Chapter 3

As Xiao Zhi had expected, some information about "World of All Beings" indeed appeared online.

There was even a dedicated forum for the game "World of All Beings."

Many players were amazed by the exquisite graphics of "World of All Beings."

After creating their characters, the resemblance between the characters and the real-life players, whether in appearance, height, or physique, was astonishingly accurate, which sparked extensive discussions among players.

Some players found this very interesting. They thought that having characters that looked exactly like themselves would make players feel as if they were truly adventuring and growing stronger in the game world, enhancing the sense of immersion.

However, not all players agreed.

They thought that while this feature was indeed interesting, couldn't the game company be more considerate and offer players more choices?

What about players who liked to play as the opposite gender?

What about players who enjoyed customizing their characters' appearances?

What about players who pursued beauty?

Life is already so difficult; do we, as players, not even have the right to make ourselves look beautiful or handsome in a virtual game?

Players with different viewpoints engaged in heated debates on the game's dedicated forum. At first, both sides were relatively restrained, but later, the discussions turned into heated arguments, with neither side willing to back down, and the atmosphere became very tense.

Xiao Zhi watched with great interest.

He did not choose to participate but instead became a bystander.

Before he knew it, it was already late at night.

The arguments continued, but they had degenerated into a few meaningless curses. Feeling a bit sleepy, Xiao Zhi yawned.

Forget it, time to sleep.

He turned off his phone, got into bed, and covered himself with the blanket.

He found that when his attention was diverted, he didn't miss her as much.

Tonight, he might be able to sleep well and not suffer from insomnia as he had in the past few days.

Before he knew it, Xiao Zhi had fallen asleep.

He was a web novelist, a relatively free profession. His last novel had just been completed not long ago, and he had originally planned to take a break and use this time to visit her city to find her. However, before he could go, he had already been dumped.

The next day, he woke up at 6 a.m. He couldn't sleep, still feeling depressed and empty.

If you truly love someone, how easy is it to forget them?

Sitting on the bed, he stared blankly for a while, then picked up his phone, which he had thrown on the bedside, and tapped the "World of All Beings" icon.

The game started instantly, running smoothly.

The world in the game was also daytime, just like the real world, with the sky just beginning to brighten.

His character was sitting at the entrance of Peace Village, with a pile of not yet completely extinguished bonfire in front of him.

Xiao Zhi remembered that his character had been standing before, and there was no bonfire in front of him.

Xiao Zhi controlled his character to stand up, walk around the bonfire, and continue down the path at the village entrance.

Xiao Zhi rotated the screen to look around.

The village was surrounded by a fence of wooden stakes about a person's height, with a few watchtowers inside. On these watchtowers, there were strong villagers in gray clothes keeping watch.

Through the wooden fence, Xiao Zhi could see that it was a very ordinary village. The village wasn't large, and on both sides of the stone paths, there were houses with green-tiled roofs and mud walls.

Xiao Zhi could even faintly hear the sounds of roosters and dogs.

Xiao Zhi controlled his character to the village gate.

Before he could do anything, the gate creaked open.

An old man in gray clothes, thin and with white hair, who looked to be in his sixties or seventies, appeared in front of Xiao Zhi.

The old man looked at Xiao Zhi with a pitying gaze and said, "I am the village chief of Peace Village. You can call me Yu Village Chief. Young man, it's not easy to have escaped here. Come in."

Beside the old man stood a man who was a head taller, quite strong, and opened his mouth to speak, "Young man, last night you stood outside the village, dazed and unresponsive, no matter how we called you. If it weren't for the village chief's pity, who lit a bonfire in front of you to keep you warm, you might have been frostbitten last night."

These must be the NPCs in the village, and the game had assigned him the identity of a poor refugee who had only a pair of pants left.

Xiao Zhi wanted to communicate with them, but he couldn't find a place to input text or voice commands on the screen.

So, Xiao Zhi followed Yu Village Chief and the strong man into the village.

After that, Xiao Zhi spent about an hour familiarizing himself with the game.

He discovered that to communicate with these NPCs, he didn't need to find a place to input text or voice commands; he just needed to speak to the screen, and they could hear him.

He found that unlike other games where NPCs would only repeat a few lines, the NPCs in Peace Village could respond to whatever he said.

Could this be a new generation of intelligent NPCs?

In addition to this, Xiao Zhi also learned about the general situation in Peace Village.

Peace Village was a small village with over 300 households and more than 1,000 people. The village chief was Yu Village Chief. The strong man who stood beside Yu Village Chief and was a head taller was called Wang Ji, the captain of the village patrol team.

Wang Ji was a martial artist, a ninth-stage martial artist.

The village patrol team, in addition to Captain Wang Ji, had over 20 members, all of whom were martial artists. The strongest among them was Captain Wang Ji, who was a ninth-stage martial artist.

This patrol team, as the only armed force in Peace Village, was responsible for maintaining the village's security, driving away and hunting wild beasts and ferocious animals that dared to approach the village, and defending the village if it was attacked by bandits.

It seems that in this game, to "change professions" from an ordinary person to a martial artist, one needs to focus on the village patrol team.

Ninth-stage martial artist, after which should be a pre-natal martial artist. This must be a world of martial arts and cultivation, Xiao Zhi thought to himself.

He also discovered that he wasn't the only new player who had come to Peace Village.

In the past hour, he had already encountered several other players in the village.

Neither the villagers nor the players had any special markings, but it was easy to distinguish who was a player and who was an NPC villager.

At least for now, it was easy to tell at a glance.

Because these new players, like Xiao Zhi, were barefoot and only wearing simple gray shorts, which was a very obvious characteristic.

The NPC villagers, though simple, at least wore clothes and shoes.

What was a bit disappointing for Xiao Zhi was that the players he had seen were all male, with no female players.

If there were female players, they would likely have some additional "equipment" to protect their vital areas, in addition to the shorts.

In the following days, besides eating, sleeping, and taking a walk along the river with his father after dinner, Xiao Zhi devoted all his time to the game called "World of All Beings."

Xiao Zhi's obsession with the game was noticed by his father, Xiao Yi, and his mother, Hu Lanzhi. They were worried but didn't say much about it.