Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Game Launch (2)

At ten o’clock, “Ghostly Beauty” officially opened its servers. Taking advantage of their fast internet and prior reservations, Yu Qian and her friends logged in leisurely.

This launch featured only one major server, divided into five regions: Song of the Clouds, Night Unending, Blissful Heaven, Moon Over Yan Mountains, and Autumn’s Drunkenness.

Yu Qian and her circle had all chosen Song of the Clouds, as had Lin Su and Chen Jiu.

Yu Qian was accustomed to playing a healer, so she had reserved one for herself. As for Zhou Jingchen, because Yu Qian thought the Charmer class looked handsome, he had reserved a Charmer.

Upon logging in, the first screen prompted her to choose between customizing her avatar’s face or using a preset. Yu Qian pondered briefly and opted for the system face—she was notoriously bad at face customization.

Besides, if she grew tired of the look later, she could always change it.

Zhou Jingchen glanced at her chosen name—Cloud Shallow—and immediately named himself Cloud Deep.

His adorable darling was his own, so naturally he took a matching couple’s name to stake his claim.

Once inside the game, Yu Qian didn’t rush to level up but instead explored her surroundings.

The game’s plot and background were unchanged from the previous incarnation, and as before, only four major sects and eight characters were available at launch.

These were: the Divine Mechanism Battalion’s Warrior and Archer, defenders of the homeland; the Kunlun Mountain’s Swordsman and Blademaster, chivalrous heroes; the Free Wanderer Temple’s Mage and Healer, benevolent saviors; and the Myriad Demon Palace’s Charmer and Exile, outcast souls tormented by fate.

Yu Qian browsed through each profession’s main storyline and nearly choked in frustration.

She’d assumed Zhou Jingchen would have made some changes so the protagonists’ endings might be happier, but disappointingly, the suffering remained.

“Zhou Jingchen! What’s up with these main storylines?” Yu Qian exploded, grabbing his ear and shouting.

“Hey, hey, gentle! That hurts!” Zhou Jingchen dared not protest. He hadn’t made significant changes to the main storylines, still relying on Third Uncle’s writing.

He hadn’t expected Yu Qian to be so emotionally invested—getting angry over mere game characters.

“Couldn’t you give them a happy ending?” Yu Qian pulled harder, truly upset. “Look at them! If they’re not dead, they’re doomed to die alone. Not a single happy one!”

Finally released, Zhou Jingchen rubbed his ear, looking aggrieved. “There is a happy ending—the male hero and the female swordswoman are fine, aren’t they?”

She shot him a glare. “What about the others? The female lead, male Warrior, female Warrior, female Archer, male Archer, male Swordsman, healer dad, and female Exile—all dead! The healer mom doesn’t even have a partner! How is that a good ending?”

“Isn’t it said that tragic endings are more stirring?” Zhou Jingchen looked even more innocent. In the previous game, these storylines were beloved by players. Why was his darling so angry?

Yu Qian, cheeks puffed in indignation, ignored him, leaving him to face the wrath of the players.

...

Yu Qian’s little healer lingered at the ferry in Pu Family Village, her avatar already displaying zzz above her head.

She moved her mouse, following the prompts to find the boatman and accept her quest.

With experience from her previous life, Yu Qian wasted no time. She quickly adjusted her key bindings and immediately spent a hundred yuan to buy a flying carpet mount. Compared to others still trudging along, she sped ahead.

She accepted quests rapidly, reached the monster spawn locations, dispatched them in seconds, and returned for quest turn-ins. In less than ten minutes, she had left Pu Family Village and arrived in the main city of Jinling.

Yu Qian was too lazy to manually enter IDs to add friends, so she simply bought a megaphone to call her companions. However, she was notified her level was too low—only at level 50 could she use the megaphone. She had to settle for broadcasting on the world channel.

Cloud Shallow: “Hey, my darlings, your precious Qian Qian is here~ #163”

No sooner had she sent it than her friend list lit up, filled with requests.

Opening them, Yu Qian found, besides members from the Six Realms group and the Sages group, a slew of unfamiliar players adding her. She carefully selected and added her close friends and the immortals from her group.

Those immortals and sages were anything but discreet—their usernames were all their real names.

For example: Dao Master of Heaven, Pangu Grandmaster, Fuxi Grandmaster… and Nine-tailed Fox Su Daji, Pheasant Spirit Hu Ximei, Pipa Spirit Liu Pipa…

The Sages group’s names were even more straightforward: Scholar of East Slope, Scholar of Green Lotus, Old Man of Shaoling…

Yu Qian needed no confirmation; the names alone made everyone’s identity clear.

Seeing their names, Yu Qian couldn’t help but twitch her lips—so direct.