Chapter 59: Parents' First Trial, Her Past

“...”
“Well... As for those profound questions, you should go ask her. I have no idea!”
If those two were to find out that it was a series of good deeds done to keep me around, I’d be grateful if they didn’t make a scene. All because of that little black dragon! It told me, and only then did I realize that Captain Han had no feelings for herself, so she’d bound the scope to the whole family. Now even the little black dragon had been taken away by her...

For the next few hours, I faced my parents.
Hua Tian recounted the interesting things she’d encountered to the two of them. (Of course, she left out everything about the world-saving mission and the little black dragon; anything related, as long as there was a hint, she absolutely kept secret!)
Tian’s father now only cared about one thing:
When he heard that real-world money could be exchanged for ten gold coins, he was sorely disappointed! But then he was told that the reverse exchange rate was even higher, about 10:1.1, and although he hadn’t wanted to play, it now seemed he had to—after all, who could say no to money?
Tian’s mother, on the other hand, cared about the next generation of the Hua family.
With so many beauties in the team, and all of them being in a female team—apart from the boss and captain, she said, you could go shopping, get to know them, and just bring anyone home.
Naturally, Hua Tian replied, “No way!”
But when she mentioned the Liu family, that dear little sister, Hua Tian shook her head frantically like a drum.
Tian’s mother was exasperated! “This one’s no good, that one’s no good—are you waiting until I’m truly old before you get married? By then, I won’t even be able to hold my grandchild!”
Off to the side, the couple did their best to soothe the on-the-verge-of-eruption wife!
Finally, when the topic was dropped, curiosity took over the two elders who wanted to give the game a try.
Upon hearing that only those who passed the beginner’s exam could play, Tian’s father scoffed: if young people couldn’t even pass the basic test, then they really had no business playing, lest they go around scaring everyone.
Hua Tian agreed that made sense, but felt compelled to explain, lest the pair get too cocky—after all, this was their generation’s... real world, just like she’d experienced herself! It was only thanks to her own luck and sharp wits that she’d managed to stumble through.
“Dad, when you first encounter a magical creature, don’t you freeze up? Isn’t it unbelievable? Others might not find it scary seeing it on TV, but when you see it with your own eyes, just the dreadful stench is unbearable. If you get touched during the basic test, it ends immediately. If you want to retake it with no gold coins, you have to borrow or join a team in the main world to earn coins, but you won’t gain experience or anything else. Whether ordinary players without a team would even get picked is uncertain!”
“Well... I suppose that’s true. I remember as a boy, the first time I went down to the fields, I ran into a silver viper. It looked just like a silver cord, and I thought it’d be fun to use it to tie firewood. If your grandfather hadn’t been by my side, spotted the flash of white, and yanked me back in time, I’d probably have been poisoned to death then and there!”
Tian’s mother, hearing stories from his youth she’d never heard before, immediately forgot all about the game and insisted he elaborate, diving into gossip about his childhood.
An hour later, after Hua Tian had finished cooking, she found the two still chatting away. She interrupted their double act, then took their fingerprints and, following the instructions of the girl in the game watch shop, began registering them.
Before they disappeared into the game, she reminded them, “You have to finish the test in one go—be careful and dodge well!”
“Ding ding, buzz—”
New players detected, binding unique personal information!
...Dispatched, success!
Would you like to enter the game login screen?
Arriving at the game interface, the two found it astoundingly lifelike.
First, they touched their own skin, feeling as if they’d returned to their youth!
Tian’s mother, curious, approached the edge of a pool, reached in, and nimbly grabbed the fattest, yet smallest, golden carp.
The gold carp, roughly handled, rolled over to expose its white belly, as if to say, “Eat me if you must!” In the distance, tens of thousands of carp slowly swam away. The two players saw a woman emerge from an egg in the distance.
Letting the fish go, it darted away frantically.
She approached them, introducing herself and the available classes.
...
When it came time to choose professions, the couple exchanged a glance.
“You’re the tank, I’ll heal you!”
“Alright, whatever you say, dear!”
And so—Tian’s father became a Berserker Shieldbearer, while Tian’s mother chose Holy Knight.
When it came to picking names, both were stumped! After all, at their age, should they pick something fierce or something playful?
Since their son was making money from this game, they too wanted to conquer it, and if they owed their new lease on life to it, then something bold was in order!
“I’ll pick ‘Eternal Life’—my stage name before I debuted was ‘Painting Water’.”
Player name: Eternal Life
Level: Not yet tested
Class: Berserker Shieldbearer
Stats: Strength 1, Speed 1, Defense 1, Health 3, Attack 1
Skills: None
Techniques: None
Equipment: None
Team: None
Team coins: None
Gold: None

Player name: Painting Water
Level: Not yet tested
Class: Holy Knight
Stats: Strength 1, Speed 1, Defense 1, Health 3, Attack 1
Skills: None
Techniques: None
Equipment: None
Team: None
Team coins: None
Gold: None

“Alright, so where’s the entry test?”
“Player, you haven’t set your appearance yet!”
“No need—let’s just look ten years younger!”
“As you wish!”
Hand in hand, the couple logged in.
Two adorable little sprites led the way.
They hurried off to the test site.
At the same time, they entered different locations.
After picking up their weapons, battle commenced.
Tian’s father, just like Hua Tian, braced his shield and seized the opportunity, his burly two-meter frame barreling forward with practiced skill!
Tian’s mother, seeing the holy staff in her hands, gave it a swing and felt uncomfortable—it was so heavy, she thought of it as a broom instead. Just then, ten crawling zombies, slow by their own standards, but blindingly fast to the untrained eye, closed in.
In an instant, they were upon her. Looking up, Tian’s mother clearly saw the bloodied flesh on the zombies’ faces. Fear gripped her—she froze.
The little sprite appeared just in time, called out to her, and she snapped to attention, beginning to attack. She’d already forgotten her son’s advice.
She only managed to hit two zombies, making them pause slightly, but the other eight leaped on her, with the last two close behind.
Seeing this, Tian’s mother remembered the time she and a group had barely escaped a human manhunt, only to be surrounded by a pack of starving wolves. One person had shielded her from a wolf with their own body, wrestling it away. The wolves then devoured their own fallen companion, faces smeared with blood, shouting desperately for her to run...
The more she thought, the angrier and more ashamed she became. If only she’d been stronger... Had he not passed by and heard her screams, seen the carnage, and driven off the rest of the wolves single-handedly...
It was all her fault...
A low, hungry wolf’s cry brought her back to the present. The ten crawling zombies’ eyes flashed green, mimicking wolves.
Her thirst for vengeance against wolves rekindled—those were ten human lives, and even after twenty years the village hadn’t avenged them all. What couldn’t be done in real life, she’d do in the game!
Afraid she’d lose her nerve, she closed her eyes, gripped her only weapon, and swung with all her might, daring not to hesitate, hacking again and again...
The little sprite watched as her kindly master continued to swing long after all the zombies had fallen!
Afterward, the two stood together, looking at their perfect scores. Wasn’t it much easier than Tian’er had said?
With the rise of the virtual profession of zombie slayer—and Han Guancheng’s promotion—after passing the beginner’s test, it wouldn’t take three months to clear all their debts (as long as you were a team captain, regardless of team level, you could exchange gold for cash in the first three days of every month). More and more newcomers accepted the price of an eleven-thousand-yuan game watch.
Because the five-million-yuan advanced watch’s benefits only appeared later—there was no difference at the start except for unlimited fivefold gold and a month’s exclusive four or five hours of boosted drop rates. The other functions could be substituted with a phone and a storage or transport watch.

Those left behind, seeing two perfect scores among all the small-team members, wondered if their team’s rise was at hand.
But just then, a player notorious among all teams appeared.
His name was Zihan Yu, and upon seeing the two—players who looked under thirty—he was delighted.
Weren’t new players allowed to set a younger appearance at registration? Why hadn’t they? But seeing a Berserker Shieldbearer with low defense was still pleasing. Ignoring the oddities, he greeted them:
“Hello, may I invite you both to join my team? Rest assured, my team placed third in the last global pro tournament. If you join, I guarantee you’ll earn over a million a year, and there are side gigs that’ll net you another million. Life will be easy by thirty!”
Tian’s father, seeing his arrogant demeanor, retorted,
“You brat, still wet behind the ears, trying to recruit people like the rest. What makes you think we’re thirty? We’re both fifty, understand? Where are your manners?”
Zihan Yu, hearing this, felt the urge to lash out at these just-promoted players who dared insult him. But he remembered that, per the basic test rules, outsiders couldn’t interfere here.
If he started a fight in here, no matter his level, if he struck first, the new player would be invincible and could kill him in a single blow. Though it wouldn’t cause lasting harm, it would be a blow to his pride. Once they left, though, they’d no longer be new players and he could do as he pleased.
As he pondered, a rough, giant hand landed lightly on his shoulder. Zihan Yu felt a million tons of pressure crush him, his health instantly dropping to one invincible point as per the enforced rules. He was a holy knight, just promoted to mid-tier, with 150 defense and over 200 health. Skills couldn’t be activated here, meaning his strength was around 350, speed about 50. He looked back—how could a Berserker Shieldbearer do this?
It was someone he didn’t recognize, but the way he looked at him suggested otherwise.
He heard the man speak: “Zihan Yu, if I tell the Blood Sea team you snuck out, do you think Liu Tao will let you off?”
At first, Zihan Yu was secretly pleased—someone finally dared hit him, so he could teach them a lesson and show these fifty-year-olds who was boss.
Here, any attack could only reduce someone to one point of health, making him invincible to newcomers. But if he casually attacked outside, he could send them to the afterlife.
And the guy seemed to know him—no wonder he’d hit him. This was the perfect chance to show off.
The couple, recognizing the unfamiliar chubby young man by parental instinct, realized it was Tian’er.
Zihan Yu spoke up.
“Bro, you know me. Let’s talk—say, how would you like to die?”
“You think I’d bother talking if I dare hit you here? And you dare poach from Han Guan’s team? Are you tired of living?”
With that, Hua Tian immediately used an item skill to attack him.
Zihan Yu, seeing the attack, laughed.
Here, only veteran players can attack new players; being attacked by a newcomer can’t kill you, and the system will let the newcomer instantly kill the attacker. But veteran players are left with a single invincible health point, allowing them to kill others, but...
“You’re overthinking it. Invincibility is nothing—I happen to have an item that breaks invincibility! So long!”
As the attack landed, Zihan Yu was instantly transported to the resurrection hall, forced to wait out a ten-minute timer.
Seeing his demise, Hua Tian noted with satisfaction that there was no option for him to revive on the spot. The item she’d been given was truly extraordinary, able to disregard even the minor system rules.
She promptly reported Zihan Yu’s resurrection to Captain Han, and Han Qianyun, hearing that the much-loathed mudfish player had been killed by one of her own, happily informed another interested party: Liu Tao.
“Zihan Yu is in the resurrection hall, counting down to revive!”
Liu Tao, seeing this aloof woman chat with him, was momentarily stunned. Then, reading the message—surely the team captain wouldn’t lie—he had his men search for information on Zihan Yu, but nothing could be found. He grabbed his team and rushed to the main city to wait for him.
Zihan Yu, upon revival, was dumbfounded. Where was his one-point invincibility? The official rules were a lie! Damn it! That player who tricked me is dead meat!
Looking up, he saw Liu Tao sitting motionless ahead, with his followers looking coldly on.
“Heh, Tao, bro, you look great today! If you’re fine, I’ll just be on my way. No need to see me off, really!”
“Drag him out of the city, far from here, and thrash him for me—beat him to death! Afterward, some of you stay to watch if he revives on the spot or for free. Have fun. Wait for me, I’ll ask the team if anyone else wants a shot at him. Dare to steal our points? This is the price!”
Meanwhile, Hua Tian led her parents to the Main City’s Hall of Rewards. After collecting their prizes, they’d assumed their perfect scores would earn them void-level skills, but instead received four rainbow-grade skills and master-level techniques. Still, a grateful nod to the kind official developers!
The couple climbed the city walls, passing by players locked in combat.
They saw hundreds beating up a single player—the same one who’d tried to recruit them earlier. At first, they thought he was from their son’s team, but realized now that he was being punished for his misdeeds!
“Blood Sea team players are really having fun!”
Tian’s father, hearing this, realized these weren’t from Han Guan’s team—not their son’s group!
Hua Tian led her parents to Han Guan City, explaining along the way, “You can only learn skills in the Hall of Learning. If you quit the game or leave the hall midway, it counts as failure—there’s no second chance.”
The elders gazed at the bustling city and the southern sea beyond!
What a wonderful place to live, with coffee and real fruit. Once they reached headquarters—
“Alright, log off! It’s time for dinner, and soon it’ll be night. Only those who love to grind or are desperate to change their fate will still be... gaming!”
Hua Tian watched her parents, who once again weren’t listening to her.
They turned, faces full of curiosity, and asked, “Son, log off or keep playing—which house are those two in?”
“...”