In the evening, Ling Feng and his companions returned to Liyue Harbor, and then each went home to their own mothers.
Though neither of their mothers were home.
Late at night.
Ling Feng sat at his desk, rubbing his eyes sleepily, and stretched subconsciously.
"Mmm, I slept so comfortably."
After waking up, Ling Feng felt incredibly comfortable and energetic, capable of climbing a hundred floors in one go.
"But it's time to get down to business."
Ling Feng made a slight swipe with his index finger in the air.
A blue, semi-transparent virtual screen appeared in Ling Feng's field of vision.
At the same time, a system prompt sounded in Ling Feng's ear.
[Monthly Training World: Composite Anime World "Sword Art Online"]
[Yes/No]
"Damn it, isn't that obvious! It's been half a year! You're finally giving me a mission."
"Half a year, do you know how I've spent these past six months?"
Ling Feng clicked "Yes" without hesitation, fearing that this long-awaited training mission might suddenly disappear.
The screen then changed.
It was still the classic difficulty selection.
[Difficulty Selection]
[Easy: Game physique suppressed to Soldier level, in-game gains doubled, rewards reduced by ninety percent]
[Normal: Game physique suppressed to Athlete level, everything else normal.]
[Hard: Game physique suppressed to ordinary person level, non-shared stats reduced by 75%, permanent red name, rewards +50%]
[PS: Physique is the initial physique stat in SAO. Non-shared stats refer to stats that cannot be shared.
For example, your own attack power, assuming your attack power is ten points and one attack deals ten damage, after a 75% reduction, one attack will only deal 2.5 damage.
Luck, experience points, health bars, and so on are similar. Weapons and other shared items will have their stats unchanged, with the reduction applied to the overall effect.
In the eyes of others, the displayed data appears normal, but the actual data is after the 75% reduction.]
"Pfft, System, with my current physique, I doubt even the NerveGear could fry my brain, right?"
"Indeed, but if the host dies within SAO, it will still count as a training mission settlement."
"Since that's the case,"
Ling Feng's gaze shifted to the Hard mode and he clicked it without hesitation.
Since there was no consequence, what was there to worry about? If you want to challenge, challenge the highest difficulty.
Although the red name would be troublesome, wasn't that part of the challenge?
And the 75% reduction in non-shared stats all added to the difficulty.
Thinking of this, Ling Feng's eyes burned with intense fire, and he felt extremely excited.
A full-dive virtual reality game!
He had dreamed of playing this his whole life, and now he had the chance, he had to experience it thoroughly!
[Difficulty selection complete!]
[Preparation time: ten seconds]
Ten seconds, there was nothing to prepare. Tomorrow was his day off, so he didn't have to worry about being absent from work.
He tidied his clothes briefly.
Ten seconds flashed by, and the system prompt sounded again.
[Please prepare for transmigration...]
[Clearing non-world harmful substances...]
[Granting ability: Mastery of Japanese language]
[Arranging host identity: Traveler]
[Countdown]
[Three]
...
[One]
As the countdown ended, Ling Feng vanished from his room without a trace.
Meanwhile, two doors down, Keqing was sound asleep in her bed.
...
In a residential house in Akihabara, Ling Feng woke up from the floor, shaking his head and muttering.
"It's been the third time, and I still feel just as dizzy."
Ling Feng stood up from the floor, tidied his clothes, and habitually looked around.
He found himself in a standard, independent otaku room, simply furnished, neither too big nor too small.
A kitchen with an en-suite bathroom, a large living room... and that's it.
A TV, a bed, a computer, and everything else were present but all placed in the large living room.
There were many appliances, but the space still felt quite empty.
"Never mind, it's just a temporary room. Whether it's good or not is irrelevant."
"It's just that this house is the same model as Umaru's family's!"
Ling Feng grumbled as he went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, his eyes lighting up.
The refrigerator was fully stocked.
Cola, instant noodles, everything was there.
All the standard otaku fare.
However...
Ling Feng picked up a bottle of iced black tea from the refrigerator, his eyebrows raising slightly, a look of confusion on his face.
"Does this iced black tea... also sell in Nihon?"
Not only that, but the brands of instant noodles in the refrigerator were written in Chinese.
Master Kong's Old Pot Sauerkraut Beef Noodles
Master Kong Iced Black Tea
...
Even the salt and soy sauce were of the Snowflake brand.
Did I transmigrate to a fake world?
This is Nihon?
Why is it all Chinese products?
Although his mind was filled with questions.
It didn't stop Ling Feng from emptying the entire refrigerator first.
These things were hard to get even through a lottery.
If he didn't pack them up in advance, and if he was sent back to Teyvat after clearing the training, he would cry himself to death.
After ransacking the kitchen and taking everything he could carry, he left behind a mess.
Ling Feng slowly walked out of the kitchen and went to the computer in the living room, expertly turning it on.
A moment later...
Ling Feng stared at the information he found with a bewildered expression.
"Holy crap! What the hell?"
"HX Nihon Province?"
"What is this? How does it not match the history in my mind?"
Ling Feng was going crazy. How could this not match his memory of history at all?
When did Nihon get incorporated into HX?
With confusion and bewilderment, Ling Feng searched for more historical information on the browser.
According to the historical records.
The Japanese language had become like a local dialect.
As for the wars, it was as if they had never happened, with no records whatsoever.
No matter how Ling Feng searched, the results were all the same.
"This... what is going on?"
After searching for a long time, these series of changes left Ling Feng utterly bewildered.
"Forget it, I'm here to play a game, not to get a headache over this stuff."
After thinking for a while, Ling Feng gave up.
Different history is different history, at least I don't have to learn to read anymore.
He turned off the computer.
Ling Feng slowly walked to the bedside table and picked up the gaming helmet that looked identical to the one in the anime "Sword Art Online."
"Is this the helmet that leads to the virtual world?"
"Uh... is this the instruction manual? What normal person reads instruction manuals? Get out of here."
"Yosh! I'm ready."
Ling Feng disdainfully tossed the instruction manual aside, lay down on the bed, and put on the helmet... and then discovered he didn't know how to operate it.
He tilted his head and glanced at the instruction manual he had disdainfully thrown on the floor.
Ling Feng: ...
Damn it!
I will not yield.
Three seconds later, Ling Feng lay on the bed wearing the gaming helmet, holding the instruction manual and reading it.
"So that's how it is. Okay, now I know."
After Ling Feng flipped through the instruction manual, he once again tossed it aside without mercy.
Following the instructions, he started the device, scanned his retina...
After completing a series of operations.
Ling Feng took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.
"Link Start!"