After the internet was disconnected, I connected to the magic world.

The next night.

People who had worked hard all day washed up and went to bed, drifting off to sleep.

In a southern city, Fatty Wang, who runs a building materials business, was fast asleep, snoring away.

In my dream, I vaguely stepped into thin air, and suddenly opened my eyes to find myself standing on an unfamiliar dirt road at the entrance of a village.

"Holy crap? Where am I?"

His 200-pound body swayed slightly as he looked down at himself, still wearing the same big shorts he wore to bed.

The surrounding area consisted of adobe houses and old locust trees, and the wind carried the scent of grass and trees, making it feel incredibly real.

Not far away were four other people just as bewildered as him, two men and two women, dressed in different clothes, all with blank expressions.

"Is this... filming a movie?" someone muttered quietly.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a group of villagers rushed out of the village. The old man with a white beard, who was leading the group and leaning on a cane, burst into tears upon seeing the five of them and knelt down with a thud.

"An extraordinary being! It really is an extraordinary being who has descended! The prophecy of our ancestors has come true!"

The five people looked at each other, even more bewildered.

The same scene was playing out simultaneously in another small village in the north.

Five people of different identities suddenly appeared out of the sky, panicked and surrounded by the village chief and villagers, who kept calling them "strange people," leaving them completely bewildered.

Unbeknownst to anyone, high above where they couldn't see, Zero was mechanically executing a program:

Guide the NPCs to their positions, trigger the beginner's storyline, and automatically collect and convert scattered spiritual energy.

Everything proceeded as planned.

In Xiaoshi Village, Zhao Hao and his group of five entered a dream again.

It was the same mud-brick house as last night, with the oil lamp still on the table, exactly the same as before I fell asleep.

Zhao Hao had just opened his eyes and was about to call out to Zhang Lei next door when a semi-transparent blue panel suddenly popped up in front of him, startling him.

"Holy crap! What the hell is that?"

He suddenly dodged backward, and the panel followed his gaze, remaining suspended in the center in front of him.

Zhao Hao composed himself and looked at it carefully.

The panel is very simple, with just a few lines of text clearly displayed:

Name: Zhao Hao

Age: 17

Cultivation level: None

Technique: None

[Friends] [World Channel]

"Game panel?"

Zhao Hao's eyes widened, and he reached out to touch it, but his fingertips passed right through it and he didn't touch anything.

A thought flashed through his mind, and he thought, "Put it away," and the panel disappeared instantly.

When I thought of "coming out" again, the panel floated steadily in front of me.

"Wow! It even comes with a system?"

Zhao Hao was excited and pushed open the door to run to the next room.

Zhang Lei, Xuan Qing, and the others had just woken up, and they were all staring blankly at the screen in front of them, clearly having also seen it.

"You have some too?" Zhang Lei asked as he saw Zhao Hao rush in.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Zhao Hao nodded vigorously. "It's like a game, with friends and a world chat!"

The group exchanged glances, all seeing shock in each other's eyes.

I initially thought it was just a game about being transported to another world, but now that a system panel has appeared, it's starting to feel more and more like a real cultivation game.

"Let's try adding each other as friends first," Xuan Qing said calmly, speaking first.

The five people added each other as friends, following the instructions on the panel.

In the friend list, you can see the other person's name and basic status, and you can also send messages directly, just like WeChat, you can type as soon as you have a thought.

"The villagers don't seem to be able to see this panel."

Zhou Ming said in a low voice. He had just glanced at the villagers passing by outside the window, and they looked normal, without the slightest sign of anything amiss.

After everyone tried it, it was confirmed that only they could see it, and after putting away the panel, they were no different from ordinary people.

After studying the friend function, Zhao Hao couldn't wait to open the world channel.

The channel was buzzing with a lot of random, nonsensical comments:

[Anonymous Player]: Is anyone here? Where am I? How did I end up here after taking a nap?

[Anonymous Player]: Time travel? Or kidnapping? Anyone want to say something?!

[Anonymous Player]: The village chief said I'm an extraordinary person and that I have magical powers. Is that true?

[Anonymous Player]: An elder from the Qingfeng Sect just arrived and said he would take me to the sect. Is he reliable?

The messages were scrolling by quickly, and judging from the different ID prefixes, there were clearly more than just the five of them.

"Anyone else?" Zhang Lei frowned. "I thought it was just the five of us."

Zhao Hao's eyes lit up, and his fingers flew across the channel as he typed:

[Zhao Hao]: Are you new here? We are the first batch of extraordinary people. We arrived yesterday and are preparing to go to the Qingyun Sect to learn martial arts!

The message was sent out, and the channel was silent for two seconds before becoming even more lively.

[Anonymous Player]: The first batch? Wow! You really have martial arts skills?

[Anonymous Player]: Is the Qingyun Sect powerful? We're from the Qingfeng Sect, which sounds like a knock-off...

[Anonymous Player]: Can you tell me what's going on inside? Is it dangerous?

Just as Zhao Hao was about to continue showing off, Xuan Qing coughed lightly:

"Enough talk, we don't even know the details ourselves. Let's go to the Qingyun Sect and see what the situation is like."

Zhao Hao pursed his lips and angrily turned off the world channel.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the courtyard gate, and Li Yan's voice came in:

"Have our five distinguished guests awakened? The carriages are ready; it's time for us to depart."

"Here it comes!"

Zhao Hao responded, and the five of them tidied up and went out.

Li Yan stood in the courtyard waiting, his expression unchanged, completely unaware that they had just been studying the control panel.

All five knew that this panel was something unique to the Outcasts, and these native NPCs couldn't see it.

The two carriages were the same ones from yesterday. The group boarded, and the wheels rumbled as they drove along the official road toward the Qingyun Sect.

Inside the carriage, the five people didn't say much, all of them pondering the matter of the noodle board.

With this thing around, the feeling of being in another world becomes less pronounced, and it increasingly resembles a highly realistic virtual game.

But only they themselves knew that the road beneath their feet, the wind blowing by, and the sensation of the carriage bumping along were all real.