However, although today was the day the new players arrived in Liyang, Li Xi had no intention of personally going up to the altar to receive these newly “summoned” “Heavenly Soldiers and Generals.” She only planned to have the Liyang Magistrate go take a look, just to prevent these three hundred newcomers from accidentally causing any trouble.
Going up to the altar required changing into the previously custom-tailored, luxurious yet heavy sacrificial ceremonial robes. After putting them on, her entire body would look bulkier by a full circle, her movements would be inconvenient, and she would also need to have her face painted with makeup that made her appear sacred yet difficult to approach, in line with Great Qin’s promotional animation. She was simply too lazy to put on an act.
In fact, the reason it was even necessary to mobilize the Liyang Magistrate, the official with the greatest authority in Liyang aside from herself, was that these second-test players were, after all, the second batch to enter. When Great Qin later expanded and there were more players, strictly speaking, they would count as early players. Using a phrase they might be more familiar with, that would be “old customer limited benefits.”
Once Great Qin had been operating for a longer time, and the game livestreaming system was opened, and it truly gained organic traffic on the internet, so that anyone in the players’ world who was interested in this game knew Great Qin’s rules, then when new players entered for the first time, it would only be necessary to send a few small soldiers to maintain order.
After all, what important NPC in a game has the time to meet new players every day?
But in order to prevent unforeseen changes, Li Xi still had the system project the situation on the side of the newly logged-in players onto the light screen. If any of these new players caused trouble, she could instantly ban their accounts using her “authority dog” privileges.
And the facts proved that her “monitoring” was indeed not in vain.
This second batch of players was different from the first. Most of the first-test players had registered for the game because they were too bored and happened to see a randomly inserted small advertisement by the system. But the second-test players were not like that.
Because of the system’s overwhelming marketing and promotion, which stirred up public outrage in the players’ world and attracted waves of scolding, the exposure was indeed high, and popularity followed—but at the same time, countless haters were also drawn in.
There were many people applying for Great Qin’s internal testing qualifications, and she had handed all of it to the system, this artificial intelligence, to screen according to the applicants’ possible professional skills. Li Xi estimated that, judging by the little foolish system’s simplicity, it might very well have let two strange and indescribable creatures mix into the game. After all, the relationship between ability and character has never been directly proportional.
As soon as the second-test players entered, two of them exchanged a glance and then quickly went to smash the place—meaning they went to smash the buildings on the altar, attempting to dismantle the altar.
After seeing this scene, Li Xi did not immediately act to throw the two people out of the game from the control panel. Instead, she appeared extremely good-tempered and patient, allowing them to smash for two minutes, destroying some of the structures on top, turning part of the “ground” on the altar into a pitted mess. Only then did she slowly lift her finger, lightly touch the screen, and permanently ban and blacklist the two of them. No matter how many times game qualifications were issued in the future, they would never again have a chance to enter Great Qin.
Seeing Li Xi’s somewhat abnormal actions, the system could not help but ask in confusion, 【Host, why didn’t you throw them out right at the beginning? Now these two annoying guys even broke the altar, and it still has to be repaired!】
Listening to the system’s tone full of dissatisfaction as it muttered about those two players, Li Xi rested her arm on the table, supported her chin with one hand, and said, “That segment just now—the entire process of those two smashing the altar—pull out the screen recording and release it as an update on our Great Qin official website. Treat it as a rough little promotional video.”
She twirled a pen in her other hand, her voice calm. “Through this recording, once again emphasize that Great Qin conforms to the law of universal gravitation, is one hundred percent absolutely real full-dive, built one-to-one according to the real world game engine, every corner is genuine and authentic, stands up to inspection, and welcomes every player to come and test it.”
Of course, those who misuse testing methods and deliberately damage public property will definitely have their accounts reclaimed.
Have you seen this world’s only full-dive game? Throw it away and still won’t let you play.jpg
【Awooo—The host is brilliant! I knew Host is the best!】
“Oh, right,” seeing the system once again transform into a sycophant and enter screaming chicken mode, Li Xi then seemed to recall something and added, “Remember to mosaic those two people’s faces, so that no one says our Great Qin is inhumane.”
“As for what you said about having to find people to repair the altar,” she added, “there’s no need to make it so troublesome. Just let these second-test players go fix it.”
【But won’t this cause their dissatisfaction?】 the system asked. 【After all, the altar wasn’t destroyed by them, and making them clean up the mess left by the two who were already banned will surely make them unwilling, right?】
“So what?” Li Xi said lightly, her expression very indifferent. “According to Qin law, the law enforces collective responsibility. Even when playing a game, one must still follow the game rules, right?”
“Besides, if someone really doesn’t want to do it, they can just quit the game. I can’t force them by pressing their heads down to do anything. I’m just an ordinary, unremarkable game producer, after all.”
Seeing the system look thoughtful after being spoken to like this, Li Xi then added one last sentence, “Remember to draw lots from among the applicants for internal testing to fill in for those who leave.”
【Okay, Host! No problem, Host! Leave everything to me!】
Thus, the first task of these pitiful players—who had just entered the game and were unlucky enough to be blamed and drafted for labor because their同行 companions did bad things—was mercilessly decided. And after arranging them clearly and completely, just short of finding a coffin lid to cover them all together, Li Xi no longer had time to spare them even one extra glance. Instead, she began to think about the matter of Qin State’s gold mine: should she write a letter in advance to Xianyang to inform Ying Zheng ahead of time and have him send people to become gold miners, or should she wait until she had thoroughly inspected it herself, and only after digging up gold then present this big surprise together to the young king in the Xianyang Palace?
Mainly, if she chose the former, she could also take advantage of the situation to line her own pockets, misuse public property, occupy public resources, smuggle private goods, and write a family letter to her dear older brother, with whom she had not communicated for a long time…
Thinking of this, Li Xi felt that she already had a very obvious inclination in her heart, and there was no need for further consideration.
Xianyang. Royal Palace.
Under the guidance of palace attendants, Li Si moved through the royal palace. The young man’s expression looked calm and blank, without any thoughts, but in his heart he had already gone through several hypotheses of questions Ying Zheng might ask him, and at the same time organized multiple ways of answering, planning and preparing how he should speak when he saw his king in a moment.
Recently, Xianyang has not been very peaceful. This lack of peace did not refer to military weapons and warfare, but rather to the undercurrents of political factional struggle.
At present, Ying Zheng was young and had not yet personally governed. The great power at court, all political affairs, were fully controlled and held by the Queen Dowager Zhao Ji and the Chancellor Lü Buwei, the two of them having the final say. Lü Buwei had served as Chancellor of Qin since the previous king ascended the throne. Over many years, not to mention the thousands of guests he had befriended and retainers he supported, even within the Qin court there were many officials friendly with him, supporting his political views. The court took Lü Buwei as its leader; to say the entire court was full of his faction was no exaggeration.
But although Lü Buwei was Chancellor, second only to one person in Qin, he was ultimately a subject, not a king.
When the power of one’s subordinates tilts the entire court, which king—what king with opinions, ambition, and skill—can tolerate this?
The once weak king whose wings were not yet full had now grown up, but the chancellor who held power was unwilling to return authority. In fact, it cannot be said that Lü Buwei was completely unwilling to return authority; it was just that what he was willing to let go of at present was, for Ying Zheng as king, insufficient—and ironic.
—A dignified king of a nation, wanting to control his own country’s affairs, actually had to look at the chancellor’s face and mood. If this were spread, what an extraordinary humiliation it would be.
Lü Buwei was now dancing wildly on Ying Zheng’s minefield.
Thinking of the incident some time ago, in which Lü Buwei used the pretext of choosing a day to cause the Queen Dowager to urge the king to marry, Li Si felt that this superior who had originally recognized him and given him the opportunity to meet Ying Zheng was likely going to turn from “a rare commodity worth hoarding” into “a rare calamity worth hoarding.”
He truly had guts. Knowing that Ying Zheng’s kingly authority had already been established, that he was no longer the weak monarch who had just been supported to ascend the throne and understood nothing, he still insisted on using this matter to test him, attempting to control Ying Zheng.
After all, although at court Lü Buwei’s family dominated alone, if one spoke of military power, that was a completely different matter.
Since ancient times, for any country and any king, harmony between generals and chancellors has been a praiseworthy and fine tale.
But generally speaking, because of different divisions of labor, their ways of thinking were often quite different. “Generals” and “chancellors” were often on opposing planes in many situations, and thus most of the time their relationships could not be very good.
And Qin was exactly like this. At present, among the several generals in command of the army, almost none had a good relationship with Lü Buwei. At the same time, several generals who had a voice in the military and extremely high prestige were all firm supporters of the monarch. Whether it was the old general Meng Ao, who had served four generations of Qin kings, or the veteran Wang He, who had served three generations of Qin kings, all had sworn loyalty to the king at the beginning of Ying Zheng’s reign to express their loyalty.
But when one thinks about it, it is also natural that Lü Buwei was not welcomed by people in the military.
Among all the chancellors of Qin, only during Lü Buwei’s tenure did Qin fight the least, not engaging in fierce battles or fighting too savagely.
And Qin practiced a military merit nobility system: only by fighting wars, obtaining heads, and beheading enemy soldiers could one be promoted and granted titles. But if Lü Buwei as chancellor did not allow fighting, that was cutting off the future of generals and soldiers—one person’s most vigorous and powerful youth lasts only a few years; after passing that peak period, even if one still wants to fight desperately, one may not have the strength left.
Thus, under such circumstances, how many people in the army could have a good impression of him? What kind of universally benevolent saint would that have to be?
Therefore, the undercurrents surging through the court and countryside were here. Lü Buwei held political power, while Ying Zheng directly used military power to balance political power. In the upper society of Xianyang, every day was a kind of bloodless storm.
And now, as a close minister beside the King of Qin, he naturally felt this invisible blade-light and sword-shadow of political struggle every day.
Actually, being in the center of the power vortex was not originally such a big deal. He wanted to seek wealth and pursue high office; these were unavoidable. But the problem lies in the current situation’s inclination…
Thinking of this, Li Si could not help but sigh in his heart.
In his heart, he felt that the only blessing in misfortune was that his younger sister was now in Liyang. Otherwise, with her status elevated by the king, she probably would not be able to remain stable in Xianyang either.
He wondered whether A-Xi in Liyang was being taken good care of, whether someone had made new clothes for her now that the weather was about to turn warm…
Just as Li Si was thinking about his younger sister, he had already been led by palace attendants to the palace hall where his king was.
Li Si put on a professional smile and bowed toward the dark-robed youth’s back ahead of him. At the same time, he had already prepared in his heart the best answers to the questions he had thought about on the way, full of confidence, waiting for his king’s inquiry. Then, as the dark-robed youth turned around, the first sentence stunned him.
No other reason.
Because what Ying Zheng said was, “Li Si, do you want to see the divine woman?”
When he heard Ying Zheng say this sentence, Li Si’s mind truly went blank for a moment.
Then, after reacting, the young man immediately went into a storm of thoughts, taking this seemingly ordinary sentence apart word by word in his mind, trying to interpret the deeper meaning behind the young king’s words.
Only then did he carefully and cautiously begin to answer, “Your Majesty, this subject believes…”
“Too much nonsense.” Hearing Li Si go on and on, speaking around the point without directly answering the question he had asked, with words that did not know which ravine of the brain they had twisted into, Ying Zheng seemed to be annoyed and said impatiently, “I didn’t ask you so many things. You just directly say whether you want to or not. I don’t want to hear a third word.”
Hearing this, Li Si instantly took the hint and decisively said, “I want to!”
“Then go make some preparations and accompany me to Liyang.”
“Huh?” Upon hearing this, Li Si was instantly dumbfounded.
And seeing his subject’s dumbfounded expression, Ying Zheng was completely too lazy to give him another glance, directly turning around to express his extreme disdain through action.
Thinking that he was usually quite clever, how did he become this stupid the moment Li Xi was mentioned?
Truly useless.
In the end, the family letter that Li Xi intended to smuggle and have someone deliver to her dear older brother was not sent after all.
Because just as she had finished organizing her language and translating her entirely vernacular content into classical language to be presented to Ying Zheng, and was just about to find someone to entrust with this extremely important messenger task, suddenly she heard a servant come to report a major piece of news—
—Ying Zheng had come to Liyang.
The two accompanying him were precisely the most famous civil and military figures beside the First Emperor in later generations: Li Si and Meng Tian.
However, when the group arrived in Liyang, it was already late, night had fallen, and it was not appropriate to hold any banquet to welcome Ying Zheng to Liyang, so they rested first.
And they also needed to deploy security work in the residence. Although Ying Zheng’s visit to Liyang this time was not considered high-profile, one can never be too careful. Ying Zheng, as King of Qin, his life and safety were of utmost importance. So upon hearing the news of the king’s arrival, the Liyang Magistrate, the highest administrative official in Liyang, began to rush around, arranging and deploying everything.
And Li Xi, who was now the person with the highest authority in every aspect in Liyang, took advantage of the Liyang Magistrate being overwhelmed to muddy the waters and drag her dear older brother, who temporarily had nothing to do, into the small study, asking him what exactly was going on and understanding the situation.
Why had Ying Zheng suddenly come to Liyang again? This really made her feel very unusual.
Even if Ying Zheng had told her that he came to see his arrogant younger brother who had been beaten on her territory, Li Xi felt that… Cheng Jiao did not seem to have such a big face as to make Ying Zheng personally run over here for him.
As for the questions Li Xi asked, before setting out Li Si had already tentatively asked his king how much he could tell his sister about the matters in the royal palace and to what extent, if she asked. And Ying Zheng’s attitude was indifferent: Li Xi, as a divine woman, could know everything.
So Li Si had no psychological burden at all in telling his sister about the undercurrents in the palace.
Because there were truly too many matters on the Xianyang side, Li Si, for the convenience of helping his sister remember and also better sort them out, even deliberately took a blank bamboo slip from the shelf and gradually wrote a political notes outline for his sister.
After finishing writing, he rolled up the bamboo slips and handed them to the young girl. “Here, for your review.”
Li Xi immediately curved her eyes into a smile, looking both obedient and sweet, and softly said, “I knew my older brother is the best.”
“Oh, right.” Then Li Si thought about it and ultimately decided to tell his sister about the matter he had just mentioned in essence but had not explained specifically what the incident was.
“The cause of this matter was that the Chancellor had the Queen Dowager speak with the king about marrying the princess of Chu, forming a marriage alliance with Chu.”
“Crack—”
Accompanying the final sound of Li Si’s sentence, what responded was the bamboo slip that Li Xi had just received from her dear older brother not long ago being “waist-cut and dismembered,” breaking into two from the middle, while several bamboo strips also came loose. If Li Xi were to release her hand at this moment, they would instantly separate and scatter.
This made Li Si fall silent for a moment.
Yet the person who caused all this still acted as if nothing had happened, as if she had merely accidentally dropped a chopstick. Her expression was gentle and soft, and she said in a soft voice, “It’s fine. My hand slipped by accident. Brother, go on.”
Li Si: “……”
How was he still supposed to dare continue?
Li Si felt that what he should be worrying about now was not whether his younger sister harbored feelings for the king, wanting to hang herself on this tree, refusing anyone but him, but rather… judging by his girl’s demeanor, he was truly somewhat worried that the day the king established an empress might become the only king in Qin’s history to die by a crime of passion.
Meng Tian… could he stop his younger sister?
Li Si could not help but think about this serious question tinged with a bit of absurdity.