Isn't This a Game? Why Are You All Cultivating for Real!

Chapter 66: Chapter 66: The Base Is Annihilated

Song Jiulai’s heart still lurched.

’This visitor from beyond the heavens... that has to be me, right?’

After all, at a critical time like this, she was the one from Blue Star.

She hadn’t expected the Cultivators of this world to be so capable. They could even do things like peer into the secrets of heaven.

Her heart may have lurched, but Song Jiulai put on the shocked expression of someone hearing juicy gossip. "Heavens, something like that is happening? What kind of visitor from beyond the heavens is it? Is it a type of demon beast?"

’First rule: don’t let them think it’s a person.’

"I don’t know. Since it’s a visitor from beyond the heavens, it must be an incredibly powerful existence." Su Huanli considered this seriously. "It might be hiding among human Cultivators."

Song Jiulai’s heart skipped a beat.

Fortunately, Su Huanli’s conventional thinking was that such a visitor would have to be extremely powerful.

There were now two possibilities.

One, it really was referring to Song Jiulai. Unfortunately, she was currently weak as hell and didn’t fit the Yunzhou Continent’s concept of a visitor from beyond the heavens.

Two, this visitor from beyond the heavens wasn’t actually her.

If it was the latter, she didn’t need to worry for now.

If it was the former, she just needed to lay low and survive at all costs.

The players might act strangely, but there were too many of them, and they were all very weak.

Even if this rumor spread, it wouldn’t be easy for people to connect it to the players.

News traveled slowly on the Yunzhou Continent, so Wang’an County wouldn’t get the news that quickly. But now that Su Huanli was back, the rumor would soon reach Wang’an County as well.

’Still, I need to make the players keep a lower profile. At the very least, they can’t act so modern when others are around.’

Song Jiulai was a natural actress. For instance, back when she and a colleague were badmouthing their boss behind his back, the moment they saw his reflection in the glass as he returned, they immediately put on worried expressions. "The boss has worked so hard all these years leading us to improve our performance. It’s been so tough on him."

In the blink of an eye, the boss was all smiles.

So now, she also looked deeply concerned. "Senior Sister, this rumor won’t affect us, will it?"

"Of course not." Su Huanli shook her head. "Think about it. It’s a heavenly secret left by a Mahayana Realm ancestor. Why would it be our place, people in the Foundation Establishment Stage, to worry about it? That’s a matter for the Major Sects."

"Oh, right..."

Su Huanli looked at Song Jiulai with some hesitation. "The last time I saw you, you were at the Early Stage of Qi Refining. Are you already at the Qi Refining Middle Stage now?"

Now that she was closer, she could clearly feel that Song Jiulai’s Spiritual Energy was much more abundant than when she had left.

Song Jiulai didn’t hide it. "I spent some time on First Mountain and killed a good number of demon beasts."

Su Huanli nodded upon hearing this. "Hunting demon beasts has many benefits for us Cultivators. It’s rare for someone who just arrived at the Longevity Sect to have such courage." She gave a bit of a cold smile. "Many Cultivators lack your nerve. My Feique Sect has several hundred disciples, and at least half of them don’t want to go out for training."

’Players are afraid of death, but at least they can still live on in reality.’

But for the Cultivators of the Yunzhou Continent who went to kill demon beasts, death was final.

So, there were quite a few timid Cultivators.

They were already living in a borderland, right next to the demon beasts. Such an environment was bound to produce many Cultivators who made self-preservation their top priority.

They would only venture out for training if their Sect assigned a mandatory mission.

Those who actively hunted demon beasts were indeed quite rare.

Just like how Song Jiulai had only encountered a single person, Lin Qian from the Taohua Sect, on her way through First Mountain, and she had been there for a Second-stage Spiritual Grass.

Song Jiulai didn’t offer an opinion. "Everyone is afraid of dying, Cultivators included. It’s normal that they don’t want to go."

’Just like when the players don’t want to go, I don’t issue mandatory missions.’

Because not everyone enjoyed that kind of combat-oriented gameplay. Some could find other paths, like Fan Guzhou, who could brew wine. He had already established a close partnership with the taverns in Wang’an County. Now he was also leading the "life skill" players in helping the combat players tend to their Spirit Fields. That was another way to succeed.

Everyone had different choices.

Forcing players into suicide missions was not an option.

Her initial batch of slots couldn’t be wasted.

Except for Zhen Weida, whose death had been particularly lame.

Speaking of Zhen Weida, she wondered if the young man could snatch another slot.

「Late at night」

Zhen Weida was waiting in front of his computer, his heart pounding with excitement.

To ensure he had the fastest internet speed and a computer that wouldn’t hold him back, Zhen Weida had already used some of his savings to buy a better PC and upgrade to the fastest network plan available.

All for one of these 30 slots.

He believed this investment was worth it.

As long as he could get into the game and earn Spirit Stones to exchange for points, he could sell them to other combat-focused players.

Fan Guzhou had already proven that this path was viable.

You couldn’t spend real money in the game, but the points could be sold for cash.

He wasn’t a combat type, anyway.

The last fight for slots had been unbelievably fierce. This time, Zhen Weida, an atheist, had for the first time sincerely prayed for a red string of fate and bowed to the Buddha.

He prayed to the God of Wealth, Guanyin Bodhisattva, and every other deity he could think of.

He was covering all his bases, spiritually speaking.

He was trying to use metaphysics to bless his attempt at snagging a slot.

The slots were set to open at midnight again. Despite a mountain of complaints on social media, it didn’t stop a huge crowd from showing up out of curiosity to join the spectacle. This time, the fight for slots was even more intense than the last.

Zhen Weida had also learned the copy-paste trick, but while filling out the form, he noticed his internet connection suddenly lagged for a moment.

Because when he clicked "submit," the facial recognition prompt took forever to appear.

"FUCK, don’t tell me my internet is crapping out on me now! It can’t fail, not now! I’M GOING TO KILL MY ISP! AAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

No one heard Zhen Weida’s tragic scream.

But in another place, there was dead silence.

At the base, in order to snatch some slots, the official department had naturally used some privileged methods. For example, they created a few seconds of lag on the public network—not enough to affect ordinary residents’ daily lives, but enough to give the government agents an edge in grabbing the slots.

Although the method was a bit underhanded, this privilege had to be used in order to investigate the game’s origins.

And for security reasons, they weren’t using the computers at the base to log into the website.

They were using a civilian internet line and ordinary, everyday computers.

But strangely, they failed.

And for every government agent at the base who had participated in the coordinated effort, a message appeared in large text on the official website’s page: "Luck is a part of strength, too. Cheating is not recommended, you know."

The entire base team was wiped out.

After this message appeared, the entire base fell into a dead silence.

A long moment passed before Wei Jun, who had witnessed the result with his own eyes, spoke in disbelief.

"We were blocked?"

Xiaoqing swallowed hard. "It looks that way."

Wei Jun stared at the line of text, his brow furrowing even deeper.

"So you’re saying all our efforts were for nothing?"

Xiaoqing: "Not exactly. It’s probably telling us we have to compete for them normally. But if it can detect that our signal was abnormal, then the technology of the people behind this website is truly immeasurable. Chief, should we continue to make contact?"

"Of course. It’s precisely because its origins are so mysterious. Even if it hides potential dangers, as public officials, we have a duty and obligation to investigate and confirm. It’s fine that we couldn’t get a slot this time. Let’s see if we can approach the other players who got in, using a gentler method."

Just then, a department staffer walked over. "Chief, Tan Jie, who’s on leave at home, just called. He said he got one."