Skywind City, South District.
Wandering the streets, Qi Sheng finds the once familiar homeland utterly foreign.
Looking up, the streets were flanked by skyscrapers piercing the clouds, their surfaces covered in smart glass displaying advertisements for wearable technology.
Beneath his feet, the road was no longer made of asphalt and cobblestones but had been replaced with a more advanced self-luminous material, capable of automatically adjusting brightness according to pedestrian traffic. Advertisement boards by the road were showing weather forecasts and news bulletins.
The city resembled the futuristic world he had fantasized about in his youth—full of life yet devoid of the familiar scents.
Arriving at the street’s end, Qi Sheng stopped, looking across the road at a tall building.
Memories flooded in like a tide.
"Are you a tourist visiting? Need any help?"
Seeing Qi Sheng standing there, staring at the building, a young man in a "volunteer" uniform controlling a cleaning robot curiously came over to greet him.
In response to the enquiry, Qi Sheng briefly paused before smiling and nodding:
"Yes, just traveling here, no need for help, thank you."
The young man’s greeting stirred sentiments in Qi Sheng’s heart.
This city no longer held any friends or relatives he recognized, and all traces belonging to him had long been erased with the changing times, leaving only unlabeled, untended tombstones.
At this moment, Guidance’s voice, tinged with a teasing tone, rang in his mind:
[Tsk, tsk, the most tragic thing in life is not not recognizing each other in childhood, smiling and asking where the visitor hails from, nor is it rusty gates that long haven’t been opened, grey brick paths covered in dry moss, nameless withered grass filling the yard, but discovering that traces of one’s own era have long been wiped away, revisiting old places without memories, sorrow flooding into the throat, suddenly recalling the old days when parents were around, when the stove and pot platform once burned... Ah, the childhood dreams of superpowers have been realized, but found oneself shouldering a heavy burden, embarking on a difficult path... It feels like a dream from younger days, with old places but none to share feelings with.]
"When did you become so cultured?"
[I’ve been browsing a lot of historical data about the Human Clan on the Star Network lately, felt inspired by your sudden desolation.]
[All done, boss. Continue your nostalgia, I won’t disturb.]
Qi Sheng continued to explore the place, following routes from his memory, yet could not find any familiarity.
Revisiting old places was like trying to retrieve a sword engraved on a boat—a futile endeavor.
His own memories of that era had been overlaid by the new, and he was no longer youthful.
Turning away, Qi Sheng formally bid farewell to his former self.
The memories of his homeland were now concluded.
The future road was to only move forward.
Returning to the Primordial Altar, Qi Sheng began to browse through the player-generated information for the day.
During this time, a forum post that was steadily gaining popularity made him laugh and cry.
The poster had recorded the changes in Lu Xing’s mindset before and after encountering Qi Die.
It started with Lu Xing’s bold claims when he first entered the game, declaring his intention to create a compendium for all players, to travel and witness the unknown landscapes of Monster World.
The post also included a screenshot of a message posted by Lu Xing:
As a player from the Exploration Faction, I want to tell everyone, the game is not just about fighting monsters and leveling up, but also about poetry and distant places.
While you guys are inwardly focused on leveling up, the red dragon in the sky above the Ancient Battlefield is tearing through the clouds. While you dig for sacrificial power, vibrant flowers bloom on the Blood-Colored Plain. While you worry over combining Star Veins, the described starry sky fish leaps from the starry sea; it’s said that the night sky in the Great North is colorfully spectacular, with unimaginable beauty... These wonderful scenes only described in Guidance will be the stops on my future journey.
The last part of the post was paired with a GIF created by the poster from a recording in Lu Xing’s live-stream room.
In the image, Lu Xing, beaten black and blue by Qi Die, is tremblingly pointing at Qi Die, angrily roaring:
Other emojis also came with descriptive text, such as:
Taking a beating, curling up to minimize the force area, I’ve got this (maniacal laughter with a gun), watch me blow you up (arrogant face before setting off a Spiritual Bomb), let’s talk (pleading), this is unscientific (shocked after a failed explosion), a gentleman’s revenge is never too late—to revenge after ten years (madly leveling)...
Lu Xing’s challenge against Qi Die turned into a comedic serial in the eyes of forum players.
Everyone was looking forward to the sequel, but even more so to the completion of the plot so everyone could finally make use of their Wind-Controlling Souls.
After reading the post, Qi Sheng was drawn to another newly refreshed thread:
[There is a serious problem with the current Star Vein Combination setups; hopefully, the Moon Eclipse Clan officials will see this and make improvements as soon as possible.]
Poster: Dark Night Will Come
Content: Recently, I played many new Star Vein Combination flows in the test tower and thought of a very serious issue that will cause our later-game sacrificial power expenses to skyrocket.
Why is there no Life Soul Decompose function in the game?
If I come up with better and more creative ideas to restructure the Star Vein Combination, I have to strip the previously embedded Life Souls.
But the initial investment of the stripped Life Souls cannot be returned, which makes the cost of trial and error extremely high.
For example, if I upgrade a Black Armored Snake Life Soul to level 30 and later don’t want the Black Armored Snake Life Soul anymore, stripping it will free up the Star Vein Slot for a new Life Soul, but does my initial investment就这么没了?("just disappear like that?")