The Gamer who traveled to Honkai: Star Rail

Pei Guang, of course, didn't care how much smoke Nous was spewing. He was simply enjoying the feeling of being a game planner, studying the permissions he had gained for the event.

In short, he now had the same control as a real game developer: he could set a main storyline for the players, apply restrictions, like disabling attacks on NPCs or enabling friendly fire—various entertaining mechanics.

Even death and resurrection were allowed, since this was a simulated dungeon where all contents were complete simulations of past data. Resurrection could be enabled within this context.

Of course, he couldn't go overboard: according to system prompts, excessively extreme dungeons would collapse. So Pei Guang kept experimenting to find the upper limit of what the simulation could handle. 

Over a month passed within the Simulated Universe while he did this.

And during that time, Pei Guang wasn't idle. Even though he stayed in one place, he used his own hacking skills to learn more about this world.

This world was a planet colonized by a newly founded Interastral Peace Corporation. After colonization, the planet's technological level skyrocketed. But the cost? 

All of the planet's taxes had been pre-collected: up to 900 years in advance.

Everyone on the planet was born into debt, barely surviving under corporate oppression. 150% of the planet's assets were concentrated in one person's hands, while everyone else collectively owed the 50% in excess.

Pei Guang thought this was a fantastic background setting. 

Sure, he could just set a "conquer the universe" objective from the start, but as a player himself, he knew that goals shouldn't be too large from the beginning. Players needed to progress step-by-step to fully enjoy the experience.

So, within the Simulated Universe, he made several settings and, once everything was ready, Pei Guang activated the event map.

"Event dungeon open! Time to let more players enter this world."

Sure, this time there were no cheat codes or mod permissions, and he hadn't gained any overpowered abilities within the Simulated Universe. But now, other players could play together with him! 

Not just play together: play his way. That was way more satisfying than just using cheat codes.

After all, what's the best game configuration? Naturally, it's playing with friends!

And the moment Pei Guang enabled public access, countless players from across the universe, safely at home or in secure locations, received the same invitation.

As a gamer herself, Silver Wolf also got the invitation.

[Want to experience a game with maximum realism? Want to play the freest game ever? Want to enjoy all the classic best features stitched into one thrilling experience?]

[Decline] [Accept]

"Heh, the most realistic, most classic game? Let me see just how real and classic it is."

Silver Wolf casually clicked "Accept."

The instant she did, she slumped over her desk. At the same time, countless people across the universe either collapsed onto their desks or fell into bed the moment they accepted.

Some woke up instantly, but others entered this so-called game world.

Silver Wolf: "Interesting… this game—wait, Ah Guang?!"

After entering the game, Silver Wolf looked up to check out how realistic it was, only to see Pei Guang standing right in front of her.

Pei Guang: "Well, well, well, you're here too?"

Silver Wolf: "What's going on?"

Pei Guang: "Open beta. Max realism. Die a thousand times and revive. Play. Enjoy!"

Silver Wolf: "That already sounds fun! Let me enjoy it!"

Pei Guang: "Hold up. Wait for more players to join first. I'll start the newbie guide, after that you can enjoy it then."

Silver Wolf: "Are there a lot of restrictions?"

Pei Guang: "About the same as regular MMOs. Without restrictions, I suspect this planet would be blown up by us within a day. Oh, and check your inventory: there's a beginner's guide. Follow the tasks."

As a fellow player, Pei Guang knew how terrifying a dungeon could become without player restrictions. So he had imposed strict limits on what damage players could inflict and who they could attack.

He enabled public access to the Simulated Universe, and just a second after that, back in Herta's office, Herta, Ruan Mei, and Screwllum stood silently in front of the machine.

Because they saw that the machine was smoking. Even though it was smoking, it was still running. The Simulated Universe itself was still functioning.

But that wasn't what stunned Herta the most.

What truly silenced her was the realization that the number of participants in the Simulated Universe was increasing: one, two, three… and within just a few in-game breaths, within a single day inside the simulation, over ten thousand people had already joined.

Herta was certain: it was definitely these confused people who had somehow entered her Simulated Universe that were making the machine smoke.

But the problem now was: the Simulated Universe couldn't be stopped. Nous had fully taken over the Simulated Universe. 

Unlike last time, when they were still able to retrieve some data from it, this time they couldn't even monitor it properly. The data fluctuations were so enormous that even just watching was barely possible. 

No exaggeration: the changes in data within these few seconds were so immense they could practically be molded into a star system.

Ruan Mei: "Looks like we're about to witness something extraordinary…"

Herta: "Isn't this exciting? Even though what he's doing has nothing to do with the Aeons, for an Aeon to be paying this much attention to him… it's really…"

Herta was thrilled: no one could make her stop the simulation now. She had a vague feeling that she was getting closer and closer to the truth she had always been seeking.

Inside the Simulated Universe, the new players who had just entered were initially bewildered. But once they discovered they had a standard in-game inventory backpack, and that inside it was a game manual, everyone started getting excited.

The event dungeon had pulled in all kinds of people, but they shared one thing in common: they were all interested in games.

When they opened the beginner's guide, many were left scratching their heads at its instructions.

For example, after dying, you would respawn at a designated point. Upon death, all items in your backpack would drop. You couldn't attack NPCs that weren't part of a hostile faction.

Pei Guang had even added some content moderation. The open beta had a time limit: once time was up, all game data would be deleted.

Other than the most basic game data and quest setup, everything else had to be discovered by the players themselves.

Each person had a quest tracker with a mission:

[World Mission: Restore freedom to the planet colonized by the IPC]

[Mission Reward: ???]

This was a phase-one quest set by Pei Guang. 

In his eyes, freeing a planet was a bit too simple for these players: after all, he had personally set their attributes and knew exactly what they were capable of.