Chapter 1 The Beginning

Hu Xiao's home internet speed was very fast, and the game finished downloading quickly.

As a professional up-loader, the configuration of Hu Xiao's branded desktop computer at home was not low. After all, he often had to edit videos, and he also had some gaming needs.

He didn't have a gamepad, but this game could also be played with a keyboard and mouse.

As a person with a sense of ritual, Hu Xiao got up, made himself a cup of tea, leisurely took two sips, and then entered the game.

He wasn't very clear about what kind of game this was.

But judging from the name, it should be a game full of Buddhist nature, right?

Moreover, this was a Huaxia-style (Chinese-style) game. Judging from the several promotional pictures given by the official website, it seemed to be about reincarnation, rebirth, and deliverance?

Well, then it should be full of Zen, right?

Since it was a game full of Zen, shouldn't he calm down and experience it with his heart?

Hu Xiao found that he actually had a little anticipation for this game.

After a black screen, the first thing that appeared was a melodious tune.

This melody was melodious and tactful, but it also had a unique atmosphere of sadness, and it was all played with Huaxia's traditional musical instruments.

An old woman's voice slowly chanted in a hoarse and drawn-out tone.

"Born to miss each other, worldly affairs reincarnate in a bloody haze;"

"Only see the flowers bloom, rarely see the leaves, a difficult journey to the Yellow Springs."

"The road on the Sān Tú River is long, all hearts break by the Naihe Bridge;"

"A bowl of tea soup ends all past lives, an inch of clear stream moistens the shallow beach."

Her voice was melodious and drawn-out, but it made people feel a bone-chilling sadness, as if a ghost was summoning souls.

These few sentences sounded like poems, and also like ballads, and were a little creepy.

The scene appeared, a bright red maple leaf fell into the stream and was washed away by the stream. Immediately afterwards, a trace of bright red blood flowed along the stream, and was quickly diluted.

The camera moved upward, and a withered hand slapped onto the surface of the water with a "smack," splashing a little spray, and then remained motionless.

The camera continued to pull up along this withered hand, and what came into view were the tattered clothes, hideous wounds, and wide-open eyes on the corpse.

Although he was already dead, the appearance of his wide-open eyes still made people feel a chill.

In these eyes, there seemed to be fear, despair, struggle, and a little bit of unwillingness.

The camera continued to move upward, and several withered and thin ankles walked past the camera. A wild dog with all its fur dried up and as thin as a skeleton, with dark red saliva dripping from the corners of its mouth, stared at the camera with blood-red eyes, and then left, continuing to search for its next target.

It seemed that these people had completely lost their minds and turned into blind killers.

The old and hoarse voice sounded again.

"People have three souls and seven spirits."

"Those whose lifespans have expired are guided by Black and White Impermanence (Heibai Wuchang) to embark on the Yellow Springs Road and go to the Underworld to accept the judgment of Yama."

"Either reincarnated, or enter the Six Paths of Reincarnation, or enter the Avici Hell."

The corpse by the stream suddenly twitched.

The camera did not linger on it for too long, but continued to move, passing through the stream and wasteland on the edge of the village, and stopping at this small village hidden in the deep mountains.

"Until one day, Black and White Impermanence no longer guide those who are about to die."

"Souls wander in the world, but cannot be guided, and can only become wandering lonely ghosts on the Yellow Springs Road."

"Unable to live, unable to die."

"Over time, these lonely ghosts become more and more fierce, losing their humanity and their memories."

"The human world becomes a purgatory."

The camera turned, and several innocent people were slaughtered by villagers holding grass forks and choppers, letting out desperate wails.

In a dilapidated temple in the suburbs, dim golden Buddhist light turned into a barrier, isolating the wandering souls who wanted to rush into the temple.

And in the dilapidated temple, an old monk was sitting cross-legged on a futon, facing the crumbling Buddha statue, chanting scriptures over and over again.

Not far away, a scholar ran out of his burning home, stumbling and running wildly, disheveled and looking like a madman.

He shouted and laughed, his voice slurred.

"Reincarnation is a burning house, drowning in a sea of suffering;"

"Clinging to the long night, never changing."

"No path to the spiritual mountain, hands clasped in emptiness;"

"The Yellow Springs Road is far, turning back is the shore."

"Turning back is the shore? Hahahaha..."

In the scholar's insane laughter, the screen gradually went black.

Then, the laughter stopped abruptly.

The old voice sounded for the last time: "Lonely ghosts, wandering the world; the Six Paths collapse, the gates of the Underworld open..."

After a slightly longer black screen.

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

Two muffled sounds, and a beam of light penetrated the pitch-black screen.

This was the first-person perspective of someone being buried.

Soon, the camera turned to outside the tomb.

This was a desolate burial ground, with broken tombstones lying crookedly on the ground, or submerged in the dry yellow grass.

There were many open coffins in the burial ground. These coffins were all very poor quality thin wooden coffins, and were already broken beyond recognition.

Some coffins contained incomplete bones, perhaps gnawed by hungry beasts, while others were empty, with only soil washed in by rainwater.

There were also a large number of corpses randomly discarded in the burial ground, most of them with incomplete limbs and separated bodies.

Two holes were smashed out of the extremely thin coffin lid, and a withered hand with some muscle remaining protruded from the hole, and used all its strength to push the coffin lid aside.

A pale-faced dead man sat up from the grave.

……

Hu Xiao looked at the tea in his hand, and then looked at this rather unfriendly cutscene CG, feeling that his expectations might have deviated a bit.

What kind of Buddhist game was this?

There was a big problem!

Hu Xiao was a little tempted to give up. Anyway, he had just downloaded the game and could refund it at any time.

But then he thought again, he should play it and see, what if the game was fun?

"Huh? You can even write your own epitaph?"

"What a weird segment, skip it."

Hu Xiao subconsciously wanted to skip it, but found that he couldn't skip it. He had to enter some information before he could continue.

He originally wanted to enter three periods, but he felt that it was a bit inappropriate, so he should enter two Chinese characters.

Hu Xiao thought for a while, and typed in "Hēi hēi (hehe)" at random.

He didn't think too much, just chose the first interjection that appeared in his mind.

After selecting it, the game officially began.

Hu Xiao controlled the game character and rushed straight towards the little monster in front of him.

Three seconds later.

The game character let out a scream and fell to the ground. The screen turned gray, and two large characters were prominently displayed on it: "Hēi hēi (hehe)".

Hu Xiao: "???"

He didn't quite understand what had happened just now.

I had such a long health bar just now?

How could my health bar disappear after being touched by the little monster twice?

Was there a bug in this game?

Hu Xiao refused to accept this and resurrected, climbing up from the burial ground again and rushing towards the little monster in front of him.

"Hēi hēi (hehe)."

"Hēi hēi (hehe)."

"Hēi hēi (hehe)."

Hu Xiao fell into a daze. After being in a daze for a few minutes, he pushed the keyboard and mouse forward, leaned back in his chair, and fell into contemplation.

What exactly was going on?

Why was my character as fragile as paper, disappearing with a single touch?

Could it be that I opened it the wrong way?

Or was there a problem with my gameplay?

With confusion, Hu Xiao opened the chat group for his shill army, wanting to ask about other people's situations.

However, the others in the group were just as confused as Hu Xiao.

"Has anyone finished downloading *Turning Back is the Shore*? My computer configuration is too low, it's lagging so much, and then I died after a lag."

"My computer is also lagging, and I also died inexplicably."

"This game's configuration requirements are really high. My computer can't handle it either, it's like a slideshow."

"Hehe, my computer can handle it. To be honest with you, the reason you died isn't because of the lag..."

"Damn, what kind of idiotic game is this? Does the first little monster have an instant kill?"

"How can this be played?"

"I don't know, I've already refunded it anyway. The boss didn't ask us to give it a good or bad review, right? I've decided to give it a one-star review directly!"

"Isn't a one-star rating a bit too much? Really not giving it a second chance?"

"My laptop can't handle this game, I plan to find an internet cafe later."

"This boss is quite generous, isn't it a bit irresponsible to give it a bad review directly because of this? After all, he didn't say to give it a bad review, just asked us to evaluate it based on our first impression."

"Yeah, the first impression is that this game is terrible."

"But it could also be because of your computer, right?"

The group was actually arguing.

Hu Xiao scratched his head, feeling a little dizzy.

It was the first time he had seen everyone in the shill group discussing something so seriously...

In the past, the group was like a well-trained army. Someone would give an order to like, forward, or collectively attack a certain comment or account, or quickly unify their tone. In short, they were disciplined and responsive.

But today, the group seemed to have turned into a vegetable market, with everyone expressing their own opinions.

Some people wanted to give it a bad review after playing the game for a while.

But some people felt a little sorry for such a generous client, and felt that they should try harder to play it, and couldn't be so irresponsible.

Looking at everyone arguing, Hu Xiao was also a little confused.

What to do when the shill army starts a civil war? Waiting online, it's quite urgent!