Chapter 1: Blood Battle

"Are you kidding me! We've been waiting for so long!" a young man complained.

"What about you! I didn't even have time for breakfast, and you at least had a burger!" Ah Wei grumbled.

Ah Wei, whose real name is Liang Wei, is my best friend and roommate. We've known each other since we were very young, were in the same class in junior high, the same school in high school, and are now in the same class and dorm room in college. We've been playing games together since junior high, and Ah Wei's game room was our favorite place back then! Now that we're in college, Ah Wei and I live in a double room, mainly because I have a rather introverted personality and have almost no friends besides Ah Wei! We are freshmen, and the summer vacation has just ended. Since classes won't start for a while, we decided to use this time to play some games in the dorm.

Ah Wei's family is quite wealthy; they are in the real estate business, though I don't know exactly how much they have, but it's less than my family. His own bedroom is next to his dedicated game room, which is filled with over a hundred different gaming machines, all bought by his family! My family is more complicated. My father runs a multinational enterprise group called Longyuan Group. The group doesn't have a specific focus; basically, we do any business that can make money. In fact, the main source of income for Longyuan is special military equipment. What? You don't know what special military equipment is? It's the production of specialized weapons, such as biological weapons, electronic weapons, energy weapons, and space weapons—high-tech weapons that are not widely used. If it weren't for my status as a young master, I wouldn't even know that Longyuan is involved in this! This Longyuan Group was left to my father by my grandfather and is now the second-largest company in the world. My father owns 51% of the company's shares, which are worth more than the country's GDP last year. My mother is the CEO of Zhonghua Company, which she built from scratch. Because she did it all on her own, she controls 78% of the company's shares. Although Zhonghua is not as large as Longyuan, the value of her shares is still in the billions, though compared to my father's Longyuan Group, it's like a drop in the ocean! Because my family is so wealthy, I didn't have a normal childhood. I always had a large number of bodyguards following me, and even when I went to the bathroom, there were a dozen people surrounding me. My parents were always busy with work and even made business deals at my tenth birthday party! Because I always had bodyguards with me, it was very difficult to make friends, and most people who approached me were after my family's money, which made me even less trusting of friends. As a result, Ah Wei is my only friend (in fact, my parents hoped that being with Ah Wei would make me a bit happier), and from then on, my family tried to give me a more normal upbringing, not wanting me to feel like I was part of a privileged class. To this end, my identity was deliberately hidden, and my father even used his connections to alter many departmental records. Now, most people don't even know if my father has children, let alone who I am. The most obvious benefit of this is that the more than a hundred bodyguards following me have been reduced to a few hidden guards, and I can attend a regular school like everyone else (I went to elementary school at Ah Wei's house with specially hired teachers, and Ah Wei also attended with me).

This strange childhood made it very difficult for me to make friends, which led to my introverted personality! There is actually another reason that makes it hard for me to make friends, and that is my appearance and voice. I am not ugly at all; in fact, I am very beautiful, yes, beautiful. I could probably rank in any global beauty pageant. The problem is that as a tough guy, I have a body that doesn't look like a man's at all. Note that I am not a pervert; medically, I am a man, with everything a man should have and nothing a man shouldn't. My sexual orientation is also normal. However, 99.99% of people cannot guess my gender correctly if they don't know me beforehand (frustrating, right)! Whenever guests come to my house, the first thing they say is always: "Chairman, your daughter is so beautiful!" Indeed, most people's first impression of me is a beautiful, innocent girl, and my voice always sounds like a sweet child's, making it even harder to determine my gender! Imagine, a group of men drooling over me—how can I make friends with them! Because of my appearance, even going to school was not peaceful. I have had at least 200 incidents of scaring a group of boys out of the bathroom! So, for a long time, Ah Wei, who is the only person of my age who can see me as a man, has been my most loyal friend (the main reason he can resist my beauty is that we grew up together, and he didn't have these thoughts when we were young, and now he is used to it. Actually, Ah Wei is also quite lecherous, and he complains that because I am so beautiful, it will be hard for him to find a girlfriend, saying that he can't stand an average-looking one! But in reality, he reacts to any woman!).

Today, Ah Wei and I are waiting in line for the latest online game, "Zero." It's the game's launch day, and the first 10,000 accounts to be claimed will receive special rewards. The reward is a "Zero" dedicated electronic virtual reality helmet and a random hidden reward in the game. The helmet isn't that special; it's 2062, and such helmets cost only 300 RMB, so they aren't particularly valuable. It's the random hidden reward that is more attractive. Actually, this "Zero" is a cooperative product between my father's company and the European Union's equal trade group, with my mother's Zhonghua Company as the general agent. However, my father said there should be no special treatment, and if I want an account, I should wait in line myself, so here I am!

I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Shen Lin, and I am from New Nanjing. Let me explain New Nanjing. In 2012, China and Japan had a large-scale armed conflict over maritime boundaries, which escalated into a war. During the war, Japan launched 37 giant fuel-air bombs at China. Fortunately, 36 of them were intercepted by the space-directed energy interception system (this system was the first successful military business of Longyuan, which was still controlled by my grandfather at the time). However, the last fuel-air bomb still hit Nanjing, completely leveling the entire Nanjing region. The direct death toll exceeded four times the number of victims in the Nanjing Massacre during World War II, reaching 1.35 million. In retaliation, China dropped a crustal bomb on Honshu Island, one of the four main islands of Japan, sending it into the Pacific Ocean (Japan now has only three main islands). The tsunami also severely affected neighboring countries, and China compensated South Korea and North Korea with 522 billion RMB each. New Nanjing was rebuilt on the ruins of the old Nanjing.

"Look, the door is open!" Ah Wei pulled me out of my thoughts.

We pushed forward with all our might, and the originally orderly queue turned into chaos the moment the door opened. I was almost lifted off my feet by the crowd and carried into the sales hall. The hall, which was already small, was now packed with over 3,000 people, and at least 10,000 more were trying to get in from outside. Ah Wei, who was behind me, was also pushed away by the crowd.

Seeing that the account sales had started, I had to push my way to the window. The security guards were trying their best to maintain order, but it seemed futile. "Help!" I heard a faint cry, which seemed to come from under my feet. I managed to look down and saw someone being trampled and unable to get up. If this continued, the person would definitely be trampled to death. I pushed the dense crowd around me with all my strength, using my shoulder to keep them from closing in again, and extended a hand to pull the person up.

I was stunned. The person I saved was a beautiful girl who looked like a fairy fallen to earth. Her beauty far exceeded mine, and there are not many people like her, so no woman dares to walk with me—no one wants to be a green leaf! However, she was now covered in footprints, looking quite disheveled, but this did not diminish her beauty.

"Thank you, sister!" Although her voice was very pleasant, it felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over me—another mistake!

"It's nothing, I couldn't just let you be trampled to death! Do you want me to help you out of the hall?" I regretted saying it as soon as it came out. If she really wanted me to help her out, I couldn't guarantee I could get back in to get one of the first 10,000 accounts. Besides, the game is globally released, and even though New Nanjing is the headquarters of the company that distributes "Zero," we would be lucky to get 300 to 500 accounts.

"No! I want to get an account!" The girl's words relieved me.

"Okay, follow me closely!"

We continued to push toward the window. I fought hard to clear a path. Exhausted, I finally reached the window, yes, I was swimming, as I hardly had time to touch the ground. "I want an account!" I shouted at the saleswoman.

"Me too!" The girl was also at the window.

The saleswoman quickly handed us two helmets. "The account is in the helmet. If you have any questions, check the manual."

There was no choice but to push back into the crowd and move toward the door. It was a struggle to get back to the door, and looking at the dense crowd outside, I couldn't believe how I had managed to get in. I heard a panting sound behind me and turned to see the girl.

"Thank you! My name is Li Jia, Lin Li Jia. If it weren't for you, I would have lost my life today, let alone the account!" She extended her hand generously.

I shook her soft, dirty (originally very white) hand and decided not to explain, as the chances of seeing her again were negligible. "It's nothing! Since we both got accounts, I'll remember your account and contact you in the game."

"Okay!" Li Jia copied her account from the helmet and handed it to me. "I'll go now, let's keep in touch!"

"Okay!" Watching her walk away, I looked back at the crowd, realizing it would be impossible to find Ah Wei, so I decided to head back to the dorm.

Finally, I made it back to the dorm. Ah Wei wasn't there yet. I took out the breakfast I had brought back and started reading the manual while eating. The game wouldn't open until 8 PM.

The manual was thin, only 17 pages. It turned out that the first 10,000 accounts were related to the helmets. The actual accounts didn't matter; the key was the helmet. When the helmet is used to log in to the game for the first time, the account will be automatically recognized as a reward account and will undergo a random reward calculation. Each account can only receive one reward, and even if you have two helmets and use the same account to log in with both, it won't work. The system will only recognize the first reward and ignore the second. The manual also mentioned that each person can only use one account, and the helmet will automatically scan the user's brain waves and iris during the first login to bind the account. Once bound, the account cannot be used by anyone else, which completely eliminates the possibility of proxy leveling and account theft. Additionally, each person's identity will be bound to the account, and once a person has used an account, they cannot apply for a second one. Other details were omitted, and the manual only said to ask the system NPC in the game for more information.

Just as I put down the manual, Ah Wei returned. "How did it go?"

Ah Wei looked disappointed. "Don't mention it. I was pushed out as soon as I got in and didn't even get close! Did you get one?" Ah Wei saw my helmet. "But it's okay. I'm not a professional player, so it doesn't matter if the account is ordinary."

"Don't worry. I'll help you level up, and you'll definitely level up faster than others." I reassured him.

"That's great! Don't forget your promise!"

After a quick lunch, I took a nap to rest up for the all-nighter. At 7 PM, I got up, had dinner, and started waiting for the game to open. After a long wait (actually less than half an hour), it was finally 8 PM!

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