Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Chen Chen walked out of the time machine and once again arrived at the era where civilization was near its end.

The Black Knights on the side had been waiting for a long time. At this time, a Black Knight stepped forward and X-112's voice came from it. “Sir Commander, long time no see.”

“It's been a long time indeed.”

Chen Chen nodded. He looked at the piles of materials in the warehouse and the androids coming and going, and asked immediately, “Is everything running smoothly after those players arrived?”

“Except for some disturbance in public security, I suppose… It's going well.”

X-112 felt a little helpless. “The entire Blacklight City is anxious. After all, many natives have learned of the fact that a group of outsiders has arrived.

“To the residents of Blacklight City, these players are desperadoes. Every day, innocent native residents are robbed and hara.s.sed, and many people also learned from those players that all this is just a game, that they came from another world. This made everyone even more worried and the natives have even begun to march on the street, hoping that we'd expel those who caused the anxiety and disturbance.”

“Erm…”

Chen Chen frowned when he heard these words, showing a pensive look. “If that's the case, it's indeed time to plan in more detail.”

“By the way, Sir Commander.”

X-112 said again, “Several other forces in the Joint Resistance Army have also inquired about this matter. Some time ago, they sent an emissary to ask these people what's going on. They also hope to meet you.”

“I won't meet them.”

Chen Chen waved his hand. “I originally planned to channel some players into their territory of power after the official launch of the server in the future, but now it seems that this isn't a secure method. Sooner or later, the players and the natives will have fierce conflicts. In that case, let's just rebuild the city.”

“Rebuild the city?”

X-112 curiously said.

“We have only one city, Blacklight City, not because we don't have the conditions and financial resources to establish other base areas, but because of an insufficient population.”

Chen Chen said, “But if we have a large number of players joining, the situation will be different…”

As he spoke, Chen Chen suddenly waved his hand, and an image of the world map emerged out of thin air. Chen Chen tapped lightly on Greenland. “This is the location of Blacklight City, this is the location of Northern America City, and this is the location of China City…

“The territory of the Divine Fusion Empire is in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, and the territory of the Joint Resistance Army is in Northern America and South America…”

Chen Chen silently sketched something on the world map, sometimes contemplating, and sometimes wearing a look of realization. “In the future, players will continue to show up in increasing numbers and the demand for resources will be extremely high. With this in mind, we can build a new city in the North Sea Continent, China, India, and so on.

“At that time, this dimension will be split into three factions. The Divine Fusion Empire will be one major force and the other two major forces, the Joint Resistance Army and the players, can form an alliance.”

“Then, we might need more than one city.”

X-112 reminded. “At least hundreds of cities are needed. Otherwise, we'll not be able to take on so many players. However, resources, labor, and time needed for all this will cost us immensely.”

“These aren't problems.”

Chen Chen flashed a secretive smile. “The players can build cities on their own, right? We just need to give them tasks and tell them what to do and how to do it. That's all.

“It doesn't matter if we don't have money. We can use virtual game currency as money. It doesn't matter if we don't have resources too. They can mine and haul them by themselves. At the same time, as long as the pain system is shut off, they'll be the most tenacious, diligent workers.”

“Oh, we can still do that?”

X-112 was struck by the realization.

“What the player wants is very simple.”

Chen Chen sighed, spreading his hands. “Looking at the cities that they built with their own hands rising from the ground, watching themselves offering light and heat to the world — this sense of accomplishment is unparalleled. What does it mean to create happiness through effort? This is it…”

It was carried out as planned. Chen Chen asked X-112 to create a plan, which enumerated every detail of what would happen after a player came here. In the plan, the city did not need to be so vast and beautiful. A standard medieval city was enough.

After controlling a few large s.h.i.+ps and transporting the first batch of materials and a time machine, Chen Chen had already thought about the location of these cities. They were all the relics of the harbor cities from the old era. These areas had a common characteristic, namely, the geographical position was superior and conducive to development. After getting there, the Black Knights would set up the initial camp to welcome the first batch of players who came here.

A standard player camp was equipped with a 3D printing factory that could continuously manufacture the bodies of game characters, a shop that sold supplies, a black sphere teleportation station that could transport players to other camps, a hospital that could heal any injuries, and a defense camp where the Black Knights were stationed.

Except for these five departments, the rest would all be created by the players.

Of course, the players could not just be treated merely as workers, otherwise, they would complain that this game was just a “Build-House Simulator”. Therefore, hunting, mining resources, fis.h.i.+ng, and other tasks were also given to the players by Chen Chen. What X-112 had to do was to issue the tasks in an orderly manner to make it fun for the players.

As a reward for the players, Chen Chen also naturally crossed out the original Joint Coins and changed it into a virtual currency. The virtual currency could buy anything they wanted in the camp such as food, weapons, wilderness survival items, teleportation costs, the opportunity to get treatment for injuries, and so on.

The real world had become the industrial logistics base of the end dimension. Rockets and satellite launch materials were transported over. In the next few months, Blacklight City would continue to send satellites into s.p.a.ce, allowing thousands of satellites to cover the entire earth, so that no matter where a player went, they would not crash due to a loss of signal.

When everything was ready, Chen Chen also issued a corresponding notice in reality:

“After three months of beta testing Ancient Civilization, it has been confirmed that the game is 100% safe and most of the hidden bugs have been eliminated. Therefore, we announce that from next Monday (1 June 2044), Ancient Civilization will be officially launched and the matching game chambers will also be on sale today. All this will be available for sale on the official website of any Blacklight Biotechnology branch in the world. At the same time, we have also revised the game rules —

“1. We've modified the player's birthplace. From now on, new players who enter the game will be born at one of the 50 designated sp.a.w.n points, and will no longer be born in Blacklight City.

“2. Because a large number of players obtained game currency through illegal means to maintain the balance of the currency system in the game, from now on, we'll modify the currency mechanism to remove the Joint Coins from the currency and use virtual currency instead. The virtual currency is named Ancient Coins. The beta test players' attributes will be retained, their money will be cleared, and the old currency will no longer be able to purchase any items from the player's camp.

“3. The game has opened the construction module. From now on, players will receive a large number of construction tasks after entering the game, and to encourage players to partic.i.p.ate in camp construction, the rewards for construction tasks will be two to three times that of other tasks.

“4. The red name mechanism 1has been modified. From now on, players who kill their own forces will be hunted down by various camps. Specifically, other players may receive corresponding hunting tasks, by which killing red name players would result in rich rewards; at the same time, hurting innocent NPCs will cause a player to become wanted by the NPC's own faction, and they'll lose the qualification to enter the city of said faction until they die once.

“5. According to the suggestions of most female players, the game has opened the reputation points module. Each person earns 12 points per year. Players who verbally hara.s.s the opposite s.e.x (including but not limited to players) will have 1 point deducted after verification. 3 points will be deducted for subjective malicious contact with the body of someone of the opposite s.e.x. 12 points will be deducted all at once for forced copulation with the opposite s.e.x. Those who have zero points within one year will have their account banned, never to be restored.

“6. According to the discussion of the game planning team of Blacklight Biotechnology to maintain the fairness of the game, the exchange channel of real currency and virtual currency is closed for now. Any action in the game that involves transactions in reality is not protected by the game. We hope you understand.

“At present, the first batch of game chambers will have 1 million units sold, each priced at 100,000 USD. Action speaks louder than words, join Ancient Civilization now and begin a new life with us!

“Sincerely, the Blacklight Biotechnology Game Department.”

With the release of this announcement, there was an uproar all over the world. Although the game had only operated for three months and hardly any advertis.e.m.e.nts had been put out, it was after all the first game in the world involving all five senses, a high degree of freedom, and a 100% simulation of reality. Without any need for advertis.e.m.e.nt, solely through Blacklight Biotechnology's prestige and the comments from the 100,000 beta test players, Ancient Civilization became a hot topic that flooded the world's platforms.

Except for those who had no contact with the Internet, there was almost no one who had not heard of this game. Plenty of avid gamers had even become premature fans of Ancient Civilization before even playing it, and their wealth of knowledge about the game would stun anyone.

This announcement caused an Earth-shattering wave of responses. The official website of Blacklight Biotechnology, major forums around the world, and even the news media of various countries had immediately issued the news that Ancient Civilization would be officially launched.

[The ultimate in virtual reality? When a game simulates all five senses, can you still distinguish between the game and reality?] — Northern American a.s.sociated Press News.

[Ancient Civilization is officially launched. Experts claim that this type of technology is not just a game, but may also embody the future of human civilization?] — Reuters.

[Biology, medicine, resources, military, aeros.p.a.ce… Along with today's game, how many industries must Blackwatch monopolize before it will give up?] — United Press International.

[Announcement that Ancient Civilization is launched—is the greatest online game in human history about to be born?]—Sina Express.

On the Internet, everyone was also very eager to talk about this topic. However, unlike some media's pessimistic spin, those players who looked forward to this game were celebrating and constantly discussing the newly released rules.

[It felt like a pipe dream, but finally, it's officially launched! I thought there'd still be an open beta after the closed beta.]

[This game has a very high degree of completion. Apart from modifying a few inhuman rules at the beginning, there are not many changes. Compared to CD Projekt RED who likes to sell semi-finished products and Ubisoft who gives free games riddled with bugs, Blackb*tch has way more of a conscience!]

[OP, are you dreaming, can those even be compared? Blackb*tch is the world's largest private economy, with authority comparable to that of a continental government, and its financial resources can compete head-to-head with Northern America and China. CD Projekt RED and Ubisoft are just ordinary game companies, at most they're relatively large ones. Can they compare to Blackb*tch? Just Ancient Civilization alone probably costs an investment of over 100 billion.]

[They are indeed very conscientious. For most game companies, closed beta data will not be retained, but now Blackb*tch is only eliminating the money earned by the closed beta players during the testing, but retaining their physical fitness.]

[Hey, then isn't this unfair to new players?]

[The red name mechanism and reputation points are too unnecessary, right? I'm stifled enough as it is in reality, but I can't do whatever I want in the game? Then why should I play this game?]

[Because it's not meant for you but other people then! Surely you mustn't have a female family member, otherwise would you not mind if they are wantonly dishonored by others when they play the game?]

[The commenter above the last is disgusting. His speech shocked me. Does he think he can do whatever he wants in the game?]

[The game cannot exchange real money for game currency? What kind of idiotic plan is this, doesn't Blackb*tch want to make any money?]

[As if Blackb*tch is short of money? This is the best joke of the century!]

[I think this rule is very good, it protects the rights of us common players. By the way, you guys keep saying “Blackb*tch, Blackb*tch”, what does Blackb*tch mean?]

[Blackb*tch is the nickname for Blackwatch in the gaming world. You should know that Blackwatch was once a Chinese company, and its Chinese name translates literally to “Blacklight”, but the English version means “black watch”, so we started calling it Blackb*tch (TN: In Mandarin, the phrase for “black watch” and “black b*tch” sounds the same.)…]

[One hundred thousand USD is so expensive. I'm now in the third grade of elementary school and my weekly living expenses are only 100 dollars. If I want to afford a game chamber, don't I have to wait until after college then?]

[Haha, elementary school students can forget about it. This game is PG18. You can't enter this game if you're under 18 years old. You should wait until you grow up to play!]

The Internet was full of discussions about Blacklight Biotechnology and the game Ancient Civilization. In reality, some people with sufficient resources kept watch over the website that night, waiting for the arrival of midnight.

It was because that was when the game chambers would go on sale.

Although the price of 100,000 USD would eliminate a considerable part of the population, many people who had never been in contact with games had also received a lot of information from the videos released by those closed beta players and the publicizing of the premature fans.

For example, how all five senses in the game were comparable to reality, how players could change their s.e.x in the game, customize their faces to be beautiful, enjoy delicacies and even s.e.x… These conditions alone were enough to make countless people feel a rush of excitement, especially those who felt that reality was not complete enough, who wanted to experience a second life in the game.

Around the world, more than one billion people, comprising countless players as well as scalpers and purchasing agents, would compete for the first million game chambers tonight.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night for this group of people…