107. Li Aozi, Refund!
As Xia Yubing was brooding, jealousy burning brightly in her heart, a friend icon in her list lit up again.
Wen Zhong's Dragon: Yubing, the funding from our sponsor has arrived. You can go for a [Warrior] or some other [Destruction]-type primary job transfer now. — Read, Just Now.
It was Wen Long, a veteran club member. He was also Frost-Plated born, but had been randomly assigned to the military. Coincidentally, he found himself in the midst of David Lin's military reforms, smoothly reaching level 9 as a [Warrior].
As an experienced online gamer, Wen Long was well acquainted with the game's system. Soon, he would have a chance to equip military cybernetics.
At this thought, Xia Yubing suddenly had an idea and quickly began typing.
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Reply: Got it, Wen Long bro... By the way, do you know anything about Ziranfen? — Read
Wen Zhong's Dragon: [XXG•Ziranfen]? Yeah, I follow eSports often. She came in second in the Yanxia FPS tournament's solo group. For a woman to achieve that level is pretty incredible. Oh yeah, Aniu mentioned she's his teammate. I'm so jealous. — Read
Reply: Tournament participant? Do you have any real-life photos? — Read
Wen Zhong's Dragon: It was an offline tournament, but she uses a virtual avatar for live streaming, so there's no picture of her real self. — Read
Reply: Tch, she probably just lacks the confidence in her looks, hiding behind a skin suit. — Read
Wen Zhong's Dragon: That's pretty harsh, don't you think? Remember Liz? He was a handsome kid, yet he used a virtual avatar too during our online chats. Poor guy—he ended up committing suicide, and now no one's around to play swords with me. — Read
Reply: You all really don't understand anything... Anyway, I'll catch up in levels soon enough. Maybe I'll take a page from Li Aozi's book, nuke myself into outer space and meet up with Ziniu. — Read
Wen Zhong's Dragon: Speaking of Li Aozi, you might not have heard yet? — Read
Reply: Heard what? — Read
Wen Zhong's Dragon: Let me send you a link. Check it out for yourself; seems like Li Aozi's reputation has taken a nosedive lately. — Read
(Click here to open link)
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"Li Aozi clicked on the link, finding the culprit behind his drastic drop in reputation. "
"Scammer Li Aozi! The Darkest Day in Gaming History!"
Original Poster: Living Just to Sting Ants
Post Time: 10:23 AM
Content:
"Star Abyss" has gone through two tests and is now officially in open beta. Surely, many of you are already deep into your adventures. Yes, the game is fun, really fun—great handling, flawless feedback, and realism like none other. With the optimized resurrection mechanics, the difficulty has dropped significantly, making it undoubtedly the best game on the market—a true powerhouse.
Of course, I, the humble mouse, am just a noob with poor reflexes. Originally, I watched the "Star Abyss" closed beta promotional video, got hooked by Li Aozi's passionate speech, and chose Frost-Plated Republic as my starting point, ready to wreak havoc.
I'm sure there are quite a few of you who got pulled in by the cool visuals of the [Domination] Path, too! Remember the trailer? Gravity multiplied a hundredfold, gods kneeling, blades flying, Buddhas weeping—not just badass, downright breathtaking!
But what did we end up with?
No powerful Omega Energy, the main stat [Charisma] was basically useless, couldn't equip heavy armor, early-stage DPS was worse than a 9mm pistol, and the mana consumption was absurd.
Even the supposedly mighty [Gravity] Aether—did you think you'd be forming black holes with your bare hands? Twisting space-time? Terraforming the heavens?
Wrong! Normal people can't handle [Gravity] Aether without practice. You need at least 200 hours of operational experience just to match others.
I tried it myself: just throwing a rock using [Gravity] and hitting a target 30 meters away took me 30 hours of practice. Trying to force someone to kneel with [Gravity]? Five hours for that one simple action.
By that time, you could've leveled up twice in your main job.
Ironically, the most practical skill ended up being [Truth Eye], which is basically a wallhack. And yet, if I were going to be a scout, wouldn't playing a dedicated [Mutant] be better?
Aether isn't as powerful as everyone thought.
Hold on before arguing. I've got insider knowledge—been following "Star Abyss" since last year, in touch with some staff at QiQiao Networks. The [Domination] Path was internally deemed a 'non-viable' path right from the start. The early design document clearly stated:
"The [Domination] Path is an entertainment-centric branch designed to boost company revenue. We want players to enjoy diverse gameplay, but we do not expect the highly random nature of [Domination] to be mainstream."
Read that carefully—that's from an internal memo. Then, during the closed beta, the originally entertainment-focused [Domination] Path suddenly became a centerpiece? Doesn't that strike anyone as strange?
In a game like "Star Abyss" that emphasizes growth and progression, the most hyped path was [Domination]? In the Frost-Plated trailer, Li Aozi alone occupied three-quarters of the screen time!
This was nothing but a bait using Li Aozi's good looks to scam us, getting players to invest heavily into the [Domination] Path, and then buying all sorts of jewelry to boost their main attribute.
That's the truth behind [Mutants].
Li Aozi lured us into the game, only for the mentor to disappear at the start of the open beta. What are we supposed to do, those of us who chose the [Domination] Path?
And Frost-Plated—everyone knows it by now—under David Lin's leadership, Frost-Plated has undergone a massive transformation. Tech is being unclassified, and things are getting better.
But how did Li Aozi promote it? He made Frost-Plated sound worse than trash, stirring people's anger. Come on, we're here to play a game. Frost-Plated offers great treatment, tons of opportunities to level and grind, and as long as you register as a bounty hunter and work steadily for a month, you can make 6K Debe. Can you do that in other nations?
Seeing some still praising Li Aozi's courage in breaking through Calamity's(Esha) blockade, I'm just baffled.
Wasn't it just pressing a nuke button? Big deal.
Checked the background—in wars between the Four Nations, nukes get tossed around all the time.
Some Li Aozi fanboys need to stop. You praise him one second, then talk trash when squeezed. Enough with 'Our mentor is a storyline protagonist, took players to space during beta.'
Laughable. It was just an escape mission—who can't do that? And this guy calls himself a protagonist?
Remember, "One patch dethrones the old gods." Using the closed beta storyline protagonist to compare with our current open beta? Who knows—next patch might just remove Li Aozi and the entire [Domination] Path.
Under Calamity's crimson-black sky, even as the lowest of the [Mutants], just picturing Li Aozi leading top-tier class players in outer space feels enough to make one stand tall.
Sigh, can we ever repay Li Aozi's debt? It's just a piece of virtual code and pixels, but it's given some Star Abyss players enough cranial joy to feel like a heroic insertion point.
As for me? I'm going straight into the [Destruction] Path, gathering enough funds to defect to the Frost-Plated Federation.
We've experienced the worst scam in gaming history! After all of this, 'Li Aozi' and his [Domination] Path seem like a joke to me.
....
After reading the post, Li Aozi stayed silent for a full ten seconds before finally responding:
"Brain-locked."