Chapter 27

September 12.

6:00.

After three days of agonizing wait following the release of the closed beta test qualifications, it was finally the day the server opened.

Following the instructions on the official website, Du Mingdao put on the helmet, lay flat on the bed, and closed his eyes.

Speaking of which...

Is this really all it takes?

However, the moment this thought crossed his mind, he saw a beam of light pierce through the darkness and shine before his closed eyes.

Even though he hadn't opened his eyes yet...

Du Mingdao sat up in the damp incubation pod, glanced around, and his blank gaze gradually turned to one of intense shock.

This...

Is the game world?!

The metallic walls and floor tiles, the streamlined pod doors, and the wisps of steam evaporating from his shoulders, gradually taking away his body heat, all exuded a sci-fi feel.

He took a deep breath of the game world's air and faintly detected an unpleasant odor.

Du Mingdao wasn't sure if what he was seeing was real.

But the 100% immersion was so shocking that he couldn't speak.

This feeling—

Is simply amazing!!!

At that moment, the adjacent hibernation pod suddenly opened, and a creature with a lizard-like mouth and covered in dark green scales sat up.

The moment their eyes met, Du Mingdao was startled.

"What the heck? What is this thing?"

"What thing..."

"Who the hell are you? An NPC???"

"What NPC, I'm a player! ID: TrashCollector99... I was about to ask you, who are you?"

"You're TrashCollector?! I'm LeaveMeAlone! Damn, are you the new guy who joined the group a few days ago? Why do you look so ugly?!"

"You're the one who's ugly..."

His amber eyes wide open, the lizard man looked utterly confused, clearly not understanding the situation.

But soon, his gaze fell on his scaly, dark green skin, and his bewildered eyes gradually filled with fear.

He hastily lowered his head, looked left and right, and fumbled over his body with his claws, his tail wriggling along with his body, much like a gecko that had fallen into a mud pit.

At that moment, his gaze suddenly fixed on something between his legs.

Then, he let out a piercing wail.

"Damn! Where's my... thing?!"

Du Mingdao almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

"You look like that, and you're worried about that thing?!"

"That's missing, and this is missing too! Damn! The game developers are lying! If I can be a lizard man, why can't I choose a female character?!"

"Want to switch? I'll take the lizard man."

"Get lost."

The hibernation pods were equipped with body scanning devices that could display one's attributes and level, all of which were public information on the official website.

TrashCollector extended his index finger and tapped the control interface, and soon the attribute panel was projected onto the screen.

[

ID: TrashCollector99

Gene Sequence: Alien · Lizard Man

Level: LV.0

—Basic Attributes—

Strength: 8

Agility: 7

Constitution: 8

Perception: 8

Intelligence: 2

]

[

Talents:

Cold-Blooded (Enhanced stealth, slow movement in cold environments)

Fused Toes (Enhanced endurance, difficulty operating complex machinery)

Flesh Regeneration (Enhanced recovery, difficult to upgrade gene sequence)

]

What the heck?

These attributes are something!

TrashCollector vaguely remembered that the official website stated the standard attribute values for a normal adult male were 5, with a fluctuation of ±2.

Clearly, he wasn't based on a normal adult male. Except for his low intelligence, the other four attributes were incredibly strong.

The key was that he didn't feel unintelligent.

So what if his intelligence was a bit low?

It didn't affect his ability to show off at all!

Realizing this, TrashCollector couldn't stop smiling, and he calmed down.

Du Mingdao, sitting in the adjacent incubation pod, looked at the grinning lizard man and asked with concern.

"Are you... okay?"

"Ha, I'm great! Let's go, we need to get out of this room and meet up with the other players! Don't keep the Administrator waiting!"

With that, TrashCollector flipped out of the incubation pod.

He realized one benefit of being a lizard man was that he didn't need to wear clothes, as it didn't matter whether he had pants on or not, there was nothing to cover!

Staring at the lively lizard, Du Mingdao's face was filled with a strange expression.

At that moment, he noticed something stuck to the lizard's butt.

"There's something on your butt."

"Where?"

Hearing this, TrashCollector also felt something on his butt and reached back with his claws.

It was his first time operating this body, so it took a while for him to finally scrape off the piece of paper.

The paper was waterproof and hadn't gotten wet.

However, the text on it wasn't in Chinese or any language he knew.

TrashCollector was puzzled and scratched his head with his claws.

"What's written on this?"

...

In the Resident Hall of the Shelter.

The originally spacious space was now packed with the newly added players.

People of all kinds stood there, their faces filled with confusion, surprise, excitement, and curiosity.

Before this, almost everyone thought that this so-called "fully immersive virtual reality game" might just be a joke by a few bored gamers.

Even after receiving the helmet from the game company, most people were still skeptical.

But now, all doubts had vanished.

If there was a game more realistic than this, it could only be "Earth Online" itself!

As the automatic door opened, "TrashCollector99" emerged from the room, causing quite a stir.

At first, everyone thought he was an NPC, but after asking, they found out he was also a player and possibly a legendary "hidden class"!

Basking in the envious gazes of the crowd, TrashCollector seemed to have forgotten about his missing... thing, and he smiled proudly.

Does it matter if he has it or not?

Not really.

"Bro, follow me, I'll take care of you."

TrashCollector patted the shoulder of the guy standing next to him, Du Mingdao, who rolled his eyes and ignored him.

Just because his initial stats were a bit stronger...

Du Mingdao, who came out of the room with him, also received a lot of attention.

However, his gene sequence was just a regular strength type, nothing particularly outstanding.

While the players in the hall were sizing him up, he was also secretly observing the other players.

Except for TrashCollector, most of the players seemed relatively normal, at least on the surface.

From their builds, most seemed to be strength or constitution types, but there were also a few perception, agility, and intelligence types.

What surprised Du Mingdao the most was that there were actually two female players here.

One was 180 cm tall, with a curvy figure that made the shelter uniform bulge, clearly a strength type.

The other was shorter, probably around 150 cm, unremarkable, and it wasn't clear what type she was, at least not a strength type.

Du Mingdao, a civil engineer with years of experience, had a good eye for estimating distances and sizes, and his estimates were usually quite accurate.

The two seemed to have some tension, as they had just come out of the same room.

"Who's this little one? Weaned yet?"

"You! Just because you're tall, you think you're great? Who knows how short you are in real life!"

"Ha, saying that, you must be young in real life, probably a kid?"

"Ha, not so lucky, I'm a director at a fashion design company, quite grown up. Unlike you, you're just finding your place in the game."

"Ha, just a director, I thought you were a CEO of a big group. Which company are you from?"

"Ha, none of your business!"

Du Mingdao: "..."

He felt both of them were acting like kids...

Of course, the noise wasn't limited to just these two.

After waiting so long and finally getting the closed beta test qualification, the players were all very excited, talking non-stop, touching and looking around, unable to stay still.

Some were banging their heads against the wall, not even complaining about the pain, but laughing foolishly.

And that was still relatively normal.

Some were grabbing other players, begging them to slap them, just to see what it felt like, to prepare for fighting monsters later.

Du Mingdao felt his scalp tingle.

Was he in a game world or a mental hospital?

Just as someone was about to take off their pants to defecate or do something even more shocking, a stern voice echoed through the Resident Hall from the main entrance.

"Quiet."

Instantly, everything was silent.

The stern voice seemed to carry a special pressure, making the players in the Resident Hall stop their noise and look in the direction of the voice.

Du Mingdao was no exception.

Looking at the person standing at the door, his face lit up with excitement.

NPC!

Opening scene!

This must be the legendary Administrator!

Although it was his first time playing the game, he had been following the "Long Road Ahead" thread on the official website, so he was quite familiar with the game's setting.

The other players were the same, all holding their breath in anticipation of the start of the plot.

Chu Guang, when selecting players, not only considered the professions filled out on the reservation page but also their forum history, online time, and activity level, trying to exclude those with abnormal mindsets, like "kids," and those who only liked to argue.

They were better suited for construction work, not here.

Looking around at the players in the Resident Hall, Chu Guang continued in a steady and serious voice.

"Welcome to Shelter 404."

"I am the Administrator here."

"Code name—Dawn."