The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 664 Only those who survive are worthy of being my opponents!
"Paji!"

Gudening watched as his body was struck head-on by the giant's 800-yard-long foot, slamming into a pool of blood against the thick stone wall, and imagined the sound.

The strong hallucination of foot odor still lingered around my nose.

It must be an illusion.

In a soul state, one should not have the sense of smell.

Moreover, the giant's large foot "exploded" on the spot upon impact.

Flesh and blood splattered.

Gu Dening was so shocked he thought Xu Meng was really going to completely abandon the censorship and start letting loose.

Although since last year, the "approval" process has no longer been associated with Zhuzhu Dream.

—The development team of "Frost & Snow Project" keeps releasing increasingly risqué characters, furniture, and scenes. In the overgrown metropolis, there are striptease performances and nude bathing scenes. Recently, they even released a very suggestive scene of prostitutes providing massages...

No department has come forward to say that Zhuzhu's actions are not in compliance with regulations.

However, "violence" and "sexiness" are different, and Zhumeng has always been relatively restrained in its "violent expression".

The scene of the American being bitten in two by the giant was already horrifying, and the "exploding blood" scene where "rocks were thrown" and bodies were shattered was even more gory.

Gudening is happy to see eroticism, but he has reservations about "bloodshed".

Fortunately, he soon saw that after the giant's exploded foot was sent flying, it quickly turned into mist, which gradually decreased and then... evaporated?

He looked up in confusion and saw that the giant's badly injured foot was rapidly healing and recovering in the rising steam.

Let's take another look at the cracked stone gate of the fortress city.

"How the hell do we fight this?"

"Such a huge size, such high damage, and it can even heal itself!"

"How did those people win in the early days!?"

Gudening was very puzzled.

He understood why the NPCs in the city wouldn't open the door.

—The giant is right behind us, no wonder we dare to open the door.

But he didn't understand how those players managed to defeat the giants when the virtual world had just opened.
He was not among the earliest players in the virtual world.

He had only seen related videos because the "Support Silver Castle" event was quite popular back then, and he remembered that the Titans had attacked Silver Castle.

However, it is not very clear how the players actually defeated the giants.

Now that I've personally experienced the terrifying oppression of the giants, I have the utmost respect for those veteran players!

After his soul's time in the city ended, he was resurrected in the distant, overgrown metropolis.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw my teammates staring at each other.

Except for Mei'er, who remained in the Mushroom Kingdom, all the team members who were near the Fortress City were wiped out.

Gu Dening remained silent and quietly opened the Mengjin Posting:

[For experienced players, how did you defeat the giants back then?]
He was genuinely seeking advice.

After all, without dealing with the Titans, it would be difficult to enter the Bastion City.

Just as I was about to refresh the page, it suddenly closed on its own.

His teammates were grabbing his shoulders and arms and shaking him violently.

"how is it going?"

"Did you make it?"

"Who reached the city wall first? You or the Americans?"

"Did you get the honorary player status?"

……

Everyone is very anxious.

Gudening said confidently, "I touched it first."

"If I'm not mistaken, the American team has also been completely wiped out."

Finally receiving a definite answer, everyone could no longer contain their joy. They lifted Gudening up and tossed him into the air with cheers.

"Brilliant!!"

"You managed to get through that! That's incredible!"

"Hahaha, treat us! You absolutely have to treat us!"

"I never expected this, you with your thick eyebrows and big eyes ended up getting the lucky break!"

……

Gudening's teammates were all very envious of him.

But after the giants appeared and Xi Haiqing died, everyone charged toward the giant wall, even Gudening was still far back.

This is a fair competition.

Gudening was able to defeat everyone—especially the Americans—in the end, survive to the end, and reach the city wall, all thanks to his own strength!

Everyone was convinced.

However, Gudening did not share the excitement of his teammates.

The way he died—being kicked into mincemeat by a giant—was too gruesome, greatly diminishing his joy at obtaining the [Honorary Player] title.

He even doubted whether he had actually received the title.
After all, the system didn't notify me that I had obtained the title, and I hadn't entered the City of Barriers.

If you sacrifice all your good brothers and still fail to get the title, or even let other teams snatch it up, then you'll really be furious.

Fortunately, Xu Meng quickly appeared and relieved his anxiety.

This brief delay was simply the time Xu Meng used to examine his criminal record, past gaming behavior, and social media posts.

After confirming that there were no serious misconducts, Xu Meng quickly issued a statement announcing the news to the public.

"Congratulations to player [Gudening] for reaching the fortress city of Norringen for the first time."

The 32nd honorary player has been officially born!

The gift is ready, and all relevant permissions have been unlocked!

Furthermore, given that Gudning did not successfully enter Nördlingen, I'll add an extra bonus—

The first player team to enter Norlingen will receive a universal voucher, which can be used to redeem any product in the Dream Mall.

Finally, Fortnite is just the first secret update; there are many more secrets and surprises in the virtual world waiting to be discovered.

So, set off, adventurers!

The glory and treasures that can change your destiny are calling to you!
-
Xu Meng's post immediately caused a stir among gamers!
"Finally found it!? We've been searching for so long!!"

"Awesome! I knew it, this spot would still end up in the hands of the Xia Kingdom players!"

"Found it but not going in? Why? Don't you want to go in?"

"That was fast! I was still watching the little people's concert in the Mushroom Kingdom, and you've already arrived?"

"More vouchers! Has anyone noticed that these things are appreciating in value? With the release of the lifelike robot, the voucher's value has increased to 60!"

"Wait for me, my wife! I'll get you a fully equipped body right now!"

"What's the maximum number of people in this 'squad' that Boss Xu mentioned? Is 100 people still considered a squad?"

……

The internet was abuzz with excitement.

This is especially true in the virtual world!

The coordinates of Fortnite have been officially confirmed, and a whole new city of content awaits everyone, along with rewards for being the first to enter!

A larger number of players poured out of the city.

Prior to this, it was mainly hardcore players vying for honor, while casual players did not have enough time and energy to support such a protracted and intense struggle.

For the first few days, they participated with great enthusiasm, but soon became exhausted.

Realizing they couldn't compete at all, they all returned to the city to rest.

But it's different now.

Now that the city has been found, just follow the group and you can explore a brand new city to your heart's content! In keeping with Dream Building's consistent style, this brand new city will definitely have a local culture and customs that are completely different from other cities.

The large army marched in a mighty procession toward the fortified city.

Popular streamers such as Yingyongjishou, Huanyue, and Qihuahua also joined the group.

The battle for the honorary players has come to an end, so naturally no one will try to persuade them to stay in the city.

……

At the respawn point in the north of the city, Gudening's team watched the massive army marching out of the city with subtle expressions.

Alfred's squad stood right in front of them.

The younger version of Alfred looked at Gudening with a complicated expression.

It wasn't the $900 million or so that I felt bad about the whole operation, but rather the immense effort and hard work I had put in over the past few days.

For young players, a week or two is a piece of cake.

But for an old man of his age, after such a long journey, adventure, and battle, even in the virtual world he felt utterly exhausted.

When she's in a youthful state, she's fine, but once she reverts to an elderly person's state, she practically wants to be carried around.

Even with all that effort, he still missed out on the title and the opportunity to connect with Xu Meng.

He looked at Gudening, his eyes filled with resentment.

Gudening and his teammates misunderstood his meaning.

"Dude, let's compete fairly. There's no need to look at me like that," Gu Dening reasoned with him.

The teammates also chimed in:
"That's right. Instead of wasting time here, we should hurry up and set off. We might still be able to try and get the lifelike robot."

"If you're not happy, let's fight! You may have more people outside Norringen, but that's not the case in Mansheim! Believe me or not, I can just yell and call a whole truckload of bread-bread men to take you down!"

"Stop looking, let's get going! Let's have a second round and see who gets into the city first."

……

Alfred shook his head. "Never mind, I won't participate in the rest."

"Wish ya'll good luck."

He has plenty of money and doesn't need a lifelike robot.

Once he left, the small team that served him naturally disbanded.

Watching Alfred's squad disband and go their separate ways, Gudening and his teammates developed a misunderstanding:

"No way, the team fell apart after just one defeat?"

"Isn't that a bit too fragile?"

"This... I suddenly feel a little guilty. Does this count as us breaking them up?"

Gudening slapped his teammate on the shoulder: "The giants scattered them, what does it have to do with us?"

"Stop thinking about all that nonsense, let's quickly replenish our supplies and get ready to set off!"

"Fighting giants? How do we do that?" The teammates looked at their captain, who was full of enthusiasm, with some confusion.

"What kind of giants are we fighting!" Gudening shook his head. "They're tens or hundreds of meters tall, they can deal maximum damage and even heal themselves, how are we supposed to fight these things?"

"So what are we going to do?"

Gudening said without hesitation, "Sell supplies!"

"Giants are so hard to fight, and there are also those troublesome parasitic vines in the mushroom forest. It will take a long time to clear them out."

"Supplies will be in high demand until the highway is built!"

"Especially for the large contingent this time, many of them have average attributes and skill levels, and they rely heavily on firearms in combat, so supplies will definitely not be enough!"

"As long as you seize the opportunity, getting rich quickly is difficult, but earning enough to cover your living expenses for a few months should be a piece of cake."

Gudening's eyes lit up as he spoke, "Now everyone is rushing into the city to grab vouchers, so I doubt many people are willing to repair the roads."

"And given the distance, this business should be able to last a long time!"

His teammates had already figured it out, and Xi Haiqing was even more concerned about something else—

"That Mei'er's restaurant?!"

Once he reminded them, the others immediately realized what was happening:

If Mei'er really succeeds in opening a restaurant in the perilous Mushroom Forest, it will undoubtedly become one of the most important strongholds for the player base!
And Mei'er is a true mushroom master.

Whether it's his signature mushroom dishes or the amazing mushrooms he's found, they're sure to be a hit!
Especially those magical mushrooms, which are a great help to players with insufficient combat power.

It will definitely be a hot commodity!

If they can earn enough to cover their living expenses for a few months by selling supplies, then if Mei Er's shop successfully opens and establishes itself, it could probably earn enough to buy a top-of-the-line realistic robot!
There's no need to fight giants in a miserable way; you can just pursue your hobbies, like finding mushrooms or cooking.

Thinking about this, everyone was incredibly envious!
"Alright, let's replenish our supplies and head out quickly!" The teammates all became eager.

"Yes! We need to hurry and go help Mei'er set up her shop. We can't let someone else steal her opportunity!"

"That's right! The business world is like a battlefield, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!"

They stopped a hovercar, dragged the NPC driver out, threw him onto the street, and began making purchases quickly.
-
Their guess was correct.

The marketplace is indeed like a battlefield!

Even in the virtual world of shopping malls, once sufficient real-world benefits are generated, it is difficult to avoid intrigue and power struggles.

After Xu Meng posted an update and made information about Fortress City public, the Gudening team was not the only player to realize the business opportunity.

Many professional businesspeople have already taken action, eager to seize this opportunity.

But before the merchants carrying large amounts of supplies and goods could even leave the Sprawling City, the players in the rainforest had already laid traps.

Merchants want to fleece people and make money.

But the players aren't stupid!
They do need supplies.

But needing supplies doesn't mean needing to pay money—in the virtual world, these are two completely different things.

Only the surviving businessmen deserve to be my sellers!

If the competition between players and merchants is already like this, the battles and clashes between merchants will only become more unscrupulous.

Often, it's just a simple and straightforward battle!

Only those who survive are worthy of being my opponents!
In the end, most of the time it comes down to who has more people and who has the stronger fist.

That's why Mei'er's teammates were so eager to come over and help her gain a foothold.

Their concerns are valid.

But Mei'er's situation was very different from what they had imagined—

Before they left the Mushroom Kingdom, players from all walks of life were still fighting endlessly for resources and magical mushrooms.

After they left, Mei Er was all alone, and should have been surrounded by enemies and struggled to make ends meet.

But this is not the case.

Mei Er, carrying a large quantity of mushrooms, proactively approached other player teams to make trades.

At first, no one believed him and they were all very wary when he approached.

However, the trade in Mei'er is very fair. They will even use precious functional mushrooms to exchange for ordinary mushrooms that have no magical functions but just a unique taste.

During the transaction, Mei Er will also provide a mushroom identification service.

He would also explain in detail what poisonous mushrooms or magical mushrooms with no known effects were in the other person's package.

If the other party still doesn't trust him and suspects that he wants to poison someone with mushrooms, Mei'er will cook a mushroom feast on the spot and eat it herself first to show the other party.

This often successfully dispels the other party's hostility.

Then, they sat around the steaming pot, eating and chatting.

After a meal, Mei Er will have fewer rivals and more friends.

Through this back and forth, the players here soon learned that Mei'er did not intend to go to the City of Walls, but was instead focused on opening a restaurant in the Mushroom Kingdom and saving this forest.

After her reputation spread, Mei Er's business became increasingly successful.

When he finally chose a location and started building the house, more than 30 players from different teams volunteered to help!
So...

Before the main group of merchants even entered the rainforest, Mei Er's restaurant had already been completed!
(End of this chapter)