1: Where's the promised casual game?

"Alright everyone, watch closely."

Chen Xi leaned back in his expensive gaming chair, lifting his chin lazily toward the camera. Behind him was live-streaming equipment worth six figures, and on the screen, the barrage of "Master Xi V5, Number One in the Universe" scrolled like a waterfall.

"Today, I'm going to show you all something new."

He picked up a gold-stamped card from the table and waved it slowly in front of the camera. On it were several bold, elegant characters—'Civilization: Starting from Zero.'

"Claimed to be the most casual and healing holographic game in history. Closed beta access, globally limited, and this is the only one." Chen Xi grinned, revealing a row of white teeth, with a hint of untamable roguishness. "It's a deal then; today I won't be shooting guns or parachuting. I'll just take you all to the Great Tang to drink some tea, to the Song Dynasty to listen to some tunes, and experience what it's like to have simple, unadorned happiness."

As soon as he said this, the popularity of the live-stream room instantly broke five million, and the density of the barrage suddenly increased.

[Selling sunflower seeds, peanuts, and mineral water in the front row, and by the way, offering a grave for Master Xi!]

[Master Xi is finally not shooting guns? My youth is over!]

[A healing game? I don't believe a word you say, you old fox! I'll bet a pack of spicy strips that Master Xi will slaughter the Novice Village NPCs within ten minutes.]

[The person above has a small mindset; I bet he'll kidnap the Village Chief's daughter.]

Chen Xi glanced at the barrage and chuckled, ignoring the teasing from those rascals. He skillfully put on the silver-white holographic helmet and, amidst the send-offs of "Master Xi, safe travels!", lay down into the gaming pod behind him.

"I'm off, everyone."

With his flippant farewell, the world before his eyes was instantly swallowed by a blinding, pure white.

There was no expected novice guide.

No conventional character creation interface.

The extreme silence lasted for less than a second, followed by an overwhelming explosion of senses.

A smell of gunpowder so thick it was choking poured into his lungs, brutally ravaging his sense of smell, mixed with rust, dust, and a faint, lingering metallic sweetness of blood.

Chen Xi snapped his eyes open.

There was no soft, comfortable gaming pod, no constant-temperature tactile gel.

He was lying prone on a pile of cold, rough rubble and debris, which poked him painfully.

"Boom!"

A deafening roar exploded nearby, and the ground shook violently as if a giant had punched it hard from below. Rubble and dust fell pattering onto his back, stirring up a cloud of smoke. His eardrums were ringing, and he could barely hear anything.

He instinctively rolled and scrambled to hide behind a broken wall that was only half-standing. The movement was fluid, as if the muscle memory was etched into his bones, far too fast for a pampered game streamer.

"Holy shit..."

Chen Xi looked down at the black soot covering his hands, then looked up at the skeletal building in the distance that was billowing thick black smoke, completely stunned.

He tried calling out to the void, his voice becoming somewhat raspy from the dust in his throat.

"System? Menu? Quit game?"

There was no response.

All around was only the crackling of burning flames and the faint, unintelligible roars coming from the distance.

But at that moment, the barrage in his live-stream room completely exploded.

[Holy crap! This opening CG is way too intense! The budget is burning!]

[This lighting, these particle effects—Master Xi, did you land a huge contract? How much did you get paid? Tell us a number so we can see the world!]

[Wait, this tactile feedback is a bit too realistic, isn't it? That roll Master Xi just did was so cool! Is he a pro?]

Chen Xi looked at the semi-transparent barrage that only he could see, barely forcing a smile that looked worse than crying. His professionalism as a streamer made him instinctively start interacting, even though ten thousand "grass mud horses" were currently stampeding through his mind.

"Cough, well... this game's opening animation really has something to it." As he spoke, he adjusted his posture with both hands and feet, trying to hide his entire body behind the broken wall. "The special effects are made so realistically, five-star review, though it's a bit hard on the streamer."

Before he could finish his sentence, a stray bullet flew over his head with a "swish," carrying a scorching heat wave, and embedded itself firmly into the wall behind him, chipping off a piece of cement.

Chen Xi's smile instantly froze on his face.

He wasn't acting.

That scorching air current, and the burnt smell coming from his scalp as if his hair had been singed by fire, were too real.

So real that every hair on his body stood on end in a tenth of a second.

A deep-seated fear that he had forced himself to forget for several years with alcohol and games crawled up his spine like a cold, venomous snake.

"Something's wrong."

He whispered these words, and the previous cynicism was no longer in his eyes.

He stopped joking; his expression became solemn, and his gaze grew as sharp as an unsheathed blade.

He tried to call up the game interface to check his health bar and map by blinking or giving mental commands.

No reaction.

The UI that should have been floating in the upper right corner of his retina had vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.

He tried mentally repeating "force logout" over a dozen times.

Still no reaction.

It was as if he and the world of 2026 were completely separated by an invisible, cold wall.

An ominous premonition, like a cold tide, hit his psychological defenses wave after wave, slowly drowning his heart.

The viewers in the live-stream room also sensed something unusual from his deathly silence and suddenly changed expression.

[Why did Master Xi stop talking? Lag?]

[This expression... doesn't look like acting. He seems genuinely panicked.]

[No way, this game is this hardcore? Not even a UI at the start? How are you supposed to play?]

[Look at Master Xi's eyes, they've changed. They're exactly the same as when he was still playing professional matches in Longya!]

Just as the weight in Chen Xi's heart grew heavier and he almost thought he had truly been unlucky enough to transmigrate...

A cold, emotionless mechanical voice abruptly sounded in his mind.

"Ding—"

" Loading world view..."

"Loading complete."

"Welcome to October 26, 1937, Shanghai, Sihang Warehouse."

"Difficulty: Hell."