Blake White thought it over and over, sadly feeling that even though she had now become one of the ten thousand lucky people worldwide, she was still just a poor, unlucky soul. Winning the closed beta qualification but being unable to experience the game was as frustrating as sitting on a mountain of gold and silver but being unable to spend it.

She sighed and continued scrolling down the screen.

The email was very short and contained little useful information. As Blake White scrolled to the end, she was pleasantly surprised to find a sentence: "If the player agrees to join the game, the game company will provide the player with special game equipment."

Blake White: Yay!

Her worries were resolved—she could play the game now! Blake White's mood soared like a roller coaster.

At the end of the email, there was a link to a player questionnaire.

Blake White curiously clicked the link.

Question 1: If you were given a chance for a new beginning, would you accept it?

Is that even a question? Blake White chose the answer representing "definitely" without hesitation.

A new beginning meant a fresh start, and her current life was already bad enough—how much worse could it get?

Question 2: Do you believe there are gods in this world?

Blake White chose "No." She was a staunch atheist.

Question 3: Do you want to gain superpowers?

"Yes!" Wanting superpowers didn't conflict with her being an atheist!

"You have completed the questionnaire."

"Game-related files and important notes have been sent to your email. Please check your inbox."

"The closed beta players' anonymous forum has been opened for you. Please save the website and register promptly."

Blake White carefully read the new messages and, following the instructions, first saved the URL of the players' anonymous forum.

Some games' closed beta content is considered a trade secret and cannot be shared. The existence of closed beta players is to help developers catch bugs and fix game issues. The developers of "Crimson Earth" provided a closed beta player forum, probably so that closed beta players would have a place to communicate.

Currently, ten thousand people had obtained closed beta qualifications, so the forum content should be quite limited. She would be among the first pioneers on the forum.

Blake White didn't register on the closed beta forum right away but instead opened her email to check the newly sent game files. These files usually required the player's signature as a kind of contract, and breaking it would mean legal responsibility.

She opened the new email and was stunned after reading just the first few lines.

"Six pieces of advice for 'Crimson Earth' players. You can choose to follow them or not, but if you break them, you alone will bear the consequences."

"First, please treat the game world as the real world."

"Second, do not reveal your identity as a player to anyone."

"Third, do not disclose any game content to anyone."

"Fourth, you only have one life; death cannot be reversed."

"Fifth, if you choose to start the game, then you only have two paths: 'clear the game' or 'character death.'"

"Sixth, everything comes at a price."

That's... just these few sentences? Is it a bit too careless for the game statement to only send these few lines?

Blake White was completely confused.

It's just a game, after all. It's really pointless for the game company to write such mysterious, atmosphere-building words in the notes. The so-called "real world" is just a marketing gimmick—everyone knows that world is fake.

Blake White opened the game file, which required a signature.

She carefully read it from beginning to end, twice, but didn't find any confidentiality clauses in the file. However, the "six pieces of advice for players" at the beginning clearly stated not to disclose game content.

Too strange. Isn't this self-contradictory? If they don't want players to leak information, why not include a confidentiality agreement in the legally binding document? Those few pieces of advice have no binding force at all.

At the end of the file was an electronic signature field. Blake White wrote her name in the signature field.

As soon as she finished writing her name, a small pop-up appeared, with bold red text—

"Do you confirm joining the game? You have one and only one chance to quit."

One and only one chance to quit?

Blake White didn't care much and clicked confirm without hesitation.

The page changed, and a new prompt appeared.

"Contract complete."

"Welcome to your new life, Blake White."

...Why is this game so mysterious? Blake White stared at the computer screen in confusion.

After thinking for a while, she opened the closed beta anonymous forum and clicked register.

The registration process was unbelievably simple—just enter the closed beta invitation code and it was done.

In the nickname field, Blake White casually typed a number: "233." All her game nicknames were "233" because she wasn't good at coming up with names, and the few she did think of were often already taken, so Blake White just used "233" for everything.

"Once your nickname is confirmed, it cannot be changed."

Blake White didn't care and clicked "Confirm" as usual.

A new message popped up.

"You are the 233rd player to register on the forum."

Blake White: "...Huh?"

What a coincidence—could 233 be her lucky number?

After a brief loading, Blake White saw the forum page.