The Miao people have since ancient times been taught by extraordinary individuals how to command venomous insects, a practice the world calls Witchcraft. Among them, those who excel in refining and applying poisons are known as Witchcraft Poison Masters. Later, a man lived deep in the mountains for decades, mastering the art of human-gu symbiosis, and dubbed himself Old Daddy Golden Silkworm. His disciple, the Powder-Faced Gentleman, inherited the true teachings, founded the Witchcraft Poison Sect, and revered the old master as the founding ancestor of the Witchcraft Poison Master.
Staring at the sect introduction for "Witchcraft Poison Master" for a full half-minute, Xiao Yu finally typed four characters into the character name field: "Empty-Handed."
*Ding!*
System Notification: The name you have registered already exists!
Someone had actually snatched that name! After a moment of thought, Xiao Yu typed: "Penniless."
*Ding!*
System Notification: The name you have registered already exists!
Someone was using such a sleazy name too?
He tried changing names several more times, but each one was already taken, which left Xiao Yu feeling quite gloomy.
Just then, he glanced at a guy surfing the web next to him. This fellow was chatting with someone via voice, wearing headphones and speaking loudly, constantly repeating the words "back in the day, buddy" this and that, clearly boasting about his past.
"Back in the day"? Hmm, those words weren't bad. Let's go with: "Once Lost Everything."
*Ding!*
System Notification: The name you have registered is available. Confirm registration?
He hurriedly clicked the confirm button, a surge of joy in Xiao Yu's heart; this name certainly fit his current situation.
*Ding!*
System Notification: Congratulations, registration successful!
Then, a sturdy, handsome young man in his twenties appeared in the center of the screen, wearing only boxer shorts and a gray-white vest, his arms bare, a golden blade tattoo carved on his forehead, with black hair and black eyes.
"This look is okay, though the tattoo on the forehead seems a bit stupid. Once I upgrade to high-end gear later, it should look more charming." Xiao Yu admired his design for a moment before looking at the time in the bottom-left corner of the game screen: 11:59:01.
With only a minute left, Xiao Yu, like hundreds of millions of players worldwide, stared at the screen and began the countdown.
"Ten, nine, eight..."
The moment the time on the game displayed 12:00, Xiao Yu pressed the left mouse button...
System Notification: Welcome, [Once Lost Everything], to the world of *God Tribulation*. Your birthplace is Novice Village. You are the 22,222nd player to enter the game. As a special lucky player, the system will reward you with one [Five-Two Treasure Chest]!
Xiao Yu squinted at the five "2"s on the screen. Out of all the people rushing in, he actually ended up with a string of twos—what kind of luck was this? Still, over twenty thousand players had entered within a single second; the popularity was extraordinary.
*Ding!*
System Notification: You have received the [Five-Two Treasure Chest]!
Five-Two? "I am stupid"? "I'm a fool"?
Xiao Yu opened his inventory, where a golden chest was flashing brightly.
[Five-Two Treasure Chest]
Level: 1
Class: Unlimited
Weight: 1
Durability: 10/10
Opening Level: 10
Item Description: It is hard to start from "zero," but easy to start from "two"! A legacy left by the senior expert Stupid Erdan of the East Continent!
Xiao Yu was speechless.
Who the hell came up with this nonsense? He had only been busy with the design and testing of the "Witchcraft Poison Master" for the past few months, yet many things in the game seemed to have changed significantly...
Next to the treasure chest was a novice sword.
[Young Hero's Sword] (White Tier)
Level: 1
Physical Attack: 15-30
Magic Attack: 15-30
Weight: 2
Durability: 70/70
Item Description: A long sword made of fine steel, often used by young adventurers to spar, cut meat, chop wood, or even thrown as a concealed weapon.
Xiao Yu clicked the right mouse button; Once Lost Everything reached back, and the [Young Hero's Sword] was in his hand.
He opened his character attributes to check.
ID: [Once Lost Everything]
Level: 1
Class: Witchcraft Poison Master (East Continent, Tier 1)
HP: 100/100
MP: 15/15
Stamina: 100/100
Physical Attack: 16-31
Magic Attack: 16-31
Physical Defense: 1
Magic Defense: 1
Evasion: 1
Accuracy: 1
Crit: 1
Attack Speed: 1
...
Seeing this long list of numbers, Xiao Yu hurriedly closed the attribute window. He hadn't felt tired spending so much brainpower to craft a high-quality game, but looking at it from a player's perspective, his head felt heavy. Yet, every attribute had its purpose; real players would be crazy for them. Even a single point of attack speed could be the deciding factor in the late game.
Closing the attribute window, Xiao Yu realized he was surrounded!
White light flashed one after another, and with every flash, a new player entered the game. He saw people shoulder to shoulder, packed tight. If it weren't for the "ghosting" effect in the *God Tribulation* Novice Village that allowed players to pass through each other, it would have taken at least three days just to move through the crowd.
System Notification: Welcome the 1,487,987th player to the world of *God Tribulation*!
In just over a minute, one and a half million players had entered the game!
"I remember there being a novice quest here. The quest-giver is supposed to be the Village Chief."
While thinking, Xiao Yu typed a string of characters into the chat box.
After he sent them, the text stayed in the info column for less than 0.01 seconds before being buried by the scroll of messages. The scene Xiao Yu expected was slow to appear.
"Dizzy, this is a game, not game development. Why am I still thinking about typing backend commands..."
Xiao Yu was left between laughter and tears by his own behavior; he had subconsciously entered a backend command program again.
Adjusting his virtual goggles slightly and trying to focus his attention on the character Once Lost Everything, Xiao Yu flashed the command "forward" in his brain. After a slight hesitation, Once Lost Everything slowly began to move. He passed through the bodies of other players and ran out for ten meters before seeing the Village Chief peering toward them from a distance.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, young hero Once Lost Everything!" The Village Chief shouted from far away, peering in his direction. Before Xiao Yu could even greet him, the NPC spoke first.
The NPCs in *God Tribulation* were voice-acted by real people. When an NPC spoke, the system would automatically mute all surrounding sounds, and the dialogue would appear in the chat box on the side for players who preferred mouse and keyboard controls.
When players spoke to NPCs, their voices were preset by the game, but the content of what they said could be transmitted via text or the brainwave transmitter on the virtual goggles. NPCs would provide appropriate responses; one could say these NPCs were semi-intelligent.
However, due to technical limitations, operating a character with virtual goggles was 0.6 seconds slower than using a mouse and keyboard. This might not be noticeable in daily play, but in a real duel between masters, that 0.6-second difference could be fatal.
He had already lost everything, and he was still a "young hero"?
Once Lost Everything: "Hello, old man. You look worried and impotent—is something wrong at home?"
The Village Chief coughed and sighed: "Alas, the reason I am listless is that a group of wild rabbits has come to the village recently. They haven't just eaten all the grass and damaged the environment; they are ruining crops and digging holes everywhere. I wonder if you could help me kill five wild rabbits, young hero?"
Once Lost Everything: "Helping others is the essence of chivalry. Don't be listless, old man! I shall resolve your worries! I won't return unless I've cut off a few rabbit 'little Johns' for your drinking snacks!"
Village Chief: "Many thanks, young hero. There's no need for the 'little Johns.' If you could also bring back 5 bundles of [Rabbit Fur] that they drop, I shall reward you handsomely!"
*Ding!*
Quest: Eliminate Wild Rabbits 0/5, obtain Rabbit Fur 0/5.
Xiao Yu walked out of the village along the northern main road.
It was a case of more people than monsters—after roaming for nearly five minutes, he hadn't seen a single monster!
Every spawn point was surrounded by dozens of people. The poor little rabbit would barely poke its head out before a dozen swords slashed down at once. The rabbit would blink its red eyes, not even getting a chance to see the world before being hacked back to another one. It didn't get a chance to eat grass, let alone pass gas...
"No humanity! So many people killing one rabbit—their fur is being hacked to pieces!"
Xiao Yu cast a look of disdain at these executioners and continued searching further away.
He was getting further from the village, and he likely would have kept walking if it hadn't been for the sound of a wolf howl from the left.
Following the sound, he saw a mountain wolf pacing back and forth not far away, its eyes glowing an emerald green, its four sharp fangs bared as if waiting for prey to come to its door.
"No wonder there were so few people here; it's the mountain wolf's territory."
Mountain wolves were level 5-7 monsters. With Once Lost Everything's current level and gear, he would be crushed instantly. Of course, that was assuming the operator didn't have high-level skills.
In the game, you could only learn skills after level 5. Before that, every character relied on basic attacks. Depending on the player's control of direction, force, and movement, basic attacks could result in various styles: horizontal slashes, side cuts, thrusts, uppercuts, poking—you name it. These styles looked similar to many skills but had different effects and significantly lower attack power.
Xiao Yu could kill the wolf even with just basic attacks, but given the level suppression and attack stats, killing a higher-level monster was a thankless job. Besides, his priority was the quest.
"Huh? There's a rabbit over there!"
Just as he was about to turn back, Xiao Yu spotted a little white rabbit hopping around eating grass next to the mountain wolf.
That rabbit had some nerve! Daring to steal grass under the wolf's nose!
Just as Xiao Yu started to rush forward, he heard footsteps behind him. Before he could turn, two figures darted past him—it seemed these two had spotted the rabbit too.
"Huh, does this count as kill-stealing?" Xiao Yu watched the pair, wondering if he should wait for them to finish.
But just as the two reached the rabbit, tragedy struck.
The mountain wolf nearby "whooshed" over and took a fierce bite out of one of them.
"Critical Hit: 101!"
Novices started with 100 HP. The wolf had landed a critical hit; a bright red number popped up, killing that unlucky kid instantly!
The remaining one was a female character named Xiao Yueya. The girl turned green with fear—the wolf was too vicious! Why did it bite people? She couldn't care about the rabbit anymore and took off running, heading straight toward Once Lost Everything, with the mountain wolf howling in pursuit.
Only then did Xiao Yu get a clear look at Xiao Yueya's face.
She had a melon-shaped face, a pointed chin, fair, pink skin, red lips, and white teeth. Her big eyes flickered, making her look quite lovely. Even though she wore simple, outdated novice gear and looked like a village girl, the two spheres on her chest were so large they nearly burst through her clothes. If Once Lost Everything hadn't dodged quickly, he would have been knocked over.
"So they were just luring monsters for me. My mistake..."
Xiao Yu dodged the girl and the wolf, ran to the side of the little white rabbit, swung his sword, and delivered a thrust. The rabbit's HP was cut by more than half!
He followed up with an upward slash, and a tuft of white rabbit fur floated into his inventory. Once Lost Everything's experience bar rose by 10%.
"Brother, party me! Party me!"
Just as Xiao Yu picked up the fur and waited for the second rabbit to spawn, the girl who had been chased by the wolf ran back, a string of characters floating above her head.
"Hmm? Where's your police dog?" Once Lost Everything also had a string of characters pop up.
"..." The girl stopped, breathless, next to Once Lost Everything.
"Brother, party me! That's not a police dog, its name is a Mountain Wolf!" Xiao Yueya's typing speed was quite fast.
"Oh, same thing. Open your party settings..."
Notification: [Xiao Yueya] has joined the party!
"Did the police dog get killed?" Xiao Yu asked again.
"It's not a police dog! It's a mountain wolf!" Xiao Yueya corrected him again.
"Oh, is it dead?"
"Yeah, someone else killed it..."
"Oh, that's a shame. When it respawns, leave the police dog to you, and I'll kill the rabbits."
"Why?" Xiao Yueya was confused. How could this guy be so ungentlemanly, letting a girl fight a wolf?
"You have experience."
"The experience of being chased by a wolf?"
"Yeah."
"..." Xiao Yueya glared at Once Lost Everything with a look of extreme contempt. She couldn't understand how this guy could be so lacking in gallantry.
"It spawned! Quick!" Two flashes of white light appeared; the mountain wolf and the wild rabbit spawned simultaneously!
Once the wolf appeared, its eyes locked onto them. Xiao Yu suddenly stepped back. Xiao Yueya was slightly further from the wolf than he was, but his retreat swapped their positions, locking the wolf's aggro directly onto Xiao Yueya.
"Run!" Xiao Yu shouted. His body swayed, and his sword hacked into the neck of the little white rabbit.
"Pfft..."
"Critical Hit: 35!"
The rabbit was killed instantly, and a tuft of fur flew out.
Xiao Yueya was already sprinting away for her life...
"Come back!"
Just as she was cursing this guy for being utterly wicked, she saw another message from him in the party chat.
"?" Not understanding what he wanted, Xiao Yueya typed a question mark.
"Come to me!"
"Oh."
Was he finally going to help her kill the wolf? He finally had a shred of humanity. Xiao Yueya circled around and ran back, the mountain wolf still in hot pursuit.
"Circle around me," Xiao Yu said once she returned.
"What? We're not killing it?"
"We are, but it hasn't respawned yet..."
"I mean kill the wolf!"
"Oh, no. Just keep walking it around for a bit..."
"..." Was she a dog?
"What do you mean?"
Xiao Yueya was too angry to speak. What the hell was this? Her shoes had practically run off, and he was just standing there watching the show? Wasn't this a typical case of refusing to help someone in danger?
White light flashed—the wild rabbit appeared!
Once Lost Everything waved his hand, the sword rose, and the rabbit died!
A moment later, the light flashed again...
Just like that, five wild rabbits and five bundles of fur were collected!
"Are you done with the quest?" Xiao Yu asked in the party.
Xiao Yueya: "Hmph!"
Xiao Yu: "?"
Xiao Yueya: "..."
Xiao Yu turned his head to look around, only to see Xiao Yueya sprinting toward the Novice Village, the mountain wolf behind her having been taken down by a group of other players.
"She runs fast, just like she's being chased by a wolf..."
As soon as he sent the message, Once Lost Everything laughed. Well, she *was* being chased by a wolf...
"You're not a man! I hate you!" Xiao Yueya sent in the party chat.
Xiao Yu was running, and hearing this, he quickly stopped, looked down at his shorts, checked, and then continued running toward the village.
"Nonsense, I am!"
"If you're a man, why didn't you help me? You just watched the wolf chase me! Shameless! I've never seen such a useless man!"
"Look, miss, if you kill the wolf, the system won't respawn it. I was afraid you'd be too far away to get experience, so I had you run around me. Why are you blaming me?"
"Who's your 'miss'? Call me Auntie!"
"Auntie..."
"..."
"What do those six dots mean?"
"..."
Soon, Xiao Yu reached the Novice Village. Navigating through the chaotic crowd, he handed the rabbit fur to the Village Chief.
"Old man, your fur is ready..."
"Heavens, your speed at plucking, young hero, is truly swift! I am impressed. Here is a small token of appreciation, please accept it!"
System Notification: You have received +100 EXP, 10 Copper, +5 Reputation, and [Young Hero's Helmet].
A white light descended with the system notification; Once Lost Everything had reached level 2.
Xiao Yu glanced at the attributes of the [Young Hero's Helmet].
[Young Hero's Helmet] (White Tier)
Level: 1
Physical Defense: 2
Magic Defense: 2
Weight: 2
Durability: 70/70
...
Even though it was white-tier gear, it added two points of defense. Every little bit helped; nobody would complain about gear this early in the game. Just then, the Village Chief's voice came from behind him.
"Ahem, young hero, please stay a moment..."
Hearing the Village Chief, Xiao Yu knew there was another quest.
Once Lost Everything: "What is it, old man? Not enough fur?"
Village Chief: "It is plenty, thank you. But I am hosting guests soon. I have the vegetables, but I am lacking meat. Would you be willing to fetch some rabbit meat for me to solve my predicament?"
"Fine, I'll help you one more time."
*Ding!*
Quest: Obtain Rabbit Meat 0/5.
After accepting the quest, Xiao Yu opened his inventory, put on the helmet, and ran back toward the outskirts.
Looking at the system notification, there were already over 10 million players in the server!
There were twenty novice villages in *God Tribulation*, and with only one district open and split into twenty channels, each village had an average of 25,000 players.
What was worse, the number of players logging in was still climbing vertically.
The village was packed, and the fields outside were swarming with people. Along the way, blades flashed and blood flew. Xiao Yu headed straight for the rabbit spawn point, following the coordinates from before.