T0 Gaming Guild Saves the World.

Chapter 25. A Game of Conscience, the Best Game
Jiang Heyi returned from her job search near dusk.

With his suitcase in hand and the fruits and vegetables he had already bought laid out on the ground, Zhong Zemo was playing mobile games in front of his house.

The sudden emergence of Proof of the Stars did not squeeze out the survival space of other games. This game, which limits playtime and only starts after you fall asleep, perfectly avoids competing with other game genres.

Jiang Heyi opened the door: "You actually managed to get your clothes back."

"I took advantage of the time difference; she wasn't home." Zhong Zemo asked as soon as he entered, "Where's the kitchen?"

While Zhong Zemo was busy in the kitchen, his phone suddenly started ringing incessantly.

Jiang Heyi picked it up and glanced at it; it was an unfamiliar number.

He poked his head out: "Mute it, don't answer."

"She's in a hurry." Jiang Heyi understood.

"There's nothing to rush, it's all over." Zhong Zemo said calmly, as if he were describing something that had nothing to do with him.

After an hour of work, Jiang Heyi finally cleared out the clutter in the next bedroom, and Zhong Zemo also finished his task.

Braised tofu with scallions, braised chicken, chicken with pork belly, and a side of water spinach with garlic sauce—that was their dinner.

Although Jiang Heyi can cook, his skill level is far inferior to Zhong Zemo's. The delicious and visually appealing food made him so full that he kept burping.

"Is this the standard you usually use at home?"

Zhong Zemo nodded: "If I can't play with real cards or models, I have to develop some new hobbies to fill the gaps."

Zhong Zemo, who was used to being busy at home, washed the dishes and was planning to do something else, until Jiang Heyi reminded him, and he smiled with relief.

At home, if he tries to do something during his free time, he'll definitely get nagged, to the point that he's become less accustomed to relaxing.

There are still 5 hours until 12 o'clock, so I have a lot of free time.

Zhong Zemo borrowed Jiang Heyi's other computer, opened Steam which he hadn't used in a long time, and opened the game library. Most of the games that came into view had been logged in months or even a year or two ago.

"Let me see what you've been playing..." Jiang Heyi leaned closer.

Magic Thunder, 1700 hours of gameplay.

Stars, 1200 hours.

Demolition No. 6, 1000 hours.

Savage 6, 700 hours.

Besides that, I secretly bought a lot of AAA games during sales over the past two years, but I haven't touched most of them since.

Completely relaxed, Zhong Zemo chose Magic Thunder as the starting point for his rehabilitation.

He passionately unleashed Thunderbolt 5 attacks on the enemies one by one, while Jiang Heyi opened the official forum for the game "Proof of the Stars" – "Starry Dreamland".

As the only officially designated community, this is the forefront of information about the game "Proof of the Stars," and the atmosphere for discussion is very lively.

Jiang Heyi's ID in the community is 【Potato Fried with Ginger Slices】. He belongs to the type of person who only reads posts and does not speak, quietly collecting the information he needs.

Jiang Heyi most often browses two sections: one is the strategy section where players exchange useful tips and tricks for the game, namely, 【Star Messenger】.

One is the "Watering Down" section, where anyone can post anything, spout nonsense, and not even bother with fancy names.

The most discussed post in the Water Zone today is "The Bottled Water God Luo Guild is recruiting PVP masters".

Generally speaking, such guild recruitment posts are quickly buried by other content in the general discussion area, but this one manages to stay at the top of the discussion board.

As the saying goes, "A tall building in a water area is either full of big shots or idiots."

This post happens to fit both criteria.

In order to keep their recruitment post at the top of the leaderboard, the management of the Bottled Water God Luo Guild decided to use their financial power to hold a lottery for random red envelopes within the post.

Everything was peaceful until a guild called Dream Master came to the thread to provoke them, and the two sides were engaged in a fierce war of words.

In other games, Jiang Heyi would habitually assume that the game developers were instigating infighting among players to generate revenue from in-game purchases.

However, the biggest revenue stream for the Stars of Proof comes from monthly cards and custom skins, so this Dream Dominator guild is probably just plain stupid.

Indeed, even though everyone pointed out that posting their own recruitment links under other guild posts was tantamount to provocation, they could still argue back and forth with everyone.

It tastes just right, it tastes just right.

No game is without its share of idiots; if a few didn't appear, players would really think Proof of the Stars was paradise.

Jiang Heyi watched the back-and-forth between the two sides with amusement, and was about to send an emoji that said "I want to see rivers of blood," when he suddenly saw a familiar name.

[The jailer, about to spit out his feet]: "What's the point of arguing on the forum? Let's go to the game, the Conflict Zone, and have a showdown. Anyone who doesn't go is a dog!"

"The purpose of forming a guild and inviting PVP experts is to participate in competitions, right? Let's use them as practice targets and beat them to a pulp!" Where there's fun, there's him, and the jailer guy, who's always stirring things up, joins in the fun.

It seemed like they had found a way to resolve their conflict, and the discussion quickly turned into a challenge, and then...

"【Barrel Water God Luo】will be waiting for 【Dream Master】 tonight in the conflict zone beside the trade route outside Fengjia City."

People who enjoy watching the drama unfold are always in the majority, and other guilds quickly followed suit.

Guild Leader of [Khorne's Chosen]: "You may need professionals to act as referees, and we would be happy to accept the invitation."

Players were even more willing to join in the festivities and come to watch the battle.

Wherever there are people, there will be conflicts; wherever there are conflicts, there will be plenty of onlookers.

The two guilds, already at odds, are now even more divided, with no way to back down without a fight.

The prison guard seems to have inadvertently acted as the trigger for a historical event.

Seeing Jiang Heyi smiling, Zhong Zemo stopped playing his game and came over.

Is this considered a warm-up for the guild war?

"The guild wars seem to be using a balanced mode, which is somewhat different from the game's regular PVP." Jiang Heyi's lips curled up. "If it weren't for the need to conquer the underground temple, I would have liked to go and see what the fun was like."

Since there are no beginner guides or tutorials, each player begins their second life in the dream world completely bewildered, so most of the posts in the chat area are questions.

Some people are wondering why they were put into a weakened state of 6 hours [imprisonment] after being caught by the Judgment Knight for only stealing twice, instead of 2 hours.

What did you steal?

"The armor of the Judgment Knight".

Someone carelessly killed an NPC in Windpod City, hoping to disrupt other players' normal activities. However, they discovered that only the NPC in their own world bubble had died, while others were still interacting normally with NPCs in the main world. This caused them to panic and ask for help.

Well, I have absolutely no sympathy for Jiang Heyi. He was full of malice from the start, so he only has himself to blame.

Someone accidentally triggered a special event and was suddenly teleported to an unfamiliar area. Before they could use the Starry Sky Jade to record their coordinates, they were killed by monsters and are now seeking help.

This thread has a large number of participants, but due to limitations in skill and map availability, most players have a very limited area of ​​activity.

They had only seen the tip of the iceberg of Anna's vast empire.

If there were a special way to travel to entirely new areas, those confident in their skills and eager to take on challenges beyond their level would surely flock to it.

Jiang Heyi thought of the [Underground Temple of the Clarities] they were exploring, and quickly searched for keywords.

The search yielded no results, which brought a slight smile to his lips.

The boundary between the virtual and the real remains far ahead.

"Don't you guys think the game's crackdown on third-party transactions is very timely?"

Upon seeing this discussion thread, Jiang Heyi immediately clicked on it.

"I also saw it in the comments section of Bilibili. A content creator acted as a guarantor to help a rich player who decided to speed up the construction of a guild acquire materials. The transaction was frozen as soon as it was delivered."

"From warning of illegal transactions to returning the traded items, the whole process took less than 20 minutes. It's incredibly efficient."

The post resonated with some players who had tried third-party trading.

Their inherent mindset when playing games has always been that if they can use in-game purchases to speed up their progress and enjoy the core gameplay, they don't mind spending a little money.

Therefore, after discovering that the official data was not being sold, they felt quite uncomfortable and turned to off-site "assistance".

Their deals all ended in failure.

Players have never seen such an efficient and accurate censorship mechanism before.

Not only have third-party cheats disappeared, but cheats have also been completely defeated by this groundbreaking game.

The current Proof of the Stars emphasizes two words—purity.

The discussion about the third party quickly attracted the attention of the community administrators, and the post was locked, sunk, and swept into the ripples of the online discussion.

This approach clearly expresses the official stance: those with the financial means should focus on buying clothing templates and items unrelated to combat power in the in-game store, and not try to exploit any loopholes.

Although it's unclear how they achieved such precise censorship, this approach undoubtedly boosts the favorability of most players.

A game with a conscience, the best game.

It's so incredibly generous that Zhong Zemo wanted to take out his own wallet so that the Star Token could take some more money from him.

"I'll buy another black and white template tonight!" Zhong Zemo spoke much more generously now that he had regained control of his wallet.

(End of this chapter)