Chapter 1 The First Place
‘First!’
‘Finally, I’ve been waiting for you, but I’m glad I didn’t give up!’
‘Wait... Bt’s Easter egg?’
‘Grandma, the Bt Easter egg you always talked about has appeared!’
‘I knew it!!’
‘Is Xiaobai Bai also Bai? Are you the viewer who added a suffix to Sekiro that day? Is it just a coincidence?’
‘As expected of you, Bai Zhiyuan, you always bring refreshing videos!’
......
The video, less than half an hour long, stirred up a thousand waves, instantly hyping up the already enthusiastic netizens.
People flocked in upon hearing the news, including Lu Li, an old acquaintance Bai Zhiyuan had been thinking about.
At this moment, Lu Li had just finished optimizing Sekiro, combining some interesting elements with VR to greatly enhance the player’s enjoyment.
Seeing the news buzzing online, Lu Li naturally clicked on the video.
With two years of tacit understanding, he had long formed a habit.
He never missed a video from Bai Zhiyuan.
Because the quality of her videos was truly high, belonging to the top tier on the platform, they were a pleasure to watch.
Moreover, Bai Zhiyuan’s game videos were all from Ling Jing productions, which was hard not to love for Lu Li, a game designer at Ling Jing.
Most importantly, as fellow enthusiasts of niche preferences, only he could understand the hidden conversations behind Bai Zhiyuan’s displayed skills, feeling a connection of souls.
This gave Lu Li, who had crossed over to Blue Star alone, a small sense of comfort.
Spiritual fulfillment gave him more energy to create more masochistic games, to develop sharper knives to let players meet their demise in creative ways.
“As a civilian Pilot, up until the release of this video, I’ve seen many netizens discussing the final Easter egg in Titanfall, but there’s still no reasoned answer.”
Lu Li opened the video, and Bai Zhiyuan’s crisp voice sounded, “The uploader, like most players, also wanted to investigate, so I recorded the pattern of the helmet’s flashing and compared them one by one.”
“I won’t go into the details of the search process; I’ll directly state the pattern and conclusion.”
In the video, the scene shifted to the final flashing helmet Easter egg after completing Titanfall. The flashing speed of the lights, when slowed down, clearly showed the alternation between strong and weak light.
Bai Zhiyuan’s voice chimed in appropriately, “As you can see from the slowed-down Easter egg, Cooper’s helmet flashes with strong and weak lights. Let’s assume strong light is 1 and weak light is 0. Then, from beginning to end, it’s: 01001010, 01000001, 01000011, 01001011, 00111111.”
“This code information is not Morse code, but a more primitive information exchange code. The official name is ACs2 code.”
Then she carefully posted the official introduction and relevant conversion table for ACs2 code, presenting it logically and understandably.
“Referring to the ACs2 code conversion table, it translates to [jACk?], which means Bt’s core data is not damaged and there is a possibility of recovery.”
As Bai Zhiyuan finished speaking, the bullet comments in the video exploded, instantly covering the entire screen.
‘Bt: Answer the phone, Cooper!!! I’m not dead yet!!!’
‘Wuwuwu~~~ I’ve waited so long, I knew it!! I knew Bt was still alive!!!’
‘Bt: Can’t get through!!’
‘It’s 2023, I hope Bt comes back (crying)’
‘Hey hey hey, this music is too much, I can’t help but want to cry!’
‘Protocol Three: Protect the Pilot!’
‘? Are you trying to make me cry!’
‘Reasoned and well-founded, I, Uchiha Madara, name this the strongest interpretation!’
‘What if it’s reversed? Does it still hold true?’
......
Seemingly anticipating that some viewers would ask about the strong and weak light setting, Bai Zhiyuan patiently explained, “If you reverse it, you’ll find that the corresponding letters you get are the reverse of [jACk?].”
(I haven’t delved deeper, and I haven’t found an explanation for the reverse. I’ve taken artistic license, please understand.)
After explaining, Bai Zhiyuan continued, her voice containing a barely perceptible anticipation, “To be honest, the uploader also hopes that Ling Jing can produce more excellent works for this IP.”
Then, she shifted her tone, “After discussing the Easter egg, let’s get to the main topic. I’m fortunate enough to be hit by the designer’s surprise and get to play the demo of Sekiro in advance. Just like Designer Lu Li’s stream that day, I cleared it in one go, and here it is.”
“Oh ho~”
Lu Li, who was watching the video, slightly raised an eyebrow, a sunny smile on his face.
One could only say, as expected of her!
Still so fond of challenges, still likes to clear games in one go.
Just as her love for masochism was in her bones, her competitive spirit was also a tenacious flower blooming in her core.
During the combat segment,
Compared to Lu Li’s sharp and imposing swordsmanship, Bai Zhiyuan’s swordsmanship focused more on combining with her movement techniques, using softness to overcome hardness. After dodging Genichiro Ashina’s aggressive attacks, she could always gain an advantage.
Facing Bai Zhiyuan’s flowing defense, Genichiro Ashina, whether it was his dash slashes, upward cuts, downward chops, normal swings... or his frustrated bow shots, she could always resolve them with minimal cost.
However, even so, facing Genichiro Ashina, whose attributes were far higher than hers, by the time his HP was reduced to the last bar, Bai Zhiyuan’s HP was also at its limit.
Logically, she still had one life left and would surely win easily after reviving, but the stubborn Bai Zhiyuan clearly didn’t want to do that. Even with the last sliver of health, she was still positioning and dodging with full concentration.
Clang!
Genichiro Ashina in his berserk state initiated a fatal blow, his great sword sweeping towards Bai Zhiyuan’s face. Bai Zhiyuan raised her sword to block.
Immediately after,
Genichiro Ashina gripped his sword hilt with both hands, raised it above his head, leaped into the air, and forcefully chopped forward. Due to the excessive forward lean of his arms and body throughout the entire move, it was like a hundred years.
Thus, it was called the New Year’s Greeting Sword Style!
Seeing this, a cold glint flashed in Bai Zhiyuan’s eyes. A good opportunity!
The New Year’s Greeting Sword Style had both obvious advantages and disadvantages. It was grand and powerful. Even if she parried with her great sword, her HP would be cleared due to the immense force of the tremor.
This was a classic tactic of bosses against critically damaged players. As long as you chose to meet it head-on, they would dare to finish you with the tremor.
Even if you didn’t block, if you didn’t retreat far enough, you would still be affected by the sharp sword energy, leading to an instant death. Unless you saw the boss’s wind-up animation and immediately made the corresponding counter-attack, quickly moving out of the affected range.
The disadvantage was that after the attack, there was a defensive opening, a small stun. Players who were good at seizing opportunities could use this flaw to easily expand their advantage, switch from defense to offense, and deliver a stunning, fatal blow!
Instantly,
Lu Li’s mind flashed with several coping strategies, but seeing Bai Zhiyuan’s low HP, he was already praying for her.
However, at the critical moment.
Bai Zhiyuan’s next move completely stunned all the viewers!
......