Chapter 1
Zhan Mu, a college student majoring in physical education.
He's 25 years old, but still a poor bastard. He stays in a rented house all day playing games and being a streamer, living a life with no food to eat.
To be honest, this guy just doesn't work hard. Sports is such a narrow field for his major, and he didn't even get a teacher's certificate after four years of college.
I just love playing games, so I worked as a game companion in college to earn money. After I graduated and had no job, I just became a game anchor.
Desperate Situation. A VR brain-computer game that is popular in Xia Country.
It is most likely a Resident Evil-style game with upgraded monster-killing settings in the apocalypse.
Zhan Mu is a decent looking guy, a bit handsome, but he doesn't like the idea of showing off his sex appeal. The first time he did a live broadcast, he was matched with a gay man, who scared the honest man so much that he never dared to show his face again.
He is rigid and his self-media is not funny or abstract enough. He has been on a certain website for three years but only has a few thousand fans. He still thinks he has good gaming skills, but in fact he is far behind other professional players.
My parents are ordinary workers and their relationship is not very good. After Zhan Mu graduated, he found a rental house and was told that the job would provide food and accommodation. In three years, he only went home three or five times, just for a short visit.
His biggest problem now is next month's living expenses.
Life is not easy, poor people sigh.
He opened the game interface and entered the ID of Party A's father to log in.
Desperate Realm recently launched a dungeon, and the handsome boss in it became extremely popular. The clients who paid for it were obviously dream girls and men, and let Zhan Mu go through this six-hour-long storyline.
He hadn't been a proxy player for a long time and was too tired.
For the sake of money, you still have to work hard. Now the price of playing for others cannot be raised, so he sets the price at two hundred yuan per order, but in fact the basic plot cannot be fast-forwarded, and the side quests will take at least nine hours.
This was already the 22nd one. He was afraid that the popularity of the dungeon would decrease and the client would regret it and ask for a refund. So he played the game all the time except for eating and sleeping, and he played it for half a month straight.
Lu Chao, the name of the big boss of this dungeon.
After six hours of basic plot, Zhan Mu was exhausted.
Zhan Mu is a straight man, but he still admits that Lu Chao is handsome. Now he can tell all the values of this leather suit with his eyes closed, including the chest muscles, waist circumference, leg rings, and the color of any piece of clothing on his body.
During this period of time, every time I open my eyes, I see him. He has been successfully imprinted into my memory, and even in my dreams at night I see this boss's evil smile.
"It's really a side effect of working part-time..." Zhan Mu rubbed his eyes, thinking that he might be dizzy. He had keenly noticed several times that the boss's face had emotions that were not set in the game.
The game Extremis is awesome, especially this dungeon which is popular all over the Internet. The main creators are on par with Black Myth and Red Dead Redemption. The graphics, plot, art and even character values are like works of art.
The boss Lu Chao was praised as the god among gods in Desperate Situation.
The modeling is good, the dubbing is great, the characters and plot are awesome, in short, it meets the basic requirements for a two-dimensional character to become a big hit.
The beautiful, strong, tragic and conventional character has both of his parents dead. He is the second generation of power and has a strong sense of responsibility and talks a lot of philosophy. Even the reason for his evil behavior is for the sake of the new civilization. In the end, he is killed by the protagonist and he touches his face gently and says:
"I leave my mission to you..."
Then I got a key to a regular map in the game.
What’s the use?
If it wasn’t for Lu Chao’s face, who the hell would have gone to this copy?
Of course, Zhan Mu is not doing that, he is doing it for the client’s father’s money.
-
After killing Lu Chao again and getting the key and experience points, he heard the familiar words "My mission is left to you" again. But this time, Zhan Mu found that the boss seemed to have a smile before he died, which he had never seen before.
Isn’t it set that Lu Chao only smiles at his mother?
His mother was also dead, which made Zhan Mu shudder.
"You must be too tired from playing games too much." Zhan Mumeng took off the brain-computer helmet, patted his face to let him clear his mind and not take it seriously, then logged out of the client's father's account on the interface, took a screenshot and sent a private message to tell her that it was over.
The final payment was successfully deposited into Zhan Mu's account. He let out a long sigh and stretched lazily. Bored, he switched to his Juejing account to log in, collected the daily experience, and got up to leave.
I took a stroll to the food court downstairs, ready to have a meal to relax my spirit and mind.
Little did he know that a familiar person appeared in the game interface, and he had been guarding him since his suit appeared in the main city shortly after.
Zhan Muzheng took a mouthful of snail noodles and looked at the balance of more than 4,000 yuan. He felt that life was wonderful and colorful and worth living.
By chance, the landlord’s message popped up.
Fragrant Woman: The lease is about to expire, are you still going to continue renting the house?
Zhan Mu transferred the money with tears in his eyes, 600 yuan a month, paid every six months, so the 3,600 yuan was gone and only a few hundred yuan was left.
"Alas... this opportunity cannot be missed. I'd better continue to be a booster." Zhan Mu then opened the forum of the Juejing player area to read the posts.
The game has been promoting Lu Chao recently, and various fan creations are also very popular. The entire player area is full of various Lu Chao dream boys and girls going crazy.
Dream 1: A man among men ~ A man among men ~
Last night there was a thief who slept on my bed.
Zhan Mu was amused by what he saw and subconsciously gave a thumbs up. However, after flipping through a few more pictures, he found that they all turned out to be pornographic texts.
Tsk, that’s terrible.
However, when Zhan Mu finished his meal, went home and washed up, he watched a few videos on the bed before he noticed that his computer was in standby mode. He was about to go downstairs to shut it down and exit the game interface.
Something even more terrifying happened...
Zhan Mu saw on the screen that there was a man squatting on the side of the road who looked very similar to Lu Chao. He turned his head from time to time and waved to him as if to say hello.
"Are you there? Hey~" Then, getting no response, he turned his head and stared at the ground in a daze. His lonely back fully revealed his loneliness.
The game Desperate Situation is pretty awesome.
But it’s not that awesome yet, right?
Holy crap, this game, this boss is alive!
Zhan Mu's face turned pale. He reached for the mouse and flicked it, causing the game perspective to change. He guessed that in the eyes of others it would appear that he had twisted his neck.
Sure enough, Lu Chao looked over, then suddenly stood up and walked over. His expression was like that of a living person, his body movements were lively and natural, his skin was soft, and his hair was clearly visible. It could be said that every step he took towards him made Zhan Mu's hair tingle.
The uncanny valley effect is at its peak.
I had heard that foreign countries had developed cyber data people. Zhan Mu was fortunate enough to see a rich man's electronic nanny once. Being timid and imaginative, he couldn't sleep that night.
Modern technology has advanced so rapidly that he admits he cannot keep up.
"Your ID is, the rich, handsome and tall 24K pure gold brother?" Lu Chao folded his hands and moved closer, looked him over several times, and smiled.
It fits her gentle personality.
This sentence popped up in Zhan Mu’s mind.
And then it got even scarier! Wasn't this boss supposed to only exist in dungeons? How did it suddenly appear and even come to the main city? It was actually talking to a stranger for no apparent reason! It was even reading out a player's ID and laughing.
What's going on with this game? You planners should take care of it.
"It must be a bug!" Zhan Mu immediately unplugged the network cable, then sweating softly said: "I've been doing too many dungeons lately and I'm hallucinating."
I immediately went to the forum to see if there were any new official activities.
...not at all.
Zhan Mu didn't even dare to post a message to ask about this supernatural event.
He jumped onto the bed, shivering and biting his nails. "It's unlikely that this boss has come here seeking revenge after being killed by me too many times."
Unable to sleep, I stared at the computer for a long time, but the screen was black and there was no movement. Then I threw off the quilt and got up, ready to face the abyss.
Zhan Mu logged into the game again. He was still in the main city. He was just about to breathe a sigh of relief that he hadn't seen Lu Chao when he turned around and saw the guy standing right next to him. He said friendly, "I found you. Aren't you him? I'm Lu Chao, the boss of the key dungeon. You players should all know me."
It was too close, the high-definition handsome guy's beauty filter was critically activated. Zhan Mu could even see the small mole on the side of his nose. He thought to himself, no wonder those dream boys and girls said they wanted to lick and suck it...
No, what am I thinking about?
Zhan Mu unplugged the network cable for the second time, then covered his mouth, puzzled.
I immediately sent a private message to the customer service on the game forum, reporting that I had encountered a strange incident of the dungeon boss taking revenge.
The customer service representative gave a few template answers and then replaced the operator.
The other side actually said: Hahahahaha you are kidding, I also like Lu Chao, who can not like Lu Chao. (shameful face)
Zhan Mu became withdrawn.
Mustering up the courage, he looked at the black screen of his computer and opened the game for the third time to confront the boss and seek revenge. Actually, Lu Chao hadn't left yet.
It's directed at me, right? Haha.
Zhan Mu put on the brain-computer helmet and finally appeared alive this time. After all, there are rules prohibiting fighting in the main urban area, and Lu Chao in the game is not the kind of person who will take revenge for any slight.
It was dark, and the lights in the tavern were swaying. Lu Chao was leaning on a high stool with his legs hanging down. He seemed to be taller after leaving the copy. He was operating a transparent tablet in his hand, like a system.
"Oh, you're online again." He looked at Zhan Mu, only glanced at her and turned away. His long eyelashes cast shadows under the light, as if he was angry. He should be angry after being stood up again and again.
There is no ID above the head, let alone a health bar.
The living Lu Chao! The boss who came to visit!
Zhan Mu overcame his nervousness and asked with difficulty, "Are you looking for me?"
"Yes, you are very good at it. You kill me quickly and accurately every time. I want to be friends with you." Lu Chao's nonchalant attitude really matched his indifferent attitude in the dungeon plot.
A friend request actually popped up on Zhan Mu's interface.
Just call it: Lu Chao.
No, how did this boss find my ID? I always use a different Party A account to kill him.
Lu Chao seemed to see through his doubts and replied, "I am part of the game. Every time a player kills me, the system has a backup. Through big data comparison, it will be easy for me to find you."
"Um... so you are the real Lu Chao? You killed all the bosses to unlock the hidden plot? Or are you a real person who traveled through time with a system? Could it be a Trojan virus attacking the game?" Zhan Mu stuttered, using his imagination to ask questions.
"Have you seen the movie The Wandering Earth?" Lu Chao sighed helplessly and said, "In a sense, I have become a digital life. One of the technical consultants for this game is my mother. After I died, she recorded my memories."
In this era, we already have AI models, underwater bases, and cyber data people, so what's so strange about having multiple data lives?
Zhan Mu thought it sounded very scientific and felt relieved instantly.
"What about the plots in the copy?" Zhan Mu hissed, believing it just like that. At the same time, he felt very disappointed and looked at Lu Chao with great unfamiliarity.
I also like your character design in the plot. If it changes after you leave the dungeon, as a player I will feel it is ooc.
"It was planned. I have something to do with it, but not much." Lu Chao said, "My mother is dead in real life, but my father is not. If you're really curious, you can search my name, or search for my student ID number 5211314 on the official website of Yuzhou University. I don't know if the Xia government has blocked all my information."
"After all." Lu Chao smiled darkly, lit a cigarette, raised an eyebrow and snorted. He looked at Zhan Mu, and saw tears of hatred flashing in his eyes. He said, "Perhaps in the eyes of the public intellectuals, I am still a national sinner."
What? National sinner.
“…” Zhan Mu was dumbfounded, feeling that the amount of information was a bit too much.
Although he knew that Desperate Situation was created by Xiaguo University of Science and Technology in collaboration with a big company, he never expected that it sealed a real life, which also involves the issue of digital life ethics.
"No matter what you are going to say next—" Zhan Mu rejected Lu Chao's friend request and answered seriously:
"Since it's science, it means I'm not the chosen one, and you're not my deification system that can change fate. In reality, people who encounter this kind of thing are usually fools. Don't tell me anything. Your existence involves a shocking secret, and I don't care."
"I'm just an ordinary person who lives a life of idleness and waits for death." Zhan Mu immediately logged off, ignoring the fragility and helplessness that flashed in Lu Chao's eyes.
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