Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game

Earth time, 8:20 a.m.

Twenty minutes after the official launch of the game "OtherWorld," approximately a third of the players… died and were kicked offline.

Inside the square Town Hall, Yang Qiu, who was currently stationed in this plane, sighed as a hand clasped to his forehead.

Yang Qiu was mentally prepared for the reckless tendencies of players, but he was caught off guard by the high efficiency and proportion of their recklessness. Challenging NPC interaction limits and being stylishly killed by a group of former bandits was one thing, but going up against the giant rat in the south of the time, even though they had watched Vanilla Pudding's videos and knew it was an enemy that the current players couldn't handle, was another.

There had been another group that immediately rushed over there after logging in, eagerly attempting to kill the beginner town's BOSS and seize the so-called advantage… It was truly absurd!

"…This can't go on. Players can't serve as stable anchors if they are constantly dying and getting kicked offline."

After pondering for a moment, Yang Qiu stood up and cast a sealing spell on the Town Hall building to prevent any reckless players from finding ways to break in. He then opened a spatial rift and returned to Earth.

While Yang Qiu returned to Earth, back in OtherWorld, a group of players that gathered to search for NPCs eventually found the Town Hall.

"Wow… This rundown earthen shack is actually the Town Hall? This thing is the central building of our Undead race's birthplace? Is way too shabby!"

The players couldn't help showing their disgust when they saw the sign "Exile Town Municipal Office" hanging on the square house.

Even in the subterranean Undercity, Queen Sylvanas still resided in a decent place unlike this. Even the Taurens living in the mountains had a chief whose tent was more respectable than this mud hut!

"A bunch of class instructors are squatting in front of their tents, hoping that players will help them with their professional guilds. I guess we shouldn't have any high hopes for this shabby game," Tang Jia shrugged and approached the door before knocking on it. "Is anyone there? Mage Apprentice Instructor? Hello?"

Naturally, there was no response.

"What's going on? Is the NPC not here, or does he not know how to open the door?"

"These NPCs can chase players down the streets and slay them. It's impossible that they don't know how to open the door."

"It means there's no one inside then. Damn, NPCs even know how to slack off."

Some proactive players immediately tried to pry open the window. "Let me see if I can climb in… Oh, this shabby window is surprisingly sturdy?"

"Can the window be smashed?"

"Hey, hey, this is the Town Hall after all. We'll be killed by NPCs if we do that."

Other than a few among the group that knew each other, most were strangers that had gathered together to find a certain NPC. Seeing that there was no NPC in the Town Hall, someone said, "Forget it, let's find the Mage Apprentice Instructor some other time. My friend and I will go do the zombie NPC quests first. We need to reach level one before getting a class change after all, and we're still lacking quite a bit in Potential."

"Yeah, you're right. I watched Vanilla Pudding's videos, and they completed several quests before gaining even a small amount of Potential points. It seems that leveling up in this game is rather difficult."

"What's so good about the zombie NPC quests? It's better to work on reputation with the job instructors first…"

As the crowd gradually dispersed, Tang Jia hollered, "Is there anyone else who wants to continue looking for the warrior instructor?"

A player, who had still been standing in place, looked around and quickly went over to Tang Jia's side. "I'll join you guys."

The ID displayed above this player's head seemed like a real name, Yang Ying. Tang Jia and her childhood best friend, Zheng Qingyue, were both young ladies and naturally wouldn't refuse another female player joining them.

The three female players grouped up and continued moving together. Tang Jia, who had an outgoing personality, quickly started chatting with Yang Ying. "Are you using your real name as your ID?"

"Yeah, I never really played games before, nor spent much time online, so I wasn't able to think of a good ID at that moment," Yang Ying replied candidly.

"Eh?" Tang Jia exclaimed in surprise. "From your voice, you should be around the same age as us, right?"

"I'm probably older, I'm 22," replied Yang Ying.

"That's not much older. Both Qingyue and I are 20, in our second year of college. What about you?"

"Ahh, college students. I wasn't a college student," Yang Ying gave a sanguine smile and explained, "A few years ago, something happened in my family around the time I was taking the college entrance examination, so I got delayed. After graduating high school, I started working and didn't have time to play."

Tang Jia and her close friend Zheng Qingyue exchanged glances and took the initiative to change the subject.

Both of them were from families with ordinary backgrounds. Before going to college, they thought that all families were more or less the same. It was only after attending college did they realize some families were truly wealthy, while others were genuinely poor.

They had heard stories of schoolmates unable to afford meal cards and having to drop out of college after struggling for two years due to family difficulties.

During their casual conversation, the three of them explored an area they hadn't visited before in the somewhat small Exile Town and found a lonesome tent hidden behind an earthen wall.

"There it is!" Tang Jia's eyes lit up as she exclaimed excitedly, "We've seen the other 18 NPCs listed in the announcement, except for the Mage Apprentice Instructor. This must be the tent of that Weapons Master! Quick, find out where that NPC is!"

While Yang Ying was accompanying the two of them, Tang Jia enthusiastically described the benefits of playing as a warrior. Initially, Yang Ying had only logged in to see if her young brother's game was truly as good as it was publicized, but over time, she gained some slight interest in gaming; thus, she too actively helped in the search for NPCs.

The three of them quickly searched the surrounding area and, true enough, found the last NPC—a young man with the floating titles "Charlie Rex" and "Weapons Master Instructor."

But, upon discovering this NPC… all three female players, including the gaming novice Yang Ying, were left bewildered.

The NPC's outfit was similar to that of the other advanced NPCs, featuring a sophisticated and fantasy-themed ensemble, consisting of a deep-colored durable armor with a tight and substantial texture.

The Weapons Master Instructor wore leather arm wraps secured with intertwined sinew, a belt adorned with a row of intricately crafted small leather pouches, knee guards, and thick-soled high boots, in addition to a half-body armor primarily designed to protect the chest and abdomen.

Yet this NPC, with a "hero" appearance straight out of a meticulously detailed fantasy movie, was sitting slumped on the ground, leaning against an earthen wall, with his head tilting and hands hanging on both sides of his body. He was drenched in a cold sweat, his face pale, eyelids tightly shut, and seemingly muttering incoherent syllables under his breath.

"What the heck… Why is the warrior instructor like this?" Tang Jia was completely dumbfounded. "This… this guy looks so much like a drug addict suffering from withdrawal, like the ones we see in movies!"

Tang Jia's childhood friend, Zheng Qingyue, crouched down and carefully observed the NPC, then shook her head. "Although it looks like withdrawal symptoms… If it were really withdrawal, he shouldn't be able to control his tears and mucus. Also, his emotional expressions would be more intense and not subdued like this."

Yang Ying stared in astonishment at this soft-spoken girl who usually kept a low profile.

What surprised Yang Ying even more was that Zheng Qingyue actually approached the NPC and opened his eyelids with one hand while waving the other in front of his eyes.

"Pupils are dilated, but there is still a response to the light reflecting off the white bone. Could it be a brain injury?" Zheng Qingyue muttered to herself, holding the NPC's head with both hands and conducting a brief examination. "It doesn't seem like an injury, so could it be paralysis of the oculomotor nerve caused by autonomic fiber lesions.

"Lips aren't pale, there's no odor, and mucous membrane color is normal, so it's unlikely to be poisoning…"

Tang Jia and Yang Ying then watched in horror as Zheng Qingyue inserted her finger joints into the NPC's throat. "No dry retching, no vomit… Rules out breathing difficulties and insufficient cerebral blood supply due to the airway being blocked by vomit."

"It's most likely a severe stress reaction due to some kind of stimulation." Zheng Qingyue let go of the NPC's head. "There's no sedative available in the game to give him a shot. What should we do?"

"The NPCs can also get stressed?" Tang Jia asked with a look of utter bewilderment.

"Well, they do start attacking people if they are in a bad mood," Zheng Qingyue said.

"So, what should we do? Do we wait for this NPC to wake up on his own?" Yang Ying asked curiously.

Since she had never played video games before, she didn't have any understanding of how normal NPCs in games behaved. Thus, she didn't find anything particularly strange about the NPCs in this game.

"Troublesome indeed…" Zheng Qingyue pondered with her arms crossed.

In the midst of a nightmare, Charlie Rex, in a blurry state, seemed to hear the voices of young women conversing around him.

Their voices were clear, pleasant, and carefree, as if they had a certain power to make one calm. And this unintentionally made Rex, who was tormented by the nightmare, relax. The horrifying illusion that seemed to devour him also gradually faded away due to the interference of these young women.

Charlie Rex's eyelids twitched and opened slowly.

He was met with the sight of being surrounded by three skeletons, their six deep black eye sockets staring at him.

"?!" Charlie Rex sat up with a start.

"Whoa, he's awake!" The three skeletons quickly stepped back, though they still surrounded him, their voices filled with surprise and youthful energy.

Charlie Rex was taken aback by the scene before him.

The eerie skeletal figures and the melodious, warm voices of young women created a striking contrast. It felt absurd and unsettling to Charlie Rex, who had just woken up, causing his recently regained composure to slip away rapidly.

"Hello, Charlie Rex. Do you have any quests for us?" One of the skeletons with "Stuffed Gummy" in green above its head eagerly approached him.

The lively and confident voice of a young woman carried a hint of anticipation. If Charlie Rex's eyes were closed, he could almost feel his heart racing…

However, with his eyes wide open, he could clearly see that the source of the deceptively pleasant voice was a weathered corpse that had been buried for god knows how many years.

Has the nightmare not ended yet…?

Charlie Rex closed his eyes and slowly reclined back.

"Damn it! Give me a quest before fainting!" Tang Jia grabbed Charlie Rex's collar in frustration. "What's wrong with this NPC? Where's the quest? Aren't you supposed to be a warrior class instructor?"

Charlie Rex's shuddered, and he immediately snapped back to reality.

In fact, his current state was much better than when he had been in the Sorensen Mountains. The interconnected mind anchors in the imprint matrix greatly improved his mental stability. At least he wouldn't end up like how he was when Yang Qiu had found him, having completely abandoned his humanity.

At this moment, now that Tang Jia reminded him, Charlie Rex finally remembered what he should be doing… To maintain his sanity and qualify as a shared anchor within the black mage's imprint matrix, he needed to play his role well—the warrior class instructor exiled to Exile Town, the birthplace of the Undead race!

So, Charlie Rex mustered his strength, striving to maintain his composure and scrutinizing Tang Jia, who was eagerly seeking a quest.

"Undead friend, undead beings aren't suited to be warriors," Charlie Rex said earnestly. "Undead have a hard time resisting impacts and lack sufficient strength. You should give up."

Tang Jia: "…"

Zheng Qingyue and Yang Ying: "…"

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