Chapter 150: The Video

With the release of *Civilization: Rise of Great Powers*, the corresponding inner world began to boil with excitement.

This game possessed technology so advanced it felt like science fiction. Just think of the outer world where Yan Luo lived, where there were only a handful of VR games, none of which had even been popularized yet.

Suddenly, a true virtual reality appeared. The scenery within the game, and even a person's tactile sensations while inside it, were completely indistinguishable from reality!

Rumors circulating in the pugilistic world whispered that Tencent had acquired alien black technology, and this gossip was not entirely groundless.

In truth, this was not alien black technology, but rather the acquisition of a Taoist cultivation artifact known as the Universe Pearl. A realm could be established within the pearl, but because this inner world was in the Dharma-ending Age, lacking spiritual energy and rendering urban cultivation impossible, the Universe Pearl was simply used to create a video game for profit.

Of course, this was merely the background story and had nothing to do with the modulators inside the game.

With the initial release of *Chaos Continent Version 1.0*, players who successfully entered the game expressed their excitement and thrill all over the internet. WeChat, Facebook, and other platforms across this inner world were flooded with game intelligence and discussions.

As for YouTube, the world's largest video-sharing website, game footage posted by players attracted massive crowds eagerly awaiting Version 2.0.

Just looking at the character selection interface brought tears of joy to the leaders of various civilizations. Once inside the game, the azure skies, emerald grasslands, and terrains modeled after the real world were enough to satisfy anyone's desire for travel. It was simply too breathtaking!

Videos filmed by players—featuring civilization leaders, famous historical generals discovered after joining tribes, encounters with barbarians, newly uncovered ruins, treasure troves, and natural wonders—any video related to *Civilization: Rise of Great Powers* was trending fiercely.

Among them, a twenty-second clip of Qin Shi Huang declaring war on the Japanese civilization surpassed tens of millions of views in a remarkably short time.

"We, the Chinese Civilization, the Ancestral Dragon, the First Emperor! Let it be known to the dwarf slaves that We shall dispatch a grand army to demolish your ancestral temples, eradicate your people, and show no mercy! Against Our Qin, no power in the world shall stand!"

Amidst this atmosphere, a video recorded by a Spanish player was also uploaded to YouTube.

Li Chenxu was an ordinary young man, with the sole exception that he knew how to scale the Great Firewall. Since *Civilization: Rise of Great Powers* was a game spearheaded by Tencent in collaboration with a host of top-tier developers, his heart was filled with fanatical anticipation, alongside a curiosity about foreigners' impressions of the game.

Therefore, he vaulted over the firewall onto YouTube and began browsing through game videos.

At that moment, a title caught his attention:

"Complaint! Chinese player is hacking!"

"A Chinese player hacking? How can you hack a virtual reality game? They're slandering China again." Li Chenxu clicked on it.

At the beginning of the video was a young man mounted on a magnificent steed, wielding a silver-gray steel staff coiled with a dark dragon.

"Good lord! This guy is devastatingly handsome!"

Li Chenxu let out an exclamation of awe. He knew quite a bit of intelligence regarding this game; the appearance of characters in the game was scanned from the players inside the gaming pods, allowing for a maximum adjustment of only 10%.

"Could this fellow have maxed out his appearance adjustment by 10%? Even with the boost, his original looks must be borderline rule-breaking!"

"And he has a mount—a one-million-dollar Supreme Diamond VIP? So wealthy? This is too outrageous, I want to file a complaint too."

"He actually holds the official rank of Huaihua Garrison Commander? Today is only the first day of the server opening... and his name is Medium Boss... Do you know that acting like this will leave you with no friends?"

Li Chenxu muttered complaints to himself while continuing to watch.

Then, he was utterly shocked.

A volley of arrows rained down from the Spanish soldiers.

"Because of the camera angle, this scene isn't as breathtaking as the arrows blotting out the sun in *300*, but it's easily on par with *The Hobbit 3*... That's movie special effects, which must have cost a fortune."

"Shouldn't that handsome, wealthy winner in life with the cool name have turned into a hedgehog by now?"

Then, he was shocked once again.

"What? The arrows were blocked by the horse? A VIP mount can even be used as a shield?"

Suppressing the astonishment in his heart, Li Chenxu kept watching. His jaw, which had already dropped wide open, instantly sank to its absolute limit—so much so that his chin actually dislocated! He watched as an arrow shot by Pizarro, trailing the afterglow of a setting sun and bloody ripples, was parried and blocked by the player wielding his staff.

"The boss is using an ultimate skill! He can even block an arrow with special effects like that? This Chinese player's staff is spinning so fast it's leaving afterimages. That is ridiculously epic!"

Li Chenxu raised a hand and pushed his jaw back into place.

He watched the video unblinkingly as a formation of 300 Spanish elite guards launched a charge against a single person... An entire legion attacking one man?

The staff-wielding player's staff techniques were simply invincible!

Spanish soldiers were smashed down by the staff one after another, and some were even sent flying through the air like basketballs!

"Three hundred men can't beat a single person?"

Li Chenxu wore a look of utter bewilderment.

After ten minutes of the "one man versus three hundred soldiers" scenario, having wiped out over a hundred men, Pizarro and Cortés—the two most powerful Spanish generals—jointly launched an attack on the Chinese player.

"First a legion, and now bosses ganging up on a player? Who on earth is this guy?! Is he actually a player, or is he a boss..."

The ensuing spectacle grew increasingly magnificent, rivaling the golden age of Hong Kong martial arts films! In this close-quarters weapons combat, golden spears collided with the iron staff, sending a continuous burst of sparks flying while ripples of air pressure undulated through the atmosphere. It made his blood surge with excitement.

"What? The weapon turned red? Oh my god, the golden spear is a magical weapon, and the iron staff has been heated to glowing red!"

"Watch out!" Seeing the Spanish warrior in a cloak with a rapier leaping mid-air, thrusting downward head-first like a sword-wielding swordsman from a wuxia film, Li Chenxu sprang nervously to his feet from his chair.

The two bosses launched a fierce joint assault, and the Chinese player struggled to parry as injuries continuously burst across his body.

"What the hell! Spitting out Chinese characters? Chinese characters can turn into bullets?"

Li Chenxu was once again struck dumb with shock.

Jaw dropped!

The Chinese player who unleashed this skill began suppressing and beating the two bosses. At that moment, another large group of Spanish generals in the distance shamelessly prepared to join the gang-up. Suddenly, the phantom of a giant white bull materialized behind the player, stamping down heavily upon the ground.

"Boom!"

Like the shattering of heaven and earth, a massive cloud of dust billowed into the air.

The video ended right there.

Yet Li Chenxu's emotions remained turbulent, making him want to dance with excitement—so he watched it all over again.

After binge-watching it four times in a row, Li Chenxu grew eager to share this spectacular video with others. Giving it some thought, he simply downloaded the video directly and re-uploaded it to Bilibili.

In this inner world, Bilibili was similarly China's premier base for ACG and ACG-related video content.

Of course, the title couldn't be about foreigners complaining about hackers. Instead, it was changed to: "Shocking! A martial arts master mysteriously appears in *Civilization: Rise of Great Powers*. The action choreography is even cooler than martial arts movies, a Chinese player schools game bosses, and foreigners are utterly stunned."

Such a title was undeniably eye-catching. Even though some people might catch sight of it, spit in disdain with a "Tch, 'shocking' every single day, didn't even shock yourself to death!", and express strong contempt for such clickbait, they still found themselves irresistibly clicking on it.