When the doctor left, Xie Mingzhe immediately sat cross-legged on the bed and began searching for the keyword "Star Card Hologram" on his mobile phone.
A flood of information quickly popped up, startling Xie Mingzhe.
It turned out that these star card holograms came from a game called Star Card Storm.
Star Card Storm was a popular Holographic Card Battle Online Game played throughout the galaxy. It had been in operation for ten years and had over three billion users.
The official card league matches had been launched ten years ago and went viral. Since then, professional card players and various card clubs had sprung up.
As a well-known star conflict network battle game, Star Card Storm had maintained its leading role for a decade due to its unique appeal.
The diverse "Star Cards" served as the core of the game.
Star Cards could be used to battle on the holographic network, but more impressively, a large number of pet cards could be transformed into physical, lifelike creatures in reality. For example, the most famous card, the [Long-eared Rabbit Star Card], could transform into a big, cute rabbit.
With the release of the game, girls went wild for it. Pet cards like the Persian Cat, Teddy Dog, and Long-eared Rabbit quickly became global sensations. Nearly every girl owned several pet cards— they could summon the pets to play with when they had free time. Though the pets were illusions created by holographic projections and didn't exist in the material world, they were still adorable.
In addition to the popular pet cards, which were mostly loved by girls and often out of stock, there were many battle star cards.
Xie Mingzhe checked out the top-rated battle cards online. For instance, the top-tier battle card, [Flame Dragon], created by the ultra-popular player Nie Yuandao, could summon a flaming dragon that released a "Firestorm" to sweep across and incinerate all the illusions around it. Another powerful battle card, [Thousand-year-old God Tree], created by Tang Muzhou, could summon a massive God tree that blotted out the sky. Its countless green vines spread out like tentacles, instantly strangling surrounding creatures.
With the emergence of these top-level battle cards, the matches held by the National Star Card League had become more and more exciting.
After ten years of development, the National Star Card League had reached a high standard, with well-established business models for major clubs. The number of participants in non-governmental matches exceeded 100 million, and the top official league's viewership rate surpassed 30%. The income of the top card players in the National Star Card League was astronomical.
It was said that top players like Nie Yuandao and Tang Muzhou had annual incomes exceeding 100 million, and their fanbases were comparable to those of top celebrities.
This reminded Xie Mingzhe of popular e-sports games on Earth like League of Legends and StarCraft. He had played competitive games like these back in university, but he never expected Star Card Storm to have become a national game. 80% of the population played it—an unimaginable figure.
Players in this game enjoyed considerable freedom. They could create their own original cards. For example, the two top-tier battle cards, Flame Dragon and Thousand-year-old God Tree, were original creations by professional players. Ordinary users could also create unique cards and level them up, which was one of the reasons Star Card Storm had remained popular for so long.
After reading all this, Xie Mingzhe found himself deeply impressed by the game's developers.
As a science student from the 21st century, he had studied computer programming. Back then, technology wasn't as advanced, and people couldn't have developed a game like this. Today, however, the engineers were incredibly skilled, especially when it came to creating the "Star Card Hologram Technology," which could bring creatures from star cards into the real world for people to interact with. Xie Mingzhe almost believed that the pet he saw with the little girl was real!
According to the online descriptions, the main differences between real pets and card pets were shadows and penetration.
Star card holograms had no shadow under light and could be passed through. After all, they were just visual images produced by advanced technology, not tangible creatures in the material world. That's why Doctor Qin recognized it right away—people in this world were already accustomed to various holographic creatures, but Xie Mingzhe was still taken aback.
Xie Mingzhe was about to search for more game information when, just then, a text message suddenly appeared on his phone. It read: "Xie Mingzhe, I'm your landlord, Aunt Zhang. I just checked the account and saw that your rent for July, 800 crystal coins, hasn't been paid. Please settle it as soon as possible."
Xie Mingzhe froze when he saw the message. The rent for July? Oh right, he had rented a small apartment in the capital city when he first arrived. But unexpectedly, he'd ended up in a coma and stayed in the hospital for an entire month. He hadn't been able to pay the rent.
Immediately, Xie Mingzhe checked the balance of his bank account using his mobile phone.
Central Bank: "Dear Mr. Xie, your account balance is 1000 crystal coins."
Xie Mingzhe: "…"
800 crystal coins for rent, leaving only 200 crystal coins.
According to the memories of the original owner, the prices of commodities in this world were similar to those in the year 2018 on Earth. How long could he survive with only 200 crystal coins?
How could a poor guy like him manage to get by? Would he starve to death after rebirth?
It was an annoying problem. Xie Mingzhe rubbed his temples and began to think about how to survive in this strange new world.