Is This Guy for Real?

Okay.

It turned out to be a misunderstanding.

The rewards from the loot boxes did indeed come in “five”.

The system didn’t pull any tricks like “swallowing equipment”, nor was there any “thank you for your patronage” nonsense.

It’s just that the fifth reward from the loot box was covered up by the other four…

What was now in front of Chu Guang was a vacuum-sealed 100g compressed biscuit pack, and three 25g candy sticks – apple, banana, and mango flavors.

As well as a slip of paper.

The compressed biscuit packaging was intact, without any bulging. Though the expiration date and production date were a mystery, it should still be edible.

This stuff was a good thing.

The nutritional label indicated 500 calories, and whether eaten dry or cooked into a porridge, it could fill the stomach.

As for the candy sticks, while high in calories, they couldn’t provide a feeling of fullness.

Still, for Chu Guang who was so poor he was about to gnaw on tree bark, it was already pretty good.

This system was too damn stingy, afraid he’d eat too much or what, giving him just these few things to fend him off.

Standing beside the delivery port, Chu Guang stuffed the food into his backpack, then picked up the slip of paper the conveyor belt had sent out and unfolded it to take a look.

There was some writing on it in the language of this world.

【…What creature in this world is more suitable to be cash cows than players?

Not only do they have a vigorous curiosity, they are also always full of passion, facing difficulties head-on and never despairing at their current plight. Of course, most importantly, they can even consider problems from the developer’s perspective and help the developer harvest themselves!

Packaging this device as a game is sheer genius on my part!

——Former Manager of Shelter 404; (Please put this note in the fifth basic loot box, this is my easter egg for my successor!)】

Chu Guang: “……”

Honestly, he not only didn’t feel the slightest bit of surprise at getting this Easter egg, he was a bit speechless.

However…

What did it mean by “device”?

“Little Seven.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Do you know the former Manager?”

“No, my main program was only activated when you entered the shelter. According to the shelter’s database records, the previous manager handed over operational authority over a century ago.”

Chu Guang continued to ask.

“Specifically, which year?”

Little Seven answered.

“January 1, 2157.”

The war ended in 2129, and human civilization entered the Wasteland Era. 2157 was the 28th year of the Wasteland Era.

That was…

183 years ago!

Chu Guang had always been sensitive to numbers, especially critical pieces of information like this. He basically wouldn’t easily forget them once he remembered them.

“So 183 years ago, the former Manager invented this device that could project the consciousness of parallel worlds into cloned bodies, and packaged it as a game, but for some reason it was never used, right?”

Perhaps it was because of the nuclear winter.

Or maybe there was another reason that prevented the shelter from meeting the activation conditions.

In any case, the person from a hundred years ago should have already passed away.

Little Seven said,

“It would seem so.”

“What was that former Manager’s name?”

Chu Guang suddenly became curious about his identity.

The person who had come up with those mischievous settings may not necessarily have been a genius, but someone capable of independently inventing such amazing black technology after the decline of civilization. The word “genius” was not enough to describe him.

Projecting the consciousness of parallel worlds into this plane and putting them into cloned bodies as vessels.

Chu Guang couldn’t imagine how this was achieved.

A technology beyond his comprehension was no different from magic to him.

“I don’t know either. There’s no detailed information about him in the known database. It’s possible it was deleted?”

“Never mind… asking you is as good as not asking.”

Chu Guang was slightly disappointed, but not disheartened.

Currently, only the B1 level of the shelter was unlocked.

As the missions progressed, the secrets buried within this shelter would one day be revealed in their entirety before him.

Shoving the note casually into the computer desk drawer, Chu Guang tightened the backpack on his body.

Noticing his actions, Little Seven, who was crouched in the corner, asked,

“Master, are you leaving?”

That flat voice sounded rather pitiful.

“Yeah, the players won’t log in for another three days, so there’s no point in me staying here to guard it. I might as well go back and prepare.”

This ramshackle place called a shelter didn’t even have any food or drink.

Chu Guang only had half a palm-sized piece of flatbread and half a bottle of water left, along with the compressed biscuits and candy sticks he had just redeemed reward points for.

These supplies wouldn’t last until three days later.

He had a crude little den at a nearby survivor settlement, where he stored some rations and usable tools.

Chu Guang planned to go back and tidy things up, slowly bringing whatever he could carry over here.

This place would be his new base from now on.

“Oh, Little Seven.”

“Yes, Master?”

“I need you to do me a favor.”

Pausing, Chu Guang continued.

“Our official website is too simple. I need you to add a forum function and information, illustration section, can you do that?”

Simply put, he wanted players to better understand this “game”.

It would be too difficult to just sweet-talk people into the trap with words alone; at least he had to put up a facade.

“Of course, you have editing privileges for the official website. Apart from the game reservation page, you can add sub-pages or modify existing pages.”

“Good, then I’ll leave it to you.”

“Leave it to me!”

Little Seven seemed quite happy with the task entrusted by the master, even raising the volume of its speaker by half a decibel.

Of course, this could also be Chu Guang’s own misunderstanding.

“Master, when will you be back?”

Chu Guang thought for a moment and said,

“Three days at the latest.”

“If everything goes smoothly, maybe even before tomorrow night.”

……

Modern World, Cowboy Club Group.

That senior member called “Light” dropped a website link and then disappeared, not sure if he went offline or is just lurking.

The topic about the “fully immersive virtual reality game” was almost over, but a few minutes ago this senior member pulled a stunt by creating a small group, dragging the topic back into the main group.

Quit Smoking: 【Holy crap, Is This Guy for Real?】

This Quit Smoking guy is also a frequent bubbler, an active member though not an admin.

White Steed Passing: 【Yeah, after you guys booked your reservations, he pulled a small group and added us group admins to it. (scratches head)】

White Steed Passing is the group owner, so naturally he’s in that small group too.

Hearing this, the group members instantly became riled up.

【Woah a shady deal!】

【What company did Light join? You guys know? I want to report him for pyramid scheme! (joke)】

【Don’t be ridiculous, what company! Last year a VR company that went public lost so much the boss got locked up! VR is no longer the hot trend now!】

【Keep it down when discussing, Light might be lurking. (joke)】

【So what’s he up to? Just for a prank?】

【Who knows, maybe he’s trying to lure you brothers to a gambling site, wait for more people to cut leeks!】

【I think this guy is bad news! Kick him out!】

The topic gradually became less sensible.

Even escalating to personal attacks.

Ye Wei frowned as he watched, about to say something, when he saw the group owner hit the brakes.

(Whole group muted)

White Steed Passing: 【Everyone calm down, new members may not know Light, he’s actually not a bad guy, just has terrible aim, a bit blind, and a bit inept, but everything else is fine.】

Long Days Ahead: 【True, I don’t believe Light has gone down the wrong path of gambling. We’re just not sure if his account was hacked or not. If so, we admins will handle it. I’ll delete those messages, let’s change the topic. (laughs)】

(Group unmuted)

The owner and admins spoke up, so everyone politely stopped discussing that topic, quickly digressing to the European Cup instead.

Ye Wei doesn’t watch soccer, or at least not football.

Glancing at the time in the bottom right corner, it was already 6pm, dinnertime.

After uploading his unfinished big assignment to the cloud drive, Ye Wei pushed his chair back and headed downstairs to the cafeteria to get a spicy chicken fried rice, savoring it.

When he leisurely returned to the dorm, he froze upon seeing the cardboard box on the table.

An express delivery?

“Wei, what did you buy? Such a big thing?”

His roommate came over, the other two also shifting their attention over.

Everyone was well-mannered.

Previously when Ye Wei wasn’t in the dorm, they didn’t touch his stuff. Now that he was back, it didn’t matter.

They were all curious what this guy bought.

“I didn’t buy anything…who sent this over?”

The three roommates looked at each other.

“I didn’t notice…”

“Me neither.”

“No idea, I just went to get a food delivery.”

Huh.

Spooky!

Normally express deliveries are dropped off at the dorm building’s collection point, but this one was delivered to the door.

Even more ominous was that Ye Wei racked his brain but couldn’t recall writing which bunk bed was his on the shipping address.

Were modern delivery guys really this capable?

Opening the cardboard box, inside lay a helmet.

This thing looked similar to a motorcycle helmet, painted in a matte black inside and out, appearing rather unremarkable.

If there was anything special about it, it was probably that it had no front face, able to fully enclose the head, not allowing you to see anything at all.

At first glance, Ye Wei thought it was a pot.

“What is this thing?”

The guy at the next table picked up the helmet, put it on his head, took it off, and handed it back to Ye Wei with a bewildered look.

“Don’t ask me, I’m asking you.”

A pot for real?

Ye Wei also looked dumbfounded as he tried putting it on his head.

His vision went completely dark.

However, just as he was about to take it off, a faint bluish light suddenly shone through the darkness onto his retina.

[Awaiting game activation: 71 hours 19 minutes]

This…

Could this be that game helmet?!

Holy crap.

The shipping speed was this fast?

Ye Wei was utterly stunned.

“You guys didn’t see anything?”

Taking the helmet off, Ye Wei looked at the roommate who had just tried it on.

But that roommate also had a dazed look as he stared back at him.

“See what?”

Ye Wei hurriedly said, “That countdown! It said awaiting game activation!”

“What? This thing is a game console too?”

“Let me see, brother Liu has bad eyesight, let me take a look.”

Another roommate took the helmet and put it on, but after a moment, he was just as clueless as the previous guy, taking it off perplexed.

“Nothing.”

“My turn.”

After all three roommates had tried it on without exception, seeing nothing, they exchanged a look before unanimously turning their strange gazes towards Ye Wei.

“Brother…”

Ye Wei: “…What?”

“You should probably go get checked out at the hospital.”

“Screw you!”

Ye Wei snatched the helmet back cursing and put it back on defiantly.

The faint bluish words duly appeared.

[Awaiting game activation: 71 hours 17 minutes]

The countdown had progressed 2 minutes.

Not only that…

At this moment he suddenly realized, no matter how he turned the helmet, that countdown line always appeared right in the center of his vision.

Even when he closed his eyes.

Ye Wei took the helmet off, looking like he had seen a ghost.

Holy crap?

He really had seen a ghost!