“Little Sun, any news from Director Qin at the Public Security Bureau?” “No response yet, Deputy General Manager Ouyang!” “Chief Tian and Mayor Song aren’t answering my calls anymore; it’s driving me crazy!” “Don’t panic, Director Qin has his guardian angels; he’ll be fine. But about the anomaly in the new server of the virtual world ‘Sky Fantasy’, has the headquarters traced the source yet?” “Deputy General Manager Ouyang, do you suspect that neither of our technical department heads knew about this subplot involving the rescue of Princess Yun in the game script? Does that even need questioning?” “And what about Fujiko Tsugaru from the customer service department, any sign of her?” “None! No one knows where she went!” “Damn, Director Qin should have kicked that Japanese woman out ages ago; she must be behind this mess!” “Deputy General Manager Ouyang, what should we do now? Director Qin is still missing, and with this chaos at headquarters, the new server ‘Sky Fantasy’ just opened a few days ago and is already out of control. If this continues, our Wanmei will really be used as a pawn by those with malicious intent!” “How are things at headquarters?!” “It’s a mixed bag. Ever since that subplot appeared, the number of online players has continuously set new records, nearing the bandwidth limits of our server room. If we don’t control it, our ‘Wanmei’s virtual game might become the first in the world to crash due to too many users! The popularity of ‘Sky Fantasy’ is just too overwhelming!” “What’s going on? Wasn’t the zone-sealing measure implemented?” “The day after the zone-sealing measure was put into effect, which was the day we arrived in Yushan, our server room was subjected to multiple comprehensive hacker attacks. After the attacks, although no other issues arose, the strangest thing was that several games under Wanmei’s agency seemed to interconnect. Players can link their existing game IDs across these games by activating a certain code. Isn’t this the network roaming technology Wanmei plans to develop in the near future? How could hackers have such advanced skills? They’re practically doing us a favor!” “You’re right, but the issue is, our current server hardware and other support services can’t handle so many users flooding into the same game simultaneously!” “Why are so many people entering ‘Sky Fantasy’? Is the rescue of Princess Yun really that appealing?” “Deputy General Manager Ouyang, look closely! Don’t you find Princess Yun familiar?” “Wang Xiaoyun? One of the two students Director Qin came to Yushan to find? How did she become the main character in a plot mission in ‘Sky Fantasy’? Could this be another move by the hacker group behind these students?” “Wait, what’s the reward for completing the plot mission?” “Maybe it’s a hint from these mysterious hackers! After completing the plot mission, players will receive the latest model of a virtual terminal gaming device.” “The latest model of a virtual terminal gaming device? That’s all?” “That’s the only reward listed!” “Is there any other information? Or any data from third parties about this new gaming device? It can’t just be an empty promise, right?” “Deputy General Manager Ouyang, there’s nothing else, but there are some rumors circulating among players about Princess Yun. They say she was created using a new type of virtual terminal device to project a real person’s image into the game. So, any player who knows this ‘inside story’ is eager to be the first to interact with this virtual beauty from the real world. They all want to be that pioneering individual! I think such a gimmick would drive any game enthusiast crazy!”
As the two executives of Wanmei continued their intense discussion about the outcome of this southern journey and the whereabouts of their CEO, in the crowded game space of ‘Sky Fantasy’, at the simple square of the novice village, a flash of white light marked the arrival of yet another new player into the game. Welcome back to the virtual realm of “Fantasy World,” player Gui Shou Wu Qing. The small step you take today will have a significant impact on your virtual life. Please hurry to NPC Li Changgen to receive the system quest to rescue Princess Yun. Go and fulfill your grand ambition. There’s only one strange flower, and only one chance. Embrace the first challenge in your virtual life! Quest objective: Rescue Princess Yun from the demon king. Look! It’s Gui Shou Wu Qing again! He’s here too! He has even appeared in the game with an almost lifelike appearance! Wasn’t he always with Director Qin? In that case, Director Qin must be safe now! Xiao Sun, contact Mayor Song immediately. Sun Chen, now fully focused on controlling his game character, squeezed through the bustling crowd, chasing after Gui Shou Wu Qing. Seeing this, Ouyang Ce pondered for a moment, then decided not to disturb Sun Chen, and instead picked up his phone to check on the whereabouts of the big boss, Qin Jian.
Lin Feng, who had just soul-transferred into the game space, appeared on the village square for beginners, momentarily mistaking it for a supermarket holding a video game competition. People were packed shoulder to shoulder, and the experience of entering the game space felt increasingly real this time. Besides the omnipresent crowd, the overwhelming noise was also quite something. As soon as he entered the game, the system prompt reached his ears, and with great effort, he made his way to NPC Li Changgen to accept the quest to rescue Princess Yun. He expected to receive some map or mission prompts immediately after accepting the quest, but to his surprise, there was no further response from the NPC. He casually inquired, and found out that other players had received the same ambiguous prompt. Despite this, the enthusiasm for completing the quest was unexpectedly high among everyone. Lin Feng, after learning the reason, felt an indescribable frustration and irritation. These people, these bored, hateful, despicable, perverted, and lustful players, all harbored the same thought of seeking adventure, novelty, and a chance to be the first to kiss a real-life beauty in the virtual world. Everyone oddly believed that Princess Yun, held captive somewhere mysterious, was just a gimmick by Wanmei Corporation to promote their virtual gaming equipment, hence the vague system quest.
Frustrated by the vulgar talk around him, Lin Feng turned to leave when he suddenly heard someone call his name from behind. Yes, his real name, not the teasing nickname some players used to test if he was the real Gui Shou Wu Qing, or if he had spent a fortune to get this ID. (This was because there had been cases where RMB players were scammed out of tens of thousands by people using similar IDs like “Gui Shou Tian Qing”, leading to a proliferation of knockoff Gui Shou Wu Qing IDs in the game, making it a massive “Gui Shou family”, and thus, the once-famous ID had become commonplace. This is why Lin Feng’s appearance with the original ID didn’t cause the usual commotion among players.)
However, now, as Lin Feng was about to follow the coordinates set by Niu Niu to rescue his sister, he was taken aback by hearing his real name called out in the game world. He knew that if his real identity was recognized, it could lead to an uncontrollable situation, so he refrained from turning around immediately. A player named “I am Old Sun” appeared in Niu Niu’s window, calling his name. Since other players could only customize their characters from a set template, Lin Feng couldn’t recognize who this person was by appearance, and he made sure his current masked mountain bandit look wouldn’t be recognized by acquaintances from real life.
“Mr. Lin, please wait!” the man shouted louder as Lin Feng tried to ignore him and leave. “Mr. Lin, we want to talk with you!”
