Li Tie swept his gaze over his old buddies and said solemnly:
"This time I’m not kidding you guys, this game is not even close to the virtual games I’ve recommended to you before. You’ll know once you try it."
After listening to Li Tie’s story, his old war buddies looked at each other in disbelief.
Still, the scar-faced man who led the group was the first to speak up:
"Boss, since you’ve said so much, we’ve got to give it a try. Send us the purchase link in the group later, and we’ll check it out when we get back."
Hearing this, Li Tie immediately shook his head:
"It’s not your turn to buy. Players who want to buy it now have to fight for it. You might not even be able to get it through the official channels even if you were lying in a coffin."
"Leader, what do you mean? How could we get into the game if we can’t grab a purchase slot?"
Faced with the question, Li Tie grinned and said:
"I’ve got a cracked version link here. You can directly get the game eligibility through the link... But you all have to keep it a secret; if it’s exposed, we might all get our game eligibility revoked."
As he spoke, Li Tie took out his phone and shared the download link for "Dark Land" in the war buddies chat group.
Time passed, and at midnight, the annual gathering of the old soldiers came to an end.
A drunken Li Tie and his buddies fell asleep in the tavern and didn’t wake up until the dawn’s early light.
The next day at noon.
After Li Tie got home, he took out his phone and found that his buddies had already snagged their eligibility and were downloading the game.
Li Tie saw nothing wrong with this.
Having downloaded the game using the link without knowing that the download was limited, he plainly didn’t realize that it wasn’t available to click and download at any time everywhere.
Another reason why these old soldiers could easily obtain their download eligibility was due to another layer of reasons.
All the movements on the Star Network were under real-time monitoring by the Guidance, and when it learned that he wanted to share the eligibility with other old soldiers, the Guidance reported this information to Qi Sheng.
Qi Sheng then chose to grant an additional batch of download eligibility to these old soldiers.
In Qi Sheng’s view, old soldiers, whether in terms of psychological quality or combat awareness, are far superior to ordinary players and are the most ideal candidates for player recruitment.
Under Li Tie’s call, the Old Army Group officially logged into the game and appeared at the Resurrection Point of Imperial Tomb Village.
Just entering the game, their reactions were completely different from other players.
What shocked them was not the visuals in front of them, but the repair of missing parts of their bodies.
"My hand... It’s back."
An old soldier raised his arm in front of his eyes, a familiar yet strange feeling causing his eyes to redden.
He stared at the arm that he had once lost, now whole once again, and the complex emotions surging in his heart were indescribable. His fingers trembled lightly, and the feedback from the slightest movement felt like a dream.
In this moment, the nature of the game had changed in the eyes of these old soldiers.
The pain of physical loss, once an insurmountable setback in their lives, the facade of strength shown to others could not cover the sorrow and loss in their hearts.
But in this game, the lost parts of their bodies had returned.
"Hahaha, it seems I will grow old with this game in the future. This feels so great." Swinging his arms, the old soldier couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Watching the joy on his old buddy’s face, Li Tie standing beside him couldn’t help but grin.
"Let’s go, I’ll take you to experience the battlefield of this game."
With that, Li Tie waved his hand, leading his buddies towards the exit of Imperial Tomb Village. Along the way, his buddies looked around the environment of Imperial Tomb Village curiously, finding the realism of the game unbelievable.
During this time, Li Tie was also non-stop talking, introducing the gameplay and how to use the features of the game.
The arrival of the old buddies made Li Tie feel immensely happy.
Although he had already joined a guild formed by his granddaughter in this game, he always felt like he couldn’t fit into the Drunken Group’s chat atmosphere, feeling out of place, which was also why he chose to roam alone.
He was nowhere near as comfortable as he was with this group of old friends.
As they walked out of Imperial Tomb Village, the thick fog blocking their view dissipated, and the scene unfolding before their eyes made the old soldiers following Li Tie tense up.
The sky-darkening Black Tide seemed like giant waves rolling in, one wave taller than the next, crashing down, releasing countless monstrous creatures composed of Black Tide Energy.
The terrifying scene shook their hearts, prompting the old soldiers to instinctively take a combat stance.
"These are Black Tide Demonic Spirits, in the game’s setting they are our players’ greatest enemy. Killing Evil Spirits can earn us evolution points, which significantly enhance our Body Strength, letting you experience the Strength, Speed, Physical Strength... you had when you were young," Li Tie said.
As he finished speaking, golden light burst from Li Tie’s eyes. Five Artifact Spirits revolved around him, ultimately concentrating into a golden glow at his center, forming a golden Battle Axe.
Li Tie’s aura changed with this, with surging Energy ripples spreading out from under his feet. The attributes boosted by the merging Artifact Spirits turned into golden Runes, branding his body and making him look every bit the War God.
"Leader, your outfit is so cool."
"Boss, how did you get that? Get me one, too."
Listening to his old war buddies’ exclaims, Li Tie’s vanity was satisfied. His gaze fixed on the rampaging Black Tide in the distance, he smirked:
"Watch closely, there’s something even cooler coming up."
His words had barely finished when Li Tie leaped over ten meters high, tracing an arc in the air, and upon landing, he jumped high again. His Battle Axe burst forth with dazzling golden light, like a meteor crashing hard into a crowd of Evil Spirits, immediately creating a crater on the ground. The force of the blow instantly crushed the surrounding Evil Spirits into black mist, which dissolved and swiftly coalesced, surging towards him, transforming into Energy merging into his body.
"Boss, you’re so cool. Do another one."
"Leader, this game is fun, but how come we can’t jump as high as you?"
"Brother Tie, you remind me of the time when you charged through the mechanical army, too cool."
The old buddies cheered and exclaimed in the voice chat, giving Li Tie a full charge of show-off spirit and driving his desire to fight even higher.
Seeing their leader’s bravery, the old soldiers also switched to Monster Form according to what Li Tie had taught them along the way and, roaring, followed Li Tie to charge into the Evil Tide.
Breaking Wall Battle Group - Comrades Chat Group.
Old Dog: Damn it, I only killed two before I got wiped out. Why is there a one-hour Death Cooldown in this damn game?
Da Gang: Damn, what’s with the one-hour cooldown? Just as I was getting into it, it’s over. It’s suffocating. How can I skip the one-hour cooldown? Will watching ads do the trick?
Ash: This game is too thrilling. Charging with the leader feels like reliving those fiery young days. I feel like my mind has recovered quite a bit. Indeed, emotional release can relieve mental stress.
Chopper: Crap, why does this lousy game have a resurrection cooldown like dog shit? What’s the point of adding this feature? Hurry up and let me into the game; I still want to kill.