[Challenge: Beat the Pay-to-Win Game with $0]

Song Hao, who was unemployed and at home, came up with this slogan. He usually streamed games occasionally for fun and never took it seriously as a side job. 

Now that he had the time, he thought about whether he could grow his account and earn some money for takeout. If he dared to dream big, maybe he’d become an overnight sensation and never have to work again.

As it stood, he was just a small-time streamer with only about two hundred followers and eight viewers in his live stream room. The most important thing now was to ride the wave of trending topics, and Song Hao chose the recently popular 3D game, “Dynasty.”

Though it had 3D face customization, voice interaction, and random NPCs, “Dynasty” was essentially an old-school text-based interactive game. 

It had been wildly popular back in the day, and its recent resurgence was due to a major company planning to acquire and remake it, sparking a return of old players.

As a high-freedom text-based interactive game, “Dynasty” combined elements of combat, intrigue, management, farming, and harem building. It offered various playstyles like Emperor, Power Minister, Wealthy Merchant, Master, and Wanderer, with the Emperor storyline being the most popular.

Players would start as a prince living in exile, using exams, battlefields, and strategies to be recognized by the emperor. Along the way, they’d encounter various romances, ultimately uniting the world and achieving a perfect life with a harem of three thousand.

The game was popular, and the official pay-to-win tactics were diverse and made players groan in frustration. So, a slogan like “Beat the Game with $0” could indeed attract a lot of attention.

“Welcome ‘Streamer Blows Hot Air’ to the live stream room. No hot air here, I’m really going to challenge with $0, because I’m truly broke.”

[Hahahahahahahahaha]

[Sell a kidney then]

[Check out xx loan]

[What’s there to challenge? You can pass by following guides]

[The officials won’t let you off]

“It’s indeed my first time playing. I’ve only read the game description and won’t be checking any guides. That would be boring. Feel free to supervise.”

[Okay]

[This should be fun, hehe]

[Still too young]

[Let’s pity you first [Free Flower x1]]

[When are you starting?]

“Thanks to ‘xdf’ for the little flower, starting soon,” Song Hao glanced at the online count, 156, which was more than usual. Riding the trend really worked, “I said I wouldn’t spend money, and I mean it. Let’s see if the officials are stingy or if I’m just poor.” Song Hao clicked start and chose the Emperor storyline, and the game played the cutscene.

“In the 23rd year of the Great Hong Dynasty, the court discusses succession, and the hearts of the people are restless. Can an unknown scholar from a remote village really stir the heavens and earth? Is he the exiled royal blood destined for the throne, or a pawn controlled by others, destined to die in the streets? Everything is just beginning…”

Gotta admit, the voice acting was pretty intimidating, with a hint of an evil overlord vibe. After the cutscene, it was time to name the character. Due to the plot, the surname was fixed as “Yuan,” and players could only choose the given name.

“Too lazy to think, I’ll just type something random.”

To increase immersion, Song Hao directly entered his real name, “Hao,” so his game character’s name became “Yuan Hao.”

The next step was face customization. The system’s default was a plain, ordinary face, but it kindly provided up to fifty appearance adjustment buttons.

Song Hao couldn’t understand why appearances were made so complicated; random generation would suffice, right? He tried adjusting the skin tone to white, turning the character into a ‘pale passerby.’

He then tried raising the nose, which looked fine from the front, but from the side, it was like a skyscraper rising from flat ground, comparable to a rhino horn.

To get a harmonious face, all features must be balanced. Clearly, Song Hao wasn’t skilled at face customization. After some random adjustments, he looked at the monster on the screen and thought this character would make a great NPC in a zombie game.

Regretfully, he reset the settings, and even the passerby face looked much more pleasing now. He sighed, “Let’s go with the default. Kings and generals aren’t born; it’s all about intelligence, not looks.”

After his grand speech, Song Hao moved the mouse to click confirm, but the comments section got anxious first.

[Stop!!!]

[Take it seriously, this is directly related to appearance value]

[If your appearance value is 15, characters will lose favor with you immediately]

[Just use your rhino man, trust me (laugh)]

[All from painful experience, changing later costs money]

[One pit after another, and you think you can do it with $0?]

Song Hao decided to listen to advice, reluctantly withdrew his hand, and used the photo generation feature as suggested by the comments. He had a bright idea and uploaded a promotional photo of a popular male star, ready to brag and earn some gifts, only to be immediately warned by the system for infringement.

[Hahahahahahahahahahahaha]

[Learn about portrait rights protection]

[I’m tired, stop playing, go to sleep]

[Can’t even enter the newbie village]

[I’ll give you five minutes to search for a guide, I can pretend not to see]

Song Hao, pretending not to see the sarcastic comments, shamelessly uploaded his own photo. The system quickly generated a face 80% similar to his and offered a one-click beauty enhancement. After clicking, everything was subtly adjusted, making him look much more handsome, almost ready for debut.

No wonder it was popular; the officials did have some tricks up their sleeves.

Song Hao smiled and nodded, satisfied with the save, only to be reminded by a pop-up that it required a payment of 12 yuan.

“What the heck!!!” Song Hao was dumbfounded, “How is it already 12?! I haven’t even started playing, I haven’t even entered the newbie village.”

[It’s for the beauty enhancement, dear customer~]

[The reputation of a pay-to-win game isn’t for nothing]

[My reaction was exactly the same back then, hahaha]

[Stick with the rhino man]

[No wonder portrait protection is so strict, tsk tsk tsk, can’t beat the capitalists]

[Poor thing, here’s a gift [Free Flower x1]]

Refuse, and it’s your own face.

Agree, and you’re a debut-ready handsome guy.

Song Hao looked at the live stream title, remembered his original intention, and angrily gave up the beauty enhancement, directly entering the game. “Even though the auto-generated face only restored 80% of my looks, it’s enough.”

Song Hao talked to himself, acting nonchalant, but after character creation, he immediately opened the attribute panel.

“Appearance: 63”

Barely passing.

“…No worries, we’re aiming for world domination. Looks are the least important thing.”

[Who asked you?]

[That’s what happens when you don’t spend]

[Stubborn as a rock]

[Regret it now? You can still restart]

[Cry if you want to]

Song Hao comforted himself and continued with the storyline. The first scene featured an elderly woman, identified by the system as Yuan Hao’s mother, Madam Su.

His mother, aged and bedridden, weakly said, “Mother is old now. Although your appearance is plain, you are diligent. As long as you study hard, you can pass the academy exam in seven days and become a scholar. That is my greatest wish.”

Sitting by the bed, the protagonist Yuan Hao, dressed in a worn blue robe, tearfully replied, “Mother, rest assured, I will study diligently and become a scholar.”

“Task: Pass the academy exam and become a scholar.

Condition: Literary value > 60″

This was the newbie village task, requiring only a specific value.

“Plain appearance? Mother, you barely have the strength to speak, yet you still mock me?”

Song Hao complained about the officials’ shamelessness in selling a 12 yuan face customization card while opening the attribute panel again to find the literary value.

“Literary: 12”

“…”

“Dude, did you even study seriously? The exam is in seven days, and you’re at 12! How did you study? Even when I guessed randomly in school, I got 30!”

Song Hao was frustrated but had to continue playing. The system asked him to arrange the evening schedule, with options to study or rest. Of course, Song Hao chose to study.

“After a night of serious study, *Literary +4, Fatigue +2”

The game moved to the second day, with the system indicating three actions per day: morning, noon, and night. The current choices were ‘study’ and ‘rest,’ with each action adding 2 fatigue, while resting reduced fatigue by 5. When fatigue exceeded 20, actions would be impossible.

Being an old game, it only required simple calculations later on.

“Our current literary value is 16, fatigue 2. There are seven days left, meaning 21 action opportunities. The literary value seems random, probably between 1-5, assuming an average of 3. We need… 12 study actions, leaving 9. Fatigue won’t be an issue; we can rest twice. This way, we have 7 free actions. If we reload saves to boost literary value, we could have more free actions, but for the game’s experience, let’s retry if it’s below 3.”

“Okay, the newbie village is still simple.”

Song Hao confidently shared his strategy, while the comments section silently filled with smiling faces, creating an atmosphere of “just wait and see.”

“Second day”

“Hmm???” Song Hao leaned closer to the screen, realizing it was indeed the second day. The beginning counted as the first day, reducing his actions by three. He silently cursed the officials for being cunning but continued playing as if nothing happened.

The expected “study” button didn’t appear; instead, the scene jumped to a storyline.

“Knock, knock, knock! Urgent knocking sounded. Yuan Hao opened the door to see a girl in yellow carrying a medicine basket, rushing inside and tearfully throwing herself at his mother’s bedside.

‘Aunt, are you feeling better? Xing Er came to see you.’

‘It’s nothing, an old ailment acting up. I’ll be fine after some rest.’

Madam Su and Xing Er chatted briefly before Madam Su grew weary and dozed off.

Seeing this, Xing Er tucked Madam Su in and softly said goodbye.

She retreated to the courtyard, her eyes red, ‘Cousin, I only found tong grass these days, so I’ll be gathering herbs on the [back mountain] for now. If I find the [golden teng flower] that can cure Aunt, I’ll bring it down. If anything happens, you can find me on the mountain.’

Yuan Hao: Alright, be careful on the mountain. If I have time, I’ll join you in searching.

*Xing Er favor +2, tong grass x1

Afternoon action choices: Study/Rest/Back Mountain”

“The first romanceable character appears, a traditional childhood sweetheart type. The back mountain is for boosting favor. So this afternoon… let’s go to the back mountain.”

After all, it’s a harem game; let’s see what’s up.

The scene shifted to the back mountain, where Xing Er’s charming figure appeared again.

“Xing Er: Cousin, don’t you need to study today?

Yuan Hao: I was worried about you and wanted to check on you.

Xing Er: Cousin…

*Fatigue +2, Xing Er favor +2, obtained tong grass x1″

“Even going up the mountain adds fatigue, how stingy!” Song Hao complained, “Got another tong grass, not the one to cure my mother. It’s in the inventory, might be useful later. Xing Er’s favor is 4 now, wonder if boosting it will trigger a storyline. Today’s actions are two already, no literary value added. There are 16 actions left, if each study boosts literary by 4… need 11 actions, then reduce fatigue value for three, leaving two for the back mountain to see if a storyline triggers or if we find the golden teng flower.”

Following the system prompts, Song Hao arranged the schedule. As planned, the literary value had to be above 4 each time. If it fell below 4, he’d reload the save to retry. No choice, $0 means grinding.

By the sixth night, after choosing to study, the character’s literary value reached 53. During this time, he rested twice to lower fatigue and went to the back mountain twice. Xing Er’s favor was 8, and there were two tong grass in the inventory.

“Even tong grass isn’t guaranteed each time, seems the golden teng flower can only be obtained through Xing Er. Tomorrow’s the last day, with three action opportunities left. Current fatigue is 16, just enough for two study actions and one rest, barely passing. Seems the newbie village isn’t just mindless playing; there’s some difficulty.”

Song Hao stretched his shoulders, finally about to leave the newbie village, but the comments section continued to fill with smiling faces, a sense of foreboding rising. What could go wrong on the last day? Song Hao was puzzled and clicked to start the seventh day.

The familiar study button didn’t appear; instead, a storyline was triggered. A fellow villager came to take him to the academy exam, held in Jinping Mansion, requiring half a day by carriage. Since the exam started the next morning, they had to leave a day early.

[Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha]

[Finally waited for this]

[Didn’t expect it to be so reasonable, huh?]

[You were a joke with all that careful planning]

[Just~ a~ bit~ of~ difficulty~]

Song Hao could only agree, hoping the action count would only decrease by one, allowing him to barely pass.

“Evening, arriving at Jinping Mansion, *Fatigue +5”

“What???” Song Hao stared wide-eyed, realizing the journey took a whole day, leaving only the evening action round.

He opened the save slots; free players only had two slots, but they could be overwritten. Song Hao had used them both. One was on the second night, used to test the highest literary value. The other was on the sixth day at noon, with fatigue too high, so he chose rest.

In summary, the recent save was too late, and the earlier save meant starting over.

Song Hao stubbornly said, “…Maybe cramming before the exam will boost the literary value a lot.”

A miracle happened, but it was of another kind.

“Fatigue exceeds 20, please balance work and rest.”

His literary value remained 53, but fatigue reached 21, preventing pre-exam cramming, leaving only sleep.

[Go to sleep, you]

[Hahahahahahahahaha]

[Good night~]

[Hahahahahahahahahaha]

[Hahahahahahahahaha]

Song Hao numbly watched the exam cutscene, with the character’s perspective switching to the results announcement.

Academy Top Scholar: Wen Qing

Zou Hui, Gao Changguang, Liang Xuan, An Kenti…

“Literary Value: 53, failed the academy exam.

Achievement unlocked: Not Yet Out of the Woods.

Xing Er favor: 8, does not meet marriage conditions.

Ending: Country Old Man (Starting tomorrow, be a happy person, feed pigs, chop wood, farm. From tomorrow, no longer care about studying and women. You have a cottage, three acres of good land, spring blossoms, perfect for loosening soil and fertilizing~)”

Challenge: Beat the Pay-to-Win Game with $0, Song Hao, one round, defeated.