The moment Qin Shuo entered the game, he didn't notice that the jade pendant on his neck suddenly glowed with strange white light, then went dark again.
A burst of white light filled his vision. Qin Shuo shut his eyes tight as a mechanical voice echoed in his ears.
[Ding! Checking player information. Starting comparison with gene bank.]
[Ding! Player information check complete. Real name: [Qin Shuo]. Player information successfully entered.]
[Ding! Player information binding complete. Welcome to [World Conqueror]. May you forge your own destiny.]
Then the opening cutscene began to play.
A lonely city at sunset. A single rider in the distance.
Below the city walls, a young man sat on a black horse. He wore dark robes, and his sword gleamed like silver under the red sun. Across from him stood an army of alien creatures—covered in animal skins, carrying crude weapons, their faces twisted like wild beasts.
The autumn wind howled, adding to the scene's tragic beauty.
"The wind grows cold, the waters turn bitter. The brave will never return home."
The young man sang his battle hymn. His eyes showed no fear of the massive army before him. Only contempt.
His horse charged forward. His sword flashed like snow as he crashed into the alien horde like a northern wind. The four-foot blade drew perfect arcs through the air. With each swing, several enemies fell. Sometimes dozens.
Within the army, there were no challengers left. Only corpses and cowards running away.
The sword light shone like moonbeams. The blade cut like jade.
The young man leaped from his horse and stepped on an alien's spear. He flew straight at their leader. One more strike. Head and body parted ways.
The city gates burst open. Black-armored cavalry poured out like a dark river. On the walls stood a king with his arms crossed—a ruler who looked down on the whole world.
He jumped from the wall, stepping on air itself, and landed on the lead horse at the front of his army.
Wind swept across the grassland with a low howling sound, like ancient spirits crying across the battlefield.
Before him stretched another alien army, ten miles long. The king waved his sleeve. Behind him, a million black-armored riders began their war cry.
He waved again. Battle drums thundered. Even cowardly soldiers found their courage. Even the weakest felt bloodlust rising.
With a third wave of his sleeve, a spear appeared from thin air. The king threw off his robe, showing the armor beneath, and charged first.
His soldiers followed like men possessed, their eyes red with battle fury. Iron hooves trampled every fallen enemy. The battlefield became a giant meat grinder.
Blood covered the sky. Screams shook the earth.
The war dragged on. Enemy forces seemed endless. The soldiers slowly grew tired.
On the empty city walls, figures appeared—warlocks in long robes. They held magical weapons while servants prepared altars behind them.
The warlocks climbed onto the altars, poured spiritual power into their weapons, and began chanting together.
Their voices sounded like demons crying from the nine heavens or devils screaming from the deepest hells.
The spells turned into glowing symbols that blessed the warriors below. Thin flesh grew thick with muscle. Fragile skin became tough enough to resist werewolf claws.
The magic rained down like meteors or poisonous mist, harvesting alien lives without mercy.
When the victory bells rang, the knights smiled with confidence. The king felt the joy of triumph. The warlocks collapsed, exhausted but satisfied.
The battle was completely won.
Qin Shuo watched everything with calm eyes. This was just an ordinary battle. He'd fought countless ones just like it in his past life.
When he'd first seen this cutscene ten years ago, it had filled him with passion. "Why shouldn't men carry swords and charge head-on into battle?" That was every man's dream.
But in his past life, money problems had delayed his entry by six months. He'd missed the best development window and lost precious time.
Still, his luck hadn't been terrible then. He'd chosen the lord profession and happened to find a village token to start his path to power.
The struggles had been endless. It took six years of gameplay before he truly made his mark and became a prince in that chaotic world, ruling his own broken territory.
And the person who'd stood by his side in the game wasn't his sister, but a woman named Lin Muxue. They'd met during hard times and eventually became husband and wife.
In reality, they'd gotten together too and became a real couple.
This seemingly beautiful story had turned sour from there.
His brother had also been a small lord. With Qin Shuo's help, his brother's territory grew into a county city. When the world fell into chaos, his brother became a minor prince too.
But after gaining that power, his brother showed no gratitude. Instead, he started coveting Qin Shuo's territory. He even had the nerve to ask for it as a gift. Of course, Qin Shuo had refused.
But on the night Qin Shuo died, the person who'd shared his bed for years—Lin Muxue—had driven a poisoned dagger into his body with her own hands.
He'd never seen such cold, empty eyes on her face before. He'd tried to find reasons before dying, but they all crumbled in front of those indifferent eyes.
After these memories faded, everything went dark. An emotionless voice spoke in his ears.
[Ding! Cutscene complete. Please choose your in-game name.]
"Qin Shuo."
He saw no point in hiding his real name. It felt more comfortable this way.
[Ding! Please choose your profession: Lord, Knight, Warlock, Life Profession.]
Qin Shuo knew all this by heart. "Lord," he said without hesitation.
The lord profession was trash for some people and treasure for others. Everything depended on one thing—the village token. That determined whether you were a real lord or just had an empty title.
In his past life, fewer than ten thousand village tokens had appeared in all of China during the game's first month. But hundreds of millions of Chinese players had entered the game.
Many players had blindly chosen lord at the start. When they couldn't get village tokens, they had to delete their characters and start over. Each person only got one chance to do that in their lifetime.
The cold voice spoke again. "Please choose your spawn location."
A huge map appeared before Qin Shuo—the fourteen provinces of the Three Kingdoms period. The first phase of the Chinese region started during that era.
The Three Kingdoms period had produced countless heroes. Thanks to the famous novel, this was the most fitting period for Chinese players.
His past life had been spent entirely in the Three Kingdoms period, so he knew this history better than anyone.
Of course, his "ten years" meant ten years in the game—only five in reality.
Players could choose which province or county they wanted, but their exact spawn point was random.
Qin Shuo's gaze moved over every option: Sili, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou, Qingzhou...
Finally, his eyes stopped on Yangzhou. In his past life, he'd spawned there and started his conquest at the foot of Tianzhu Mountain.
This time, he'd start from the same place. It was the area he knew best. He just hoped he'd spawn in the same location again.
"Yangzhou."
Qin Shuo pointed to Yangzhou's position.
[Ding! Entering player information. Randomly selecting county within Yangzhou.]
[Ding! Player information entry failed. External device detected. Please—]
[Ding! System error detected. Automatically adjusting settings...]
The string of system messages almost made Qin Shuo dizzy. Too much information at once. But the main question was—what external device had it detected on him?
Qin Shuo waited for the system's final decision. He really wanted to say something though.
'I swear I'm not cheating. I, Qin Shuo, would never hack!'