Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Hints of a Great Change Appear, and People Make Different Choices

「A dozen or so minutes earlier.」

Back when Shen Fei had yelled as he rushed into his sister’s room, telling her to choose *Traveling Frog*.

In the game *Dream Immortal Realm*, Immortal Emperor llllllll8, who was leading the strongest guild in a siege battle to attack the Celestial Palace, froze. He had heard it—that calm and neutral voice, ringing in his mind...

Normally, he would never pull an all-nighter playing games. Although he was a top-spending whale, the Immortal Emperor had a vibrant nightlife and rarely spent his evenings gaming from dusk till dawn. He had more fun things to do. However, for the past few days, he had been completely crushed by Shen Fei’s spending in *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*. As a result, upon returning to *Dream Immortal Realm*, the Immortal Emperor had become a little obsessed. He was playing with a vengeful mindset.

Returning to his old game as the number one top-spending whale, the Immortal Emperor finally reclaimed the feeling of being the center of attention. Because of that, he had been pulling all-nighters leading sieges every day for the past few days. He just wanted to be unrestrained! He just wanted to indulge himself to his heart’s content!

Now, upon suddenly hearing the voice in his mind, the Immortal Emperor’s first thought was that he was hearing things.

His second reaction was, Inherit game abilities? Then I’ll inherit the abilities of an Immortal Emperor, of course!

"I choose *Dream Immortal Realm*!" without a second thought, he cut down the clone of the Celestial Palace’s final boss, the Jade Emperor, with a single strike and shouted in excitement.

Afterward, no other voice sounded in his mind. Guessing it must have been a hallucination, he waved his hand grandly and led his guild to charge the "Netherworld" dungeon.

"Oh, Brother Li, are we still going to fight? I want to take a break..." Suddenly, a seductive voice cooed through the Immortal Emperor’s headset.

The Immortal Emperor’s real name was Zhao Li, and the voice belonged to one of his girlfriends, who was playing the game in the room next door.

"That’s right, Brother Li, it’s time for a break..."

"Let us use the Joyful Zen Cultivation Technique to help you rest..."

"Yes, Brother Li..."

"Come on..."

Following the first voice, a chorus of sweet, feminine voices chirped in his headset. Zhao Li, the Immortal Emperor, lived in a very large villa. Besides the master bedroom where he was, six of his girlfriends lived in the adjacent rooms.

These girlfriends also played the same game as the Immortal Emperor—*Dream Immortal Realm*. Moreover, in the game, they were all Vice Gang Leaders in the Immortal Emperor’s guild. He had spent several hundred thousand yuan on each of them in the game. The sect these girlfriends joined was one designated by the Immortal Emperor—the Joy Sect.

Normally, the Immortal Emperor would be "battling" with his girlfriends in real life right now. Unfortunately, because of the humiliation he had suffered in *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*, he had been gaming nonstop these past few days, and he had been dragging his gaggle of girlfriends along with him...

"Did you guys hear that voice just now?" Ignoring the chirping voices in his headset, the Immortal Emperor suddenly asked.

"We heard it. Brother Li, did you record that beforehand?" one of his girlfriends replied directly in the headset. "Of course I chose *Dream Immortal Realm*, and I chose the Joy Sect, too..."

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

The other girlfriends replied one after another. Having been made to play this game every day for the past few days, they had instinctively chosen *Dream Immortal Realm* when they heard the voice.

"Huh?" Hearing what the women said, the Immortal Emperor was suddenly taken aback. He hadn’t recorded any voice beforehand. Was that voice... real?

A strange suspicion suddenly surfaced in his mind. Inherit game abilities based on game type and the amount of Krypton Gold spent?

Thinking back on the voice’s message and adopting a "better safe than sorry" attitude, the Immortal Emperor immediately opened the top-up interface for *Dream Immortal Realm*. Then, he discovered that no matter what he did, he couldn’t top up his account.

"Useless customer service, get the hell out here!" Unable to top up, the Immortal Emperor immediately started yelling at the 24/7 dedicated VIP customer service representative.

And then, he was told that they were performing emergency maintenance...

Inherit abilities based on the amount of Krypton Gold spent? Then what about that one-billion-spender from *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*? As he found himself unable to top up his account, a certain person suddenly popped into Zhao Li’s mind...

.

.

「At the same time.」

In a five-star hotel in Korea, a young man with the game handle "Mushroom Enthusiast" and the real name Zhang Taiqing was enjoying the services of a Korean girl group member.

"Shut up! Did you hear that or not?!" Hearing the voice that rang in his head like a hallucination, Zhang Taiqing slapped the pale, peachy backside jiggling in front of his eyes.

SLAP!

A crisp sound echoed.

The response to Zhang Taiqing was a coquettish whine: "Oppa..."

"Did you or did you not hear that?!" Having had all his game accounts hacked and stolen, Zhang Taiqing hadn’t played a game in over ten days. When the voice in his head spoke of inheriting game abilities, he panicked!

If this is real, I don’t have a single game account! Then I’ll inherit jack shit!

"Oppa, today... is... April Fool’s Day... The voice might be from the hotel’s sound system being hacked. Someone’s playing a prank..." Sensing the object inside her slowly slipping out, the girl group member used her "Star Absorption Technique" as she responded.

Of course, that voice had also sounded in the girl group member’s mind. Everyone in the world could hear it. But at the time, her mind had been completely blanked out by pleasure, and she was in no state to respond. Now, she figured it was just an April Fool’s Day prank. Some troll had probably hacked the hotel’s sound system...

"Get off!" The girl group member might not care, but Mushroom Enthusiast Zhang Taiqing thought otherwise.

If this is real, and I don’t have a single game account, what the hell am I going to inherit?!

Shoving the girl group member aside, Zhang Taiqing immediately opened his computer and quickly tried to log into a game.

"Holy shit! It’s working!" To Zhang Taiqing’s excitement, his game account registration was successful this time, and he could play normally! Excited, he registered accounts for several games in a row. He created accounts for *Super Weapon Dominance*, *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*, and *Dream Immortal Realm* all in one go.

"Huh?" But when he opened the top-up interface, ready to go on a spending spree, Zhang Taiqing froze. He saw the top-up page just loading endlessly. He couldn’t deposit any money at all...

"Oppa... I’m easy to get into, why don’t you get into me..." Before Zhang Taiqing could react, a moist...

.

.

"Who’s there?!"

「At the same time, in the Divine Capital of Xia Country.」

Huang Yi, who was playing *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms* and using his "Taiyi Zhenren" account to tackle the Heaven-Reaching Tower, heard the calm and neutral voice ring in his ear. He sprang to his feet, alert, and scanned his surroundings, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

Did I just drink too much? Am I hearing things?

He had just finished a business dinner after 11 PM. The deal hadn’t gone well, and he’d been forced to drink more than a pound of liquor. Huang Yi figured he was just drunk. For one of the Hujian people, being able to handle over a pound of alcohol was considered quite impressive, but even so, his mind wasn’t at its sharpest. He’d opened the game to unwind by slaughtering hordes of monsters after the deal fell through, so he assumed the voice was just an auditory hallucination.

"Of course I choose *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*!" His thoughts turned, and he suddenly remembered that yesterday in the game, after trading for a pet collar with "Skyrocketing," the guy had told him to pay attention on April Fool’s Day.

In a flash of inspiration, Huang Yi made his choice before the ten minutes were up.

Inherit game abilities? If only I really could! Just wait until I inherit thousands of Defense Towers! We’ll see if you dare force me to drink then! We’ll see if you dare make me sign your harsh contracts! We’ll see if you dare ask for my sister-in-law’s contact info!!

After making his choice, Huang Yi felt even more intoxicated. Muttering nonsense, he opened the game’s Defense Tower level rankings. He wanted to see what kinds of Defense Towers he had. If he really could inherit them, what would he get?

Huang Yi’s Defense Towers were all carefully selected towers related to Cultivation. To match the Sword Immortals from Cultivation games, he had a Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Sect Defense Tower. To match the powerful Immortal Beasts from Cultivation games, he had a Defense Tower that could summon a "Qiongqi." To match the Magic from Cultivation games, he had various Divine Thunder, Divine Sense, and Divine Soldier Defense Towers. He even had a Qiankun Array Defense Tower...

Wait, no!! Skyrocketing!!

As he chuckled foolishly at his powerful Immortal Technique-based Defense Towers, Huang Yi’s mind suddenly flashed to "Skyrocketing," who was light-years ahead of him. If the rating of his Defense Towers was 100, then Skyrocketing’s Defense Tower rating would be 3,000, or 4,000...

If abilities are inherited, then...? Then what’s the fucking point?! He’s in Qing City? 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

As he drifted off to sleep, Huang Yi vaguely recalled Skyrocketing’s earlier self-introduction...