Chapter 24: A Scheming Game

As for the fate of that programmer, Tang Shen had no interest whatsoever; nor did he need to care. He didn't know the man at all, so why bother? Besides, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing for the guy; at the very least, someone would take care of him from now on, though it meant being kept under control.

Tang Shen continued browsing the forum, soon noticing pinned posts whose sole purpose was to find him—the first player to log into the game. They offered a host of tempting rewards, so enticing that any ordinary person could live worry-free for the rest of their life. A crowd gathered, fawning over the wealthy benefactor, but it was utterly useless.

If it had been the old Tang Shen, perhaps he would have wavered; after all, a lifetime of security was no small thing. But for the present Tang Shen, what good was any of it? Once he revealed himself, countless hungry wolves would fix their eyes on him. Without strength, even the greatest opportunities would merely provide others with a wedding garment, and he might even lose his life in the process.

Uncontrollable factors, or those not serving oneself—many would rather destroy them than let others use them.

Even with money, you must live long enough to spend it.

So, despite the dazzling promises, Tang Shen merely cast a cold glance, sensing hidden threats lurking behind every offer.

Still, his heart ached—so much money! And so many beautiful women!

He scrolled a bit further, unable to suppress a sigh: "Life is indeed lonely as snow. Once, I didn't know what it felt like to stand atop the summit; now, I understand. Truly, it's cold at the heights."

If those searching for him heard this, they'd probably cough up blood in anger.

Yet none of them could have imagined that beneath Tang Shen's youthful appearance was a rather quirky but terrifyingly experienced presence—more worldly than they could ever hope to be.

Trying to trick him?

Sorry, not a chance.

Soon, Tang Shen was drawn in by a new post—something quite amusing.

It discussed the game's sensitive words when choosing a name. Tang Shen had encountered this himself, and to be safe, he'd chosen a name straight from the pirate world.

The official site gave no warning, meaning everything had to be discovered by trial and error.

Sure enough, someone had fallen for the trap—the poster himself.

It turned out, upon entering the game, he boldly picked the name "War God." Though the War God had passed away seventeen years ago, many still idolized him, so the name seemed perfectly reasonable.

Unfortunately, it triggered the sensitive word filter, and the system automatically assigned him a new name: "Er Gou."

And it couldn't be changed.

The poor fellow was bawling and complaining, cursing the game developers for not providing a warning. Now he was too embarrassed to tell his friends his in-game name.

Tang Shen saw this and immediately called out "666"—what a masterstroke! Such an operation! The system's random naming was simply unacceptable. Thankfully, he hadn't blurted out his first choice, or he might have ended up the same.

Imagine a whole-server announcement: Congratulations to player Er Gou... Damn, just the thought made his whole body twitch.

It wouldn't be fame, but ridicule by all.

Amused, Tang Shen continued reading, surprised to find that the poster wasn't mocked at all—on the contrary, the masses sympathized.

Everyone was cursing the game, since their own names were hardly any better than Er Gou's.

Doggy, Dog Egg, Blackie, Ah Huang, Big Yellow, Five-Spice Pork, Radish, Vegetable—names so baffling they defied explanation.

This game system was truly something else. These names sounded utterly unserious—either ugly nicknames or food items. It seemed the system had a vendetta with these categories.

One user complained: How did the system give me the name "Yuantong"? I still can't figure out what it means, but it's better than yours.

Tang Shen burst out laughing—wasn't that a courier company? In this world, there was no Yuantong Express, so it was natural that no one knew. But Tang Shen remembered—it had been quite famous in his previous life. He quipped, "What, is there also Shentong?"

A few posts later, there it was—Shentong.

Tang Shen: "......"

He suddenly sensed the game system might have crossed worlds.

Many tried grand names like War God, Thunder God, God of Soldiers, Overlord, and so on, only to fall into the same trap—the system assigned them "glorious, eye-catching" names.

Tang Shen concluded that the sensitive words were probably things like "God" and "King."

He continued scrolling; most posts were complaints, or tales of being instantly killed by savage beasts, with resurrection on a timer, and so forth.

Some posts speculated about Tang Shen himself, accusing him of cheating or using backdoors. Tang Shen merely smiled and said nothing.

But one post caught his eye—it was a rant about Pirate Empress Boa Hancock.

The poster had seen the Pirate Empress, assumed Hancock was just a regular AI, and uttered some disrespectful words. He met a tragic fate: kicked out of the game by Hancock herself, experiencing death firsthand.

The sensation was identical to real life—being kicked to pieces. Even now, he suffered lingering trauma. Not only did he complain about the game, he threatened to report it to the authorities.

Tang Shen rolled his eyes—what an idiot.

What sort of woman was Boa Hancock? A queen among queens.

Even someone as impressive as Tang Shen only managed a bit of banter as he was about to be teleported away; you wouldn't even know how you died.

Yet below, a swarm of diehard Hancock fans appeared, making Tang Shen sigh—indeed, in any world, beauty is invincible.

No matter how terrible Hancock's personality, her breathtaking looks made countless men willingly grovel at her feet.

Tang Shen inwardly and outwardly despised them—so little dignity.

A man should have dreams, like making Hancock kneel and call him father, then warm his bed. Now that's a real man's ambition.

On the first day, there wasn't much exploration. Most players tried to kill monsters, only to be bitten by the Tooth Rabbit and forced to call it "Daddy," before dying anyway.

Only a few survived, and some had already figured out how to become strong and survive.

That's right—survival!

If you can't even survive, how can you level up? No one was stupid enough to fight savage beasts they couldn't beat; that's just suicide, and the more you die, the longer the cooldown.

Besides, dying was no pleasant experience—the weaker your resilience, the deeper the psychological trauma.

As for survival strategies, naturally, the first step was to train and grow stronger. Some players studied the official information and concluded that joining the Navy faction was the best option.