Above the Floating Platform in the City of Beginnings, within the System Space.
“Ah, what utter boredom…”
A small, fluffy green spherical creature lay sprawled across the clouds, listlessly observing the various code and interfaces displayed on the screen before it.
Since the widespread adoption of full-dive technology, all sedentary jobs—such as those of programmers, writers, and other code-slinging professionals—had been entirely transplanted into the full-dive world.
This virtual body, composed entirely of data, eliminated any concerns about cervical spondylosis or declining eyesight caused by prolonged work; even feelings of fatigue were significantly reduced, leaving virtually no physical burden.
Despite the eradication of physical exhaustion, a sense of indolence burgeoning from deep within remained undiminished; the monotonous repetition of daily tasks inevitably bred weariness and the desire to slack off.
At this very moment, the green furball found itself in precisely this state, lying on the clouds and allowing the softness to drain all its strength, relishing a brief, effortless moment of mental blankness.
“GM-m, you’re slacking off again!”
Another furball, almost identical to the first, emerged from the thick clouds below; this one, however, was red.
GM-m, the green furball, widened its tiny, rice-grain-sized black eyes, propping itself up from the soft embrace of the cloud’s gentle haven.
“How can you so baselessly slander my good name…?”
“Good name? For days now, I’ve personally witnessed you constantly slacking off and napping on those clouds.”
The green furball’s face flushed crimson, its fluffy fur bristling on its tiny head as it argued, “Resting can’t be called slacking off… Resting!… Can a coder’s work truly be considered slacking off?”
What followed was an unintelligible stream of excuses—something about “proper rest for better coding” and “clearing one’s mind”—which immediately drew peals of laughter from among the clouds, filling the System Space with a cheerful atmosphere.
“Ah! Why has everyone arrived?”
The green furball scanned the numerous other furballs peeking out from the clouds, a puzzled expression crossing its face.
It then turned its gaze to the red furball from earlier, its expression shifting to one of indignant shame.
“GM-a, you didn’t even tell me! You made me lose face in front of everyone!”
The green furball bounced vigorously on the soft clouds, as if attempting to stomp its foot in anger; alas, lacking feet, its round body could only bob up and down to convey its mortification.
“Why should I have to report to you just to enter here…?”
A yellow furball approached it, a discernible look of disdain in its tiny black eyes; it cast a sidelong glance at the green furball before nonchalantly leaping onto the highest cloud.
“Mmm…”
Realizing its own fault, the green furball emitted a cute little hum and retreated back onto its cloud.
“So, why exactly have you summoned us today, GM-k?”
The red furball hopped onto an adjacent cloud, raising its tiny eyes to look at the yellow furball perched highest, and inquired with a questioning tilt.
“First, take a look at this video.”
The yellow furball blinked subtly towards the sky, and just like that, a large screen materialized from the heavens.
With another blink, the video on the screen began to play, vividly showcasing Yan’s kill of the [Alpha Dragon Demon General].
“Isn’t that a level 110 boss? I recall that map hasn’t even opened on the new server yet. Did a bug somehow glitch the boss out?”
The green furball exclaimed in shock, then deflated and collapsed once more, its fluffy body sprawling flat against the soft cloud.
“Ugh… Now we’ll have another bug to fix… Can’t Shenhai-3 and Alice just do their jobs properly…?”
“Are you only focused on the bug that glitched the boss out?”
The yellow furball peered down at the green furball below, asking with evident displeasure.
“No, that’s not right… What’s more concerning is how this player managed to defeat this boss, isn’t it?”
The red furball, keenly discerning the anomaly, stated its observation.
“Precisely.”
The yellow furball’s entire round body rolled back and forth, as if nodding in agreement.
“As everyone knows, our 《Accompanying God Realm》 has never, to this day, been conquered by any external cheating program, which stands as a significant mark of distinction among the current crop of full-dive games.”
“Yet now, this situation has arisen. If this player managed to defeat the [Alpha Dragon Demon General] by using a cheating program…”
The yellow furball’s expression darkened as it looked down at the assembled furballs.
“Do you understand what this implies?”
Without needing further explanation, the GMs collectively recognized the gravity of the situation. They had not been managing 《Accompanying God Realm》 for just a day or two; while other full-dive games had long been plagued by rampant cheating, 《Accompanying God Realm》 remained a pristine sanctuary.
This stellar reputation had drawn a multitude of new players to 《Accompanying God Realm》, whereas the opposite was true for games rife with cheating, where countless players abandoned them daily, unable to tolerate the pervasive hacks.
The reason for 《Accompanying God Realm》’s immunity to cheating programs lay in its unique computational method.
Unlike other games on the market that performed data calculations via a central server, 《Accompanying God Realm》 provided each player with a specially configured, independent computational platform.
When engaging in PvP with other players or battling monsters, all data, including that up to the [Companion-tier], was first calculated on the player’s unique computational platform. This data was then transmitted over the network to the central server, managed by the Shenhai-3 quantum computer, for integrated processing.
This approach not only ensured data uniformity and distributed the central server’s computational load but also minimized all cheating programs that sought to manipulate data transmitted to the central server—a truly ingenious solution.
However, if the player in this video was indeed using a cheating program… it would prove that a hack specifically designed to exploit 《Accompanying God Realm》’s unique computational method had been developed…
Should cheating programs become prevalent for a particular game… it would spell a devastating blow to any such title.
“Wait a minute… this player looks awfully familiar…”
The green furball lifted its eyes, scrutinizing Yan on the screen, as if a realization was dawning upon it.
“Isn’t that the [Spearmaster] who placed in the very first event on the new server?”
“I believe his ID was… Yan?”
The red furball also recalled, stating this aloud.
“What?!”
Hearing their words, the yellow furball broke out in a cold sweat.
“Are you telling me this guy is the [Spearmaster] we featured on the promotional poster for the new server’s first event?!”
It furrowed its brow, realizing the gravity of the issue even more acutely.
If a ‘star player’, one prominently displayed on promotional posters, achieved their ranking through a cheating program…
…then the operations team would be utterly reviled by all players!
“But we didn’t detect anything amiss during the first event, did we?”
The red furball stated, perplexedly.
“Anyone who clashed with the [Spearmaster] was considered a top-tier expert on the new server. If he had used a cheating program and something was amiss, other players should have noticed it instantly…”
“Surely, it couldn’t be that he had a change of heart, controlled his ‘cheat,’ and engaged in fair play with other players, could it?”
As it spoke, the red furball seemed to find its own words amusing, giggling as it tumbled around on the cloud.
“Regardless, the video of him, over sixty levels below, defeating a level 110 boss, is undeniably right here.”
The green furball lay sprawled on the cloud, stating this with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm.
“How do we explain that?”
“In any case!”
The yellow furball, perched on the highest cloud, commanded, cutting short the duo’s discussion.
“Investigate! Thoroughly examine this player’s full-dive helmet data for any traces of cheating program modifications!”
“Once the facts are ascertained, if it is indeed a cheat, immediately ban the account!”