25: Chapter 25 User Agreement

After that arrogant idiot Captain Tiao Zi messed things up, Hu Gualing wasn't in the mood to play games anymore. After eating at the cafeteria, he changed his clothes and prepared for work.

Shirt, pants, and hat—it was a standard security uniform.

But the shoes on his feet were ones Hu Gualing had prepared himself.

Nadi!

He took the snow-white Nadis out of the shoebox under his bed.

He carefully wiped the uppers and held them with both hands as he put them on.

Feeling the comfort on his feet.

Hu Gualing felt like he was back on the training grounds.

Back to the youthful days of sweating on the sports field.

If not for that heavy rain...

...

The factory where Hu Gualing worked was called Jingkai Sports Goods Company. It was quite large and produced high-value items.

Hu Gualing heard that a high-end racket could cost hundreds or even thousands.

And some bicycles cost as much as his entire month's salary!

To prevent theft, the factory's security was very solid, with two teams of eight people rotating day and night shifts.

Being a newcomer and targeted by Captain Tiao Zi, Hu Gualing was assigned to the night shift.

He had been working for half a month, and the weekly shift rotation always skipped him.

Consequently, he had been on the night shift for the entire half-month.

Logically, the night shift meant avoiding the sun, and since few people were around, one could find a corner to slack off until dawn.

Being able to work the night shift continuously should have been a good thing.

But to show off, Captain Tiao Zi made a suggestion to the boss.

He claimed the night shift was easier than the day shift, so the working hours should be adjusted to be fair.

So, it became eleven hours for the day shift and thirteen hours for the night shift.

This wouldn't have been a problem on its own.

Since both shifts were supposed to rotate, fairness wasn't really the issue.

However, the power over shift rotations and attendance was held entirely by Captain Tiao Zi.

For anyone who didn't submit to him, Captain Tiao Zi would assign them to permanent night shifts until they softened up and became obedient.

Over time, everyone in the security team, from top to bottom, yielded to Captain Tiao Zi.

Regardless of what they thought internally, on the surface, they were all polite, offering him cigarettes and water.

Of course, there was currently one exception.

That was Hu Gualing, who had taken over his father's position.

It was true that Hu Gualing was a Student Athlete with a great physique and youth on his side.

But even a Student Athlete isn't a beast of burden.

After thirteen-hour night shifts every day for half a month, even he felt like he was reaching his limit.

Combined with the captain's antics today, he had even less desire to stay long-term.

He had already planned to pack his bags and quit as soon as he finished the month and got his salary.

Of course.

When he left, he wouldn't forget to give Captain Tiao Zi a piece of his mind.

He'd let him know that a Student Athlete's honor is not to be defiled!

...

That night, the lights in the nearby residential buildings were out, and the factory workers had long since finished their shifts.

Hu Gualing used the excuse of a patrol to leave the security room.

Although the chairs in the security room were comfortable and he could charge his phone while playing,

there was a camera on the ceiling.

The factory managers and owners didn't have time to watch it, but who could guarantee Captain Tiao Zi wouldn't?

So Hu Gualing always found a blind spot in the surveillance to slack off and play on his phone.

When his phone ran out of power, he'd go back to the security room for a bit, drink some water,

charge it up, and then head back out to continue his patrol...

Hu Gualing arrived at his lucky spot and sat on the ground, first opening Qiuqiu to check the game group.

It seemed no one had reached the Creation Realm yet.

If he worked hard tonight, he might even be the first to achieve a Breakthrough.

He posted a "Wake up and party, stop sleeping" meme in the group, and without caring if anyone was still awake, he entered the game to practice his cultivation.

He had been playing this game since the open beta.

Since he had no other entertainment, he even played the game out of boredom while at work.

Thus, his character's martial arts cultivation was currently the highest in the entire game.

He was just one step away from the martial requirements for the Creation Realm.

The night shift security work started at 9:00 PM and lasted until 10:00 AM.

Hu Gualing played the game until 5:00 AM.

Normally, he'd be yawning incessantly by two or three in the morning.

By this time, he would have dozed off countless times.

But today, for some reason,

he hadn't yawned once up until now.

He hadn't slept well during the day either, and he'd had that bizarre dream.

Why did he feel so energetic, as if he could run ten kilometers?

Hu Gualing thought about it and felt it might be the excitement of the game.

After all, the newly updated "Creation Realm" and "Ascension Platform" sounded very interesting.

After farming mobs for another ten minutes, he finally trained his protective Cultivation Technique to the [Shaking the Past and Present] level.

His martial arts cultivation was high enough!

Breakthrough.

Creation Realm!

Hu Gualing excitedly opened his attribute panel, but after checking it, he felt like cold water had been poured over him.

None of his attributes had changed.

Only the Realm column had changed to a golden [Creation Realm].

"Is it just a useless title?"

"Or has the subsequent content not been made yet?"

Unwilling to give up, Hu Gualing tapped the words "Creation Realm," hoping something would pop up.

A line of small text appeared—

[For more content, please go to the Ascension Platform to explore]

"Does this mean 'To be continued'?"

"Don't tell me the Ascension Platform isn't finished either!"

"Then I'll have to flame that scammer Supreme Keyboard Emperor in the group!"

Without much hope, Hu Gualing controlled his character to the now-unlocked [Ascension Platform].

Since it was a text-based game, no matter how cool the name "Ascension Platform" was, the scene didn't show much.

In the center of the game interface, there were only the three Songti characters for "Ascension Platform."

The edges glowed slightly blue, highlighting its uniqueness.

He tapped on it.

[Once you ascend, you will begin a more fantastical and realistic game journey, but no one can guarantee what you will encounter next...]

[So, will you ascend?]

[Yes/No]

Why so mysterious?

Is there really something there, or is it just hot air?

Half-doubting, Hu Gualing tapped "Yes."

A line of small text popped up on the screen—

[You have not yet agreed to the "User Agreement"]

Hu Gualing then noticed that below the Yes and No options, there was indeed something called a User Agreement.

He was anxious to see what would happen after ascending, so he didn't even open the User Agreement and just checked the box for "Agree."

[Do you wish to ascend?]

Yes!

[Current queue for the Ascension Channel: 1.]

[Ascension successful.]

"Hahaha, I, Hu Gualing, am indeed the first to ascend!"

After two seconds of joy, Hu Gualing suddenly realized—

What happens after ascending?

His character attributes still hadn't changed.

They hadn't even given him a title.

The most outrageous part was,

the [Ascension Platform] scene had turned gray again, and his character was automatically moved out of it.

After working hard all night, there was nothing.

Hu Gualing couldn't take it anymore.

He opened the game group.

[@Supreme Keyboard Emperor, Group Leader, get out here!]

[Either don't update at all, or don't give us this half-baked crap!]

[I stayed up all night to finally unlock the Ascension Platform, and all I got were a few lines of text and then nothing?]

[Is this the "new adventure content" you talked about?]

[/angry_cry.jpg]

Hu Gualing, who was currently cursing Chen Mo, didn't know that if he had taken a few looks at the User Agreement just now, his mood would be completely different.

Because the User Agreement clearly stated:

[1. After a player confirms ascension, they will gain a slot to enter Fantasy Jianghu and will be automatically logged in at that time.]

[2. Players entering Fantasy Jianghu through ascension will receive an Ascension Gift Pack, containing 1 Yellow-grade Experience Pill, 1,000 Copper coins, 5 Steamed Buns, and 1 bucket of Fresh water.]

[3. This slot is worth 15 fantasy points. If the player agrees to this agreement, 15 fantasy points will be deducted in a lump sum 7 natural days after entering Fantasy Jianghu. If the fantasy points are insufficient, all the player's data in Fantasy Jianghu will be deleted and the login access permanently closed. (Note: fantasy points are a special currency in Fantasy Jianghu, which can be obtained by meeting daily online requirements; they are easy to acquire.)]

[4. If a player has already entered Fantasy Jianghu, they will receive an additional reward after ascending: a random martial art will be leveled up by three.]

[5. All rights of interpretation for this agreement belong to the creator.]

This was the User Agreement Chen Mo had created.

Judging from the first two players, except for Tang Yao's special situation where the 20 main god points recruitment cost could be recovered quickly, the other player, Hu Gualing, was just too weak.

He could only produce 3 main god points a day.

And those 3 points were all used for Resurrection, with no improvement in his strength at all.

If players' strength didn't improve, their Soul strength couldn't grow, and subsequent output couldn't increase.

If there were more players like Hu Gualing in the future,

saving 3,000 main god points within a month to raise the rank would be nothing but a pipe dream.

Thus, Chen Mo had to find a way to get players on the right path of sustainable self-improvement.

This User Agreement was born from that need.

After Hu Gualing agreed to the agreement and confirmed his ascension,

Chen Mo could see in the game log:

[Player No. 002 Hu Gualing obtained game eligibility through the Ascension Channel /

Detected that Player No. 002 was already a player of this game; issuing additional reward: random martial art level up by 3 /

Reward being issued...

Player No. 002 / Farmers Three Punches Level 1 / upgraded to / Farmers Three Punches Level 4 /

...]

Hu Gualing vented in the group and checked the time; it was just past 5:00 AM.

There were still four or five hours until his shift ended.

But after being jerked around by the Ascension Platform, he had no mood to continue playing.

At this time, those lazy pigs in the group hadn't woken up yet, so no one was around to chat with him.

Helplessly, he stretched, propped himself up from the ground with one fist, and walked back to the security room in frustration.

But he didn't notice...

On the concrete ground where he had been sitting and playing on his phone, under the cast of the dim yellow streetlights, there seemed to be a shallow fist print embedded.

...