Time flew. "The Law of Humane Justice," the new DLC of "Tale of Wuxia 3: Swords of the Future" piled up on shelves. Many PC streamers jumped on the bandwagon. Among them was resilient Wu Shun the steady. He claimed himself to be a "guide maker with a conscience," while his viewers affectionately called him rookie wannabe.
Being a rookie was fine. He was a patient, resilient, hardy rookie who pursued his goals with dogged determination that not even experts could emulate.
His spirit left many intrigued, confused, and doubtful of humanity. Perhaps he was just as claimed, a masochist. His fetish aside, nobody could argue that the euphoria of success far outweighed any amount of frustration that led to the moment, if any!
Talented, skilled players could never experience such happiness. In return, such difficult games gave them a different sensation. The sense of superiority.
Skilled players mowed over difficult games all the time. Then, they could sit at a corner, watching other players suffer, drawling ------
Is it that difficult?
I wonder, why did I clear it so easily?
Wu Shun started streaming before dawn even broke. He truly treated such games like his sweethearts. Perhaps reality did not have much to offer. Perhaps he had given up on reality. When he realized that he could play games for the rest of his life in peace, he had jumped at the opportunity.
A viewer once asked him if he had a girlfriend. He had asked, "What is a girlfriend? Is a girlfriend as loving and kind-hearted as those beautiful, gentle 2d girls?
Wu Shun would never admire people who showed off their love lives, let alone those who constantly barked about being a single dog. Games were sufficient. Games had everything to offer at the cost of nothing. Even if his body demanded for the physical stimulation, games gave him a hand. There were so many 18+ galgames on the market. Many of them were probably even more popular than some triple-A titles. He would face no shortage of stimulation. The "Bishoujo Mangekyou"[1] series was just one of the many series he could mention in passing. It was not even the most useful one out there…
He had mastered the Japanese and English Languages. He had even earned some extra money by translating various games into Chinese. Eventually, they stole more time from his gaming than he preferred. It was not like he needed the extra cash.
His addiction to games was almost reminiscent of "Yu Shengfan" from "The Strongest King". Unfortunately, he did not have the talent to match. Well, that was irrelevant. He still finished his games, walking away none the lesser. Games have taught him Japanese and English.
Wu Shun was not short of any gaming hardware either. He had all kinds of gaming consoles such as PS4, Xbox, etc. Without those gaming consoles, he would not have been able to play the genuine versions of those exclusive games.
Currently, he was playing the newly launched DLC of "Tale of Wuxia 3: Swords of the Future" with one of his concoles. It was domestically made in the China of this world, and called itself the "Overlord Game Console". It was most certainly world class and beastly. The Chinese game he currently played did not dishonor it, being the large-scaled Xianxia spiritual cultivation kind of game, "The Pursuit of Enlightenment."
The Chinese players of this world were truly blissful. They did not have to experience the period when games were considered as electronic opium. They did not have to worry about censorships or inaccessibility. This China even produced its own 3level masterpieces. Foreign Game makers did not hold back when it came to selling their titles in China either. Most importantly, Chinese translations of their games were more than decent. You would have thought that they had been natively written in Chinese. The only problem was how long the wait between each new release seemed to be…
Compared to the China players of another parallel world who were discriminated in all kind of ways, the China players of this world were living in Game Heaven.
Perhaps this China had been through a happier development, breeding more affluent citizens and leaders. Money did them a lot of good and fun. If the Chinese players of our world had been as well-off during the earlier stage of the Single-Player Game age, we might actually have actual Triple-A Chinese titles, instead of those cancerous, money spamming online games.
It was not like such money spamming online games were without any merit. The only problem was that people grew bored of them in no time at all. The human soul would yearn for something more wholesome, more meaningful, and the body would follow suit.
Wu Shun went ahead, streaming with much gusto. He hoped to bring forward a better streaming experience to the audiences. He shared his inner thoughts with them as he played Single-Player games. He gave the NPCs their own lives and his own judgement of their characteristics, making his viewers feel as if they were watching him play a multiplayer, online game.
It was just like back then, when he was playing "Crusader Kings II" by Paradox Interactive[2]. While playing, he would stimulate the imagination of his viewers, convincing them that after all, such strategy games aren't that bad afterall. His comments often threatened to split the sides of his viewers. That was quality entertainment content. It was not to unite Medieval Europe, but to let everyone understand ------
Although I cannot give direct orders to the vassals of my vassals, I could just order my vassals to order their vassals.
"Hi, everyone. As a conscientious guide maker, I've made the necessary preparations to carry out a streaming marathon. Have you seen my variety of instant noodles and fast food? This stream will not end until I've cleared Tale of Wuxia 3's DLC. I wonder when would those gaming capsules that we read of within the online game genre novels come to real life. I could skip all this hassle…"
"Yes, I'm now using the "Overlord Game Console" to play this game, and of course, it's the latest generation. Speaking of which, this domestic game console "Overlord" has quite some historical heritage. I played with the "Mini Overlord Game Console" when I was a little boy. Now, I'm playing this with the "Overlord Game Console". All this happened within a blink of an eye. Of course, as a child, the only way I could play anything was to play in secret. Now, I can finally play in the open. I feel extremely blessed!"
"So, let's click into the online store. Hey! Would you look at that. Popular recommendation section. It's flooded with these things! As expected, triple-As are easy to spot. Enough said. I'm buying it. Look at that. 78 RMB. What a steal!"
"Well, it's downloading now. All looks good. In the meantime… Yup. I think I should return to the game and continue familiarizing myself with controls. I'm slow-ass, everyone knows that. But a big sword - big shield combo complements my style. I'll be able to tank anything, as usual!"
Wu Shun started boasting about. He looked at the bald, muscular macho that he had just created in-game. He thought it looked very cute. Look at that shiny, bald dome…
In the end, his "sword plus big shield" playstyle accidentally pissed off four evil dogs. It ended just as how you would expect. They mauled him to death. This was mainly due to his passive playstyle, never taking the initiative. He would hide behind his shield, waiting for the right moment to counterattack. Yet, the dogs surrounded him and attacked all at once. Perhaps he should have been more aggressive. At least he would have gone down swinging. He was already decently equipped and leveled!
That incident had left him rather embarrassed. But after he saw the audiences' comments on the bullet curtain, saying things like - "So funny!", "After all that bravado, he died like a dog!", a smile crept back to his face and he got his head back in the game. He switched tabs and checked on the DLC's download progress, realizing that it was now complete. He then said excitedly, "Let us begin the new Wuxia journey! My beautiful and gentle Yan Qingmeng, here I come!"
Translation Note:
[1] Bishoujo Mangekyou - An R-18 supernatural AVG series produced and sold by the Japanese game brand "ωstar" (retrieved from https://zh.moegirl.org/zh-hans/%E7%BE%8E%E5%B0%91%E5%A5%B3%E4%B8%87%E5%8D%8E%E9%95%9C).
[2] Paradox Interactive - A Swedish strategy game production company and game publisher. Most of its games are based on historical strategies (Retrieved from https://zh.moegirl.org/zh-hans/Paradox_Interactive).