His best friend had already grabbed his shoulders excitedly and was shaking him vigorously: "This game looks so fun! It's so incredibly fun! I'm so jealous that you've already been testing it for two days! I can't wait, when is it going to be released! Just tell me! When can we play it?!"
Chris: "..."
On this day, at the young age of 24, he suddenly experienced the pain of being "betrayed and abandoned by everyone".
The break time passed quickly.
Chris walked heavily back into the testing room.
The staff member, still sporting that professional smile, said, "This is the last test for today. Thank you for your hard work. The last test involves battling a difficult NPC. Please turn on the 'Challenge Mission' option."
"..."
For some reason, Chris inexplicably saw the same smile as Chief Engineer Ming on the face of this Blue Star staff member…
—Oh no, no.
—It must be because I've been looking at too many devil-themed memes and am hallucinating!
Chris wiped his face with his palm and rallied his spirits.
He thought to himself: I've been a punching bag for almost a whole day. These test players are all animals! Now it's finally my turn to fight the NPCs. I can finally bully some noobs and regain some confidence!
As he thought about it, he felt incredibly degraded. A once-professional player in the top league, had he really fallen so low that he could only regain his confidence by fighting NPCs...?
[Ding, the challenge has begun.]
Defeat the NPC, Assassin Master Odin, within 60 minutes.
"?"
Chris looked up and saw that within the blank arena, countless beams of light and shadow eventually merged into a single shadow—
That figure, on the Jia League stage, was known as the "God of Assassins," the "God of War in the Sky," the "Great Demon King," the "Number One Beauty in the Esports Circle," and the "Most Difficult Match in Professional Competition"...
Tyran Odin!
The undisputed strongest player in the esports world, the idol of all assassin players!
NPC Odin turned around, his dark golden eyes coldly scrutinizing Christon. A bluebell-themed dagger had appeared in his right hand, deftly twirling in his palm like a venomous tongue.
At that moment, Chris's legs went weak, and he thought: I'm done for!
Immediately afterwards, the system began a 30-second countdown.
Chris regained some of his composure and thought hesitantly: This is an NPC, it can't possibly be as strong as the real Odin... Otherwise, I might as well just kneel down and call him daddy! This game can't be that hard, right? Anyway, I'll give it a try first. If I can beat him, I'll fight him; if I can't... will calling him daddy work?
After a while.
[Ding, 29th challenge failed, character reconstruction in progress.]
Challenge time remaining: 41 minutes.
NPC Odin triggered his line again: "Don't try to deceive me. I can tell what you're thinking and what you're going to do from your expression..."
Chris had heard this phrase many times in past battles.
This NPC really seems to have mind-reading abilities!
Chris felt as if every move he made was anticipated, as Odin had already prepared countermeasures in advance, and with two quick snaps, he was crushed to death!
How can I play this? This is unplayable!
In short, after a while.
[Ding, 87th challenge failed, character reconstruction in progress.]
The challenge time has expired. This challenge has failed.
Please wait in place; you will exit this scene in 10 seconds.
Chris, in a dejected forward bend (OTZ) position, knelt down in the preparation area.
"I'm sorry, Dad! I'll never look down on NPCs again!"
I exited the VR gaming pod again.
Chris stared blankly at the ceiling, his expression vacant, and became withdrawn.
The staff member handed him a form and smiled, asking him to fill it out next door.
Chris walked to the next room like a walking corpse.
Then he actually heard the other test players chatting and laughing:
"Hahaha, good heavens! I'm actually a man who fought against the God of Assassins!"
"How long did it take you guys to defeat Odin?"
"It took me twenty minutes to discover the secret..."
"Haha, I suddenly realized it after trying it twice!"
"Blue Star's design is really interesting. I never thought games could be played like this. It's like breaking through the dimensional barrier, but once I figured it out, it felt so amazing..."
As Chris filled out the test feedback form, he roared inwardly: No! You're lying to me! This can't be! Even the NPC Demon King is invincible, he can't even beat me... Are all the players testing on Blue Star top-tier players?!
This question lingered until he ate a loving dinner on Earth.