Chapter 1

Ruan Chi felt that his luck wasn't too bad. He originally thought he would spend the rest of his life in prison, but unexpectedly, the Chinese government suddenly collaborated with Storm Company to develop an online game called "Knight's Heart." Even he, an SS-level serious offender, had the chance to serve in the game...

This game, "Knight's Heart," seemed to be no ordinary game. It was said that governments from all over the world had sent people into it. Ruan Chi also knew that his so-called service in the game was essentially working for the Chinese government, similar to being a secret agent.

After 2100, Earth's resources were severely depleted, and with the population explosion, wars had been ongoing for nearly several decades. It wasn't until 2145 that a gentleman proposed the inclusion of virtual wars in the World Government's Stability Amendment, which finally provided a way to resolve conflicts.

In 2149, "Knight's Heart" was launched. Ruan Chi, as an SS-level serious offender of China, became a player in the game just like ordinary players. The difference was that Ruan Chi, as a government-appointed specialist, could only log into the game from a heavily guarded prison.

Today was Ruan Chi's first day logging into "Knight's Heart."

"Hmm, is this the newbie village?" Ruan Chi took a long time to complete the character creation and finally logged in, now standing in front of a simple village.

There was no way around it; this guy had only been 7 years old when he went to prison and had never touched an online game before.

"Strange, isn't 'Knight's Heart' a groundbreaking online game? Why is there not a single player here?" Ruan Chi stood there for a long time, only to find that he was the only one there.

"Ah, if this is the newbie village, shouldn't it be teeming with people right now?" Ruan Chi sighed, it was really so quiet.

The village looked very simple, just a flat area surrounded by crude fences, with dozens of low, earth-colored houses inside.

"Is this a Western retro style? But isn't this design a bit too casual?" Ruan Chi searched his memory for information about "Knight's Heart," knowing it was a grand Western fantasy game, but the scene in the newbie village was far from impressive...

"Hey, young man, what are you doing standing here all alone?" At this moment, an uncle saw Ruan Chi standing in the middle of the road, looking dazed, and walked over.

Ruan Chi glanced at the uncle, a man in his early forties with a yellow name tag above his head, called Lawrence.

"Is this an NPC? Wow, so realistic, it feels just like a real person!" Ruan Chi, as if discovering a new world, circled around the uncle, looking left and right.

He touched the uncle, hmm, the skin texture was just like a real person, even the wrinkles were detailed. It seemed this game had its merits.

"Hey, young man, what are you doing?" Suddenly being touched by this young man, Lawrence couldn't help but feel a bit creeped out. He thought this young man might have some mental issues. Ah, he looked like a handsome guy, what a pity.

"What am I doing?" Ruan Chi blinked, rubbed his chin, and then clapped his hands, "Right, the guide said to find the village chief for a quest first, didn't it?"

To play "Knight's Heart," Ruan Chi had specifically studied various online game guides. To become powerful in an online game, you had to level up, and to level up, you had to complete quests, and to complete quests, you had to find the village chief.

This was easy to understand. Ruan Chi immediately grabbed the uncle, "Excuse me, where is the village chief?"

"I am the village chief." Lawrence hesitated for a moment before answering.

Great, didn't expect to find the village chief so quickly. It seems online games aren't that hard to get into.

Ruan Chi was delighted and immediately said to Lawrence, "Village chief, can you give me a quest now?"

"Quest?" Lawrence felt that this young man really had some issues. His gaze immediately became strange, filled with pity and sympathy.

System: NPC Lawrence's goodwill towards you has increased by 2 points, now neutral.

"Uh, what is this?" Seeing a dialog box suddenly pop up, Ruan Chi was stunned. This game had a goodwill system?

Ruan Chi wanted to figure it out, but the blue dialog box in front of him quickly disappeared.

"Never mind, let's focus on the quest first." Unable to understand the game controls for the moment, Ruan Chi refocused on the quest. He looked at Lawrence seriously, "Yes, can you give me a quest?"

"Child, are you an adventurer?" Lawrence suddenly asked.

"Adventurer, is that what NPCs call players?" Ruan Chi muttered to himself, then nodded, "Yes, I am an adventurer."

"Oh, I see." Lawrence suddenly realized his mistake and smiled, "Why would an adventurer come to a small village like ours for a quest?"

"Can't I find a quest here?" Ruan Chi frowned and asked.

"Of course not, don't you know, adventurer?" Knowing Ruan Chi was an adventurer, Lawrence spoke more respectfully.

"Damn, of course I know." Ruan Chi's face turned red, trying to act calm. He couldn't let an NPC see that he was a newbie.

"Adventurer, your quests should be taken at the tavern in the city. We don't have any quests here." Lawrence added.

"Tavern, where is the tavern?"

"Kansas City, about 200 kilometers from here."

"..."

Come on, why is it so difficult to get a quest? Is there any game that requires players to walk 200 kilometers to get a quest? What's going on?

Ruan Chi felt a strong urge to complain. Seeing Ruan Chi's strange expression, Lawrence asked, "Adventurer, if there's nothing else, I'll be on my way."

Ruan Chi didn't react, and only came to his senses after Lawrence walked away.

"Never mind, I'll log out and check the guide again." Never thought playing a game could be so troublesome. Ruan Chi put down his hand and started to bring up the system menu based on the knowledge he had studied.

He reached out and pulled in the air, and a blue screen appeared with a bunch of options. At the bottom was the log out option, but it was grayed out.

Gray meant it was not operable.

"What's going on? Can't even log out?" Ruan Chi was speechless, trying to click on it a few times, but nothing happened.

Indeed, it was not operable.

Realizing something was wrong, Ruan Chi immediately sought help from the online customer service. Fortunately, most online games have online customer service, and asking would reveal what was happening.

"May I help you, player?"

As soon as the customer service connected, a pleasant female voice immediately sounded. However, Ruan Chi knew it was an AI, not a game staff member.

To log out quickly, Ruan Chi switched to human service, but the progress bar got stuck at 99% and finally a red warning popped up.

System: Your IP address is incorrect, unable to establish a connection. Please check if your network is abnormal.

"Is my way of accessing it wrong?" Ruan Chi was stunned, not understanding why such a message appeared.

Everyone knows that "Knight's Heart" is an online game, and online games need to connect to the internet.

Now the problem was, Ruan Chi was already in the game, so how could it be unable to establish a connection, and the network be abnormal?