CHAPTER 1: CHAPTER 1: STRING OF DESTINY

"I knew it! Conquering a mere refrigerator isn’t a big deal, right?"

Lin Qianxuan looked at the in-game female character whose affection level had skyrocketed to the max, with a smile on his face.

At this moment, a barrage of comments appeared on his live-stream split screen.

[As expected of him!!]

[Our great master, "Bursting Tentacle Monster," your glorious charm will spread across infinite dimensions.....]

[Even though human XP is free, I still suggest the streamer see a doctor.]

.....

Lin Qianxuan glanced at the barrage, slightly distracted.

That’s right, he’s a content creator.

In this era, the convenience of the internet has given rise to many special content creators.

Lin Qianxuan is one of them.

However, there are as many people in this field as fish swimming down rivers, a great number.

Therefore, to do well, you must meet the four attributes of "new," "strange," "special," and "fast."

In other words, you must produce unique and excellent content.

Lin Qianxuan, an orphan who graduated from a third-rate university funded by the state, found it hard to gain an advantage in this field.

At least, compared to cultural literacy and the like, he was far behind.

Since he couldn’t compete for the top, he chose to lower his standards and took on the online name "Bursting Tentacle Monster," specializing in playing strange romance games.

These romance games mostly have quirky female leads, usually aliens, refrigerators, octopuses, lizards, battleships, motorcycles, etc.

A bit perverse.

But making money is nothing to be ashamed of.

And to be honest, maybe he has some talent in this area because he’s been sprinting down this path, and in three years, he’s gathered a million followers.

Even though he’s avoided signing a contract with a website due to worrying about complications, he still makes a living from taking on ads, ensuring a life of ease and even saving some tens of thousands in savings.

"Alright, that’s all for today’s stream, see you next time, guys!"

Lin Qianxuan greeted his online fans and then closed the live-stream.

Soon after, he started preparing to edit the live-stream footage.

He wasn’t very diligent with live-streaming; he mainly increased followers and popularity with edited video content.

"Ding~!"

A phone notification sounded, catching Lin Qianxuan’s attention.

He opened it and saw it was a message from the background.

Due to having a large number of fans, his background messages were numerous, and he generally ignored them.

But this one was different.

It was from an old patron.

This person once rewarded Lin Qianxuan with five thousand when he started streaming and frequently supported his streaming career, offering many helpful suggestions, making him both Lin Qianxuan’s mentor and an angel investor of sorts.

[Old Six: I’ve recommended a game for you. [Link]]

[Bursting Tentacle Monster: What game?]

[Old Six: An AI dialogue romance game, also of the non-human type, connected to the latest AI database, highly intelligent.]

The AI industry has been booming in recent years, almost hailed as a transformative technology and an industrial revolution.

Many games have been created with AI at the core, though only a few are excellent.

Speaking of which, the smart speaker Lin Qianxuan uses is somewhat of an artificial idiot, so he’s quite familiar with this.

Just as he was about to inquire more, he found that the other party was offline.

After thinking it over, Lin Qianxuan decided to put aside video editing and try the game recommended by the other party.

Games recommended by Old Six should have good show potential and might even spawn a series of videos.

He clicked on the link, and the computer screen froze for a moment.

Lin Qianxuan was stunned, wondering if it was a virus.

Suddenly.

Countless threads twinkled and intertwined on the computer screen, accompanied by some music.

No, not threads, but strings, zither strings.....

Ultimately, these strings formed four characters: [String of Destiny].

"The webpage is quite flashy."

Lin Qianxuan pursed his lips, a little interested.

He looked over the interface, and there was an option to start the game below.

He clicked it lightly, and the screen turned pitch black, with a line of text slowly appearing.

[You are a Musician chosen by the String of Destiny, with the ability to collect sound talismans within destiny, create sheet music, and play the Sound of Destiny...]

"Musician?"

Lin Qianxuan was slightly confused, and a continuous game introduction followed.

[Sound talismans only exist on certain specific Daughters of Destiny, and only by moving their hearts can you collect sound talismans.]

[Every sound talisman has a unique effect, which will help you better compose the Sound of Destiny.]

[Compose and create your own Sound of Destiny.]

"Collecting sound talismans means conquering characters, right? Unique effects? Increased progress and easter eggs?" Lin Qianxuan muttered to himself.

After this introduction, the black and white background slightly changed, now directly appearing on a street.

The background looked somewhat vintage, with street corners and alleyways giving off a 20th-century vibe.

About thirty years ago, Xuan Country looked like this.

At the end of the alley, there was a figure curled up inside some old cardboard, vaguely visible as a female.

Lin Qianxuan was a bit puzzled, could it be that this game starts by interacting with her?

[Here in Xugu City of Chao Li Country, you’ve been invited to tour and travel. You decided to explore on your own to experience the foreign ambience. In a small alley, you saw a female figure curled up inside some old cardboard. As a Player of Destiny, you immediately sensed her strong aura of destiny and determined that she is the Daughter of Destiny, with her fate nearing its end. You only have three days to successfully collect all the Sound Talismans on her, create a composition, and perform the Sound of Destiny to change her fate and extend her life span.]

.....

This explanation resolved some of Lin Qianxuan’s doubts.

Chao Li Country is a small nation, and its development is relatively slow except for the capital and other places, its economy is not very good. Compared to Xuan Country, it’s indeed lagging behind by a decade or two.

The story setting here is quite reasonable.

At this moment, an input box appeared on Lin Qianxuan’s interface.

Having played several AI text dialogue games before, Lin Qianxuan knew how to play without needing instructions.

"Well, let’s try a normal dialogue first."

Lin Qianxuan began to input information into the input box.

[Player of Destiny (worried): Are you okay?]

Using brackets, the text you input becomes actions. Through text, you can control the game character’s activities or expressions.

The colon is followed by dialogue.

These are no different from other AI dialogue games.

[Your inquiry received no response, perhaps she didn’t hear you?]

A narration flashed by.

Lin Qianxuan felt he realized something and typed another line.

(Step forward, walk to her.)

In the next moment, Lin Qianxuan noticed that even the background image changed, directly moving him forward, feeling that the figure was less than a meter away.

To his surprise, this game comes with real-time AI-generated images, and Lin Qianxuan was a bit amazed by the detail in the game.

In the other AI dialogue games he played, most just pasted a picture of a pretty girl and used it till the end, with no automatic background changes.

[You walked up to her and suddenly stopped because you noticed something unusual. Between the cardboard gaps, there were some marks that didn’t look like human limbs. She sensed your approach and quickly curled closer, cautiously observing you through the cardboard.]

Lin Qianxuan carefully scrutinized the background image and could vaguely see something resembling a tail under the cardboard.

The tail had scales that looked like purple gems.

Lin Qianxuan instantly felt relieved.

As long as it’s not a human.

He mostly doesn’t play normal dating games; otherwise, it would break his character.

Hmm, this is just for work; it’s not that he’s really perverted.

[Player of Destiny (concerned): Do you need help?]

[She made no movement, and you suddenly realized there might be a language barrier between you?]

"Oh, right, this is Chao Li Country, she doesn’t understand Xuan language." Lin Qianxuan understood, then frowned and said, "So how do I make her understand?"

Thinking it over, Lin Qianxuan tried typing another line.

(Use the phone to translate and play in Chao Li language, "Do you need help?")

[She still seemed puzzled, she doesn’t appear to be from Chao Li Country.]

The action was successfully executed, but seemingly had no effect.

"Huh? She’s not from Chao Li Country?"

Lin Qianxuan stroked his chin, pondering.

Appearing in Chao Li Country, unable to understand Xuan or Chao Li language, where could she be from?

(Use the phone to translate and play in Karsel language, "Do you need help?")

Kalsel Country ranks among the top three world countries alongside Xuan Country. The number of its language speakers is just second to Xuan Country; theoretically, she should be able to understand.

[She seemed to understand a bit.]

[Daughter of Destiny (cautious): ...*&%.]

[You didn’t understand her words, but you felt she was speaking Ni language.]

"From Ni Country?" Lin Qianxuan’s expression became a bit strange, and he commented, "A non-human female from Ni Country meeting a man from Xuan Country in Chao Li Country for romance. How could I dream such a thing?"

(Use the phone’s translation software, select Ni language, and play in Ni language, "Do you need help?")

[She understood and replied in Ni language.]

[Daughter of Destiny (softly): &*%*.]

[You glanced at the translation software, meaning "very hungry." You added Ni language selection to the translated language options of your simultaneous interpretation earphones.]

"So she’s hungry? Speaking of which, I have simultaneous interpretation earphones with me? This setting is nice, with a foreign setup while solving the language barrier issue."

Lin Qianxuan nodded.

This is obviously a scenario for players to establish initial rapport.

As long as the player buys food or has food on them to give her to eat, they can gain initial favorability, facilitating further communication and gaining more favorability to see the protagonist under the cardboard.

But Lin Qianxuan never follows the common path.

He wants to test the AI’s intelligence limit to make subsequent strategy plans.

"The Lin Strategy Method of..... Going Against the Grain!"

Lin Qianxuan’s fingers tapped on the keyboard, slowly entering a line.

(Walk up, suddenly lift the cardboard.)

As Lin Qianxuan entered the command, the background image suddenly changed.

The cardboard was immediately lifted, revealing a beautiful girl with ragged clothes and dense purple scale armor all over her body.

What caught Lin Qianxuan’s attention was that she also had a long tail behind her and a pair of horns resembling purple crystals atop her head. At this moment, she was grabbing the tattered cardboard tightly, trying to cover her body, while also looking ahead with a look of panic, or rather, at Lin Qianxuan.