I, the final BOSS of the beta test server!

"That's pretty good. You haven't let me down for taking so much care of you."

Dean Yin's furry white tail suddenly began to wag happily.

"That's the clue I'm talking about: the limited-time event in the game 'Poem of the Shorekeeper,' the 'Deep Blue Harbor' speedrun challenge."

It switched the webpage to an interface that seemed to be the official announcement of the game operation, and then read out the content of the announcement word by word.

"In this limited-time event, players will travel back three hundred years to the Dark Ages, to the first year of the Cataclysm."

"You will transform into the ancient shore-guard hero, Rast, and arrive at Deep Blue Harbor on the eve of the outbreak of the Iron Cross Plague, facing the same desperate situation that Rast once faced—"

"Facing the Iron Cross wreaking havoc on the city, cultists, and the impending half-demonstration of the evil god... Can you, like the hero Rast, survive these endless crises?"

"Or, do better than him?"

Dean Yin slid his mouse, closed the official announcement page of the game, and shook his tail: "This is it, this virtual reality immersive game "Poem of the Shore Keeper" -"

"It seems that Gray, using the power of her own 'fate' sequence, looked back into past history and created this game with these past histories as the backdrop."

"This limited-time event is one of the core gameplay elements of Poem of the Shore Keeper. It allows players to fully immerse themselves in historical moments in the virtual reality world and face the experiences of historical figures."

"I checked the game's official historical operation announcements. There was a limited-time event that took players back to the eve of the Battle of the Broken Shore, allowing them to try to rewrite the outcome of the Battle of the Broken Shore."

"How is it? Doesn't it sound extremely similar to the existence of the night world? Even to the point of being a little scary?"

Dean Yin glanced at Last, and his ruby-like eyes became slightly serious.

"Well, they are indeed a bit too similar."

Luster also nodded.

Let players return to the old history and experience the historical fragments of the past... Isn't this the underlying rule of the night world?

The only difference is that the former is a game player, while the latter is a night traveler. In addition, the former needs to use technological means such as a "virtual reality gaming headband" to achieve it, while the process of the night world entering the echoes of history does not have such obvious differences, as if it were really a time travel.

Last had a vague guess that this virtual game called "Poem of the Shore Watcher" might be some kind of early attempt, an accumulation of experience.

It can even be said that this is the prototype of the "night world"...

"As for the clue I mentioned, it's hidden in this limited-time event, the 'Deep Blue Harbor Speedrun Challenge.'"

"According to the official announcement from the game 'Poem of the Shore Keeper,' the player who achieves the highest score in the 'Deep Blue Harbor Speedrun Challenge' will be invited to visit the Mechanical Research Institute and join the 'Artificial Angel' program."

Dean Yin looked at Last and said, "At this point, the most core secrets of Sixth Epoch Civilization, including the clues you seek about Canaan, are likely hidden within the Mechanical Research Institute of the 'Artificial Angel Project.'"

"And 'Poem of the Shore Keeper' and the Artificial Angel Project are both things left behind by Grey. There is obviously some connection between them."

"Completing the challenges in this limited-time game event and being invited to visit the Artificial Angel Project and the Mechanical Research Institute should be a shortcut."

"Of course, instead of taking this route, directly searching for the Mechanical Research Institute in this world and cracking its secrets through infiltration and violence is also an option..."

Dean Yin paused for a moment. "Of course, if we fail, we'll likely have to go to war with the entire civilization. You'd better be prepared. Given the prosperity of this era, there will likely be more than one legendary figure in charge."

"Don't count on me too much. The most I can do is take you and run away. It's absolutely impossible for me to confront the legend head-on."

"I see."

Luster nodded.

No wonder the Night World task panel gives two optional tasks like that—

Obviously, participating in the limited-time event of "Poem of the Shore Watcher" and exploring the secrets behind the Artificial Angel Project and the Intelligent Machine Disaster are complementary to each other and are a prerequisite for the latter.

He looked out the window at the bustling, prosperous city. "This is the order and civilization that little Gray has rebuilt from those shattered ruins after spending two hundred years of her own labor."

"If possible, I hope to avoid breaking away from this world."

"Besides -"

He looked at the small gaming headset on his computer desk and paused for a moment. "Playing myself in a historical game is quite a novel experience."

"If I can't even get first place in the rankings after speedrunning Deep Blue Harbor again, I might as well just buy a piece of tofu and kill myself."

"Great! That's right!"

After hearing Last's answer, Dean Yin's expression became visibly cheerful.

"This virtual reality headset is designed for humans, but a ferret can't use it at all. Terrible review! No regard for user experience at all!"

"If you come play, I can watch your playthrough live on the console screen and leave comments."

"So, Dean Yin, you really just want to fight against the barrage, right?"

Chapter 197: Last, Start Speedrun (5k)

Last reached out, picked up Dean Yin, who was squatting in front of the keyboard and passionately arguing with the opponent, and put him aside.

Then, he picked up the sci-fi-style headband.

「Fully immersive virtual reality gaming helmet」

This is the full name of the small sci-fi headband in Last's hand.

Just as it has been described in countless fantasy novels, after wearing the headband in front of you, you can directly feel the five senses simulated by electrical signals through the brain-computer interface.

This kind of technological product, which in the present world only exists in the blueprints and concepts of mechanics and has not even been produced as a prototype, seems to have already been popularized in this historical echo of the Sixth Age night world, and has been completely civilianized and entered thousands of households.

Because it is completely civilianized, the gaming headband is also very simple to use. Last mastered the skills after just one simple try.

He turned to look at Dean Yin, who was squatting beside the computer desk, rubbing his paws with anticipation. "Well, I'll leave my real body in your hands, Dean Yin. If anything unexpected happens, like the Omnic Disaster arriving prematurely, remember to tell me to log out."

"Don't worry, wrap it on me!"

Dean Yin wagged his tail, pressing impatiently, "Don't even think about any unexpected changes. Even if this game suddenly turns into a death game where you can't log out, I still have a way to rescue you."

"Hurry up and log in, I'm still waiting to watch the live broadcast!"

"I'm playing a death game within a death game. Why does it sound so confusing?"

Last connected the cables, then found a comfortable angle to lie down on the soft big bed and put the virtual headband on his head.

Then he reached out and pressed the start button on the side of the headband.

Ding--

After a crisp system prompt sound, Last felt his consciousness being drawn into a completely new virtual world by the data stream.

This feeling was not unfamiliar to Last, as it was quite similar to the feeling he had when he entered the historical resonance of the night world.

The only difference is that the process of guiding consciousness in this virtual game is more rough and rigid compared to the night world, and there is a world of difference in technical ability.

certainly--

From another perspective, if these deficiencies in details are improved and the rough edges of the experience are polished and perfected, then from the perspective of ordinary people, it is likely that they will not be able to tell the difference between virtual reality games and the night world.

Welcome to the virtual reality game "Poem of the Shore Keeper"

"In this game, you'll become a historical traveler, journeying back through time and space to hundreds of years ago, to the dark and turbulent era following the Great Cataclysm. You'll experience that epic period alongside the heroes who once saved the spark of civilization amidst the turmoil."

"New citizen iris information has been detected and a new account is being registered for you."

"In accordance with federal laws and regulations, this game requires iris authentication when playing. Our company is committed to protecting the privacy of users. The iris and identity information collected is only used for identity verification purposes."

"Please confirm that you have read the [Game Privacy Policy] before continuing the game."

Accompanied by a soft female voice, Last felt lines of text flying past his eyes.

When the floating text disappeared, Last saw a large page of densely packed "Game Privacy Protection Guidelines".

"no……"

"This game is too much in line with the stereotype of my previous life, isn't it?"

Rast couldn't help but be slightly startled.

Although the development of human civilization mostly leads to the same destination, the fact that different paths have led to the same destination to this extent still makes him feel that it is a bit too abstract.

However, Rast quickly reacted -

When I said goodbye to Gray on the rocky beach after the Battle of Broken Coast.

He used the power of the "Fool's Library" to pass on his experience, cognition and insights about the future society to Grey, which naturally included his experience of playing domestic online games in his previous life.

Grey grew up in the steam age, so she had naturally never played any video games, let alone what a video game should look like.

Therefore, when making "Poem of the Shore Watcher"...all Gray could do was to imitate. She could only follow the experience of those domestic online games in the Fool's Library and copy them.

In this case, the blame actually has to be put on myself.

Last could already imagine the resentment that the game players in this world would feel towards him when they saw the inappropriate game privacy terms.

Thinking of this, Last's mind moved slightly, and he scrolled directly to the bottom of those tedious and lengthy privacy terms and chose to confirm.

No way, no one would really read the privacy terms word by word, right?

With the click of the confirmation button, the previous interface disappeared and was replaced by a new line of text.

「Please enter your user nickname:」

Shore Guardian

"This nickname has been used, please re-enter"

Shore Guardian 152

"This nickname has been used, please re-enter"

Shore Guardian 114514

"This nickname has been used, please re-enter"

……

"Stupid, Shore Guard and Last are both virtual idols in this world, world-class buzzwords. How could you possibly get a nickname like that?"

Dean Yin's noisy voice came from outside. It was obvious that he checked the game progress on Last's side through the host screen.

"Listen to me, listen to me, use my ID!"

Hearing the nickname mentioned by Dean Yin, Last's tone became a little more subtle: "Dean Yin, are you sure?"

"Of course." The little ferret puffed out his chest proudly. "You can always trust the taste of a veteran netizen with thirty years of surfing!"

"Okay." Rust nodded.

"User nickname [Little Mink Soft Candy] has been confirmed."

The light and shadow before my eyes were like ripples on the water.

Immediately afterwards, Last saw the game lobby interface.

After skipping over a bunch of miscellaneous daily login, sign-in, regular card pool, event-limited card pool, monthly card, weekly activity, and monthly activity buttons, Last discovered the "Deep Blue Port Speed ​​Pass Challenge" option.

This challenge is a limited-time event. Players will travel back three hundred years to Deep Blue Harbor, in the first year of the Cataclysm, on the eve of the Iron Cross Plague outbreak, and experience the same peril as the historical shore-guard hero, Last.

After the challenge is over, a comprehensive score will be calculated based on the player's survival time, plot changes, exploration ratio, and other data. The score will be included in the overall rankings, and rewards will be distributed according to the ranking after the limited-time event ends.

The rewards for the limited-time event rankings are shown in the table below. The top-scoring participant at the end of the event will be invited to the Third Mechanical Research Institute and be eligible to visit the "Artificial Angel" program.

[Limited time event remaining time: 23 hours]

[Please note that this limited-time event may contain blood, violence, and other novelty elements. Players are requested to confirm the above content before deciding whether to enter.]

【Confirm/Exit】

This limited-time event only has 23 hours left?

Without considering the situation of being killed as soon as you land, or starting three games in five minutes, but calculating it as a complete round of one day, then I am afraid I only have one last chance to try.

Seeing this, Last no longer hesitated, but directly chose "Confirm".

As Last selected the confirmation button again, the light and shadow in front of his eyes suddenly distorted again.

When the vision became clear again, those complicated and densely packed game UI interfaces had all disappeared.

The salty and humid sea breeze blew in the air, confirming that this place should not be too far from the coast and is a small town adjacent to the seaside.

What came into view was a dark dungeon, and he himself was a prisoner in the dungeon.

Through the rusty iron railings and the lit torches in the dungeon... one can vaguely see the believers in black robes standing guard outside the dungeon.

Looking at the cultists in black robes, Rast felt that the memories that had long been buried in the corner of his memory attic were slowly reviving in his mind again.

Last was very familiar with the other party's decorations - it was the cult organization founded by the fisherman who accidentally obtained the evil god statue in Deep Blue Harbor.

He was very familiar with every member of this small cult. Last could even see through the dim firelight and the figures shrouded in black robes to directly call out the name of the cultist who was on guard outside.