Chapter 22: The Special Player in Reality

As soon as Zhao Haiping's post went live, the replies exploded instantly!

Before, many people just felt that the boss's movements were awesome after watching the video of the clear, because anyone who had tried knew how difficult it was to fight three or four Beidi Barbarians alone in this game.

But after reading Zhao Haiping's post, players realized that this game was not just about high difficulty, but also had depth!

The identity of the soldier, including the name of the "One Man's Triumph" soldier trial, all had profound significance.

From the basic elements required to clear the level, to become a qualified soldier, one needed a well-rounded set of qualities.

One couldn't just be a brute, at the right moments, strategical cunning was required to defeat the enemy.

And most importantly, one had to be unyieldingly persistent, regardless of how many setbacks one faced or how difficult the circumstances, one must never give up, because it was only through perseverance that the ultimate victory could be secured.

In the end, perhaps the ones "One Man's Triumph" referred to, the names that were recorded in history, were only the leading Generals. Many more soldiers would just become bones buried in the vast yellow sands, unknown to anyone.

Yet, it was these very people who kept the fierce Beidi Barbarians outside the city walls, sparing the people of the Central Plains from the pains of war.

Is this game hard?

Yes!

But compared to actual history, it was already a much simpler mode.

This also reignited the desire to take on the challenge in other players who had originally complained about the game's difficulty.

"So that's why! It looks like the difficulty level of this game is justified; it's not difficult for the sake of being difficult."

"Yeah, an unknown soldier from history achieved perfection on his first attempt. Players can copy the answer and have unlimited chances to retry. If you still can't make it, that really can't be justified."

"But I am just a weakling raised in modern civilized society!"

Zhao Haiping hurriedly explained, "Actually, you don't need to worry at all about physical fitness.

"The game has hidden mechanisms; as long as you enter the game and keep fighting with this body, you can rapidly activate muscle memory, which lets your combat skills improve quickly, up to the level of the original owner.

"In reality, I'm just an average player, not some master of cold-weapon combat. When I started, I too was beaten miserably, but after persisting for some time I found that I improved much more quickly than I expected.

"Both the soldier instance and the assassin instance work like this; it's just that different bodies mean different combat techniques need to be emphasized. A soldier's combat techniques focus on mass war fighting, whereas Nie Rang's body is more focused on swordsmanship and assassination skills."

After a flurry of intense discussion, the overall sentiment on the forum completely changed.

Before, many people complained that the game was too hard and not fun, but now, they didn't feel that way anymore.

The beta players, one after another, were eagerly rubbing their hands, wanting to become the next great player to clear the level after Zhao Haiping.

The first clear of the soldier instance might have been taken, but aren't there still three other newbie instances?

And after all four instances are cleared, there will definitely be more interesting game content to follow, right?

The only ones unhappy were probably the players who didn't get the beta privileges.

Because since the game appeared, its popularity kept rising, the topics of discussion increased, and from the content that was revealed, the reviews got better and better.

It's too much fun just thinking about it!

But no help for it, the beta entry was strictly limited.

Some players called out, asking if the beta privileges could be withdrawn? Those players who were discouraged by the trial instances should have their beta privileges revoked and passed on to players who needed them more.

Or they urged that more beta access be opened up as soon as possible.

To this, the official response wasn't silence as usual, but a simple announcement.

In three days, which was also the week mark since the official operation of "Dark Sand," there would be an upgrade to the game content. More beta access would be released, and for players with too short game time and too slow progress, the beta privilege might be revoked and reassigned after new draw.

So, the players who hadn't gotten the beta privileges were also greatly encouraged, with their eyes peeled for those three days!

And quite a few had already decided to sign up for a martial arts class now, to learn some fighting or weaponry, or to brush up on their historical knowledge, as preparation for pioneering the game after obtaining access.

Overall, the first-clear videos of the "Dark Sand" newbie instances were like a shot of adrenaline to all the players, making them more focused and invested in this game!

...

Nine o'clock in the evening.

Du Gang sat in front of his computer, extinguished a cigarette that was about to burn out, and read through the report he had just finished writing once more.

After confirming there were no issues, he clicked 'send'.

He looked to be in his early forties, with a rueful stubble and a tough-guy image.

He was also one of the players Meng Yuan was paying close attention to.

From his performance in the game, Du Gang didn't have any particularly outstanding advantages, but his abilities were well-balanced. Moreover, from his actions in the assassin's instance, Meng Yuan suspected he might also have a special profession in reality.

However, Meng Yuan didn't have Ning Rang check because he felt there was no need for the time being.

Meng Yuan was right, Du Gang indeed had a special profession in real life.

He was a leader of a special task force in the security department.

Since he came from a military background and had extensive work experience, his professional prowess demonstrated in the instance drew Meng Yuan's attention.

Of course, Du Gang wasn't playing this game for entertainment, but to investigate this mysterious company.

In fact, it wasn't just Du Gang; security departments from countries all over the world were conducting similar investigations.

A mysterious company that appeared out of nowhere, unreasonably hacking the back-ends of top global social media and news websites, changing their homepage content, and bypassing game platforms to push a mysterious game to players using technology that current science couldn't explain.

How could this not be investigated?

To ordinary people, it might seem like a prank, as they wouldn't understand the specifics and couldn't get any information from the internal operations of these social networks, news websites, and game platforms.

Because these sites had been ordered to keep a lid on it, they hadn't dared to speak up.

Letting this out would only cause panic.

So, these investigations could only be carried out in secret.

Du Gang was under a lot of pressure.

Because the mysterious company seemed to be in his own country!

Otherwise, why would they use Eastern historical themes for the game, and why did it seem that the vast majority of internal testing opportunities were given to players in his country?

Du Gang lit another cigarette and said gloomily, "Now other countries think our nation has developed some kind of black technology, but we're just as clueless and don't know what's going on.

"Really bizarre, isn't it? Could it actually be aliens?"

He looked at his investigation report again.

Up to now, it was certain that the game's mere existence was unscientific. Let's not even mention such black technology as invading top site backends to change content without detection, forcing immature consciousness connection technology to mature, and recognizing players through something resembling brainwave patterns.

Aside from this black technology, there were many other mysteries.

For instance, where exactly was this company located?

To develop such a large game, how many personnel would be required? There must be a server to transmit data, right?

Yet, whether by technical means to trace the source of the information or by the most basic methods of searching locations in reality, nothing had been found.

There was absolutely no trace of its existence in reality!

But there was no choice, the investigation had to continue.

Thus, Du Gang, who had obtained the qualification for internal testing, had only one method: somehow manage to clear the game.

Because after clearing the game, he would definitely attract the attention of the game's official staff, and if he could find a way to make contact with someone inside the game, perhaps many of the mysteries would naturally unravel.

Du Gang never imagined that he would one day live a life of getting paid to play games.

And it had to be said, "Dark Sand" was quite interesting as a game.

As a professionally trained operative, although he didn't have much gaming experience, he adapted to "Dark Sand" much faster than other players.

After all, even in peacetime, the difficulty of missions carried out by special operatives was no less than that of a game.

His progress in the assassin trial was also not bad, but as he wasn't particularly skilled with melee weapons, he was always stuck at the final step and couldn't succeed.

However, he had undergone professional training for the past few days, and had rehearsed the various arguments he would need after ascending to the palace several times.

Glancing at the time, it was almost ten o'clock. Du Gang washed up and lay down on his bed, preparing to enter the world of "Dark Sand".