This Game Is Too Real-Chapter 1070 - 1070: Public Beta Life Starting from LV0!

"Welcome to Shelter No. 404."
"I am the manager here."
"Codename—Dawn."
In the virtual world of the Beta Universe, the hall, filled with a metallic texture, resonated with a solemn and calm voice above the heads of the true players, like the sound of a church bell.
Tens of thousands of public beta testers packed the football field-sized hall, and strings of IDs stacked together in areas like the aisles and elevators where "volume collision cancelation" occurred!
If ID display isn't turned off, players standing on the square can't even see the subtitles.
And this is only one of the hundreds of overloaded partitions!
As the production capacity of the real game helmet increased and device prices further decreased, the potential for crowd expansion remained.
Responding to the excited and spirited gazes, an azure power armor moved with steady steps, facing the throngs filling the hall.
The sword-cut-like facial contours were akin to a sharp sword unsheathed, with the resolute face and brows exuding an aura of inherent authority and majesty.
Even before the majestic figure came into view, the players in the hall were already stunned by the realistic light and immersive experience.
After all, it's the technology of Ideal City.
While the nerds on the Endpoint Cloud are already tired of these virtual reality online games focusing on a "second life" and began pursuing simple creativity and fun, for the residents of the old era living in the Beta Universe, it's their first time experiencing such immersive world-crossing!
Simply put—
This light!
This floor!
This wall!
And this Ah Guang!
It's mind-blowing!!!
The crowd held their breath, overwhelmed with excitement.
The real newbies stood in place, while the fake newbies dashed forward, attempting to strip the iron bits off the manager, only to plunge empty, intimately meeting the floor instead.
Rich Tiny Eyes: "Damn!!"
Dinosaur Warrior turned dark: "It's a scam!"
WC Without Mosquito: "Damn! Where's the promised 99% realism?! Not realistic at all!!!"
WC Without Mosquito: "@#%#!"
In front of the Manager was a jumble of chattering voices, and numerous modeling stacked together.
Near the Special NPC seemed to be shrouded in a "field," and players entering the field would have volume collision canceled, stacking together like ethereal ghosts.
The range of this field seemed to increase with the number of nearby players.
Although it weakened the game's realism to some extent and restricted some mischievous operations, it effectively prevented key NPCs from being blocked, rendering task acquisition impossible.
To truly experience 100% realism, one might have to physically cross over to the Alpha Universe.
Standing at the edge of the crowd, Night Ten stared at Ah Guang for a long time, always feeling that face was full of discordance.
It wasn't that the guy secretly altered his facial model, but rather that those eyes lost their soul.
How should one say?
The feeling of "King's Domineering Aura" was somewhat stealing the spotlight.
Heard the game data for the public beta was outsourced to Ideal City's company for development, and whether it's the charm of distance or not, there's a strange misunderstanding about the manager among those folks.
Aside from that...
"Wait, isn't this guy's power armor supposed to be available once Shelter No.117 is unlocked?! Why is it installed now?"
"And isn't this hall overly spacious?! Where is Shelter No. 404 this big?"
"Haha, it's just a game, don't mind these details," Night Ten, who was complaining, was laughed off by Old White, who patted his shoulder, "As long as the newbies find it fun."
The exploration phase in the Alpha version was too difficult.
If truly starting over, not just the newbies, even he might not be able to persist.
By the way, both used nicknames in the public beta server that were abbreviations of their closed beta server nicknames.
Since closed beta players would cameo in some game plots and dungeons of the public beta server as NPCs, nicknames from the closed beta server are by default occupied in the public beta server, even closed beta players themselves cannot use them.
According to the CEO Doctor Principle of Shelter technology—"You are also part of the game experience."
Though a bit unreasonable, thinking his avatar incessantly showing off for him seemed quite fascinating.
Want your avatar to gain more screen time in the public beta server?
Then work hard in the closed beta server!
Even if not shaking the heavens and earth, just diligently moving bricks at construction sites can allow your avatar to be projected onto the public beta server's work sites!
Or—
Reverse hard work is also feasible.
For instance, in the "Player Prison" of the City of Dawn, there are persistently two NPCs with player identities atop their heads comparing fists and spitting across the bars. Red-named players jailed due to PKing failures can trigger dialogues with those jokers, activating the "Sentence Reduction Mini-game."
In general, despite numerous dissatisfactions, the long-awaited public beta has finally launched!
And besides...
This is a game completed by everyone together.
Not just by Dog plan alone.
Just as Night Ten and Old White were speaking, voices of "skip," "skip," "hurry up" spread across the square.
Upon knowing the plot could be skipped, those newbies didn't want to listen to Brother Guang's nonsense anymore and swiftly equipped the spontaneously refreshed vm, eagerly rushing towards the elevator.
There's the entrance to Level B1.
The elevator in the public beta server doesn't need waiting.
In the instant of crossing the elevator doors, players automatically enter the dungeon area, and within the elevator visible only to themselves and the guiding NPC, follow the elevator upwards, entering the "completely fabricated, ravaged by Looters and Variants" Level B1.
This dungeon can't be teamed up, death doesn't drop experience points, falling under the novice tutorial category.
In the dungeon, players will obtain the first weapon in the game—a crowbar with blunt damage 5, and trigger the first career task—reclaim the fallen shelter entrance from the hands of the Looters.
After clearing the dungeon, players can normally enter and exit the Level B1 of the "surface world."
During task execution, players will follow a guiding NPC to familiarize themselves with game mechanisms including stealth, lock picking, and trash collecting, and through picking up weapons dropped by Looters, familiarize with weapon usage among cold weapons, heat weapons, and intelligent equipment.
The biggest difference between the public beta server and the closed beta server lies precisely here. Players aren't restricted to a single gene sequence and can, through custom allocation points and initial racial traits, combine professions including fighter, assault soldier, engineer, hacker, assassin, and spiritual energy user to create exclusive gameplay.
Be it the old Popsicle cyber summoner skilled at using drones, mutant thug adept at charging with nukes on the back, wasteland wanderer engineer in DIY exoskeleton, lizard man assaulter wielding a rifle or Gaia adept with power-enhanced superpowers can all be realized in the public beta server.
In a sense, the public beta server's degree of freedom appears to be one order of magnitude higher than the closed beta server, even Variants no longer need luck to draw SRRR cards, as long as a liability waiver is signed, they can be chosen.
After all, this is the true game world; as long as it's technically feasible, any form of chaos can do.
"I'll try out superpowers this time... What about you? Have you decided on your path yet?"
Watching the flickering lights at the elevator entrance, Night Ten said eagerly.
Old White grinned.
"I'll decide when the time comes, considering the profession choice is a matter for after reaching level five."
The first dungeon can boost him up to level three at most, and he plans to experience each profession's gameplay before making a decision.
Unlike those players who are busy clearing the way and fighting for the server's first place.
He already felt the T0 experience in the test server, and he's not interested in getting another first place on the server.
All he wants here is to be a casual player, occasionally coming back to reminisce, and chat with those who have disappeared from the Alpha Universe.
"Alright then, see you in a bit!" Understanding Old White's thoughts, Night Ten said no more and eagerly stepped into the elevator, transforming into flickering light, teleporting to the dungeon world.
Old White followed him.
As he stepped into the elevator, a soldier wearing the 'Type Five' exoskeleton was already waiting there.
The soldier held a 'G9' assault rifle, striking a pose that seemed legitimate, as if the shelter really encountered some colossal crisis.
Yet seasoned players know that Level B1 is such a tiny place, that unless the elevator breaks down, even if Looters break in, they'd be stuck inside, unable to escape.
However, public testing is another matter.
Not just swarming Level 1 of the shelter with a bunch of Mutant Cockroaches (wild monsters), the game possesses a heaven-defying hacker (Level 10 elite monsters) who can seize control of Level B1, yet can only do petty tasks.
No wonder the NPC soldier is using the 'Ideal City Special' assault rifle, with a face as if facing a big enemy.
"Listen up, newbie, our target is the data center on Level B1, to regain control of Level B1, we've got to capture it first... Here, take this crowbar, you'll be needing it soon. And remember, stay close to me!" The soldier ordered meticulously, handing out the crowbar.
Upon hearing that familiar voice, Old White froze for a moment, then noticed the soldier's serious face.
Just at that moment, seeing that face, he nearly choked on his own saliva.
Goodness—
Isn't that me?!
Or more accurately, that guy is actually his character from the test server—'White Horse Passing a Gap.'
Though the NPC soldier in the elevator seemed completely unaware that his 'real self' was right in front of him.
Just as the CEO Doctor Principle of Shelter Technology said on the official website, NPCs in the public test server are merely NPCs with limited intelligence.
$Old White estimated, if he didn't take the crowbar from the soldier's hand, the continuously rising elevator probably wouldn't stop until it flew outside the Solar System, so he reluctantly accepted the crowbar.
"Alright..."
As he touched the crowbar, a floating pale blue window appeared before him.
[Item obtained: Crowbar
Durability: 100/100
Damage Type: Blunt instrument.
Damage Value: 5+x (Strength Attribute Multiplier 0.2 + Constitution Attribute Multiplier 0.15 + Agility Attribute Multiplier 0.05)
Special Effect: Triggers 'Crowbar' judgment when unlocking, consumes 20 points of durability if damage value exceeds protection level, demolishing 'Locked state doors'.
]
Even the crowbar's this detailed?
Simply put, it can tear down doors up to five times, huh?
Looking at the crowbar in his hand, Old White wondered where to begin his criticism.
Almost just as he finished reading the text description, the elevator, having traveled for an unknown number of minutes, finally stopped at Level B1.
"Follow me."
Without any unnecessary chatter, 'White Horse Passing a Gap' rushed into the corridor as soon as the elevator steadied.
The Looter smoking with his back to the elevator door seemed deaf, ignoring the elevator's ascent, only to be dispatched by the swift 'White Horse Passing a Gap' with a throat-slicing combo.
The blood spray was quite realistic, not to mention he was using Mosquito's 'realistic accelerator,' on an account registered on a South Sea Island called Beta Island.
He suddenly wondered what would be sprayed without using the accelerator.
Slime?
"I'm taking one down... Keep his weapon, but let's hold off firing. We must reclaim B1 Layer's controller first."
"White Horse Passing a Gap" said while calmly wiping the dagger's blood off, as skilled as a heartless hitman.
The Looter in the distant room seemed oblivious, sitting by a fire whose fuel was unknown, laughing merrily while playing poker.
Wanting to see how his other self would perform, Old White didn't stir any additional chaos. He collected the iron pipe rifle, iron daggers, and 50 Y coins off the Looter's body and followed with expressions mixed with awe, sneaking, looting corpses, and unlocking doors.
According to public test players' information shared on the forum, following these procedures would soon clear the tutorial.
If players deviate and wander around arbitrarily, the result is getting beaten down by Looters in a gang fight, then being taken back to the starting point after an elevator ride.
At the moment Old White pried open the data center's iron door, Level B1 of the shelter suddenly erupted in a piercing alarm, exciting the Looters and Variants to rush over like a swarm.
"Quick! Insert the hard disk into the server!" [White Horse Passing a Gap] shouted, throwing the hard disk at Old White's chest, then setting up the rifle at the door for rapid-fire.
If born in peaceful times and unacquainted with real battlefields, the nerve-racking, thrilling gunfight could truly stir one's blood.
Especially since just a moment ago, the two were sneaking around, got immediately caught in intense crossfire!
Nevertheless, as the 'real self' of this character, Old White already lost count of how many battles, big and small, he's gone through, obviously not possible for him to get adrenaline rush due to a few gunshots.
Moreover, these Looters were so mundane that during the test server he couldn't even bother sneaking, simply using a dagger, he'd annihilate them all.
(Considering the thought of respecting my other self's work,) Old White dutifully followed the task hints, inserting the USB drive into the designated server slot.
With a buzzing of electrical currents, the originally steady-running chassis seemed to activate a hidden magic array, promptly imposing a rapid change on B1 Layer of the shelter.
Blaring alarms instantly ceased.
Automated weapons deployed on Level B1 of the shelter also initiated at the same time, joining the battlefield!
A distant cry of despair echoed—it seemed to be from the Level 10 elite monster working for the Looters.
"No! Impossible! My authority has been overthrown!"
Shortly followed probably by the boss's angry scolding.
"Stupid fool! What use are you!"
Hearing the curses and cries drifting from afar, Old White couldn't help but grumble to himself.
If you knew the data center was this crucial, why only leave two underlings to guard it?
But grumbling about this seems rather pointless.
After all, with fully rigorous setups, sacrificing entertainment value would be counterproductive.
Objectively speaking, the novice guide dungeon is still quite nicely done.
"Follow me!"
The "White Horse Passing a Gap" standing at the door shouted, and rushed out with his rifle.
The rain of bullets sprayed on this guy like shower water, barely scraping off the health bar by a millimeter.
It's really tough for this guy to endure until now.
Seeing the moment for a counterattack had finally arrived, Old White also went all out, rushed out with the iron pipe rifle picked up from the Looter, and went on a headshot spree, dealing 5x damage to every Looter he encountered along the way.
Including that Level 10 elite monster of the hacker profession.
After shooting down the five LV3 suspended automatic rifle drones controlled by this guy, he was taken down with a single shot by "White Horse Passing a Gap".
Old White picked up a drone control device resembling a U-shaped pillow from the corpse.
Before he could open the holographic window, "White Horse Passing a Gap", changing clips beside him, said coolly.
"Remember to collect those drones, Xiu says they might still be usable."
This is probably the equipment for the hacker profession.
"Got it."
Old White responded casually, following the directions from "another self," and picked up the drone wreckage from the ground.
Different from the closed beta.
In the open beta, collected equipment automatically becomes stored in the virtual space, presented as thumbnails in the holographic item bar.
Of course, this is limited to collectible items.
Uncollectible items, while movable, can only be carried around by hand as in the closed beta.
While he was busy picking up trash, "White Horse Passing a Gap" shared some experiences from the Wasteland with him.
For instance, the collected trash can be sold or disassembled for parts. The obtained parts can be used to craft equipment, repair devices, or even build your own shelter.
The concept of territory proposed during the closed beta didn't happen for various reasons, but seems to have been implemented in the open beta.
Players can construct their own shelter in any wild zone outside the safe zone, but only the player and those invited can see the constructed shelter.
This setup is somewhat similar to a seamless instance connecting to the main map, where players can place teleport points and house their pets, NPC partners, or even servants and followers.
After picking up the trash on the battlefield, Old White continued forward with his other self, soon triggering the anticipated boss battle.
Appearing was a gigantic Looter.
He wore ridiculously exaggerated steel heavy armor, with bulging muscles resembling those of Mutants.
Initially, Old White found the guy familiar until the latter pulled out a rusty hunting gun, he suddenly remembered his identity.
This guy was none other than the leader of the Blood Hand Clan—the "Bear" who was one-shotted by the Manager.
Unexpectedly, this guy was dragged out for corpse-beating again in the open beta, leaving Old White amused and baffled. However, he seriously prepared for battle.
Combining the full-health yet battlefield-edge roaming output of [White Horse Passing a Gap], he managed through several pulls to create a shooting window for the key parts, then charged forward upon loud instruction to deliver the last fatal blow to the "Bear".
At the same moment, a translucent holographic pop-up appeared before him, accompanied by sunshine music.
[Congratulations, the player has reached lv3!]
Standing at the center of the B1 layer hall, he was like a hero on stage, with a bright beam of light shining down on his shoulder.
"Congratulations! You defeated invading enemies and halted the savage invasion! Though, this is only the beginning..."
[White Horse Passing a Gap] walked up to him, his face beaming with a victorious smile.
Old White also smiled at him, nodding lightly.
"Hmm."
Although unexpected, he felt what he wanted to convey seemed to have been communicated.
The dust hovering above the floor unknowingly scattered away, with the originally ruined structure of the B1 layer shelter unknowingly returning to its pristine clean state.
Just like time passing unnoticed.
When Old White realized it, a sparkling medal had appeared upon his chest.
The number 404 was inscribed on it.
Below the number, a line read [Exclusive for closed beta players, thank you for your dedication].
Speaking of which, he had wondered when first entering the game about the promised "closed beta rewards", little did he expect it to be here.
What can be said?
This gesture appeared to be quite timely.
Following behind [White Horse Passing a Gap], the "Novice Instructor", he passed through the round archway, ascended the elevator, and arrived outside of the shelter.
A familiar square came into view.
The earnest appearance was precisely like the initial launch of the closed beta...
Whether it's Little Fish diligently calculating behind the "Bank" counter, or Boss Xia yawning impatiently behind the weapons counter and speaking proud yet haughty, or many others facing the "Wasteland World that's full of despair, burning with a spark of hope", Waste Land Wanderers.
Among these individuals, some live day-by-day, some have already given up struggling, while others remain unwilling and try to do something, yet powerless...
Regardless of their situation, those coming out from the shelter never abandoned nor gave up.
"Here is our settlement, as well as the starting point for everything... We will set forth from here until the new era."
"Welcome to our world."
That seemed to be the final monologue.
When Old White turned back, [White Horse Passing a Gap], who led him out of the shelter, had already disappeared with a smile.
At some unknown time, the once-empty square was filled with diverse players.
Some rushed to the entrance of the settlement, some attempted crawling under Boss Xia's table only to be blocked by an invisible air wall, and others stood in the square attempting to strip off their final underwear to no avail.
Shouts were constant in the distant stall area, just like in the closed beta.
"LV5 turned combat fighter, looking for a group! Farming Leech Cave!"
"Is there a convoy going to Giant Stone City? Bigshots, take me please!!"
"Impressive! You've opened the map to Giant Stone City already?! I'm still wandering Bet Street."
"So strong!!!"
"I got an LV10 intelligence system orange gear! Drone expansion slot! Interested wealthy players, contact me fast!"
"Wow? Orange gear during newbie phase? Where did you pop this brother?"
"Right by the lake farming Crack Claw Crabs!"
"Can intelligence gear soaked in water still be used?"
"Usable, usable, let alone dipped in water, even soaked in pee can still be used!"
"Waaah, my Little Fish! Why are you ignoring me?!"
"Did your favorability drop to zero? It seems there's an item that can restore friendliness... Wow? Disgust? How did it drop to -100?!"
"Hehehehe..."
"Where's the guard? There's a weirdo here!"
"Damn! Don't randomly! The air wall is blocking me, I can't do anything, okay?"
"cpdd!"
"Does anyone have a brother to take a sister with them~~"
"Bro, turn off the voice changer, it's pointless."
"gnmd, xswl, dbd? sb"
"???"
Listening to the noisy chattering in the square, Old White rubbed his temples and turned off the [Nearby·Strangers Voice Chat], finally feeling a bit relieved.
Perhaps...
The beta test server is somewhat more normal.
With over 30 million players worldwide flooding in, it's inevitable that some quirky folks will mingle.
Though that's said.
Compared to the chaotic scenes on some games' public chat screens, the abstractness here isn't so abstract.
At this point, Night Ten, who had just swapped out his gear, walked over from the side and greeted him with a smile.
"I've been waiting for you for ages, why'd you take so long?"
Old White looked at Night Ten, surprised to see the latter already at lv5.
"Wanted to experience the whole tutorial, so got delayed a bit... By the way, how did you get out so soon?"
"Didn't you see the post on the official website? Once you insert the USB, you can speed through it, no need to follow the tutorial to the end... By the way, did you notice that the Novice Instructor's model is exactly like yours from the beta server, hahaha!"
Seeing Night Ten's cheeky grin, Old White made an expression of helplessness.
"I noticed... Though it portrays me as a bit simple, it's passable I guess. By the way, where's Fang Chang?"
Night Ten made an expression of helplessness.
"Oh him, he hired some familiar gold group to get him to Giant Stone City."
Old White looked at him dumbfounded.
"This game already has gold groups?"
Night Ten scratched the back of his head.
"Uh... Rather than saying this game already has gold groups, it's more that studios worldwide have joined in."
The craze for silver coins is evident worldwide, to the extent that in Africa, chieftains are using trucks to haul people to internet cafes, booking reservations, and each booked spot is celebrated by the entire village.
Though Y coin isn't as good as silver coin, it can't resist the fact that so many people worldwide are playing.
Especially considering the public server is the beta server's reserve army, the potential of Y coin cannot be underestimated.
It is foreseeable that the public server's economic system will face a tidal wave-like impact.
In front of emotionless "money farming machines," ways of playing like picking up junk will likely face a collapse in the profit system soon after going online.
Imagining the scene of "struggling to find even one monster," Old White couldn't help but sweat for Doctor Principle.
"That would truly be disastrous..."
Unlike Old White, Night Ten looked on with a playful expression.
"Haha, who knows? Don't forget Brother Guang is the dealer; you think you can cut Brother Guang's chives easily? Brother Guang won't be skinning you for nothing!"
From what he knows of Brother Guang, such borderline game behaviors, as long as they don't break the rules, Brother Guang usually turns a blind eye when possible.
But should any simpleton think Brother Guang can't wield the knife anymore, intending to challenge the power outside the rules—
That person will quickly realize that order is something established by people, not something that falls from the sky.
"Maybe, but after all, it's a server for entertainment; with what I know of Ah Guang, he probably won't make it too serious."
Old White chuckled, then looked at Night Ten and said.
"Speaking of which, what about you? Not going to the wandering swamp to find your little girlfriend?"
Night Ten scoffed, pretending to be indifferent.
"I did think about it at first, but figured there's no need. The public server's wandering swamp is a level 60 map, three times higher than the beta... Might as well wait until someone reaches level 30."
Despite saying that, he's really waiting for news from Fang Chang.
Based on his observations of the public server, the NPCs in the safe zone are roughly divided into two types: one is the "story-type NPC," without health bars, either transparent monsters like a Manager or those with self-protective barriers of air walls.
The favorability with these NPCs can rise to 60, triggering quests or skill gifts, and beyond that, there's nothing else.
The other type is "passerby-type NPC," with health bars, no air wall protection, but any malicious contact behavior is considered combat.
Triggering combat in the safe zone leads to immediate red name, and typically being one-shot by level 100 guards.
This type of NPC has no favorability limit, exceeding 120 can make them good buddies or partners to take out to fight, surpassing 150 and completing a series of date quests unlocks more intimate relationships.
Generally speaking, once an NPC is conquered, they move from the settlement to the player's base, and their original residence is replaced by refreshed NPCs, avoiding headaches in the storyline.
As for whether what follows is a blackout or actual scene, it depends on which operator the player is matched with and if the registered data is over 18 years old.
Theoretically, Dolly, being a character involved in the Alliance's historical progress, should be realistically in the game program, likely as a "story-type NPC" appearing in the safe zone and specific instances.
Similarly, Snow Island should be too... There's nothing to worry about, it seems?
But on second thought, they're just NPCs from the public server, not the same person, so no need to worry!
Seeing Night Ten mulling over his thoughts, Old White chuckled and patted his shoulder.
"From what I know of Brother Guang, he wouldn't do anything disgusting."
Night Ten made a shrugging gesture.
"Let's hope; don't be fooled by that guy, who laughs all the time; inside, he's black as coal."
Five years!
A whole five years pretending to be an NPC!
This sneaky guy truly has patience!
Just as he finished speaking, a warm and broad palm gently patted his shoulder, followed by the familiar and long-missed teasing voice from behind.
"Aren't you afraid your Brother Guang will hear you?"
Night Ten shuddered all over, spinning around at lightning speed.
Seeing that smile, warm and handsome like the morning sun, he was almost scared offline like a ghost seeing the light.
"WTF?!"
"Ah Guang?!"