Zhang Yi rushed forward, just as the crystal lizard let out a deafening roar and leaped into the air.
Reacting instinctively, Zhang Yi tried to roll away.
However, the timing was embarrassing.
Rolling comes with a brief invincibility frame, allowing immunity to damage during that short window. If the timing is off—either too early or too late—the player takes the hit.
Unfortunately, Zhang Yi was too late. The invincibility frame ended before the crystal lizard's attack landed, and the roll didn't even move him out of the lizard's range.
With a thunderous crash, the crystal lizard hit the ground, unleashing a wave of blue crystal needles. Zhang Yi's health plummeted by nearly half from the impact.
At the same moment, 123 was sent flying by the shockwave.
"Damn! What kind of damage is this?" Zhang Yi exclaimed in shock in front of the computer.
The sheer force was staggering. One swipe and nearly half his health was gone?
Panic set in. Zhang Yi frantically rolled several times to create distance, then downed a health potion to recover.
At this time, the crystal lizard rushed over again.
Instead of rolling away, Zhang Yi pressed the right mouse button, choosing to defend with a small wooden shield. However, the stamina hadn't fully recovered. The rushing crystal lizard's slap instantly emptied the previously filled health bar.
In Dark Souls, the energy bar is far more critical than health. Even if the health bar looks good, an empty energy bar leaves no room for survival.
Exhausted and unable to move, 123 stood rigid, looking like a big idiot in the game. The crystal lizard's claws struck once more, delivering death.
"No! Why am I as fragile as paper?" Zhang Yi exclaimed, realizing something was wrong.
Why was this ordinary big-eared lizard capable of knocking out one-third of his health? Sure, he was a whiteboard character in oversized pants, but this level of damage was absurd.
"Didn't the game hint to turn back? Clearly, this isn't something you can handle!" Wang Han teased with a grin, eagerly waiting for her turn to play.
"Oh! Why are you just rolling around like a donkey?!"
"You're out of energy again!"
"Fight back! Or are you planning to let the monster wear you down completely?"
Zhang Yi wanted to retort but had no time for it. If this situation could be summed up in a book title, it would be called Sense of Oppression.
The oppressive feeling was overwhelming.
The crystal lizard's relentless attacks—charging, biting, spinning like a wheel—came at such a high frequency that there was no room for counterplay.
"This thing is impossible to fight! It's not even that durable, but I can't land a single hit!" Zhang Yi cried in despair, watching the lizard roll over '123' in the game. After drinking the last bottle of fruit oranges, his desperation only grew.
This was beyond absurd—beyond all logic.
With a shrill scream, '123' collapsed in the game, defeated. The crystal lizard turned away disdainfully as the screen faded from bright red to dark red, then black and white. A tragic death BGM accompanied the large text on the screen: [You Are Dead].
At the same moment, an achievement prompt for a bronze trophy popped up in the lower right corner: [First Death].
In Dark Souls, Chen Xu had added many collectible achievements. Just like the Playstation system from previous life, trophies were divided into bronze, silver, and gold, with a platinum trophy awarded after achieving everything. This feature greatly increased the game's stickiness on the platform.
Many trophy hunters existed in the past, and some developers even created easy-to-platinum games for such players.
Looking at the trophy notification, Zhang Yi found it novel but couldn't help feeling speechless. How quickly had he lost his first life?
Sighing, he gave up his seat. The stool hadn't even warmed up yet.
Wang Han gleefully sat down and briefly tested the controls in the Ashes Cemetery.
However, a few moments later, she let out an exclamation: "My money! How did I lose all my money after dying?!"
The soul counter in the lower-right corner now displayed a glaring zero.
After inspecting the rest of the game's content, it was evident this wasn't a case of reverting to an earlier save file—it was simply how the game worked.
"I think that's just the game's mechanics. If you go back to that crystal lizard, you might be able to retrieve it," Zhang Yi said, both hopeful and uncertain.
"I'm not going back!" Wang Han pouted defiantly.
If you go there, you can't beat the crystal lizard. Maybe you won't even see the fallen soul. Even if you pick it up, getting killed afterward is no different from moving to a grave, is it?
More importantly, you have to switch seats upon death?
"That monster isn't meant to be fought early on. The system even prompted you to turn back, but you still charged in recklessly," Wang Han remarked, shaking his head. With a smirk, she chose another path leading toward the cliff.
The enemies encountered along the way—those living corpses that are deceptively simple to handle—were weaklings.
Successfully lighting the first bonfire, she pressed forward confidently.
Following the system's prompt, Wang Han even used a trick involving a drop attack from above, smashing a living corpse's head.
Though the game's mechanics are straightforward, there's a certain satisfaction in the simplicity.
The sensation of a blade striking a monster, combined with the sound effects, is surprisingly rewarding.
However, it didn't take long for Wang Han to experience her first blood loss in the game.
As she approached a gate, a seemingly lifeless archer corpse suddenly fired an arrow, catching him off guard. The shot took away nearly a quarter of his health.
Glaring at the diminishing blood bar in the upper left corner, Wang Han couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"Nearly a quarter gone from a single arrow?"
Obsessively, she took a sip from his Estus Flask to refill the health bar.
"Isn't this normal? I got slapped by the crystal lizard earlier and lost half my health," Zhang Yi chimed in. "It's because we have no armor! Of course, without any equipment, we're squishy as heck."
"That actually makes sense," Wang Han admitted, nodding.
It's true—can a blade cutting through armor feel the same as cutting through bare flesh?
Feeling reassured, Wang Han pushed open the ancient bronze gate and entered a courtyard.
In the distance, there was a figure—Ash Gouda—with a spiral sword embedded in his chest. Wang Han's and Zhang Yi's eyes lit up.
They knew this boss well.
No wonder the boss seemed weak in the gameplay footage shown during the online press conference. It turned out he was the Novice Village boss!
Instead of rushing to trigger the interaction to wake the boss, Wang Han decided to scout the courtyard.
But soon, something shocking caught his attention.
"My God! This courtyard..."
Wang Han's eyes widened in disbelief. Whatever she saw, it left her utterly stunned.