Night World Players

Chapter 197: Last, Start Speedrun (5k)

Last reached out, picked up Dean Yin, who was squatting in front of the keyboard and passionately arguing with the opponent, and put him aside.

Then, he picked up the sci-fi-style headband.

「Fully immersive virtual reality gaming helmet」

This is the full name of the small sci-fi headband in Last's hand.

Just as it has been described in countless fantasy novels, after wearing the headband in front of you, you can directly feel the five senses simulated by electrical signals through the brain-computer interface.

This kind of technological product, which in the present world only exists in the blueprints and concepts of mechanics and has not even been produced as a prototype, seems to have already been popularized in this historical echo of the Sixth Age night world, and has been completely civilianized and entered thousands of households.

Because it is completely civilianized, the gaming headband is also very simple to use. Last mastered the skills after just one simple try.

He turned to look at Dean Yin, who was squatting beside the computer desk, rubbing his paws with anticipation. "Well, I'll leave my real body in your hands, Dean Yin. If anything unexpected happens, like the Omnic Disaster arriving prematurely, remember to tell me to log out."

"Don't worry, wrap it on me!"

Dean Yin wagged his tail, pressing impatiently, "Don't even think about any unexpected changes. Even if this game suddenly turns into a death game where you can't log out, I still have a way to rescue you."

"Hurry up and log in, I'm still waiting to watch the live broadcast!"

"I'm playing a death game within a death game. Why does it sound so confusing?"

Last connected the cables, then found a comfortable angle to lie down on the soft big bed and put the virtual headband on his head.

Then he reached out and pressed the start button on the side of the headband.

Ding--

After a crisp system prompt sound, Last felt his consciousness being drawn into a completely new virtual world by the data stream.

This feeling was not unfamiliar to Last, as it was quite similar to the feeling he had when he entered the historical resonance of the night world.

The only difference is that the process of guiding consciousness in this virtual game is more rough and rigid compared to the night world, and there is a world of difference in technical ability.

certainly--

From another perspective, if these deficiencies in details are improved and the rough edges of the experience are polished and perfected, then from the perspective of ordinary people, it is likely that they will not be able to tell the difference between virtual reality games and the night world.

Welcome to the virtual reality game "Poem of the Shore Keeper"

"In this game, you'll become a historical traveler, journeying back through time and space to hundreds of years ago, to the dark and turbulent era following the Great Cataclysm. You'll experience that epic period alongside the heroes who once saved the spark of civilization amidst the turmoil."

"New citizen iris information has been detected and a new account is being registered for you."

"In accordance with federal laws and regulations, this game requires iris authentication when playing. Our company is committed to protecting the privacy of users. The iris and identity information collected is only used for identity verification purposes."

"Please confirm that you have read the [Game Privacy Policy] before continuing the game."

Accompanied by a soft female voice, Last felt lines of text flying past his eyes.

When the floating text disappeared, Last saw a large page of densely packed "Game Privacy Protection Guidelines".

"no……"

"This game is too much in line with the stereotype of my previous life, isn't it?"

Rast couldn't help but be slightly startled.

Although the development of human civilization mostly leads to the same destination, the fact that different paths have led to the same destination to this extent still makes him feel that it is a bit too abstract.

However, Rast quickly reacted -

When I said goodbye to Gray on the rocky beach after the Battle of Broken Coast.

He used the power of the "Fool's Library" to pass on his experience, cognition and insights about the future society to Grey, which naturally included his experience of playing domestic online games in his previous life.

Grey grew up in the steam age, so she had naturally never played any video games, let alone what a video game should look like.

Therefore, when making "Poem of the Shore Watcher"...all Gray could do was to imitate. She could only follow the experience of those domestic online games in the Fool's Library and copy them.

In this case, the blame actually has to be put on myself.

Last could already imagine the resentment that the game players in this world would feel towards him when they saw the inappropriate game privacy terms.

Thinking of this, Last's mind moved slightly, and he scrolled directly to the bottom of those tedious and lengthy privacy terms and chose to confirm.

No way, no one would really read the privacy terms word by word, right?

With the click of the confirmation button, the previous interface disappeared and was replaced by a new line of text.

「Please enter your user nickname:」

Shore Guardian

"This nickname has been used, please re-enter"

Shore Guardian 152

"This nickname has been used, please re-enter"

Shore Guardian 114514

"This nickname has been used, please re-enter"

……

"Stupid, Shore Guard and Last are both virtual idols in this world, world-class buzzwords. How could you possibly get a nickname like that?"

Dean Yin's noisy voice came from outside. It was obvious that he checked the game progress on Last's side through the host screen.

"Listen to me, listen to me, use my ID!"

Hearing the nickname mentioned by Dean Yin, Last's tone became a little more subtle: "Dean Yin, are you sure?"

"Of course." The little ferret puffed out his chest proudly. "You can always trust the taste of a veteran netizen with thirty years of surfing!"

"Okay." Rust nodded.

"User nickname [Little Mink Soft Candy] has been confirmed."

The light and shadow before my eyes were like ripples on the water.

Immediately afterwards, Last saw the game lobby interface.

After skipping over a bunch of miscellaneous daily login, sign-in, regular card pool, event-limited card pool, monthly card, weekly activity, and monthly activity buttons, Last discovered the "Deep Blue Port Speed ​​Pass Challenge" option.

This challenge is a limited-time event. Players will travel back three hundred years to Deep Blue Harbor, in the first year of the Cataclysm, on the eve of the Iron Cross Plague outbreak, and experience the same peril as the historical shore-guard hero, Last.

After the challenge is over, a comprehensive score will be calculated based on the player's survival time, plot changes, exploration ratio, and other data. The score will be included in the overall rankings, and rewards will be distributed according to the ranking after the limited-time event ends.

The rewards for the limited-time event rankings are shown in the table below. The top-scoring participant at the end of the event will be invited to the Third Mechanical Research Institute and be eligible to visit the "Artificial Angel" program.

[Limited time event remaining time: 23 hours]

[Please note that this limited-time event may contain blood, violence, and other novelty elements. Players are requested to confirm the above content before deciding whether to enter.]

[Confirm/Exit] This limited-time event only has 23 hours left?
Without considering the situation of being killed as soon as you land, or starting three games in five minutes, but calculating it as a complete round of one day, then I am afraid I only have one last chance to try.

Seeing this, Last no longer hesitated, but directly chose "Confirm".

As Last selected the confirmation button again, the light and shadow in front of his eyes suddenly distorted again.

When the vision became clear again, those complicated and densely packed game UI interfaces had all disappeared.

The salty and humid sea breeze blew in the air, confirming that this place should not be too far from the coast and is a small town adjacent to the seaside.

What came into view was a dark dungeon, and he himself was a prisoner in the dungeon.

Through the rusty iron railings and the lit torches in the dungeon... one can vaguely see the believers in black robes standing guard outside the dungeon.

Looking at the cultists in black robes, Rast felt that the memories that had long been buried in the corner of his memory attic were slowly reviving in his mind again.

Last was very familiar with the other party's decorations - it was the cult organization founded by the fisherman who accidentally obtained the evil god statue in Deep Blue Harbor.

He was very familiar with every member of this small cult. Last could even see through the dim firelight and the figures shrouded in black robes to directly call out the name of the cultist who was on guard outside.

So, his initial identity in "Poem of the Shore Watcher" was to be arranged as a sacrifice to be performed by the evil cult to welcome the descent of the evil god?
This was a brand new experience that Last had never had in his three hundred years of reincarnation in Deep Blue Harbor. After all, in those 100,000 rounds, he had always started as a free man who could move freely in Deep Blue Harbor.

However, there is not much difference.

Luster gently closed his eyes.

He had never imagined that there would be a day when he would be able to return to Deep Blue Harbor, even in a virtual world simulated by electronic signals.

"Poem of the Shore Watcher" arranges for him to start as a prisoner who has lost his freedom. There are undoubtedly many more restrictions on what he can do compared to when he starts as a free man.

For example, at the beginning of each round, Last would get his favorite guns as a routine - the heavy-hitting revolver "Iron Moon" and the sniper rifle "Deep Blue Judgment". This time, he might hardly have the chance to get them again.

Moreover, this time, Last also lost his powerful teammate, Hiltina. Her participation in the battle directly helped Last break the balance of the situation in Deep Blue Harbor... If it weren't for Hiltina, Last might have been trapped in Deep Blue Harbor for hundreds of years, or even longer.

In addition, there are only 23 hours left in the limited-time event, which means that Last only has one complete chance to try to complete it.

His tolerance for error has been reduced to the lowest level. Any mistake in decision-making or improper handling of details may make this only chance go to waste... and he no longer has the possibility of starting over after death like he did in the past, and can no longer try and fail over and over again, and then explore the possibility of progress bit by bit.

In every aspect, the situation that Last faced was much more difficult than when he was in Deep Blue Port.

only--

The current Rast is completely different from the one who was trapped in Deep Blue Harbor and on the verge of self-destruction.

It's not just a simple improvement in the rank of the extraordinary person.

What really changed was his heart.

"Well, let's get started..."

Luster opened his eyes again.

"To learn the truth about Canaan and to reunite with Xiao Ai."

"I will once again play this game called Deep Blue Harbor, which I have challenged thousands of times—"

"Speed ​​Pass."

……

In the room in the real world, Dean Yin was squatting on the bedside table.

It looked at Rast who was in full stealth mode on the bed, then looked at the screen on the host that showed the loading progress bar, rubbing its little paws excitedly, its excitement beyond words.

There's no other way. Compared to playing this difficult game filled with malicious intent from the production team myself, it's definitely more interesting to watch others suffer live.

Of course, if it were someone else, it might be suffering, but if it were a guy like Last, it might be pure enjoyment.

But it doesn't matter. I'll feel great watching it anyway. There's joy in watching others suffer, and there's joy in watching others speedrun.

Dean Yin wagged his tail, and the next moment, the refrigerator door in the kitchen opened automatically.

Immediately afterwards, bottles of happy water and various junk foods floated in the air and flew over, landing on the table next to Dean Yin.

How can you watch live broadcast without melon seeds and snacks?
But just then.

jingle--

The prompt sound coming from the computer host diverted Dean Yin's attention slightly from the loading screen.

[This is hilarious! As a new server player of "Poem of the Shorekeeper," this is the first time I've heard that His Majesty Rast doesn't like cats, but prefers ferrets.]

[Stop talking nonsense and just report your rank and score.]

[I have 300 Master points in Zone 1. I'm in the top 500 of the server in this limited-time Deep Blue Harbor challenge. How about you?]

[Could it be that you're actually just a bunch of money, yet you're still spouting nonsense on this forum?]

This is the latest reply Dean Yin received on the game forum of "Poem of the Shore Guardian".

The sender of this reply was none other than the opponent with whom Dean Yin had previously engaged in a passionate confrontation on the forum, typing furiously on the keyboard.

Obviously, after a passionate exchange of words on the Internet, the situation of the war of words has further escalated - it has entered the stage of comparing ranks with questions such as "What's your rank?", "What championship are you?", and "Are you unhappy with your real life?"

If it develops further, it will probably become offline reality.

Although they actually didn't understand what the question they were arguing about in the forum at the beginning, "Does the shorekeeper Rust prefer cats or dogs?", had to do with the gaming levels of the two parties in the argument.

However, when Dean Yin saw this reply, his face turned red instantly.

There is no way, lies don’t hurt people, the truth is the sharpest knife.

After all, as a ferret, Dean Silver, who can't even use a gaming helmet, strictly speaking, can't even be considered real gold or silver, let alone tough black iron.

It is a cloud player through and through.

However, having said that, it is absolutely impossible to make Dean Yin bow his head.

After all, as a veteran netizen, Dean Yin is well aware of online debates. The actual right or wrong of the content being discussed is not actually important. What matters is the expression of emotions and the goal of "winning."

It doesn't really matter whether Rust likes cats, dogs or ferrets, but if he loses an online argument, it will be more upsetting to the ferret than eating a fly.

Dean Yin's little paws danced across the keyboard, leaving a shadow. He quickly edited his reply and sent it: [Not very high, just ranked first in this Deep Blue Harbor limited-time event.]

The other party's reply came quickly: [Really? I'm a streamer. I checked the ID ranked first in the Deep Blue Harbor limited-time event, but it doesn't seem to be you.]

No way, no way, no way, is there really someone who has gone crazy in the laning phase and started making up stories?

[I live in Bengbu, brother, if you really have hysteria, I suggest you find a mental hospital for treatment as soon as possible.]

Dean Yin's red temperature increased visibly.

boom!
It edited the new reply and then slammed its paw down on the enter key.

[I’m not number one yet, but I’ll be there soon. If you don’t believe me, come and watch my livestream!]

(End of this chapter)