115: Chapter 115 The Villain in the Sleeping Forest

She, who bears the nickname "Fu Haos Eternal Fan," chose to be reborn as an Elf and has ruled the Elf Kingdom for a year, has changed her nickname twice so far.

Her initial nickname was "Lala Forever God." "Lala" was one of the highest-rated singers of her time, and during the five years before she became obsessed with otherworld, she had regarded "Lala" as the only joy in her life.

Like most fanatic fans, her seemingly endless devotion suddenly met its end—not due to external factors, but because of the allure of otherworld.

This MMORPG, touted as having technical capabilities at least fifty years ahead of the industry, was played by almost everyone who was interested in gaming and had the means to afford it, despite mixed reviews from players. Its technical prowess was so exceptional and the explorable content so abundant that it would have seemed strange not to play it simply due to personal preference.

Thanks to an in-game trailer that perfectly showcased its cutting-edge technology and endless fun, otherworld sparked unprecedented buzz and broke the record for the highest number of concurrent players in history the moment it launched.

Like most day-one players, she was drawn into the game by this eye-catching trailer. At first, she only wanted a light pastime, and even after watching the trailer dozens of times, she still firmly believed that "games are only a fleeting entertainment, and the motivation for life is always Lala."

However, the true joy of the game could only be perceived through personal experience. Unlike games played via computer or mobile screens with controllers, otherworld was a virtual reality game where one could observe and act directly; the difference between watching a stream and playing it yourself was immense.

She entered the game under the name "Lala Forever God," but within a month or two, she became immersed in it, losing track of time—the fan forum check-ins she had never missed for five years were long forgotten. The center of her life had shifted completely from Lala to otherworld.

After spending a year as "Lala Forever God," she decided to change her nickname. It wasn't to erase the traces of her fandom, which had become a distant past, nor was it to pursue a generic nickname; rather, it was because she had found something in otherworld that made her heart race just like Lala did—or, to be precise, she discovered it while browsing the game community.

Leonhardt. This player, who had accumulated immense popularity since the early days of otherworld by setting records in the Novice Trial, was someone she only learned about through other players' discussions after she had already been reborn as an Elf, losing any possibility of meeting Leonhardt.

Ironically, the first time she watched a gameplay stream of Leonhardt was after she had already been reborn into the Elf Kingdom.

She had once been ecstatic about obtaining the "Elf Rebirth" opportunity that no one else possessed.

Although she knew nothing about the Elf Kingdom, her experience told her: the rarer and harder a hidden item is to find, the greater the reward. As far as she knew, the opportunity for Elf Rebirth only happened once, and seizing it depended not only on game understanding and skill but even more so on incredible luck—against such a backdrop, her future should have been bright, so how could she not be happy?

Immersed in otherworld for a year and regarding it as her second reality, she had once thought that the adventures in the game were the greatest joy.

But this joy did not last long: early in her rebirth as an Elf, she was busy adapting to the new environment and could spend her time meaningfully; but as the game rhythm stabilized, problems emerged—she, who could only interact with NPCs, began to crave communication with other players and missed life in the human realm.

Even though she mostly played as a solo grinder or joined public dungeon parties when she was active as a human and had never formed deep friendships with players, she still missed those times.

Although the AI of otherworld NPCs was so realistic that it was hard to distinguish them from real people at first glance, limitations became apparent after long-term interaction, and what was even more painful was being confined to the forest. The harder the days in the Elf Kingdom became, the more she missed the adventurous times of exploring new environments and meeting new companions.

Compared to her time as a human, she now possessed greater combat power and countless hidden items, but the joy of obtaining treasures quickly faded—what use were high stats and many hidden items if she couldn't interact with other players? Her frustration grew daily, and she even considered deleting her account and starting over.

Until one day, while browsing the game's built-in user interface, she discovered a feature that could provide satisfaction without deleting her account—the community and live streaming menus. These features, which she had ignored in the past because she was focused on the game, became as precious as a lifeline after she was reborn as an Elf and filled with longing for the human realm.

She opened the community and live streaming menus for the first time and began browsing the experiences, photos, and videos of other players. Desperate for the freedom of the human realm and interaction with players, she quickly became addicted.

In the past, she had no interest in other players' game content and couldn't even understand people who were obsessed with the community and live streams, but now she felt the same way—the community was filled with countless adventure stories she couldn't experience personally, and the live streams gathered charming players.

Addicted to the community and live streams, she could be called an omnivore—she didn't fixate on a specific streamer or topic, but just browsed popular posts by recommendation count or switched to watch the top streamers. Until one day, she saw Leonhardt's Trial Tower gameplay video in a popular post and was instantly captivated.

The unprecedented operations and gameplay left her completely enthralled, and the popular content and big streamer broadcasts she had previously found interesting immediately paled in comparison.

She began to focus only on content related to Leonhardt, writing dozens or even hundreds of comments full of attention and love every day, and of course, she didn't forget to change her nickname to "Leonhart Forever God."

"Leonhart Forever God," relying on her five years of experience as a fan of Lala and operating a fan forum, quickly rose to prominence among Leonhardt's fans.

Although there were already fanatic fans of Leonhardt, the influence brought by the newcomer "Leonhart Forever God" was enough to overshadow all predecessors.

At the time, there were Leonhardt fans who worshipped him like a god, as well as a large number of users who tried their best to belittle him, and "Leonhart Forever God" engaged in keyboard wars with these people every day, dedicated to "clearing out the haters."

Keyboard wars lasting nearly a year were not rare, but being able to persist for so long was another matter. The user base of the otherworld community was huge, and becoming famous solely through community activity was almost impossible—a few well-known players like "Black Cat" (who consistently wrote high-quality novice guides) and "Trial Maniac" (who contributed to lowering the threshold for trial dungeons) all became famous through consistent output of strategy content, not other means.

But "Leonhart Forever God" managed to make a name for herself in the community purely by relying on an astonishing amount of activity and the quality of her keyboard wars. Although it was a "notorious" name, no one who frequented the community was unaware of her. As she became the community's first "villain," she didn't care about others' opinions at all and enjoyed it, until Fu Hao appeared.

After Fu Hao appeared, her daily routine, besides being a "villain" in the community, added one more item—watching Fu Hao's live streams. Having been "forced" by Fu Hao to change her nickname, she originally intended to witness Fu Hao's downfall, which is why she continued to follow his live streams.

Although the name change was somewhat self-inflicted, she couldn't tolerate Fu Hao breaking Leonhardt's record in the Novice Trial and was determined to see him fail.

As long as Fu Hao still held the "Novice Trial" title and remained firmly in a high position, it was impossible for him to fall back to the level of an ordinary player, but she firmly believed that people had limits and thought that Fu Hao's growth and the popularity of his live streams would eventually slow down.

However, things went against her wishes; Fu Hao not only had no limits but also constantly exceeded the audience's expectations, growing at an astonishing speed and even defeating her idol, Leonhardt.

In the past, this would definitely have shocked her, but at this moment, she couldn't feel any anger—although she was reluctant to admit it, in the process of watching Fu Hao's live streams, she had gradually developed the idea of supporting him.

Thanks to Fu Hao, she understood Leonhardt more deeply and had temporarily forgotten the misery of being trapped in the Elf Kingdom; her heart no longer held malice toward him.

But Fu Hao also brought new troubles: she was no longer satisfied with obtaining information from the community, but longed to see Leonhardt with her own eyes—and of course, Fu Hao as well. Knowing this was impossible, her sense of despair was even deeper than when she spent boring times in the Elf Kingdom.

However, Fu Hao unexpectedly came to the Elf Kingdom.

After a year, the Elf King "Fu Haos Eternal Fan," who finally saw another player, raised the corners of her mouth in a smile.

"Hello! I am the Elf King, the one you call Brother Yongyuan!"