Chapter 540: Network

"Non-human player."

Huiyu leaned her small head over, staring at the heated forum discussion, and asked with confusion, "Come to think of it, I haven't seen many non-human players in Lou Street."

"Normal."

Li Cheng said casually, "Theoretically, player qualifications can be transferred through hunting and plundering; historically, there was indeed a case where a Level 1 newbie from Australia, after passing the guild's assessment, went out drinking with companions at a nightclub, passed out on the way home, stepped on a venomous jellyfish on the beach, and died instantly."

There have also been cases of being stepped on by elephants, or chewed up by hyenas.

But animals that become players this way are swiftly purged by local guilds."

"Why?" Huiyu asked, not understanding. "To recover player qualifications?"

"Player qualifications are valuable, that's one reason; the other is eliminating anomalies."

Li Cheng shrugged and said casually, "Major guilds can hire bosses from script worlds as consultants; they can accept members transforming themselves into werewolves, dragons, elves, and other non-human races;

even ordinary high-ranking members can convert themselves into transcendent beings to gain extended lifespans.

But they cannot accept the existence of animal players."

"I see."

Huiyu nodded half-understandingly; top transcendent beings are nearly divine, and no faction would tolerate a feline, canine, primate, or avian creature gaining player qualifications, awakening sentience, hiding itself, crawling all the way to Level 40, and then claiming to be a race representative, demanding negotiations with humans.

Even if there were some saintly, left-wing types who believed in equality of all life and that animal players should have equal rights with humans (many in Western guilds truly thought so), they'd be crushed immediately.

The forum was buzzing; all users were discussing the version update and the large-scale event mentioned at the end of the announcement: 【Elegy of the Kings】.

【Mississippi River Surfing】: I get it—the "Kings" in "Elegy of the Kings" are the key; probably similar to national destiny novels—summoning historical kings and emperors, King Arthur vs. Qin Shi Huang, Alexander vs. Lincoln, the winner rewrites national destiny, boosting the country's mineral resources tenfold, etc.

【Xu Ge City】: Sweat drops. Boss, your priority right now is to write your next Tomato Novel. National destiny tropes are here—why not say Kennedy vs. Abe-san?

【GigaChad】: By the way, isn't Abe-san three years old this year? He should be in preschool.

【Green Beans Can Be Stewed】: When Abe-san enters preschool, the five-year-old Prison Boss will bully him for sure.

【Mississippi River Surfing】: Bully? Abe-san will obliterate the Prison Boss instantly.

【Huihui's Rain】: Haha, you guys are chatting so much. I got sucked into a killing-field time current earlier and just got back to the real world—I heard several major countries are offering high salaries to recruit Level 5 top transcendent players to form their own official guilds? Anyone else planning to submit a resume?

【Xu Ge City】: Holy shit, senior! Junior here bows down.

With too few current clues, no meaningful content could be drawn from the forum alone; the discussion quickly devolved into banter and nonsense.

Li Cheng scratched his head and closed the forum webpage.

He had no particular opinion on this so-called "Elegy of the Kings"; his toy factory was running smoothly, and his magic cannon master's cultivation hadn't hit a bottleneck—he didn't need to scramble for ways to grow stronger like ordinary players.

As for whether the large-scale event might affect the real world—

Come on, even if the sky fell, top Level 40 powerhouses like Michael and the Side of Truth could hold it up like nursing home attendants cleaning up shit.

He just needed to complete his tasks step by step.

"Forum chatting is still the best."

Huiyu lifted her head from the laptop screen and suddenly noticed Li Cheng's subtle expression. "What's wrong?"

"A task came."

Li Cheng rubbed his temples; just as sailors avoid saying the word "sink" and ER staff avoid saying "finally, I can go home," players also held superstitions—always avoiding mention of task intervals.

And now, the moment he thought of it, the system notification appeared right before his eyes.

【Task trigger condition met】

【Task type: Routine Task (One-on-One Duel)】

【Task name: Network Duizhan Qibing】

【Task objective: In three hours, hold eight types of ten-gigabit network cables and await teleportation】

【Reward: Revealed upon receiving the next task prompt】

【Failure penalty: Forced participation in Elegy of the Kings】 This—

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow; this task was bizarre. Routine tasks usually occurred in the real world or somewhere within a killing field.

With his current strength, if no higher-tier transcendent interfered, three lightning-fast elbow strikes could level a medium-sized city. The real world couldn't withstand such intense combat.

Second, the failure penalty was odd—it wasn't deletion or level reduction, but forced participation in Elegy of the Kings.

Could it be… this event was voluntary? Only for Level 30+, with extremely high mortality?

No time to ponder further; Li Cheng called Huiyu and quickly prepared.

His current panel (excluding text length):

【Godslayer·Master Pi Fu】

【Lv26, EXP 1572/2600】

【Strength: 13】

【Agility: 12】

【Intelligence: 20】 (Abandoned Divine Right: +3)

【Constitution: 12】 (New Human: +1) (Commoner's Fury: +1)

【Perception: 14】

【Charisma: 4】 (Barbecue Enthusiast: -1) (Abandoned Divine Right: -1)

【Equipment Slot: Mercy's Soul-Blessing Melody, Bagua Alchemical Magic Cannon, Yin-Yang Blade, Ocean-Soul Binding Bell, Levitation Engine, Assembled Doll, Proof of the Odd Mechanic, Thermal Death Corridor, Bat Hook Gun, Skill Transfer USB, Information Synthesis Glasses, Flag of Steel and Victory, Ape Regression Gun】

【Inventory: Book of Impure Plague, Notebook of Seeking Death, Automated 3D Warehouse, Key to Akili Toy Factory, Ten-Eye Communication Earpiece, Emergency Escape Card, Electronic Pet Egg, Xuanlei Qilin Blood Plasma 700ml, Backup Hidden Energy Source, Technological Singularity Device, Edge War Vehicle】

【Skill Slot: Mist Concealment Technique, Multi-Threaded Brain Domain Method, Experience Roleplay Method, Instant Thunder, Familiar Swap, Condensed Qi Internal Explosion Fist, Riding the Wind and Churning the Waves, Solid Rock Rooting Technique, Knight Never Dies Unarmed, Dragon's Breath, Summoning Art: Farmer, Visualized Memory, Summoning Art: Shadow Peregrine, Gao Guang Moment*20】

【Game Currency: 116574】

【Qi Value: 1050】

【Sanity: 450】 (Barbecue Enthusiast: +120) (Helicopter Destroyer: +30)

【Huiyu: Skill—Spiritual Stealth Ambush, Destruction Beam; Equipment—Skull-Shattering Power Hammer, Silver Wing Light Path】

【Special Collection of the Heat Death Corridor: Curse of the Dead, White Fox Spirit, Entropy-Devouring Cloud, Frog God, Six-Armed Snake Demon, Black Pharaoh, Alpha Serpent Head】

After preparing everything, Li Cheng did not return to the real world; instead, he randomly entered a high-end internet cafe on Lou Street, shut off the computer's network cable, and gripped it in his hand.

(Regular missions occasionally affect the real world—blowing up your own house would be disastrous, but if an internet cafe on Lou Street explodes, the insurance company will pay.)

When the three-hour countdown ended, there was no disturbance. When he opened his eyes again, he stood squarely on a bustling city street.

Wait, isn't this Yin City?

Li Cheng's pupils contracted—he saw crowds of pedestrians, towering skyscrapers; it was clearly the Yin City waterfront.

But upon closer inspection, he noticed the architecture differed from the real world; the pedestrians' clothing was unnaturally pristine, and several military armored vehicles sat parked along the street.

The reason he called them "armored vehicles" was because those vehicles radiated an overwhelming sense of cheapness—as if someone had simply sprayed gray paint onto SUV shells and pretended they were military vehicles.

Worse still, Li Cheng was now fully armed: left hand gripping the Ape-Man Regression Gun, right arm cradling the Bagua Alchemical Magic Cannon; considering he might need to use the Book of Impure Plague, he wore a yellow airtight chemical suit.

Yet despite this bizarre attire, not a single passerby cast him a single odd glance—they walked past him as if he were invisible.

"."

Li Cheng silently launched a reconnaissance drone, then released Grey Rain from his electronic pet egg. Grey Rain, upon seeing the surroundings, gasped, "Oh my, isn't this Yin City?"

"It's not Yin City."

Li Cheng's expression looked as if he wore a mask of agony. He pointed to the drone's live aerial feed on the remote control—clearly visible was a massive, cannon-shaped shadow beneath the Huangpu River.

"We are now inside the 2019 August-released, Douban 2.9-rated, 360-million-yuan-budget, 120-million-yuan-box-office classic sci-fi film—"

"The Shanghai Fortress."