Chapter 3: First Encounter with Game Programming

A true expert! Naturally, Li Xin’s curiosity was piqued as he began to speculate with great interest.

"Is he a tea appraiser? But why would a tea appraiser come to the herbal shop so often?"

"Judging by his appearance and clothes, he doesn't look wealthy."

"Could he be a legendary martial arts master? At a glance, he does resemble one. Aren’t martial arts masters always dressed in such ragged, peculiar ways?"

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Li Xin’s gaze toward the man subtly shifted, no longer colored with the previous impatience or displeasure.

"Uncle, you have a sharp eye. There is indeed a little less of this tea than in previous years. The old stock has temporarily run out, so we’re using this as a substitute."

"Mm, it doesn’t matter. I’m not here for tea today anyway." The man grinned lecherously, his face sly, his mouth full of yellowed teeth.

"Oh? May I ask what brings you here today, Uncle?"

Before Li Xin could finish his sentence—suddenly!

The man stood up, and his entire aura changed dramatically. Li Xin’s vision blurred; it felt as though he were standing before an ancient ice beast, shivering uncontrollably.

"Who… who are you? What do you want?" Li Xin struggled to stay conscious, gritting his teeth.

A calloused, thick finger jabbed abruptly at the center of his forehead, and with a faint cry, Li Xin lost consciousness. All his efforts to resist were as fragile as thin paper—shattered with a single poke.

In a haze, he seemed to hear someone say to him: "Remember, my name is Bai Ze."

…

"Ugh… my head hurts."

Li Xin held his head in both hands and slowly opened his eyes. It was pitch-black; he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. Guided by the faint moonlight filtering through the window, he groped along the wall, found the light switch, and flipped it on. Only then did he realize he was already back in his bedroom, though he had no idea when he’d returned. His head still throbbed—what on earth had happened?

Who was Bai Ze?

Turning slowly, Li Xin froze in place. Reflected in the large glass mirror on the western wall, he saw his own image. A white bandage was wrapped around his head, tied into a bow above his left ear. At first glance, he looked like a wandering swordsman from a comic book.

"I'm injured?" Li Xin cried out and rushed to the mirror. With a few quick tugs, he unraveled the bandage, inspecting himself thoroughly for a long time, but found not the slightest trace of injury.

Li Xin grew even more perplexed. What on earth had that madman named Bai Ze done to him? Why had he carried him back to bed and even wrapped him in a bandage?

There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world, but Li Xin couldn’t figure out the madman’s motive.

Money?

Not a single coin was missing.

The herbal shop?

That didn’t seem likely. The man even seemed to know his late parents.

Then what was the reason?

Frowning and scratching his head, Li Xin walked to the bedside, picked up his phone, unlocked it, and swiped the screen. He didn’t believe in ghosts and spirits, yet he knew the world was full of inexplicable, strange phenomena.

Remember crop circles? Decades have passed since the first one appeared, and they continue to pop up around the world, but scientists have yet to provide a definitive explanation. Some say aliens, but why not attribute them to the work of spirits or gods? In the end, it’s all just guesswork—there’s no real evidence.

It was already after nine in the evening, but Li Xin felt as though he'd only just woken from a dream, having barely slept at all. Dinner had long since passed, so he opened the Meituan app to browse local food delivery options.

As midnight approached, the city was still alive with music and revelry, yet most restaurants had already closed for the night. Scrolling for some time, Li Xin found only a few lifeless little shops still open. Suddenly, his rapidly swiping finger paused as his eyes landed on a familiar name.

Yuxin Restaurant: specializing in rice bowls, noodles, hot and cold dishes, available for dine-in and takeout.

Business hours: 10:30–14:30, 16:30–22:30.

Note: Delivery service available. Single orders over 48 yuan within the city are free of charge.

Li Xin immediately brightened—wasn’t this the place just a few hundred meters diagonally across from the herbal shop, the one he frequented? The thought of the gentle, sweetly smiling waitress made Li Xin’s heart flutter ever so slightly.

With that in mind, he dialed Yuxin Restaurant’s order number. Soon, a middle-aged man answered. As Li Xin was thinking over his order, something happened.

A harsh buzzing mingled with a ticking sound, flooding his ears with chaotic, unbearable noise.

"What’s going on? Is the signal bad?" Li Xin forced himself to finish the order.

He thought the noise would fade once he hung up, but he was mistaken. The buzzing grew louder and louder, reaching the volume of a thunderclap within seconds. His mind burning, his mood at rock bottom, Li Xin was about to smash the cup in his hand when, abruptly, the noise stopped, vanishing without a trace.

"Phew… finally, it’s gone, what a relief…"

He hadn’t finished speaking when a mechanical, unfamiliar voice sounded.

"Connection established via mechanical radio waves. Brainwave activation detected. Host has officially initiated the Game King."

"What the hell is this?!" Li Xin cried out, nearly collapsing onto the floor. He had always been wary of strange phenomena like this.

He’d never watched a horror movie in his life, afraid that something might leap out at him from the darkness.

He looked around his empty room.

After a long while, Li Xin calmed himself, images from novels flashing through his mind: the protagonist survives disaster, unexpectedly gains a golden finger, and from then on, his life transforms—his skills reach the heavens, he travels the universe, amasses wealth and a harem, and becomes the ultimate winner.

"Could it be I just got my golden finger? Damn, I’m about to make it big!" Li Xin shouted to the sky, all the gloom and frustration of recent days swept away.

"Who are you?"

[Mechanical Voice]: "I am the program administrator for Game King. Simply put, I’m the first NPC you’ll encounter. Once you successfully activate Game King, I will automatically disappear."

As expected!

Li Xin’s heart raced with excitement—he’d stumbled into a stroke of cosmic luck.

"What is Game King?"

[Mechanical Voice]: Game King is a brand-new, high-tech consciousness-virtualization, hyper-realistic online game, the only one of its kind in the universe, integrated into a radio wave chip.

Li Xin pondered for a moment, grasping only that this was some new type of online game. He didn’t pay much attention to the claim that it was unique in the universe. But the bit about the radio wave chip caught his interest, and suddenly, he recalled the moment before Bai Ze rendered him unconscious. Then, thinking of the brainwave interference just now, he vaguely guessed that Bai Ze must have implanted the chip into his brain.

But if it had been an operation, why wasn’t there a single scar?

Li Xin couldn’t figure it out, nor where to begin his reasoning—Bai Ze was simply too mysterious and powerful.

"NPC, could you explain to me in detail what ‘consciousness virtualization’ means?"

[Mechanical Voice]: Put simply, it means the chip binds to your consciousness, projecting it into the virtual game world. Following the principle of ‘reality is illusion, illusion is reality,’ the virtual world is as real as this one, though the player isn’t aware of it.

[Mechanical Voice]: The chip’s purpose is to allow the chip-binder to become a member of the virtual world, replacing the game character and independently participating in the entire game.

Li Xin was momentarily stunned. As a university graduate, he understood perfectly well what this meant. In short: he would enter the game world himself, participating in the game as a real person.

"My god, this technology is insane! The shooters I used to play were all 2D, and most of the rest were just 3D. Even the latest ‘God of Light’ virtual online game requires a helmet, and strictly speaking, it’s only a semi-integrated game—players can’t truly interact with everything in the game world.

But this ‘Game King’ has no such limitations—it sends players directly into the virtual world. Incredible! Who invented this? Could it have been that Bai Ze fellow? He didn’t seem like a scientist at all."

Amazed, Li Xin continued to question the NPC. "What is the upgrade attribute panel?"

[Mechanical Voice]: The attribute distribution of the game-binder himself, roughly analogous to a game character’s stats.

Li Xin’s brows furrowed as he digested the information. "So I’m now officially bound?"

[Mechanical Voice]: NO! Attribute distribution initialization is underway; once completed, the game will officially begin. Please wait!

And so began a tense, nerve-wracking wait. Li Xin had no idea how the so-called initialization would proceed or what it involved—he only knew that a faint purple light was flickering and vanishing across his whole body. It reminded him of scenes from American blockbusters—strangely similar, indeed.

Knock, knock, knock!

There was a knock at the door. Li Xin hurried over to open it, and standing there was none other than the waitress he’d been dreaming of day and night. In the glow of the night, the light fell softly upon her face, making her radiant and enchanting beyond words.