Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 657 Professional Gamers in Virtual Games
In a tea restaurant downstairs in a residential area in Shenzhen, Duan Xingxian was having dinner, occasionally taking a sip of his soda while eating.

His expression was just like the uncles on the construction site taking a sip of ice-cold beer while eating, exuding comfort from head to toe.

For Duan Xingxian, who had been playing virtual games all day, dinner time was the most enjoyable and comfortable time of his life... It relieved the fatigue from playing games all day, allowed him to temporarily put aside the pressure of life, and he didn't have to take care of other people's feelings. He could just eat comfortably by himself and then drink a big glass of cola!

His ex-girlfriend used to forbid him from drinking these sugary junk drinks, saying that drinking too much would make him fat, and she absolutely hated fat people... She was very strict about it.

Duan Xingxian used to think that he was of average appearance, introverted, and not very likable. Apart from the higher wages in the factory, he didn't seem to have any other advantages... His ex-girlfriend, on the other hand, was beautiful and had a great figure. In some urban campus novels, she would be at least the most beautiful girl in her department.

Although she lacked education and had a less-than-ideal job, Duan Xingxian was happy just looking at her beauty... She was a goddess!

So she doesn't like drinking junk drinks or eating junk food to prevent him from becoming the fat person she hates the most. Duan Xingxian doesn't really have any objections. If he doesn't want to drink, he doesn't have to. It's not a big deal.

However, as it turns out, even if he hadn't gained weight, his ex-girlfriends would still have run away.

Three months after he lost his job, his ex-girlfriend went home to go on blind dates and get married.

After the breakup, Duan Xingxian was somewhat depressed, but not heartbroken.

In fact, he even spent the entire night giving her his blessings when he came to Shenzhen before her wedding…

After all, she had been with me for several years, gave me her virginity, and had two abortions over the years.

And what about myself? I lost my job and have no work now. I just bought a house, and after the renovation, I still owe millions in mortgage payments... The monthly mortgage payments are like a mountain weighing on my shoulders.

After being laid off, Duan Xingxian searched for a job for two or three months without finding any good opportunities... So before Duan Xingxian could even give up hope, his ex-girlfriend had already given up!
He was unemployed and had millions in mortgage debt... just thinking about it made her feel like she was going crazy.

After all, her monthly salary was only five or six thousand, which wasn't even enough for her own pocket money... so she couldn't possibly pay the mortgage with Duan Xingxian, who was unemployed.

This so-called relationship, in her words before the breakup, was like: "I wasted four of my most precious years of youth on dogs..."

After maintaining a clean reputation for over twenty years, he boldly went all in on Duan Xingxian, seeing his potential... After enduring several years of hard work, Duan Xingxian finally saved enough money to buy and renovate a house... Then, not long after the house was renovated, Duan Xingxian lost his job!

Investment failure, losing everything!

From her perspective, it's quite tragic!
Of course, Duan Xingxian did not think that this relationship was a failure.

His career failed, not his so-called relationship... He was 99% certain that if he hadn't lost his job, or if he had lost his job after paying off the mortgage, she wouldn't have left him. Instead, they would have married peacefully and lived a respectful life together.

After all, she really wanted to stay in Shenzhen and didn't want to go back to her hometown...

When she came to Shenzhen to find him before her marriage, she cried for a long time, saying that she didn't want to leave Shenzhen. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned!
Duan Xingxian knew her thoughts and could understand her. In fact, he also knew why she had been with him in the first place.

Although he is a bit introverted and not very outgoing, he is still a graduate of a 985 university with a master's degree. After graduation, he worked as a programmer in a major internet company and reached the level of a high-level executive with an annual salary of 600,000 to 700,000 yuan before he lost his job.

He's not stupid, okay!

He actually knew very well why his ex-girlfriend chose to be with him, an unattractive, somewhat balding, and not very good at sweet-talking engineering guy.

Isn't it just because he's a programmer at a big company, with a high salary that allows him to afford a house in Shenzhen and settle down there with her?
Otherwise, with her goddess-level looks, she must be out of her mind to date him!

Although he knew it, Duan Xingxian had never been opposed to it before, and he doesn't feel any regret about it now!

Back in his school days, he could only admire girls with that kind of looks from afar. But now that he has a good job, beautiful girls can be his girlfriends. Isn't that great?

If he can't even win over the goddess, then all his hard work studying and overtime has been for nothing!
When I first met my ex-girlfriend, she was incredibly enthusiastic and proactive when she found out I worked at a big company and had a decent annual salary…

Even the first time, it was she who suggested going on a trip and then went along with it.

That evening, in the seaside suite of the five-star hotel, Duan Xingxian still remembered the way she turned her head and cried...

At that time, she must have been thinking about her first love, right?
Perhaps, deep down she still loathes herself for being on top of someone!
She was clearly disgusted, even nauseous, but after wiping away her tears, she still had to pretend to enjoy it!
Every time Duan Xingxian recalls the scene from that night, he feels an unforgettable sense of nostalgia!

Therefore, Duan Xingxian didn't actually dislike his ex-girlfriend, even though she eventually dumped him and went back to her hometown to marry someone else, he didn't blame her...

The reason they were able to get together in the first place was because Duan Xingxian was a high-level employee at a large factory with a good income and a seemingly bright future. After working for several years, he even managed to save up for a down payment on a house in Shenzhen... Houses in Shenzhen are really expensive, so it was quite an achievement for him to save up for a down payment after working for a few years.

The loan he had prepared seemed substantial, but it was manageable given his income at the time... Back then, at least before he lost his job last year, Duan Xingxian was able to settle down in Shenzhen with her... At least that's how it seemed.

She was young, beautiful, and skilled in tea ceremony; she had remained chaste before meeting him… Regardless of whether she was his true love, Duan Xingxian was quite satisfied.

They had a classic beginning: a programmer at a big company and a beautiful tea girl... and then they also experienced the classic ending: the man lost his job, and the woman broke up with him!

Duan Xingxian was actually well aware of these realities.

So when his ex-girlfriend ran away after he lost his job and found someone else to take her back, he didn't blame her. It was only natural. Did he really expect his ex-girlfriend to suffer and be poor with him?

This is already the Fourth Industrial Revolution, what are you still dreaming about...?

If he could do it all over again, he would still look for her... for no other reason than that she was young, beautiful, had excellent tea skills, and was still a virgin!
Although marriage isn't suitable, she's great as a girlfriend... You don't even have to worry about her clinging to you. When she realizes you won't marry her, she'll consciously go back to her hometown to find someone to take her back.

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Regarding this somewhat complicated relationship, Duan Xingxian neither felt sad nor regretful, nor did he blame her... If he had any complaints, it would be about the company he previously worked for.

Damn, this is supposed to be a second-tier internet giant, yet they just lay off employees without even giving us a heads-up. One day we were doing fine, and the next day we woke up to find ourselves laid off.

This put him in a very passive position. Although he had saved a lot of money over the years, he almost emptied his pockets when he bought a house last year.

After buying the house, I felt like I had solved a major problem, so I became less restrained in spending money. At the end of last year, I even bought a standard virtual machine.

As a result, after losing his job, he checked his savings and found that he could only support himself for about six months.

I can't find a suitable job... There are job opportunities, but the salary and benefits are too poor, less than half of what I earned in my previous job.

This is also why he couldn't find a suitable job for three consecutive months; the difference in pay was too great... If the income is too low, it's hard to even pay the mortgage, let alone maintain a certain standard of living.

I used to only see the tragic stories of some colleagues who lost their jobs online, but now it's really happening to me...

During those months of confusion, I couldn't find a suitable job and became somewhat depressed, so I started playing virtual games.

Ultimately, his ex-girlfriend seemed to lose hope and ran away.

After his ex-girlfriend ran away, he wasn't particularly heartbroken; he just felt a little uneasy at first...

At the time, I was thinking that since this dilapidated house was intended for our wedding, and my fiancé had run away, I might as well sell it. That way, I could at least get back some of the down payment and wouldn't have to bear such a high monthly mortgage.

Unexpectedly, as he played the virtual game, he discovered that he could actually make money playing it, and not a small amount at that. If he played it carefully, he could earn several hundred yuan a day...

Unable to find a well-paying job anytime soon, and burdened by mortgage payments, he decided to make money by playing video games while looking for work.

Unexpectedly, he got better and better at it and earned more and more... Now, the money he earns each month in the virtual game 'Mortal' is enough to pay his monthly mortgage of over ten thousand yuan and his daily living expenses, so he doesn't have to touch his meager savings.

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After having dinner at the restaurant downstairs, he didn't go back immediately. Instead, he took a walk along the path in the public green belt of the community to digest his food and figure out how to complete the game that night.

He's been grinding a new dungeon these past few days. The new dungeon produces a rare, high-grade material for forging weapons, which is very valuable on the market. However, the dungeon is also extremely difficult.

Not only can you die easily if you're not careful while running dungeons, but the current dungeon-running process takes way too long.

For a professional gamer, time is money. Even if a dungeon takes too long to complete and has high output, it's meaningless if the average hourly return isn't high.

So these past two days, he's been grinding through dungeons while figuring out how to improve his efficiency.

After all, he's in it to make money, not just for fun like other players.

After his walk, Duan Xingxian took a shower and then scrolled through his phone, looking at news he was interested in, such as the new generation of virtual equipment released by Zhiyun Group.

Many bloggers are analyzing and discussing that the lower entry-level price of the new generation L-series virtualization devices will greatly increase sales of virtualization devices.

Increased sales of virtual devices mean an increase in the stock of virtual devices... and an increase in the stock of virtual devices will lead to an increase in the number of players of virtual games.

Ultimately, when it comes to the virtual game 'Mortal' that he plays, it means that a large number of new players will join.

This has increased the market demand for in-game items such as equipment, medicine, and pets, which is a major benefit for professional players like Duan Xingxian.

After resting and having a sip of water, he went to his study to activate the virtual reality device.

After putting on the motion-sensing suit, stepping onto the omnidirectional treadmill, connecting the robotic arm, and finally putting on the display helmet.

As the images in the reality helmet lit up, Duan Xingxian once again entered the virtual world.

Despite having been in the virtual world for a long time, and seeing these virtual world scenes every time he logs in, Duan Xingxian still feels a certain emotion. Everything before him seems unreal... such as various flying cars speeding through the sky, huge and futuristic spaceships, and towering buildings thousands of meters high that pierce the sky.

This is the 'Zhiyun Virtual World' directly built into Zhiyun virtual devices!
A futuristic world brimming with science fiction elements.

The world map of this Zhiyun virtual world is also very large, with other different styles of scenes in different areas. In addition to this futuristic main map, there are also ancient Eastern city maps and Western ancient city maps.

Players can set their default location in different map cities according to their own preferences, becoming the so-called 'residents' of that city.

The entire 'Zhiyun Virtual World' is not only a connection portal for various virtual software and virtual games, but also a social platform for all virtual users.

Here, you can communicate face-to-face with friends you know... though using virtual avatars.

Therefore, there are many beautiful women and handsome men in the virtual world, and in addition to beautiful women and handsome men, there are also many strangely shaped people... These virtual images are basically created by the users themselves. Apart from gender and identity being directly bound, other virtual images are free for users to create within a certain range.

There are also quite a few strange people, some of whom like to create strange virtual avatars.

Therefore, you can see all sorts of strange characters in the entire virtual world.

Duan Xingxian's virtual character in the Zhiyun Virtual World is an ancient Taoist priest with the nickname "Kongkong Daoren". His personal profile also states: "Mortal professional player, providing spirit stones and various levels of high-level crafting and alchemy materials. Please contact me for cooperation!"

He didn't stay in the Zhiyun virtual world for long. After briefly looking at the information in the virtual world and replying to some messages, he entered "Fanren," which is currently the most popular large-scale virtual game in China and also in the world.

"Mortals" is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Yihai Technology Group with substantial investment. It is said that the development of this virtual game cost more than 10 billion yuan and involved tens of thousands of engineers.

Whether it's true or not is unknown, but from a technical point of view, it's a fact that the virtual game "Mortal" is currently the number one among many virtual games.

From visuals to animation, virtual simulation has almost reached the limits of current technology.

Even many of the NPCs in the game and the various monsters in the dungeons utilize artificial intelligence technology... so the NPCs in this game are quite intelligent, not just those rigid NPCs with fixed lines.

Among the monsters, some high-level monsters are also very intelligent, which is reflected not only in their dialogue but also in their behavioral logic, especially in combat.

Therefore, when tackling high-difficulty dungeons, especially challenging high-level bosses, the difficulty is extremely high...

After Duan Xingxian logged into the Mortal World game, the screen went black and then lit up, and he was now in an antique-style room.

This is a mid-grade cave dwelling he rented in the game. It is rich in spiritual energy and can meet the daily cultivation needs of a character in the Foundation Establishment stage. It also has functional places such as a talisman drawing room, an alchemy room, and a weapon forging room, which can provide good benefits to the cultivation and output of alchemy and other techniques.

Of course, the biggest advantage is that this kind of cave dwelling can provide experience points for AFK cultivation...

After all, in most cases, you can't expect players to stay in their caves and cultivate for a long time like in novels... Daily leveling up still relies on consuming pills or accumulating experience by fighting monsters.

The advantage of the cave dwelling is that it provides a large amount of experience points every day, which you can claim directly without needing to leave it running...

Another major function is that the cave can provide a certain amount of experience when you log off and log back in.

The higher the cave level and the higher the character level, the more experience points are provided for AFK farming.

Duan Xingxian has been playing this game for more than half a year, and his character level has reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage. He is already very familiar with a large number of game mechanics.

After receiving the AFK experience, I went to the alchemy room to clear away the accumulated alchemy spiritual energy and obtained more than ten pills of decent quality.

After organizing some logistical supplies, especially pills to replenish mana and restore injuries, I went out to run dungeons.

Running dungeons was his main way of playing the game... Before he lost his job, he mainly ran dungeons for experience, and he bought equipment and items directly from other players.

In the game "Mortal's Journey," there is an official trading store where players can trade various items and in-game currency, namely spirit stones, using real-world currency...

That's not important. What's important is that the game "Mortal" doesn't have cheats or allow one person to run multiple accounts. Moreover, the official controls the drop of certain materials and items quite strictly.

At the same time, most of the players in this game actually have some money, especially those who own their own virtual devices. They've already bought virtual devices worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, so it's normal for them to spend tens of thousands more on playing the game.

Duan Xingxian was like that before; he spent a lot of money when he first started playing this game.

Aside from players like Duan Xingxian who had a little money, the real problem is that there are a lot of rich players in this game. There are a huge number of players who have spent hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

Even those who play games in virtual internet cafes usually have some money, after all, the internet fee is tens of yuan per hour, and if they play for a long time, they can earn a lot of money over a month.

Then the people playing games in these virtual internet cafes will also do the math... After calculating the internet fees and the profits from farming materials in some dungeons, most of them will choose to buy the materials directly.

Because internet access costs more than buying the materials directly...

The game has many big and small spenders with high purchasing power, which has led to a boom in in-game transactions and allowed many people to make money.

Duan Xingxian was one of them.

After leaving the cave, I first did my daily tasks, and then joined some friends' dungeon groups to start running dungeons.

Once the dungeon started, the battle began, and the scene was incredibly dazzling. Various spells flew everywhere, interspersed with all sorts of flying swords, wheels, and other magical artifacts of different styles. Even the characters were flying all over the place... That's how battles are during the Foundation Establishment stage, with all sorts of people flying around.

Of course, in reality, players on the virtual device aren't actually flying around; it's just that the robotic arm and the omnidirectional treadmill work together to simulate similar flight movements to some extent...

Therefore, the characters in this game are basically standing or sitting on flying devices when they fly; there are no scenes like Superman flying horizontally.

Robotic arms and omnidirectional treadmills cannot simulate this kind of movement... Trying to simulate it is like being suspended by wires, which will lead to a lot of messy problems and even safety risks.

After two hours of running the dungeon, Duan Xingxian's character obtained a lot of high-level materials.

This dungeon is difficult; you need at least the Foundation Establishment stage to complete it, and it requires a high level of skill. Players who are at the Foundation Establishment stage generally cannot complete it.

The people he teamed up with to run the dungeon today were all highly experienced professional players; two of them were even professional players like him.

In addition, this dungeon is time-consuming. Even if you clear it smoothly, it will take three hours. If you don't clear it smoothly, you may have to spend four or five hours and still not be able to clear it. If you can't clear it, you won't get the final high-level material reward.

Therefore, ordinary players, even those who have reached the Foundation Establishment stage, generally won't bother with these kinds of dungeons, as they are time-consuming, laborious, and likely to end up with nothing.

That's precisely why the unique high-level materials produced in this instance are so valuable!
Moreover, Duan Xingxian obtained a rare material today that can be used to refine a Golden Core magic weapon. This material alone would be worth around a thousand yuan in the trading market... A lot of big shots collect these magic weapon materials every day to refine magic weapons in order to get magic weapons with high attributes.

This has led to the persistently high prices of materials used in magical artifacts, with rarer materials being even more expensive.

The profits from this material, plus the profits from other tasks and activities done during the day.

Then deduct the costs of daily activities and tasks, and the cost of supplies.

After a quick estimate, today's earnings should be around 1,500, which is neither good nor bad... and this earnings are actually not considered very high.

In addition, most ordinary virtual game players actually earn far less than 1,500 a day. Only professional players like Duan Xingxian, who are intelligent, skilled, and play for extended periods, can earn that much.

For the average player, the earnings from a day's playtime aren't even enough to cover the costs of their quests and activities... After all, they're here to play games, not to make money... It's impossible for them to stick to doing things like Duan Xingxian, which are tedious, difficult, and offer no gaming experience or experience gains except for earning a little money.

Meanwhile, when ordinary players play the game, they need to spend money to level up by using potions, spend money to train skills by grinding experience, spend money to buy magic weapons and equipment, buy pets, and so on... Even doing daily tasks costs money.

There are so many places to spend money, where would there be anything left over!

The game developers are very shrewd. If you play normally, the rewards from quests are only enough for leveling up your character; they won't give players much extra...

Of course, professional gamers are an exception. They are emotionless bots that farm spirit stones, and they don't care about the game experience. They save money wherever they can in many ways, and they would never spend a lot of money for the sake of the game experience. This way, they can save up extra income to sell to other big spenders.

Furthermore, for professional gamers, the depreciation cost of the virtual equipment also needs to be deducted... To be able to run these high-level dungeons, you basically need a robotic arm version of the virtual equipment, which costs over 400,000 yuan per unit.

Based on a price of 400,000 yuan per unit, and with a three-year depreciation period and 300 days of gameplay per year, the daily depreciation cost for the virtual equipment alone would be 444 yuan!
This depreciation cost is not cheap!

Aside from the depreciation costs of the virtual equipment, Duan Xingxian's actual income from playing virtual games wasn't as high as it seemed... Of course, the virtual equipment had already been bought, and even if he didn't play it, it would still depreciate every day!
So for now, we can only ignore these things.

In some ways, Duan Xingxian is now somewhat similar to a ride-hailing driver with a higher income in the past...

Invest hundreds of thousands of yuan in electric vehicles/virtual devices, then spend long hours driving/playing virtual games every day, and you can earn a thousand or so yuan a day!

However, Duan Xingxian was not satisfied with the current income... The monthly income of around 30,000 yuan did not meet his expectations.

You should know that he still owes a large mortgage, which costs more than 16,000 yuan a month, and his living expenses are also several thousand yuan. He also needs to give his parents some living expenses.

My monthly expenses alone are over 20,000!
Moreover, he was thinking of paying off the mortgage in advance... otherwise, the monthly mortgage payments would eventually crush him, just like in the previous months.

So he kept thinking about how to make more money among ordinary people!

And recently he has come up with some ideas!

(End of this chapter)