157: Chapter 157 Real-world Feedback: When the Streamer Created a Fireball in the Livestream
Real World · Headquarters of a Certain Chinese Livestreaming Platform.
Although it was already 3 AM, the popularity of [Old Wang's Gaming Livestream] still held the number one spot across the entire platform, with concurrent viewers surpassing twenty million. As one of the first closed beta testers for pangu online, Old Wang's current status was comparable to a top-tier celebrity. Countless cloud players who couldn't get their hands on a helmet relied on watching his streams daily to get their fix.
"Brothers! That's all for today's stream!" On screen, Old Wang took off that sleek, high-tech black helmet, revealing a chubby, sweaty yet energetic face. "We didn't manage to snag the first clear of the 'Scrapped Draft Dungeon' today, but we did bag a few **[Mutated Abyssal Chickens]** (they're actually slimes with wings) in the Second Heaven. Tomorrow, I'll stream a hundred different ways to cook 'Beggar's Chicken'!"
The chat went wild: 【Old Wang, don't end the stream! Chat for five more bucks worth!】 【I want to see the Titan God King's pink skirt! Go sneak another photo!】 【Begging for an activation code! I'm a student, give me one!】
Old Wang chuckled, picked up the thermos on his desk, and took a sip of goji berry water. "No more chatting, really can't. I'm exhausted. Even though the game has pain reduction, it's seriously draining. I feel feverish all over, my lower abdomen... well, my Dantian feels warm and cozy, like a ball of fire is burning there."
Saying this, Old Wang paused. Dantian? Warm and cozy? He subconsciously took a deep breath, following the Qi Circulation route from the **
But this time, something was off.
*Whoosh—* With that inhalation, the viewers in the stream were shocked to see the air around Old Wang seem to... distort. The few A4 papers on the desk rustled without any wind, actually starting to circle around Old Wang.
"Holy shit? Special effects?" "Old Wang, your stream has built-in AR?" "Wait! Look at that pot of pothos!"
They saw the pot of previously half-dead pothos on the shelf behind Old Wang sprouting new buds at a visible rate, its leaves turning a vibrant, emerald green, as if it had just been injected with adrenaline.
Old Wang himself was stunned. He felt a faint but very real stream of heat flow through his Meridians towards his fingertips. A sudden, inspired feeling washed over him. Subconsciously, he extended his right hand and snapped his fingers. "Fire, come!" (This was the chuuni line he used to cast Fireball in the game.)
*Poof!* A small, orange-red flame appeared out of thin air on his fingertip. The flame wasn't big, only about the size of a lighter's, but under the bright studio lights, it was glaringly, blindingly... unscientific.
Dead silence. Twenty million viewers, plus the platform moderators, plus the agents from the Special Affairs Bureau monitoring the backend data, all turned to stone. This wasn't magic. Magicians need props and technique to conjure fireballs. But in that instant, Old Wang hadn't made any extra movements. That flame had grown directly out of his flesh!
"Ahhh!!!" Old Wang screamed, frantically shaking his hand, "Hot hot hot! That's fucking hot!" The flame was shaken out, but the charred black mark on his finger was clearly visible under the HD camera.
*Boom—!* The internet exploded.
【Trending #1: Cultivation is real! Old Wang conjured a fireball live!】 【Trending #2: pangu online isn't a game! It's an interdimensional portal!】 【Trending #3: The National Special Affairs Bureau website crashed!】
...
pangu-003, Thirty-Third Heaven · Tianhe Academy.
Li Mo looked at the floating **[World Origin Feedback Chart]** before him. The gray bubble representing the real world was now connected by a thin, golden thread. The thread was faint, but it was continuously channeling the Spiritual Qi (or rather, the rules) from the ship to Earth.
"Success." Li Mo put down the **spring and autumn brush** in his hand, a satisfied curve appearing at the corner of his mouth. "As long as your thinking doesn't slip, there are always more solutions than difficulties." "Since the Author said the 'ink' (attention/energy) in the real world is drying up, I'll just... add water to it."
"Captain, you're playing with fire." The Star Spirit Navigator stood to the side, watching the chaotic scene on Earth with a complex expression. "You've broken the 'dimensional barrier'. Introducing high-dimensional power into a low-dimensional world usually leads to one of two outcomes: either an evolutionary frenzy brought by the Spiritual Qi resurgence, or... a complete collapse of social order." "Those Earthlings aren't ready to receive divine miracles."
"Ready?" Li Mo smiled, stood up, and walked to the edge of the balcony. "Humans, as a species, are never ready." "They only adapt amidst chaos and evolve in crises." "And..." Li Mo pointed downwards towards the Netherworld Heavy Industries layer. "Look at those players. In the game, they can go sleepless for a quest, challenge gods for a title." "If we tell them this effort can be brought back to reality, can turn them from Mortals into superhumans..." "The energy they unleash will be more terrifying than a nuclear bomb."
Li Mo turned and ordered T-9 behind him: "Issue a server-wide announcement." "Version Update: 1.1 The Prelude to Spiritual Qi Resurgence." 【Update Content】:
Activate the **[Reality Synchronization System]** (Beta). The cultivation attained by players in-game will be fed back to their real-world bodies at a 1% ratio.
Activate the **[Item Materialization]** function. Consume a large amount of Sect Contribution Points to bring some low-grade Medicinal Pills and Talismans back to reality.
Warning: Illegal activities are strictly prohibited in the real world. Those who abuse their abilities will face heavenly punishment (account ban + cultivation nullification).
"Also, add one more thing." Li Mo thought for a moment and added. "Tell them, to celebrate the version update, we will open... [The Second Batch of Closed Beta Slots]." "Quantity: One hundred thousand."
...
Real World · Special Affairs Bureau Base.
"Director! We can't suppress it! It's completely out of control!" The head of the technical department rushed into the meeting room, sweating profusely. "Old Wang's stream recording has been reposted tens of billions of times! Even foreign servers are crashing!" "And it's not just Old Wang! Other closed beta testers on our monitoring list are also showing anomalies!" "'Long Aotian' punched through the load-bearing wall in his house!" "'Civil Engineering Department Genius' bent steel rebar on a construction site with his gaze!" "And that 'Mental Hospital Director'... he just performed 'Flying Brush' for a nurse in the hospital (though it only flew three centimeters) and scared the head doctor into fainting!"
The Director sat in his chair, clutching the report titled
Since we can't suppress it, then... we won't." "Relay my orders." "First, immediately make contact with all players who have Awakened abilities, incorporate them into the national special talent pool! Offer preferential treatment! Guarantee them official positions!" "Second, go all out to secure slots in the second closed beta batch! Use the supercomputer! Use every resource we can! We must secure at least half of those hundred thousand slots!" "Third..." The Director looked at the young man in green robes standing amidst the clouds on the large screen (Li Mo's in-game avatar). "Send a formal diplomatic note to 'Tianhe Academy' in the name of the state." "We are no longer treating this as a game." "We are treating it as... establishing diplomatic relations."
...
In-Game · Dungeon [Rule-Breaking School Campus].
Thunder War and his Falcon Squad had no idea the outside world had been turned upside down. They were currently facing the biggest crisis since entering the game.
Although they had cleared the first floor of the teaching building thanks to the goofy players' "lunatic tactics", deep within this dungeon, specifically the **"Dean of Discipline's Office"**, the atmosphere was no longer so funny.
This was a pitch-black Void Realm. Only a massive desk floated in the air. Behind it sat a headless man, holding a blood-dripping pointer. 【BOSS: Ghost-Faced Dean of Discipline (Agglomeration of Scrapped Draft Resentment).】 【Rank: Foundation Establishment Stage Peak (even approaching Golden Core).】 【Ability: Rule Erasure.】
"You're... late." A muffled voice came from the headless dean's abdomen. "Violation of school rule number ten: Those late for class shall stand in punishment... until death."
*Hum!* An invisible force of rules descended. Thunder War felt his legs become as heavy as lead, his body involuntarily wanting to stand against the wall. Not just him, the goofy players were also affected. "Holy crap! Can't move!" "This boss doesn't play fair! Opens with crowd control!" "Where's my speaker? Quick, play 'Great Compassion Mantra' to enlighten him!"
But this time, the speaker was useless. The pointer swung down. *Smack!* A player who tried to resist was directly turned into pixelated fragments. 【System Notification: Player 'Square Dance Auntie' has been erased by rules.】
"Physical attacks ineffective, mental attacks ineffective..." Thunder War gritted his teeth, cold sweat dripping from his forehead. "Is this the brutality of the Cultivation World?" "Before absolute rules, the power of Mortals is so insignificant."
Just as the entire team was about to be wiped out, a clear, cold voice suddenly pierced through the dungeon's rule barrier, sounding in everyone's ears.
"Rules?" "Rules written this poorly dare call themselves rules?"
*Rumble—!* The dungeon's ceiling was violently torn open. A giant, golden-flame-wreathed **spring and autumn brush** descended from the sky, embedding itself into the desk like the stabilizing pillar of the seas. The brush tip sank deep into the wood, directly dispersing the eerie ghostly aura.
Li Mo's figure slowly descended. He didn't look at the headless BOSS, but instead at Thunder War and the others being punished. "Captain Thunder, as official representatives, your performance is a bit disappointing." "Faced with such unreasonable rules, you think about obeying them instead of changing them?" "That doesn't quite match the cultivation spirit of... **'My fate is mine to command, not Heaven's'**."
Li Mo pulled out the spring and autumn brush and wrote a large character for **"Change"** in the air. 【Target: Dean of Discipline.】 【Operation: Rewrite Setting.】 【Content: The Dean of Discipline is also human, and humans must be reasonable. Since this is a school, then... have an exam.】
*Hum!* Rules reshaped. The originally sinister torture chamber instantly transformed into a brightly lit... examination hall. The headless BOSS's blood-dripping pointer turned into a red pen, a stack of test papers appeared on the desk. Its originally murderous voice now sounded somewhat bewildered: "Now... the exam begins." "Question one: Recite the full text of the tao te ching from memory."
Thunder War: "..." Goofy Players: "..." This actually works?!
Li Mo turned and smiled at Thunder War. "Since you're the official representatives, taking exams should be your forte, right?" "Clear this dungeon, and I'll give you a gift... 'to bring back to reality'." "For example... a set of **'Military Boxing · Cultivation Modified Version'**?"
Thunder War's pupils contracted sharply. Bring back to reality? Military Boxing cultivation version? At this moment, the heart of this iron-hard man began to pound uncontrollably. He knew the weight of these words was heavier than a hundred nuclear bombs.
"Everyone, attention!" Thunder War roared. "Sit down! Pick up your pens! Answer the questions!" "Anyone who fails, you're running ten thousand kilometers cross-country when we get back!"
Watching those special forces soldiers and goofy players hunched over their desks, scratching their heads trying to recite the tao te ching from memory, Li Mo nodded in satisfaction. This was a harmonious Cultivation World. All that fighting and killing was no good, knowledge changes fate.
Just then, T-9 sent an urgent report. "Dean! The network channel to the real world is overloaded!" "The number of applicants for closed beta has exceeded three billion!" "Also... there seems to be movement on the Star Alliance side. The Titan God King has gathered fleets from over a dozen civilizations, saying he's coming to demand an explanation (mainly to get his skirt changed back)."
"Demand an explanation?" Li Mo sneered coldly, putting away the spring and autumn brush. "Perfect timing." "The 'newbie protection period' for the fourth calamity is over." "Since they want to fight, then... let's form a raid."
"Issue a server-wide quest: 【Interstellar Expedition: Defend the ship】." "Tell the players, the equipment dropped this time... are all interstellar warships."