27: Chapter 27, First Issue

After work, he returned to the dormitory.

Hu Gualing habitually wiped his shoes clean, put them in a cardboard box, and placed them under the bed.

He sat blankly on the bed.

The other security guards, who had also just finished the night shift, sat in a circle drinking bulk white liquor with meat buns, talking loudly and incessantly.

Whether intentionally or not, none of them mentioned what had happened during work today.

Hu Gualing did not drink.

Usually at times like this, he would be on his bed playing with his phone.

While listening to his roommates discuss national affairs or entertainment industry "secrets" in their coarse voices, he actually found it somewhat interesting.

But today was different.

The content of their conversation was still the same.

Yet he clearly felt an indescribable barrier between himself and the others.

This feeling...

It seemed to be called "loneliness"?

Hu Gualing looked toward several bunks.

Yang Guang, perhaps the only one he could chat with, had already gone for the day shift.

He sighed silently.

Holding his phone, he opened the game chat group.

...

In the Text Jianghu game group, people with a schedule like Hu Gualing's were in the minority.

Most were ordinary office workers with nine-to-six jobs.

At this time, they had likely all arrived at their workstations; once the work computer was on, they'd open a few random windows, then lower their heads and start playing on their phones.

[Drunk Carefree: What happened to Gualing?]

[Cursing the group leader in the middle of the night.]

[Do you want to be muted?]

[Niao Huateng: It seems he's talking about the game content; there's no follow-up once you reach the Ascension Platform.]

[Deep-feeling Boy: Didn't the group announcement say to go to the Ascension Platform for more content? Did the group leader lie to us?]

[Domestic Superman: I don't know, I'm still far from the Creation Realm.]

[But looking at the leaderboard, Gualing has indeed reached the Creation Realm.]

[Drunk Carefree: Superman, don't you know how to use cheats?]

[Cheat your way to the Creation Realm and see what that Ascension Platform actually is.]

[Domestic Superman: ...]

[After the update, my cheats stopped working.]

[The data I modified before was also cleared.]

[I can only level up slowly now.]

[Drunk Carefree: No wonder the group leader disappeared for so many days.]

[Turns out he was devoted to researching anti-cheat measures.]

[He's got some skills.]

[Sports Specialty Student Hu Gualing (Self-discipline, Accumulation): He's got some skills, but not many.]

[Otherwise, he wouldn't have released an update that's just an empty shell.]

[/Despise.]

[Niao Huateng: Gualing, are you off work? Take a screenshot of the Ascension Platform for us to see.]

[Hu Gualing: Image.]

[Look, when I click on Ascend, it automatically exits. Now the scene has turned gray, and I can't enter.]

[/Cry.jpg]

[It really seems to be the case.]

[We were fooled by the group leader.]

[@Supreme Keyboard Emperor You updated a whole lot of nothing!]

[@Supreme Keyboard Emperor Group leader, come out and give us an explanation!]

[@Supreme Keyboard Emperor]

Chen Mo looked at the group chat.

He figured Hu Gualing was just careless and hadn't read the user agreement carefully.

In that case, he'd give an explanation.

Anyway, he had already thought of an excuse.

Since everyone was online now, it was the perfect time to fool them a bit.

[Supreme Keyboard Emperor: I have some good news to tell everyone.]

[What good news?]

[Having a second child?]

[Won five million?]

Chen Mo continued typing, "Text Jianghu has been scouted by a very mysterious company. They have already bought the copyright from me, and soon they will use it as a foundation to produce an epoch-making holographic online game!"

[?]

[Buying a text game from you that doesn't even have an official publication number?]

[Nonsense.]

[Holographic online game, sure, lol.]

Chen Mo had long expected that no one would believe him.

But it didn't matter; he continued to bluff.

[Supreme Keyboard Emperor: For this epoch-making game, the initial login slots are limited, but I have secured a benefit for everyone—]

[The first batch of login slots will prioritize group members!]

[As long as you enter the Ascension Platform in Text Jianghu, you can successfully obtain login eligibility!]

[When the game opens, you will naturally enter!]

After typing these words, Chen Mo went offline immediately, regardless of whether the group members believed him or not.

[Hu Gualing: So that's how it is.]

[Then I'll be able to play a holographic online game soon.]

[/Dancing with joy.gif]

[Dont Call Me Wife: Silly Gualing...]

[Drunk Carefree: Hu Gualing, this idiot, he doesn't actually believe it, does he?]

[Deep-feeling Boy: It's possible; anyway, I've always felt Gualing only has the IQ of an eight-year-old.]

[Speaking of which, doesn't the group leader's rhetoric sound like a shill for some other game?]

[Rich Villa Lu Xiongwei: I'm really afraid the group leader will suddenly throw out a link, and clicking it will lead to some holographic reskinned web game.]

[Domestic Superman: "If you're a brother, come hack me"?]

["Equipment all depends on drops, ingots recycled in seconds!"]

[Dont Call Me Wife: Received the item, the kid loves it, works for sensitive skin too.]

[Drunk Carefree: It doesn't matter, send whatever links you want. I won't click them anyway; if he earns even a dime in promotion fees from me, I lose.]

[Hu Gualing: Don't you guys even want to play a holographic online game? Whatever, I'll play by myself, hmph.]

[Silly Gualing]

[Stupid Gualing]

[...]

...

Hu Gualing played the fool in the group for a while, receiving several concerned greetings from group members, and his low mood felt much better.

And he wasn't truly stupid; naturally, he didn't believe the nonsense about a holographic online game.

He played with his phone in bed for a while before gradually falling into a dream.

...

In Shengang, inside a small warehouse.

A shy young man wearing glasses sat in front of a computer.

His face was filled with utter disbelief.

His name was Niao Huateng.

He graduated from Shennan University of Electronic Science and Technology.

During his time at school, he had won countless innovation and creativity awards.

Even a programming notebook he wrote in his freshman year was taken by a professor and printed into course materials, which were used in lectures every year.

His IT skills were evident from this.

However, he had now encountered a difficult problem.

Originally, he had just been looking for a small game to relax his mind when he was tired from work.

After searching aimlessly, he found a small game called Text Jianghu that seemed playable.

Although he could crack such a game with a flick of his finger.

But he never deigned to use cheats when playing games.

Until today, when the game creator boasted grandly in the group about the Ascension Platform and some epoch-making holographic game.

Given his knowledge of the industry, holographic games only existed as concepts; what the group leader said must be fake.

However, it also piqued his curiosity to see what was really behind it.

In any case, the architecture of this game was essentially undefended before him; it would be simple to go in, take a look, and leave without a trace.

"Oh? What I extracted turned out to be gibberish?"

"I can't get into the server either."

"Hiss! This is a bit difficult."

"But did you think this could stop me?"

"Why doesn't this work?"

"This doesn't work either?"

"No, no, there must be a way!"

"..."

Niao Huateng's ten fingers tapped on the keyboard so fast they left afterimages, and the expression on his face grew more and more unsightly.

He had thought he could handle it with a flick of his finger.

He never expected that after trying every possible method, not a single one would work.

At this point, what content was hidden in the game was no longer important; his only focus was on breaking through the protection of this text game.

In the small warehouse, the incessant pitter-patter of keyboard sounds attracted his partner's attention.

The partner leaned over, looked at the code jumping wildly on the screen, and then at Niao Huateng's teeth-gritting expression, suddenly having a bad premonition—

Brother Niao's skills were such that no website on the market currently had any defense against him; even the largest instant messaging software, Qiuqiu, could only manage to issue a warning.

What website could keep Brother Niao at bay for so long?

It couldn't be a bank, could it!

Suddenly, with a "zzzt," the room went dark.

The computer screen also went black.

"Did the breaker trip?"

The partner reset the breaker and asked cautiously, "Brother Niao, what were you doing just now?"

The sudden power outage also calmed Niao Huateng down a bit; he wiped away the sweat that had flowed at some point. "Nothing, just a small game. The protection is very well done."

"A small game?" The partner was half-doubting. "Forget a small game, even for that most popular game Genshin Impact, you could easily modify a max constellation character, couldn't you, Brother Niao?"

Niao Huateng smiled. "I can only say, there are hidden masters among the common folk!"

Although the partner didn't quite believe it, when the computer was turned back on and all programs restored, what he saw was indeed a small game—and the simplest kind to make, a text game.

"That's so ridiculous?" the partner muttered and went back to his seat to continue working.

Niao Huateng looked calmly at the screen, but his heart was already in turmoil.

He had fully confirmed that he could do nothing against this game.

If it were a classified database, it would be one thing.

But it was just a small text game!

Furthermore, Niao Huateng clearly remembered a group member named "Domestic Superman" who loved to use cheats; according to him, "A game you can't cheat in isn't fun."

This game was no exception.

In fact, while using cheats, Domestic Superman had also uploaded a small cheat tool to the group files.

Niao Huateng disdained cheating, but he had still taken a look.

With just one look, he couldn't even bear to look a second time.

The level of that cheat maker wasn't even as good as his own during his first week of learning code.

But Domestic Superman relied on such a small cheat tool to barely achieve functions like automatic grinding in the game.

From this, it was evident that the group leader who made Text Jianghu didn't have very high software skills.

So what was it that allowed him to not only update a large amount of game content in a short period but also raise the game's security protection level to world-class?

Could it be that what he said in the group about Text Jianghu being acquired by a mysterious company was true?

Was this protection System made by that mysterious company?

But such a protection System was of immense value; leasing it to those big companies would bring in three to five million a year in rent plus maintenance, yet it was being used on a small text game—it seemed absurd no matter how one thought about it.

Niao Huateng suddenly had a bold conjecture!

That was, behind Text Jianghu, there were hidden commercial secrets of incalculable value!

Connecting it to what the group leader had said in the group...

The answer was already clear.

Holographic online games!

Before this, it had always been a conceptual term, but now a company had officially put it into action!

Niao Huateng keenly sensed the business opportunity here—

No, not just a business opportunity!

If it really was a holographic online game, then the accompanying series of technologies like brainwave uploading, consciousness collection, and energy transmission would bring earth-shattering changes to the entire world!

Shock!

Excitement!

Niao Huateng couldn't contain his emotions and immediately threw aside the work at hand.

Logging in,

Leveling up!