Chapter 469: StarCraft (Seventh Update)

For most, the selection of games in the shop was already more than enough and relatively comprehensive.

But for a certain few, it always lacked that final, subtle nuance.

In this world, some majored in spells, others in martial arts; even arrays and illusions could be studied through *The Matrix*, and artifact masters gained much from it, while those building factions could play *The Legend*.

Yet when it came to truly commanding armies in battle, *The Legend* still had its limitations.

After all, players would not die, a fact that created a massive tactical divide between reality and the game.

Devising strategies within a tent, deciding victory thousands of miles away.

Jiang Xuan leaned back in his computer chair, having played quite a few games himself, and had just completed the Hua Ying ending of *The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3* (the battle with Chong Lou ten years later in Hua Ying's ending counted as the epilogue, occurring after the credits): "It would be nice to have a game that could simulate battlefield decisions and command an entire army..."

The major endings of *The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3* had all been uncovered; after days of hard work on the second playthrough, Nalan Mingxue had finally achieved the perfect ending.

And many players with faster progress had also reached their endings by now.

Among them, the shortest path was Zi Xuan's ending—where Chong Lou used his own demonic power instead of Zi Xuan's to repair the Demon-Locking Tower, omitting the entire sequence of plots after defeating the Evil Sword Immortal.

Quite a few people had achieved this one as well.

Of course, there were others who triggered endings outside the original plot, where both Xue Jian and Long Kui perished entirely, though that was better left unmentioned.

By this point, *The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3* had already broken through the four-thousand activation mark.

As for *The Matrix*, the first batch of viewers was inherently large; even if the film's effects were limited and not quite obvious, its incredibly unique plot and setting alone kept activations high, which unexpectedly boosted the activations of the *Resident Evil* movie and game by a massive margin.

It was not strictly necessary to play games or watch movies with the mindset of gaining some benefit; in fact, people like Gu Tingyun and Zong Wu simply took a liking to the *Resident Evil* game and movie, for even if it brought them no tangible gains, it at least offered a glimpse of something entirely new amidst their long years of cultivation.

This sort of novelty could evoke a sense of pure wonder even upon the first glance of grand cultivators who had trained for untold years.

Yes, wonder.

A thousand years of cultivation, the turning of ancient epochs—within this vast, endless river of time, it was always the same lengthy routine coming and going; truth be told, it could feel inexplicably monotonous at times.

Particularly for those who could no longer ascend further and lacked the remaining lifespan to do so, like Gu Tingyun, for whom training or not made little difference, leaving him to guide disciples and live out his retirement.

Or perhaps for the youths like Wang Xie and Xun Yuan, who were born into a massive system from the very beginning, taking every step with absolute decorum and without the slightest error.

It was not a comparison of good or bad, but rather that these new things allowed them to feel that the place they lived was not merely a stagnant pool cycling through training breakthroughs and killing to steal treasures.

Within their horizons, it was no longer just terms like cultivators, martial artists, ascension, and immortals; recently, new words had begun to adorn their world.

"Brother Wang, today I shall face Chong Lou as well!" Xun Yuan boasted with some pride; after playing for so long, he could finally witness the legendary, strongest demon god.

The thought of it brought a small stir of excitement.

Of course, in the past, such a thing might have been completely unthinkable.

"So weak," Tang Yu scoffed. "This young master is already halfway through his second playthrough."

"Weak my foot, what do you know? This young master is invincible!" Xun Yuan glared. "Jing Tian's spell training is countless times faster than ours; I have all three elemental spell tracks maxed out now!"

"I will absolutely defeat Chong Lou! Just watch me do it in a moment."

"I bet you won't even pass it by the end of the day!" Tang Yu chuckled amusedly.

"Fighting Chong Lou is harder than crossing a tribulation," Wang Xie shook his head helplessly. "I think betting on whether this fellow can transcend and ascend today is a safer wager."

Xun Yuan's face darkened: "...This young master shall transcend today!"

Three seconds after entering the New Divine Realm...

Chong Lou's twin blades were stained with blood on the screen, and the display turned grey and white.

Bitten the dust.

"...This young master has already been struck dead by the tribulation lightning."

...

What kind of concept ascension truly was, or what lay above the nine heavens, no one knew.

Even Owner Fang's sword-riding technique could not fly beyond the skies; looking up at the starry sky each day, the sun, moon, and stars shifted through day and night, yet no one knew what the stars actually were.

They did not know if the sky had an end, nor did they know if the structure of the heavens in this world was different, but it was certain that Owner Fang, at least, could not fly out.

Nor had anyone else ever flown out.

It was conceivable that the people of this world had absolutely no idea what the true starry sky looked like.

Perhaps they were still fantasizing that above the nine heavens lay celestial palaces and jade halls, and above the sun and moon lay the kingdoms of gods.

That was the dreamland of all cultivators and martial artists, a place of fantasy and longing, devoid of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

"Owner, what is this *StarCraft*?" Seeing that everyone had reached their second playthrough, it was clear that no new games had been released for quite a while; some players had even gone off to beat *Resident Evil* all over again.

*The Matrix* had given them far more bizarre speculations about the origin of the world, and *StarCraft* might allow them to perceive an even vaster universe.

"Owner..." The little loli Jiang Xiaoyue looked at Owner Fang with pleading eyes, "Can you play a bit so we can watch?"

"I want to watch too! I want to watch too!" The large white deer rested its two front hooves on the counter, filled with enthusiasm.

Jiang Xiaoyue patted its furry head: "Heehee, I'll watch together with Little Bell!"

"Alright then, I'll go start a livestream."

"Mm—!" Tang Yu's gaze followed Owner Fang all the way until he sat down. "A livestream today?"

He remembered the last broadcast had featured a thrilling battle between gods and demons—Jing Tian versus Chong Lou.

It remained fresh in his memory to this day.

"Let's go! The owner is livestreaming!"

"What livestream?" Xun Yuan said solemnly, "This young master is transcending!"

"Transcend your foot," Tang Yu said. "We're going to watch first."

...

Though it was early morning, as the shop's popularity grew higher and higher, no matter which branch it was, there were quite a few people at this hour.

Turning around: "The owner is livestreaming?!"

Having just walked past and preparing to log onto their computers, the crowd from the Nanhua Sect immediately sat down on the sofas with unprecedented speed.

The people beside them watched in a daze, and before they could even react, half the seats were gone.

On the screen, a row of blue, letter-like icons soon appeared.

"Blizzard?" Nalan Hongwu glanced at the big screen, "Could the owner be streaming *Diablo* today?"

Utterly perplexed: "This kid only just reached Nightmare difficulty, didn't he?"

What appeared on the screen was a vast, boundless universe, with a dark blue planet in the bottom left corner occupying nearly a quarter of the display.

Upon it sat several icons: Satellite (Multiplayer), Warship and Wreckage (Single Player Campaign), Black Hole (Exit).

The icons on the right displayed four large words: StarCraft.