Chapter 515: Life Is Full of Opportunities

After such a long time, the live streaming mode has finally been activated.

Many netizens expressed their excitement, though it was understandable. Previously, the time flow rates were completely mismatched, making live streaming impossible. However, now that both the Wizard Community and the Gourmet World operate on a one-to-one time flow rate, allowing live streaming is naturally possible.

Although the activation of the live streaming feature was anticipated, it still caused quite a stir.

Many immediately questioned it, sarcastically remarking:

“Players have to pay to live stream externally? One Meditation Coin per second—that’s an exorbitant price! Who can afford that? Sixty Meditation Coins a minute, streaming for several hours, it’s worse than robbery!”

“Exactly, haha, only the wealthy can afford to live stream; it's truly hardcore!”

Everyone discussed it, deeming it completely inaccessible to the general public, and relentlessly criticized it.

However, some began to defend it:

“No, no, I think this isn't meant for continuous live streaming! It’s for when you encounter something specific, you stream it... Plus, there’s a tipping feature, which means players who stream randomly will definitely lose a lot! But if you encounter special events and stream them, with constant tips, you're guaranteed to profit!”

“I checked, tipping uses Meditation Coins, and the official cut is 20%. Gifts include planes, rockets, and even super-rockets!”

Everyone was stunned. “Is this going to steal business from major live streaming platforms and online games? After a fully immersive virtual game starts live streaming, who would still watch other game streams? They’d be bland by comparison!”

How ruthless!

It’s absolutely brutal!

This game, “Spore Evolution,” has only been out for less than three months, appearing out of nowhere. Previously, it catered to a niche audience with few players, so it didn’t infringe upon the interests of major online games. But now, is it becoming a full-fledged online game?

Is it about to sweep across the entire internet?

Moreover, this could potentially spawn a multitude of famous streamers.

Many sitting at their computers also felt something was off. Could those recent negative commentators be from other major online games? Previously, there was no rush, as this game had so few players. Its computational demands were too high, so it probably couldn't host many. But now? They’re panicking because it can now accommodate 6,000 players, leading them to cause all sorts of trouble.

“Astroturfers, get lost!” many shouted, calling them names.

However, some posed serious questions:

“Another point is that live streaming is only possible ‘if both sides have equivalent time flow rates.’ What does that mean? Aren’t both the Gourmet World and the Wizard Community operating on a one-to-one time flow rate? Could it be that the Gourmet World has areas with unequal time flow rates, preventing normal live streaming?”

The internet was full of amateur detectives, who quickly deduced a possibility from that single sentence.

“Holy cow! The hidden meaning in that sentence is indeed profound! The Gourmet World has different time flow rate divisions – is this a world rule? If so, then the Gourmet World is absolutely on par with other high-level supernatural worlds!”

Everyone was buzzing with excitement, still discussing the live streaming feature and its deeper implications.

Without a doubt, they were ecstatic. This was like truly embracing the world of online gaming. What did it matter to them if other online games went bankrupt? Their only job was to play the game!

They hadn't expected such a proud and aloof game development team to actually cater to the demands of mainstream players.

“I think they just want to earn Meditation Coins. One Meditation Coin per second—isn’t that highway robbery? Right now, Meditation Coins are worth one yuan each, so that’s one yuan per second. It’s straight-up robbery!”

Other online game personnel were utterly exasperated.

“Pah! Earn Meditation Coins? Are they even valuable? No! It’s only because the wealthy buy them that they gain value! The developers don’t profit at all! We, the grinding players, are the ones making money!”

“Brother, stop spouting nonsense. You must be an anti-fan astroturfer from another online game! This game collects Meditation Coins this way simply to encourage us to meditate more and cultivate ourselves... Speaking of meditation, I’ve been meditating for a few months now, and it really has alleviated my insomnia and hair loss problems.”

“It’s true, this game genuinely cares about us. It finds ways to improve our health, encourages meditation for spiritual nourishment, and promotes learning—all without charging money!”

“Exactly, it doesn’t charge money; it just wants our hair (jokingly).”

One after another, they came forward to share their experiences.

Sitting in front of their computers, the group of professional astroturfers completely broke down.

These were brainless sycophants! This was the type of person astroturfers feared the most.

And this game itself was insane! With such advanced technology and massive investment, what exactly was its goal? It wasn’t making money. Could it really just be after players’ hairlines?

Too brutal!

“We can’t take it, we really can’t!” They had no choice but to call their clients, telling them this job couldn’t be done. It wasn’t about the money; it was simply impossible. How could they malign a charity, their consciences wouldn’t allow it.

Amidst the widespread discussion, another system announcement rang out:

In ten minutes, the first six servers will enter the Gourmet World. Please prepare yourselves. This entry into the Gourmet World will utilize a brand-new deployment method!

“Is it truly about to begin?”

“The server is launching soon?”

As soon as the second announcement sounded, the entire Wizard Community erupted into a frenzy. Countless onlookers were thrilled. They couldn’t play, but they could watch! Weren't cloud players, watching through live streams, perfectly content?

This was the first official server launch, and everyone was curious. It could be described as a grand occasion.

However, countless players preparing to enter, comprising the top six, began to exchange bewildered glances.

A brand-new deployment method?

Does that mean it’s different from before?

This was peculiar. Given the game’s hardcore nature, many looked worried, especially players from those six servers, who immediately wailed. Their first reaction was: “It’s not going to be an instant death on entry, is it?”

Indeed, an instant death on entry was highly probable. It was very likely that they would find themselves in a dangerous situation and die immediately upon their first login. Many of the top six players used these ten minutes to frantically post online and gather for discussion.

Some immediately began to analyze:

“Damn it, what will it look like when we get in? We’re completely clueless this time.”

“A brand-new entry method has us utterly confused. Entering blind, the highest probability is instant death, but we only have one life! Perhaps the higher-ranked servers will have better starting points, making death less likely!”

“Yes, higher-ranked servers might get beginner benefits, while lower-ranked ones could face extremely harsh survival conditions!” A famous game reviewer immediately spoke up, drawing widespread agreement and endorsement.

To be honest, those six thousand players were utterly frantic. They had worked incredibly hard to get this far, distinguishing themselves from three thousand servers to secure a spot in one of only eight. Only they knew the true extent of their efforts. The more they valued it, the more nervous they became. Many sat at their computers, covered in goosebumps, their palms sweating.

“We must try our best.”

Bai Xiaojun, who aimed to ‘study medicine to save other worlds,’ was sweating profusely as he watched the tense online discussion. It was akin to the start of a marathon, with all six thousand players, as athletes, anxiously sweating!

Nervousness, anxiety, excitement.

“As the first batch of players to truly enter this revamped, brand-new large-scale online game, while pioneering might seem difficult, the rewards for doing so are also the greatest!”

“Opportunities! Spirit treasures! Hidden NPCs, fortuitous quests!”

He took a deep breath and silently recited these words. In the initial server launch, encountering even one of these could lead to soaring success.

Bai Xiaojun was already a well-known figure in the Spore Evolution sandbox. The gene expansion potion requested by the Alchemist Emperor was rushed to completion by him and a group of his companions. He frequently posted on forums, achieving high recognition. Later, he also wanted to write evolution theses, but alas, he lacked any talent for evolving species. Time and again, he failed to get into the closed betas, making him want to smash his keyboard.

And now, the Gourmet World offered an opportunity.

This was his only chance. Although he was only in fifth place, which was on the lower end, and his starting benefits would likely be minimal, making the beginning the most dangerous, it was still his greatest opportunity right now.

Sitting in front of his computer, Bai Xiaojun clenched his fists. This day was special. To prevent interference from friends and family, he had brought his laptop directly to a hotel and turned off his phone, isolating himself from all external information.

Countdown:

Whoosh!

The six thousand players, while in the Wizard Community, suddenly felt their vision go black. When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves in a lush, verdant forest.

“Where am I?”

Bai Xiaojun nervously scanned his surroundings, ready to flee at any moment. He noticed something bizarre: he couldn't move. Instead, he was silently sensing, realizing he had become a tree?

A stationary tree, ripe for the taking.

He could only watch in silent astonishment, sensing everything around him as strange animals passed by.

“Is this the new deployment method? Becoming various living beings and appearing everywhere? Scattering all of us like this completely eliminates the players’ biggest advantage—sticking together for warmth. In the early stages, we can only rely on ourselves to develop cautiously.”

To him, the game operator seemed almost twisted, deliberately dividing them, preventing them from grouping up and taking shortcuts, forcing them to rely solely on their own strength.

“From the start, it’s a war for survival.”

He continuously organized his thoughts.

He was in the fifth-ranked server. Could it be that all players in the fifth server had become trees, while the top-ranked servers truly received preferential starting conditions? Did they become animals, then insects, and so on, progressively descending to lower life forms?

He took a deep breath. Since he couldn’t move anyway, and his fate was out of his hands, he could only silently look at the three familiar hardcore options in the corner: screenshot, log out, private message, and the newly added live stream.

He silently chose to log out.

The forum was still abuzz, with everyone complaining.

“I specifically became a tree!”

“I’m a flower!”

“Damn it, I’m already dead; this flower was eaten by an animal!”

Everyone was lamenting.

“Just as I thought!”

Bai Xiaojun sat in the hotel room, his palms sweaty. Indeed, just as he had imagined, they had turned into various animals and plants, scattered across different locations. Wait, why hadn’t anyone become an animal?

Someone quickly realized this and raised the question: there were no animals.

“No! It’s not that there are no animals. Has anyone noticed that almost none of the top-ranked server players have appeared, or even streamed?”

“Exactly! Perhaps they’ve become animals and are cautiously striving, not daring to show themselves or even be distracted by streaming, not wanting to risk their lives… They’re much happier than us. We can only wait for death, and logging out doesn’t matter, but they can control their own lives.”

Players resumed their tense discussions. Even many from the neighboring Evolution Sandbox came to watch. Sure enough, soon enough, players from the top three servers started appearing.

“I died! I became a weasel-like animal, and then I was hunted down!”

The first player from a top-three server had died, and everyone instantly received confirmation. Those who hadn't appeared yet were likely controlling their animal characters and fighting for survival.

“Ahem, since none of us have the starting advantage of the top few and are just left to be slaughtered, we might as well gather some intelligence in our free time.”

“If I’m not mistaken, we can still advance and change forms just like before… This means our current forms are just the initial forms of Pokémon!”

This view was widely accepted, as the announcement stated that only the entry method had changed, not the evolution method.

“So, let’s all work hard! These useless plants right here won't move on their own; let's make them productive!”

Click!

The online discussions continued.

Bai Xiaojun logged straight back in, racing against time, beginning to diligently absorb nutrients as a dull tree.

The surrounding players did the same, beginning the extremely monotonous task of trying to become a tree, yet they were incredibly excited and full of anticipation, even starting to plan their future evolution paths.

After all, they were long accustomed to the game’s hardcore nature. If any other online game pulled such a stunt, players would immediately quit!

But for this game, everyone had been immensely looking forward to it, watching the visual streams of the Alchemist Emperor, the Earth Mother, and others. Now that it was their turn, their anticipation and longing continuously built up; it would be disingenuous not to be excited.

Bai Xiaojun took a deep breath. “Speaking of which, this place isn’t simple at all! The vanished Yuan blue-and-white porcelain has never logged off; it was abducted by a mysterious supernatural life form. Could it be that it got addicted to playing?”

Days passed.

After a week, he accumulated power and successfully broke through to Tier 1, achieving his first evolution and starting to become humanoid. He was overjoyed. “At this rate, at Tier 2, I’ll barely be able to pull up my roots and start moving…”

He checked online. He wasn’t the fastest; he was merely in the middle. He couldn’t help but smile wryly. The internet was full of talented individuals—who wasn’t working as frantically as he was?

Another day passed.

Thump, thump, thump.

Suddenly, strange footsteps approached.

Bai Xiaojun’s heart immediately sank. Was he done for?

As the sound grew louder, a large gray praying mantis emerged from the dense, dark forest undergrowth. Bai Xiaojun immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Mantises eat insects; they aren't plant-eating animals, so it shouldn't be interested in him.

“I’m just an ordinary tree…”

He kept reassuring himself, but then the mantis suddenly stopped in front of him, muttering something in an unfamiliar language,

“This tree looks tall and strong; that fellow should like it… After all, the task volume from above is huge! I need to find all sorts of species to breed various offspring for it… Can this one be tried? Perhaps its offspring would be good too!”

With that,

Rip!

The mantis, in a surprisingly human-like manner, violently pulled it out of the ground, dusted off the dirt, and hoisted it onto its shoulder.

Bai Xiaojun was utterly bewildered. What just happened?

True to its name as a real-life second-life game, there was truly no script; all sorts of unknowns appeared, just like in reality…

Screenshot?

No, he thought, he'd try the new mode: activate live streaming.

“Hey everyone, my brothers and sisters, I’ve encountered an intelligent species! This is incredibly exciting! Let’s see what happens next, whether I can escape death and survive! For those who want to follow along, hit that subscribe button so you don’t get lost, and send some gifts so the streamer can afford to keep streaming!”

Hoisted onto the mantis’s shoulder, after activating the live stream, he felt as if his life had just taken a bewildering turn.