Chapter 1

On a summer afternoon in 21XX, on the 24th floor of an ordinary residential building in XS City, a series of sharp, clanging sounds continuously echoed, disturbing the quiet of the afternoon and making people feel particularly annoyed.

In room 2402, a room of about a hundred square meters, a black-haired teenager was holding a hammer in one hand and pressing an iron frame with the other, striking the frame's legs forcefully. Because the frame seemed to be slightly too large, it didn't fit well, and the teenager was trying to force it into shape.

With a loud "clang," the frame suddenly snapped into place with the teenager's powerful hammer blow, and the entire object was basically complete. At a glance, it looked like a large massage chair, slightly larger than a regular massage chair. However, at the head of the chair was a semi-circular "hood," similar to the machine used for hair perms in a salon, but the hood was densely packed with various wires. The wiring was a mess, clearly homemade, and in the 22nd century, such exposed "electrical" devices would never pass quality control.

Next to the "massage chair" was a regular home computer. In the 22nd century, computers had integrated the main unit and display, so there was only a screen. The screen showed a white background with black text, densely packed with a lot of English and Arabic numerals, which even a computer professional might not understand.

"Done!" As the last piece of the frame was installed, the teenager wiped the sweat from his brow and grinned mischievously, "My hands-on skills are simply out of this world. I completed the game pod in just three days. Tianyu Corporation thought I couldn't play the game because I have a police record, but I can make a game pod in three days. Let's see how you can stop me from playing. I'll just tweak the program and see if I can connect to Tianyu's network."

Just as the teenager picked up the wireless keyboard to start, there was a loud knocking on the door, and a woman's voice shouted, "Open up! Li Huailin, open the door!"

"Uh..." Li Huailin recognized the voice at the door and rubbed his nose in slight frustration but still went to open it.

"Juan, you didn't have to shout so loud, people might think I owe you something," Li Huailin said as he opened the door. A mature woman, looking to be in her late twenties, was standing there, glaring at him angrily. Despite her age, she had large eyes, a sharp chin, and a perfect, alluring face, along with a devilish figure, making her incredibly attractive. However, she was now looking at Li Huailin with anger, and her face also showed signs of fatigue.

"Do you know what time it is?" the woman asked, her eyes widening as she looked at Li Huailin.

Li Huailin glanced at his electronic watch, "I know, it's 2:14 PM. Juan, you didn't have to knock so loudly just to ask the time."

"Do you know what time I start work? Do you know I need to nap in the afternoon?!" Juan's anger grew as she looked at Li Huailin, who was pretending to be clueless, "It's been three days, and you've been hammering and sawing, making all sorts of noise. How am I supposed to nap, and how can I go to work at night?"

The woman's name was Chen Juan, and she lived in room 2401, making her Li Huailin's neighbor. Her "job" was to go to a nightclub or bar every night and hook up with a wealthy man, and if she was lucky, she could cover her expenses for a few months or even a year. Chen Juan didn't have a fixed job and relied on her looks to find men, occasionally doing odd jobs as a model or runway model. Her "work hours" started at 5 PM, and she slept in the afternoon and morning. For the past three days, Li Huailin had been making noise from 8 AM, preventing her from getting any rest, and she had been complaining for three days. Although Li Huailin knew about this neighbor, their schedules were so different that they rarely spoke, and in the past three days, they had said more to each other than they had since he moved in.

"Today is really the last day, I promise," Li Huailin said with a helpless smile. Although his noise was loud, it was during the day, not at night, but dealing with someone whose schedule was the opposite, especially a woman, was difficult.

"I haven't slept well for three days, look at my dark circles," Chen Juan pointed to her eyes, still angry, "How am I supposed to work like this? If there's no man, will you support me?"

"Don't joke, one of your bags costs more than my annual living expenses. How could I support you?" Li Huailin laughed, "You supporting me would be more likely."

"Hmm?" Chen Juan's anger subsided a bit as she looked up and down at Li Huailin, then suddenly smiled mischievously, "How about it, handsome, let me support you from now on?"

"Ha ha." Li Huailin shook his head helplessly, "I trust my left hand more. Juan, it's getting late, why don't you go back to sleep? You have work tonight, and I promise I won't make any more noise."

"Come on, my left hand is pretty good too," Chen Juan said, making a suggestive motion with her left hand and leaning in, exuding a strong allure.

"I sell my skills, not my body. I won't be swayed by force or temptation," Li Huailin said firmly, standing tall.

"Hmph." Chen Juan tossed her head, "You better not disturb me again, or I'll really force myself on you, little virgin."

"That's not forcing, that's outright rape," Li Huailin corrected.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Chen Juan said with a wicked smile.

"Heroine, please spare me..." Li Huailin said, exasperated.

"Hmph, watch your step and don't provoke people you can't handle," Chen Juan said, puffing out her chest, which was barely contained by her clothes, and said with a smug look, "I'll let you off this time. I'm going to sleep now, and you better not disturb me again."

"Thank you, my lord." Li Huailin bowed with his hands clasped.

"Hehe." Chen Juan laughed, covering her mouth and giving Li Huailin a provocative look before leaving.

After Chen Juan left, Li Huailin could finally return to his work. Picking up the keyboard, his expression changed, and his hands began to type furiously. If anyone else saw him, they might think he was just randomly hitting keys, as the speed was so fast, faster than even typing, especially since he was programming.

"It should work." Looking at the white text on the screen, Li Huailin muttered to himself, "Speaking of which, Tianyu Corporation is really greedy. A game pod costs 599,998 yuan, but my homemade one only cost a bit over 20,000 yuan for all the materials. The processor was a bit expensive, but the rest didn't cost much at all..."

Thinking back to three days ago, Li Huailin was still a bit angry. Three days ago, he saw an advertisement saying that Tianyu Corporation, in collaboration with the government, had developed a groundbreaking online game called "Heart of Glory." It was said to be a virtual online game with 98% realism. Not only in China, but in other countries as well, there were servers, and it was rumored that a new version would soon be released, allowing cross-server battles, or international server wars.

The advertisements for "Heart of Glory" were everywhere, and it was hard for Li Huailin to avoid hearing about it. In the 22nd century, playing online games had become a widely accepted profession, and it was quite common. However, this time it was a bit unusual because the government was openly supporting "Heart of Glory" and encouraging unemployed people to participate. If they played for at least 90 hours a month, they would receive a 2,000 yuan subsidy from the government.

In the 22nd century, with the rapid development of productivity, the need for human labor had decreased. Large-scale farming machines were used for agriculture, and large-scale breeding factories for livestock. Computers and the internet had replaced most human jobs, and companies that once required tens of thousands of people could now be run by a few hundred. With the world's population exceeding 10 billion a decade ago, the number of unemployed people was increasing. The government, while not short of money, was concerned about the unrest caused by so many unemployed people. To reduce this pressure, the government collaborated with Tianyu Corporation to launch "Heart of Glory."

Being able to play games and earn money was a very comfortable arrangement. Li Huailin was also attracted by this and decided to try it out. However, when he went to buy a helmet, he encountered a problem. It wasn't that he couldn't afford it; a game pod cost 599,998 yuan, but there was a cheaper virtual helmet for 19,998 yuan, which was affordable. The problem was that he couldn't buy it.

"Sir, according to our records, you have a criminal record, so you are not eligible to purchase a game helmet," a customer service representative said with a smile.

"Is that so? Why didn't you mention that in the advertisement? I came all the way here, and now you tell me I can't buy it?" Li Huailin was in a bad mood after waiting in line for a long time.

"Well, that's the rule..." the customer service representative explained calmly, "If you look at the bottom right corner of the advertisement, it's actually written there."

Li Huailin looked at the advertisement again and found the small print in the bottom right corner.

So, Li Huailin returned home.

Feeling increasingly frustrated, Li Huailin decided to take a different path, "The helmet is just a brainwave collection device and an imaging system. Why don't I make one myself? It's not that complex, I should be able to do it. Then I can program it to connect to Tianyu's network and play the game."

So, he spent three days trying, and Li Huailin basically completed his homemade game pod. Although it looked nothing like the professionally made ones, it had all the basic functions.

"Let's test it and see if it can connect to the official network." Recalling the instructions, Li Huailin sat down in his homemade game pod. He manually lowered the headgear, and it quickly entered the connection state.

Li Huailin felt a moment of darkness. After 10 seconds, just as he thought it wasn't working, the Tianyu Corporation logo suddenly appeared in front of him. Then it went dark again, and after 10 seconds, the opening animation started.

Li Huailin had already seen the opening animation on the official website, so he wasn't particularly interested. However, just two seconds into the animation, it froze. The scene, which was supposed to show a battlefield with various races fighting, suddenly glitched. The ground turned into an ocean, and the thousands of people fighting on the plain were now "standing" on the ocean. The distant city, which was supposed to be on fire, suddenly turned into a forest, with trees everywhere.

"Huh? What's going on? It's glitching?" Li Huailin looked at the screen in confusion, but before he could figure out what was happening, the animation finished. Li Huailin felt his body become light, and a white palace appeared in front of him.

"The character creation interface... It seems to be working normally now. What happened just now? Is there a problem with my homemade tech?" Li Huailin was puzzled but didn't worry too much.

"Welcome to Heart of Glory. Please create your character." A very hoarse voice came from in front of Li Huailin. The voice was so strange, hoarse, and sounded like a radio with a weak signal.

Li Huailin looked up and was startled. In front of him was a woman in white, or at least he thought it was a woman because he could only see her body. Her face was covered by two long black lines, dividing it into three parts. It was impossible to tell if it was a woman or even a human.

"Who... who are you?"

"I am the Heart of Glory new player assistant, responsible for character creation," the pixelated character replied in a super hoarse and terrifying voice.

"Hey, using such a scary character as a new player assistant, aren't you afraid of scaring children?" Li Huailin wiped his face.

"Please create your character." The new player assistant was just a computer program and could only repeat the standard response without a keyword prompt.

"Alright, alright, even though you're scary, I'll create my character..." Li Huailin accepted the terrifying face and started creating his character.

"Character name." The new player assistant began the standard questions.

"Xionghuai Ruo Lin." This name was actually taken from a book that Li Huailin's father had read, and Li Huailin had been using it as his online name ever since.

"Name not duplicated." The new player assistant continued in her hoarse, unpleasant voice, "Confirm?"

"Confirm."

"Choose your race." As the new player assistant finished speaking, a virtual panel appeared in front of Li Huailin, showing the six races in Heart of Glory (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Demon, Beast, Undead) and their racial traits.

Li Huailin had already seen these racial descriptions on the official website. After a brief look, he decided that the Human race's racial traits, Wisdom (10% increase in Intelligence) and Diplomacy (10% increase in reputation in non-human main cities), suited him best. His goal was to play a Mage, and among the six races, only Humans had an Intelligence bonus, which increased spell damage. The Diplomacy trait was just an additional bonus, but it was better than nothing. A 10-point reputation increase meant a 5% discount on items in the main city, and further increases would require completing quests, so it wasn't very useful.

As for choosing a class, that would have to wait until level 10, when he left the newbie village and found a class trainer in the main city. After choosing his race, he would enter the game directly.

"Choose Human, confirm?"

"Confirm."

"Enjoy your game."

Although the new player assistant's words were nice, her voice was too... Before Li Huailin could frown, the screen went dark, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a small village.

Li Huailin was slightly stunned because the surroundings were so realistic. Although he had played virtual online games before, they always had a sense of unreality. But this time, Heart of Glory truly amazed him.

Simple and realistic houses, a beautiful and peaceful environment. Li Huailin took a deep breath and found that even the air seemed real. Looking around at the players running by, he unconsciously raised his right hand and clenched it, feeling his body.

"Indeed, it's impressive. I didn't expect this game to have 98% realism. It was worth it to play. I didn't think my homemade game pod would actually work. Tianyu Corporation, this is your level."

With that, Li Huailin, following his usual online game experience, silently said, "Character," and a window popped up.

Name: Xionghuai Ruo Lin

Class: None (not yet chosen)

Secondary Class: None

Level: 1

Experience: 0/500

Attributes:

HP: 100/100

MP: 100/100

Attack: 4-7

Defense: 2-4

Spell Attack: 4-7

Spell Defense: 2-2

Strength: 7 (affects physical attack, range and effect depend on class)

Agility: 9 (affects attack speed, movement speed, and slightly increases defense)

Constitution: 5 (affects health, significantly increases defense)

Intelligence: 7 (affects spell attack and spell critical hit, range and effect depend on class)

Spirit: 5 (increases magic points, mana regeneration, and spell defense)

Luck: 5 (affects critical hit, drop rate, and quest triggers)

Reputation Points: 0

Skills:

Critical Strike (Level 1, 0/200): A fierce strike, increases attack by 5 points. Active, consumes 5 MP, 15-second cooldown. Upgradable.

Racial Traits:

Wisdom: +10% Intelligence

Diplomacy: +10% reputation in non-human main cities

"What the hell?" Li Huailin was startled when he saw his character attributes.