Chapter 1071: Open Beta Life Starting from LV0!

Chapter 1071: Open Beta Life Starting from LV0!

"Welcome to Vault 404."

"I am the administrator here."

"Codename—Dawn."

In the virtual world of the Beta Universe, within a metallic hall, a solemn and steady voice echoed over the heads of the real players, like the tolling of a church bell.

Tens of thousands of open beta testers packed the football-field-sized hall to capacity, and strings of IDs were stacked on top of one another in commuting areas like corridors and elevators where "volume collision disabled" was in effect!

If one did not turn off the ID display, a player standing in the square could not even see the subtitles clearly.

And this was just one of over a hundred completely packed sub-servers!

With the increased production capacity of the real game helmets and further price drops for the equipment, that crowded throng still had the potential to expand even more.

Responding to those pairs of excited and exhilarated eyes, a suit of azure-blue power armor stepped forward with measured strides, walking out before the crowd that filled the hall to the brim.

Those sharp, chiseled facial contours were like an unsheathed sharp sword, and the resolute face and brow exuded an aura of natural dignity and majesty that commanded respect without anger.

Yet long before that majestic figure entered everyone's sight, the players in the hall had already been shocked by the realistic lighting and immersive experience.

It was Ideal City's technology, after all.

Though the otaku on the Endpoint Cloud had long since grown tired of these virtual reality MMOs that marketed a "Second Life," turning instead to pursue simple creativity and fun, for the old-era residents living in the Beta Universe, it was their very first time experiencing this kind of immersion that felt like traveling to an alternate world!

To summarize it in a few simple words—

This lighting!

This floor!

This wall!

And this Brother Dawn!

It was absolutely mind-blowing!!!

The crowd held their breath, so excited they could hardly contain themselves.

The true newbies were still standing frozen in place, while the fake newbies had already lunged forward, attempting to strip the iron shell off the administrator. However, they ended up lunging through empty air, and their faces came into intimate contact with the floor.

Filthy Rich Small Eyes: "Holy crap!!"

Tyrannosaurus Warrior Has Darkened: "This is a total rioff!"

WC No Mosquitoes: "Damn! What happened to the promised 99% realism?! This isn't real at all!!!"

WC No Mosquitoes: "@#%#!"

A cacophony of chatter erupted in front of the administrator, while a bizarre variety of character models stacked right into each other.

A sort of "domain" seemed to shroud the vicinity of the special NPC. Players entering this domain had their volume collision disabled, stacking together like translucent ghosts.

The range of this domain also seemed to expand as the number of nearby players increased.

Although this weakened the game's realism to a certain extent and restricted a few rowdy maneuvers, on the other hand, it effectively prevented key NPCs from being blocked, which would make quests unclaimable.

If anyone truly wanted to experience 100% realism, they would probably have to physically travel to the Alpha Universe.

Standing at the edge of the crowd, Ye Shi crossed his arms and stared at Brother Dawn for a long time, always feeling that the face was full of incongruity.

It wasn't because the guy had secretly altered his own facial model, but rather because those eyes had lost their soul.

How should one put it?

It felt like the "aura of supreme dominance" was hogging the spotlight a bit too much.

He heard that the open beta's game data had been outsourced to a company in Ideal City for development. Perhaps distance lent enchantment to the view, because the folks over there had developed a strange misunderstanding of the administrator.

Besides that...

"Wait, didn't this guy's power armor only appear after Vault 117 was unlocked?! How come he's equipped with it right now?"

"And isn't this hall a bit too spacious?! Since when was the hall of Vault 404 this big?"

"Haha, it's just a game, don't sweat the details," Lao Bai smiled and patted Ye Shi on the shoulder as the latter complained. "As long as the newbies find it fun, that's what matters."

The pioneering phase during the Alpha version was too grueling.

If they really had to start all over from scratch, let alone these newbies, even he himself might not have been able to persist through it.

In passing, the nicknames the two used in the open beta server were abbreviations of their closed beta nicknames.

Since closed beta players would make guest appearances in the open beta server as NPCs for part of the game plot and dungeons, the closed beta nicknames were all occupied by default in the open beta server, and even the closed beta players themselves could not use them.

In the words of Vault-Tec CEO Dr. Yuan Li—"You too are a part of the game experience."

Although it was somewhat unreasonable, the thought of one's own avatar constantly showing off on one's behalf felt kind of exciting.

Want your avatar to get more screen time in the open beta server?

Then work hard in the closed beta server!

Even if you didn't do anything earth-shattering, just diligently carrying bricks on the construction site was enough to have your avatar projected onto the construction sites of the open beta server!

Or—

Working hard in reverse was also viable.

For instance, inside the "Player Prison" of Dawn City, two NPCs with player statuses permanently resided, trading punches and spitting at each other across the cell bars. Red-named players who were sent to prison after losing a PK match could trigger dialogue with those two clowns, activating a "sentence reduction minigame."

In short, despite the existence of many unsatisfactory details, the long-awaited open beta had finally begun!

And...

This was a game completed by everyone together.

It didn't belong to that damn designer alone.

Just as Ye Shi and Lao Bai were talking, cries of "skip," "skip," and "hurry it up" were already ringing across the square.

Upon learning that the plot could be skipped, those newbies no longer wanted to listen to Brother Dawn's nonsense. One after another, they equipped the VMs that spawned out of thin air and impatiently rushed toward the direction of the elevator.

That was the entrance leading to the B1 floor.

The elevators in the open beta server didn't require waiting.

The moment a player stepped into the elevator doors, they would automatically enter a dungeon instance, ascending inside an elevator that was "visible only to themselves and the guiding NPC" to enter a B1 floor that was "completely fictionalized, overrun by raiders and mutants."

This dungeon could not be tackled in a party, and dying would not cause an experience drop, as it belonged to the novice tutorial.

In the dungeon, players would receive their first weapon after entering the game—a crowbar dealing 5 blunt damage, and trigger the first quest of their gaming career: reclaim the fallen vault entrance from the hands of the raiders.

Once the dungeon was cleared, they could normally enter and exit the B1 floor of the "surface world."

During the execution of the quest, players would follow the guiding NPC to familiarize themselves with various game mechanics, including stealth, lockpicking, and scavenging, and familiarize themselves with the usage of various weapons—including cold weapons, firearms, and smart equipment—by picking up weapons dropped by the raiders.

This was precisely where the open beta server differed most from the closed beta server. Players were no longer confined to a single genetic sequence; based on customized stat allocations and initial racial traits, they could combine various classes—including Martial Artist, Assault, Engineer, Hacker, Assassin, and Esper—to create their exclusive playstyle.

Whether it was a veteran Cyber Summoner skilled at using drones, a Mutant Thug skilled at charging with nuclear bombs, a Wastelander Engineer wearing DIY exoskeletons, a Lizardman Assault Trooper spraying bullets with a rifle, or even a Gaia Person skilled at using enhanced superpowers, all of it could be realized in the open beta server.

In a sense, the degree of freedom in the open beta server seemed to be an order of magnitude higher than that of the closed beta server. Even mutants were no longer SRRR cards that required luck to draw; as long as one signed a liability waiver, the option could be checked.

After all, this was a true game world. As long as it was programmatically achievable, any kind of wild idea goes.

"This time I'll try out superpowers... What about you? Thought of which path you want to take yet?"

Watching the light flicker and vanish at the elevator door, Ye Shi spoke with eager anticipation.

Old Bai grinned.

“I’ll decide when the time comes; class selection is something for after level five anyway.”

Clearing the first dungeon could get him to level three at most, and he planned to try out every class’s playstyle before making a choice.

Unlike those players busy with early farming and vying for the server’s top spot,

he’d already experienced the thrill of being T0 in the closed beta and had no interest in chasing another server-first title.

Here, he just wanted to be a casual player, dropping by occasionally when nostalgia struck, chatting with those who had vanished from the Alpha universe.

“Alright, see you later then!” Understanding Old Bai’s thoughts, Ye Shi said no more and eagerly stepped into the elevator, vanishing in a flash of light as he teleported to the dungeon world.

Old Bai followed.

The moment he stepped into the elevator, a soldier clad in “Type-5” exoskeleton was already waiting there.

The man held a “G9” assault rifle, his stance so proper it almost seemed real, as if the shelter truly faced some dire crisis.

But any veteran player knew that B1 was a tiny space; unless the elevator broke down, even if raiders broke in, they’d be trapped like dogs and beaten to death.

The open beta, however, was a different story.

The absurd raiders not only stuffed a bunch of mutant cockroaches (wild monsters) into the shelter’s first floor but also included a ridiculously overpowered hacker (level 10 elite monster) who could seize control of B1 but only managed petty theft.

No wonder that NPC soldier, armed with an “Ideal City Special” assault rifle, looked so tense.

“Listen up, rookie. Our target is the data center on B1. To reclaim control of B1, we need to secure it first… Take this crowbar; you’ll need it. And remember, stay close!” The man gave orders meticulously, handing over the crowbar.

Hearing that familiar voice, Old Bai froze for a moment, then noticed the stern face.

The instant he saw that face, he nearly choked on his own spit.

Good grief—

Isn’t that just me?!

Or more precisely, that guy was none other than his closed-beta character—“Baiju Guo Xi.”

But the NPC standing in the elevator seemed completely unaware that his “original self” was right in front of him.

As Dr. Principle, CEO of Shelter Tech, had said on the official site, NPCs in the open beta were just NPCs, with only limited intelligence.

Old Bai figured that if he didn’t take the crowbar, the rising elevator would probably fly out of the solar system without stopping, so he accepted it with a wry smile.

“Alright…”

The moment he touched the crowbar, a pale blue floating window appeared before him.

【Obtained Item: Crowbar

Durability: 100/100

Damage Type: Blunt

Damage Value: 5 + x (Strength multiplier 0.2 + Constitution multiplier 0.15 + Agility multiplier 0.05)

Special Effect: Triggers “Lockpicking” judgment when performing lockpicking; consumes 20 durability if damage exceeds defense level, used to dismantle “locked doors.”】

Even the crowbar had this much detail?

Basically, it could break down at most five doors?

Staring at the crowbar, Old Bai didn’t know where to start complaining.

Almost at the same moment he finished reading the description, the elevator, which had been moving for who knows how many minutes, finally came to a stop at B1.

“Follow me.”

Without a single wasted word, “Baiju Guo Xi” dashed into the corridor ahead the instant the elevator stopped.

The raider smoking with his back to the elevator was as deaf as a post, ignoring the elevator’s ascent, and was swiftly taken down by “Baiju Guo Xi” with a backstab and throat slit combo.

The blood spray was quite realistic, worth the “real accelerator” he’d gotten from Mosquito’s share, registered on an island called Beta in the South Pacific.

He suddenly wondered what the blood looked like without the accelerator.

Slime?

“One down… Take his weapon, but don’t fire yet. We need to get the B1 controller first.”

“Baiju Guo Xi” spoke calmly as he flicked the blood off his dagger, as practiced as a emotionless killer.

The raiders in the nearby room, as blind and deaf as ever, didn’t notice their comrade was dead, laughing and playing poker by a fire burning something unknown.

Curious to see how his other self would perform, Old Bai didn’t cause trouble. He looted the raider’s pipe rifle, iron dagger, and 50 Y-coins, then followed “his other self” with a strange expression, methodically sneaking, looting, and lockpicking.

According to info from other open-beta players on the forum, following these steps would quickly clear the tutorial.

If a player went off-script and ran around, they’d get beaten down by raiders and reload to the moment they stepped off the elevator.

Just as Old Bai pried open the data center’s iron door, a piercing alarm blared through B1, and the alerted raiders and mutants swarmed in.

“Quick! Plug the hard drive into the server!” “Baiju Guo Xi” shouted, tossing the hard drive to Old Bai’s chest, then propped his rifle at the door and opened fire.

For someone born in peacetime, never having experienced real battle, the tense gunfight might have been thrilling.

Especially since they’d been sneaking a second ago, and suddenly a fierce firefight erupted!

But as the original of this guy, Old Bai had lost count of the battles he’d been through, so a few gunshots wouldn’t spike his adrenaline.

Besides, with these ragtag raiders, in the closed beta he wouldn’t even bother sneaking—he’d just carve through with a dagger.

Out of respect for his other self’s work, Old Bai followed the quest prompt and plugged the USB drive into the designated server slot.

With a hum of electricity, the normally running chassis activated like a hidden magic circle, instantly exerting a lightning-fast influence over B1.

The blaring alarm ceased immediately.

The automated weapons deployed on B1 activated at the same time and joined the fight!

A desperate wail came from afar—likely from the level 10 elite monster the raiders had hired.

“No! This can’t be! My control has been taken!”

Then came the boss’s angry roar.

“You idiot! What use are you!”

Hearing the curses and wails drifting from a distance, Old Bai couldn’t help but silently complain.

You knew the data center was this important, and you left only two grunts to guard it?

But complaining about that seemed pointless.

After all, if the setting was too rigorous, it would sacrifice entertainment.

Objectively speaking, the whole tutorial dungeon was pretty well made.

“Follow me!”

“Baiju Guo Xi” guarding the door shouted, charging out with his rifle leading the way.

The hail of bullets splashed against him like bathwater, not even scratching his health bar.

It was truly a trial for this fellow to have endured until now.

Seeing that the moment for counterattack had finally arrived, Old Bai no longer held back. He charged out with the iron pipe rifle he'd picked up from a raider, taking them down one by one along the way with the most bullet-efficient method—relying on the fivefold damage of headshots.

Including that level 10 elite hacker-class monster.

After taking down the five LV3 hovering automatic rifle drones this guy controlled, he was felled by a single shot from 'White Steed Fleeting.'

Old Bai picked up from the corpse a drone operation device resembling a U-shaped pillow.

Before he could even open the holographic window, 'White Steed Fleeting,' who was reloading his magazine beside him, spoke to him with a cool expression.

“Remember to collect those drones; with some repairs, they might still be usable.”

This was probably equipment for the hacker class.

“Roger that.”

Old Bai replied casually, following the instructions of his 'other self,' and picked up the drone wreckage from the ground.

Unlike the closed beta server.

In the open beta server, picking up equipment automatically stores it in virtual space, saved as thumbnails in the holographic inventory.

Of course, this only applied to items that could be picked up.

Items that couldn't be picked up could still be moved, but only by carrying them by hand, just like in the closed beta.

While he was scavenging, 'White Steed Fleeting' also rambled on about some wasteland experience.

For instance, scavenged junk could be sold for money or dismantled into parts. The parts obtained from dismantling could be used to craft equipment, repair devices, or even build one's own home.

The territory concept proposed back in the closed beta hadn't been rolled out for various reasons, but in the open beta, it seemed to have been implemented.

Players could build their own shelters in any wilderness area outside the safe zone, but the shelters they built could only be seen by themselves and players they invited.

This setup was somewhat like a seamlessly integrated instance within the main map, where one could place teleport points, as well as player pets, NPC companions, or even designated servants and followers.

After collecting all the junk from the battlefield, Old Bai followed his other self and continued forward, soon triggering the expected boss fight.

What appeared was a massive raider.

He was clad in an absurdly exaggerated steel heavy armor, his knotted muscles like those of a mutant.

At first, Old Bai only felt the guy looked familiar, until the latter pulled out a rusty hunting rifle, and then he suddenly remembered who he was.

This guy was none other than the leader of the Blood Hand Clan—the 'Bear' who had been one-shot by the Administrator with a hammer.

He hadn't expected this guy to be dragged out and humiliated again in the open beta. Old Bai was momentarily at a loss whether to laugh or cry, but he still put on a half-serious stance to face the battle.

Coordinating with 'White Steed Fleeting,' who was outputting damage while 'clearly at full health yet skirting the edge of the battlefield,' he eventually created an attack window for the former to shoot the vital spots through several kiting maneuvers. Then, following the former's loud prompt, he charged in and delivered the fatal finishing blow to that 'Bear.'

At that very moment, a translucent holographic pop-up appeared before him, and the BGM of 'clear skies after rain' played simultaneously.

【Congratulations, player, on reaching LV3!】

Standing in the center of the B1 floor hall like a hero on stage, a beam of bright light fell upon his shoulder.

“Congratulations! You have defeated the enemy who invaded us and stopped the barbaric invasion! Although, this is only the beginning...”

【White Steed Fleeting】walked up to him, a smile shining with the light of victory on his face.

Old Bai smiled back at that face and nodded gently.

“Mm.”

Though it was in a way he had never imagined, he felt that what he wanted to convey had somehow been communicated.

The dust floating on the floor dissipated imperceptibly, and the B1 floor shelter, once as desolate as a ruin, quietly returned to its original clean and tidy state.

As if time had passed and things had changed.

When Old Bai noticed, a gleaming medal had already appeared on his chest.

On it was written the number 404.

And below the number, there was a line printed: 【Exclusive to Closed Beta Players, Thank You for Your Efforts】.

Come to think of it, when he first entered the game, he was wondering where the promised 'closed beta reward' had gone; he never expected it to be here.

How to put it?

This show of sincerity came at just the right moment.

Following behind that 'newbie guide' named 【White Steed Fleeting】, he passed through the circular archway, stepped onto the elevator, and arrived outside the shelter.

The familiar square came into view.

Its state of ruin waiting to be rebuilt was exactly the same as at the start of the closed beta...

Whether it was Xiao Yu sitting behind the 'bank' counter diligently tallying accounts, or Boss Xia sitting behind the weapon counter yawning and impatiently speaking tsundere words, or the many other wastelanders facing that 'world filled with despair yet burning with a glimmer of hope'...

Some of those folks lived day by day, some had even given up struggling, and there were those who still refused to accept their fate and wanted to do something but were powerless...

And no matter what kind of people they were, those who came out of the shelter had never abandoned or given up on them.

“This is our settlement, and the place where everything begins... We will march out from here until the new era.”

“Welcome to our world.”

That seemed to be the final monologue.

When Old Bai turned around, 【White Steed Fleeting】, who had led him out of the shelter, had already vanished with a full smile.

The originally empty square had somehow become filled with all kinds of players.

Some were bustling at the settlement entrance, some were trying to crawl under the table in front of Boss Xia but were blocked by an invisible air wall, and others were standing in the square trying to pull off that last piece of underwear that just wouldn't come off.

From the distant stall area, the cries of vendors were incessant, just like in the closed beta.

“LV5, already class-changed to Fighter, looking for a group! Farming Leech Cave!”

“Is there a caravan going to Boulder City? Big shots, take me with you!!”

“Awesome! You guys have already opened the map to Boulder City?! I'm still wandering around Bet Street.”

“So strong!!!”

“I've got a LV10 intelligence-type orange gear! Drone expansion slot! Interested whales, PM me fast!”

“Holy crap? Orange gear in the newbie phase? Bro, where did you get that drop?”

“Right at the place by the lake where you farm Crackclaw Crabs!”

“Can waterlogged intelligence gear still be used?”

“It works, it works. Never mind waterlogged, even if it's soaked in piss, it still works!”

“Wah wah wah, my Xiao Yu! Why won't you talk to me?!”

“Your affinity must have dropped to zero? I think there's an item to raise it back to friendly... Holy crap? Disgust? How did you drop to -100?!”

“Hehehehe...”

“Where are the guards? There's a pervert here!”

“Damn! Don't falsely report me! The air wall is blocking me from doing anything, okay?”

“CPDD!”

"Is there a big brother to take little sister along—"

"Bro, turn off the voice changer, it's not fun."

"gnmd, xswl, dbd? sb"

"???"

Listening to the cacophony of voices in the square, Old Bai rubbed his temples and turned off the [Nearby · Stranger Voice], finally feeling a bit of relief.

Maybe...

The closed beta server was more normal.

With over 30 million players flooding in worldwide, it was inevitable that some weirdos would slip in.

But even so.

Compared to the chaotic mess on some games' public channels, the absurdity here wasn't quite so absurd.

Just then, Ye Shi, who had already changed his gear, walked over and greeted him with a smile.

"I've been waiting for you for ages, what took you so long?"

Old Bai looked at Ye Shi, surprised to see that he had already reached level 5.

"I wanted to experience the tutorial fully, so it took a bit of time... How did you get out early?"

"Didn't you read the posts on the official site? After inserting the USB drive, you can speed through it; you don't have to follow the tutorial all the way to the end... By the way, did you notice? That newbie guide NPC looks exactly like your closed beta model, hahaha!"

Seeing Ye Shi's grinning face, Old Bai made a helpless expression.

"I noticed... Though it made me look a bit silly, it's passable. By the way, where's Fang Chang?"

Ye Shi shrugged helplessly.

"Him? He hired a few familiar gold-farming groups to send him to Boulder City."

Old Bai stared at him in disbelief.

"This game already has gold-farming groups?"

Ye Shi scratched the back of his head.

"Uh... Rather than saying this game has gold-farming groups, it's more like every studio in the world has rushed in."

The frenzy over Silver Coins was evident worldwide, to the point where African chiefs were trucking people to internet cafes to reserve slots, and the whole village would cheer when one was booked.

Y-Coins weren't as crazy as Silver Coins, but with so many people playing globally, their potential couldn't be ignored.

Considering that the open beta server was a reserve for the closed beta server, the potential of Y-Coins was not to be underestimated.

It was foreseeable that the economic system of the open beta server would face a tidal wave of impact.

In front of emotionless "gold-farming machines," methods like scavenging would probably face a collapse in profitability right from the start.

Imagining that scene of "struggling to find a single monster," Old Bai couldn't help but feel nervous for Dr. Yuan Li.

"That's going to be a disaster..."

Unlike Old Bai, Ye Shi laughed as if enjoying the show.

"Haha, who knows? Don't forget, the house is Brother Guang. Trying to leek him? He'll skin you alive!"

Knowing Brother Guang as he did, as long as such borderline gameplay didn't break the rules, Brother Guang usually turned a blind eye and let things slide.

But if some fool thought Brother Guang couldn't handle the knife and tried to challenge the power beyond the rules—

That guy would soon realize that order was never something that fell from the sky, but something people built.

"Maybe, but since it's a recreational server, knowing A-Guang, he probably won't make it too serious."

Old Bai smiled, then looked at Ye Shi.

"Speaking of which, what about you? Aren't you going to the Swamp of Despair to find your little girlfriend?"

Ye Shi pursed his lips, pretending not to care.

"Ah, I did plan to at first, but then I thought it wasn't necessary. The Swamp of Despair in the open beta is a level 60 zone, three times higher than in the closed beta... At least wait until someone reaches level 30."

That's what he said, but he was actually waiting for news from Fang Chang.

Based on his observations of the open beta server, NPCs in safe zones were roughly divided into two types. One was "story NPCs," without health bars, either transparent like administrators or protected by invisible walls. Their affinity could max out at 60, triggering quests or even skill gifts, but nothing more.

The other was "civilian NPCs," with health bars, no invisible walls, but any hostile contact would be judged as combat. Triggering combat in a safe zone would turn you red, and you'd basically be one-shot by level 100 guards. Affinity for these NPCs had no cap; over 120, they could become good brothers or sisters to take out monster hunting, and over 150 with a series of date quests could unlock closer relationships.

Generally, once an NPC was romanced, they would move from the settlement to the player's base, and their original residence would be filled by a respawned NPC, so no heart-wrenching plots occurred.

As for what happened next—whether the screen went black or showed actual content—depended on which operator the player matched with and whether their registration info indicated they were over 18.

Theoretically, Dolly, as a character involved in the Alliance's historical progression, should be implemented in the game program like Boss Xia, probably as a "story NPC" in safe zones and specific dungeons.

Similarly, Xuezhou should be the same... So there was nothing to worry about, right?

But then again, they were just NPCs in the open beta server, not the same person—there was really no need to worry!

Seeing Ye Shi lost in his own thoughts, Old Bai patted him on the shoulder with a smile.

"Knowing Brother Guang, he wouldn't do anything nasty."

Ye Shi spread his hands.

"Hopefully. Don't be fooled by his usual cheerful demeanor; cut him open, and he's all black inside."

Five years!

Five whole years pretending to be an NPC!

That scheming bastard really had some nerve!

Just as he finished speaking, a warm and broad hand gently patted his shoulder, followed by a familiar, long-missed teasing voice from behind.

"Aren't you afraid Brother Guang will hear that?"

Ye Shi shuddered and spun around instantly.

When he saw that warm and handsome smile, like the morning sun, he nearly got scared offline like a ghost seeing the light.

"What the hell?!"

"Brother Guang?!"