After Becoming the Players' Public Enemy

[Enter at Your Own Risk]

(The following blurb isn't very exciting.)

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[Logging into "Desolate Reality"...]

[Dear player [Shrike], welcome to the immersive virtual reality game created by Fantasy Dream Group. System 404 is at your service.]

[Single-Player Mode / Multiplayer Mode / Competitive Mode]

[Arena instance updated this month: Mi Hua City, Where the Locals Are Honest and Kind]

[Instance difficulty: ★★☆]

[Thousand-Player Competition Rules (click to expand):

1. Defeat the 999 other players hidden among the NPCs and survive alone until Day 100 to win.

2. Players are randomly assigned starting locations. Once the game is halfway over, the playable area will begin to shrink.

3. From the start, you may draw ten times from the talent card pool and choose three talents to equip in your talent slots.

4. From the start, you may either scan yourself to enter your real-world stats on your character card, or freely distribute 20 attribute points.

5. After entering the game, players can earn attribute points in four ways: solving cases, picking up supplies, training on their own, and accepting and completing System missions.

Take good care of your account and play fair.]

[□ Please read and fully understand the rules above before logging into the game.]

[The System is randomly generating your player identity card. Please wait...]

[Generation complete. Enjoy the game!]

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Reader's Guide:

1. The protagonist is a cyborg in the real world and a cold-blooded player in the virtual world, with her wits intact and her dignity intact.

2. The story includes a moderate amount of memes, livestreaming, forums, fan edits, and the Fourth Calamity. Most cases are original, though there may be bugs.

3. [Content warning] When playing a male character, the protagonist decisively castrates herself to practice the Sunflower Manual.

4. The ending is 1v1, but the protagonist may also remain single forever.

(The cover is a commissioned illustration of the protagonist as a young girl, drawn by an artist hired by the author. There are no copyright issues.)

Theme: Accept your imperfections and make peace with yourself. Don't run away; face the real world.