Chapter 176 : Chapter 176
Chapter : 176
Yan Yunqing also received the notification that Beta 1.0 was ending and all players were being forcibly logged out. Facing the suddenly eager gazes of the players before him, Yan Yunqing felt bewildered and uncertain.
What was going on? He had just finished spouting the standard cryptic remarks of a Riddler, and the game instantly iterated to a new version?
Beta 1.0 is over, so what comes next? 2.0 or the Open Beta?
Yan Yunqing frowned, feeling the displeasure of having all his plans disrupted.
At the same time, he got the sensation that he was being watched by some existence, causing goosebumps to rise all over his body.
Really...
If you're going to hide, hide a bit better. A version update right after he finished speaking? Was it afraid he wouldn't notice he was being watched?
Relying on the cover of his hood, Yan Yunqing rolled his eyes.
Ying.
Yan Yunqing: ......
Yan Yunqing: ?
Did something just make an aggrieved whimper?
Yan Yunqing hesitantly looked around but didn't find anything amiss.
An illusion?
Yan Yunqing tried cursing the game in his heart a couple more times. This time, that strange feeling disappeared, as if what happened just now really was just his hallucination.
Yan Yunqing: ......
Tsk, now he was even more suspicious.
Regardless, the players were about to be forcibly logged out. Yan Yunqing nodded to the players in front of him. "It seems you have matters to attend to next. Well then, until we meet again."
In the players' view, the Mysterious Person bowed slightly and vanished from the spot, just as mysteriously as he had arrived.
"This Eternal Divine Sect must be the main storyline content for the next version, right? That Mysterious Person NPC finished talking about the Eternal Divine Sect, and the version suddenly ended. How much time has passed? Can this be a coincidence? If this is a coincidence, I'll wash my hair doing a handstand!"
"The update is too sudden. Is the beta version iterated based on a storyline trigger mode? Like, as long as the plot for the next version is triggered, it automatically updates?"
"Then the game's operation must be run by a super AI, right?"
"It's already holographic; what's so amazing about a super AI? Didn't AI develop rapidly in the past few years?"
"True."
"Stop chatting, we're going to be forcibly logged off in a few minutes. Let's find a safe place quickly. Should we exchange contact info? Later we can create a small group chat to discuss this main storyline together..."
"Sure, my Penguin ID is..."
......
The players scrambled to find safe houses to prepare for logging off. The beta had been running for nearly a month, and they more or less understood the death penalties. Although this update seemed to take three days—which would cover the resurrection CD if they died—the lost experience and items would not come back!
Meanwhile, the players in Romunik Novice Village felt like the sky was falling. They had just received a Traveling Merchant quest and were gearing up to finish it quickly to open the merchant's product list.
However, they couldn't find the other key NPC for the quest anywhere, even after practically plowing through the novice village's soil.
Players couldn't help but cup their faces in their hands and scream: "Mason, where on earth did you go?!"
Just as the players started to conspire—wondering if the mysterious Traveling Merchant had kidnapped Mason because he wouldn't forge weapons for him, and then pretended nothing happened to give them a quest—the system interrupted.
Before they could find Mason, another notification popped up saying Beta 1.0 was over, a version update was in progress, and players were being forcibly logged out and couldn't come online for three days.
Players: Excuse me? What about our quest? This is a time-limited quest!
However, the game system was ruthless. When the countdown ended, it unceremoniously kicked all the players offline.
As soon as they went offline, players discovered that a new announcement had appeared on the official game website—
【Beta Test 1.0 has ended. The game will undergo a version update for three days. Beta 2.0 will launch in three days.】
【2.0 will add 7,000 new beta players. Fill out the registration form to draw for beta qualifications. — [Registration Link]】
At the same time, the official website underwent an epic update.
Originally, there were only interactions for reservations and in-game recorded videos; the whole website was bare. When the beta launched, only a page for beta registration was added.
Now, it looked like it had been redone from head to toe. The main color scheme was still black and red, but several new sections were added: [Faction Details & Distribution], [Demonic Beast Bestiary], [Game Videos], [Game News], and [Forum].
Players seeing the forum: ???
Clicking in, they saw that the original forum section had been completely ported to the official game website.
The old post data was all there, and one could even log in with their original forum account to find all the posts and comments they had made in the Return section.
Was this a direct data transfer?
It should be known that the reason their previous game forum had such high daily activity was that it was backed by a big tree; the promotion and retention were done very well to keep users.
Yet, this capital-backed forum actually agreed to transfer and share data with a game company? What was the situation? Did capital finally make a move and acquire Return?
But they hadn't heard this news. The capital's official blog had no reaction. Shouldn't they have made an official announcement by now?
Unbeknownst to them, the programmers in the backend of the game forum's technical department were sweating cold bullets, all burying their heads and pounding on keyboards.
God dammit, is this Return game studio a bandit? It was one thing to break directly into their server backend to copy data, but to forcibly share data?
How the hell did they do this? They couldn't find where any virus plugin had been installed in their backend data at all.
They couldn't have just stolen the data stream out of thin air, right? Where was the other end of the shared data? Why did every address trace jump back to their own server!!!
The scariest part was that after discovering this situation, whether they wanted to issue a clarification statement or send a lawyer's letter for warning and condemnation, it was useless. Because the moment an article was posted, it would 404 the next second.
They couldn't post it; they simply couldn't post it!
These were real bandits!
***
When the forum was shared onto the official game website, it welcomed another explosion of activity.
New posts popped up one after another. The content of the discussions ranged from the upcoming 7,000 new beta slots to whether Return was acquired by capital, and why the beta update was so sudden. People were chatting about everything.
Among them, a post titled 【2.0 Beta Storyline Prediction Analysis】 attracted widespread attention.
This post was made by [Big Brother A]. He summarized the analysis of several other players to complete this analysis post and also tagged his co-creation teammates in the thread.
The post detailed the hidden quest they received. Finally, after the Mysterious Person NPC said to them, "I wonder, as Descenders, will you really save it all as the prophecy says?", the beta update announcement was released. They speculated that the main storyline of the next big version would be related to the Eternal Divine Sect.
[There are currently several speculations:
1. The 2.0 version main storyline is related to the Eternal Divine Sect. This point is basically confirmed; players might directly confront the Eternal Divine Sect.
However, current clues about the storyline are scarce. According to the Mysterious Person, this Eternal Divine Sect is hidden very deeply.
Eliminating them completely in one version is unlikely. Perhaps it's a long-term storyline? I feel like this Eternal Divine Sect is similar to the Abyss Order in a certain game. Betting on a connection between the Eternal Divine Sect and the Descenders!]
—— [Reply:] Pondering. Could it be that Descenders also have a brother or sister playing the antagonist in the cult?
—— [Reply:] Upstairs, although this is an RPG, it's a Massively Multiplayer Online RPG. How would they set up a blood relative for you?
—— [Reply:] That seems true too.
[2. Although the Eternal Divine Sect ostensibly worships the Eternal Lord—that man who ended the War of the Gods—the Eternal Lord's former kin not only do not acknowledge them but also hunt down people from the Eternal Divine Sect. It can be clearly seen that these two parties are hostile factions. There might be exploration quests related to the Eternal Divine Sect later.
Also, in Ailman's historical records, that man didn't die. Maybe future plotlines will involve that man's existence?]
—— [Reply:] Which man?
—— [Reply:] The Eternal Lord. I read his introduction in Brother Snow's post. He's truly awesome. Calling him the protagonist of the world wouldn't be an exaggeration.
—— [Reply:] Reading Brother Snow's post, that Eternal Lord should count as a great man who ended the war and unified the continent, right? Why is the title passed down 'Demon King'? That's so inauspicious.
—— [Reply:] Guess why his title is so inauspicious? Because he was 'kind'! He didn't want to see gods continue to rule and make humans suffer, so he killed them all.
[3. The Mysterious Person's last words were "When war and calamity descend, and the world is annihilated, only the Descenders can save it all." Some might not be familiar with this, please jump to Snow God's post 【Livestreaming My Experiences in the Ailman Continent】, which introduces this line.
This is a prophecy that has been circulating for a thousand years. It shows that someone predicted the appearance of Descenders, aka players, more than a thousand years ago. What does this prophecy represent?
War and Calamity likely refer to the rise of the Two Great Empires and the appearance of demonic beasts. So why would the world be destroyed? What are the Descenders saving?
This might also involve the direction of the upcoming plot. If the Eternal Divine Sect is the main storyline of the current version, then the world's annihilation and Descenders saving the world is the overall main storyline of the game.]
—— [Reply:] I'm the savior again?
[4. So far, the characters that appeared in the in-game recordings have basically not shown up. Especially that Joker, whom the forum discussed enthusiastically before. He hasn't shown his face once in the early plot. Instead, a Mysterious Person NPC deeply bound to the main storyline appeared.
As the only one with voice acting in the game recording videos, Joker is definitely not some simple ordinary NPC. Players in the Bartovita Novice Village should have all seen that wanted poster (laugh).
I personally guess that Joker didn't appear in the initial 1.0 version plot most likely because he is fleeing from pursuit. After all, he is the warrior who chopped off the old Barto King's life root.]
—— [Reply:] Huh? What? Where did you see this?
—— [Reply:] Upstairs, the cities surrounding the three novice villages in Bartovita all have wanted posters for Joker. You can go take a look after the update ends. This bro is really freaking awesome.
—— [Reply:] Saw the wanted poster +1. But the poster didn't specify what Joker did. After reading it, you can ask people dressed as mercenaries; they will very enthusiastically gossip with you about what Joker did that night.
—— [Reply:] I've looked into the whole process of the wanted order. This plot was actually shown in the first game recording. It's the famous scene where Joker says "We are reborn in fire, our souls never wither." That was the scene right before Joker chopped off the Barto King's little willy.
—— [Reply:] Whenever I think about Joker handsomely finishing his Riddler speech and then turning around to chop off the Barto King's little willy, I want to laugh.
—— [Reply:] Enough! Does Joker not have any dignity?!
Yan Yunqing, seeing this, also wanted to say enough! Did he not have any dignity?!
Also, it really wasn't him who chopped off the Barto King's little willy! How long exactly did he have to carry this black pot for Cornelia?!