Chapter 1: I’m a Professional Player?

Early June, the weather was hot and humid, and it was drizzling outside the window.

“Buzz Buzz…”

Inside the room, the phone on the bedside table kept vibrating.

“Quiet, quiet, stop making the noise. I’ll wake up after a while.”

Fang Heng, who was lying on the bed, muttered under his breath and habitually reached out to turn off the alarm.

“Hmm? Where’s my alarm?” he thought to himself.

In a daze, Fang Heng opened his eyes.

The small and narrow room was messy. A small wooden bed and a game cabin occupied about one-third of the room. The takeout food was left on the wooden table and there were a few empty wine bottles scattered on the floor.

There was a picture hanging on the wall. A somewhat handsome young man was holding on to his trophy while being surrounded by the crowd who was cheering for him.

There was no smile on his face. Instead, there was a hint of arrogance.

Fang Heng’s body trembled. He suddenly sat up straight and woke up with a start. He was no longer sleepy at all.

What the hell! This isn’t my home!

In an instant, countless chaotic messages entered Fang Heng’s mind.

This body was called Fang Heng, just like him.

He committed suicide last night?

“My soul has crossed over to his body?” Fang Heng wondered.

“Buzz…”

The phone was still vibrating in his hand. Fang Heng saw the caller ID, and the words “Big Trouble” written in the remarks.

Fang Heng picked up the phone, and a crisp female voice came from the other end.

“Fang Heng! You b*stard! Where have you been? I couldn’t find you all day! Are you getting ready to commit suicide and end this once and for all?!”

Ugh…

Fang Heng was silent for a moment when he heard the question on the phone.

He could hear the anxiety in the other party’s tone.

“I’m sorry to have made you worry. What’s the matter?”

On the other end of the phone, Xia Xi was stunned.

In the past, Fang Heng would never say something like “Sorry”.

“Are you okay?”

Fang Heng realized that he had said something wrong.

In his memory, the original owner of this body had a very violent temper. He was not going to apologize to anyone even if he was in the wrong.

Fang Heng imitated the impatient tone of the original owner of this body.

“Is there anything else? If not, I’ll go back to sleep.”

“Wait, a friend of mine opened a new online gaming company and is recruiting professional players. Her company is very big and the benefits are very good.” Xia Xi bit her lips lightly, “I didn’t manage to contact you yesterday, so I sent your resume over first. The interview time is set for tomorrow afternoon.”

Gaming company?

For a moment, images quickly flashed past Fang Heng’s eyes.

His gaze once again fell on the photo on the wall.

The original owner of this body was once a professional player from a certain gaming club. At his peak, he had represented his country in the world championships and had achieved good results in international competitions.

However, the original owner had a bad temper and often got into fights with his teammates.

Later, to please his girlfriend, he was instigated by his girlfriend to accept money to help others fix matches.

Soon, the club’s results suffered a sudden decline and the fighting incidents were exposed on the internet. His involvement in match-fixing was also found out by the management and he got kicked out of the club.

If Xia Xi hadn’t gone around to help him plead for leniency, he might have even been arrested and sent to prison for his criminal actions.

“The interview is set. Anyway, you better tidy up yourself. I’ll pick you up tomorrow afternoon.”

Xia Xi hung up after saying that, not giving Fang Heng the chance to refuse.

Fang Heng held his phone in a daze, listening to the busy tone after the call was hung up.

“No wonder, I’m a professional player.”

Fang Heng’s gaze shifted to the simulation game cabin in the room and tried to recollect the memories of this body.

The world after he had crossed over was very similar to the parallel world where Fang Heng originally lived, except for one special thing.

The King of Gods’ game!

This national game was not just empty words in this world.

All humans would be forcefully dragged into the King of Gods’ space to become players when they reached adulthood.

In the early stages, players would have to choose one of the three dangerous apocalypse survival games to join, and they would be forced to stay in the game for at least 30 days every year.

In addition, every player would awaken a talent skill after entering the game.

The previous owner of this body was extremely lucky to obtain the highest level of talent, the S-level, in the game, and this also laid the foundation for him to become a professional player.

One had to know that there were only a few hundred players in China who had obtained S-level talent.

Fang Heng scratched his head.

His memory was somewhat lacking and he had already forgotten why the original owner of the body had committed suicide.

However, ever since the original owner of this body was chased out by the gaming club, he had no income at all and he had not paid his rent for more than half a year.

Fang Heng looked through his phone again and saw that quite a few messages were pressing for payment of debts.

No way… could it be that he had died of poverty?

Fang Heng had never had any big ambitions and he did not want to be rich. He just wanted to spend his life peacefully.

“I need to think of a way to get some money… Well, I have an interview related to gaming tomorrow afternoon… anyway, I’ll go to the game to check out the situation first.”

…

[Welcome back to the King of Gods’ space.]

[Entering the elementary game – ‘Zombie Apocalypse’.]

The game world was considered to be an alternate real world.

After players entered the game world, if they died, they would be in a spiritual state and be forcefully sent back to the King of Gods’ space.

Unless they had special tools or skills, they would be devoured by the King of Gods’ space after three consecutive deaths and be completely dead.

When he entered the game and opened his eyes, a pale and terrifying face appeared in front of Fang Heng.

A zombie was less than half a meter away from Fang Heng.

“F*ck!”

Fang Heng was so scared that he took two steps back.

What a shock!

After calming himself down, Fang Heng realized that this zombie was his clone.

“Oh right, S-level talent!”

Fang Heng opened the character page and switched to the character talent skill observation.

Talent skill: Zombie clone

Talent level: S

Talent description: You have a permanent zombie clone. The zombie clone has 39.5% of the main body’s attributes and an additional 780% of the main body’s HP. It inherits some of the main body’s basic skills and passive skills. After leaving the battle for 7.8 hours, it will regain its full status. After dying, it will automatically resurrect 27.5 hours later.

Additional description: By increasing your player’s level, the zombie clone will receive a higher percentage of attribute bonuses and shorten the resurrection time.

“This S-level talent doesn’t seem very strong…”

Fang Heng muttered to himself and closed the game description.

He recalled that the zombie clone did not have the capacity for thinking. It only accepted Fang Heng’s orders and he couldn’t control it after it left his sight.

Under normal circumstances, apart from using the zombie clone to fight, the zombie clone could also ‘hack’.

Even after logging off, the zombie clone could still faithfully carry out Fang Heng’s orders.

However, it wasn’t very clever, so it could only accept the simplest hack order.

While thinking, Fang Heng opened the game log to check.

[Your zombie has started collecting materials and exploring the area.]

[Your zombie has entered Highway 102.]

[What did your zombie notice?]

[Your zombie has picked up some common waste by the roadside.]

[Your zombie continues to move forward.]

[Your zombie encounters a group of zombies that are coming at him.]

[Your zombie continues to explore.]

[Your zombie brushes past a group of zombies.]

[Your zombie picks up a piece of wood by the roadside*1.]

[Your zombie picks up a piece of wood by the roadside*1.]

…

[Your zombie finds a pile of trash by the roadside.]

[Your zombie is trying to search the pile of garbage…]

[Search failed!]

[Your zombie obtained contaminated bottled water during the search*1.]

[Your zombie backpack is full, returning to the shelter.]

[Your zombie has completed 20 rounds of gathering materials. It is waiting for new orders.]

Fang Heng quickly estimated the benefits of the hack.

Some basic building materials, water and food.

Without a doubt, these materials and food were extremely useful to survive in this apocalyptic environment.

“But, can this skill be considered as an S-level?”

This was the so-called strongest S-level talent? How weak were the other player’s talents?

Fang Heng curled his lips and couldn’t help but complain.

Just as he was about to walk around the shelter to see how much materials his previous owner had left him, he suddenly heard a notification sound.

[Hint: Anomaly detected.]

[Hint: A new player has been detected…]

Huh? New player?

“Could it be that my soul crossover has been detected?”

Fang Heng’s expression changed slightly.

[Hint: Conflict detected. The current player has been identified as a newcomer.]

[Resetting in progress…]

[All your current skills have been forgotten.]

[All current points have been cleared, the backpack has been cleared.]

[Level cleared. The initial number of rebirths reset. Current number of rebirths remaining: 3]

What did that mean?

Empty his account data?

No way! It can’t be that bad!

Fang Heng felt that things were getting worse.

[Hint: Clearing completed.]

[Welcome to the King of Gods’ game. New players can obtain talent skills.]

[Hint: Since you already have one talent skill, please make a choice.]

[1: Obtain a new talent. You will have two talents at the same time.]

[2: Upgrade your talent.]

Huh?

Chapter 2: Talent Advancement

A virtual selection box appeared before Fang Heng’s eyes.

[1: Draw a new talent and keep the original talent.]

[2: Level up your original talent.]

I can level up my talent?

Fang Heng was surprised.

Wasn’t an S-level talent already the highest level of talent? It could still be upgraded?

After coming back to his senses, Fang Heng quickly assessed the situation in front of him.

At the moment, it was too risky to randomly pick a skill. If he picked a normal skill, his talent level would be very average.

In comparison, the current zombie clone with an S-level talent was not as powerful as he had imagined, but it was still an S-level skill.

If he upgraded it, it might have a miraculous effect.

“I’ll take the bet!” he thought.

Fang Heng reached out his hand and tapped on option two. “I choose to upgrade my talent.”

[Hint: Player chooses to level up his talent, obtained SSS-level skill: enhanced – super zombie clone.]

[Hint: Original talent – zombie clone skill level cleared.]

Talent: Enhanced – super zombie clone

Level: SSS

Talent description: You can now control a more powerful zombie clone. The zombie clone has 50% of the main body’s attributes and an additional 300% of the main body’s HP. The zombie clone can inherit most of the main body’s skills and passive skills.

Additional description: Every time your character’s level increases, you can obtain an additional number of zombie clones at the current character’s level.

Additional description: After the zombie dies, it will automatically resurrect 24 hours later. The resurrection time will be shortened as the player’s level increases.

“Awesome!”

After reviewing the skill description, Fang Heng could not help but shout out in glee.

The biggest change after a skill upgrade was the number of zombie clones!

Although there was only one at level 1, every time a character levelled up, an additional number of zombie clones will be given and the number would be the same as the current character’s level number.

When the character levelled up to level 2, it would get two more, and when the character levelled up to level 3, it would get three more…

…

[Hint: Reset completed. Please select the initial game world.]

After selecting his talent, Fang Heng found that he had returned to the King of Gods’ space.

Eh? Even the game progress was reset?

Fang Heng remembered that the original owner of the body was an infrastructure freak. He spent a few years building a single-person shelter in the zombie apocalypse. There were hundreds of storage boxes for basic building materials in the warehouse.

Wait a minute.

Even the survival materials that the original owner of the body had accumulated for so long were gone?

What’s the meaning of this?

[Please choose one of the following initial game worlds (difficulty level):]

[1: Zombie Apocalypse]

[2: Wasteland Apocalypse]

[3: Vampire Apocalypse]

Damn it!

Fang Heng, who thought that he could inherit the legacy, sighed and was forced to accept reality.

When players first entered the King of Gods’ game, they could choose the game background.

The zombie apocalypse corresponded to a zombie-infested apocalyptic world. The setting was that all countries would be destroyed and only a small number of survivors would survive.

The wasteland apocalyptic environment was a world that had been destroyed by nuclear radiation. Humans had built several safety fortresses underground while the surface was filled with mutated monsters. If one left the underground rashly, they would be affected by the radiation.

As for the last vampire apocalypse, it was a world ruled by vampires, and humans became food for them.

Among the three novice worlds, the vampire apocalypse was universally acknowledged to be the easiest one.

As a captive human, as long as one did not seek death in the beginning, it was relatively easy to survive. However, the zombie apocalypse was the most difficult one.

More than 50% of the players would die at the beginning if they were to try to survive on their own.

Fang Heng thought for a while and decided to enter the zombie apocalypse world.

The zombie apocalypse was most compatible with his talent.

Since the zombies in the wild did not have high intelligence and would not attack their own kind, Fang Heng could use the ‘hack’ skill of his zombie clone to quickly gather materials during the apocalypse.

If it was the background of the vampire apocalypse, the zombies that he sent out to ‘hack’ would soon be treated as monsters on the streets and shot by the police.

[Hint: Player has completed his selection – zombie apocalypse, entering the apocalypse…]

Fang Heng’s eyes went soft.

Opening his eyes again, Fang Heng found himself standing in a forest.

[Please begin your journey. In this apocalyptic world, you will have to face all kinds of danger. Please try to survive.]

Fang Heng carefully looked around.

The opening was the forest environment.

After confirming that there were no zombies in his field of vision, Fang Heng first checked his character’s attributes.

Player: Fang Heng

Level: 1

HP: 100/100

Vitality: 100/100

Spirit: 100/100

Energy: 100/100

Strength: 5

Agility: 5

Physique: 5

Will: 5

Perception: 5

Intelligence: 5

Talent skill: Enhanced – super zombie clone.

There was only one mobile survival radio in his backpack, and the character’s attributes had been reset by the King of Gods.

“The system is really a scam!”

The sudden game reset disrupted Fang Heng’s original plan.

He shook his head in disbelief and deliberated on the current situation.

In order to protect the lives of the people, the federal government had established various safe zones in the elementary King of Gods’ game. Ordinary civilian players could receive free protection from the government within the safe zones.

In other words, as long as he reached the safe zone, he would be safe!

Unfortunately, it was very difficult to do this practically.

There were very few federal certified safe zones and the game world was extremely large. In addition, the game world also had a setting that separated the ‘game zones’. Ordinary players would even randomly appear in various corners of the world after entering the game, hence, it was very difficult to find the ‘safe zones’ in the first place.

Usually at this time, after players entered the game, they would choose to look for shelters established by various gaming guilds or gaming companies to temporarily stay in.

This was not free.

After logging off, players would also find the gaming company or guild responsible for setting the shelter and transfer a sum of money over as ‘rent’.

As long as you had money, the chances of survival in the game could be greatly increased.

Unfortunately, Fang Heng now owed a lot of money to others.

However, some shelters also provided some jobs. Fang Heng could try to submit some materials to obtain a few days of rental rights.

“I’ll find a shelter nearby and settle down. Then I’ll think about other things.”

Fang Heng took out the mobile survival radio from his backpack.

The mobile radio could send a message every half an hour. Players within 100 kilometres of others could search for information through the radio.

Similarly, Fang Heng could receive messages from players within 100 kilometres of him through the radio.

Many shelters would advertise every half an hour to attract customers.

Fang Heng had just connected to the radio station when a dense number of messages refreshed.

[It’s over, it’s all over, it’s District 8!]

[God! So unlucky! Is there a party? My talent is predator…]

[Is there a shelter? Urgent! Price is negotiable!]

[F*ck! Why is District 8 open? Why am I so unlucky?]

[Water, I need water! I haven’t had water for seven hours. I can’t hold on much longer. I have wood to trade.]

[Please, we have three people here. We are preparing to build a shelter in seven days. Coordinates (20291*82112). Those who are interested, please come quickly. Only elite players are accepted. Beggars can leave!]

District 8?

A new server?!

Fang Heng was stunned.

Beginner level King of Gods’ game worlds usually had multiple mirrored game worlds at the same time, similar to ‘servers’.

King of Gods would rarely open a new ‘server’. Usually, this situation would only happen when the old server was full, the old server was judged to be a ‘passive game’, or a certain server was cleared.

After opening a new server, many old players who were judged to be ‘passive games’ in the King of Gods’ game would be forced to join the new server.

During the period of time when the new server was opened, everything would start all over again, and the difficulty of surviving would naturally increase by hundreds or even thousands of times!

During this period of time, the death rate of players was the highest!

“Hahaha! I’m rich!”

Although he was facing a crisis, Fang Heng was actually a little excited as he clenched his fists.

Similarly, the crisis also meant an opportunity!

An opportunity to make a lot of money!

The resources in the old server had long been monopolized by the gaming companies and the federal governments. In the new server, everything would start all over again!

Fang Heng raised his hand.

The mud in front of him rumbled.

“Chi!!”

A light brown palm stretched out from the mud.

The rotting zombies crawled out of the mud with great effort. They stood in front of Fang Heng with a rotten smell.

Go!

Fang Heng controlled his zombie clone to open a path in front of him and took a step forward.

There seemed to be a change in plan.

If he could build a shelter in the game first and collect ‘rent’ from the outside….

Chapter 3: Evolution Crystal Fragments

In the forest, Fang Heng followed the zombie clone and slowly moved forward.

Fang Heng stopped to observe his surroundings from time to time, then bent down to pick up the basic survival materials scattered on the ground.

[Hint: You have obtained firewood.]

In an apocalyptic environment, many materials could be picked up directly, such as small stones, firewood, grass, hay and so on. These were all materials used to make basic survival tools.

They walked and stopped for nearly ten minutes before the zombie clone in front stopped completely.

Not far away, a zombie stood alone under a tree.

Fang Heng frowned. He slowly squatted down and hid his body in the bushes to observe.

In the apocalypse, zombies were the biggest threat.

After a player defeated a zombie, there was a small chance that some tools would drop.

Among them, there was an extremely important item called the evolution crystal.

In the King of Gods’ game, the evolution crystal was the only way to increase a player’s level.

Generally speaking, in the early stages of the game, it was a race against time. The best choice was to think of ways to collect survival materials to survive. Wasting a large amount of time to kill a zombie was a very stupid action.

After all, the drop rate of zombies was low and the items that dropped might not be useful in the early stages. If one was accidentally infected by the zombie during a fight, it would be a dead end.

The loss outweighed the gain.

However…

Fang Heng rolled his eyes.

He was different from ordinary players.

If there was a chance to kill zombies and farm evolution crystals, he could quickly upgrade to level 2. At that time, he could summon two additional zombie clones, greatly increasing his current strength and his ‘hack’ efficiency in the early stages!

Fang Heng narrowed his eyes, opened his backpack and looked at the materials.

There were enough materials.

Along the way, he had collected enough basic materials to create two wooden spears.

Fang Heng had the zombies on alert mode, then he squatted down and opened the skill panel.

In the skill panel, the basic materials page had all kinds of survival tools to survive through the apocalypse, including wooden axes, simple beds, simple bonfires and so on.

Fang Heng quickly selected a wooden spear, and a green channelling bar appeared above his head.

Five minutes later, two wooden spears appeared in Fang Heng’s hands.

[Hint: You have completed the production of the wooden spear.]

[You have obtained a wooden spear*2.]

[Hint: You have mastered the basic production skill, your basic production skill experience points +2.]

Item: Simple wooden spear

Quality: Crude

Attack: 4-7

Description: The most basic survival weapon. It has crude workmanship and can cause relatively little damage to zombies.

Fang Heng held the spear in his hand and weighed it. Then, he threw one of the spears to the zombie clone beside him.

Fight!

Fang Heng and the zombie clone each held a wooden spear and slowly approached the zombie from behind.

“Chi!”

The zombie clone was the first to attack and the wooden spear pierced into the rotten zombie’s body.

“Roar! Woo!”

The zombie that was attacked let out a roar, then turned and pounced on Fang Heng.

“The clone beat you up! Why are you beating me up?”

Fang Heng was cursing, but his body’s muscle memory was still intact. He reacted quickly and took half a step back to avoid the attack.

The wooden spear in his hand stabbed forward.

“Chi!”

The tip of the wooden spear pierced into the zombie’s body, making a dry sound.

Fang Heng frowned.

The spear felt like it was stabbing a piece of rotten wood.

Fang Heng quickly pulled out the wooden spear and stepped back.

The zombie’s movements were very stiff but its defence was pretty good. Its body was still full of vigour after being pierced by the spear a few times.

Fang Heng didn’t dare to be negligent. He worked with his clone to circle the zombie and occasionally poked it a few times.

Although the zombie was slow, if it accidentally scratched you, you would be infected by the virus.

In the early stage of the game, if you were infected by the zombie virus, it’s better to end the game by suicide. There was absolutely no way to survive.

Fang Heng waved the wooden spear and poked the zombie’s body more than twenty times. After poking it twenty times, the zombie howled and fell.

[Hint: You have killed a zombie. You have gained 2 survival points.]

Survival points were the currency of the zombie apocalypse world. Players could use them to buy items through the system store.

Damn it! No evolution crystals dropped!

It was demoralizing!

Fang Heng shook his head repeatedly.

It took Fang Heng a lot of effort and time to kill the zombie this time.

“The lowest level evolution crystal fragment drop rate is about 20%. The fact that it didn’t drop the first time was within my expectations. If I kill a few more, it will drop eventually.’

Fang Heng could only comfort himself like this.

There was still a margin for error.

“Worst-case scenario, I won’t log off tonight!’

“Woo…”

The battle just now had made quite a commotion. The second zombie was attracted by the noise and approached Fang Heng from a distance.

“Again! Continue!”

Fang Heng raised his spirits with a few shouts, lifted his wooden spear and continued to kill the zombies.

When the eighth zombie was killed by the spear, Fang Heng finally heard the notification of an item dropping.

[Hint: You have killed a strong zombie. You have gained 3 survival points.]

[Hint: You have gained an evolution crystal fragment*1.]

Crystal! It finally dropped!

Fang Heng let out a sigh of relief. He held the evolution crystal fragment in his hand and observed it.

The thumb-sized crystal fragment was emitting a scarlet glow.

Item: Evolution crystal fragment

Item description: A special crystal fragment. It contains a powerful force and can increase the player’s character experience points (only effective on players below level 5.)

“Bang!”

Fang Heng crushed the crystal fragment in his hand.

The red mist that was released from the crushed fragments was absorbed by Fang Heng’s palm.

[Hint: You have absorbed the evolution crystal fragment.]

[Hint: Your level has been increased to level 2. You have gained two additional zombie clones.]

Two zombies crawled out of the mud, one on the left and the other on the right. They stood behind Fang Heng obediently.

“Haha! It’s a success!”

Fang Heng threw the spear in his hand to one of the zombies, then lowered his head and continued to make the spear.

With the addition of two new zombie clones, the efficiency of killing monsters would be greatly increased!

He needed to find a way to level up his talent skill to level 3! At that time, he would have six clones!

Survival?

No, levelling up was the most important thing right now!

Fang Heng made two more wooden spears, then commanded the zombie clones to knock on the big tree to make some noise to attract the nearby zombies.

The plan to level up by killing zombies! Begin!

“This game is so interesting!”

Fang Heng muttered to himself, then raised his spear and stabbed at the zombie that was slowly approaching.

If someone saw Fang Heng killing zombies, they would think that he was crazy.

How long had it been since the game started and he had already started killing zombies?

Shouldn’t this kind of thing be considered in the later stages of the game?

…

Three hours later, Fang Heng’s character had reached level 4.

A total of 10 zombie clones stood neatly behind Fang Heng.

After reaching level 4, the experience points gained from using the crystal fragments would be greatly reduced.

Fang Heng roughly estimated that it would take about 20 to 30 evolution crystal fragments to upgrade his talent skill to level 5. This was not something that could be accomplished in a short period.

The sun was about to set, and the number and strength of zombies at night would greatly increase.

It was better to find a system shelter to settle in.

Thinking of this, Fang Heng took out the survival radio from his backpack.

The survival radio could use the ‘search’ function to search the coordinates of the nearby system shelters.

The prerequisite was to spend survival points.

Fang Heng had killed so many zombies along the way, and now he had a total of 172 survival points.

With so many points, it could be considered a huge sum of money in the early stages.

After spending 10 points to obtain the nearest location of the system shelter, Fang Heng did not delay any longer and rushed towards the shelter.