The Years I Was Loved to Death by Monsters in a Game

[The main story is complete!!! Check out my new novel in my author page's upcoming works. It launches at the end of the month!] In the year 2000 of the Star Calendar, a game came to the attention of the Empire's upper class. At first, nobody cared. That changed when the first noble came out of the game and discovered that its skills could be brought into the real world, causing a sensation throughout the Empire. However, this damn game seems to have something seriously wrong with it. The players barely get started before they die halfway through their journey. Drowned by seawater, bitten to death by monsters, tripping over a rock and cracking their heads on a tree branch... Before entering the game, none of them knew there were so many ways to die. Fortunately, everyone got used to it after commiserating with each other. But one person stood out among the suffering players: [System Notice: Player [Make Big Money] picked up a lost elven weapon. The Trial of the Elven Forest has begun.] [System Notice: Player [Make Big Money] learned a skill: Curse of the Selvin River. A monster siege will begin in twenty days. Players, please prepare.] [System Notice: Player [Make Big Money] discovered an ancient ruin: the Underground City. Awakened a sleeping dragon and obtained the Ancient Dragon bloodline.] When [Make Big Money] found the elven weapon, the other players were wandering around the countryside. When [Make Big Money] started the monster siege, they were being fleeced by the city slickers who knew how to play. When [Make Big Money] obtained the Ancient Dragon bloodline, the others were listening to stories about the distant past... The players who had worked themselves to the bone for half their lives: We're tired. Let's just destroy everything. # Bai Xiao grew up on a garbage planet. To make money, he fought in underground boxing rings, tightened screws in a robot repair shop, went through sewers on behalf of wealthy neighbors, and helped a farmer catch dozens of chickens. His greatest dream in life was to earn enough money to find a scenic planet and live in seclusion for the rest of his days. He heard the game could make money, so Bai Xiao joined. Only then did he realize: Was there something wrong with this game? He could put up with it constantly broadcasting his name everywhere. He'd heard the game loved to target players, but could the monsters in it at least show some restraint? He was just passing by! They didn't have to jump out and kiss him on the face! [See my author page for the upcoming novel: The Demon Emperor Doesn't Want to Keep Competing Anymore] In his previous life, Chen He was a corporate drone who worked 996 until the day he died. One day, after dragging himself home completely exhausted and still having to scoop his cat's litter, he was overcome with sorrow and cried out from the depths of his soul: In my next life, I want to be a cat! That night, he died suddenly in his sleep. When he woke up, he found that his wish had come true: he had become a cat, and not just any cat, but the pampered pet of a revered Demon Emperor. At first, Chen He had trouble adjusting to being a cat. He instinctively tried to feed himself, felt embarrassed at the thought of not wearing clothes, and puffed up whenever someone petted him. But before long, Chen He lost himself in the Demon Emperor's attentive care. He got used to having everything handed to him, and even became the terror of the Demon Palace, thriving on the Demon Emperor's turf. Then one day, Chen He had a dream. He saw his spoiled, arrogant self and the equally arrogant Demon Emperor getting wiped out by the protagonist's group, without even a single cat hair left behind. Chen He, a useless cat who had been so thoroughly pampered that he'd forgotten how to talk, looked at his dream-self, who had been beating the righteous path into submission and kicking the protagonist's group around. Huh? I used to be that powerful? Wait, no. Have I become a villain who'll die if he doesn't bring it on himself?!!! # After the Heavenly Dao betrayed him in his previous life, the Demon Emperor cultivated as a ghost, became emperor again, and usurped the Heavenly Dao. He never imagined he would return to a time before everything began. The Demon Emperor, already tired of it all: Lie flat. But what he couldn't understand was why his cat, who did nothing but eat and sleep, had suddenly started working hard. It was bad enough that the cat was trying to improve itself. It even insisted on dragging him along. The Demon Emperor didn't understand. The Demon Emperor was troubled. He had thought it was troubling enough that his innate spirit cat could grow nine tails simply by eating and drinking, yet still couldn't speak after a hundred years of cultivation. But now the innate spirit cat had started cultivating, and was insisting they make progress together... The Demon Emperor, struggling with all his might just to keep up with his own little cat: ...Why? Why have I spent two lifetimes competing so hard!!! Theme: Strive for a happy life.