Zhan Long (Dragon Slayer)

Zhan Long is a long-running online-game novel by the web author Shi Luoye, serialized on 17K.com from February 2013 to its completion in January 2015, with print editions published in separate volumes by Jiangsu Literature and Art Publishing House and Guangdong Travel Publishing House. The story centers on Tianming (Destiny), a realistic virtual game said to have taken ten years and over a hundred million to build. Li Xiaoyao, a veteran special forces soldier, happens to become the bodyguard of a young heiress and follows her into this hugely popular game world. In-game, he uses his sharp judgment and skill to accumulate resources and study equipment and abilities, while regrouping his old comrades to rebuild the Zhan Long guild, rising from an ordinary player to a core fighter who can carry the banner in national wars. The novel interweaves two threads, reality and the game: in reality, the protagonist faces contempt, provocation, and the fickleness of human relations in an aristocratic school and urban setting, biding his time; in the game, the story advances through equipment tiers, class systems, dungeon contention, and guild maneuvering, with later sections expanding into grand arcs of demon invasion, national war, and power struggles over the great main cities. The work is known for its data-driven combat descriptions, clear power-growth curve, and ensemble-style factional conflict, blending humor with a passionate striving tone.