Chapter 197: Rast, Start Speedrun (5k)
Rast reached out and picked up Mr. Silver, who was passionately typing at the keyboard, and set him aside.
Then, he picked up the sci-fi styled headband.
“Fully Immersive Virtual Reality Game Helmet”
This was the full name of the stylish little headband in Rast’s hand.
As depicted in countless fantasy novels, once you put on this headband, you could directly experience the five senses simulated by electric signals through a brain-machine interface.
This technology, which only existed in the blueprints and concepts of mechanics in the real world and had not even produced a prototype, seemed to have already been widely adopted in this Sixth Epoch Night World, fully civilianized and made available in homes everywhere.
Due to its complete civilianization, the way to use the game headband was very simple. Rast quickly mastered the usage skill with just a brief attempt.
He turned to Mr. Silver, who was squatting next to the computer desk, eagerly rubbing his tiny paws: “Well then, I’m leaving my real body to you, Mr. Silver. If something abnormal happens, like the Disaster of Intelligent Machinery arriving early, remember to call me to log out.”
“Don’t worry, I got this!”
Mr. Silver wagged his tail and urged impatiently: “Even if something strange happens, even if this game suddenly turns into an un-log-outable d*ath game, I have my ways to get you out.”
“Come on, get me in; I’m looking forward to watching the livestream!”
“Playing a d*ath game within a d*ath game, why does that sound so convoluted?”
Rast connected the cables and then found a comfortable angle to lie down on the soft bed, placing the virtual headband on his top.
Next, he pressed the start button on the side of the headband.
Ding—
After a crisp system prompt sound, Rast felt his consciousness being pulled by the data stream, entering a brand new illusory world.
This feeling was not unfamiliar to Rast; it was quite similar to the sensation he experienced when entering the echoes of history in the Night World.
The only difference was that the guiding process for consciousness in this virtual game was much rougher and stiffer compared to the Night World, showcasing a stark difference in technological capability.
Of course—
From another perspective, if all these details were improved and the roughness of experience was polished, then from the viewpoint of an ordinary person, it would likely be hard to distinguish the differences between the virtual reality game and the Night World.
“Welcome to the virtual reality game ‘Guardian’s Poem.'”
“In this game, you will become a time traveler, traversing back hundreds of years to the dark chaotic era after the great catastrophe, and experience that epic time with heroes who saved the flame of civilization during the turmoil.”
“New citizen iris information detected, registering your exclusive new account.”
“According to federal laws and regulations, this game requires user iris verification during play. Our company is committed to protecting user privacy; collected iris and identity information will only be used for verification purposes.”
“Please continue the game after confirming you have read the ‘Game Privacy Terms.'”
As a gentle female voice accompanied this text, Rast felt lines of text rapidly flash before his eyes.
Once the floating text disappeared, Rast saw a dense page of the “Game Privacy Protection Guidelines” before him.
“Wait…”
“This game is way too much in line with the stereotypes from my previous life, isn’t it?”
Rast couldn’t help but feel slightly stunned.
While the development of human civilization largely leads to similar ends, arriving at this level of similarity was a bit too abstract for him.
However, Rast quickly realized—
When he said goodbye to Grey on the rocky beach after the Battle of the Broken Coast, he used the ability of the “Library of Fools” to pass on his experiences, perceptions, and insights about future society to Grey. Naturally, this also included his gaming experiences from his past life.
And since Grey grew up in the Steam Age, she had never played any video games, let alone knew what a video game should look like.
Therefore, when creating “Guardian’s Poem,” all Grey could do was mimic; she could only base her work on the experiences from those domestic online games in the Library of Fools.
Thus, it turns out this blame ultimately falls on him.
Rast could already imagine the players in this world feeling a deep sense of resentment when they read those convoluted game privacy terms.
With this in mind, Rast focused and scrolled to the bottom of the tedious privacy terms and selected confirm.
No way, would anyone really read the privacy terms word by word?
With the click of the confirmation button, the previous interface disappeared, replaced by a new line of text.
“Please enter your user nickname:”
“Guardian”
“This nickname has already been used, please enter again.”
“Guardian152”
“This nickname has already been used, please enter again.”
“Guardian114514”
“This nickname has already been used, please enter again.”
…
“Fool, ‘Guardian’ and ‘Rast’ are both virtual idols in this world, a world-class hot term; how could you possibly get a name like that?”
Mr. Silver’s noisy voice came from outside, clearly checking Rast’s gaming progress through the host’s screen.
“Trust me, use my ID!”
Hearing the nickname mentioned by Mr. Silver, Rast’s tone became somewhat delicate: “Mr. Silver, are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” The Little Ferret proudly puffed out its chest: “You can always trust the aesthetic sense of a seasoned netizen with thirty years of surfing experience!”
“Alright.” Rast nodded.
“User nickname [Little Ferret Candy] confirmed.”
The light and shadow before him rippled like water.
Next, Rast saw the game’s lobby interface.
After skipping a pile of miscellaneous daily login, check-in, regular card pool, event limited card pool, monthly card, weekly activity, and monthly activity buttons, Rast found the option for “Deep Blue Harbor Speedrun Challenge.”
[This challenge is a limited-time event where players will return to three hundred years ago, to the eve of the outbreak of the Iron Cross Plague, and experience the same peril that the historical hero Rast faced as a Guardian.]
[After the challenge ends, a comprehensive score based on the player’s survival duration, plot change rate, exploration ratio, and other data will be calculated. The scores will be included in the overall leaderboard, and corresponding rewards will be given based on rankings after the limited-time event concludes.]
[Limited-time event ranking rewards are shown in the table below; the first place in the score ranking at the end of the event will be invited to the Third Mechanical Research Institute and gain the qualification to visit the “Artificial Angel” project.]
[Remaining time for limited-time event: 23 hours.]
[Please note that this limited-time event may contain bloody, violent, and grotesque elements; players are advised to confirm the accuracy of the above content before entering.]
[Confirm/Exit]
This limited-time event only has 23 hours left?
Not considering situations where he could drop dead in five minutes and try three rounds, but calculating with one day as a complete loop means that he might only have one last chance left.
Seeing this, Rast no longer hesitated and directly chose “Confirm.”
As Rast clicked the confirm button again, the light and shadow in front of him twisted once more.
When his vision became clear again, the complicated, dense game UI had completely disappeared.
The air carried the salty sea breeze, confirming that this place was not too far from the coast, but rather a small town near the seaside.
What appeared before him was a dark dungeon, and he himself was a prisoner within it.
Through the rusted iron bars and the torches lit in the dungeon, he could vaguely see figures outside wearing long black robes, guarding.
Seeing those cultists in black robes, Rast felt the memories that had long been sealed in the corner of his memory attic slowly revive.
He recognized their decorations—this was the cult organization created by the fisherman who randomly acquired the Evil God sculpture in Deep Blue Harbor.
He was familiar with every member of this small cult and could even directly call out the name of the cultist guarding outside, just by recognizing the figure obscured under that black robe in the flickering light.
So, his initial identity in “Guardian’s Poem” was arranged as a sacrifice to be bl**d-ritualed by that cult to welcome the half-god descent of the Evil God?
This was indeed a brand new experience that Rast had never encountered in his three hundred years of reincarnation in Deep Blue Harbor; after all, in those countless loops, his starting identity had always been that of a free man who could move freely in Deep Blue Harbor.
However, the difference wasn’t vast.
Rast gently closed his eyes.
He never thought there would come a day when he could return to Deep Blue Harbor, even within a simulated virtual world created by electronic signals.
“Guardian’s Poem” had assigned him the initial identity of a captive without freedom, placing significant limitations on what he could do compared to starting as a free man.
For example, throughout every opening of Rast’s previous loops, he would routinely acquire his beloved guns—the Heavy Strike Revolver “Iron Pattern Moon” and the Sniper Rifle “Deep Blue Judgment.” This time, he would likely find it difficult to obtain them.
Moreover, this time he had also lost the powerful ally Hiltina, whose participation had directly helped Rast break the balance in Deep Blue Harbor… Without Hiltina, Rast might have been trapped in Deep Blue Harbor for hundreds of years, or even longer.
Additionally, there were only 23 hours left for the limited-time event. This meant Rast had only one complete opportunity left to attempt the challenge.
His margin for error had been minimized; any decision-making mistake or mishandling of details could lead to this sole chance becoming wasted… and he would no longer have the option to d*e and restart like he did before, with the ability to explore and push forward through endless trial and error.
Overall, Rast’s current situation was much more challenging than when he first faced Deep Blue Harbor.
However—
The current Rast was completely different from the one who once spiraled into self-destruction in Deep Blue Harbor.
Not just in terms of the level of a transcendent being.
The real transformation was in his heart.
“Well then, let’s begin…”
Rast opened his eyes again.
“To uncover the truth of Canaan, and to reunite with Xiao Ai.”
“To challenge this game called Deep Blue Harbor, which I have faced millions of times, once again—”
“Speedrun.”
…
In the real world, the room had Mr. Silver squatting on the bedside table.
He glanced at Rast, who had entered full stealth mode on the bed, and then at the host showing the loading progress on the screen, excitedly rubbing his tiny paws, overjoyed with his emotions.
After all, watching others suffer through this high-difficulty game filled with malice from the production team was indeed far more interesting than doing it himself.
Of course, while others might suffer, if it were Rast, it might just be pure enjoyment.
But it didn’t matter, watching would still be very satisfying; there’s joy in watching someone suffer and joy in watching someone speedrun.
Mr. Silver wagged his tail, and the next moment, the refrigerator door in the kitchen opened automatically.
Then, one by one, drinks and various junk foods floated in the air and landed on the table next to Mr. Silver.
How could watching a livestream be complete without snacks?
Just then.
Ding—
A prompt from the computer host slightly diverted Mr. Silver’s attention from the loading screen.
[Laughing to d*ath, as a player of “Guardian’s Poem,” this is the first time I’ve heard that Lord Rast doesn’t like cats, but prefers ferrets instead.]
[Stop making nonsense and just report your rank and score.]
[I’m in Master rank with 300 points in Area 1; this time in the Deep Blue Harbor limited challenge, I’m in the top five hundred, how about you?]
[No way, are you just a whale pretending to be good? Come on, you don’t belong in this debate!]
This was the latest reply Mr. Silver received on the “Guardian’s Poem” game forum.
The sender of this reply was the very opponent Mr. Silver had passionately been typing against earlier.
Clearly, after a passionate word battle online, the situation had escalated further—entering the phase of “What’s your rank?”, “What championship do you have?”, and “Are you having a tough time in real life?” regarding their ranks.
If it continued to develop further, it might end up in real life.
Although he didn’t really understand how the topic of “Does Guardian Rast prefer cats or dogs?” initially sparked the argument, it truly seemed unrelated to their game ranks.
However, upon seeing this reply, Mr. Silver instantly felt a surge of embarrassment.
Unfortunately, lies don’t hurt people; truths are like sharp blades.
After all, as a ferret, Mr. Silver, who couldn’t even wear a game helmet, strictly speaking, wasn’t even close to being a real player.
He was completely a cloud player.
That said, it was absolutely impossible for Mr. Silver to back down.
As a seasoned netizen, Mr. Silver knew well that the actual rights and wrongs of the discussion didn’t matter online; what mattered was expressing emotions and winning.
Whether Rast preferred cats, dogs, or ferrets wasn’t truly significant. However, if he were to lose a debate online, that would be worse than having eaten a fly.
Mr. Silver’s little paws danced across the keyboard, quickly editing the reply and sending: [Not bad at all; just ranked first in this Deep Blue Harbor limited-time event.]
The other party responded swiftly: [Oh, really? I’m the streamer, check the ID that’s currently ranked first in the Deep Blue Harbor limited-time event; it doesn’t seem to be you?]
[No way, no way, no way; is someone really getting lost in this debate and starting to concoct falsehoods?]
[Bro, if you’re really that delusional, I’d suggest finding a mental hospital early on to get treated.]
Mr. Silver’s level of embarrassment visibly increased several notches.
Bang!
He finished editing the new reply and heavily pressed Enter.
[Not first yet, but I’ll be soon; if you don’t believe me, come watch my livestream!]
(End of this chapter)
