Lila was shocked by the news from the class group.
Her eyes were still blurry as she just woke up. She felt for her phone under the pillow and squinted her eyes to make out the information on the screen.
"The list of the first batch of internal test players for 《Crimson Soil》 has been announced!"
"Is it true or false?"
"The message was posted on the official website 3 minutes ago ."
"Wow! Who's that lucky?"
"The first batch of internal testing is only 10,000 people? This is a global selection, isn't the number of positions released by the official too few!"
Lila was slow to react for a while, and it was not until the sleepy bug had run away that she remembered that she had previously, under the instigation of her classmates, applied for a game internal test qualification. She had randomly filled out a questionnaire on the official website and submitted it, and that had been ten months ago.
At the time, the trailer for "Crimson Soil" had just been released, with the promotional gimmick being "a groundbreaking holographic game, a real-life second world."
The trailer immediately caught the attention of global players, and the selling points of the game are the open world for free exploration and the multiple career options.
And this is a game that combines cyberpunk and supernatural elements. Players can choose the technological path to become a cyborg with mechanical prosthetics, or they can choose the supernatural path to unlock various extraordinary abilities.
It is based on reality yet transcends it, with a matchless sense of reality amidst the imaginary, as if it is interlocked with the real world.
What really attracted Lila were the last two sentences of the game description.
Light always gives birth to darkness, and the prosperous appearance of the city always hides a decaying and dilapidated side.
"Compared to money and power, survival and death are the eternal propositions of that world."
Since the introduction says so... then perhaps Crimson Soil, in addition to the cyberpunk aesthetic and superhuman abilities, also has a touch of a dark core?
Lila checked the screenshot in the group and saw that the game official will send the internal test invitation email to the player's mailbox, and the first batch of internal test players is indeed only 10,000 people, and the official internal test date is tomorrow.
It's been only one day since the open beta registration for "Crimson Soil" was launched, and the global pre-registration numbers have already surpassed 10 million. After a few months of hype, the pre-registration numbers have far exceeded that initial milestone
Billions of players must be selected, with only 10,000 lucky ones joining the internal test. The probability of being chosen is extremely low.
Although she had little hope, Lila still opened her inbox to check.
"You have an unread message."
The prompt that popped up in Lila's inbox caused her to pause, her heart raced and she suddenly sprang up from her bed.
"Congratulations on being granted access to the beta testing of the game 'Crimson Soil'."
The email title was in a striking red color, Lila was pensive, repeatedly checking the sender and cross-checking with the official published email address, confirming it again and again in disbelief.
After she finally confirmed that this email was actually sent by the authorities, the first thought that came to her mind was - I'm rich! I'm rich!!
Sell off this beta access, you'll definitely make a lot of money!
Penniless wretch rejoices!
Lila is an old spooky egg, her father's investment failed and he ran away with the money, her mother remarried and sends 800 yuan in living expenses every month, which is enough for food, but buying study materials and clothes is tight, the second-hand smartphone in her hand is something she bought with the money she earned working at a milk tea shop.
Lila lives alone in the old house left behind by her grandparents, rising early and working late to study hard, like a hardy wild grass, stubbornly living on to the present day.
This summer vacation has ended, and Lila is about to go to university. She has good grades and got into a good university, but the tuition and living expenses are a concern.
If I could sell the closed beta access for 'Crimson Soil', I wouldn't have to worry about living expenses for a long time.
However, the next sentence in the email dispelled Lila's thoughts.
"《Crimson Soil》 closed beta test qualification is not tradable or giftable. The closed beta test invitation code is bound to the player's registration information and cannot be changed. This closed beta test is free-to-play and does not save player data."
Lila's face fell into a gloomy and dismal expression, as the path to earning money was ruthlessly cut off.
She actually doesn't care about the game because her equipment is so bad that she doesn't even have a holographic headset, so she can't really play it. At the time, she filled out the game questionnaire on a whim just to join the crowd, mostly with the mentality of "if I can trade the closed beta access, that would be a big win."
Lila thought deeply and sadly felt that while she had now become one of the lucky 10,000 people with global exclusivity, she was still a poor old wretch. She had been selected for the internal testing, but... You can't experience the game, it's like having a mountain of gold and silver but not being able to spend it, which is frustrating.
She sighed and scrolled down the screen to continue reading.
The email content is very short and does not contain much effective content. Lila flipped to the back and was pleasantly surprised to find a sentence "If the player agrees to join the game, the game company will issue special game equipment for the player."
Yay!
The worry about the future has been resolved, she can now play the game! Lila's mood is like a roller coaster.
The email included a link to a player questionnaire survey.
Lila curiously entered the link.
If given the opportunity to welcome a new life, would you accept it?
Of course. Lila unhesitatingly chose the answer that represented "yes".
A new beginning means starting over, and her current life is already bad enough. How much worse can it get?
Do you believe in the existence of a divine being in this world?
Lila chose "no". She is a firm atheist.
Would you like to have superpowers?
"Yes!" She thinks that having superpowers and being an atheist are not contradictory
"You have completed the questionnaire."
The game-related files and precautions have been sent to your email, please check them.
The anonymous forum for beta testers has been opened for you, please save the URL and register in a timely manner.
Lila carefully reviewed the new message and saved the URL of the anonymous player forum as prompted by the text.
The content of the internal test of certain games is a commercial secret and is not allowed to be leaked. The existence of internal test players is to help the developers catch bugs and fix game vulnerabilities.
The developers of Soil have provided a beta testing player forum, likely to give beta testers a place to communicate.
Currently, 10,000 people have obtained the internal testing qualification, so the content on the forum should be very limited, and she will be one of the first forum pioneers.
Lila did not immediately register on the internal testing forum, but instead opened her email to check the new game files that had been sent over. These types of files usually require the player to sign to confirm, which is considered a contract, and violation would result in legal liability.
She opened the new email, and as soon as she read the first few lines, she froze.
"Six tips for Crimson Soil players. You can choose to follow them, or choose to break them, but the consequences of breaking them are yours to bear."
"First, please treat the game world as the real world."
"Second, do not reveal your own player's identity to anyone."
"Third, do not disclose the game content to anyone."
"Fourth, life is only once, and death cannot be revived."
"Fifth, if you choose to start the game, then you only have the paths of 'completing the game' and 'character death' to choose from."
"Sixth, everything has a price."
This... just a few words? Is the game statement only a few words like this a bit too hasty?
Lila was at a loss.
It's just a game, and it's not very interesting when game companies write some atmosphere-building remarks in the disclaimer as if they're being mysterious. The so-called "real world" is just a marketing gimmick for the game, and everyone knows that the world is fake.
Lila opened the game file, which is a file that requires a signature.
She carefully read through the file from beginning to end, but even after reading it twice, she did not find any confidentiality clauses. However, the "six pieces of advice for players" clearly stated that they should not disclose the game's content.
It's really strange, isn't this a contradiction? If you don't want the players to leak the information, why not put the non-disclosure agreement in a legally binding document? Those few words of advice have no binding force.
At the end of the document is an electronic signature field, and Lila writes her name in the signature field.
As soon as the name was written, a small page popped up, with the text "Are you sure you want to join the game?" written in bold red font. You have one and only one chance to back out. You have one and only one chance to exit
Lila didn't care much, she didn't even stop and just clicked confirm.
The page has changed, and a new prompt has appeared.
The contract is complete.
"Welcome to your new life, Lila."
Why is this game so strange? Lila puzzled over the computer screen.
She pondered for a while, opened the internal test anonymous forum, and clicked on the registration.
The registration process is amazingly simple, just fill in the internal test invitation code and you're done.
Lila randomly entered the number "233" in the nickname field. All her game nicknames are "233" because she doesn't have much naming talent, and the ones she manages to come up with are easy to forget.
Lila has a common name, so she uses the "233" nickname until the end.
"Nickname once confirmed cannot be modified."
Lila did not take it seriously, and still clicked "Confirm".
A new message has popped up.
"You have become the 233rd registered player on the forum."
Lila: "Huh?"
What a coincidence, could 233 be her lucky number?
After a brief loading, Lila saw the forum page.
The forum's background color has a cold metallic luster, the page is exceptionally simple, and the functions are also very monotonous, with only posting, replying, and private messaging functions.
But there is a prominent blood-red Arabic numeral "10000" in the upper right corner of the forum.
"Next to "10000" is a line of small text that reads "number of survivors"."
Lila felt her heart skip a beat and a sense of unease when she saw the words "number of survivors".
There are dozens of posts with "new" tags in the forum. The forum has just been opened, and the players have just registered, so the posts are all new. Lila refreshed the page, and there are another ten or so.
The post was posted, the post title has English, Japanese, Russian, and Chinese, with ten thousand players from all over the world gathered in this small forum.
Lila can roughly translate the English title, but she cannot translate other languages at all.
She quickly scanned the existing Chinese posts and found that the titles were all "Let's start farming," "Are there any Mogcheng players?," "There will be my name in the first hundred posts"... and other such uninteresting posts.
Overwatered.
She hesitated for a moment, opened the post, and entered the title: "Does anyone else find the 'Six Pieces of Advice for Players' a bit strange?"
After writing the title, Lila's mouse hovered over the post button, hesitating for a long time.
She recalled the sentence "Please treat the gaming world as the real world," and the subsequent advice "Life only happens once, and death cannot be revived." Seeing the gory number "10000" at the top of the forum, she felt as if something had struck deep within her mind.
She suddenly felt a chill, but she didn't know where this sense of horror came from.
This feeling came suddenly, it is absurd.
Lila shrugged her forehead.
How could the plot twist in fantasy novels of "entering a holographic game and actually traveling to the real world" happen in reality?
Despite engaging in self-consolation, Lila inexplicably deleted the post content and decided to continue observing the situation in silent mode.
She constantly refreshed the forum and read through each Chinese post on the forum.
A few minutes later, a new post caught her attention.
"The game company did not at all mention how to ship the game equipment. Has any player received a holographic helmet or an installation package?"
The door of Lila's house was knocked at the very next moment this post was seen.
She unconsciously stood up, walked to the door and observed the peephole, but she didn't see anyone.
She waited for a few minutes, slowly opened the door, and noticed a small black lacquered box lying quietly on the floor, with the words "Crimson Soil" written on it.
Lila opened the box and found a silver metal card inside. The pattern on the card was complex but graceful, with intersecting lines forming a mechanical hand.
"This is... a game commemoration card?" Lila flipped through the card, then shivered.
She remembered that she had never filled in her address information on the game website, so how did this card come to her?
Lila hurriedly put on her slippers and went downstairs.
She lives in an old residential area, where the facilities are outdated, but there are surveillance cameras installed nearby.
A few grandpas and grandmas were sitting at the entrance of the stairwell playing mahjong. The neighbors all knew each other. Lila asked, "Mrs. Cheung! Did the delivery guy come by just now?" "No, doesn't Lee usually come around 3 o'clock in the afternoon?" Mrs. Cheung pushed the mahjong tiles forward, beaming with delight, "Woo, I won!"
"Did anyone just go upstairs?" Lila asked.
"No." Mrs. Cheung was busy playing mahjong, not even looking back.
Hearing this, though it was the scorching month of July, Lila felt a chill on her back from the summer.
No one went upstairs, so who rang her doorbell? She had never filled out any address information, so how did the "Crimson Soil" game cards get accurately delivered to her home?
She just finished signing the game contract, and the cards were delivered in less than five minutes.
Lila looked down at the silver metal card in her hand and turned it over.
The back of the card has a few characters engraved on it.
—_"Dispossessor: Lila. ID: 223.
233 is the game nickname she just filled out, and it is also the order of her forum registration.
Lila felt her scalp tingling for a moment.
The situation seems to be racing towards an unusual direction.
