Chapter 65: Influence and Discussion
The player group was completely wiped out in less than five minutes.
The game screenshot was immediately posted on the game forum.
Although Twisted Three Kingdoms required consumable items to take screenshots, the resolution and clarity of the images were extremely high, matching the quality of professional ultra-high-definition photography.
This group photo was taken half a minute before the battle started, showing the Fourth Calamity Armies trapped in the polluted and corrupted execution ground camp, surrounded by hundreds of powerful elite monsters, with the big BOSS Ma Yuanyi and the four Fallen Ones all making their appearance.
The players were trapped in a desperate situation at an absolute disadvantage.
Even in such an environment, the forty players present showed no fear, each tightly gripping their weapons and confronting the towering giant Fallen Ones and the overwhelming number of enemies.
The quality of this group photo was not only top-notch, but the composition and angle also gave it a cinematic poster-like feel, with the big BOSS Ma Yuanyi standing prominently at the front center and the four Fallen Ones positioned at the sides, creating an extremely powerful impact.
"Awesome!"
"What is this?"
"A movie promotional poster?"
"Are you stupid upstairs? The title of the photo already says it’s the latest photo from Twisted Three Kingdoms!"
"This texture, this design, these effects, this art... It’s mind-blowing!"
"Again with Twisted Three Kingdoms? Does this game really exist? Why do I always feel like it's some large-scale social deception experiment!"
"To be fair, the monster designs in this photo are too domineering! Even if it's just models and effects, achieving this level of quality is world-class!"
"This is totally my cup of tea!"
"Fans of Souls-like games and Lovecraftian styles must be ecstatic!"
"I want to print this photo and hang it up to admire!"
"Whether the game is real or not! Just the concept design alone is worth the price of a blockbuster!"
"Even if the game is just an empty promise, it doesn’t matter! As long as it dares to open beta, I dare to buy it! Strongly suggest launching merchandise soon, I want to buy a figurine of this big BOSS!"
"Isn’t anyone going to explain what exactly is happening in this picture?"
"……"
After players of Twisted Three Kingdoms exposed the image on the forum, the post was quickly highlighted and pinned, attracting thousands of players to watch and comment.
It wasn’t just Ma Yuanyi’s appearance that was shocking.
The four subordinates beside him, as well as the Luoshui Butchers, Headless Fiend Soldiers, and others around, all had meticulously crafted and textured models.
Just one photo could bring a chilling sense of oppression!
Netizens simply could not imagine how the people inside managed to stay so calm.
It was like venturing into a haunted house—even knowing it’s fake, facing terrifying, twisted, and bloodthirsty scenes would still make you scared!
About one or two hours later.
Detailed posts from bloggers like Black-Eyed Rui Ge and Chimera Wraith appeared on the forum, finally allowing the crowd to understand the full backstory and the specific events.
"That BOSS is Ma Yuanyi?"
"Who is Ma Yuanyi? When did the Three Kingdoms have such a person!"
"Holy crap, with this kind of modeling and art style, you're telling me it's a Three Kingdoms game? Does the dev team have some misunderstanding about Three Kingdoms games?"
"Who taught you to make Three Kingdoms like this!"
"I actually think it's very creative! The fusion of Eastern art style with Lovecraftian elements is really well done!"
"National-style Dark Lovecraftian Souls-like games forever!"
"I think so too! There are already too many Three Kingdoms games, and they’ve been played to death in every possible style. This game’s concept is very avant-garde!"
"Even a small, obscure character like this can get such art resources—I’m really looking forward to seeing what characters like Wolong, Young Phoenix, and the Five Tiger Generals will look like!"
"……"
As the closed beta players continued posting exposés.
More and more players joined the discussion.
This shocking game screenshot was also frantically reposted by many self-media outlets and big gaming influencers, rapidly spreading through the gaming community and even breaking into broader social circles.
Many video creators and self-media bloggers started examining the image with magnifying glasses, and the more they studied it, the more shocked they were, finding that the photo contained an enormous amount of information, with far more detailed game production than imagined.
Firstly, they couldn’t find any traces of post-processing effects in the photo.
Making people suspect it might be an actual scene shot in real-time.
Not only were the scenes, monsters, art styles, and model designs unique.
Even the small, seemingly insignificant props and the details on the monsters hid a lot of information.
For example, the Luoshui Fiend Cavalry appearing on site—before being corrupted into Abyssal creatures, they were likely the imperial guards of Luoyang during the Eastern Han Dynasty, which could be inferred from their equipment, weapons, and certain details.
The four Fallen Ones.
Each had extraordinary backgrounds.
Chimera Wraith dedicated a special section in her research post for analysis:
"Ma Yuanyi’s four Fallen subordinates: Jian Shuo, Feng Xu, Zhou Bin, and Bao Hong are not fictional characters."
"For example, Jian Shuo was a favored eunuch beside Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong. Although this name may be unfamiliar to most people, if you're interested in Cao Cao, you might have heard of an incident involving him."
"It’s said that Cao Cao’s first official position of real power was Captain of the Northern District of Luoyang, roughly equivalent to the head of a district public security bureau."
"With so many royal relatives and aristocrats in Luoyang, maintaining public order was very difficult."
"To enforce the law, Cao Cao set up twenty multicolored sticks in the office. Anyone who violated the curfew would be beaten to death without exception. Several months later, a man named Jian Tu broke curfew. He was Jian Shuo’s uncle and thought his connections would shield him."
"But who was Cao Cao? He wasn’t about to indulge him, so he ordered Jian Tu to be beaten to death!"
"This incident portrayed Cao Cao as a young man who was fearless against authority, impartial, and had a strong and tough personality, and it also illustrated that Jian Shuo already held considerable influence back then; otherwise, the record of Jian Tu’s death wouldn’t have been specially documented."
"Probably because of this."
"Jian Shuo was listed among the Ten Regular Attendants in Romance of the Three Kingdoms."
"Of course, the real historical Jian Shuo was not necessarily aligned with Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong, the leaders of the Ten Regular Attendants. They might even have had competition and conflicts, and Jian Shuo was eventually betrayed and killed by them."
"Despite being a eunuch, Jian Shuo was tall, strong, upright, and also militarily capable."
"According to historical records, in the fifth year of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Emperor Ling of Han held a grand military parade at Xiyuan in Luoyang, forming a new army based on the imperial guards known as the Xiyuan Army, and appointed eight commanders."
"Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were among the Xiyuan Eight Commanders."
"Jian Shuo was the highest-ranking commander among them—the Upper Army Colonel—while Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were his subordinates. Even the then-General-in-Chief He Jin had to report to Jian Shuo. Emperor Ling of Han even entrusted him as a guardian of his heir before his death, highlighting Jian Shuo’s favored status in Liu Hong’s heart."
"……"
"Of course, the timeline where this game map is set is the first year of Zhongping. It’s still four or five years before the Xiyuan Army’s formation. It's speculated that Jian Shuo at this moment is just a Minor Yellow Gate but likely already commanding the imperial guards in Luoyang."
"So based on the situation at the scene."
"We can deduce the circumstances before the Abyss invasion."
"After the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Emperor Ling of Han sent the Hook Shield Commandant Zhou Bin to investigate and arrest Ma Yuanyi’s accomplices, eventually capturing thousands of Yellow Turban rebels and executing them at Luoshui Execution Ground."
"To ensure nothing went wrong."
"Emperor Ling of Han dispatched the imperial guards, with his trusted aide Jian Shuo personally overseeing the executions."
"However, just as heads were rolling on the execution ground, an unspeakable Abyssal calamity descended."
"The Will of the Abyss ultimately selected Ma Yuanyi, whose obsession was the strongest, as the Nightmare carrier. All the soldiers, imperial guards, Jian Shuo, Feng Xu, and others present were corrupted and turned into their current monstrous forms."
"This confirmed my earlier speculation."
"Twisted Three Kingdoms has two timelines."
"In the normal historical timeline, Jian Shuo, Zhou Bin, Bao Hong, and others were tasked with suppressing Ma Yuanyi and the Yellow Turban forces. But in the distorted Abyssal timeline, they became Ma Yuanyi’s subordinates."
"……"
Chimera Wraith’s historical research and analysis.
Not only enriched many netizens’ historical knowledge.
But also made people look at Twisted Three Kingdoms with newfound respect.
Although this game’s art style no longer had much to do with traditional historical games.
It still respected history and used it as a blueprint to create an entirely new worldview.
This meant that seemingly ordinary little bosses or seemingly trivial equipment details in the game could contain a wealth of information and storyline clues, worthy of deep exploration.
The potential and space for future derivative and secondary creation content were immense.
Just as everyone was still discussing.
Another bombshell announcement dropped.
"Twisted Three Kingdoms official website just posted a new announcement!"
"The second round of closed beta will start in three days!"
"It seems the number of spots will be greatly increased in the second test, making it much easier for us to get selected!"