May 10th, 2022, Huaguo, Qingzhou.
The weather in May was gradually growing hot and restless.
Chen Xiaoyan, dressed in a plain white short-sleeve shirt bought from Taobao, walked dazedly down the street holding a job recruitment flyer.
He! Had failed again.
Including today’s attempt, this made it the eleventh time he was rejected in interviews.
Is graduating from a prestigious school really that important?
Chen Xiaoyan couldn’t figure it out.
That female interviewer had just glanced at his alma mater and told him to wait for news at home. Knowing that familiar result, he realized there was no hope.
“Damn it.”
Chen Xiaoyan casually tossed the recruitment flyer aside, feeling bitter but helpless.
After the previous ten failures, he had already come to accept it.
Maybe he simply wasn’t suited for this first-tier city Qingzhou.
Wouldn’t it be better to find an ordinary job in a third-tier city?
Why insist on suffering in a first-tier city?
“Damn it, might as well just go home.”
Chen Xiaoyan raised his hands to pat his cheeks, pushing away his wandering thoughts and decisively headed back to his rented apartment.
Eleven failures had already drained his patience.
If one place won’t keep me, another will.
***
Back at the apartment, just as he was about to pull out his key and open the door, Chen Xiaoyan immediately spotted a notice stuck on the door.
Tearing it off, it was the landlord’s rent bill.
Including water, electricity, internet, and cleaning fees, the total was 3,100 yuan—half of which was rent alone. This damned big city.
“Looks like I’ll be eating steamed buns all month again.”
Chen Xiaoyan bitterly twisted the corner of his mouth, slipped the bill into his pants pocket, and walked inside.
“Beep beep.”
No sooner had he closed the door than his phone vibrated a few times in his pocket.
Chen Xiaoyan took out his phone and saw a message from an old best friend.
I Am the Master of My Fate, Not Heaven: Yanzi, I’m shocked.
A full-holographic online game actually came out in my lifetime.
I Am the Master of My Fate, Not Heaven: Damn! You didn’t know?
Yanling Assassin: Don’t keep me in suspense. Spill it.
I Am the Master of My Fate, Not Heaven: Look at this (link)
Chen Xiaoyan clicked the link. It was a game promotional webpage, seemingly for a full-holographic virtual online game.
His eyes lit up.
Back in high school, he had watched a Japanese anime called Sword Art Online, where the protagonist entered a full-holographic game.
Unlike traditional games, it allowed you to personally experience everything in the game, not just through a screen. It was incredibly realistic.
But holographic virtual technology was still under development in the present day, wasn’t it?
How did it come out so fast?
Could this be a phishing website?
He closed the site and browsed major news outlets. The game was also reported there.
So it wasn’t a phishing site.
Chen Xiaoyan relaxed and returned to the website to take a serious look.
The game was called Immortal Realm, with only a few ancient-style fantasy illustrations and no extensive description.
Below was the purchase link for the game connection device.
The more he looked, the more it felt like a phishing site—the production was so shabby.
Still, he tried clicking the purchase link and spent a thousand yuan buying the game connection device online.
So worth it!
“Beep beep.”
I Am the Master of My Fate, Not Heaven: Yanzi, did you buy the device?
Chen Xiaoyan put down his instant noodle cup and replied on his phone.
Yanling Assassin: Bought it an hour ago. Why?
I Am the Master of My Fate, Not Heaven: Lucky you bought it. The game site just announced a temporary halt on sales, and the entire internet is going crazy.
Is that so? Chen Xiaoyan hurried to check the game website.
Sure enough, the purchase link was gone, replaced only by a notice:
“Sales of game connection devices are temporarily suspended.”
“Beep beep.”
I Am the Master of My Fate, Not Heaven: The game servers open tomorrow. Don’t forget to add me as soon as you log in. My ID hasn’t changed.
Yanling Assassin: You’re such a dorky otaku.
I Am the Master of My Fate, Not Heaven: I’m happily an otaku.
Seriously, Yanzi, some people online are reselling these devices for up to 100,000 yuan.
Ever thought about that?
Yanling Assassin: 100,000?
Chen Xiaoyan’s eye twitched at that number, stunned.
To be fair, the device cost 1,000 yuan, but now it was a hundred times that?
Honestly, he was a bit tempted.
After a few minutes of hesitation, Chen Xiaoyan decided to at least try out the full-holographic game.
It would fulfill a high school dream.
“Sigh!”
Chen Xiaoyan put down his phone and collapsed onto the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Was he being stupid?
That was one hundred thousand RMB!!!
***
Time flew to the next day.
Chen Xiaoyan woke up, quickly freshened up, then returned to his bed and picked up the game connection device.
The device was a helmet, silver-white in color, shaped similarly to the helmets worn by the Victory Team in Ultraman.
Following the instructions, he put on the helmet, lay back on the bed, and pressed the start button.
In an instant!
The entire helmet seemed enchanted, emitting a dazzling silver-white light.
Chen Xiaoyan felt as if the whole world turned silver-white.
【Scanning player…】
【Scan complete. Creating game character…】
【Creation complete. Implanting player consciousness, please wait…】
【Implantation complete. Dear player, have fun gaming.】
Throughout the process, Chen Xiaoyan was utterly confused.
What was this?
Who am I?
Where am I?
Why wasn’t this game following the usual procedure?
In the blink of an eye, he realized he seemed to have entered another world.
The sun shone brightly, and around him were ancient-style buildings.
These buildings stood atop mountains, shrouded in mist, with peach blossom petals drifting down, exuding an ethereal, fairyland vibe.
He was standing in the middle of a plaza.
Around him stood about a hundred girls dressed in pink strapless dresses.
They seemed just as curious, looking around and gasping softly with their hands covering their mouths.
“Wow, this is so real! Are your faces real-person simulations?”
“T﹏T I’m crying, I thought this game had a face customization feature.”
“Right? I didn’t believe it at first, but this thousand yuan was worth it.”
“Yahoo!!”
“Whoa! Why are you shouting so loud?”
“Sis, I’m just too excited. I’m gonna play this game till it shuts down!”
Watching the female players chatting excitedly, Chen Xiaoyan noticed a problem—there seemed to be no…
Damn, any male players?
Was he the only male player here?
“Hey, girl, what’s your name?” A female player next to him suddenly asked.
“Hm?” Chen Xiaoyan looked at her in confusion and pointed at himself. “Are you talking to me?”
The moment he spoke, a gentle, clear voice like a wind chime startled him.
Wait, what’s going on with my voice? Why does it sound like a girl’s?
Could it be…
Chen Xiaoyan hurriedly looked down at his body.
In view was a chest wrapped in a pink strapless dress, the cleavage clearly visible.
Snow-white, delicate skin all around stimulated his senses.
Damn! I’ve turned into a woman?
“Girl, what’s wrong? Don’t worry, it’s just a game. It’s just too realistic.”
The female player beside him saw his shocked expression and kindly reminded him.
“Game?” Chen Xiaoyan snapped back to reality and breathed a sigh of relief.
Right, it’s just a game, nothing to be afraid of.
He’d played female characters before, so what’s the big deal?
“Actually, I’m a guy,” Chen Xiaoyan answered honestly.
Better to be upfront about these things, convenient when finding a partner.
“Guy? Girl, are you kidding me? This is a full-holographic game. The character’s gender is scanned from the real player, and can’t be changed.”
“Ah…” Chen Xiaoyan recalled the prompt when he started the helmet.
Seems that was true.
But he was definitely a real man in real life.
Why was his game gender switched?
Ridiculous.
This must be a game bug.
I’m going to complain! Definitely complain!
“Silence!!!”
Suddenly, a deafening voice echoed from above the plaza, shaking everyone’s heads in confusion.
Three absolutely beautiful women, wearing pink strapless dresses, descended slowly like fairies, landing on a raised platform in the plaza.
Unlike the players, they wore sheer outer robes that concealed their snowy white shoulders.
Tianxiang Sect Sect Leader: Yue Qifang (Level 71), cold and aloof.
Tianxiang Sect Deputy Sect Leader: Shen Qingqing (Level 66), caring big sister type.
Tianxiang Sect Protector Elder: Liu Fufeng (Level 62), with a slightly violent tendency.
Chen Xiaoyan stopped his urge to call customer service and shifted his attention to the three major NPCs on the platform.
Tianxiang Sect?
Is the game auto-assigning classes?
No wonder it’s a full-holographic game, definitely different from those traditional flashy and annoying games.
“From now on, you are all disciples of my Tianxiang Sect. Once you reach level ten, you may leave the sect’s mountain gate to start your trials,” Sect Leader Yue Qifang said coldly.
Chen Xiaoyan recognized that the lion’s roar just now came from this Sect Leader.
Next, Deputy Sect Leader Shen Qingqing stepped forward and said,
“One month from now, Tianxiang Sect will hold a grand competition. The champion will become our sect’s chief disciple and receive our sect’s divine weapon.”
“Qingqing, it’s my turn!”
Liu Fufeng excitedly jumped next to Shen Qingqing, smiling faintly at the hundred players gathered below.
“I am Protector Elder Liu Fufeng, specializing in combat. If you’re bullied, come find me.”
“Wow~ this NPC is so cool!”
“I’m impressed!”
“Sister Liu, I love you! Can I have a sisterhood meeting?”
“So this means we have a powerful ally now?”
“Should be. Players probably can’t defeat NPCs at this point.”
Yue Qifang ignored the chatter and kept observing the suddenly appeared hundred disciples in the plaza.
Although they were all strangers, meeting for the first time, why did she feel certain they were Tianxiang Sect disciples?
“Fufeng!!!” Shen Qingqing glared fiercely at her.
Liu Fufeng lowered her head, took two steps aside, and awkwardly smiled, “Qingqing, I’m just trying to be nice. Our Tianxiang Sect disciples are very few to begin with.”
“Hmph! Even so, you shouldn’t teach them like that.”
Liu Fufeng pouted, “I think it’s pretty good.”
“You dare talk back?” Shen Qingqing narrowed her eyes, shooting her a cold glance.
Feeling the chill in that gaze, Liu Fufeng shivered and turned her head away, signaling she’d keep quiet.