Fellow slackers, the boss is not around, so I'm secretly posting. Slacking off is not easy, cherish it while you can 🙈
Recently, during breaks at work, I got hooked on 'The Three Swordsmen.' I originally just wanted to find a wuxia mobile game that doesn't require much thinking, but as I played, I discovered that our office actually hides an underground gang.
First, let's talk about how to play this game. It's the kind where you have a martial arts idle adventure with map progression and character development plus PK. It runs on Android 5.0 and above, is free to download, and the shop has mounts, accessories, and skins. You can play slowly even without spending money. At the start, you choose a class and follow the main story with automatic navigation and combat. You can just leave your phone on the table—it kinda looks like you're looking at a data report. The core is progressing through maps to get equipment, training your heroes, leveling up mounts and accessories, and then sparring with others at the peak of Mount Hua. The daily righteous vs. evil activities are also fun, and when the guild events start at night, the channel is full of "Who's going to guard the flag" and "Help, help." For someone like me with clumsy hands, I mostly rely on auto battle, occasionally using a skill manually to pretend I'm maxing out my controls. ⚔️
Pros are quite suitable for working people: easy to get started, doesn't force you to always stare at the screen, you can complete daily tasks while AFK, and playing a few rounds in fragmented free time isn't painful. The graphics are relatively clean compared to similar games, there are plenty of mounts and accessories, and I can have fun riding the small horse given by the system for half a day. There are also cons: prolonged auto-battling can be a bit hypnotic, progressing through later numbers requires grinding, guild activities have fixed times, and when the boss calls a meeting, you can only grudgingly AFK.
Here's the key part: why do we say the boss and coworkers play too? In our group, A-Qiang always spends his lunch break in the tea room staring at his phone. Once when I walked by, his screen showed 'Guild War tonight at 8, don't be late.' I asked, 'You play Three Swordsmen too?' He was startled and told me to keep my voice down because the boss had just walked by. The next day, a new member joined the guild with the ID 'Stop Pushing Reports.' Their combat power was absurdly high, and in chat they liked to post things like 'Young people should work overtime more.' The more we saw, the more something felt off.
Friday gang battle, that guy who said 'stop pushing the reports' cleared his throat on voice chat and said if we win this round, he'd talk ten minutes less at Monday's morning meeting. The whole gang was silent for three seconds, then the channel exploded. Yep, that's really our boss. What's even more ridiculous is that in real life he constantly pushes progress, but in the game, he's the gang leader, even leading the team in Huashan. At Monday's meeting, he frowned and said everyone's been doing well recently, but don't keep looking at your phones at work. Right after he said that, his phone lit up, and on the screen was the daily reminder from 'Three Swordsmen'. Ah Qiang and I almost broke our pens. 😂
So this game now, for us, is no longer just a game. It's like another workstation in the office, except at this workstation you can ride horses, fight, and be a hero. You sneak in two daily tasks while slacking off, team up with colleagues for a dungeon run during lunch break, and get called out by the boss for guild war at night—it's also a kind of cyber team-building. Of course, that is, assuming the boss isn't standing behind you.
If you also want to find a more relaxed martial arts mobile game and don't want to be tied down by daily tasks, you can give Three Swordsmen a try. Don't rush to spend money; start by letting your character auto-play through levels, join an active guild, and follow the big players in the guild to gather resources. The most important little tip: turn off the game sound and lower the screen brightness, and when your boss is around, just switch back to your spreadsheet. Slacking off isn't easy, see you in the martial arts world. 🐟