’s old man figure drifted away with the wind as Yin Xiaoqi watched, flabbergasted.
[Game Notification: The first round to the Ultimate Serial Quest begins: Getting Off To A Good Start]
Quest Description: Build your own guild and become one of the Top 1,000 popular guilds in Battle Online.
Quest Reward: An exclusive inherited character class.
Hidden Quest Reward: Unknown.
Yin Xiaoqi had an astonished look on her face as she read the contents on the Quest Menu.
Although she had no interest in video games, this truly life-like world did manage to arouse her curiosity. She couldn’t stop herself from wanting to explore and get to the bottom of the hidden secrets here.
What she truly wanted to know more than ever was, is there truly such a game as this on the market today?
The thought lingered in her mind. Thus, she opened the interface and proceeded to choose the logout option.
The screen gradually dimmed, pulling her back into reality.
When she saw that she could exit the game with ease, the worries that Yin Xiaoqi harbored in her heart faded away.
Then, she hurried herself to her computer and began digging up information on the game.
As she meticulously perused all the information online, Yin Xiaoqi sank into deep contemplation.
There were tons of expansion packs and videos on the game. The players themselves had even made databases of strategies, atlases of creatures, and various analytical posts.
This information proved that the game did in fact exist.
A game with such high realistic graphics could actually exist. Besides, it was released merely five months ago, and this fact had left her in a state of shock.
Perhaps the potential hidden beneath this information was being overlooked by the public, but she could already conjure up quite a few theories regarding this.
First of all, a game with such high realistic graphics could be used for simulation in the military, as well as various scientific experiments.
This game could have the same ways as the game called Eve. Many years ago, it had contributed greatly by providing huge data support for the project called The Atlas of Human Proteins.
Yin Xiaoqi truly could not wrap her head around the fact that a technology with such great potential was only being applied to a mere game.
If she was in their shoes and acquired such technology, she would definitely build a business empire out of it. She would then apply it in various fields to create greater opportunities for herself.
Whatever this Battle Online company was planning left her baffled.
What’s more, who on earth is Bei Li?
Could it be that he is one of the developers of Battle Online?
After giving it some thought, Yin Xiaoqi still could not comprehend it. She continued searching for more relevant information, anything that could lead her to a clue.
However, there was nothing on the Internet regarding the dev team behind the game. She was left with nothing useful even after exhausting all her means.
However, the more she knew about the game, the more curious she became.
This was because, among the descriptions from the information, the game was even more exciting than she had imagined!
It even mentioned that the body strengthening in the game could synchronously be felt in the very bones of the player. Yin Xiaoqi could not stay put any longer as she yearned to test it out herself.
She had spent more than half a day learning the many contents of the game.
After doing so, Yin Xiaoqi had arrived at a conclusion.
The so-called final treasure was in fact designated for special players.
Unlike other players, she did not come across the option of choosing her role when she first entered the game. Instead, she came upon a unique Ultimate Quest.
Yin Xiaoqi was at a loss for words when she came upon more relevant information regarding the reward for the unknown inherited character class, a reward that was promised from the first round of the Ultimate Quest.
The virtual item that’s given the name inherited character class was apparently worth up to 50 million or more. Quite a few people were purchasing it online, but the transaction records showed zero percent.
It really is a treasure!
At this moment, Yin Xiaoqi felt restless, eager to jump right into it.
Isn’t building a powerful guild the first step of the quest?
That’s a piece of cake for me!
As she thought of this, Yin Xiaoqi put on her virtual reality headset again.
By this time, her anxieties had vanished and they were replaced by her grand plans toward achieving her wildest dreams.
