"Elliot, the game helmet has arrived, wake up!"
Elliot slowly opened his eyes to see his younger brother Gavin's excited face.
"Look, it's the helmet for New World!"
Two game helmets were sitting on the table in front of him.
Gavin couldn't contain his excitement and started jumping around. "I can't believe it! We just randomly filled out a survey, and they actually sent us two helmets!"
"The game just launched, and I heard one of these helmets is already being sold for $80,000! If we sell it, we'll have enough money for Mom's surgery!"
Mom? Surgery? New World has launched?
Elliot's face showed shock. "Did I just go back five years?"
"Five years? Are you overly excited? Come on, get up! Let's sell the helmets! I already contacted a buyer!"
Elliot snapped out of his daze and grabbed Gavin firmly. "We can't sell them!"
Gavin stared at him in confusion. "Not sell?! Then what should we do with them?"
"We'll play the game ourselves!"
"What? Are you crazy? That's $80,000! Are you kidding me?!"
Gavin looked at Elliot as if he were out of his mind.
Elliot shook his head, his gaze filled with determination. "Trust me, we can't sell them. At least we need to keep one!"
Years ago, they sold their game helmets to pay for their mom's hospital bills, but in the end, she passed away because there wasn't enough money for the surgery.
Elliot entered New World after his mother's death.
He became a merchant in the game and made quite a bit of money.
At least enough for her surgery—but she never lived to see it.
That was Elliot's greatest regret.
And then, something happened, and he was killed.
Now that he had been reborn, Elliot wouldn't let such a thing happen again.
Gavin glared at Elliot, pulling his hand away angrily. "You're crazy, I think you've completely lost it. Do you really want to play this game so badly?"
"That's our mom's surgery money!"
If it weren't for his memories, Elliot would have thought he was the crazy one.
"This helmet is our only chance to change our fate. Give me one week, and I'll get the money for Mom's surgery. Trust me, let me try!"
A week later would be the best time for her surgery.
Gavin stared blankly at Elliot. "One week?"
"You're really crazy!! That's $500,000!! And there's still follow-up treatments! How can you get that from playing a game?!"
Elliot's gaze remained steadfast. "Trust me! Let me try!"
He didn't have absolute confidence, but how could he know if he didn't try?
Gavin's frantic emotions slowly began to calm down.
They had grown up together, and Gavin knew what kind of person Elliot was.
Gavin gritted his teeth and said, "You'll regret this!!!"
With that, he stormed out, carrying one of the helmets.
Elliot picked up the other helmet, took a deep breath, and said, "I won't regret it, and I won't leave any regrets!"
Cradling the helmet in his hands, he slowly put it on, and the world went dark.
Suddenly, the light flared.
[Scanning iris]
[Iris scan successful]
[Note: Once the helmet is bound, the binding target cannot be changed!]
[Would you like to bind the helmet?]
"Bind!"
[Ding, binding the helmet...]
[Helmet successfully bound]
[Welcome to New World]
Elliot's vision suddenly brightened.
Before him appeared a majestic scene, with dragons soaring through the sky, magma flowing into the earth, and flames engulfing everything.
Humans, monsters, and various mythical creatures fought for dominance.
This was the opening animation of New World.
[Brave soul, you will now enter New World and become one of its members. Please do not worry, the system is now scanning your body!]
A game character appeared before Elliot, dressed in ragged clothes.
The character looked very similar to Elliot.
It was a character created based on Elliot's appearance after the helmet's scan.
[Would you like to use this character to enter the game?]
Elliot: "No, randomize it!"
[Yes, randomize!]
The character in front of him began to change randomly.
Finally, Elliot chose a skinny, small man's image.
"Confirm!"
[Character creation successful, please name your character!]
A dialogue box appeared in front of Elliot again.
"Bigbucks!"
[Would you like to name your character Bigbucks?]
"Confirm!"
Elliot had used this name in his past life.
Since he decided to enter the game as a merchant,
Bigbucks was a perfect name—it had business elements, was powerful, and easy to remember.
[Ding, congratulations player Bigbucks, your character has been created successfully. Welcome to New World, we wish you great success in this world!]
The system's motivational voice faded, and Elliot's world went dark again.
A few seconds passed.
Suddenly, the surrounding sounds grew louder, echoing in Elliot's ears.
He slowly opened his eyes and found himself standing in the middle of a small village.
All around him were people dressed in ragged clothes like himself, both men and women, their expressions blank and shocked.
New World used the most advanced neural imaging technology, making the game world almost indistinguishable from reality.
"This feels so real! It's just like a real world!"
"That $80,000 was totally worth it!"
In the humble village, people were everywhere.
At the village entrance, a chicken as big as a person was running by, dribbling a ball and making loud squawking noises.
A group of newbie players in ragged clothes followed behind, trying to catch it.
Further in the fields, rabbits and pigs spawned, only to be beaten to death by a mob of people.
Their short and brilliant lives didn't last more than two seconds.
The village square was quite lively.
"Fixed teams are recruiting players! Log in on time every day for 8 hours!"
"Looking for a rich boyfriend, must be rich in real life and able to fund my game purchases! I'm 150cm tall, 150kg, a chubby little fairy."
"Small health potions, 1 gold coin, plenty for everyone!"
Elliot glanced at the time. The game had been live for half an hour.
Every player who entered the game automatically received a beginner's task.
[Beginner's Task: Kill five 'wild chickens' at the village entrance, then report to Guard Wang Hu to turn in the task!]
[Task rewards: One novice weapon, 5 small health potions, 100 experience points.]
The newly entered players, still shocked and confused, immediately joined the chicken-killing frenzy.
Elliot didn't take the task. He opened the task menu and selected the beginner task.
"Abandon the task!"
[Ding, are you sure you want to abandon the task?]
[Note: Once abandoned, this task cannot be retaken!]
"Confirm!"
[Task successfully abandoned, removed from the task list!]
After completing everything, Elliot turned and walked towards the deeper part of the village.
"I remember it being around here!"
At the farthest corner of the village, there was a tavern and a lumbermill. They looked completely out of place in the new player village.
Other players were busy with their tasks, but inside the tavern, only a few players lingered.
The tavern owner was a seductive woman in a sleeveless dress, holding a pipe and leaning against a pillar, her long legs exposed. She swayed her fox tail as she puffed smoke.
Several players stood on the tables, trying to get a better view of the tavern owner.
From their position, they could get a good look at certain "inappropriate" parts of her body.
"Damn, this girl really knows how to serve!"
"Haha, I told you New World was fun, but you didn't believe me!"
"This is so much fun."
A few of them were clearly just exploiting the game's bugs.
All the men knew what was going on.
Elliot smiled knowingly and walked toward the tavern owner.
Several newbie players quickly warned him,
"Hey, buddy, don't bother, she won't care about you!"
"Look at how creepy you are. Are you planning to do something unspeakable to an NPC?"
"You're overthinking it. I almost got kicked offline when I tried to touch her earlier!"
With the mockery in the air, Elliot reached the tavern owner.
"Hello!"
Contrary to Elliot's expectations, he wasn't immediately kicked out.
The tavern owner eyed him up and down, blowing out a puff of smoke, then spoke in a sultry voice:
"Ah, a newbie to
New World. You look like a sly one, just perfect to be a merchant! How would you like to become a cunning businessman?"