Chapter 76: Inspiration from Games

Stone City, Shuiyun Lan Ting District.

Liang Xiaodong was lounging on the sofa, browsing the 3C digital hardware section of a certain e-commerce platform on his phone.

He was planning to assemble a computer.

As a full-time web fiction writer, Liang Xiaodong’s daily life was inseparable from computers; without one, even eating would be difficult.

His previous laptop, used for writing, was bought by his dad when he first entered college. After so many years, not only could it not keep up with the times, it also had many minor issues.

Just yesterday, he accidentally knocked over a teacup while writing zealously, causing the computer to get water-damaged and fry the motherboard.

Repairing it was definitely out of the question.

Instead of spending money to fix this broken computer, he might as well add a little more to assemble a new desktop!

Laptops are convenient, but their typing feel is terrible, and the screen is small too, causing frequent typos and omissions during proofreading.

Of course, this wasn’t the main reason.

The main reason Liang Xiaodong was so insistent on getting a new computer was because he loved gaming, and the performance of the old computer... It was playable, but not enjoyable.

"Stop rushing me, stop rushing me; once I’ve finished assembling the new computer, I’ll immediately pump out a hundred Chapters!"

After soothing the restless readers in the discussion group, Liang Xiaodong, based on a configuration list given by a friend, started filtering for a suitable graphics card.

"Immortal Emperor’s Choice? Immortal King’s Preferrence?"

Stumbling upon such product descriptions, Liang Xiaodong was suddenly taken aback.

Wasn’t he searching for "graphics cards"? How did something weird pop up?

While other vendors’ graphics cards were labeled with terms like "e-sports level", "PUBG exclusive", and "smooth AAA play", why did this one become "Immortal Emperor’s Choice", "Immortal King’s Preference", and "Essential for Immortality"?

As a web fiction author, who happened to write online wuxia novels, Liang Xiaodong was all too familiar with these terms.

Intrigued, he clicked on the product detail page without a second thought, curious to see what this vendor was up to.

"Xianyu Digital?"

Seeing the name of this store, he couldn’t help but nod. It fit!

No wonder the tone was so bold, casually mentioning Immortal Emperors and Immortal Kings; it turned out it was a specialty store named Xianyu Digital!

A shop located in Xianyu was certainly different.

Glancing around, Liang Xiaodong found that this store seemed newly opened and only sold graphics card hardware; all the products displayed in the window were various graphics cards, both A and N brands.

"Stock is lacking!"

"Why are all the high-end flagship cards, with no mid to low-end ones? The least is a 3070." He was a bit surprised.

This store had something going on, only selling high-end cards and not bothering with mid to low-end ones, with the cheapest being in the 3070 range.

However...

Despite only selling high-end cards, the prices were tempting, nearly 500 yuan cheaper than other third-party stores and close to 300 yuan cheaper than official brand stores.

The only uncertainty was the store’s reputation—hopefully, they weren’t selling mining or refurbished cards.

Out of curiosity, Liang Xiaodong clicked into the product review section.

"Ba, you’re incredible! How do you have stock of the new card that Daren Shuo hasn’t even launched yet?"

"Today, I’ll use the Immortal Emperor’s Soldier bestowed by Ba to blood-sacrifice the Path to Immortality..."

"Five-star review submitted! Ba’s goods need no words; even the official flagship stores can’t compete with them! ［Tilting head and smiling］"

"Customer service Xin is attentive; as soon as you place an order, she’ll join you in cursing Ba. I’ll definitely buy again next time! ［Thumbs up］"

What the heck?

What kind of reviews are these?

Liang Xiaodong found himself baffled, unable to comprehend these positive reviews, which were accompanied by images that had nothing to do with graphics cards but were all screenshots of "game achievements".

Forget it, let’s look at the negative reviews.

Deciding to change his approach, Liang Xiaodong quickly discovered even more puzzling reviews when he glanced at the store’s negative reviews.

"No problem with the goods, but damn Ba, why not strengthen the Profound Turtle Venerable?"

"Why isn’t Dubhe allowed to raise cows?"

"Where’s the second phase of Tianba Manor? It’s been so long, why hasn’t there been any progress on the second phase?"

Liang Xiaodong: "..."

Seems unnecessary to continue reading.

Whether positive or negative, Liang Xiaodong couldn’t make sense of any of the store’s reviews. He could only slightly guess that this was a store that only dealt with "familiar customers".

Considering the reviewers clearly seemed like insiders, they wouldn’t mention these things outsiders couldn’t understand otherwise.

"The price is right, and the negative reviews... have no real issues; I might as well buy here."

Disliking complications, Liang Xiaodong found the store’s product descriptions, name, and all the incomprehensible reviews perfectly to his liking.

So, he placed an order for a 4080 graphics card at the store named "Xianyu Digital".

Upon confirming the delivery address, customer service Xin sent a Cdkey.

"What’s this?"

Liang Xiaodong was quite puzzled and asked customer service what it meant.

Customer service Xin told him that all users who purchase graphics cards at this store would receive a game activation Cdkey for "Star Emperor".

"By the way, dear, ’Star Emperor’ is a game developed by us; if you’re interested, feel free to try it..."

You guys developed the game?

Customer service Xin’s answer instantly piqued Liang Xiaodong’s interest.

He had thought this online store was no ordinary business, but he never imagined it was backed by a game studio.

This was seriously wild!

A game studio opening an online store to sell graphics cards for money; wouldn’t microtransactions and DLC make money faster and easier?

Out of wild curiosity, Liang Xiaodong didn’t think too much of it, simply considering it an interesting online shopping experience.

But just a few days later, upon receiving the graphics card and assembling his new computer, when about to test the new computer’s power, the Cdkey for the "Star Emperor" game sent by the customer service suddenly came to mind.

A gifted game should not go unplayed!

After downloading and installing it, following the entire process, Liang Xiaodong entered the online mode of "Star Emperor".

No one knows what he experienced.

Anyway, after playing, not only did his inspiration surge, turning into an octopus and updating two hundred Chapters in one go, but he also went crazy recommending the game "Star Emperor" in the reader and author groups.

"For brothers writing wuxia fantasy, I recommend you try this game; it greatly improves the detail in your fight scenes..."

Liang Xiaodong shared his experience in the author group: "Readers used to say my fight scenes were like child’s play, that a dignified Immortal Venerable had no presence at all, but now the comment section is full of praise for me!"

"Is it for real?"

Other authors were a bit skeptical, but seeing Liang Xiaodong so confident, they decided to give "Star Emperor" a try.

It was quite something once they played...

Authors with good graphics cards grasped the essence of the "genius flow", and the exciting fight scenes, cunning plans, and face-slapping moments they wrote were well-received.

Authors with subpar graphics cards grasped the essence of the "humble son-in-law flow", where the protagonist endured all sorts of humiliation, making readers’ fists clench, wishing they could punch the book’s antagonist.

Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west, never underestimate a young man’s rise!

All of a sudden, everyone found their inspiration.

"Star Emperor", thanks to the enthusiastic endorsement by Liang Xiaodong and many wuxia and fantasy novel authors, quickly spread throughout the web fiction community...