Chapter 44: Forum

At midnight, in the darkened bedroom, Li Cheng sat before his computer desk, half his face illuminated by the screen.

After obtaining the Chosen One status, the previously blank player forum suddenly appeared before his eyes with fresh content, including a registration option.

Due to the sensitivity of the Chosen One status, account registration required no mobile verification code—simply typing in a username and password sufficed for successful registration.

Li Cheng scrolled with the mouse wheel, carefully browsing. Like many anonymous forums, the player forum lacked features such as signature files, avatars, personal spaces, and even fixed user IDs.

The forum server assigned each new user a fresh ID every 24 hours—typically a 14-character string of letters and numbers. Older posts retained their original IDs.

This setup protected each user: others could not track or identify a specific user by scrolling through old threads.

The forum contained over a hundred subforums, large ones like Player Guides, Item Recommendations, General Chat, and the Black Market Exchange; smaller ones like Subculture, Emotional Life, Music and Book Recommendations, and Game-Related Topics.

[Ten-Thousand-Word Guide! Pro Player Teaches You How to Survive the Newbie Period Safely]

【Newbie Seeking Advice: Three Guilds—European Heavy Industry, Prometheus, and the Federal Investigation Bureau—have all offered me a spot. Which should I join?】

【List of Dangerous Zones in the Killing Ground, Including Common Experiment Types and Security Patrol Patterns】

【Selling Five Bottles of Chu Renmei’s Bathwater from “The Old Corpse in the Mountain Village.” Drink it and you’ll see ghosts—I tried it, it’s real. Limited stock, hurry to buy, free shipping, 300 game coins, negotiable】

【Found a strange pair of stockings in my husband’s car, went to the hotel to catch him in the act, only to discover my husband had become a new player three months ago and chose the Magical Girl power system. Now my heart is chaotic, exhausted, numb】

As Li Cheng scrolled through, he gained plenty of knowledge and insights, but also waded through a flood of meaningless fluff posts.

Especially that one about the husband becoming a Magical Girl—dramatic, absurd, over-the-top—and at the end, it turned out to be an ad! A micro-merchant selling plain stockings!

Well, they weren’t ordinary stockings—they were gear with supernatural properties, wearable by either gender. For example, fishnet stockings increased agility, cotton socks improved cold and heat resistance, and tights reduced curse damage.

But this marketing tactic was shamelessly crude, reminiscent of Zhihu Premium or web game ads.

Li Cheng rubbed his temples. Even though the player forum had matured significantly, such annoying content was still unavoidable.

Indeed, the end of every player is merchandising; the end of every forum is fluff.

“At least browsing the forum wasn’t useless—I now know how to estimate my current strength via the player panel.”

He silently muttered and summoned the system panel, opening the Chosen One Information section.

Under Chosen One Information, besides name, age, race, and current level, there were two additional fields: Chosen One ID and Player Nickname.

The ID was a long string of letters and numbers assigned by the Killing Ground—unique to each user and unchangeable. Even if a player died at the hands of a non-player and their aptitude transferred, the ID would not be passed on to anyone else.

The nickname was chosen by the player, used primarily for adding friends, remote communication with friends, and transferring game currency to other players.

From forum guide posts, Li Cheng learned nicknames could be duplicated and changed later, so he didn’t care much and simply entered 【Ant】.

After confirming the nickname, the attribute section beneath the player info automatically updated.

【Ant】

【Lv1. Experience: 0/100】

【Strength: 8】 (level of a top weightlifter)

【Agility: 8】 (level of a top sprinter)

【Intelligence: 6】 (talented)

【Constitution: 7】 (level of a professional marathon runner)

【Perception: 6】 (level of a professional hunter)

【Charisma: 6】 (cute)

【Equipment Slot: Empty】

【Inventory Slot: Empty】

【Skill Slot: Empty】

【Game Currency: None】

Lv1 was Li Cheng’s current level. Players gained experience by completing Killing Ground missions; each level-up raised the experience cap by 100 points and granted one free attribute point.

The average adult human, without training, had all attributes at 5, except Charisma and Intelligence.

These attributes were not simple game stats—they reflected the user’s actual physiological condition.

Strength corresponded to muscle strength, bone density, and basal metabolic rate.

Agility corresponded to neural reflex speed, bodily coordination, and muscular explosive power.

Constitution corresponded to basal metabolic rate, recovery rate, and environmental adaptability.

Intelligence corresponded to memory, cognition, calculation, and logical reasoning.

Perception corresponded to observation, early-warning ability, and even intuition, sixth sense, and spiritual sight.

One free attribute point, added to any stat, produced a noticeable change in an ordinary person—even seemingly useless Charisma—

To others, a player’s appearance remained unchanged, but their demeanor and speech shifted, making them appear more likable and charismatic than before.

“Ordinary people have all attributes at 5. Right now, excluding Intelligence and Charisma, my panel alone suggests I’m equivalent to a level-nine player. Of course, that’s theoretical.”

Li Cheng rubbed his chin. Theory was theory; practice was practice. Since he could already access a degree of supernatural power through the Lord of Insects’ infection early on,

other players could also gain advantages through various means.

For example, a player might take muscle-enhancing drugs daily, train obsessively, raise Strength from the ordinary 5 to the professional weightlifter’s 7, then spend one free point to reach the Olympic-level 8.

The personal gain from this was far greater than merely going from 5 to 6.

Or a player might take on heavy debt early on, then pay Gen-Sys Biotech to inject them with the Captain America serum to maximize attribute gains during the newbie phase.

These strategies provided significant early-game enhancements.

But according to some guide posts, players who used such methods to gain supernatural power early faced subtly increased mission difficulty—they wouldn’t start at Lv1 and suddenly become Godzilla crushing primitives.

Having scanned the attributes, Li Cheng stared at the empty Equipment and Inventory slots. After a moment’s thought, he pulled out the remaining Lord of Insects’ amber and the golden arrow he’d confiscated from the Ink-Spotted Spider.

(End of Chapter)