ACIFITFDB – Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Chapter 1 Official First Release…

Inside the office, the air was particularly stifling and sticky, carrying the scent of low-quality renovation materials. Rows of people sat before rows of desks, their faces expressionless, the sounds of keyboard and mouse clicks rising and falling, but not a single word spoken.

Qin Xian frowned, staring at the computer screen. Unfamiliar documents, incomprehensible charts, and over 99 unread messages on WeChat were irritating him.

The computer screen flickered twice, and the page suddenly turned a vivid red. Thick blood surged across the screen, the taskbar at the bottom was submerged in tears of blood, and a ghostly hand reached out from an overturned trash can icon.

Qin Xian jolted backward, his chair sliding several centimeters across the floor with a sharp screech. This sound instantly cleared his head. In the blink of an eye, his surroundings returned to normal.

The others, hearing the noise, turned their heads to glance at him. Seeing an unfamiliar colleague, they immediately looked back, continuing to tap their keyboards numbly. Bright sunlight streamed onto the floor, and the air conditioner hummed loudly.

What? Had he been in the Infinite Stream for too long and his mind had become abnormal? He had clearly cleared the game and successfully returned to the Real World.

“Hey, Qin Xian? Are you okay? Why is your face so pale? Low blood sugar?”

The bespectacled colleague sitting next to him offered a candy. Qin Xian looked up, and the colleague was immediately stunned.

Huh? Did Qin Xian’s hair always grow this long? Was he always this good-looking? He vaguely remembered that although Qin Xian was decent-looking before, he always kept his head down, seemed withdrawn, and didn’t appear remarkable.

But now… his features were sharp and cold, even his frown was striking, though he looked unapproachable.

The colleague’s words suddenly caught in his throat: “Uh, do you… do you want candy?”

Qin Xian lowered his gaze, trying to treat him politely as he had before: “Thank you…”

But what was this person’s name again?

His impression of this job, this office, and all the colleagues here was already quite blurry. He only remembered that this terrible job often involved working 007, with little pay, lots of work, and an idiotic boss. If he hadn’t desperately needed money after graduating from university, he would never have stayed here.

Forget it, he’d just resign tomorrow.

Qin Xian took the candy from his colleague, popped it into his mouth, leaned back against the chair, and took out his phone to slack off.

He had disappeared from this world for two years. He had no idea how the Main God had managed to place him back in time by two years without any jarring inconsistencies, so that even his colleagues hadn’t noticed anything unusual, and his workstation hadn’t changed.

The colleague who was slacking off so openly widened his eyes in horror. “Qin Xian, what are you doing? The surveillance cameras are on you! Slacking off during work hours will cost you four hundred!”

Qin Xian didn’t even lift his eyelids. “Deduct it.”

“Oh my god, that’s four hundred yuan!”

“Four hundred? Doesn’t labor law apply here?”

“…But, hey, forget it, I don’t have the guts to go against the company.” The colleague gave him a thumbs-up and immediately turned back to stare at his computer.

But Qin Xian clearly saw that he was just sitting there staring blankly at the screen, typing a few words and then deleting them. There was even a fake advertisement pop-up in the bottom right corner playing a TV drama.

He was clearly a master of slacking off. His computer screen was even slightly angled, creating a severe glare from the surveillance camera’s perspective.

Qin Xian refocused his attention on his phone. Having only been gone for two years, he was already falling behind on current internet slang and memes. Even scrolling through short videos felt incredibly novel.

Take this video, for example. The characters’ fingers stuck together as they moved. One moment they were dancing, the next three heads were stuck together, forming one… They said it was the latest AI technology, but some of the results were similar to things he had seen in Grotesque dungeons.

“Everyone gather in the conference room within three minutes!”

A rough voice suddenly echoed throughout the office. The bespectacled colleague next to him jumped in surprise and quickly pressed Win+D to switch to the desktop.

“What’s going on? A meeting right before we’re supposed to leave work!?”

“Sigh… just get used to it.”

“I have to pick up my child tonight.”

The colleagues listlessly stood up and ambled out of the office in twos and threes. Qin Xian picked up his phone and blended into the crowd, walking into the conference room. Everyone handed in their phones and took their seats. Without the crowd’s obstruction, Qin Xian saw the “person” sitting across the long table. Qin Xian instinctively summoned his weapon, but there was nothing in his hand.

He calmly lowered his hand, found his seat along with his colleagues, and continued to secretly observe the thing across the long table.

It was an abnormally fat person, slumped in a chair and panting heavily. Rolls of fat flowed onto the floor. A piece of his belly fat had reached a colleague’s foot, but that colleague acted as if they saw nothing, lowering their head to sort through their documents.

Qin Xian looked around. Apart from him, no one else in the conference room noticed the abnormality.

He clenched his fist, his brow furrowed tightly.

What was going on? Had he truly not left the Infinite Stream world!? What new dungeon was this? The damned Main God was playing him!

“Qin Xian! Lift your head! I just saw it on the surveillance. You were openly playing on your phone during work hours. Stand up and reflect on yourself!”

Qin Xian looked up, his dark eyes locked onto General Manager Zhao, radiating killing intent.

General Manager Zhao shivered comically, struck speechless by the gaze.

“You, you… are you being defiant?!? You’ve gone too far! Pack your things and leave tomorrow!”

He angrily slammed his hand on the table, his fat making slapping sounds and leaving marks that looked like sweat or grease on the tabletop.

“Oh, okay.” Qin Xian elegantly crossed his long legs and said calmly, as if he were the highest-ranking leader in the office.

General Manager Zhao’s entire body trembled with rage. He heavily pounded the table, trying to stand up, but his swollen body prevented him from doing so. Instead, he sat down with a thud, collapsing the entire metal chair.

With a “clang,” he fell directly onto the floor, his sparsely-haired head level with the tabletop.

The conference room fell silent for a few seconds, then someone snickered. With that as a start, the others couldn’t hold back their laughter.

“Hahahaha…”

“You! You bunch of scoundrels… your performance bonuses for this month are all deducted, completely deducted!!”

One colleague immediately panicked and rushed to help the fallen General Manager Zhao. But as soon as he reached out, General Manager Zhao grabbed him tightly by the collar.

“You laughed just now, didn’t you? I heard it! It was this mouth that laughed…”

He extended his hand and directly grabbed the colleague’s cheek.

The colleague, whose face was being pulled, immediately screamed. General Manager Zhao’s fingernails dug into the flesh on his face. The immense strength slowly tore the skin around his mouth, splattering blood.

This time, the others finally clearly saw the terrifying scene. Some screamed in fear, some tried to rush out of the conference room, but the conference room door was locked and wouldn’t open.

Just then, a figure suddenly leaped onto the conference table.

He braced himself on the table with both hands, kicked his long legs towards General Manager Zhao’s face.

With just one kick, the gigantic General Manager Zhao, who must have weighed over six hundred pounds, fell backward with a scream, crashing into the whiteboard, coffee table, and other clutter behind him.

General Manager Zhao’s fat seemed to absorb most of the impact. Not long after falling, he angrily climbed up, roaring, and scrambled onto the table with his hands and feet, stretching his arms to try and grab Qin Xian. Facing such a slow attack, Qin Xian dodged easily by shifting slightly, then pushed off the conference table with one hand and kicked General Manager Zhao in the face again.

The sound of bone breaking and muffled screams echoed simultaneously. The others couldn’t help but shiver.

General Manager Zhao’s face caved in. He screamed and tried to grab Qin Xian’s foot, but Qin Xian’s attack was relentless. He raised his foot and stomped down on his hand, not stopping even as his hand bones made terrifying cracking sounds.

After a few kicks, General Manager Zhao’s massive body rapidly shrunk, returning to a normal human size.

He clutched his head with his twisted hands and rolled on the ground, his nose bridge caved in, several teeth missing, his face covered in blood, unable to even scream.

Qin Xian glanced at him coldly, picked up a nearby vase, and smashed it onto him again. The vase shattered with a bang. He picked out the sharpest piece and raised it high, about to stab it into General Manager Zhao’s neck.

“Don’t, Qin Xian! You can’t actually kill anyone!!” an urgent voice rang out.

Qin Xian turned his head and saw the bespectacled colleague who had been sitting next to him had left his seat and was standing beside him, trembling.

Seeing Qin Xian stop, the bespectacled colleague continued urgently, “Killing is still against the law! You might end up in jail, it’s not worth it!”

Qin Xian’s eyes swept over him with a cold indifference, then he turned and continued to fiercely stab down with the shard. The shard pierced General Manager Zhao’s neck, creating a wound deep enough to see bone.

“Ah!! He killed him!”

The colleague’s scream erupted, but Qin Xian, who had just killed someone, calmly got up, casually tossed the blood-stained shard aside, and walked towards the others.

His killer-like aura terrified the colleagues in the conference room, who all surged towards the door, frantically trying to open it and escape.

“Ahhh! Don’t kill me, don’t kill me!”

“Help me, someone’s dead! Open the door from the outside!”

“Hey.” Qin Xian called out in exasperation, but no one paid him any attention.

He sighed and slammed the ashtray on the table onto the floor. With a “bang,” the colleagues jolted and looked over, huddling together fearfully.

Looking at the colleagues who had been scared into quails, Qin Xian sneered and pointed behind him, saying, “Take a look for yourselves and see if that thing is human.”

A bold colleague peeked over and saw that the corpse of General Manager Zhao lying on the ground had swollen, his skin covered in lividity and emitting a foul stench. Maggots were even crawling out of the wound on his neck, not looking like he had just died at all.

The stench directly assaulted everyone’s eyes and noses, and for a moment, the sound of vomiting echoed throughout the entire office.

Qin Xian silently stepped back, watching the surrounding world slowly blur, as if it were disappearing.

Was this… the dungeon clearing?

After a moment of disorientation, Qin Xian opened his eyes and found himself still sitting at his workstation. The clock on the wall showed 18:00.

He looked around. The other colleagues had also woken up, but their expressions were bewildered and lost, clearly having no memory of the events that had just transpired.

What was going on? Was this reality or a dungeon?

Qin Xian frowned, sensing his surroundings, but that monster from before seemed to be the source of the strangeness.

Based on his skill level, he should only encounter high-difficulty dungeons. But the Grotesque he had just encountered was practically beginner-level, something ordinary people could beat to death with a few blows…

Could there be a trap?

Author’s Notes:

———————-

Pre-order announcement: “Help! My Strong and Beautiful Teammate is the Game Boss! [Full Holographic]”

Synopsis: In 2045, China’s truly full holographic game is stunningly launched.

With tactile sensations almost indistinguishable from reality, grand and awe-inspiring landscapes, and an extremely realistic cultivation experience, even the NPCs are indistinguishable from humans.

Jiang Zhige opens his eyes and looks down at this illusory yet real world. He knows clearly that he was once a cultivator who broke through the void. But now, he is the hidden final boss in this game.

In the past, cultivators could not enter the mortal world. But now, in this interesting world, why not have some fun with these mortals called “players.”

——-

Mu Hucheng, as one of the first players to enter the game, begins exploring and leveling up, searching for people to form a team.

While fighting monsters above his level, he encounters another player wearing beginner gear, beautiful and strong, staring at his tiger ears.

Mu Hucheng immediately smiles: How about it? Want to touch them? Add me as a friend?

The beautiful cultivator smiles and accepts the friend request, joining the team to conquer all sorts of dungeons.

However, during one particular dungeon, the settlement screen never appears.

Mu Hucheng is about to contact the GM when he sees his beautiful teammate slowly walk towards a high position. A terrifying aura suppresses the entire scene. Jiang Zhige draws his sword and smiles at them: “Because only by defeating me can this dungeon be considered cleared.”

——-

Likes or Tropes:

1. The protagonist (shou) is the strongest. No one can restrain or threaten him from beginning to end, including the “game world” and the human world. The gong is also a top expert in the game. Purely wish-fulfillment protagonist!

2. The gong’s game character is a demon, a tiger. He usually has round tiger ears and can transform into his beast form! This is the author’s favorite trope, and most of the author’s works feature this!