The gaming pod arrived very quickly. When the staff members came to install it, Su Shu was just in the middle of moving the extra books from her room into the living room.
The conditions at Imperial University were exceptionally good, with the Military Academy featuring apartment-style dorms. Every student had their own independent room, and besides that, there was a fairly large living room so the roommates could build their bonds.
Normally, the living room was used to store miscellaneous items, which was precisely what Su Shu’s other three roommates did. But Su Shu did not have many belongings; aside from books, there were only more books, so she had not followed the others in putting her things out there.
Now, to make space for the gaming pod…
Su Shu moved all her books into the living room.
The installation personnel were long-accustomed to strange sights and did not think there was anything wrong with Su Shu’s behavior, but Su Shu’s roommates grew increasingly bewildered—
[420 Plastic Sisterhood]
—It’s over, it’s over! Top Student Su is getting crazier and crazier!
—Before, she didn’t care about her life and only cared about books, but now!
—But now! She doesn’t even care about her life OR her books anymore!
—Is she going to indulge in games and strive to become an academic slacker!?
—Should we try to talk to her?
The small three-person group chat fell into silence.
The plastic sisters all recalled the terror from half a month ago when Su Shu went crazy and they were almost crushed into the ground by the number one rank…
—Who could persuade her?
—Can’t persuade her.
—Don’t dare to persuade her.
—At worst, we’ll share a copy of the final exam notes with her.
—Let’s just leave it at that.
—Let’s just leave it at that.
The small dormitory group chat returned to its dead silence.
After the staff used a specialized instrument to test Su Shu’s physical data and imported it into the gaming pod, Su Shu lay inside.
Making money was a big deal and allowed no delay.
There were various choices inside the gaming pod; *Dream of the Martial World* was not the only game available—
To be precise, the gaming pod Su Shu bought covered almost all holographic games that could be seen on the market.
On the game selection interface, Su Shu saw several categories such as Comprehensive, Real Combat, and Puzzle. Su Shu looked through them one by one and discovered that *Dream of the Martial World*, as the hottest holographic online game today, stood high at the top of the Comprehensive category.
Without a second thought, she clicked in and arrived at the login interface.
The prompt voice of an artificial NPC sounded: “Welcome to *Dream of the Martial World*. Please choose your appearance.”
In the Interstellar Era, many types of work had replaced living humans with robots. Therefore, in order not to raise useless people, the government used human labor for all other occupations that could use it.
Just as the friendly prompt voice faded, a character model that looked identical to Su Shu appeared in front of her.
It looked identical, yet was very different—
The love of beauty is common to all. The game company understood the mindset of the vast majority of people very well, so although the character standing in front of Su Shu looked identical to her, due to game data corrections, her sallow, emaciated appearance and poor complexion caused by malnutrition had been improved. Combined with the pitifully scant fabric on the game character in its initial state, Model Su Shu could be described as extraordinarily glamorous and beautiful.
Su Shu: “…”
She remained motionless for a long time.
Looking at a breathtakingly beautiful version of herself standing opposite her malnourished self felt bizarre no matter how she looked at it.
Su Shu was not the only gamer who stunned herself through game beautification. The artificial NPC was used to this and waited until Su Shu had admired herself enough before asking thoughtfully, “May I ask if you have any dissatisfaction with your appearance?”
“If you are dissatisfied, you can manually adjust the face customization, tweaking the character’s facial features and appearance until you are satisfied.”
“However, according to system data, your appearance is in the top tier of the game. If you adjust it further upward, it may bring inconvenience to your future gaming life.”
The artificial NPC gave a subtle hint.
Su Shu nodded to express her understanding.
Artificial NPC: “Then please confirm your appearance—”
Without saying a word, Su Shu stepped forward two paces and threw a punch straight at her own face—
Almost at the same time, a section of the face on Su Shu’s model caved in.
Artificial NPC: “…”
Then Su Shu began rubbing and kneading that caved-in face. Before long, a flat face was kneaded out—
Because of the effect of that punch, it was truly ordinary and plain.
Artificial NPC: “…”
She had received so many new players, and although not everyone glammed up their faces to the point their own mothers couldn’t recognize them, this was still the first time she had seen someone waste their own face like this.
Wasn’t it good to live beautifully?
Su Shu looked left and right, extremely satisfied with the new face she had kneaded. She was here to make money, not to come here and continue being a target—
Making a fortune quietly was the kingly way.
After admiring her new face for half a minute, Su Shu finally remembered the artificial NPC who had been quiet for a long time: “I can confirm the appearance now.”
Artificial NPC: “…”
Looking at the new face that had only fifty percent of the beauty of the old face, the artificial NPC hesitated a bit: “Once the character image is generated, unless there are special reasons, it cannot be changed. Are you sure about this current image?”
*Dream of the Martial World* was a holographic game. Registration was done with one’s real identity, so one could not create alt accounts or change character information. Therefore, once Su Shu decided to use this image, she would remain in this form forever.
Su Shu hesitated for a moment and said to the artificial NPC, “Wait.”
The artificial NPC said quickly, “Alright.”
There was an inexplicably joyful tone in her voice, like the happiness of seeing a prodigal son return.
She knew it. This player just had a momentary lapse of reason and didn’t really want an ugly self.
Only to see Su Shu size herself up from top to bottom for a moment, step forward again, and pinch her face a few times—
It became even less outstanding.
Looking at Su Shu, who now had no trace of the beauty from earlier, the artificial NPC: “…”
Su Shu said with satisfaction, “It’s fine now.”
The artificial NPC gave up on curing Su Shu’s aesthetics, her tone becoming even flatter than Su Shu’s new face: “Please press the confirm button.”
A red button appeared beside Su Shu’s life-sized model. After Su Shu pressed it down, the life-sized model immediately vanished, and Su Shu’s appearance was finalized.
The artificial NPC said, “Please choose a game ID for yourself. Please note that the game ID is your sole medium for external communication in this game. It can be changed by spending money, but it cannot duplicate another person’s.”
Recalling her purpose for coming into the game, Su Shu said seriously, “1:2 Selling Gold Coins.”
Artificial NPC: “…”
She said without emotion, “Sorry, this nickname is suspected of offline trading and violates regulations, so it cannot be used.”
Su Shu: “…”
She switched to another one: “Huai Shuo.”
Artificial NPC: “This nickname is available. Player, please confirm.”
The words “Huai Shuo” floated in front of Su Shu, with a red confirmation button beside them as well.
Su Shu pressed the confirm button, and a patch of white light suddenly lit up before her eyes. Su Shu could not help but close her eyes—
By her ears was the cheerful voice of the artificial NPC: “Welcome Player Huai Shuo to *Dream of the Martial World*. We wish you a pleasant game~”
Su Shu: “…”
In the white light, a question mark slowly floated up in Su Shu’s heart—
Could it be that in this game, besides the ID, the most important thing is the face?
After the white light before her eyes vanished, Su Shu opened her eyes and found herself already standing in the Novice Village.
Around her, white lights flashed continuously; they should all be newly registered players.
Even though everyone’s appearances were different, everyone had the same bewildered expression on their different faces.
Su Shu: “…”
How did this foolish game, which didn’t even have a novice guide, stay popular for nearly a hundred years in the original text?
Su Shu opened her character panel, preparing to exit the game to seek another way to make a living—
But at the very bottom left corner of the character panel, she saw the Novice Guide.
Su Shu clicked it open. The Novice Guide was like a small booklet, its table of contents listing the relevant information of the game respectively.
She scanned it at a glance, checked a few quick settings in the game settings that she thought could be useful based on the prompts, and began doing quests according to the triggered novice guidance.
Su Shu came to the game wanting to make money, so she had done her homework long ago—
It was very difficult to reach the top in *Dream of the Martial World*, but if one didn’t pursue the top and only sought to get by, running dungeons to convert gold coins in the game was very easy.
Just like the treasure-hunting teams specializing in selling game currency in keyboard games of Su Shu’s era.
The one point that was different from keyboard games was that although a character’s attributes in holographic games were determined by the system and equipment, the player’s own physical quality could also determine the player’s experience in the game to a large extent—
As an outstanding figure in Imperial University’s Military Academy, Su Shu’s own physical quality was naturally not bad. Thus, even if her equipment was not top-tier in the game, raking in money would not be a problem.
This was also one of the reasons why she dared to invest heavily to come into this game to rake in money.
Her first quest was to be accepted from the Village Chief.
The game slogan of *Dream of the Martial World* was “Discover the Fun in the Game,” so besides the main storyline quests, many side quests and hidden quests required players to discover them on their own. In the decade or so since the game’s release, all kinds of tricky quests had emerged endlessly, causing countless players to repeatedly hover on the edge of quitting the game for long periods—
However, toward newcomers, it was still not that absurdly insane.
At least in Su Shu’s eyes, there was a dashed line guiding her toward the thatched cottage of the Village Chief’s house.
It was just that the distance was a bit far, located at the end of the Novice Village.
Su Shu walked unhurriedly in front of the Village Chief. Different from other NPCs, there was a giant yellow question mark above the Village Chief’s head, displaying his special status as a quest NPC.
Having transmigrated from the era of keyboard online games, Su Shu temporarily did not know how to deal with a living NPC and hesitated a bit.
However, the pacing Village Chief was like he had radar installed on his body; with a *swoosh*, he came forward to grab Su Shu’s hand—
Su Shu, who originally wanted to dodge, was caught dead on by the Village Chief’s black-chicken-claw-like hand.
Su Shu: “…”
Tears welled in the Village Chief’s eyes: “Hero! You have finally come!”
Su Shu: “…”
This emotion was too sincere; she actually did not know how to respond.
Fortunately, the Village Chief did not need a response from a newcomer hero who arrived every day, continuing on his own: “Hero! Our village has waited for you so miserably! Hero, do you know! Our village has been harmed so terribly by the gophers in the northwest!”
The Village Chief shook Su Shu’s hand, his eyes brimming with tears: “Hero! Do you know we have waited thousands of years for you! Do you know?!”
Su Shu: “I don’t know.”
Village Chief: “…”
The Village Chief pulled back his tears in a second, holding Su Shu’s hand tighter and tighter: “It doesn’t matter, now you know! Since hero you have come now! I think the gophers in the northwest will surely all die out!”
Su Shu: “…”
Fine, the quest is whacking gophers…
Sure enough, no matter what era it was, classic games would never go out of style.
Su Shu could already imagine her foolish look holding a small hammer and continuously tapping holes.
Su Shu said to the Village Chief: “I got it.”
The Village Chief let go of Su Shu’s hand.
[System Prompt] Player Huai Shuo, successfully accepted the commission “Help the Village Chief Whack Gophers”, completion progress 0/300.
Su Shu: “…”
Su Shu turned around, about to leave.
The Village Chief grabbed her at once, handing her a sharp wooden stick and a length of rope.
The Village Chief smiled: “I wonder if this hero could agree to a small request of mine?”
The Village Chief said: “The gophers in our village ate so much of our grain that every one of them is dripping with fat. It would be too much of a waste to just kill them…”
Su Shu: “…”
She had an ominous premonition.
The Village Chief’s gaze was filled with longing: “Could I trouble you, warrior, after bringing them back, to give them to us for an extra meal?”
Su Shu: “…”
What goddamn extra meal.
The Village Chief rubbed his hands: “It’s very simple, just string them up.”
Su Shu: “…”
Stringing them up, to form a concentric circle?
She glanced at the commission log and found that there was no prompt for the previous commission—
This was no legitimate quest.
With an expressionless face, Su Shu pulled her sleeve out: “I refuse.”
The Village Chief froze, probably because no player had ever rejected him so coldly before.
Su Shu turned her head, about to keep walking.
The Village Chief hurriedly said: “I, Su Danieu, never take advantage of people! I’m paying!”