I will never give in to Miss Death

"You know me."

The girl next to him didn't comment: "I like kittens."

What the hell is this little kitty!

Although I no longer expect to turn back into a man, but in the future... not to mention decades or hundreds of years later, if I grow into an adult elf, the kind that is 1.8 meters tall, with long legs, flowing hair, proficient in all magic, extremely powerful, able to "call the wind and rain, drive thunder and lightning" with a wave of my hand, and make Xiaomo willingly shout "Nuoer, husband, I love you" behind me, then I wouldn't mind.

"Noer, I know what you are thinking."

Probably because she saw the expression on my face and the elf ears that kept shaking, Yin Xiamo picked up the fork, scooped up the cherries on her cake, and put them in my bowl: "But this is impossible."

"You two are still the same as always, a loving couple."

Sikong Yue laughed with relief, then turned the computer screen to my side.

"I always have trouble getting through the first instance of 'Age of Aquarius'. Do you want to give it a try?"

"..."

……

No. 296 Cyberpunk: Milk Cat Esports

At this moment, a scene of a planet in outer space was displayed on Xiong Xiong's small and compact notebook screen.

A somewhat desolate planet, with some small aircraft and ground exploration instruments vaguely visible around it.

Since this planet has no atmosphere, you can see the vast starry sky just by looking up.

Judging from the stars above our heads and the three stars that are performing three-body motion with each other, this place does not seem to belong to the solar system.

Judging from the pictures displayed on the laptop, this game seems to be a first-person perspective, just like games like "Cyberpunk", probably to increase the sense of immersion.

“Is this a copy?”

After taking the notebook, I first tried to follow the settings of most games in my memory. I pressed WASD and walked a few steps, then turned the camera and looked for the relevant operation buttons.

Hooks, gathering, exploration, pistol attacks... Is this still a shooting game?

"It's a copy. According to the setting, we came to a planet hundreds of light years away from the Milky Way to collect resources. We took a route similar to that of a 'scavenger'."

Seeing that I was a little confused, Sikong Yue next to me explained, "This game is very free to play. If you are a casual player who likes to build houses, you can buy your own house in the city and build it according to your own preferences. If you are a professional architect, you can also help design a private room according to the customer's needs. They even have an internal trading system, but a 5% tax will be deducted when the transaction is completed. Players who like competition can also go outside the earth to fight others. Weapons can use public molds or DIY them yourself."

"Eh?"

I still didn't quite understand what this meant. "DIY weapons? What does that mean?"

"This game started preparations in 2011. It's been more than a decade now. The money that the rich man from the Honor District of Shenbin City invested in it has almost been squandered. It took ten years to sharpen a sword. The internal system of the game is very complicated."

Sikong Yue patiently explained while clicking on the weapons in his backpack: "Like this AWM sniper rifle, you can buy it in some gun stores in the game Earth, but if you want a unique sniper rifle, you can go to various places to find raw materials and make it yourself. You can even modify the template. You can buy the AWM template first, then make the gun head longer, or change the caliber of the bullet, or if you like the second dimension, you can paint the gun body a little pinker and print a beautiful girl pattern on it."

"Different materials have different properties. According to the game settings, the Earth has been developed almost completely. Iron purchased from ordinary merchants, meteorite iron that fell from the sky, and... sniper rifles made from metals from other planets in outer space. The materials used in the muzzle, the buttstock, and the bullets all have different properties. Some may increase penetration, some may increase shooting distance, and some may increase accuracy. It's completely random."

I was a little surprised when I heard Xiongxiong say this: "Completely random?!"

"Yes, it's completely random. The main feature of this game is the randomness of attributes. Some parts of the created objects, such as texture, are also random."

Sikong Yue opened the large map, scrolled back to the interface, found the Earth, selected one of the cities, and teleported.

"This teleportation function is only available in the test version. I mainly want to show you the city in the game."

After more than ten seconds of black screen, a bizarre night appeared on the computer screen - a bustling city full of LED lights and billboards, and streets full of cool aircraft and cars. Even though my computer was running at low image quality at this time, this scene was enough to shock me.

I really don’t know what it will be like to watch the game on the small TV at home after the game is released...

"These are the inherent buildings of the NPCs in the game. NPCs will randomly find houses to rent or buy houses just like ordinary people. After buying a house, they will also randomly arrange their homes. Where to put the computer, where to put the table and chairs are all random. However, most NPCs will follow certain rules to arrange their homes. There will be no situation where the toilet is placed next to the bed."

"This one……"

I hesitated. “It’s a bit like my world?”

"Yes, it's just like in Minecraft. Now that you put it like that, I know how to explain it. Villages will appear randomly in Minecraft, and players can find materials to make weapons by themselves. For example, a diamond sword, right? However, players can find diamonds near lava, pick up diamonds on the roadside, or go to the moon and use the metal there to replace the hilt. The properties of the weapons they make are all different. Even the diamond sword itself can be directly designed with patterns."

Xiong Xiong controlled his character to walk towards a residential area: "If a player likes this residential area, he can either rent it or buy it. This house will be his home in the future. Protected by the law, he can hang a light bulb at the door of his house. If this light bulb is DIY, then the brightness, shape, and color of the light will be different from those of the system bulbs. Some bulbs have stronger red light, and some bulbs have stronger brightness on the west side. Similarly, if all kinds of furniture in the house are DIY, then all the furniture will be different. If this rule is applied to the entire world, it will form a colorful Aquarius era."

“It sounds like the degree of freedom is really high.”

I pondered: "The world has just been launched and no one has any money. How can we make money? Since it is a complete simulation of reality... don't we need to eat?"

"Everyone is equal. No one has money when the server is first launched. As long as you have an idea, you can make money, such as helping NPCs with tasks or doing work. Or if you have certain skills in real life, you can also make money in the game as a novice."

Xiongxiong walked over to a mirror nearby so that I could see the character’s appearance in the mirror: “As for the matter of eating… you see.”

I stared into the mirror. "Robot?"

At this moment, the protagonist displayed in the mirror on the computer screen was a pure metal robot, with metal bones in its hands and feet and a pitch-black head.

"This is our original appearance. The game sets our main body on the planet Aquarius, or everyone is lying on the planet Aquarius, with the machines there keeping us immortal. Our brain consciousness is connected to Earth and connected to the robot's chip. According to the settings... we are actually just controlling this robot on the planet Aquarius. If the robot has an accident and dies, we will return here..."

Xiongxiong opened the map again and pointed to a huge mechanical city. "We will be reborn here...ah, it can't be called rebirth. This robot is broken, and the system will transfer our consciousness to another robot's head. This robot will be discarded, and the new robot will be free. It's probably similar to...everyone can be reborn infinitely, but if you die with important things on you, you will have to come back to pick them up."

The concept of "resurrection" is actually so scientifically based!

“Are all humans robots?”

"No, the robot is just the initial template. When you have money in the future, you can go to the relevant personnel in the city to design your own gender and body shape, which is equivalent to having more muscles and skin. In this way, there will be no discussion about male and female rights. You can make money and design your own gender if you want."

I cast a "what do you think" look at Yin Xiamo standing beside me.

"Although I've seen too much Earth technology."

Yin Xiamo was silent for a moment, then said, "But I still have to sigh that this thing was invented more than ten years ago when smartphones were not even popular among humans."

"Just now, Xiongxiong, you said... if you have certain skills in real life, you can make money in the game?"

I turned around and asked: "How can I make money?"

"Like I mentioned earlier, everyone is born without gender, right? Some people like to be girls, and like prettier ones with better bodies, but they have no idea what beauty and good bodies mean. If real-life painters or art students know the proportions of the human body, they can take orders based on the customer's requirements and design the face and body shape the customer wants. The system provides a transaction method. The person who takes the order puts his or her payment code in the personal center. After designing the drawings the customer wants, the customer scans the code to pay, gets the drawings, and then goes to the corresponding NPC to modify his or her appearance and body shape."

Sikong Yue lifted her little foot wrapped in white silk garter stockings slightly and placed it on top of her other foot. Then she tilted her head back and motioned for us to look at the coffee shop. "It's the same with real-life architects. If customers want to open a store in the game, or buy their own house in the game and want to make their house more beautiful, they can go find this kind of designer and have them design the house according to the game's design drawings. Then they can use the game's built-in trading system to scan the QR code on the computer screen to complete the transaction. It's very convenient, isn't it?"

"By the way, this game supports VR devices! When the time comes, a bunch of beautiful girls will have a party in a beautiful little house... huh?"

The corners of my mouth twitched: "Did you just say something incredible?"

"No!"

Xiongxiong shook his head and said, "When the family gave me the beta version of the game last month, it took me half a month to roughly understand the core gameplay of the game. Then I made the same decision as my father - to fully support the sale of this game."

Charging fees through the transaction of in-game items... I think I have some idea how this game makes money.

The strategy of "focusing on randomness" was determined more than ten years ago. It has to be said that the team that developed this game is full of talents.

If there are rich people in the game who like killing and don’t like so many rules and regulations - I have money, I don’t want to build houses or guns, but the weapons in the system store are not strong enough, I want to make them myself.

Then this person will definitely be able to drive a large number of "downstream industrial chains".

Those who like to enjoy the scenery in the game may accidentally run into a cave and find a piece of meteorite iron, which seems to have the property of "defense penetration" more easily than the system's built-in fine steel. Then these professional tourists and treasure hunters will sell the iron to players who like forging. Merchants who like forging will collect other materials to prepare to make this gun. Some bosses like guns with cool appearances. For example, if I want to make a dragon head on the head of the gun, I have to find a gun designer. Then the gun will have to be remade because the meteorite iron does not have the desired defense penetration property...

As time goes by, it seems that everyone can find their own position in the game, and if one day you get really lucky, for example, someone who likes treasure hunting finds the fine steel dropped from the M78 Nebula, or someone who likes forging steel gets super properties, the boss of a gun store will see such good properties and throw out a lot of red envelopes, which will boost everyone's enthusiasm for the game.

Based on this situation, some people don't like fighting, but like to raise daughters. They raise the people in the game as their daughters. First, they find a designer to buy a good skin, and then they buy all kinds of clothing materials and find a fashion designer to design clothes...

I remember that when some face-shaping games such as "Blade & Soul" were first launched, many bosses spent money to hire people to help them with face-shaping. The same should be true for this one.

You can also design it in the game, but since you are not a professional, it won’t look good. All professions can find their own foothold in this game, thus forming a powerful “metaverse”.

"What was that thing just now... that looked like something from an alien planet?"

After figuring out what kind of game Age of Aquarius was, I looked at the game interface and asked, "Is it like going on an adventure to another planet?"

“Yes, this one is also random.”

Xiong Xiong controlled the character to "teleport" to a place similar to the "Golden Hall" in "The Cage of Spirits": "This is a temporary wormhole. After the public beta, this place will be a place for explorers to play around. It costs a certain amount of money to enter. You will be teleported to any planet for five to twenty minutes. When the time is up, the wormhole will close, which is equivalent to sentencing the players who remain there to death. During this period, what players can get there depends on luck."

Random again?!

But it sounds quite interesting.

"It's mainly because this thing depends too much on luck. I suspect that the world on the other side of the wormhole is just like Minecraft. The coordinates of the teleportation and the planet materials are all randomly generated. If you are not fully prepared, you will die when you go there."

"Isn't it?"

I tried to take the keyboard and mouse, and walked towards the vortex in front of this "Golden Hall": "Let me try and see my luck."

[About to enter the shuttle wormhole]

[Warning! The area that the wormhole can reach is uncontrollable. You can only ensure that it will land near the planet. Please do not bring valuables with you. Otherwise, once the character dies or the mission fails, the items you carry will disappear! ]

The few lines of text that suddenly appeared startled me, and I asked reflexively, "Is this just an internal test?"

"Well, it doesn't matter if you die casually. A lot of things can be called up with one click."

Xiongxiong nodded: "When the public beta is launched, this account will be gone."

I can rest assured that.

I clicked [OK to go]

[Consuming 1000 Aquarius Palace original coins, opening the wormhole, please choose the tools you need to bring]

"So many?"

I looked at the toolbar on the screen, which was so flat that the drop-down boxes were less than a centimeter, and was puzzled: "What should we take with us?"

"It's an internal test. These can all be adjusted. Just bring them with you."

Xiong Xiong looked relaxed: "Or try to bring all those emergency tools?"

"What emergency tools?"

"For example, temperature-isolating suits. Some planets are close to stars, and if you go over there it's all magma, and you'll die."

Xiong Xiong smiled bitterly: "Some places are covered in ice and snow, so if you want to mine minerals, you need professional mining tools. But if you are lucky enough to go to a planet with birds singing and flowers blooming, and shady trees, you don't need any tools. You can make a lot of money just by picking some fruits or catching a few small animals."

Is there such a saying?

"Then I'll try to bring some."

I searched in the toolbar and brought a net bag and a cardboard box.

Yin Xiamo, who was standing behind him, couldn't help but complain, "Nuo'er, are you going to catch a cat?"

"Maybe there really are those rare pink-haired cats or foxes in outer space?"

I was unconvinced and said, "Anyway, this is an internal test account, and there's so much money on it. If it doesn't work, I can come back and try again."

As I said that, I moved the mouse and pressed [Start Transmission].

[Activate the wormhole transmission device, please wait...]

Maybe Xiongxiong's laptop is really old, the screen was black for several seconds.

When the screen lit up again, I was instantly shocked by the scene in front of me.

Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and the place is full of greenery.

One towering tree after another rises from the ground, surrounded by all kinds of vines and green grasses, as well as huge unknown flowers.

It can't be that even the appearance of trees and flowers is generated randomly, right?

"Noer, you really found such a perfect planet in one go?"

Xiong Xiong on the side was shocked: "I have randomly selected at least 20 times today, and every time it was a planet with a sandstorm or blizzard. I died after walking a few steps, and I couldn't bring any resources back!"

"Eh? Then I am... lucky?"

I tried to take a few steps forward: "What should I take back now?"

"Generally, there is no clear goal for this kind of small copy. You just take whatever you can get. However, the people in the family said that it seems that every planet has a very rare item."

Xiong Xiong glanced at the time in the lower right corner: "Oh my god, even the time it took for the wormhole to disappear was 22 minutes, which is almost the longest. This is the maximum luck, right?"

"So I have to bring back enough things within these twenty minutes, right?"

I turned the camera to look at the vortex behind me: "So they are all installed near this wormhole?"

"Correct."

"Then let me see what's available."

I walked a few steps deeper into the forest, observing the surroundings and taking everything I could, such as queen flower, walking grass, fallen fruits under the trees, crystals on the ground, etc.

After walking for a few minutes, I actually met a cat, pink in color, which looked a bit like Eevee from Pokémon.