With a stranger in her home, Sheng Sheng couldn't exactly shut out the outside world and devote herself wholeheartedly to holographic gaming.
Wrapped in a blanket, she decided not to sleep either. Instead, she curled up on the other end of the sofa and started browsing on her phone.
She had arrived in this world only recently. Although she knew the novel's plot progression, most of it revolved around the melodramatic romance between the male and female leads, with very little description of the world itself.
Sheng Sheng took the opportunity to search online for more information. At the very least, she needed to grasp basic common sense to avoid exposing herself later.
She skimmed through historical information. Perhaps because this was a novel world, history didn't differ much from her original world. But the closer it got to modern times, the more the social structure diverged.
This inevitably brought up the identity of the original novel's male lead.
The novel was extremely "entry-level." Though it claimed to be a holographic game story, it was really just a romance wrapped in that shell. And as a male lead in such a novel, how could he not have an overwhelmingly powerful background?
For male leads, being a domineering CEO was the bare minimum; being the world's richest man was standard configuration.
So this was how the world was set up.
The original male lead was named Murong Han, heir to the Murong family. The Murong family was an old aristocratic household, already immensely wealthy more than a century ago. By modern times, they had become a deeply rooted noble clan with countless assets, basically ranking first in the world year after year.
And of course, besides the Murong family, there were other elite families in this world.
To highlight the female lead's charm, there naturally had to be a second male lead as a confidant.
Thus, the Ouyang family, ranked second in the world. Their heir was named Ouyang Yunhai, one of the female lead's pursuers in the later part of the novel—also known as the second male lead.
Besides those two families, there was also the third-ranked family—the Ling family.
However, the Ling family's surname was only a single character, far less imposing than the previous two compound surnames. Their assets couldn't compare to the Murong or Ouyang families either, and in the original novel they had no emotional entanglement with the female lead. They were probably just a background prop added due to the author's compulsive need for symmetry.
Aside from these three families, the rest of the world's settings were largely similar to Sheng Sheng's original world.
—After all, the novel was still wearing the skin of a holographic game story. Most of the plot unfolded inside the game, with little relevance to real society. At most, when the male lead and male supporting lead competed over who could spend more money in-game, their assets would be mentioned in passing.
The setting was frankly ridiculous. Sheng Sheng didn't read too closely—she just glanced through a few encyclopedia pages to memorize their faces before closing the browser.
People like her, an ordinary citizen, would never cross paths with these tycoons unless something unexpected happened.
Only the original owner had been reckless. Because she'd accidentally become friends with Murong Han as a child, she'd clung to him ever since, claiming the status of childhood sweetheart and even attempting to sabotage the original male and female leads' relationship.
Although Murong Han, as a male lead, did have capital—handsome, rich, cold to others but a loyal dog to the female lead—those perks still required you to be alive to enjoy them.
Forcing things like the original owner had done only led to being written to death by the author.
"Isn't it good to be alive?" Sheng Sheng clicked her tongue. "Three-legged toads are hard to find, but two-legged men are everywhere."
As she said this, she couldn't help glancing at the man sleeping on the sofa.
After seeing the 360-degree, no-dead-angle photos of the three-dimensionalized male lead Murong Han, Sheng Sheng actually found the man on the sofa more appealing.
Those handsome features, that body proportion—while treating his wounds earlier, she'd even seen his eight-pack abs.
Most importantly, his noble aura.
Compared to him, Murong Han felt like a love-brained elementary school kid.
"To be honest, if he were an ordinary person, I really could!"
But this man's identity was definitely not simple—certainly not an ordinary civilian.
That thought instantly extinguished the tiny spark in Sheng Sheng's heart.
Compared to men, her life and her games were far more important.
…
Checking the time, it was only 2 a.m. For someone used to staying up all night, the nightlife had just begun.
After some thought, Sheng Sheng decided to check the forums.
As the core of the novel, *Earth Online* was essentially a global hit. Barely over ten hours after release, it already had an international game forum.
The forum system was very well-developed—everything other games had, it had too.
Sheng Sheng first checked the strategy section. Unfortunately, as the nation's first full-dive game and having launched only hours ago with no beta testing, all players were basically stumbling in the dark.
There were only a dozen or so posts in the strategy section, mostly things like "chatting with NPCs can unlock side quests." For someone like Sheng Sheng, who had read the original novel, there was no real substance.
After a quick scan, she moved to the general discussion board.
Compared to the strict strategy section, the general board was mostly gossip, with a small amount of speculative guides that lacked sufficient data and therefore hadn't been moved by moderators.
Since the original novel focused far more on romance than game mechanics, Sheng Sheng hoped she might stumble upon some useful information here.
The moment she entered, she saw a pinned, highlighted post from several hours ago—and cold sweat instantly broke out on her forehead.
Because the title was:
"Shocking! Preli Town Suffers This Disaster—A Bug Gone Wrong, or Systemic Corruption?!"
*Earth Online*'s newbie zones differed from other games. While beginner quests were similar, each starting town had completely different base settings—NPCs, even town names, were unique.
So in the entire game, there was only one Preli Town.
Sheng Sheng cleared her throat and, feeling guilty, clicked into the post.
Sure enough, it described the black dragon destroying the town. The original poster laid things out logically and even attached screenshots as proof.
The dragon's powerful figure and the scene of dragonfire destroying houses were faithfully captured, visible to countless players.
At the end, the poster said they had already contacted the GMs and were awaiting an official response.
The comments below were a mess of discussion.
Some players, unaffected, just praised how cool the black dragon was and said they wanted to raise one someday.
Some socially conscious players believed this was a game bug and that Preli Town couldn't be the only one affected.
Others thought it might be a fixed storyline.
Fortunately, no one had yet linked the incident to a player's quest—truly a blessing in misfortune.
Sheng Sheng nervously scrolled, searching for an official response.
Although *Earth Online* advertised full immersion, the administrators' replies were extremely prompt—usually within twelve hours at most.
This post was no exception.
After scrolling through over two thousand comments, Sheng Sheng finally found the message she was looking for.
GM0202: "After investigation, no abnormal program behavior has been found in 'Preli Town.' Any storyline events are part of normal gameplay. Side quests in this town will be reissued after reconstruction…"
Seeing this, Sheng Sheng finally let out a huge sigh of relief.
After years of gaming, she knew exactly what "becoming famous" meant—especially the bad kind.
If Preli Town's players found out that it was because Sheng Sheng completed a certain quest and released the black dragon, causing the town's destruction and loss of side quests…
She felt that her only option would be to apologize and delete her account on the spot.
—This would be an infringement on the interests of the masses, possibly even leading to doxxing.
That was why she'd been so uneasy earlier.
Now, with official backing from the game, she could finally relax.
And just as she'd expected, the players didn't doubt the GM's explanation—mainly because they saw no reason for the developers to lie about this.
From that point on, the thread derailed completely, with players discussing when their own starter towns might see a black dragon, or whether dragons could be captured as pets.
Sheng Sheng: "…"
Sheng Sheng: Turning it into a pet is impossible. Getting one-shot by dragonfire, though, is very doable.
…
The forums were full of talented night owls. Even at four or five in the morning, their enthusiasm for posting hadn't waned. Sheng Sheng lurked through various amusing threads, losing all sense of time.
—Until a sound came from the man inside the room.
"Ahem." Sheng Sheng coughed lightly, put away her tablet, and leaned over. "How do you feel?"
The man on the sofa looked a little confused at first, but when his eyes met Sheng Sheng's face, they instantly sharpened.
"What did you give me?" he demanded.
Sheng Sheng wore an innocent, clueless expression.
The man was firm. "It was the water last night?"
"Hey, you need evidence before making accusations," Sheng Sheng spread her hands.
The man said flatly, "I have mild neurasthenia. There's no way I could have slept that deeply." Especially not in a stranger's home.
Sheng Sheng: "…"
She really couldn't blame herself for not thinking this through.
—Logically, people with neurasthenia suffer from poor sleep, and dark circles are practically standard equipment.
But look at this guy. Aside from being a little pale, there wasn't even a hint of dark circles. His skin was smooth and fair like a peeled egg, completely lacking the dullness expected of someone sleep-deprived.
Sheng Sheng, a chronic night owl with permanent dark circles: Could this also be a perk of the novel world?