Volume 2, Chapter 0 – Night of the Stars, the Descent of the Stars! (Part 1)

June 6.

The real world.

The moment a certain button was pressed, the time of the real world and the time of Night of the Stars were officially synchronized.

The clock reached 11:50, and there were still 10 minutes left before the game’s official open beta launch.

The first batch of Night of the Stars players had long since turned on all kinds of login devices and were quietly waiting for the last ten minutes to pass.

The news brought back by closed beta players, along with the occasional scraps of information released by the officials, had already ignited the enthusiasm of people all over the world. A nearly fully immersive, epoch-making online game, it was hailed as humanity’s second world.

Those who loved battle could roam freely through the sea of stars, while casual players could pick a few leisurely professions and wander quietly through places of breathtaking scenery.

Here, countless fantasies could be fulfilled!

“Hurry up, hurry up, there are only ten minutes left. I have to get into the game the very instant it opens.” Inside one of the large houses in the villa district, a girl in pink slippers sprinted all the way down from the second floor, still wearing rabbit-print pajamas.

“Slow down, wait for me, there’s no need to rush that much!” A young man came chasing after her. As his foot hit the stairs, he stumbled and even flung one of his slippers off.

The girl shouted, “It’s all your fault for not waking me up. I almost missed the open beta launch.”

Turning around, she pushed open the door to a room on the first floor. Breaking into a run and then stopping short, she easily dodged a robotic vacuum behind the door and arrived in front of two transparent upright columns.

They were glass cylinders over two meters tall, set directly into the floor. Their metal bases glowed with a deep blue light, and thick pipes connected the tops of the columns to the ceiling.

“Huff… huff…”

The young man rushed in at that moment as well. Smoothing down his messy bangs, he said helplessly to the girl, “Honestly, I’ve got to hand it to you. Usually you never show this kind of athletic ability.”

The girl arched a brow. “Bro, stop talking nonsense and get into the game pod already.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the young man replied.

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The two of them walked up to the glass columns at the same time. With a hiss, openings appeared in the columns, and the girl and the young man stepped inside together.

The pod doors shut, and at the same time countless blue lights suddenly appeared inside the game pods, like rings formed by streams of falling water. It was gorgeous and full of futuristic beauty.

Standing inside the pods, the two of them slowly began to float upward, finally coming to a stop at a height of about thirty centimeters.

“Identity verification in progress. Zhou Jieyu. Verification complete. Welcome to Night of the Stars…”

“Identity verification in progress. Zhou Jieqiong. Verification complete. Welcome to Night of the Stars…”

…

The girl, Zhou Jieyu, was now standing on a transparent platform. Above her stretched a quiet, unfathomable starry sky, while below her lay a calm sea as blue as sapphire.

At the lower left corner of her field of vision floated the words “Night of the Stars Version 1.01.”

Directly ahead, a curtain of water slowly appeared, and Zhou Jieyu soon realized that it had begun playing that trailer.

In other words, Anran’s unbearable dark history…

Anran had no idea that her dark history was going to be forcibly broadcast in front of hundreds of millions of players…

The embarrassment level was off the charts!

Zhou Jieyu’s attention was not focused on any single character. She was completely captivated by the magnificent starry sky and the dazzlingly cool combat effects. She wished she could be one of the pirate hunters herself, charging around in an unbelievably cool mech, stomping that massive spaceship into a pile of scrap metal and beating that “vicious” pirate crew into rotten fish and smashed shrimp.

“Character model complete. Do you wish to make changes?”

“No.” Zhou Jieyu chose to keep her original appearance.

“Nickname?”

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“Leading the Escape!!!”

“Race?”

“Human.”

Because her target beginner village was Ailan Cluster No. 1886, and the other three races were clearly unsuited to developing on No. 1886, Zhou Jieyu chose Human without the slightest hesitation.

In the open beta Version 1.01 of Night of the Stars, there were still only four playable races, but there were now more than twenty beginner descent planets, each with its own unique characteristics, enough to satisfy the needs of most players.

Zhou Jieyu quickly finished creating her character. Her personal panel was as follows:

Name: Leading the Escape

Age: 18

Race: Human

Sex: Female

Level: 1

HP: 40/40

Stamina: 48/48

Main Profession: None

Sub Profession: None

Six Core Stats: Strength 3, Agility 4, Endurance 4, Intelligence 6, Spirit 3, Charm 6

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Free Attribute Points: 0

Skill Points: 0

Talent: None

Skills: None

Reputation: 0

Equipment Slots: Beginner Cloth Shirt, Beginner Trousers, Beginner Shoes.

The standard starter set.

Zhou Jieyu put on the equipment. Since she had not wasted any time on character creation, there was still one minute left until the official open beta began.

Zhou Jieyu took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, calming her thumping heart a little.

The second world!

A place of hope, one that could shatter the boredom of an ordinary life!

As the Nth-generation heir to wealth, from the moment Zhou Jieyu learned that a game called Night of the Stars existed, she had placed all her expectations for life into it.

She was already sick of a life that repeated itself day after day, of living like a salted fish with no end in sight. She needed some wondrous turning point to change all of that.

“Forty seconds… thirty seconds… twenty seconds… nineteen, eight… four, three, two, one!”

“Welcome to Night of the Stars. May your star ever shine!”

“Do you choose to descend?”

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“Yes!” Zhou Jieyu answered without the slightest hesitation.

“Randomly assigning beginner descent location. Please wait!”

“Three, two, one! Descent location assigned. Coordinates: Ruins Town, Canyon Continent, Ailan Cluster No. 1886 (E8-112, N20-36).”

“Character descent in progress…”

“Three, two, one! Descent complete. We wish you a pleasant journey!”

Zhou Jieyu felt as if she had boarded a high-speed train. The moment she opened her eyes, the world, which had been silent and still like dead water, suddenly came alive.

Ruins Town, Canyon Continent. On an open stretch of land at the edge of town.

Above Zhou Jieyu was a sky of pure, washed blue. The early summer sunlight fell on her body, warm yet faintly scorching. The air, carrying a pungent smell, instantly filled the whole world around her, and the solid sensation beneath her feet made Zhou Jieyu unable to resist taking a couple of steps.

Realism.

It was realism, through and through.

If not for the game panel unfolding before her eyes, Zhou Jieyu would not have realized at all that she was already inside the world of Night of the Stars.

And then there was the dilapidated town behind her, shabby and broken down, perfectly matching the name Ruins Town. The shattered holes in its walls all told of a fierce battle that had once taken place here.

No wonder it deserved to be called an epoch-making online game known as the Second World.

“Night of the Stars, I’m here!”

Zhou Jieyu looked at her hands excitedly.

Gradually, more and more players began appearing around her.