Li Xiao slowly opened his eyes, and before him was a breathtakingly magnificent world of immortal cultivation. Immortal mountains floated amidst a sea of clouds, spiritual energy flowed like rivers, and cultivators' flying swords left trails of spiritual energy, like the trails of shooting stars. The crisp chirping of birds and the rustling of a gentle breeze through the trees filled his ears. This realistic detail gave Li Xiao the illusion that he had truly traveled to the set of a fantasy film.
He reached out blankly, tentatively touching a floating white cloud in front of him, and surprisingly felt a damp, cool breeze. Li Xiao couldn't help but sigh, "This special effect is incredible! Who's the modeler? They should get double their salary!" He spun around excitedly. "It's unscientific! Absolutely unscientific! What engine can achieve this level of performance?"
Just as he was immersed in shock, he looked down and found that he had changed his clothes - a green robe, soft but with a hint of ancient charm, a piece of spiritual jade hanging from his waist, and a glimmering rune board in his hand. He took a closer look and saw a line of eye-catching words on the rune board:
"Newbie's task: Gather three spiritual herbs."
"Spiritual herbs?" Li Xiao's mouth twitched, and he muttered in confusion, "This game doesn't give out equipment or bonus packs for newbie missions, and just makes people work? Are they that stingy?"
He tried to click the "Confirm" button on the mission board. The next second, the air before him suddenly twisted, and a virtual image of a small forest emerged, with the symbol of a spiritual herb floating in the distance. But this was different from the clear map navigation in ordinary games—there were no route instructions or mission guides here. The mission board simply wrote two words: "Explore on your own."
Li Xiao was so angry that he almost dropped the rune board in his hand. "What era is this? This is it? Which designer whose brain was invaded by spiritual energy created this thing?"
Despite his complaints, Li Xiao obediently controlled his character and began searching. He circled the woods again and again, watching the quest interface remain frozen, unable to find even a single leaf of spiritual herb. His distraction even led him to accidentally step on a small trap that randomly released spiritual energy.
There was a flash of light under his feet, and a complex rune array suddenly burst into light. The next second, with a "bang", he was thrown into the air and fell to the ground in a mess.
"Is this designer probably been hunted by players before? This isn't the best way to cheat someone!" Li Xiao complained, rubbing his sore butt. He stood up, holding his waist, and continued to wander around in the woods with a depressed look on his face.
After taking a few steps, he found another suspicious "psychic trap" under his feet. This time, he was quick-witted and jumped to the side. However, he jumped too hard and lost his balance, falling flat on his face.
"I'm really impressed! Is this cultivating immortality or practicing wrestling?" He lay on the ground, rolling his eyes in frustration.
At this moment, a harsh mechanical sound came from the air, coldly interrupting his complaints:
"Transmission error, the spiritual battlefield information is being restored."
Li Xiao was stunned. "What do you mean? Could it be... I really encountered a super bug?"
His vision suddenly went dark, and the words on the rune board quickly twisted into garbled text. The entire forest began to tremble violently, as if it was about to collapse from the ground up. Li Xiao steadied himself and looked around in horror. "No way! No way! We've only just started, and you want me to 'restart'?"
The rune board lit up again, and the garbled text gradually condensed into a strange and eerie string of runes. These runes spun rapidly in the air, emitting a dazzling light. Li Xiao was about to reach out to touch it when the rune suddenly erupted with a burst of strong light, directly ejecting him.
He rolled on the ground, cursing, "Are you guys trying to kill me? Is there any normal player experience left in this game?!"
When he finally stopped, he found himself lying in a completely unfamiliar area. The ground was covered with glowing spiritual stones, and there was no guidance for the spiritual herb mission in the sky.
Li Xiao collapsed to the ground and sighed deeply. "Oh, I really did travel through time this time, didn't I? Can someone tell me where the after-sales service for this crappy game is?"
Li Xiao was stunned, watching his hands gradually become transparent. His body, like a torn old newspaper, slowly blurring at the edges. The surrounding trees began to tremble, and the celestial mountain and flowing spiritual energy in the sky seemed like outdated 3D models, crumbling piece by piece. The frame rate dropped so much that Li Xiao began to question his life.
"Is this game broken?" He widened his eyes, a look of disbelief on his face. "That's not right. I just logged in and didn't even have time to use the cheats. How could it crash?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a powerful pulling force surged from all directions, as if an invisible giant hand had grabbed the back of his neck and dragged him directly out of the spiritual battlefield. Everything around him turned into a dazzling white light. Li Xiao's eyes hurt from the glare, his head was in chaos, and a faint mechanical sound came to his ears:
"Player information is being transmitted..."
"What the hell are you doing?" Li Xiao struggled hard, but couldn't move at all. "What kind of black technology is this? You're forcing me to leave without giving me a choice? I'm going to complain to you!"
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying in a desolate forest. The sky was a brilliant blue, the air was almost too fresh, and he was surrounded by lush, towering, ancient trees. But this natural beauty filled Li Xiao with mixed feelings. He sat up, brushed off the dirt, and looked around.
"Oh my goodness! I was just in the fairyland, and now I'm forced to survive in the wilderness?" Li Xiao scratched his head, annoyance written all over his face. "This environment is so realistic, the modeling is so detailed, isn't it? And the touch of the soles of my feet is so real... I'm not really wearing it, am I?"
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