September 15th, 2024, ten in the morning, light rain.
East Guangdong Province, D City.
In a rented apartment that was less than 10 square meters, Zhou Tianhao sat in front of his computer, playing a racing game under the alias 'White Belly Goose'. The game was called Goose Speed.
At this moment, he was controlling a racing car and was far ahead of the other racers. As long as he did not make any mistakes and drove steadily to the finish line, he would be able to take first place.
Without any interference from other opponents, it was not difficult for Zhou Tianhao to finish the rest of the journey without making any mistakes.
"After this game, I'll be the number one Racing God. I'll take a screenshot and brag in the group later! Those bastards will be so envious!"
The God of Racing was the highest rank in the game, symbolizing the most awesome player. There were very few people who could reach this level, let alone become the God of Racing.
As Zhou Tianhao was thinking happily, he suddenly realized that his car seemed to have run out of gas. He could not drive it anymore, and he could not control its direction. He could only watch as the car crashed into the wall!
"What the f*ck? What's going on? Did the internet disconnect?"
Zhou Tianhao tapped on the keyboard anxiously, but the car on the screen still did not react. He could only watch as his opponent caught up and surpassed him.
"I'm not convinced. What the hell is going on?"
"I didn't have any problems with the internet! What the hell?"
"What kind of lousy game is this! Cutting off the internet at this time!"
After trying to no avail, he had no choice but to close the game and restart.
However, when the game interface reappeared, the screen suddenly went black and a pop-up window popped up.
[Due to your account being suspected of violating the rules, your account was banned on September 15th, 2024 at 10:05 am. The unban date is September 15th, 2034, 10:05 am…]
Zhou Tianhao: "???"
He could not believe his eyes!
Ten years!
His account was suddenly banned for ten years!
He was banned for violating the rules, but he didn't even know where he had violated the rules.
"This is ridiculous. What is this?"
Faced with this situation, Zhou Tianhao immediately went to the customer service of the Goose Speed.
"Hello, Customer Service #007 is at your service. May I ask if there's a problem?"
"What did I do? Why was my account banned? You even said that I violated the rules. Tell me clearly, where did I violate the rules? What right do you have to block my account?"
"Please wait a moment. I'll check it for you."
"Hello, the system has detected that you have violated the rules and has banned your account. Please maintain a healthy gaming lifestyle in the future."
"Is there anything else?"
"???"
"Don't you understand human language? You tell me, I'm the top racer of this season. My technical skills are all here! Do I need to break the rules? You're insulting me, do you know that?"
"Hello, please don't be agitated. The system has indeed detected that you have violated the rules and banned your account. Please wait patiently for the system to unban it."
"Do you have any other questions?"
"If not, please give your evaluation of this service. If you are very satisfied, deduct 1 point, if you are barely satisfied, deduct 2, if you are not satisfied, deduct 3…"
"I'll deduct your f*cking head!"
Zhou Tianhao angrily closed the call and realized that he was talking to a robot.
Unwilling to accept this, he sent the screenshot to the racing group.
"Quick, quick, quick. What's with being banned for ten years for no reason?"
When the active members of the group saw that the Racing God had been banned for ten years, they began to comment.
"F*ck! Racing God, were you cheating?"
"How could I cheat! Aren't you aware of my skills? I can beat you with one hand!"
"That's right! Then why was it banned?"
"If I knew, would I have asked about it?!"
"F*ck! Racing God, why don't you quickly ask customer service?"
"I did, but it's useless! It's all robot customer service."
After he was done, Zhou Tianhao sent a screenshot of his conversation with the robot customer service.
"I'm dying of laughter. Racing God, are you sure you won't deduct a handful of engine oil?"
"This customer service is terrible. They only know how to be perfunctory. Who doesn't know your skills? They might not be able to beat you even if they cheat, unless they're the perverted version."
"I already said that it's a robot. It will answer according to the system's judgment."
"Does anyone know what to do? I was supposed to become the number one Racing God today. I should have taken screenshots of the achievement to brag, but my account is gone."
"If nothing unexpected happens, there shouldn't be any changes. After all, the final explanation is in the hands of the game company. They have the final say in how the account is handled. I'm afraid you don't know. According to the agreement, the account isn't actually yours."
"Is there really no other way? Can we sue them?"
"Check out what happened with Nanshan Pizza Hut! Instead of paying for a lawyer, you might as well pay me to wash your feet, right?"
"It's good to wash your feet! Are you serious?"
"It must be serious."
"Don't do it, seriously."
"..."
"Get lost, get lost. I'll think of a way myself."
"I advise you to stop struggling. I think it's more convenient to create a new account. How can a self-employed person stand against a big company?"
"That makes sense."
"+1."
"If you don't want to create a new account, you can play with mine. I'll let you get to the Racing God rank for free."
"Your abacus beads fell on my face!"
"Get lost!"
Zhou Tianhao closed the group chat with an ugly expression.
The racing group was full of veteran players. Based on their words, his account was probably gone.
Zhou Tianhao was both sad and disappointed at the thought of being banned for ten years.
He was sad that the account that he had played for so long was gone just like that.
He was disappointed with the customer service's attitude and the unreasonable inspection system.
He clearly didn't do anything, but they forcefully banned his account.
As for a smurf account, he couldn't use it, at least not now. He was not in the mood at all.
All he wanted to do now was curse!
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
Zhou Tianhao decided to make a video of this incident and post it online so that the netizens could speak up for him!
He couldn't just let it go like this!
He had evidence to prove that he did not violate the rules. He was not just the Racing God of this season!
He was even the record holder of several races. There were screenshots and videos on his computer!
He could prove that he didn't cheat and that he didn't need to break the rules!
After half an hour, a simple video with white text on a black background was produced.
Title: "Don't click here, the ten-year Racing God was banned for no reason!"
The content went from playing Goose Speed to now, from not knowing how to race on the track to becoming a record holder…
Ten minutes of eloquence, with a beginning and an end, filled with content and truth.
After a cursory look, he uploaded it to all the major video websites.
Soon, the video was approved.
As the video took time to spread, it only had the first comment about an hour later.
"I want to click in! Also, did the original poster (OP) remain clean? Otherwise, why would he be banned?"
With the first comment, the popularity of the video also started to increase.
"I can click in if I want to. Who can stop me? However, I think the OP is indeed capable, but he should have cheated, right? Otherwise, why would he be banned?"
"I didn't want to click in, but I couldn't control my hand. Also, the punishment of being banned for ten years is very strict."
"I think the person above is right. Ten years is no different from a permanent ban. And why am I here?"
"That's true, that's true. I've used that kind of micro-acceleration cheat before, but they only banned me for seven days. Also, I just came in to see which one of you was tricked into coming in."
...
Gradually, there were more and more comments, and the video became more and more popular. More and more people saw it.
Zhou Tianhao looked at the comments section. All of them did not believe him. He suddenly had the urge to delete the video.
However, he knew that doing so would only confirm his crime and turn the groundless matter into solid evidence of his guilt.
At this moment, a comment with the name 'Goose Speed' appeared and attracted Zhou Tianhao's attention.