Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Flourishing
A game won’t be sent for review before its open beta.
But the game company should have a record on file.
Not being able to find any information on the game company was a bit baffling.
Han Tian was surprised. "Are you sure?"
His friend’s tone was certain. "Of course I’m sure. There’s absolutely no registration information for the game company, and the website is fishy, too. We can’t find the server’s IP address. It doesn’t even show if it’s hosted overseas. We even had some of our internal computer experts take a look, and they still couldn’t find the IP."
Usually, in cases like this, the IP address would at least be routed through a foreign country, but this game doesn’t show any source address at all.
His friend’s voice turned strange. "You guys haven’t stumbled into some illegal game, have you?"
Han Tian: "..."
After a long pause, he managed to say, "I don’t know if it’s illegal or not, but based on what you’re saying, this game is definitely a problem. Its technology doesn’t seem like it’s from this era."
His friend was stunned for a moment. "What do you mean?"
Han Tian said, "I told you before, this game is fully holographic. You didn’t believe me then, but I’m telling you, it’s true. The moment we put on the VR headsets, it’s like we’ve crossed over to another world. When I’m in the game, sometimes I even forget I’m playing a game."
"What the fuck?" His friend was horrified. "That’s impossible! We don’t have that kind of technology yet. Virtual reality is still in its infancy!"
Of course, he didn’t believe it.
But Han Tian wasn’t the type to make up a lie like that.
His friend thought for a moment. "Don’t tell me you guys accidentally found a portal to some Otherworld?"
Of course, he was just joking. "This game sounds so incredible. Should I get on and check it out?"
Han Tian said, "No, you can’t. There are no more slots. The game links to your national ID and requires facial recognition. If you die once in the game, your account gets banned permanently. There’s no revival mechanism, and no one else can play on your account. The game hasn’t enabled screenshot or video functions yet. We have to wait until the end of the month to exchange our points for them. That’s why I couldn’t prove it to you in the first place."
"..."
The person on the other end was thinking.
After a while, his friend’s tone grew unsettled. "If what you’re saying is true, this game is going to attract a lot of attention very soon."
His friend just had some connections within the system but wasn’t an insider. Since they couldn’t find the game company’s registration, they were probably already investigating.
He had a wild thought. "Could it be the United States is pulling some new stunt to mess with Blue Star?"
Han Tian replied, "Give me a break. If they had this kind of technology, do you really think they’d use it to make a game?"
"That’s true... so how was this game made?"
But who could know the answer to that right now?
Han Tian’s discussion with his friend ended without any conclusion. An idea was vaguely forming in his mind.
In the group chat, Su Daqiang was still wailing. Thankfully, Zhou Xiao had logged off and told him that his body had been found.
[Zhou Nvzi]: I have good news for you. You’re still alive—the system confirmed it. The bad news is your whole body has turned blue. You look like a Blue Elf now, just a bit uglier.
[Su Daqiang]: What the hell do you know! Doesn’t this make me the first person of color in the game with a built-in skin?
[Zhou Nvzi]: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Curious about Su Daqiang’s situation, Han Tian logged on to take a look.
Su Daqiang’s "body" had already been carried back.
The players gathered around, discussing Su Daqiang.
Even A Wu exclaimed, "I’ve been on Feique Mountain for so many years, and I’ve never seen a junior brother like this!"
Lying on the ground was "Su Daqiang," his normally colored skin now stained blue. Truly blue skin.
The moment Han Tian saw him, the song ’On the other side of the sea, on the other side of the mountain, there lives a group of Blue Elves...’ immediately started playing in his head.
Su Daqiang’s body was unconscious, and he couldn’t log into his character, only receiving a notification that he was in an "Abnormal Status."
The players had also asked the system. After scanning for a long time, the system found that although he was in a "Poisoned" state, the poison only seemed to have changed his skin color. The soul connection was unaffected.
He could still play, but he would probably have to wait for the poison’s effects to subside.
So it replied to the players: [Status Abnormal. No Death Imminent.]
As for the poisoning, the game had no replay system, so they had to rely on Su Daqiang’s own memory. He recalled eating a black stalk of grass and then being bitten by a snake that suddenly lunged out.
Chen Miaomiao brought the black grass back to study, but the snake that bit Su Daqiang had vanished without a trace.
Su Daqiang had wanted to be the game’s very own Shennong, the first to taste a hundred herbs, but he fell before he could even begin his mission.
When the players saw that even Cultivators could be poisoned, they immediately concluded that you shouldn’t just eat random things you find outside.
They all expressed their gratitude to the poisoned Su Daqiang for "clearing a landmine" for them.
The real-life Su Daqiang was speechless.
A Wu also examined the black grass that Su Daqiang had eaten. It looked a lot like chive leaves from the real world, but a black version.
No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem edible. It was a mystery why the half-witted Su Daqiang had eaten it.
A Wu had been on Feique Mountain for so many years but had never seen where this black grass came from.
It wasn’t even a Spirit Grass, yet it could poison a Cultivator like Su Daqiang to the point his color changed.
He could only scratch his head and say, "Perhaps it has something to do with the snake that bit Junior Brother. For now, we can only wait for him to wake up."
Since that was the case, the players decided there was nothing more to worry about regarding Comrade Su Daqiang’s situation and went back to their own tasks.
Three in-game days later, Su Daqiang, who had been tirelessly trying to log in, discovered he was finally able to get on.
The moment he logged in, he found that his body wasn’t affected at all. He could even cultivate normally, and he was overcome with relief.
’As long as I’m not dead!’
Then he discovered his blue skin wasn’t changing back.
Everywhere he went, he was a conspicuous splash of blue.
This sent the other players into roaring laughter, filling the air with joyful cheer.
Putting that aside for now, with the players now executing their tasks with clear goals, the Longevity Sect began to undergo a dramatic transformation.
First, the newly cultivated Spirit Fields now covered more than half the mountainside. The players, following A Wu’s lead, began building their own houses one by one, their control over Spiritual Energy growing more adept.
Combined with the basic carpentry skills they could learn by looking up information in the real world, a proper-looking Longevity Sect was at last beginning to take shape.
One of the female players, a designer in real life, was particularly fond of building games.
She was the one who designed the general layout of the houses.
The players also erected several large pillars on the sole cobblestone structure at the foot of the stairs.
It at least looked like a Sect plaza now, though it was a bit small. They could just expand it later.
They also added railings along the cliff edges.
If someone were to accidentally slip and fall, the chances of a player who hadn’t yet learned long-duration Qi Manipulation Flight falling to their death were very high.
Fan Guzhou rushed to brew a batch of fruit wine. Although it wasn’t very strong, its aroma was intoxicating.
A Wu took it down the mountain to sell, and it instantly opened up the market.
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