3: Chapter 3 The Redemption of the Forum
Yang Hang felt his spirits soar, the exhaustion in his body wiped clean away. He opened his eyes, looked at the crude wooden ceiling of the boat house, and a brilliant smile spread across his lips.
"It worked!"
He hadn't just survived; he had found a grand, heavenly Dao leading to the future.
Using this newborn energy as a lever, he could pry open even more lines of Karma. The previous invitations were on the scale of millions, but now, with the recharge from the first batch of users, his energy pool was growing like a snowball.
He was no longer satisfied with the millions-level.
His goal was the entire Yanhuang Camp.
Yang Hang closed his eyes again; this time, he had plenty of confidence.
The range of invitations expanded once more!
Fifty million!
One hundred million!
Five hundred million!
One billion!
Behind every number, countless lines of Karma were lit up simultaneously, and countless invitation messages were transmitted at once. And with every additional user who accepted the invitation, Yang Hang's energy pool gained another bit of income.
A virtuous cycle had begun.
His energy pool was growing crazily at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The boat house swayed gently in the waves, while Zhang Xiaoqin hugged her knees, huddled in a corner and shivering.
She was an ordinary middle-aged woman, forty-three years old this year, who ran a small clothing store in her hometown county. Her husband worked at a construction site, her son was in high school, and her daughter was in junior high. Life wasn't wealthy, but it was peaceful and plain, with something to look forward to.
But what about now?
The moment she opened her eyes, her home was gone.
Her clothing store, her home, her husband and children—all gone. The world had turned into a vast ocean, boundless and endless, with no end in sight. There was only this small wooden hut and a wooden box beside her labeled "Novice Supply Crate."
"This is a dream, right?"
Zhang Xiaoqin pinched her thigh, gasping in pain.
It wasn't a dream.
Fear and despair were like two invisible hands, gripping her heart, squeezing tighter and tighter until she couldn't breathe. She tried to stand up, but her legs went weak and she sat back down. She wanted to scream for help, but her throat felt blocked by something, and she couldn't make a sound.
How were her parents? They were in their seventies, with high blood pressure and heart conditions—could they handle this?
What about her husband? With his short temper, would he get into a fight if he encountered something like this?
What about her son and daughter? One sixteen, the other fourteen—just half-grown children who knew nothing—how could they survive alone?
The more Zhang Xiaoqin thought, the more terrified she became, tears streaming down her face. She wiped them with the back of her hand, but couldn't stop them; she wiped with her sleeves, but they still wouldn't stop. Finally, she just gave up and let the tears flow, letting them run into her mouth—salty.
Just as she was about to be driven mad by her own racing thoughts, a line of emotionless text abruptly appeared in her field of vision.
It didn't appear on the walls of the boat house, nor on the box, but directly in her vision, as if she were wearing VR glasses, floating in mid-air.
["Cause and Effect Fate Platform" has sent you a formal invitation. Do you accept?]
Zhang Xiaoqin was startled and instinctively recoiled, her back hitting the wooden wall of the boat house.
"What is this? A hallucination?"
She rubbed her eyes hard, but the line of text remained clear, floating there motionless.
Below it were a few lines of small print explaining.
[To accept the invitation, you must visualize Karma and sacrifice one-fifth of your physical strength to exchange for 1 initial karmic point.]
[1 karmic point can maintain your connection to the Fate Platform for 24 hours.]
Yet another incomprehensible thing.
But she understood the word "physical strength." What she lacked most right now was food and water, and physical strength was precious. Sacrifice one-fifth? She was famished and her legs were weak; if she sacrificed another fifth, would she just pass out?
But what if...
What if this was an opportunity to contact her family?
What if her husband and children were also in some boat house and had received this invitation too?
What if she missed this chance and could never find them again?
Zhang Xiaoqin hesitated for less than three seconds.
Three seconds later, she chose "Accept."
In an instant, a magnificent scene that could not be described in words rushed into her mind.
It wasn't just an image, but something more direct than an image. Countless beams of light—red, yellow, blue, purple—interwove into a vast nebula. The nebula was rotating, breathing, pulsing, as deep as if it could swallow everything, and as ancient as if it had existed since the birth of the Universe.
Zhang Xiaoqin felt as if a portion of her strength had been drained by this nebula.
It was a very strange feeling. It wasn't pain, it wasn't discomfort, it was just... empty. It was like the feeling of dizziness and weak legs when you stand up suddenly after starving for three days and three nights.
Immediately after, she "saw" a speck of light fly out from the nebula, trace an arc, and land on a semi-transparent panel that appeared in the corner of her vision.
[karma points: 1]
[Remaining connection time: 23:59:59]
The next second, her consciousness seemed to be pulled into a brand-new space.
A massive public forum interface unfolded, occupying her entire field of vision. Countless posts were refreshing crazily, moving so fast she couldn't see the content at all, only seeing afterimages of text flashing before her eyes.
Zhang Xiaoqin forced herself to calm down and tried to catch those posts.
"Help! Can someone tell me where this is? I'm so scared!"
"Is there anyone alive? Say something!"
"I can't take it anymore, brothers. I just Transmigrated, why do I still have to pay for internet?"
"I opened a banana from my Novice Supply Crate. Anyone want to trade for compressed biscuits?"
"Coordinates outside the pass, any fellow countrymen?"
"Anyone from the Central Plains? Check in!"
"I just got married, dammit! My wife was still in bed, and the moment I opened my eyes, she was gone!"
Zhang Xiaoqin was dazzled, but the fear in her heart was diluted quite a bit by the familiar atmosphere of internet silliness.
So... I'm not the only one.
So everyone is the same—scared, panicking, and cursing.
So I'm not all alone.
She took a deep breath and began trying to understand the interface. In the top left corner were the four characters for [Cause and Effect Fate Platform], shining with golden light. The top right corner displayed her balance of karma points and remaining time. In the center was the main body of the forum, divided into several sections: [Latest Posts], [Hot Discussions], [Help Section].
Zhang Xiaoqin tried clicking into the [Help Section]; in a short amount of time, it was already filled with posts asking for help.
"Water is finished, does anyone know how to get fresh water?"
"The boat house is leaking, what can I use to patch it?"
"There's fog at sea, I can't see anything, what do I do?"
"I think I saw something moving in the distance, are there monsters?"
She clicked into [Hot Discussions]; there were even more posts, but the refresh frequency was almost filling the screen.
"Hello everyone, what is this place?"
"I'm so scared!"
"Haha, it's finally my turn to Transmigrate."
"By the way, does anyone want to have an online romance?"
The posts were very mixed; there was fear, terror, requests for help, and some people just acting crazy!
Zhang Xiaoqin was absorbed in reading, almost forgetting her fear.
Then she remembered the important task.
She found the personal interface and clicked in.
There, several bright lines extended into the distance, with text marked next to them— "Father," "Mother," "Husband," "Son," "Daughter."
Each line was glowing faintly, as if breathing, as if telling her: they were still alive.
Zhang Xiaoqin's heart rate accelerated instantly, thumping hard as if it were about to jump out of her throat.
She tremblingly reached out—or rather, used her consciousness to touch—and sent message invitations to these few lines of Karma representing her closest family.
[Establishing connection...]
[Recipient's current status: Online/Offline]
[Message sent, please wait for a reply]
She sent them one by one, her fingers (consciousness) trembling violently.
After sending the last one, she was pleasantly surprised to discover that the line representing "Husband" was actually lit up!
He was online!
Zhang Xiaoqin was so excited that her eyes welled up with tears, and she quickly sent another private message.
"Husband! Is that you? Where are you? I'm so scared!"
The message was sent successfully.
A second later, the other party replied. There were only four characters.
"What are you?"
Zhang Xiaoqin froze.
Immediately after, another message was sent over.
"Are you Xiaoqin?"
"It's me, it's me!" Zhang Xiaoqin replied, crying. "Husband, where are you? Are you okay? What about the kids? Have you contacted the kids?"
"I don't know either. There's just a sea all around, no end in sight. Our son is online, but our daughter hasn't replied yet. I'll try again."
Zhang Xiaoqin covered her mouth, crying so hard she couldn't speak. But these were tears of joy.
Meanwhile, Yang Hang was enjoying the pleasure brought by the snowballing growth of his energy.