Chapter 57: Preparing for the Game

“What are you laughing about? You look so happy.”

“Oh? Are you the only one allowed to laugh?”

“Er, er, how would I dare? You’re practically my creditor now—how could I possibly make any excessive demands?” Li Xin hurriedly rubbed his nose in protest, making Wang Xiaoqian burst into peals of laughter.

After these few days together, the two of them had grown quite familiar. Especially with Wang Xiaoqian, who was such a joker—she’d even claimed, the moment they stepped outside, that Li Xin was her family’s little monkey, drawing curious and amused looks from passersby. Their eyes seemed to mock him, or perhaps they were just intrigued: with a physique like yours, how do you content yourself as a woman’s plaything?

Li Xin often felt on the verge of losing his temper, but had no choice but to endure it, especially since Wang Xiaoqian would always raise her arm in mock threat.

His wound still hadn’t healed.

“Li Xin, which profession did you pick?” Wang Xiaoqian asked, nibbling on fruit to maintain her complexion, her tone light and cheerful.

“Death Commando. What about you?”

“Death Commando?” Wang Xiaoqian was startled, her almond-shaped eyes wide. She’d spent the half hour waiting for Li Xin browsing the forums, and she’d read about the Death Commando class.

Since the server launched ten days ago, about ten thousand players had chosen the Death Commando profession, but already eighty percent had had their identities exposed and were killed off, forced to start over.

Li Xin’s account had cost fifty thousand, bought from Wang Huan—if he got killed, wouldn’t that be a total waste?

Her concern was understandable, but she didn’t know that Li Xin had an ace up his sleeve: King of Games.

“Li Xin, you’re really brave.” Wang Xiaoqian gave him a genuine thumbs up, admiration shining in her eyes. A nine-time champion indeed—his spirit and courage were truly impressive.

“Heh, and you? What did you pick?”

“The Black Storm Corps. Thanks to my Diamond VIP status, I started as a company commander right off the bat.” Wang Xiaoqian was almost glowing with excitement as she spoke.

“You know, it’s been ten days since launch, and the top rank anyone’s reached is company commander—and that’s only with stellar achievements. I’m a rookie, but I walked right in as a company commander. If I bragged about it on the forums, don’t you think I’d make everyone jealous?”

Li Xin was at a loss for words. He was just a deputy squad leader, but she was already a company commander—her luck was unbelievable.

“Yes, not only would they be jealous, someone might even track you down, break into your house, kill you, have their way with you, and make off with your things.”

“Hmph, let them come. I wouldn’t mind if it was a handsome guy—the more skilled, the better.” Wang Xiaoqian scoffed, entirely shameless.

Li Xin’s chubby cheeks twitched, but he had nothing to say. Once someone abandons all shame, nothing frightens them anymore.

“Xiaoqian, which corps are you in?”

“Black Tiger Corps, stationed in the Huifeng Ridge area. You?”

“Black Lion Corps, stationed on the Moroski Plains.”

“Ah…” Wang Xiaoqian sounded disappointed. She’d hoped the two of them could team up. She’d already studied the map and knew that at their current level, it was impossible to reach each other.

The map in Odyssey was massive, spanning millions of square kilometers—essentially, an entire continent.

Mountains, vast lakes and rivers, volcanoes and marshes, plains and grasslands—every kind of terrain imaginable. Countless cities and villages dotted the land, inhabited by myriad people—all NPCs, with players able to choose only the soldier class.

Originally, the continent was unified, but after the Black Storm Corps’ rebellion, the fires of war quickly swept across the land, dragging billions into conflict. This was no ordinary game set in ancient times, but an advanced modern society, steeped in high technology. This war was one of modern weaponry.

Most players were puzzled—why didn’t the game offer the diversity of other titles? Mage, warlock, soldier, beast—wouldn’t that have been more fun? But the game was already fully developed; changes were impossible now.

As a result, there was only endless peril and warfare, without the rich variety of professions—a major reason for the game’s low player count.

As for the map: the Black Tiger Corps’ Huifeng Ridge lay in the east of Jialin Continent, while the Black Lion Corps’ Moroski Plains were to the south—thousands of kilometers apart. With the outbreak of war, all means of transportation had been forcibly cut off. In the first phase, the game made it clear: the five regions of the continent were completely isolated, each sealed off.

What did that mean? North, south, east, west, and center—all formed separate, independent zones. Only by meeting certain extremely difficult conditions and entering the second phase could the barriers be lifted.

After Wang Xiaoqian explained all this, Li Xin quickly took it in, sighing with some disappointment, “So, for now, we can’t fight side by side. Hopefully, the second phase will come soon, and we’ll be able to join forces—at least we’d have company.”

“Yes, that’s all we can hope for.” Wang Xiaoqian nodded.

It was late. After dinner, they returned to their rooms to prepare for the game.

Li Xin first logged onto the forums, reading and analyzing posts for nearly an hour, gaining a deeper understanding of the game’s mechanics.

One thing stood out: Odyssey was jointly developed by four companies—Tencent from China, Smile Gate from Korea, Sports from the US, and Games.de from Germany. Seeing this, Li Xin was suddenly enlightened: with Tencent and Smile Gate involved, it was no surprise they’d incorporated elements from CF.

He browsed through player feedback from the past ten days. So far, no one had revealed any hidden classes. Did they really not exist? Or were people deliberately keeping them secret, lying low? There was no way to know.

But Li Xin was convinced it was the latter.

Next, the game’s equipment tiers: in the first phase, there were five ranks—common, enhanced, rare, legendary, and epic. The Tianlong sniper rifle in Li Xin’s account was undoubtedly the most powerful weapon currently available. Scouring the forums, he found no mention of any epic-grade gear.

The most powerful item discussed was a legendary pistol: the Desert Eagle Holy Sword.

Its owner was a squad leader in the Angel Corps. With this Holy Sword, he’d fought for seven days straight, nearly attaining the achievements needed for promotion to company commander.

However, the post didn’t list the Holy Sword’s stats in detail—the mystery only attracted more attention. The thread was trending and would likely stay pinned for a long time.

Satisfied that he had no further questions, Li Xin put on his helmet and entered the game.

“I’ll finish my first quest, then merge King of Games—I bet the immersion will hit a hundred percent. Born with two bugs, if I can’t make a name for myself, I’d truly be letting down my ancestors.”

With a self-deprecating smile, he logged in.

At the same time, he launched the King of Games virtual-real fusion program.