[“My blade is dull.”]

Zhou Sui did as told, stashing the fang back in his inventory, and his health stabilized for the moment.  

He looked at the fang in surprise. His palm still had some sticky residue from it, similar to the venom the Golden Serpent King had spat earlier. At the same time, a special debuff appeared on him, lasting a few seconds before fading.  

The wild monster Golden Serpent King could drop all sorts of early-game crafting materials, most of which could fetch a high price in-game for making various equipment.  

But every time a treasure chest was opened, there was a chance of getting junk items like [Half-Missing Venom Fang] or [Fresh Venom Fang]—useless materials that not only served no purpose but also inflicted a continuous health-draining debuff when held. Picking them up was bad luck, and a slight misstep could get you poisoned to death on the spot.  

In the team of just Slack Bro and Zhou Sui, things were especially bizarre.  

The toxicity of this poison fang was seen by the players watching the fall from both the top and bottom of the cliff.  

‘Holy crap, deadly poison—hold it a few seconds too long, and you’re a goner!’

“What the hell, trash among trash!”  

“We fought for this long, and this is what dropped???”  

Slack Bro stared at the [Treasured Venom Fang], then glanced at the unopened chest in his own inventory. “Bro, don’t you burn incense, bathe, and pray before opening a chest or something?”  

‘This is the chest from an enraged Golden Serpent King!’

‘A special event chest—what kind of luck does it take to open something that poisons you for half your health right off the bat?’

“When I open a chest, I’ve got to find a feng shui hotspot, burn some incense, and pray. You know us unlucky stars have our secret tricks. Next time you need some mysticism, come to your bro—” Before he could finish, a cold arrow suddenly shot up from below. Slack Bro dodged in a hurry, grabbing for a nearby vine. In the process, his hand brushed against the golden chest he’d just opened in his inventory.

Slack Bro: “!!!”  

[Announcement] Player Slack Bro opened the [Golden Serpent King · Secret Stash], and with a flash of golden light, discovered the [Luminous Stone] and [Buddha Leaf Fruit] inside—truly rare treasures. Let’s congratulate him!  

Slack Bro: “…Holy crap!!”  

Zhou Sui: “Is it bad?”  

Slack Bro was positively glowing. Heaven knows his luck had been downright abysmal before this. “Before I met you, I was the kind of guy who’d always get trash from chests—cursed hands! This place, it’s a treasure trove, my feng shui jackpot!”  

“So the masters who told me to broaden my horizons meant I needed to climb high and turn my luck around! I’ve got to mark these coordinates—next time, I’ll—”  

Before he could finish, he glanced down and saw the silent crowd below.  

The grin on his face froze instantly.  

“Holy crap, a Luminous Stone!!! A must-have for crafting attack gear!”  

“Buddha Leaf Fruit—I think I remember that’s some high-defense stuff. Didn’t a top-ranked player offer a fortune for it a while back?”  

“I knew the Golden Serpent King’s chest couldn’t just drop junk!”  

The moment that chest opened, the entire server’s eyes turned red with envy. Who cares about that trash venom fang from before? This chest dropped double rare materials!  

The silence lasted less than a minute before the crowd below erupted into motion.  

He is doomed! Slack Bro’s footing nearly slipped. Today, it was him or the rare drops—only one was leaving this place alive!  

Slack Bro scrambled upward, shouting, “Bro, save me!!!”  

“No, Big Bro! Big Shot! Saving a life is worth more than building a seven-story pagoda!”  

Zhou Sui watched the guy who’d been about to mark coordinates suddenly start climbing. “Hold on.”  

Slack Bro’s face lit up instantly. He knows this guy is reliable. “Don’t lose heart over getting trash—we’ve still got a shot! If we’re lucky enough to escape this, I’ll split the loot with you!”  

Zhou Sui said, “My blade’s dull.”  

The newbie scythe, which had tremblingly slain countless snake monsters, had finally run out of durability at this very moment and was completely wrecked.

Slack Bro was dumbfounded.  

Heaven wants to kill him!  

In the blink of an eye, the commotion below grew closer and closer.  

Zhou Sui’s weapon was trashed, leaving him with just one blade. No matter how they fought, there was no way the two of them could take on the mob below.  

Earlier, the Golden Serpent King had kept the players at bay, but now? They couldn’t care less—aggro was fully locked on them.  

Slack Bro started calculating the odds of dying right then and there without losing his materials.  

He’d nearly reached Zhou Sui when he noticed some rustling behind him. Looking up at the sound, he saw something sprinkling down from above.  

Qi Ling Village’s powder!  

Zhou Sui had acted just in time, using it to buy a moment and pull Slack Bro up.  

Below, the elite squad leader saw his team closing in on Slack Bro and shouted to rile up the crowd: “There’s no Golden Serpent King blocking us now! Kill them, and the materials will drop! Don’t let them get away!”  

“Are you serious?! A bunch of you are being used as pawns—do you really think the chest will be yours if you get it?!” Slack Bro yelled while fleeing: “Are you all stupid?! Even if you rob us, you’d have to take out that shady squad first! Leave them alive, and they’ll just stab you in the back later!”  

Zhou Sui couldn’t help but glance at Slack Bro.  

Many players suddenly noticed the elite squad gathered below. They were the type to grab achievements and snatch rewards whenever they could.  

A few players didn’t budge. With just two items at stake, splitting the loot among a crowd would be a hassle.  

Plus, the name tied to triggering the special event announcement from the start was Cycle of Eternity.  

On the flip side, the squad that had been camping and killing to guard the rewards from the beginning were starting to piss people off. What was their deal? Did they think everyone else was an idiot? They’d already killed players and driven them out of the forest earlier—now they were rallying the crowd to gang up on the guys above. Were they planning to kill and loot again afterward?  

“That squad was guarding the spot and killed several teams earlier. My friends and I got wiped out by them—they even mocked us after!”  

“So they’ve basically been farming the Golden Serpent King like it’s their pet? What year is this—do we still have to swallow our pride to play a game? I’m done.”  

“Tch, say what you will, but thanks to the guy pulling aggro up there, I snagged an achievement. In a game, you fight for mobs with skill. These guys couldn’t outplay him, so now they’re throwing a tantrum.”  

Slack Bro seized the moment to speak up: “Besides, killing us only drops two materials—kill them, and you’ll get a whole pile!”  

“Those guys camp spots every day. They’ve got tons of materials on them—the drop rate’s way higher than ours!”  

Zhou Sui paused: “You know all this?”  

Slack Bro: “How could I not? The Qi Ling Village warehouse is so far away—they haven’t had time to stash their murder loot yet.”  

His voice rang out loud and clear for everyone around to hear.

As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately riled everyone up.  

The people who had been killed earlier had also had their loot taken, and hearing this sentence made them furious. A small team couldn’t beat them before, but now with so many people here, were they still afraid they couldn’t win?  

The captain of the elite team failed to stir up trouble with his words; instead, the blame and hatred were shifted onto him. Sensing something was off, he wanted to retreat.  

But how could the other players let them leave? Everyone knows how to gang up and fight!  

Slack Bro seemed highly skilled at hiding and escaping. As soon as the fight broke out below, he didn’t hesitate—he pulled away, taking Zhou Sui with him to a safe spot. Turning his head, he said, “Perfect chance! Let’s add each other as friends first, then use the chaos to get some distance. Once we’re out of combat, we’ll log off!”  

The base of the mountain wall instantly descended into chaos. The elite team wanted to retreat, but the other players wouldn’t let them go, and a brawl erupted on the spot.  

Amidst the chaos, the elite squad captain, while cursing, tried to dodge. When he looked up again, the cliff top was empty—those guys had long since grabbed the Golden Serpent King’s treasure chest and slipped away in the chaos. Not even their shadows remained.  

“Damn it! Where’d they go?!”  

“Stop fighting! They logged off and vanished!”  

—-

Outside Qi Ling Village, a man leaned against a tree, his peripheral vision catching the group of game players walking out of the forest, grumbling and swearing. It was as if the farce in the forest had already ended, and the outcome was plain to see. He lowered his gaze to the system announcement history open in front of him, his fingertip lingering on the [Treasured Venom Fang] for a moment.  

“I’ve been looking for you for ages. The people from Hidden Immortal have all gone to find special events in other starting areas. How did you end up here in Qi Ling Village?” The speaker was clad in armor, level 35, profession: Tian He Mountain, with the ID ‘Mage Alt 123’ hovering above his head. “Hidden Immortal has already started searching, aren’t you going over there?”  

Mage Alt 123’s real identity was a Divine Tree profession player, main account ‘Fierce Tiger 123,’ a member of the third-ranked Divine Tree team [Wonder Zoo].  

Stuck on progression, he’d been sent by his team captain to the newbie zone to look for clues. This was already his third day wandering around.  

Fierce Tiger 123 stretched lazily, casting a sidelong glance at the man, who remained unresponsive.  

This guy was hired by the boss to find clues. He had no affiliation, but it was clear he was incredibly strong.  

Fierce Tiger 123 noticed another friend request window open beside the man, showing search results for [Cycle of Eternity]. The result was grayed out—  

The other party was offline.  

Cycle of Eternity (zhōu ér fù shǐ)—what a unique name. 

Though these days, even newbies love slapping “Zhou” into their names ^[1] Zhou, known from chapter one, was at the top. You could tell they are hardcore gaming fans, always naming themselves after their idols.  

Pretty slick—knowing to log off right after snagging the loot. A real seasoned pro.

Fierce Tiger 123 looked at the man. “Cycle of Eternity—isn’t that the one who triggered the event? You know him?”  

The man replied, “No, I don’t.”  

“Don’t go to Sui Xing City. Head to Yin Yue Alliance instead.”  

—-

In a dimly lit room, when the young man lying there opened his eyes, the chaotic forest had already vanished. All that remained was the dripping sound in the room and the swaying tail of a cat. The live video feed had shut off at some point, unnoticed. The mechanical cat, sleeping amid a pile of clutter, let out a soft “meow” when it saw the young man wake up from his disconnection.  

Coming to his senses, the young man stood up, swaying slightly as he realized he was no longer in the holographic world.  

Before logging off, that chatty stranger had only added him as a friend. He hadn’t said much—just watched as the guy dissolved into black smoke and disappeared.  

Then the connection cut, and he was back in reality.  

Zhou Sui reached to the side, brushing his arm. When he lifted it, he felt no soreness or fatigue, his mind drifting as he pondered something.  

It really felt a bit strange to adjust to.  

The holographic world fine-tuned human senses to perfection, and its noisy, bustling environment felt incredibly real. Compared to the training camps he’d stayed in before, it was a completely different experience.  

“Meow~” The mechanical cat’s voice snapped Zhou Sui back to reality.  

He stood up then, as if remembering something, and shuffled sluggishly around the room.  

The energy kibble in the cat’s bowl was gone. Zhou Sui poured some more, his voice raspy as he said, “Next time, you can do it yourself.”  

The mechanical cat didn’t care whether its poop-scooper remembered this or not. Waking its owner at set times for three meals a day to refill its bowl was routine, and it firmly believed the poop-scooper ought to remember such a small task as feeding the cat.  

After filling the bowl, Zhou Sui rummaged through the storage box and pulled out a specially formulated nutrient drink. He downed it in one go, then grabbed another tube from the box.  

That was today’s meal duty done for both him and the cat.  

As the mechanical cat munched on its kibble, it remarked, “Two tubes per meal? You’ll turn into a pot-bellied middle-aged man at this rate!”  

Zhou Sui replied, “Then should I starve? One tube isn’t enough to fill me up.”  

The mechanical cat launched into a lecture about the importance of a balanced diet, while Zhou Sui countered that nutrient drinks were the epitome of balance.  

His communicator had accumulated a mountain of messages over time, mostly from scattered group chats.  

The groups were lively every day, but Zhou Sui never bothered checking them. To him, the communicator’s sole purpose was receiving daily updates. Nowadays, though, it was mostly hijacked by his cat for browsing the net—filled with groups for snagging cat food deals and a few the cat had reluctantly joined for nutrient drink sales. Opening the friends’ feed was like wading through a sea of ads.  

A few months back, the cat had even bought Zhou Sui all sorts of health supplements. After Zhou Sui used them to no effect, the cat realized they were a scam and sulked for quite a while.  

“Move it,” Zhou Sui said, nudging the cat sitting on him.  

The mechanical cat wiggled its butt. Zhou Sui deleted some useless messages and sent a quick update to his primary doctor about his condition today.  

In the house, it was just one person and one cat, sitting together on the couch, staring into space.

Zhou Sui seemed to have grown accustomed to this kind of quiet. He stretched his body lightly, sidestepped the cat, and walked into another room in the house. As the smart door slid open, an assortment of training equipment came into view. Hanging prominently at the front was a punching bag for measurement. He casually grabbed a pair of gloves from the side, flexed his fist, and threw a punch, landing a red-flashing score.  

But he wasn’t quite satisfied and adjusted the settings a bit.  

The training room was littered with signs of wear—dents and scratches marred the high-tech forged walls.  

Memories from the game slowly resurfaced. In the game, he could play carefree for hours, but in reality, he stopped training after less than half an hour, already feeling drowsy.  

When the mechanical cat didn’t see Zhou Sui emerge for a while, it found him asleep in the training room.  

It meowed a few grumbled complaints, snapped a photo of its owner’s foolish state, and sent it to Dr. Wu, his primary physician. Then it trotted back to the living room, grabbed a blanket in its mouth, and dragged it over.  

—-

*Ding—*

At the Third Medical Station on Capital Star, Dr. Wu’s communicator pinged with two new messages, received less than half an hour apart. Both came from the same contact. The first was a textbook-perfect rehab report, methodical and by-the-book. The second, in stark contrast, came with an attached image—slapped in his face like a rebuttal—where the faint outline of a mechanical cat’s paw was visible at the edge.  

Dr. Wu: “…”  

A nurse nearby noticed Dr. Wu’s sour expression. “What’s wrong? Patient trouble?”  

Dr. Wu: “If the person were honest, it’d be fine. The cat sent the report.”  

The new nurse: “Huh? The cat?”  

Dr. Wu launched into a voice message rant toward the communicator.  

An ordinary training camp would’ve been simple enough. But the patient he’d been assigned was rumored to be a once-in-a-million genius from an elite camp. Heaven knows how stunned he’d been when he first saw this guy’s records from the camp—his hands practically trembled. Who could’ve imagined someone so exceptional would end up in this state?  

Three years ago, that genius training camp had made waves with its massive reputation. The gimmick of a mainframe AI challenging players was hyped to the max, drawing huge attention and a flood of participants. Zhou Sui had been the standout, clinching the top score: Level 51, 70 monster kills in the arena. No one had surpassed that record since that day.

Due to the level cap lasting too long, the mainframe eventually lowered the difficulty.  

Later, the training camp was shut down because the excessive stimulation it used to unlock participants’ potential was deemed too risky. The project was disbanded and merged into other sub-projects.  

Zhou Sui, however, seemed to be the unlucky one caught in that incident. Forced to retire, he faded into obscurity.  

He slept for years before waking up, missing the prime of his youth and the rapid rise of holographic technology. Even now, due to his constitution and exceptional personal qualities, he remained under surveillance. After all, there were plenty of examples of individuals with S-level mental strength or physicality turning into antisocial personalities.  

Dr. Wu sighed. Antisocial? Not likely—Zhou Sui is too lazy for that.

Zhou Sui’s interests and hobbies were frighteningly narrow: he didn’t like socializing, didn’t like going out.  

He seemed to have a bland personality—someone who’d blend into a crowd with no charisma or presence to speak of.  

If it weren’t for the past reports stating that this guy had once stayed in the training camp for a week straight without logging off, displaying astonishing focus, Dr. Wu wouldn’t have connected the Zhou Sui in treatment with that stellar resume.  

The nurse asked, “I heard he’s logged back into a holographic game?”  

There was a reason the medical monitoring hadn’t been lifted. Zhou Sui was a problem kid who still couldn’t put anyone at ease.  

Rumor had it that during his time in the training camp, his competitive streak was intense.  

Dr. Wu sighed again, glancing at Zhou Sui’s report. His mind drifted back to the first time Zhou Sui visited his clinic. “He probably knows his limits. Holographic games aren’t like the training camp back then—there’s no excessive strain… But this training room of his—can’t he just let me worry a little less?”  

“Are all these S-level physique kids this hyperactive?”  

—-

When problem kid Zhou Sui woke up, the sky outside was already pitch black. He got up and endured a scolding from Dr. Wu.  

Still groggy from sleep, he grabbed the tattletale cat beside him. “Next time you tattle, don’t even think about touching my account to buy toys.”  

Mechanical cat: “I’ve memorized all your passwords! Change them if you dare!”  

Zhou Sui: “…”  

Too lazy to argue with the cat, Zhou Sui brushed it off. Dr. Wu’s overreactions weren’t new, and the doctor often fretted over his mental health. Most of the time, Zhou Sui thought he was making a mountain out of a molehill. Still, out of respect for the doctor’s profession, he followed medical advice—except when it came to a certain cat that twisted the truth and stirred up trouble with pictures.  

He picked up the loader again.  

“You’re going to end up with a gaming addiction at this rate,” the cat said, sauntering out with its feline gait. “That’s what people on the StarNet say.”  

Zhou Sui: “…”  

“You’ve been talking a lot these past few days.”  

He decided it was time to change the password.

Zhou Sui logged back onto the StarNet to search for guides. He’d wasted time in the Serpent Cave, and the encounter with the Golden Serpent King added significantly to that time. While climbing the cliff, he’d been hit by another player’s skill and felt the overwhelming suppression that came with level differences. People or monsters higher-leveled than him dealt far more damage than he’d anticipated.  

The game was a chaotic mix of elements—nothing like the single-minded challenges of the training camp. It was more like a sprawling, free open world.  

There was a faint sense of familiarity, but not much. It could be that his current level was too low… As for the so-called content calculated by the mainframe, he hadn’t felt much of it yet. Maybe he hadn’t stumbled into the core gameplay.  

But every time he thought about this, his mind drifted back to the Level 52 scenario challenge he never got to see a few years ago.  

“Does the holographic mainframe regress too?” Zhou Sui asked.  

The mechanical cat shot back, “Intelligence is always advancing!”  

Zhou Sui: “Oh.”  

A pointless question.  

He did a quick search for the guide he wanted and logged back into the game the next day.  

It was daytime in-game. The spot he’d chosen to log off was well-hidden, and not many people had noticed it. He moved along the mountain wall toward another area, the surroundings eerily quiet.  

Zhou Sui planned to keep working on quests. He’d looked up a beginner’s guide online, hoping to level up quickly. But when he reached the quest location, he suddenly remembered his scrapped weapon. With its durability gone, its attack power had grayed out—like a rusted blade in the real world, clumsy and awkward to use.  

He opened the game’s built-in shop and searched, only to find outrageously expensive weapons listed.  

The cheapest one started at 30 gold.  

Zhou Sui’s inventory held a measly 10 gold, earned from earlier quests.  

He’d grinded his way to Level 23 by killing monsters, but his gear’s durability was nearly depleted. He was dirt poor—couldn’t even afford a single weapon.  

Just as Zhou Sui prepared to take on quests to save up for a weapon, a friend’s online notification popped up in front of him, followed immediately by a party invite.

Zhou Sui only had one friend on his list, and soon enough, he saw Slack Bro emerging from the trees on the other side.  

“Bro, why didn’t you wait for me?!” Slack Bro poked his head out from the far end of the forest, apparently having navigated over using Zhou Sui’s location. “What are you doing all the way over here? Let’s go together!”  

[World Announcement] Frost Moonlight: Offering 100 gold for Slack Bro’s coordinates in the Qi Ling Forest area. Heavy reward—report the spot, get paid!  

[World Announcement] Frost Moonlight: Heavy reward for Slack Bro’s coordinates!  

A neat row of messages scrolled overhead, and the two, who hadn’t yet spoken upon meeting, locked eyes.  

Zhou Sui: “You’ve got a bounty on you.”  

Slack Bro: “Heh, how awkward.”  

Zhou Sui: “There’s no one over there anymore.”  

Meaning no one was camping the spot, and their little partnership had come to an end.  

Slack Bro: “What are you saying?!”  

“I’m not that disloyal! You don’t play holographic games much, so you wouldn’t know—there are tons of world announcements smearing people’s names these days. Those guys are just sore losers trying to smear us… It just so happened that when I logged on, they were getting ganged up on by others, so I picked up a few loot bags while I was there.”  

Zhou Sui: “Picked up enough to get a bounty?”  

Here’s how it went down: Slack Bro logged back on about ten minutes after logging off, right when the elite squad was getting swarmed. He blended into the crowd, fanned the flames on the world channel, and stirred things up. Frost Moon was a notorious squad in this newbie server, known for hogging wild monsters. This time, their bullying sparked widespread anger. With a little provocation and their rivals joining in, the situation exploded like dry tinder meeting a spark. In the end, Slack Bro just casually swiped a few pieces of gear—that’s all!  

Slack Bro: “Well, I might’ve fanned the flames a bit. Can’t help it in this dog-eat-dog world. Who knew they’d remember my ID?”  

Right after he finished speaking, a trade window suddenly popped up in front of Zhou Sui.  

“Picking up loot is one thing, but stealing it goes against my principles”  

Slack Bro grinned. “I can’t just freeload off the team, right? So I sold the stuff, made some cash, and came straight to split the loot with you!”  

“Dividends from two top-tier materials.”  

A windfall from the heavens—the trade window displayed 4,000 gold.  

Zhou Sui: “?”  

Killing a snake is valuable?