# Chapter 1: Another Day in Paradise
The soft blue glow of the VR headset's standby light cast dancing shadows across Xìng Huáng's cramped studio apartment. Empty instant noodle containers formed small towers on his desk, a testament to weeks of uninterrupted gaming sessions. The faint hum of cooling fans mixed with the distant sounds of the city—a symphony he'd grown accustomed to during his countless hours spent in virtual worlds.
Xìng Huáng stretched his arms above his head, joints popping in protest after another twelve-hour session in Immortal Destiny. His reflection in the darkened monitor showed tired eyes beneath disheveled black hair, but there was a satisfied gleam there too. Today had been productive.
"Finally," he muttered, rubbing his temples. "Level 847 Shadow Wraith down."
Most players would have considered that boss impossible without premium gear—the kind that cost real money he simply didn't have. But patience and pattern recognition had always been his strengths. Seventeen attempts, each one teaching him something new about the creature's attack sequences, its brief vulnerability windows, the precise timing needed to dodge its soul-rending claws.
His phone buzzed against the cluttered desk. A notification from the Immortal Destiny forums: "Weekly Player Rankings Updated." Xìng Huáng almost ignored it—he rarely bothered checking his position anymore. The top ranks were dominated by whales, players who spent thousands on premium equipment and consumables. But curiosity won out.
He tapped the screen and scrolled through the endless list of usernames, each accompanied by gleaming profile pictures showcasing legendary weapons and mythical armor sets. His own avatar, dressed in carefully optimized but visibly lower-tier gear, sat at rank 847—not terrible for someone who'd never spent a cent on microtransactions.
What caught his attention wasn't his ranking, though. It was the small icon next to his name: a golden scale with an infinity symbol. The Divine Greed trait marker.
Even after three months since earning it, the sight still gave him a small thrill of pride. Bond Unique Traits were the rarest achievements in Immortal Destiny, with fewer than a hundred players worldwide possessing one. Most required either incredible luck or massive financial investment. Divine Greed was different—it could only be earned through pure dedication, by accomplishing feats that seemed impossible without premium advantages.
The trait's description was elegantly simple: "Increases drop rate of rare items by 100% when obtained through skill rather than purchase." In practical terms, it meant that every monster he defeated through careful strategy and persistence had twice the chance of dropping valuable loot.
Xìng Huáng set his phone aside and glanced at the time displayed in the corner of his monitor: 2:47 AM. He should sleep. Had been telling himself that for the past three hours. But the Crimson Valley event was starting tomorrow—today, technically—and he wanted to scout the new dungeon areas before they became crowded with other players.
He reached for his headset, then paused as a news ticker scrolled across his secondary monitor. Something about strange weather phenomena in rural China. Unexplained wildlife behavior in Australia. Missing persons reports in Northern Europe that didn't quite make sense.
Xìng Huáng frowned. The news had been full of odd stories lately, each one stranger than the last. Scientists were calling it everything from solar flare effects to mass hysteria. The explanations never quite felt adequate, but then again, the real world had always seemed less logical than the virtual ones he preferred.
He shook his head and pulled on the headset. Whatever was happening out there, it was probably just the usual media sensationalism. In Immortal Destiny, at least, the rules made sense. Effort led to progress. Skill led to rewards. Persistence led to victory.
The familiar startup sequence began, reality dissolving into streams of light as the game world materialized around him. His avatar—a lean figure in dark leather armor with carefully balanced stats—stood in the bustling central plaza of Celestial Haven City. Other players moved past him in groups, their conversations creating a pleasant background hum of activity.
"Alright," Xìng Huáng said to himself, checking his inventory one more time. Health potions: adequate. Stamina boosters: enough for a few hours. Weapon durability: good for at least fifty encounters.
He opened his map and marked the location of the new Crimson Valley portal. According to the patch notes, it contained several previously undiscovered dungeon entrances, each with unique mechanics and reward structures. For a player like him—someone who thrived on figuring out complex systems without relying on purchased advantages—it was exactly the kind of content he lived for.
As he made his way through the winding streets toward the city's eastern gate, Xìng Huáng couldn't shake the feeling that something was different tonight. Not in the game—everything there seemed normal—but something in the air itself. A subtle tension, like the moment before a thunderstorm.
He paused at a fountain in one of the smaller plazas, watching as other players hurried past. Most were heading in the same direction he was, eager to explore the new content. But their movements seemed somehow more urgent than usual, as if they too felt that strange undercurrent of anticipation.
"Probably just pre-event excitement," he reasoned, though the explanation felt incomplete.
A guild recruitment message flashed in his peripheral vision—"Eternal Blades seeking dedicated DPS, premium gear required"—and he dismissed it without reading the details. Guild membership had its benefits, but it also meant compromising his preferred playstyle. He worked better alone, where every success or failure was entirely his own responsibility.
The eastern gate loomed ahead, its massive stone archway carved with intricate scenes of legendary heroes and mythical beasts. A crowd of players had gathered there, some forming parties, others checking their equipment one final time. Xìng Huáng slipped past them, preferring to scout ahead while the area was still relatively quiet.
Beyond the gate, a shimmering portal hung in the air above a raised platform, its surface rippling with deep red energy. The Crimson Valley entrance. Even from a distance, he could sense something different about this particular portal—a weight to it that the others lacked.
As he approached, a system message appeared in his field of vision: "Warning: Crimson Valley contains experimental content. Proceed with caution."
Xìng Huáng smiled. Experimental content was always the most rewarding for players willing to figure it out through trial and error. And with his Divine Greed trait active, whatever treasures waited inside would have twice the normal chance of dropping into his inventory.
He stepped through the portal without hesitation, leaving behind the familiar comforts of Celestial Haven for whatever challenges awaited in the mysterious new realm beyond.
Behind him, unnoticed by any of the players in their virtual worlds, the first crack appeared in the evening sky above the city, so thin and brief that even if someone had seen it, they might have dismissed it as a trick of the light.