Chapter 9

Chapter 3: Company Announcement

After wandering for a full three hours, with the sky about to turn dark, I hadn't bought a single potion or piece of equipment. It wasn't that I couldn't find any shops; all the stores were closed. Since the five knights left, I hadn't encountered a single person, and the city was enormous, with countless streets crisscrossing, leaving me, a directionally challenged person, completely disoriented.

Unable to hold on any longer, I found a small alley and logged out. As I took off my helmet, I saw Ah Wei sitting by the computer, surfing the web. "What are you looking at?"

Seeing that I was awake, Ah Wei excitedly waved me over. "Come and take a look. This is the official website of 'Zero'!"

"Oh? What's on it?"

"There are game rankings and some announcements." Ah Wei flipped through the directory while explaining to me.

"Is there any important information?"

"Wait a moment, I think I saw a few just now. Ah, here they are!" I quickly ran behind Ah Wei and looked at the announcements he had found. "China Corporation said that 10,100 accounts were actually issued today, and these players who received the accounts are the first batch of beta testers. All 10,100 accounts have a chance to draw a random number of rewards, with the maximum being 4 and the minimum being 0." Reading this, Ah Wei turned back to me in surprise. "There are even those who don't win anything? I thought everyone would get a reward! How many did you draw?"

I made a victory sign with my hand and smiled at him. "Your big brother is naturally a lucky star and drew 4! Hahaha! Impressive, right?"

"So awesome! Good, once I get my account, I'll rely on you for equipment!"

At this, my face darkened. "I'll do my best!"

Noticing my expression, Ah Wei asked nervously, "What's wrong? Did someone loot you?"

"If only that were the case!" I plopped down on the bed. "I don't know what bad luck I had, but I encountered two NPC monsters fighting. One of the monsters was thrown at me, and in a panic, I blocked it with my sword, which broke!"

"What? You didn't break your only beginner weapon, did you?"

"Ah! Don't mention it! I found a white equipment sword in a forest. Although its attack power was average, it was better than the beginner weapon, which the system only values at one copper coin and takes up space, so I threw away the beginner weapon. Who would have thought that now I don't have any weapons left!"

"Big brother! How are you going to level up without a weapon?"

"I'm worried about that too. Before logging out, I ran to a city to find a shop to buy the cheapest equipment, but none of the shops in this strange city were open!"

"Forget it! Don't be too upset. It just means you'll spend more time finding a shop!" Ah Wei turned his gaze back to the webpage and read, "Big brother, you're so lucky! It says here that 5,307 people out of today's accounts drew 0 rewards, so the actual number of rewarded accounts is only 4,793."

"Really? So many people drew zero?"

"Yes, China Corporation said the success rate of the draw is proportional, with the highest chance of drawing zero, and the higher the number, the harder it is to win!"

"Are the numbers for the other rewards mentioned?"

"Yes! 3,797 people drew one reward, 792 drew two, 203 drew three, and only... what! You are the only one who drew four rewards! Big brother, you're incredible! Only one person in the world drew four, and you did it! My admiration for you is like a river, endless and continuous!"

"Really? I thought at least a few hundred people would have drawn four!" I was also surprised. "What else does it say?"

Ah Wei continued reading. "Currently, the top-ranked player is a warrior named 'Many Kills' who is already level 68." Ah Wei paused.

"What's wrong?"

"I found something interesting."

"What's interesting?"

"The second-ranked player is a female player named 'Red Moon,' a Dark Mage, who is already level 67! I can't understand how she leveled up so fast; isn't it supposed to be hard for mages at the beginning?"

Hearing about these top players made me even less confident. "Ah! I'm only level 29, and they are over 60! They are more than twice my level! How can I catch up!"

"Big brother, don't lose heart, you'll catch up eventually!" Ah Wei encouraged me while searching for useful or interesting information. "It says here that there are now 7 pets in the game! The top-ranked pet belongs to the female Dark Mage and is named 'Mist.' It was originally an 800-level boss, the Night Spirit King, and is now level 38. No wonder this mage leveled up so fast; she has a super pet!"

That's strange! My luck is a 1000-level boss, so why isn't it ranked first? Although it's only level 1, it should be ranked first! Could it be because of that Hermit's Ring? "What other pets are there?"

"Let's see!" Ah Wei looked. "The rest are all junk. The second-ranked pet is an 80-level boss, the Wild Horse King, and is only level 21."

It seems the ring is indeed the reason! Seeing Ah Wei looking at me, I waved my hand. "Keep going!"

Ah Wei continued. "The game is now entering a fully autonomous state, with all controls handed over to the system. All quest generation, event occurrences, and NPC behaviors are managed by China Corporation's supercomputer, Nebula. The company will no longer set up GMs or similar personnel, and the game will be fully automated."

"Are they serious? That's too extreme! What are they trying to do?"

"It says here it's to test the AI system's emergency response capabilities!"

"That makes sense!" I listened to Ah Wei while rummaging through the fridge for some convenience food. "Is there any other important information?"

"China Corporation says the second batch of 100,000 accounts will be issued after 8:00 AM tomorrow, and one day later, account restrictions will be fully lifted. At that time, there will be no need to apply for an account; everyone's ID number will be their account (now, ID numbers are universal worldwide, with the first three digits indicating the country and the rest arranged according to each country's system. As long as you have your ID, you don't need to worry about anything, as it is linked to your bank card). The only downside is that ID numbers are longer and a bit more troublesome. Other than that, there's nothing else. The website says it will update with new information, and it will also be announced in the game."

"Alright. I got it. I'll rest for a while!"