Chapter 1: Eternally Sealed Glory

"Brother Sheng, I heard you're back from the military; 'Piggy' opens servers tonight… you're back, right?"

Looking at the message on his phone from a dead‑friend of his school days, Su Sheng couldn't help feeling a little dazed.

After a moment, Su Sheng replied, "Not sure, I'll see later."

Then Su Sheng put away his phone and unlocked the door with his fingerprint lock.

"Mom, Dad, I'm back."

Mother Huang Hui sat on the sofa, eyes glued to the TV, and turned her head when she heard Su Sheng's words.

Father Su Wenhao sat on a small chair nearby, operating a laptop, and responded without looking up.

"Ah, Sheng, you're back," Mother said with a smile, looking at her Su Sheng, "How's work?"

"It's been almost a month, I've already adjusted. How about Sister Huan?" Su Sheng hung up his gear and changed shoes.

"The 'Piggy' thing opens tonight; your sister is busy next door," Mother said, gesturing toward the next door.

"Mm."

Su Sheng nodded; next door was Huan Jie's game studio.

"Since you're free, you can go help your sister; Mom and I plan to go in and take a look—heard the scenery inside is nice," Father Su Wenhao said, finally looking up at Su Sheng.

Don't think Dad's clutching a laptop because he's working; he's actually browsing game data and some official announcements.

Ever since Huan Jie earned enough from games to buy this house, Dad has become enthusiastic about games.

Su Sheng gave his father a strange look and said, "Got it."

He looked like a game‑addicted teen… no, more like a middle‑aged gamer.

After chatting with his parents for a while, Su Sheng returned to his room.

He took a shower, tidied up, and sat on the bed staring at the 'Piggy' game headset, lost in thought, unsure what he was thinking.

Huan Jie gave every family member a game headset, including Mom and Dad.

Ding‑dong!

At that moment, a message tone rang, and Su Sheng snapped back to look at his phone.

"Dear user, Teng Long's 'Piggy' will launch promptly at 20:00 tonight…"

Su Sheng was speechless; as expected of Teng Long Company, the promotion is spot‑on—it's already eight o'clock.

Ding‑dong~

Another penguin‑style message chimed.

These days the mainstream messaging apps use green bubbles, but this is the penguin messenger that was popular during Su Sheng's school days.

It was that dead‑friend from his school days.

"Servers are live, Brother Sheng; the brothers are waiting for you in 'Piggy'."

After a pause, Su Sheng picked up the game headset Huan Jie had set beside him.

He ran his fingers over the Teng Long‑produced headset, its surface engraved with the Teng Long logo and the bold 'Piggy' characters, feeling a hint of nostalgia.

His family didn't realize that he had indeed played games before; the very reason he enlisted was because of something that happened in a game.

Going back, just go back and take a look.

With that thought, Su Sheng put on the headset.

"Welcome to 'Piggy'…"

"Scanning iris, verifying identity…"

Teng Long's game uses iris‑recognition for identity, with no power‑leveling, no account theft—one person, one account.

"Ding~ Dear Glory player, welcome back, binding identity."

Listening to the synthetic voice, Su Sheng felt a bit nostalgic; Teng Long Company still retained his identity data.

"Creating character…"

The character creation also reads personal data, banning big‑dong cute girls; as for that trans‑nation, Su Sheng has no idea how Teng Long handles it.

After all, this 'Piggy' is a global simultaneous launch, whereas ten years ago 'Heroes' only operated domestically.

That's why Teng Long Company abruptly shut down 'Heroes' at its peak, then immediately announced 'Piggy'.

"Character model created, please make adjustments…"

Based on the body‑scan data, he no longer matches the frail silhouette from ten years ago; after seven years of service and discharge, Su Sheng's physique has changed dramatically.

So this time the character template is a hulking man!

Su Sheng tweaked the model—first the face, which can't be identical to his own, then added a touch of slenderness to the build.

Of course there are also obvious packages that will use his real appearance directly in the game.

After confirming the model, the next step began.

"Please select a profession template. Note that once chosen, it cannot be changed; choose wisely."

Soon, the screen displayed several profession statues fashioned from fabricated character templates.

A warrior gripping a Long Sword, bloodied from head to toe.

A knight wielding sword and shield, eyes resolute.

An archer with a full‑moon longbow, gaze sharp.

A thief with twin daggers, expression cryptic.

A mage brandishing a staff, exuding nobility.

A priest surrounded by holy light, compassionate and kind.

Warrior, Knight, Archer, Thief, Mage, Priest—the classic six professions.

Beyond that, because it's a global launch, each major civilization region will have its own specialty professions.

In Huaxia, the specialty profession is a fangshi who carries a peach‑wood sword on the left behind his back, and in the right hand holds a sword‑point gripping a talisman.

Su Sheng's gaze lingered on that assassin statue for a moment, then he silently withdrew his gaze.

In the past, in Heroes, Su Sheng was an assassin player; this time he came back perhaps out of reluctance, or perhaps to help Huan Jie.

Huan Jie's studio is all female; perhaps they should lack a tank position.

Then…

Knight.

Su Sheng illuminated the knight statue holding a sword and shield.

Ding!

Confirm selection, knight profession template!

Confirm?

Confirm!

「Ding~ Please enter a nickname for the game character. 」

「Ding~ Detected that you are a distinguished honorary player with a bound exclusive honorary nickname; would you like to use it? 」

At that moment, four gilded large characters appeared beneath the input box.

Death‑Defying Scholar!

Seeing this familiar nickname, Su Sheng again fell into a daze, and many past tumults surfaced in his mind.

This is the character nickname Su Sheng used in Heroes; honorary players are not something everyone can obtain.

But it's all in the past now.

After a while, Su Sheng finally came to his senses.

「Would you like to use the honorary nickname? 」

The system sounded the prompt again.

Those who abandon me cannot keep yesterday's day.

Let the past be past.

Su Sheng chose no.

「Warning! Warning! 」

「The honorary nickname can be activated only once; if you reject it, the nickname will be permanently sealed, and even you yourself cannot reactivate it—please confirm whether to seal it. 」

「Seal! 」

(Brain! Seal!)

Su Sheng confirmed the choice.

「Please confirm the selection again. 」

The system sounded the prompt again, after all obtaining an honorary nickname is not easy; each honorary nickname is a symbol of identity.

Su Sheng silently confirmed again.

「Seal confirmed; the honorary nickname "Death‑Defying Scholar" will be permanently sealed in Teng Long Company's products. 」

「Ding~ Detected that the honorary player has relinquished the honorary nickname; the system will give a lottery compensation to be claimed after entering the game. 」

Hmm?

Su Sheng blinked, not expecting an unexpected joy.

「Ding~ Please assign a nickname to the character again. 」

Hmm…

What should I call it?