Chapter 10 Qiao Liang's Discovery

Qiao Liang, having quickly started a new game, also ran to the dilapidated temple. After dying several times, he finally managed to obtain the Pudu.

Looking at the golden, glittering Buddhist staff in his character's hand, Qiao Liang felt a sense of well-being all over.

"So, it really is a hidden weapon!"

"You have to die six times to get it. Who would have thought?"

"After all, this old monk is too weak, weaker than the little monsters in the burial mounds. If it weren't for a player in the group who likes to run around naked, I definitely wouldn't have been able to figure it out on my own."

"Could this weapon be a powered-up version of the Buddhist staff?"

"Holy crap! What kind of damage is this!"

Qiao Liang tried using this golden, glittering Buddhist staff to hit a soldier monster with a lot of health. As a result, one strike sent the monster sprawling!

Two strikes, and the monster's health bar was completely emptied!

Qiao Liang clearly remembered that he needed at least four or five hits with other weapons to defeat this monster. After all, this was already the second area, and the monsters' stats had already been improved.

That is to say, if he used this Buddhist staff to hit slightly weaker monsters, the effect would be even better, maybe even a one-hit kill!

The only regret was that this weapon didn't have any unique combat skills. Its combat skill was the same as the original Buddhist staff, a simple heavy attack. Although the damage was very impressive, it wasn't very flashy.

Qiao Liang had originally thought that the Pudu's combat skill would be something like raising the staff high and emitting a Buddhist light to deal an AOE effect to all surrounding enemies, but it wasn't.

In that respect, the Pudu wasn't as cool as the Mourning Stick dropped by Hei Bai Wuchang (Black and White Impermanence).

But after all, the Mourning Stick only dropped after defeating Hei Bai Wuchang, and new players couldn't possibly get it so easily.

Moreover, even the Mourning Stick probably wouldn't be as practical as the Pudu, because the Pudu's base damage was even higher than the Mourning Stick.

Qiao Liang used the Pudu to hit a few more monsters and found that this weapon was simply invincible!

Although the regular attack animation wasn't very good, he could use jump attacks and dash attacks like other weapons, greatly increasing the attack speed.

In the hands of a skilled player like Qiao Liang, this thing was practically cheating: long attack range, fast attack speed, explosively high damage, and it also came with a strong stagger effect. A single hit would send the monster sprawling on the ground, unable to move.

Those little monsters with short knives and daggers couldn't even touch the player. They were knocked down by the Buddhist staff from a distance, suffering a one-sided beating.

And some individual monsters with pitchforks, although their attack range was about the same as the player's, as long as the player rolled to dodge the attack, it was a one-sided beatdown afterward.

He didn't even need that many fancy techniques, just constantly slamming the Pudu into the ground was enough.

Looking at this flamboyant weapon, Qiao Liang felt a sense of confusion.

"If I had known there was such a good weapon, why the hell did I have to suffer so much?"

Qiao Liang recalled his own bloody history of clearing the game, crawling forward with a trash weapon, having to be careful even when encountering a small monster, afraid of being killed in one hit if he wasn't careful.

And now?

He could easily beat up those monsters that used to ride on his head!

Looking at the fan group, everyone was going crazy.

"Holy crap, I got this weapon too! Actually, you just have to run through as fast as you can and die here at the old monk's place!"

"This weapon is invincible, isn't this just pure torture for the monsters?"

"This is too awesome, right? An official cheat code?"

"The brothers who found it should post it on the forum quickly, you're definitely the first to discover the hidden weapon!"

"Damn, what should I do? I've already killed this old monk! I've already used the prayer beads."

"Start over, it's quick to make a new game."

"I declare that the Pudu is the strongest weapon, bar none!"

Someone had already posted it on the forum. This kind of hidden weapon was definitely a major discovery!

Many design teams would design hidden storylines, hidden weapons, easter eggs, etc. for the game for various reasons, most of which were to bring some surprises to the players, or to supplement the game's worldview or plot through similar content.

And among them, the hidden weapon was definitely the best topic.

Because similar content would mostly not affect the gameplay itself, and it wouldn't be too difficult to find. As long as there were more players, it would be found quickly.

But the Pudu was different because as a hidden weapon, its stats were really too good, and it could fundamentally change the players' gaming experience!

Moreover, this weapon was hidden very deeply, which made it even more of a hot topic.

Soon, this post became popular on the forum, and players reposted it one after another. The news spread quickly!

…

…

At this time, Pei Qian was staring at the game's refund rate, cheering on the hired online trolls.

There was a post that was written very much to his liking, and he almost wanted to give this troll brother extra money.

The title of the post was: "Everyone, don't fall for the developer's trap, be sure to get a refund!"

"The design team knows the players' psychology very well. They deliberately extend the refund time. On the surface, it looks very conscientious, but it's actually a complete scam!"

"Extending the refund time means that many people will spend more time playing the game, which is equivalent to forcing you to get used to this feeling of suffering!"

"When the time is almost up, they add a line of small words to disgust you in a mocking way, and there are those constantly appearing epitaphs... all to stimulate the player's rebellious psychology!"

"Once you have a rebellious psychology, you've been tricked! Not getting a refund is exactly what the design team wants!"

"Think about it, just because of your momentary impulse, a hundred yuan is thrown away for nothing. Why bother? There are so many things you can do with a hundred yuan, why torture yourself?"

"So, everyone must get a refund decisively and don't be blinded by the design team!"

Seeing this post, Pei Qian almost applauded.

"Wonderful!"

"Sir, do you want to leave your contact information? Seeing that you have extraordinary talent, it's really a waste to just be a troll!"

This post was like sending charcoal in the snow for Pei Qian!

Although the comments below were still a mess, with many people scolding the poster, it was clear that a post with such high traffic was also contributing to a lot of refunds for the game.

Moreover, this wasn't the only post of its kind. On Weibo, major forums, and some game groups, there were trolls constantly stirring up trouble, urging everyone to seize the time to get a refund, and that there was no need to suffer in this kind of game.

Pei Qian could only sigh silently, the money wasn't spent in vain!

Although there were also a group of misguided trolls who kept blindly praising *Rebirth from Despair*, which caused Pei Qian some trouble, the overall situation was still good!

The refund rate still hadn't increased significantly. From the current situation, it seemed unlikely to reach a refund rate of 35%.

But, holding steady was good news!

As information about *Rebirth from Despair* spread, new players knew that this game was a suffering game, and with a psychological expectation, there would naturally be fewer and fewer players getting refunds.

However, with the trolls' unremitting efforts, the game's refund rate stabilized, which was obviously good news!

Pei Qian didn't expect the authorities to remove *Rebirth from Despair* from the shelves. After waiting for so long, he hadn't even received a warning. Obviously, the authorities were determined to protect this game.

Anyway, if he could trick one more person into getting a refund, he would earn tens of yuan less, which could be said to be a meritorious deed!

"Huh, that's strange."

"Why has the game's refund rate started to drop again in the past hour or so? Are the trolls not working? Do I need to renew their contracts?"

Pei Qian was a little puzzled. Hadn't he just renewed the trolls' contracts not long ago?

He hurriedly opened the major forums to see if there had been any reversal in public opinion.

As a result, he was shocked to find a popular post.

"I discovered a hidden weapon in the game! The Pudu, it's simply invincible!"

"Holy crap???????"

Pei Qian felt his blood surge and almost had a heart attack.

What the hell?

He quickly opened the post to take a look.

The main content of the post was quite simple. The poster simply explained the process of discovering the Pudu. He was a noob player and wanted to try running around randomly to see if he could open the nearby Buddha statue teleportation point. As a result, he accidentally broke into the dilapidated temple and was killed by the old monk many times.

The post also gave detailed instructions on how to obtain it, screenshots of the Pudu, and how powerful the weapon was.

Looking at the comments below, it had already been bumped up to over a thousand floors!

"Holy crap, it's actually true! This game really has a hidden weapon!"

"I got it too! Thank you, poster, you're a great person!"

"This weapon is just like the official cheat, it's too invincible, right?"

"Even a noob like me can kill monsters in one hit?"

"It feels like it's become a Musou game!"

"Hahaha, with this weapon, I have the motivation to continue, I was going to get a refund, but now I can beat the game!"

"This weapon is obviously overpowered, does this game even have any balance?"

"Who needs balance? This is obviously because the authorities know that the players are too pitiful, so they deliberately hid a powerful hidden weapon so that noobs can beat the game too."

"Is this the design team's mercy?"

"The designers are really kind people, I used to curse your mothers, I'm sorry, I was wrong!"

The post was filled with joy, just like celebrating the New Year!

Not only that, but many people had come up with new tricks, such as... memes.

Someone screenshotted a battle scene from the game: the protagonist wielding the Pudu to smash down three monsters gathered together. Below the picture was a line: I'll Pudu you!

There were also some other memes, such as "Pudu is number one in the world," "Pudu warning," "The other party doesn't want to talk to you and Pudus you," "Don't talk to me about any Soul Banner or Mourning Stick, I'm just going to use the Pudu, smash and that's it"...

Pei Qian slapped his forehead.

"Holy crap, the speed at which these funny netizens create content is too fast, isn't it?"

Looking at the posting time, it had only been posted for three hours, and as a result, the funny netizens had already created so many memes!

Wait, what he needed to worry about now wasn't the memes!

Pei Qian instantly understood why the game's refund rate was dropping like crazy.

Because more and more people knew that this game had an official escape route guide!

In the past, many players had been forced to refund because they had no other choice. They couldn't beat the elite monsters and could only keep dying, which made them frustrated.

But now, with the Pudu, they had found hope again!

As long as they could make it through the early stages, desperately run to the old monk and die a few times to get the Pudu, the game difficulty would be greatly reduced, and they could play happily again!

"It's over, something big has happened!"

Pei Qian's hands and feet were cold, and this world instantly became bad!