Chen Mo downloaded a game ad, and when he opened his eyes again, he had become a level-zero slave in a mine.
Strength: 2. Agility: 1.5. He couldn't outrun a lame dog or carry half a sack of sand.
Above him was a fake green sky screen. The overseers were data jellyfish with twelve whips, and monsters lurked underground, waiting to pounce on people's faces.
The status panel told him he had to reach level 10 to leave the beginner zone.
But he even had to trade experience points for toilet paper.
This busted game had no safe zones, no respawns, and no level cap for monsters. The developers' consciences had probably been eaten by dogs.
At least his mental stat was abnormally high, letting him see monsters' weaknesses.
At least seven core fragments were buried underground, and collecting them all would lead him to the exit.
At least he was a chatterbox, and cursing the developers helped him blow off steam.
Chen Mo gripped his rusty pickaxe and headed into the mine. Killing one monster gave him 15 experience points, and he needed 100 to gain a level.
It took him three days to claw his way from level 0 to level 1. Then the level-two elite Rockskin Chief underground opened its eyes.
It was twenty times bigger than him.
“Developer, get out here,” Chen Mo said, resting the pickaxe on his shoulder. “Tell me how I'm supposed to fight this thing...”
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
Monster levels had no cap, and death was permanent.
But Chen Mo had no intention of dying here.
He was still waiting to reach level ten, get out, and tear apart the developers' servers.
“Void Cage,” a leveling game that makes players curse from beginning to end.
