Chapter 98

Huanglong Jun! Chen Shicheng recalled buying the map on the forum.

This map is somewhat indescribable; a simple city outline represents a town, three arcs represent a mountain range, a few big trees represent a forest—it's very rough, but fortunately the position is still accurate, and Chen Shicheng quickly found the location of Hui Siye's hometown.

However, as it said, Huanglong Jun lies on the border of the Dayu Dynasty; if not for a forest in between, it would directly border the Rakshasa Kingdom.

All around are densely packed mountains and forests, with only a single symbol representing a city standing alone in the middle.

What's hardest to accept is that there isn't even a symbol for a village nearby, and the nearest city on the map is almost a foot away.

You should know that the territory of the Dayu Dynasty is roughly the size of all of Asia; if scaled up according to the map's scale, this one-foot distance almost equals the diameter of a province.

This rendered Chen Shicheng's Yinxiang Incense, which could only transmit within a county, utterly useless; he could only rely on his two legs to get there.

But this also played right into his hands; he hadn't given up on the idea of letting Hui Siye move into the mask, and the longer the delay, the more advantageous it was for him—maybe constant PUA on the road could make the somewhat swayed fourth master decide.

"Never mind, let's walk and see!"

Chen Shicheng put the La Tiao into his storage bag, took the remaining gold after checking out, and walked out of the Gate of Rolling Clouds amidst the maidens' reluctance.

But not long after walking out, he discovered the impact of the large-scale closed beta on the game.

By this time, it was past midnight; players who had obtained closed-beta qualifications began logging into the game en masse, and the county seat, usually deserted after sunset, now sporadically saw people running around in excitement, triggering countless dog barks.

These people wore clothes identical to what he had when he first entered the game, and they held various cold weapons in their hands, eyes gleaming as they jumped up and down without cease.

Some even didn't spare the dog holes, sticking their buttocks in to crawl inside.

Even if they got stuck there and were fiercely bitten by the dogs inside, they excitedly shouted and screamed, as if they felt no pain at all.

Moreover, from time to time one could see a player suddenly respawn in a corner, face full of fright, after frantically patting himself down, continue excitedly charging toward the outside of the city, as if the consumed year of lifespan were utterly insignificant.

"It seems the power that can sync with reality has driven everyone mad."

Chen Shicheng shook his head with a sigh, then continued heading toward the outside of the county seat.

The result was that, less than ten minutes after leaving the city gate, a cold arrow shot out from the forest on the right.

But he didn't move at all, after all—a soft, limp arrow that landed nowhere near him posed no threat whatsoever.

"Damn, missed the shot; bows and arrows are really hard to control!"

Chen Shicheng's lack of reaction doesn't mean the archer had none.

Before he could even consider a counterattack, the archer couldn't help but draw his bow, step out from the woods, and gradually approach Chen Shicheng, saying, "Just now you were far away, I missed; now that you're closer, it's not certain—hand over your relic, or I'll send you straight back to respawn."

How audacious are these newbies? Chen Shicheng's eye twitched involuntarily.

Never mind that dying only costs a year of lifespan—can't you first see who you're trying to rob? Do you really think you're just an ordinary nobody anyone can bully? You should know he's already level 13, and thanks to elixirs, his attributes completely surpass those of level 15 players; not to mention his skills are all maxed out, and he even has the heaven-defying passive Slaying Immortal Sword Intent.

Such stat data means that, to this newcomer under level 1 before him, it's completely a matter of moving a finger to crush him.

No! He doesn't even need to move a finger; his weakest combat power, the Tai Sui, could sit down and kill this newcomer whose every attribute is under 1. "Ah."

Chen Shicheng sighed speechlessly, opened the storage bag at his waist, and issued a command via the Soul Spirit Contract.

La Tiao shot out from it instantly, first locking onto the new player drawing a bow; before he could react to what was happening, it turned into a phantom and tore him into two pieces.

【Slain Lv. 0 Under Heaven I Am the Wildest (player), gained 0.01 experience points.】

Not only was it as easy as crushing an ant, but the experience gained was hardly different either; Chen Shicheng shook his head and didn't bother putting that reality‑confused blockhead in his mind, then turned and continued on his way.

But he never expected that this was merely the beginning.

In less than half an hour, he encountered two waves of robbers one after another; one had good eyes but a bad brain, reaching out to ask veteran players for some pocket money, and after teaming up to hunt monsters, they were brutally abused by frenzied wild beasts.

He kindly rescued those people, but ended up being accused of kill‑stealing, receiving a barrage of complaints; helpless, he could only kindly send them back to the city for free.

And only after La Tiao easily sent those people home did Chen Shicheng understand the impact of the large‑scale closed beta on the game.

Ten million game slots were snatched up by people worldwide; aside from some remote, backward primitive tribes, wherever there was internet access someone signed up, making it nearly universal participation.

That works out to roughly one player per six hundred people.

As for the population of Huaxia, needless to say, at least 2.6 million people flooded into the game that night.

Even the remote Huangchi County Town now sees newbies everywhere; you can run into six or seven within half an hour, let alone elsewhere.

What's more, along the way he actually encountered only a single besieged wild beast; ordinarily ubiquitous small animals, even the forest's most common rabbits, have vanished without a trace.

Clearly, the competition for resources has become extremely fierce.

Getting back to the point, this is still just the large‑scale closed beta—merely an extra ten million players, and the changes are already obvious; when public testing arrives and billions pour into the game, the Dayu Dynasty might well become a colony of the Blue Star? Moreover, players are called the Fourth Heavenly Calamity, and demonic paths exist here; if some players let loose, a Human Emperor Banner trailing black smoke might really end up fluttering over the Dayu lands.

Just imagining the future scene of demons dancing in chaos, Chen Shicheng couldn't help but quicken his pace, for time waits for no one.

At the same time, he mourned for those players born near the county seat, for this place is the follow‑up map to the village spawn point; although there are low‑level wild beasts, high‑level monsters are far more common.

How could these newbies under level 1 possibly win? In the end they could only kill each other, trading lifespan for experience; with a guaranteed fifty percent win rate, the slight lifespan loss is still bearable.

After all, each level gained increases one's lifespan (end of chapter).