Chapter 178: First Entry into "Rising Tide"

“Both God-grade Mecha and God-grade Armament cannot be mass-produced. The difficulty of crafting them is comparable to cultivating a Tenth Rank Transcendent.”

With this explanation from Zhuozhuo, Jiang Yan instantly understood.

If such heaven-defying things could truly be produced without limits, the entire Galactic Domain would likely become a world of machines.

“Mr. Jiang, do you choose a short-term contract, a long-term contract, or… to forgo the contract?”

Mo Yu looked at Jiang Yan with a smile, asking in a measured tone.

Jiang Yan collected his thoughts and said, “I choose the short-term contract.”

Both Mo Yu and Zhi Shuang smiled.

Mo Yu bent slightly at the waist, placing a hand over his chest. “Congratulations on joining our Myriad Realms Game Company.”

“Next, ten Cloud Core Coins will be deposited into your Myriad Realms account.”

“Simultaneously, the relevant itinerary will be automatically sent to your email. Please check it promptly.”

“Then, I shall take my leave for now.”

After speaking, Mo Yu’s body shimmered with light and vanished from the building out of thin air.

“This…”

“Hahaha, that was just Mo Yu’s projection. His true form is probably on another planet recruiting geniuses.”

At this moment, Martial God Zhishuang stepped forward to explain.

Jiang Yan turned his gaze to Zhi Shuang and said with a smile, “Tianyuan Star is teeming with talented individuals. Why did you, Martial God Zhishuang, choose me after just a glance?”

Zhi Shuang waved his hand. “Actually, it’s not that my eye is particularly sharp. It’s because I was aware of everything that happened after you left the Hundred Prisons Hunting Ground.”

“Including the Heaven Demon Sect?”

“Correct.”

Jiang Yan understood. It seemed he had been noticed by such a peerless expert ever since his breakthrough into the True Intent Realm.

“You don’t mind that I didn’t intervene to help you, do you?”

Martial God Zhishuang suddenly asked this.

“Hahaha, I have no prior relationship with the Martial God, so how could there be any talk of helping or not helping?” Jiang Yan responded thus.

“Quite perceptive. However, the fact that you managed to survive against a Celestial Phenomenon Martial Artist and even achieved a counter-kill truly shows that heroes emerge from the young!”

Recalling the events, Martial God Zhishuang couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe.

“Even when I first stepped into the True Intent Realm, I could only barely exchange a few moves with a Source Domain Martial Artist. Yet you directly crossed two ranks to achieve a kill. It’s truly astonishing.”

“At that time, Mr. Mo Yu immediately decided to designate you as Tianyuan Star’s rising star to assist their company with game marketing.”

To put it plainly, during the previous confrontation with the Heaven Demon Sect, this Martial God Zhishuang and Mo Yu had been standing backstage watching the show, under the pretext of a test.

But Jiang Yan didn’t find anything inappropriate about it, nor had he ever expected strangers to help him.

In the universe, one can only rely on oneself. The same applied to the short-term contract he signed with the Myriad Realms Company.

Jiang Yan’s relationship with the Myriad Realms Company was one of cooperation, as was Zhi Shuang’s with the Myriad Realms Company. What bound them together was nothing more than the word “benefit.”

If one were to speak of personal favors, they are the most fragile element in human interaction; the ties that bind can easily break with the slightest misstep.

Jiang Yan had no intention of engaging in a deep conversation with Martial God Zhishuang.

He cupped his hands in a slight salute and left directly.

On the way, Zhuozhuo was floating in front of Jiang Yan.

“Congratulations, Mr. Jiang Yan, on signing a short-term contract with our company. The signing fee has been deposited into your account. Please check it promptly.”

Jiang Yan had a Myriad Realms Game account on Blue Star.

This account could be used across any game under the Myriad Realms umbrella.

It was equivalent to Tencent from his previous life.

Jiang Yan hadn’t forgotten that his Spatial Ring still contained the exclusive Game Capsule gifted for breaking through into the top ten thousand of the Myriad Realms Ladder.

Returning to the police station, Jiang Yan directly took out the Game Capsule.

After lying inside.

“Detected that your account possesses closed beta access. Download the related game—’Rising Tide Scorching World’?”

“Download.”

“Downloading…”

“50%, 70%…”

“100%.”

“Download successful.”

“Logging into the game. Please select your account.”

Jiang Yan selected his account, and soon grand animated scenes appeared before his eyes.

The content roughly depicted a post-apocalyptic era where those in power controlled all resources, indulging in extravagance, while those at the bottom struggled to survive, even resorting to exchanging children for food.

In the end, a new generation of youths overthrew the tyranny and rebuilt civilization.

After the CG ended, the four large characters “Rising Tide Scorching World” dominated the screen.

As soon as Jiang Yan entered the game, he saw desolation all around, with fierce-looking individuals brandishing whips and berating him.

Currently, the game was still in an automatic cutscene. Jiang Yan watched as he was whipped by the Punisher, though he felt no pain.

Of course, while the game told a story of oppression in a post-apocalyptic world, starting off by getting beaten up would be idiotic, wouldn’t it?

Soon, the game cutscene ended, and Jiang Yan regained freedom of movement.

The cutscene depicted Jiang Yan hoarding food, being discovered, and receiving punishment. After the Punisher finished punishing him and left, Jiang Yan could move freely.

As for whether to seek revenge on the Punisher, survive in obscurity, or choose another path—it was all up to him.

The game displayed no assigned tasks, indicating a remarkably high degree of freedom.

But at that moment.

“Detected that the Host has not physically descended into ‘Rising Tide Scorching World.’ Traits cannot be activated. Divine Martial Space is descending into ‘Rising Tide Scorching World.'”

Jiang Yan was no stranger to this. The Divine Martial Space had descended once before during his time on the Myriad Realms Ladder.

“Host’s true body is descending into ‘Rising Tide Scorching World.'”

“Upon death, you will automatically leave ‘Rising Tide Scorching World.'”

Physical descent meant he could temper his body and train his battle shadows, which was quite favorable.

A slight smile curled at the corner of Jiang Yan’s mouth. Though he didn’t understand the logic of the Divine Martial Space, being able to infiltrate the game system of such a large company was undoubtedly impressive.

He touched his hand, feeling an incredibly realistic sensation.

While others entered the game as mere strings of data, he had entered with his entire being.

A gamer’s delight.

Soon, a prompt from the game appeared before him.

“Event: You were whipped by the Punisher for hoarding food.”

‘Rising Tide Scorching World’ offered high freedom, merely recording game events without assigning Jiang Yan any tasks.

He could choose to immediately charge forward and kill the Punisher, or lie low for a while, waiting to obtain heaven-defying game items before storming the extravagant strongholds and overthrowing the post-apocalyptic tyranny.

Around him, characters continuously triggered the whipping event.

Clearly, these individuals were all closed beta Players.

And closed beta Players were none other than elites recruited by the Myriad Realms Company.

“Dammit, they said you get beaten up as soon as you enter this game. It’s actually true!”

“The more I think about it, the angrier I get. Screw this, I’m killing that Punisher today!”

“Bro, don’t. The Punisher is the boss of the newbie village. Rumor has it he possesses Seventh Rank Peak Transcendent cultivation. Some veterans have already posted guides—you need to complete certain events and obtain newbie village Divine Artifacts to kill the Punisher.”

“What? A newbie village already has the strength of a Seventh Rank Peak Transcendent?”

The person who had just spoken immediately deflated, abandoning any thought of confronting the Punisher.

“Sigh, better just focus on completing the event honestly.”

The initial resentment towards the Punisher had indeed left a group of proud geniuses humbled.