Little Pink Starfish

Pei Sen was deeply worried. Meanwhile, countless forum users were in an excited frenzy.

“After hearing beta players rave about this so-called real game for so long, I can finally play it myself. Waaaah!”

“The gaming pod is so expensive. I’ve been scrimping and saving forever and still don’t have enough. Why did they have to launch now?”

“You think this is expensive? A high-spec PC costs more than this. And this is a gaming pod! I heard tech companies still haven’t cracked how the pod even works.”

“It’s really not that expensive. Do you know how much this costs abroad? Several times the price! But the supplier behind Bix Magic Cube is amazing—so many orders, and not a single stockout.”

“A delivery guy came to my complex today with a huge truck, made me laugh so hard. He complained that he alone had to deliver hundreds of pods in a day.”

“This is a new era of immersive gaming. If you don’t play it, you’re falling behind!”

“People used to sell kidneys for iPhones. Now they’re taking out loans for gaming pods. Honestly, it still depends on your own situation…”

“Yeah, if you haven’t saved enough, you should just wait. The game’s not going anywhere.”

“But if I wait a day to get in, won’t I fall behind in levels?”

“What are you thinking? It’s not like everyone’s jumping in at the same time… Besides, if you join late, can’t you just hug the thigh of a high-level veteran to carry you?”

“……”

Topics were varied, but everyone was anxiously awaiting December 9.

“I’m so hyped. The game goes live at 10 a.m. tomorrow. I’m too excited to sleep tonight!”

“Since the pod needs to be bound to your personal account, you still can’t play in internet cafés. I went to one today and it was empty. Has all the hype been sucked up by Bix Magic Cube?”

“This is the dawn of immersive gaming. The old keyboard-mouse format is going to die out—it’s only a matter of time.”

“Don’t kid yourself. We’re still a long way from that. Bix Magic Cube is something no one can replicate. My friend works at a game company—the tech guys there say they can’t even imitate a low-res version of this kind of game.”

“Same thing with the gaming pod’s special encryption. Some even suspect that neither the game nor the pod was made using science, but through some kind of supernatural force.”

“Hahahahaha come on, believe in science. This is science!”

Supernatural forces? Everyone just laughed and moved on. We live in a scientific, atheist world—no need for that kind of talk.

Even though there were still people overseas claiming Bix Magic Cube was created by God… seriously, would God really be bored enough to make a game for humans to play?

Let’s be real.

Yet, Bix Magic Cube had already been out for months, and the world’s top institutions still hadn’t cracked its tech secrets.

It didn’t feel like technology. It was more like some unknown force—something mysterious and incomprehensible to him.

—

On the morning of December 9, Huaguo time, everything felt just a little more restless.

It happened to be a Saturday. Many people who were usually still in bed at this hour were up early. Quite a few parents stared in surprise as their kids—who normally lazed around on weekends—got up bright and early. It was unprecedented.

In other countries, due to time zones, it was already late at night, but that didn’t stop people from being alert and overjoyed.

Everyone was waiting for 10 a.m.

Pei Sen also woke up early. In fact, he barely slept the night before. He was completely immersed in a nervous tension.

“Even though I don’t feel it, after being in this world for so long, it’s definitely gotten to me,” Pei Sen chuckled bitterly. From a pure gamer’s perspective, he shouldn’t be nervous—he should be thrilled.

Eagle put down his fork and looked at the clearly distracted Pei Sen.

“Pei Sen.”

“Young Master?”

“Did something bad happen?”

Pei Sen paused, then shook his head. “No.” Nothing had happened yet—but it very well could.

“Whatever it is, there’s no need to worry.” Eagle smiled. “Look at me. I used to be locked away in Golden Rose Manor, unable to do anything—and I still met you, didn’t I?”

Even the worst of times could turn around overnight.

Eagle felt that meeting Pei Sen was the luckiest thing that had ever happened to him.

Pei Sen hesitated, then said, “Young Master, about the Bix Clan…”

“Something’s going wrong with them?” Eagle motioned for the maid to take away his plate and dismissed everyone from the dining room.

Pei Sen nodded. “Yes.”

Eagle raised an eyebrow. “?”

“Not the current Bix Clan. Young Master, I told you before—more Bix Clan members will appear.”

“I remember.”

“And the problem is just how many…” Pei Sen emphasized, “So many it’s beyond imagination. Enough to destabilize the entire continent.”

Eagle was silent for a moment before suddenly asking, “Pei Sen, you’re not from this world, are you?”

Pei Sen nearly jumped out of his chair. What was that supposed to mean? Did Eagle notice something? Did he suspect he was a transmigrant?

“Are you one of those Abyss World people who can talk?” Eagle probed cautiously. “They say demons from that world turn to ash when they die. And that place is full of undead.”

Pei Sen let out a sigh of relief. So that’s what he meant. Eagle thought he and the Bix Clan were both from another world?

To the people of the Yari Continent, otherworldly beings weren’t unheard of. Many had seen priests purify demons firsthand.

They said a rift had formed between the Abyss World and the Yari Continent. Occasionally, demons or liches would escape through it. Liches in particular loved to summon undead from the Abyss.

But creatures from the Abyss were universally reviled. Eagle was being careful, since the Bix Clan looked human, not obviously evil like most Abyss monsters.

Pei Sen sighed and shook his head. “No, Young Master. The Bix Clan doesn’t come from the Abyss World. That rift between the Abyss and this continent is very small, right? Only low-level Abyss creatures can make it through. But look at how many of us Bix Clan have already come. We couldn’t have all squeezed through that gap.”

“You know that when I first arrived at the manor, Atwell cast a purification spell on me. If I were from the Abyss, I’d still have residual Abyssal energy. He would’ve detected it immediately.”

Eagle thought for a moment. “That makes sense.” But the Bix Clan still felt a bit like undead in some ways.

“Young Master, you can understand it this way—I am from another world, but not the Abyss. You could think of it like this: my world and the Yari Continent have overlapped. That’s how the Bix Clan is able to come through. But people from this world, unlike the Bix Clan, can’t perceive the overlapping space.”

For some reason, as Pei Sen said this, he felt a strange vibration beside him—maybe something with the game panel? Or maybe it was just his imagination.

He opened the panel to check, but didn’t see anything unusual.

“What the hell…”

Eagle didn’t mind Pei Sen’s mumbling. He thought for a bit and said, “So, people from your world—the Bix Clan—will soon be able to freely enter the Yari Continent?” He smiled. “That’s fine. As long as they’re not evil, this continent already has many races.”

“No, Young Master. My world has far more people than you can imagine—so many that even if just one-tenth came to this continent, it would be terrifying.”

Eagle asked curiously, “How many people are in your world?”

Pei Sen thought for a second. “Close to 7 billion.”

“How many?”

“Seven billion.”

Eagle: “…………………………”

That number was terrifying.

The entire population of the Yari Continent probably didn’t exceed 200 million. No wonder Pei Sen looked so worried.

Even one-twentieth of that number would cause unimaginable upheaval.

“But don’t worry, Young Master. They won’t all come at once. Many people in my world have their own lives and jobs. Not everyone’s interested in the Yari Continent. Only a small number will come initially.”

“How many?”

“…Somewhere between a few million to tens of millions.” And soon, that number would break 100 million. But not immediately at launch.

Eagle: “……”

Pei Sen, your concerns are very reasonable.

“Sounds like your world is quite interesting too,” Eagle said, unfazed. “If I get the chance, I’d like to visit someday.”

Pei Sen was stunned, then forced a smile. “I hope that’ll be possible.”

He wasn’t even sure if he could ever return.

Eagle sensed something in Pei Sen’s tone but pretended not to notice. “Don’t worry too much, Pei Sen. Even if things happen, there’ll always be a way to deal with them.”

Pei Sen nodded. After confiding in Eagle, he felt much more at ease. Carrying it all on his own had been too overwhelming.

He glanced at his pocket watch. “It’s almost time, Young Master.”

Eagle stood up instantly. “You said ‘they’ would arrive… Is it today?”

“Yes. Today.”

Eagle: “……”

In fact, there was now less than an hour until the game launched.

On the forum, all the cloud players were itching to go, counting down the seconds until the launch.

Half an hour before launch, Bix Magic Cube posted a new announcement:

“Dear players:
To prevent overcrowding during the public launch, we are opening a total of 1,000 birth points for players to choose from. Once the player count of a specific birth point reaches its limit, that location will no longer be selectable.

For the sake of balanced gameplay and enjoyment, we recommend the following birth points:

— Lanno Territory: Casey City, Arzi Town, Adrien City
— Frost Maple Territory: Red Maple City, Ice Rock City, Frost Moon City, Blackstone City, Twilight City, Storm City, Cold Snow City, Grey Soil Village, Cold Winter Village

Other birth points are also available, but players must explore the game on their own—no guide NPCs will be provided.

Please choose your birth point according to your own needs. Be aware that free zones may have difficulty levels inappropriate for new players. Choose carefully.”

The announcement was long, but it boiled down to one thing: birth point selection.

Since Bix Magic Cube is a fully immersive game, clipping through objects doesn’t happen. If everyone spawned in the same city, it would literally be shoulder-to-shoulder chaos—unplayable.

To avoid this, Bix Magic Cube opened over a thousand birth points to spread out the player base.

“What the heck—does this mean if we don’t pick Lanno or Frost Maple, we might end up spawning in a high-level zone?”

“Pretty much. Full freedom—no guidance, no starter NPCs, and probably level 100 mobs all around, hahaha. Why does that sound kinda fun?”

“And then what? Spend your life using just one skill? The Lanno and Frost Maple territories already have dungeons and skill NPCs, don’t they?”

Indeed, the so-called skill NPC was actually Pei Sen. But to learn a skill from him… you needed luck and magic stones.

“Sure, freedom zones sound cool, but if it’s really that dangerous, you’ll be surrounded by high-level mobs and unable to level up.”

“I’m not playing this game to be crushed by NPCs. I’m picking Lanno first, grind up levels, then talk exploration. Screw ‘freedom’ if I’m stuck at level 1.”

“Or maybe danger equals opportunity? Maybe you can find secrets or hidden quests in those zones.”

In theory, that’s how most games work.

“Don’t kid yourself. Ask the beta testers. After months of so-called ‘freedom exploration,’ what did they find? Without joining a faction, they couldn’t even access the main storyline. This game’s not that easy.”

“Yeah, beta players have been in Bix Magic Cube for months now. They’ve been to Starfall Plains, Moon Tree Forest, even the lands of nearby nobles—and most of them got completely wrecked. Forget ‘exploration,’ it’s been a massacre.”

“Holy crap, so we’re all gonna scramble for the Lanno and Frost Maple birth points? Since it’s first come, first served!”

Exactly. That was the real message in the announcement.

In other games, free exploration might be fun—after all, the unknown is part of the joy. But in Bix Magic Cube? Not so much.

Especially since many of the public test players were longtime cloud spectators, they already knew from the forums just how punishing this game’s “freedom” was.

The beta testers had been “exploring freely” for months and still hadn’t discovered much. Most skills came from buying magic stones from Pei Sen or rare dungeon drops.

It’s a groundbreaking immersive game, but it’s also punishingly hard—too hard for many to handle.

Most players had no interest in spawning next to level 100 red-name mobs. Some would choose freedom, but for the average player, safety came first.

So Lanno and Frost Maple became the most coveted picks. But with limited slots, once those birth points filled up, others would be locked out until capacity dropped again.

A few days later, as people started logging off, those zones might become available again—but today, on public launch day, picking those places was a race.

10:00 AM — players all over the world lay in their gaming pods right on schedule.

As soon as they entered the game, they found themselves in a pitch-black void. A glow slowly approached from ahead, and a row of bright golden text appeared:

“Please select a birth point.”

Below it was a long list of choices, most still selectable. But under the cities and villages of Lanno and Frost Maple, the options were already marked in red, with labels like:

“This option is dangerous. Please choose carefully.”
At the very bottom, nearly a dozen birth points had even scarier labels:

“Extremely dangerous. Do not choose unless necessary.”

One player, whose in-game ID was RidingDreams, liked a little thrill, but seeing those glaring red warnings, he hesitated.

“If it’s so dangerous, why are they even selectable?” he muttered.

He looked up again—and couldn’t help yelling, “What the hell, Lanno just filled up?!”

And in the blink of an eye, half the cities and villages under Frost Maple were also grayed out.

Panicking, he randomly picked a location under Frost Maple without even checking the name. His heart was pounding, but luckily, a game message popped up:

“Login successful.”

Darkness fell again. When his vision returned, he found himself standing in an unfamiliar place surrounded by noisy players.

Not far away was a short wall barely a meter high. The ground beneath his feet was frozen solid yellow dirt.

Beyond the wall, he could see a small village. It looked run-down but had distinct Western architecture. A few decent-looking buildings stood out among rows of low stone houses.

RidingDreams stared in awe. Just then, players around him started cheering loudly.

“It’s snowing!”

“Holy crap, it’s really snowing. Look!”

“First day in-game and it snows? That’s a good omen, hahahaha!”

“This snow is insane—it feels so real! The wall’s real! The village is real!”

“Hahaha, totally agree!”

“But man… this cold is way too real.” One player exhaled, watching their breath fog in the air.

They were all wearing thin, dull-gray starter gear. In reality, wearing this much in such freezing temperatures would kill you.

Fortunately, Bix Magic Cube was considerate: every player’s backpack came with ten bottles of barley wine, each good for one hour of cold resistance. That gave them a 10-day grace period. But after that—if they hadn’t found a way to keep warm—they’d freeze to death.

RidingDreams held out his hand, watching the icy snowflakes melt on his palm. He squinted at the crystals, stunned by their beauty and realism.

He was from the south and had only seen snow once—on a trip up north. It left a deep impression. And now, in this game, the snow looked exactly the same.

Real. Cold. Beautiful snow.

Players began dispersing from the birth point and exploring the game.

RidingDreams pushed through the crowd, excitedly running toward the village.

Everyone had been wowed by the realism—but now it was time to actually play.

Like many others, he dashed into the village and tried talking to the first NPC he saw.

“Hello—”

The male NPC quickly ran into a nearby house and slammed the door shut.

RidingDreams: “…”

He looked around and saw the same thing happening to others. Not only were these NPCs not offering quests—they looked terrified of the players and ran away on sight. Some even screamed like they’d seen a monster.

He tried again, grabbing a freckled boy who looked around 14 years old. But the kid burst into tears from fright. RidingDreams, startled, immediately let go. The boy vanished in a flash, still sobbing as he ran.

For a second, RidingDreams almost wondered if he’d committed some terrible crime.

He just wanted to ask if there were any quests!

But nope—nothing. The players packed into the snowy village stood around, confused. The NPCs peeked out from their homes, clearly fearful and unwilling to come out.

“Can a game even be like this?” RidingDreams was baffled. “Feels like we’re invaders or something. But we haven’t even done anything!”

“And this is one of the recommended Frost Maple birth points,” another player snorted. “The ones who picked other places are probably having an even worse time.”

No wonder people called the game’s “free exploration” mode a massive trap. What were they expecting—quests everywhere like in normal games?

Yeah, right.

“What do we do now…” Players stood in the snow, puzzled.

Suddenly, RidingDreams saw a player next to him collapse face-first.

Other players burst out laughing.

“This dumbass forgot to drink the beer and got frozen to death!”

And that wasn’t the only one. Dozens more players died from the cold. They were so hyped to log in that they ignored the extreme cold warning—and literally froze to death.

Their deaths were met with widespread ridicule. Laughing and mocking, players cracked open their barley wine and took a sip.

…Meanwhile, the villagers hiding indoors stared out at the crowd of strange newcomers.

They watched someone die from the cold… and then watched the others laugh about it.

Someone just froze to death—someone in the same ragged clothes as them.

Why were they laughing?

Why were they laughing?

Why were they laughing?