Blurb:
The emperor dies, and warlords rise like a flock of wild geese. Smoke and flames rage across the land. This is the setting of the immersive game The Warlords' Contest, but what sparks widespread discussion is its unusual set of rules:
Each user has only one life and must bind themselves to an NPC. Multiple users can bind themselves to the same NPC. Not only are their lives tied to that NPC's, they must also help their chosen NPC ascend the throne. And by “help,” the game means fulfilling specific conditions to exchange for items, then giving those items to the NPC they've bound themselves to.
New to the game, xxx curiously opens the item menu and nearly blacks out: You have to walk for twelve hours to get a single bun? To exchange for a quilt, you have to get your bound NPC to recite ten poems? What kind of lousy game is this?!
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To protect their lives and succeed, players are extremely cautious when choosing an NPC. The most popular choices are the warlords of the various states, since they hold power and have a good chance of becoming emperor.
Just as system messages announcing players' successful bindings to various warlords keep popping up, one message catches everyone's attention: [User xxx has successfully bound herself to a beggar by the roadside]
Amid the laughter, the player looks at the little beggar at her feet, sucking on a finger, and nearly bursts into tears:
I only saw that she was starving to death and wanted to save her life by temporarily binding myself to her and giving her a bun. I didn't know this stupid game wouldn't let me unbind...
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At the end of the game, xxx is down to her last breath. She watches the beggar ascend the throne, then contentedly logs out, ready to have a good rest. What she doesn't expect is that the game is connected to real history...
Theme: Striving.
