SIMULATION TOWARDS IMMORTALITY IN A GROUP CHAT

 Chapter 1: Damn it! I want to leave the group!

"Unbelievable! I write so well, but I only have 56 subscribers! That's ridiculous!" 

Wang Ping looked at his author's dashboard on the computer, where there were only 56 initial subscribers, and felt frustrated.

Just like his name, Wang Ping was merely an ordinary person in his ordinary life.

He had completed nine years of compulsory education and then went to college.

After graduation, he worked as a waiter and a screw assembler.

His girlfriend, who deemed him useless and aimless, had left him for another man.

This made him even more depressed and immersed in the world of novels.

Every time he saw an author posting something toxic, he would criticize that author, questioning their ability to write novels.

Then he heard that writing novels could make money, so he thought that after reading novels for so many years, it wouldn't be so hard for him to write one.

But there was no "then".

From the beginning, when he couldn't even write a sentence, to the point where he could finally write more fluently, he had spent so much energy and effort.

However, when his first book was published, it only had single-digit initial subscriptions, which almost made him collapse.

Although his second book had better subscriptions than the first one, the result was still disappointing.

Most importantly, he didn't have the money to stay in a rental apartment and focus solely on writing novels anymore.

"Sigh, it's true. No industry is easy."

Wang Ping looked at the instant noodles on his cluttered computer desk, took a puff of a cigarette, let out a deep sigh, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Now he was 25 years old, and he had no idea how to live the rest of his life.

At 25, with no savings and being an orphan, marriage seemed unlikely for him.

If he were to get sick, it would be a catastrophe.

"This Earth OL is so bad, I would be better off not playing it!"

Wang Ping breathed out a ring of smoke and grumbled.

"Ding, Transmigrator Chat Group invites you to join. Do you want to join immediately?"

*This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

It was at this moment that a mechanical voice suddenly rang in Wang Ping's mind.

Then, a pale blue virtual luminescent screen appeared before his eyes.

On it were the options "'Yes" and "No"

"!!!"

This made Wang Ping snap back to his senses and rub his eyes, thinking that he might have had both hallucinations and auditory hallucinations.

However, even after rubbing his eyes several times without the luminescent screen disappearing, he couldn't help but get excited.

"Chat group!?"

"So it turns out that I am a winner in life with a golden finger. It's just that this golden finger has come a little too late in life."

Wang Ping excitedly rubbed his hands together.

Many novel protagonists were ordinary people who obtained golden fingers during their most desolate moments, which then led them to soar high in life and reach the peak of their lifetime.

He guessed that was probably his case, too.

However, a chat group storyline was somewhat outdated in the world of web novels.

Moreover, chat groups were usually a collective golden finger and not a personal one.

If it was a harmonious and helpful chat group, that would be great.

But if it was a highly competitive and scheming chat group, it would be quite troublesome.

"Whatever, even if it's a dark chat group, as long as I can lay low, reduce my desires a little, it will be fine."

Wang Ping thought to himself:

All he needed was to improve himself a little through the chat group, make some money and enjoy life in this ordinary world of his.

That's right, even after joining the chat group, he only wanted to live a more affluent, peaceful, and happy life.

Although this might seem a bit lacking in ambition, it was already much better than his previous life.

Of course, this was based on the assumption of joining a chat group with a not-so-good atmosphere. If it was a chat group with a great atmosphere, he would still fantasize about attaining extraordinary powers and immortality.

As numerous thoughts flooded his mind, Wang Ping chose 'Yes.'

"Ding! Congratulations on joining the Transmigrator Chat Group. The transmigration will begin in half an hour. Please be mentally prepared."

The system voice sounded, leaving Wang Ping stunned.

"Transmigration? What the hell is this?"

While Wang Ping was still in shock, new messages appeared in the chat group.

"Ding, congratulations to the 66th group member Wang Ping for joining the Transmigrator Chat Group."

"Ding, congratulations to the 67th group member Chen Kang for joining the Transmigrator Chat Group."

With the appearance of these two group messages, the group became lively.

Wu Jun (20): "Oh, two new members at once? Welcome!"

Liu Mei (15): "Two more unfortunate souls? Poor them."

Zhang Hu (5): "Silent tribute. I wonder if these two can survive."

Fang Yun (3): "It's tough. None of the recent ten newcomers have survived. It's really sad."

...

"???"

Looking at the chat content in the group, Wang Ping was a bit dumbfounded.

Huh!? What did these group members mean? Did people often die in this group?

Just as Wang Ping was about to speak, the other newcomer interrupted.

Chen Kang (67): "Senior transmigrators, what do you mean all the recent ten newcomers died!? Is this group a trap? Frightened.jpg"

Fang Yun: "Heh, you figured it out pretty quickly, knowing that this is the Transmigrator's Chat Group, and calling us senior transmigrators. Just as you said, this group indeed has a trap, and it's a huge one."

Chen Kang (67): "..."

Wang Ping (66): "...."

Zhang Hu (5): "You can see the order we joined the group through the numbers next to our names. Now look at the group member list and see how many names are still there."

Following Zhang Hu's words, Wang Ping hurriedly looked at the group list.

Then he saw a scene that made his scalp tingle.

Group members: 7/67.

A series of dark avatars and names.

This meant that out of the 65 previous group members, only five had survived?

This death rate was absolutely off the charts!

For a moment, Wang Ping felt numb, and a sense of panic began to breed within him.

He thought that a golden finger had come, but who would have thought that it was actually a death warrant.

Wang Ping (66): "....Can I withdraw from the group now?"

Chen Kang (67): "....Same question as the guy above."

Liu Mei (15): "Hehe, no can do. Once you've joined the group, there's no going back. Instead of being frightened, it's better to prepare for the transmigration in half an hour. That way, your chances of survival might be slightly higher. But of course, it's only a tiny bit."

Wang Ping: "....Why do you say that?"

Liu Mei (15): "The transmigration you're imagining probably involves soul travel, with a nice family, or at worst, is a classic orphan setting, right?"

Chen Kang (67): "Isn't that the case?"

Liu Mei: "Hehe, of course not. The real situation is that this chat group randomly selects a world and throws you into it. In other words, your identity is completely unrecognized. To the people in the Exoteric World, you're just a strangely dressed and possibly foreign-speaking, unregistered oddity. I don't need to tell you what the consequences might be."

Chapter 2: Time-traveler colleague defeated in five seconds!

Chen Kang (67): "..."

Wang Ping (66): ".....Is this system so pitiful?"

Wang Ping's face twitched, and his heart grew more and more terrified.

Before, he was too naive, actually thinking that the worst-case scenario was that the chat group was dark and full of intrigue.

This chat group wasn't about being dark, it was a matter of life and death!

If he could, he really wanted to take back his words about Earth OL being a crappy game.

After all, at least he could survive there.

Liu Mei (15): "Do you think this is the most dangerous? No! The real danger is when you first travel through time. The location of the time travel is completely random. It could be in the sky, in the ocean, or in the mountains and forests. The chances of being in a town are relatively low. Moreover, even if you travel directly to a town, it's not safe, as people may think you're a monster. Of course, if you're lucky, they might consider you a god, but even so, whether you can survive depends on your IQ and luck."

Chen Kang (67): "...I TM..."

Wang Ping was dumbfounded as well.

He used to yearn for time travel when reading novels, but this real-time travel was too treacherous.

Just following Liu Mei's possibilities, he could understand why the mortality rate among newcomers was so high.

Wu Jun (20): "Ahem, Liu Mei, you don't have to scare them so much. In fact, each newcomer will randomly get their own Golden Finger after time travel. Although the Golden Finger is not the ultra-powerful type, it's somewhat helpful."

Chen Kang: "Really? What a pleasant surprise .jpg."

Wang Ping looked at his excited fellow newcomers, but he didn't share their optimism.

After all, if the Golden Finger were really useful, the casualty rate wouldn't be so high.

Liu Mei (15): "What's the use of comforting them? Even if they're lucky enough to get a powerful Golden Finger, they'll still die if their luck is bad at the beginning. Anyway, I've said everything I need to say. With the little time left, I suggest you change into some clothes and shoes that are easy to move in and buy as many compressed biscuits and mineral water as possible."

Liu Mei (15): "Of course, it's best to prepare protective clothing, firearms, and other things within half an hour if you can."

Chen Kang: "...Well, I'm just an ordinary person, so I can only prepare the simplest things. Thanks for the reminder from my predecessors, I'm going to prepare some food and drink now."

Wang Ping: "I'm grateful too."

Wang Ping also left his message, quickly changed his clothes and shoes, then dragged a suitcase and ran to the convenience store downstairs to shop frantically.

Eventually, under the strange gaze of the convenience store clerk, Wang Ping filled his entire suitcase.

Wang Ping returned home and packed his clothes, shoes, and pants into his backpack.

"There wasn't enough time, and I couldn't buy much."

Wang Ping looked at his suitcase and backpack, and sighed.

If possible, he would like to prepare the universal set of time-travel items such as potatoes and the like.

With these things, if he traveled to an ancient world, he would be very happy and content.

"Ding, time is up. Time travel begins..."

As Wang Ping was feeling helpless, the cold mechanical voice of the system sounded.

Then, Wang Ping was wrapped in a beam of light and disappeared instantly.

...

When Wang Ping opened his eyes again, he found himself on a muddy dirt road amidst verdant trees, and the chirping of birds in the woods was very pleasant to the ear.

In the distance, there was a village with smoke curling up, causing Wang Ping to be a little lost in thought.

A few seconds later, Wang Ping took a deep breath and finally came back to his senses.

He had really time-traveled.

However, his luck seemed to be good, as the location of the time travel was excellent: neither the sky nor the ocean, nor the wilderness, nor the town, but outside a village.

No one noticed his sudden appearance...

This was undoubtedly a relatively good start."

Just as Wang Ping was considering whether or not to go and check out the village ahead, the chat group system notification rang out abruptly, causing him to freeze. 

*This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

"Ding, Group member Chen Kang (67) is dead."

"???"

Wang Ping's face was astonished, and he wondered if he had heard it wrong.

Chen Kang and he joined the group at the same time, the time difference was virtually nil.

That is to say, their time travel time was about the same.

He had just arrived for about five seconds, and Chen Kang was already dead?

This was too absurd.

Immediately, Wang Ping tried to mentally access the chat group.

In a flash, the virtual chat group page appeared in front of Wang Ping's eyes.

The group was lively and bustling.

Liu Mei (15): "Although I thought the newcomers this time would struggle to survive, I didn't expect a death within five seconds, breaking the record for fastest death."

Wu Jun (20): "Moment of silence, so tragic."

Zhang Hu (5): "I wonder where he time-traveled to and what the initial location was, that he died so quickly."

Fang Yun (3): "We'll know once the Death Replay comes out. By the way, how is the other newcomer doing?"

Wang Ping looked at the chat group and remained silent.

Well, there's even a Death Replay? The chat group system is so 'considerate'.

Wang Ping (66): "I ended up on a muddy dirt road by a small forest, with a small village in front of me."

Fang Yun (3): "Well, you're quite lucky."

Wu jun (20): "Indeed, among all the group members' starts, you're already in the top ten."

Liu Mei (15): "Newcomer, even though you've had a good start, don't be too careless. Otherwise, you'll still die. Once, there was a group member who had a similar start, but he ran into the village without any precautions. It turned out to be a goblin village, and he was tied up and roasted alive, dying a terrible death."

Wang Ping: "????"

Oh dear, was it that tragic?

He even got roasted and eaten by goblins.

The dangers after time travel are truly everywhere.

Wu jun (20): "Liu Mei is right, caution is key after time travel. Don't be careless even if you encounter beings that have a similar appearance to humans. After all, there are many cases of savages eating people. Even normal villages can be very unwelcoming to outsiders, let alone those in the worlds after time travel."

Zhang Hu (5): "Definitely. Quite a few group members have tripped up on this kind of thing."

Wang Ping (66): "It's so dangerous... No wonder so few people survive. By the way, how did you seniors manage to survive?"

Wang Ping was curious about the current situation of the five surviving group members.

Wait, speaking of which, there are five group members, and one of them seems to have never spoken up at all.

Chapter 3 - 3: The Variety of Ways the Transcendent Die!