Ten thousand I am across the heavens

Lan Cheng calculated his hellish start. Although it was a bad hand, it wasn't a hopeless situation. If this were Earth, he would definitely lick his boots and go home to apologize to the original owner's parents, shamelessly staying behind. At most, he would get a severe scolding, but he would still be able to save his life.

However, based on his memories, the laws of this world, and the habits and customs of ordinary people, there was no hope for the original owner's parents. There are responsible parents in this world, but the original owner's parents were obviously not. They couldn't even control their own desires, and overspending was commonplace. Paying tuition for their child was their last line of defense.

The procedures to sever ties have been completed, and the two parties are no longer legally connected. Even if these two people were to take him in out of consideration for family ties, their income would not be enough to repay the loan.

Lan Cheng had originally planned to sell off all the overspending items this body had accumulated secondhand, hoping it would help him pay off the loan. However, after checking the secondhand prices, he gave up. These kinds of infuriating items were less than half the original price on the secondhand market, while the loan repayment amount was 30% more than the original price. The difference between the two was something this body couldn't handle.

"First, you need a part-time job with a basic income. Rent, food, and utilities all cost money. The original owner was quite savvy in this regard, saving where she could and spending where she could. The apartment she rented was basically the cheapest one available."

If we only consider the most basic survival needs, food was relatively cheap in this era. Around ten yuan a day for food, plus forty yuan for rent and utilities, adds up to an extra 1,500 yuan a month. Add to that the 15,000 yuan loan repayment, and you'd need a very high income for a part-time job.

Lan Cheng knew there was no such thing as a free lunch. High-paying part-time jobs always come with corresponding risks. On Earth, those ads that advertise making tens of thousands of yuan per scene in adult films, promising both pleasure and money, are basically just trying to rip you off. The social atmosphere here is only going to be worse.

After much deliberation among numerous part-time jobs, Lan Cheng gritted his teeth and chose a game companion job. It sounded like a low-pressure, easy job, requiring only a little chatting skill. But that was on Earth. Here, being a game companion is definitely a high-pressure profession.

Game companies of this era are no longer bound by traditional game interaction methods. While brain-computer interfaces do not yet support fully immersive virtual reality games, their realism is already comparable to that of Ready Player One. The simulation of touch, smell, and gravity is remarkably lifelike. And when necessary, some games even simulate pain with a high degree of realism.

Those who play this type of game, apart from a few hardcore players, are mostly wealthy players. Wealthy players are here to have fun; the realistic feedback from enemies in the game due to pain is their greatest source of enjoyment.

While playing against AI can satisfy the needs of the wealthy to some extent, competitive gamers in any era will never enjoy playing against AI. Personality itself is a huge asset. Even with a huge gap between the rich and the poor, who are practically two different species, a person's identity can still provide immense emotional value.

Normally, in games designed to cater to wealthy players, ordinary players would almost never be subjected to such abuse. However, there are always wealthy players who want to be abused. On Earth, no matter how rich the wealthy are, there are still social boundaries. At least on the surface, there won't be any overt groveling. But here, those boundaries have long been crossed. Coupled with the greater gap between the rich and the poor, game companies will specifically hire players to be abused.

As the saying goes, money makes the world go round. Even if this game is not fun at all, and is extremely painful for ordinary players, too many people still have to grit their teeth and keep playing in order to satisfy the demands of the rich.

In these types of games, the rewards for playing with others vary. The more outrageous the rules, the higher the reward, which often means that the player will suffer more brutal torment.

Those who have done this part-time job jokingly say that what they earned wasn't money, but compensation for their mental anguish.

This statement is entirely accurate, and not everyone is entitled to receive such compensation for emotional distress. Lan Cheng chose this part-time job precisely because he met the requirements. To play this kind of game, you need equipment, and the most basic equipment is a motion-sensing suit. Without this suit that can simulate tentacles, he couldn't even enter the game and suffer the torture. This was also one of the most expensive peripherals he purchased with a loan.

As for imagining oneself participating in the games of such a wealthy organization like a protagonist in a novel, not only avoiding losses but also making money and winning the game effortlessly, that's impossible.

No matter how skilled an average player is, it's almost impossible for them to win. Even if they happen to find a loophole in the game and win a game, the loophole will be fixed immediately, and they won't receive any compensation. They might even face huge claims for violating their employment contract with the game company. Ultimately, this design is intended to make the game enjoyable for wealthy players, so there's no way they can earn money without any effort.

After carefully reviewing the online contract, Lan Cheng joined the game. His time was extremely valuable; aside from his rest and school hours, the time he could use for part-time work was already quite limited. Once the download was complete and he logged into the unfamiliar game, he found himself aboard a futuristic fighter jet. It must be said that the virtual reality technology in this world was already quite advanced; at least, unless one actively tried to break the immersion, one would genuinely believe they were a soldier about to parachute out of a futuristic fighter jet.

The most basic task in Blue City is to die. As long as you complete one death, you can get the minimum reward of one hundred yuan, which is enough for an average person's basic daily expenses. It's easy to imagine that even a simple death won't be a quick and painless one.

As for extra income, it depends on the wealthy player's post-game evaluation. The game company will use data collected from the backend regarding the wealthy player's hormone levels to determine their satisfaction. Combined with the player's casual post-game comments, a comprehensive score is given to the player. A high score can earn extra rewards, while a low score may result in being blacklisted. Players who offer no resistance and simply lie on the ground to die will undoubtedly negatively impact the wealthy player's gaming experience and will be blacklisted by the game company, making it difficult to receive similar orders in the future.

Lan Cheng checked his assigned game account and found he only had the most basic equipment. In this battle royale game, he didn't even have a single long-range weapon, so you can imagine how difficult the start would be.

He knew very well that without the extra reward, it would be almost impossible to pay off his loan with this part-time job, so he couldn't just throw his life away. He had to fight seriously and even make things difficult for the rich guy. The sense of accomplishment from defeating an enemy without any resistance was far less than the sense of accomplishment from defeating an enemy after expending considerable effort.

Lan Cheng was well aware of this, so after parachuting, based on his real-world experience, he chose a factory area with a rather complex terrain. The game's description stated that it offered a high degree of freedom, even capable of mimicking various physical and chemical reactions in the real world to a considerable extent. Theoretically, it was possible to manually craft explosives and equipment in the game. This was also the only operational space available to ordinary players.

The truly wealthy players come in with top-tier equipment; top-of-the-line weapons and body armor are just the basics. Power armor isn't even considered top-tier. The most outrageous ones might even arrive in small spaceships. These spaceships land on the ground and can even deploy like base vehicles. No matter how fancy the average player's strategy, they can't win in the end. So, aside from playing against bots and paid companions, practically no one plays this game willingly.

It's fair to say that some wealthy players enjoy the thrill of being forced to play even when you don't want to. A few meters from the ground, Lan Cheng decisively cut the cable. Two other ordinary players landed in the same area as him. However, they weren't teammates; they were competitors. Only by dying at the hands of the wealthy players could they get the rewards; dying at the hands of ordinary players meant getting nothing.

In a more harmonious gaming environment, ordinary players might peacefully pass by and then feed kills to the rich players in batches. However, these players who provide companionship are already quite distorted under pressure. If they encounter weaker companions, they don't mind venting their suppressed anger on them.

Lan Cheng had to be wary of these guys, and reality proved him right; these two ordinary players seemed to know each other. They surrounded him as soon as he landed, having already planned to team up. Lan Cheng was new to the game and didn't know that the total amount of extra rewards given by the game company in each round was fixed. The rewards for those who didn't receive the basic rewards were also added to the prize pool, meaning everyone was essentially a competitor. If an ordinary player could eliminate all the other ordinary players, and if they gifted generously to the whales, they could almost monopolize the prize pool.

Clearly, this was their plan. Not only that, they even spent some money on it. Although it wasn't much, each of them started with a foot-long machete instead of a small knife with a thumb-length blade.

Facing the two men with ill intentions, Lan Cheng took a deep breath and said, "We're all just working for someone else, there's no need for us to kill each other!"

"Oh? Another clueless piglet trying to make quick money. You don't think this kind of money is so easy to earn, do you? Consider this a lesson learned, just back out and save yourself the trouble." One of the two confronted Lan Cheng, while the other had already quietly circled behind him, blocking his escape route.

"Is there really no room for negotiation?" Lan Cheng gripped the small knife in his hand tightly. This knife, which was not much better than a utility knife, could not put much pressure on the other party.

"Still not backing out? Well, then there's nothing we can do. My fellow viewers, this isn't me deliberately bullying a newbie! He's just asking for trouble. Today, my two brothers will give you a cyber torture. For every dollar you tip, we'll slash him that many times!"

Lan Cheng: "..."

He never expected that this kind of game could be streamed live, and it seemed that the viewers watching the live stream were also quite perverted.

Lan Cheng's eyes sharpened, his mind tensed. His gaze caught a fleeting moment of distraction in his opponent—the opponent was looking at the live stream comments and donations. The allure of real money was irresistible, diverting his attention.

Just as the streamer, overjoyed at giving a tip, let out a scream, a long wound was already cut into his wrist by a knife. The pain made him instinctively want to cover the wound, forgetting to defend and retaliate. But almost at the same time, Lan Cheng's two fingers were already there.

Generals who have truly fought their way up in battles involving tens of thousands of people, even if they are not particularly skilled in melee weapons, are still far superior to ordinary players. Their battlefield killing techniques are clean and efficient.

The excruciating pain of the eye gouging instantly rendered the opponent incapable of fighting, while Lan Cheng swiftly plunged the blade into the enemy's throat, even shoving the hilt in. The game instantly declared the health bar empty, and he casually caught the falling machete.

He lunged forward, narrowly avoiding a follow-up attack from an enemy teammate behind him. Although his movements were somewhat clumsy, he managed to dodge three or four blows while scrambling and rolling. He then got back up and faced his opponent again.

Although his opponent had an extra basic bulletproof vest, this advantage was meaningless given the vast difference in their fighting skills.

After only three clashes, Lan Cheng seized an opening, thrusting his blade in and decapitating the victim in one strike. In the deceased streamer's livestream room, a group of people were asking who this expert player was. Although they couldn't understand how he did it, this series of counter-kills was clean and efficient, as if he were born to kill. They also wanted to watch such a ruthless player stream; even though the ending would definitely be death, at least the process would be exciting!

After picking up the two's equipment, Lan Cheng quickly began searching the abandoned factory.

It's too late to start a live stream now, but he still plans to play seriously. He just checked the game mechanics and found that even if you perform well, there are still highlights even if you get killed. Even if it's just to get a few more coins in tips at the end of the game, he's prepared to improve his combat power.

Inside the factory, he found a large quantity of chemical raw materials and welding equipment. Although he was not a professional, with these tools he had a lot of room to maneuver. He could manufacture traps, explosives, and even vehicles, which was enough for him to turn the abandoned factory into a base.

Even if it's not enough to fight off whales who spend real money, it's enough to deal with other troublesome players.

[To be continued]

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