“Brr~ It's so cold.”
Zhong Cheng lay in his warm bed. Although he had woken up a while ago, feeling the chill in the air made him completely unwilling to budge.
Even though early spring was right around the corner, the late February weather was still rather nippy.
“Whatever, I'll just scroll through some short videos first.”
Anyway, this was an apartment he rented himself, and his parents weren't around. He could get up whenever he wanted.
As he was thinking this, his phone suddenly chimed with a message notification.
Ding—!
Zhong Cheng picked up his phone, assuming it was just another promotional ad. But the moment his eyes landed on the message on the screen, his expression froze, and he bounced right up into a sitting position:
“Holy crap!”
“I actually got picked!”
Prominently displayed on his phone screen was a text message:
[Congratulations! You have been selected as one of the first closed beta players for "Glorious Era".]
[On March 1st at 7:00 PM, "Glorious Era" welcomes your arrival.]
[Please log in on time.]
Zhong Cheng stared at those few lines of text, re-reading them three times. The corners of his mouth began to curl up uncontrollably, a look of smug satisfaction spreading across his face.
“Startled awake from a dying sleep, turns out the Luck Emperor is me!”
“Hahaha, the old saying really doesn't lie. I knew a cheerful guy's luck would never be bad!”
Just as he was gloating, his phone suddenly began vibrating like crazy.
Ding-ding-ding-ding—!
“What's going on? Did my notifications blow up?”
Slightly taken aback, Zhong Cheng subconsciously tapped on his streamer fan group chat, which already displayed “99+”.
The screen shifted, and a wave of chaotic energy instantly rushed at him.
“Ahhh!!! I got in! I got in! Hahaha! (twisting) (crawling) (wriggling with excitement)”
“?”
“Speak human.”
“Did Fan Jin pass the imperial exam or what? Interesting.”
“Got into what? Why so hyped? Did you go crazy from playing games?”
“Another one lost their mind.”
...
“That game! The new virtual reality game, Glorious Era! I was chosen as one of the first closed beta players!”
“???”
“Holy shit?! That sick? You actually hit those insane odds? I heard the registrations for that game broke one million!”
“Holy shit! For real? The one with that insanely mind-blowing trailer?”
“Wait, are you seriously that lucky?”
“Ah, gotta keep a low profile. It's mostly just my legendary luck protecting me—Heaven itself is shoving luck down my throat, I can't help it~”
“I'm so salty! Pure jealousy mode activated! I've been waiting for so long and didn't even get a hair!”
“I don't believe it unless you post the text screenshot and send me 50 bucks on WeChat to prove your strength. (funny face)”
“...Stealing some of your luck. I forgot I even registered. As expected, an unluckster like me doesn't deserve it.”
“Ah?! Are you guys talking about that game whose trailer looked like a Hollywood blockbuster?”
“Yeah! The devs even claimed the trailer was actual gameplay graphics, and there's even a hundred percent fully adjustable realistic sensory system!”
“Holy shit! That insane?! If that's real, isn't this an epoch-making masterpiece?”
“Of course! I even heard the devs designed an entire custom language for this game. It's utterly ridiculous!”
“Holy shit?! That crazy?!”
“Why don't I believe it? Are you sure the devs aren't just blowing hot air? If they had black tech like that, why make games with it? They're probably just fooling people with cheap five-cent effects, right?”
“+1, they hyped it up way too hard. But we'll know once the closed beta big shots start streaming. Whether it's a horse or a mule, we'll see when they walk it out!”
Zhong Cheng scrolled through the hot-headed chat logs in the group, his grin widening. His fingers flew across the screen as he sent a message:
“@Everyone, ahem, just woke up and happened to check my phone. Oh, turns out I got picked too. So... March 1st at 7:00 PM, see you guys in the stream? (doge holding a rose)”
The group chat fell dead silent for about two seconds.
Then—
“????”
“??????”
“???????????”
Following the barrage of question marks, the fan group exploded a second time, messages flashing past even faster than before:
“Holy crap! It's the streamer! The living Brother Cheng has finally appeared!”
“Brother Cheng got in too? Luck Emperor streamer confirmed! Huge win!”
“Brother Cheng is streaming it? Setting ten alarms right now to wait! Reserving a front-row seat!”
“...I can't stay in this group anymore. The concentration of Luck Emperors is too high, dealing massive mental damage to us commoners. (weakly exits chat)”
“Brother Cheng! Brother Cheng! I got in too! My game ID is Bruce. Add me as a friend early and carry me! Don't forget your bros when you strike it rich!”
“Dibs on a friend slot in the front row! Brother Cheng, look at me! I can be an accessory! The type that doesn't take up any memory!”
“Seriously, are all the Luck Emperors gathering here? Am I the only unluckster shivering in the corner?”
...
On his screen, messages erupted like a geyser. Zhong Cheng buried himself back into his soft bed, watching the hilarious memes and wails popping up, unable to hold back his laughter.
Mhm, the bed was warm, and his mood was great.
...
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the night of the closed beta launch for Glorious Era.
March 1st, exactly 7:00 PM.
Zhong Cheng took a deep breath, lay down inside the sleek gaming pod, and pressed the power button, syncing his stream broadcast at the same time.
“Bruce has joined the stream”
“Loves Eating Caviar has joined the stream”
“XXX has joined the stream”
...
The stream's popularity soared like a rocket.
In just a short moment, the viewer count broke past one thousand.
“Woohoo! Brother Cheng went live! My legs went numb waiting for this moment!”
“Streamer! Streamer! When are you entering the game?”
“+1, I can't wait any longer!”
...
The stream chat gradually grew lively, every single comment urging the streamer to enter the game.
Zhong Cheng glanced at the frantically scrolling chat and burst into amusement:
“Darlings in the chat, calm down. Let the bullets fly for a bit... oh wait, no, let the game download. It'll be ready real soon!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, a wave of wails immediately floated across the chat: “??? It's 2050, and someone is still stuck downloading? Brother Cheng, is your home internet running on 4G?”
Zhong Cheng: “...”
And just as Zhong Cheng was chatting with his viewers, a prompt finally popped up on his screen:
[Download Complete]
“Alright, darlings, we're good.”
Without any extra nonsense, Zhong Cheng clicked the launch button directly.
[Entering the game...]
[Healthy Gaming Advice:]
Resist harmful games, reject pirated games.
Exercise self-protection, beware of scam attempts.
Moderate gaming stimulates the brain, excessive gaming harms the body.
Arrange your time reasonably, enjoy a healthy life.
A completely normal loading screen, starting off with the standard Healthy Gaming Advice—makes total sense (= ω =).
[Loading Successful]
A flash of white light passed, and the scene before Zhong Cheng's eyes shifted in an instant. He now stood inside a pure white illusory space, with a character creation interface floating in front of him.
Under race options, there was only a solitary choice: [Human].
“Wow, racial discrimination! Bad review!”
“Why are there no beast-eared girls?”
People in the chat immediately started stirring up trouble.
Zhong Cheng shrugged. “The main event is character customization. Now we enter my domain.”
To be honest, character customization was one of Zhong Cheng's absolute favorite parts of gaming.
For this reason, he had specifically studied face-sculpting techniques online.
“Now then, let's begin.”
Without any nonsense, he immediately got to work.
For the next ten minutes, the stream transformed into an artistic creation workshop.
The chat blew up instantly:
“Holy crap! Did Brother Cheng max out his character customization skill? With looks like that, he could debut as an idol on the spot!”
“Ahhh! Why does your customization look like you turned on beauty filters, while mine looks like a failed tribulation lightning strike?!”
“Dammit, he managed to show off!”
“Why did he make him so handsome?”
“Hiss, why does this look kind of familiar?”
“...That jawline, that gaze that's thirty percent indifferent and forty percent uninhibited...”
“Pfft, isn't that Lord Shadow?”
“Hey, don't say it, don't say it, it really looks like him!”
“Case closed, haha! Streamer wants to be The Eminence in Shadow too!”
“666, I am atomic~(ಡωಡ)”
“Streamer: I want to keep a low profile, but my strength won't allow it. (tactical lean back)”
Just as the chat was frantically spewing memes and bantering, someone started a new trend, causing the tone to suddenly derail:
“Brother Cheng! Brother Cheng! With skills like that, it's a waste not to make a female character!”
“Exactly! Make a female character! A walking scenery, easy on the eyes and great with meals!”
“When I play games, I only ever pick female characters. Don't ask, asking means following my heart. (doge holding a rose)”
“+1, same here (doge). The ultimate dream of a male gamer: playing a female character to watch oneself fall in love.”
“Hehehe, that reminded me. I suddenly have a bold idea. (rubs hands)”
“Eww, Big Spring, what do you wanna do? (funny face)”
“Bro above, I don't even need you to speak to know your idea is highly illegal! (doge)”
“??? Wait, are there really this many perverts in the chat?”
...
Zhong Cheng looked at the increasingly deranged chat, the corner of his mouth twitching:
“Hold on! Stop right there! I'm sorry to inform everyone, but this game has gender locked to your real ID. Anyone wanting to watch me play a female character can go to sleep.”
The chat immediately erupted into a sea of mournful "what a shame"s:
“Ah? Why?! The devs murdered this old man's maiden heart!”
“Help! I even wanted to pair up with Brother Cheng's female character!”
“This game design is so inhumane! Are they afraid we'll cross-dress to scam equipment?”
“Speaking of which, if Brother Cheng can't play a female character, I'll compromise a bit. As a second best, a trap isn't out of the question either. (doge)”
Zhong Cheng: “...”
Though truth be told, Iluvia had set it up precisely to prevent situations like these from happening.
Of course, not the trap part.
Zhong Cheng didn't reply any further. Amidst a wave of wails like “Losing a prime beauty,” “Leaving in regret,” and “The game planner doesn't understand human hearts,” the interface transitioned to the final step.
[Please create your game nickname]
“Nickname... I'll just use my streamer ID.”
“Nan Cheng.”
[Creation Successful]
Rate on N.U.
