Chapter 1

In this world, everything has a beginning and an end, be it people, the universe, or even an online game.

"Characters and Talents Online" first launched in December 2012. Developed by Guangda Corporation, this side-scrolling multi-dimensional fighting game, which carried the hopes and dreams of many, immediately drew significant attention in the gaming industry and was even once considered one of the greatest ten games of the 21st century.

However, after Guangda Corporation was acquired by Penguin Corporation in 2014, the game's balance was completely disrupted. The once skill-based game quickly turned into a money-burning game. Even though it entered the virtual helmet operation era in 2015, due to the prevalence of cheats and severe internal account theft, the number of online players steadily declined, eventually breaking the threshold of fewer than 100,000 daily active users.

In October 2016, when Penguin Corporation's official website announced the cessation of all maintenance and updates for "Characters and Talents Online," sensitive players already sensed the game's impending doom. As a result, the once extremely expensive high-level character cards gradually became worthless, selling for just one gold coin each in the auction house. The former glory of the third world was gone forever.

...

It was early morning, just before dawn.

Lin Nan, still half-asleep, climbed out of bed and grabbed the half-bottle of cola on the desk, tilting his head back to drink it.

As the cold liquid slid down his throat, Lin Nan became slightly more awake. He reached out to press the power button under the computer, put on the virtual helmet, and turned on the computer.

The time for "Characters and Talents Online" to shut down was drawing near. This game, which had accompanied Lin Nan for four years and into which he had invested countless hours and energy, was now in its final moments. Lin Nan couldn't help but want to savor it a little longer.

He logged in with his account and password, input the brainwave command through the virtual helmet, and once again entered the familiar interface. He selected the only character, a lavishly dressed male, and logged in.

Unlike other online games, "Characters and Talents Online" allowed only one character per account, and the character's gender had to match the identity information provided during registration. This was one of the game's unique selling points.

As the loading bar slowly completed, Lin Nan's character, "Lin San Shao," finally appeared in the familiar third world.

"Characters and Talents Online" was based on the modern world and was a multi-dimensional side-scrolling fighting game. The so-called third world was almost identical to the real world, with all the scenes from the real world almost perfectly replicated. Therefore, the vastness of the map was also considered one of the game's major flaws.

However, many players, including Lin Nan, appreciated this aspect.

Walking on the broad streets of the capital city, Yanjing, in the third world, Lin Nan first went to the auction house to retrieve the 72 high-level character cards he had bought for one gold coin each the previous day.

The core content of "Characters and Talents Online" was to obtain various levels of character cards, which, when activated, would grant the user the talents and abilities of the characters on the cards, thereby enhancing their own abilities.

For example, during the game's peak, Lin Nan saved up his commission for a month to buy a Level 3 Bruce Lee card. After activating the card, he could instantly gain Bruce Lee's talents and abilities. This card was one of the most expensive at the time, second only to the cards of piano genius Chopin and basketball legend Jordan.

In "Characters and Talents Online," there were over 300 character cards in total, including modern, ancient, and legendary or fictional characters. However, since half of the cards could only be purchased and used by female characters, the number of cards that male characters needed to collect was around 150.

But even collecting these 150 cards was extremely difficult. Lin Nan had been playing since the beta test and had only managed to collect fewer than 70 cards, of which only 10 were Level 3 cards, with most being Level 1 and Level 2 cards.

The level of the cards was determined by the quality of the character's talents. For example, figures like Jordan, Maradona, and Bruce Lee, who achieved great success in their respective fields, were all Level 3 cards. Many obscure or lesser-known historical figures were Level 1 or Level 2 cards. However, among the Level 1 cards, there was one that Lin Nan particularly liked: the card of the historical figure Pan An.

Pan An's card granted the talent of charm, which, when activated, would increase the player's affinity with all female NPCs to the maximum value of 100 points. At this point, if the player talked to any female NPC, there was a chance that the NPC would express admiration or even give the player some game items.

Of course, the chance of receiving game items was very low, probably less than one in a thousand, but this did not affect Lin Nan's fondness for the card. Teasing NPC girls was one of his pastimes when he was bored.

...

Lin Nan activated each of the character cards he had just bought from the auction house, first feeling excited, then a bit disappointed.

If the game wasn't about to shut down, a frugal player like him would never have been able to collect so many high-level cards in three or four years.

After activating the last card, the King of Singers, Zhang Yusheng, Lin Nan's card collection book flashed, and a system message appeared in red: "Congratulations on successfully obtaining the title of Card King. Reward: 55,000 experience points, three Fatigue Secret Medicines."

"Fatigue Secret Medicines?" Lin Nan smiled bitterly, clicked to discard them, and threw the three bottles on the street.

At this point, who would bother to grind levels? So, as Lin Nan threw away the precious Fatigue Secret Medicines, no one passing by even stopped to pick them up.

"What a sad state of affairs." Lin Nan sighed, opened his card collection book, and looked through the cards one by one, starting from the last one.

The King of Cars, Ford, the physics genius, Hawking, the mathematics genius, Hua Luogeng... Looking at these cards he had never obtained before, Lin Nan felt a myriad of emotions. However, a common Level 2 card suddenly caught his attention. It read: "King of Memory—Zhang Song."

"Is there even such a card?" Lin Nan curiously opened the card description, which read: "Zhang Song, a strategist from the Three Kingdoms period in ancient China, had the ability to read ten lines at a glance and never forget what he read. Activating this card allows the player to remember all game events for 48 hours, with no cooldown."

"No wonder I never paid attention to this card before; its talent is so useless that no one would spend money on it." Lin Nan muttered, then flipped to the previous page of his card collection book, intending to activate the Pan An card to tease some NPC girls.

However, before he could click on the card, a loud alarm suddenly sounded in the game, and a red message appeared at the top of the screen: "The server has encountered an unknown error. All players, please log out immediately!"

"The server has encountered an unknown error. All players, please log out immediately!"

"Damn!" Lin Nan took off the helmet and cursed, reaching out to restart the computer. But at that moment, a loud boom came from the sky outside the window, and Lin Nan felt a buzzing in his head. The surroundings began to distort and warp.

"What's happening? Did I have a stroke from excitement?" Lin Nan was shocked by the changes before his eyes. But the next moment, the surroundings rapidly receded like a fast-forwarding slideshow, and then everything went black as he lost consciousness.

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