Chapter 162
Xie Xichao bought a ticket for the innermost row in the last row.
At first I was afraid of being recognized. Later he realized that his decision was extremely wise.
He bought the tickets three days in advance, and the show was sold out within minutes after the tickets went on sale. If it had been any later, he might have been forced to sit among the crowd.
In fact, it's not just this cinema.
In the past two days, screenings of "The Player" have been basically sold out in major cinemas across the country. There are also a lot of people on Weibo complaining that they can’t buy tickets and tagging the cinemas to ask them to schedule more showtimes.
When Jie Xichao entered the venue in the dark just in time, a young couple next to him was discussing buying tickets.
The boy said: "Do you have to come to see your idol on New Year's Day? I'm telling you, I'm really jealous."
The girl said, "Hehe, you say one thing and do another, but you do it right. I got the ticket for me today so I won't bother with you anymore, muah."
Xie Xichao: “…”
He took a bite of popcorn.
Okay.
After careful selection, I chose the VIP dog-torturing seat.
Fortunately, the young couple were just flirting with each other and stopped talking once the screen lit up.
Xie Xichao took another bite of popcorn. Pre-show ads have begun playing on the screen. Several movie trailers were played one after another, and he saw several old acquaintances.
One of them saw him posting tickets on his WeChat Moments and sent him a private message mocking him for not booking the entire theater for his own movie.
Because Jie Xichao is both an idol and an actor, many people think that he is not involved in either field and his popularity on both sides is average. In fact, the opposite is true.
No matter which track, he has far more friends in the industry than outsiders imagine. People who don’t know him will say some sarcastic words about him, but those who really know him basically don’t hate him.
The other party asked bluntly, and Xie Xichao answered straightforwardly:
Feel the real evaluation.
For a movie, the most real reaction is nothing more than the immediate feedback from the theater audience.
Xie Xichao had a good idea, but he hadn't been to a movie theater for many years and had forgotten that the big screen and the computer screen gave people different feelings.
He paused the moment the first picture appeared.
At the same time, the girl next to him had excitedly put down her Coke.
"How cool," she whispered.
-
This is indeed a cool guy.
He had pierced ears, a graffiti T-shirt covered with all kinds of weird graffiti, and ripped jeans. The whole person looks shabby and ruffian. He was leaning against his motorcycle, chewing gum with an air of supreme superiority.
The camera moved from far to near, giving him a close-up. The boy has beautiful eyebrows and eyes under his messy hair, a face that is unexpected to everyone.
It is still the usual and very gorgeous lens language that is used by Propaganda.
A small town in the evening, a colorful dusk, shabby yet magnificent street scenes, and the people in the scenes.
This shot was already in the trailer.
At that time, the gangster image of Jie Xichao was discussed for a long time. Those who liked it liked it very much, and those who didn't liked it were disgusted. But until this moment, no one can deny that no matter whether this role is likable or not, Jie Xichao himself is a dedicated and versatile actor.
The hero of this movie, He Miao, proved with his real strength that even if one has a face that looks blessed by God, he can still be very annoying when his personality asks for a beating.
In the first ten minutes, he did three things that fit the appearance stereotype.
First, ride a motorcycle on the street. By the way, scare the free-range chickens on the side of the dirt road.
Second, he would climb over the wall to skip classes and join a group fight. He would go home covered in bruises and tell his grandparents that he fell on the road. Of course, I was punished when I deceived my class teacher with the same reason.
As a result, after finishing writing and reading the self-review the day before, he skipped classes the next day and went to the Internet cafe to participate in some Internet cafe game competition.
Most of the people who watched the premiere were fans, and they were more or less familiar with the style of the work promoted.
After being poisoned by the surround sound of motorcycle sounds, smashing keyboards and group fights, the entire place, which was ready to welcome another good boy like Tao Yan, fell into an unspeakable silence.
If you were watching a video right now, the comments would definitely be filled with question marks.
At this moment, Xie Xichao could only hear the sound of the young couple beside him chewing popcorn mechanically.
*
——Of course, although He Miao is very annoying from the way he speaks to the way he does things, if you calm down a little and take a closer look, you will find that there are still some good points in him.
For example, when he races, he always looks for an open space, where no one except the chickens suffers. For example, the fight he got into was actually caused by street thugs bullying his younger brother. Another example is that in the eyes of his grandparents, he can be considered a filial and well-behaved child.
And, he plays the game very well.
This is a young man who is extremely talented in games.
No matter whether it was online games, stand-alone games, or the wide variety of games in the arcade, he could always learn and get the best in a short time.
even--
Whack-a-mole.
When the ruffian boy won the Whack-a-Mole contest with his super-fast hand speed while chewing gum and with an expressionless face, even those present who had just frowned at his behavior of fighting over a disagreement could not help but laugh.
"So B." Xie Xichao heard the boy from the couple next to him whisper, "How can even playing whack-a-mole be so B..."
The next second, King B picked up a stick, put the prize money in his pocket, and went to the village entrance to join in the fight again.
The fight was so intense that his body was covered in bruises when it was over. The younger brother beside him whispered to him, "Hey, Boss..."
"I'm leaving next week," he said.
He Miao lit a cigarette and played Candy Crush Saga. The old-fashioned machine was stuck and the electronic sound was stuttering, giving off a weird vibe. He had a lot of fun.
While playing, he said absentmindedly: "Where are you going? When will you be back?"
"...to the county town." The younger brother said, "My parents said the atmosphere here is not good, so they saved some money and wanted to take me to the city to go to school."
"No, I won't go back." he said.
He Miao's hand paused.
When the cigarette was almost burning, he said, "It's good."
"Don't go back." He put out his cigarette, "There's nothing good here."
He patted his younger brother on the shoulder, threw the cigarette on the ground and stomped it out, then turned around and got on the motorcycle.
"I'm leaving." He said, "I'll have a farewell party for you on Sunday, remember to come."
After taking only two steps, he tripped over a stick on the ground.
Someone in the cinema couldn't help laughing.
But compared to the previous whack-a-mole competition, there was less laughter this time.
The sound of eating popcorn next to them stopped at some point, and Jie Xichao heard the boy in the young couple say "Hey".
But he didn't say anything else.
This one word seemed to sum up all his feelings.
-
The biggest difference between movies and TV series is that TV series can spend a lot of time describing the protagonist's life background, but movies need to tell a complete story with a beginning, a middle, and an end in just two to three hours.
In fact, the beginning of "The Player" is not long. Up to this point, it’s only about twenty minutes in total.
But in these twenty minutes, Xuan Yang used the simplest and most crude clips to bring everyone into that remote village and to the side of the male protagonist He Miao.
Backward education, a chaotic growing environment, and a future without hope for the teenager.
Everything unfolds as a background in a fast-paced plot. However, he used the language of the camera to let everyone feel the helplessness and despair as quickly and intuitively as possible.
Because of the fight, He Miao was late the next day as expected.
Hongcheng No. 1 Middle School is the only well-known middle school in the entire G County.
But this is actually not a general high school, but a vocational high school.
When He Miao entered the classroom, the whole classroom was still in a state of disarray. The teacher was giving a lecture on the stage and chalk dust was falling. He Miao sneaked to his seat during this gap, but a gloomy voice came from behind him: "Stop."
"Which class is it?" The head teacher knocked on the blackboard in frustration, "He Miao, tell me yourself, which class is it? You only came during the third class in the morning! Why don't you just have lunch first?"
He Miao coughed: "I thought so, but this is too much..."
teacher:"……"
classmate:"……"
“…Get back to your seat!” The teacher was so angry that he couldn’t speak clearly.
He Miao touched his nose and returned to his seat. When he closed his eyes, he heard the teacher's voice in his ear: "It's the third year of high school, it's the third year of high school! Do you still have the enthusiasm to study? Do you still want to go out? You just want to rot here, right? Can you have some prospects, huh?"
What is the future?
He Miao thought.
Was he born accidentally, treated as a burden by both his biological parents and blamed each other, yet he is still shameless enough to live in this world? Or is he the idiot who comes out on top in a group fight and wins over countless followers? He should be the champion of the whack-a-mole competition.
He thought.
This is a good name.
He fell into a deep sleep. When I opened my eyes again, the teacher, the blackboard, and my classmates had all disappeared. Instead, there is a magnificent and dreamy wilderness.
The whole world seemed to have turned into a fantasy world. He stood on the field and saw the numerical panel floating in the air. The elves were spinning in the air, repeating the same sentence: "Welcome to the Zero World, Player No. 2937 He Miao. The Lord has sensed your wish. You have unlocked the lucky gift package. Now, please enjoy your gaming journey~"
He Miao: “…”
"Stupid."
He closed his eyes.
Half a minute later, he hesitantly opened his eyes again, and the stupid elf was still spinning in front of him at a fixed frequency.
He Miao shuddered and woke up. At the same time, the audience in the cinema also woke up.
*
Things in this world are so unpredictable.
He Miao, a bad boy who didn't really want to live or die, stepped into the world of games because he fell asleep in class. Find yourself becoming a player in a virtual world.
The game assistant in this world told him that he in the real world had actually contracted a rare disease and would not live long. Now there is good news and bad news.
The bad news is that his rare disease has not yet been conquered by the medical community in the real world. In three months, his internal organs will rot and he will die in pain.
He Miao had to interrupt it: “…Are you kidding?”
The elf neatly presented his future medical examination report.
He Miao's mouth twitched.
Okay.
It's almost finished.
He had to continue asking: "What about the good news?"
"The good news is." The elf flew around happily, "As the child of destiny chosen by the world lord, you have now unlocked the highest authority of the game. You now have two choices. First, clear the hell-level difficulty of this game, defeat the boss, and then return to the real world with a healed body. Second, stay in the game world. We have prepared generous benefits for you, with many surprises~"
As soon as he finished speaking, a magnificent palace stood in front of He Miao. The table was filled with a wide variety of delicious dishes, and the smell of roast chicken immediately made He Miao feel hungry.
He reached out and took a piece. It felt real and tasted delicious.
He Miao bit the tip of his tongue.
……very good.
The pain is real, not a dream.
He remembered something again: "My wish?"
The elf opened a book and said, "According to the subconscious test, you have had 297 negative thoughts of 'I might as well die', 713 complaints of 'When will this b day end', and 1053 daydreams of 'Oh, I really want to be a winner in life'. These thoughts appeared in your subconscious at the same time last night. Your desire is very strong~"
He Miao: “…”
"Well, stop talking! This is embarrassing!" He interrupted the elf painfully, sitting down on the soft grass, thinking that it was all a bit ridiculous.
After a moment, he said, "Hell level difficulty?"
The elf hesitated: "Actually, we personally recommend the second one..."
He Miao said: "Stop talking nonsense."
The elf silently pointed out a clear path to the checkpoint to He Miao.
Half an hour later, He Miao came out with wounds all over his body, pouring medicine on his injured parts with a fierce look on his face:
"You guys are on the level of Hell's psychopaths, right?!"
The elf laughed awkwardly twice: "Haha, it is a little difficult."
He Miao stopped talking.
In front of him was the sparkling lake, and he stared at it for a long time.
Then he closed his eyes and waited for the dream to wake him up.
At the same time, people in the cinema could no longer contain their restlessness and started discussing in low voices.
-
This was not an unexpected development.
As early as in the trailer, the audience actually knew that the name of this film "Player" actually refers to the players in the virtual game world. This film also has two worlds. The two worlds are connected by the consciousness of the male protagonist He Miao.
The protagonist He Miao does suffer from a rare disease.
In his last three months, he could travel between the game and reality through dreams.
He can choose to clear the level, or choose to do nothing and wait for death. If the former succeeds, then he can successfully stay in the real world, but the difficulty of the game is very high. As for the latter, he will be recycled into the game world after three months and become an NPC with independent consciousness, while he in the real world will be replaced by a puppet and will not be noticed by anyone. The advantage is eternal life, the disadvantage is living in a virtual world forever.
Of course, once you choose one of the two, it cannot be changed.
In fact, He Miao is not the only one who has such an opportunity to choose.
He couldn't see it, but the audience in the cinema could.
On the big screen in front of them are densely packed small windows. Terminally ill patients from all over the world have all received invitations from this "Reset" game.
This is a global challenge, and all those selected will have their own unique player number.
There is no limit to the number of challenges you can complete, and the reward for completing a challenge is a life in the real world.
*
"What do you think?" Jie Xichao asked.
When he asked this question, he and Xuan Yang were still in K City.
He was surprised at the similarities between this game world and the system world. If it wasn't for Xuan Yang's obvious mistake, he would have really thought that the other party had also been a part of the system.
Xuan Yang paused and said, "…I won the award before, and I got a bonus. I donated some of it."
"It was a fundraising campaign," he said. "I didn't really understand it. Later, they said that the donations were quite large, and the patient wanted to meet me to thank me in person, so I went there."
He went to the intensive care unit.
There, he met several patients who were near the end of their lives. In their eyes is the light of desire for life. It touched him deeply.
"But it's strange." He continued, "I've also met many people who feel that their lives are synonymous with misfortune. If they can choose, they would rather stay in a utopia where they can live forever. Even if they are just a virtual string of code."
This is a different understanding of life. So in the movie, he gives the choice.
On one side is the virtual, flourishing eternal life. On the other side is hellish difficulty and almost unbearable pain.
He even gave a one-month trial period.
On one side of the screen are palaces, delicious food, and all the freedom and beauty imaginable.
The virtual world is a complete world where players can make friends with local NPCs, travel around the map, and even go to school during breaks.
On the other side, there are monsters that humans cannot contend with at all.
The pain and fear of being bitten and dying again and again are real. Success seems long and endless.
Through repeated attempts, many people made their own choices.
So, what about He Miao?
-
He Miao was sitting in a breakfast shop, opposite him was Fan Xing, the lead singer of an underground band.
Fan Xing is He Miao's friend. He is also the only one who is on equal footing with him and is not considered his younger brother.
Fan Xing is a bit of a hipster. The lyrics he wrote were sad and the words he said were also sad. His dream was to die romantically while singing on an open-air stage under a starry night sky. He Miao told him very disrespectfully: "If you die in public, your head will hit the ground, and you can't control the direction you fall. This seems quite unromantic anyway. I suggest you think twice before doing it."
But this person is tight-lipped and has many ideas. The two of them sat in a breakfast shop, one eating a steamed bun and the other drinking soy milk. He Miao said, "Xing, what kind of existence am I to you?"
Fan Xing said: "Your tombstone can be my neighbor."
He Miao: “…”
"Can you please stop being so clumsy all day long?" He said helplessly, "I..."
What if he really died!
He rolled his eyes, trying to hold it back, and said, "Here's the thing, I have a friend."
"What's wrong with you?" Fan Xing asked without raising his head.
There's no way to ask that.
He Miao ate all the buns, went home, and stared at the mirror in a daze. The boy in the mirror was decadent, unfocused, doing nothing, and looked sick at first glance.
This is a person who will go to see the King of Hell in three months.
He thought.
He found it ridiculous. Pulling the corners of his mouth, the person in the mirror showed a funny smile.
*
He Miao felt that he had nothing to hesitate about.
He has a pair of parents who seem like they're dead, few friends, and is a problem teenager. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be a burden to society in the future.
The world doesn't need such a person. It’s better to shine in the gaming world. The only thing he couldn't bear to leave behind was his grandparents. He tried several times, but it was really too difficult.
He does know the game mechanics. But that's based on the assumption that he won't actually get hurt.
His best result was on the eighteenth day of the trial period, when his progress bar reached 58% for the first time. The elf told him admiringly that he was the fastest among all the players, but this was still far from enough to complete the game.
Forget it. He thought.
I heard that the puppets found in the game are no different from real people, and should be more well-behaved and obedient than him.
A thorn in his side, he would be injured all day long and make his grandparents sad. It would be better to replace him with someone else.
Thinking of this, for two days in a row, he did not try to pass the level in his dreams.
He strolled through the castle where he lived and went shopping in the market place. He met many warm people who were simple and kind. What surprised him most was that he even met people from the real world here.
Some of them are Chinese, and some are foreigners. There is an NPC logo on their heads. Greet him warmly and share with him about their life here.
They say it's a paradise.
Here, there is no disease, no trouble, no chaos.
There are only slightly repetitive but not boring NPC tasks, and a carefree life.
They said, “You’re going to love this, baby.”
They sent He Miao a basket of fresh fruits.
When He Miao woke up, he was still faced with the mottled gray walls and the desolate world outside.
-
He Miao felt the powerlessness coming from his own body.
He always felt a vague pain in his stomach when fighting.
He pressed his waist, gritted his teeth and pulled the person next to him away, allowing him to avoid the bricks opposite.
The hard brick scraped against his arm, and a thug with a non-mainstream Shamatte hairstyle grabbed his collar and slammed him against the wall. He punched back and used his skill to pin the man to the ground.
He was not injured today. His thin waist and abdomen were smooth and delicate. He pressed on the painful area. For the first time, I felt the approach of death.
The next day, he went to school on time.
The head teacher was a little surprised and delighted to see him.
She said with relief: "It's better to be like this now. You are young and have a long life ahead of you."
He pulled the corner of his mouth and pretended to be good: "Thank you, teacher."
Then sit down.
The birds outside the window chirped. They were not data, but they were still afraid of people. When people came, they flew away in various postures.
Spring is here.
Spring is here, and so is the time to make decisions.
On the day of making the choice, he ate the breakfast made by his grandparents as usual. I went to school as usual and supported my younger brothers as usual. As dusk fell, he entered the game and said to the elf:
"I choose option one."
*
"I choose option one."
This sentence was heard simultaneously in every cinema showing "The Player".
In almost all the scenes, there were people with silence and shock on their faces.
The elves on the screen were equally shocked.
For the first time, it showed an expression other than dullness: "...Player 2937, are you sure?"
This is a decision that is somewhat surprising to anyone.
In fact, after rigorous calculation and analysis, people like He Miao are the ones who are most likely to choose to stay in the gaming world.
Because they have no worries and no reluctance.
"I'm not Player 2937." He Miao calmly corrected him, "I'm He Miao."
Outside the screen, Jie Xichao lowered his eyes and suddenly smiled.
On the screen, the young man with gentle features showed for the first time a look that was so beautiful that it could almost be called aggressive. He still looked nonchalant, but every word he said was clear: "I don't need any fake to replace me. I am who I am. I want to live. If I can't live, I will die on the way to live. I have no regrets."
[Even if I really can't go back, I have tried my best during this time, and I don't regret it]
The person on the screen pressed the cursor on the screen.
In an instant, the flowers and the earth beneath his feet turned into nothingness. Instead there was a dark hole.
The BOSS in the game actually appeared in front of him, with its bloody mouth revealed.
And the same confirmation panel seemed to appear again in front of Xie Xichao.
He suddenly closed his eyes, and the surging fear and terror surged into his heart for the first time, but this time, they were no longer poisonous snakes hovering in his heart. And turned into fireworks flying all over the sky.
He Miao started to clear the level.
He is a gaming genius. He is the champion of this year's whack-a-mole competition. Beating a boss is no problem.
He accurately calculated each damage, which was the data he obtained through repeated attempts.
In the last week, he almost immersed himself in games.
No one knew that his progress bar was almost reaching 99%.
But he only has one chance. Can't read the file, can't restart. If he fails, he will become a cold corpse in the real world.
But... he thought.
So what.
He just wants the truth within reach. He only wants the present, which may be full of holes but alive.
He is He Miao, not Player 2937. He gambled everything he had in exchange for a chance to live. Even in failure, his soul still shines.
Because there is no margin for error, He Miao is very cautious in every step.
At the same time, he also met many companions who had become NPCs.
-
At the last moment, he dragged his injured body to the boss and calmly used medicine to heal his body within the trigger range.
A familiar face appeared under the boss's terrifying mask.
He Miao was stunned.
This was the man who had called him babe in the town square earlier.
The other party threw some medicine to him and said, "You are amazing. You are the only one among us who is still holding on."
Unlike what many viewers guessed, the other path was not a trap filled with flowers.
That is indeed a good place to be. Lose the chance of life in the real world, and then gain eternal life in the virtual world. Even though he became an NPC, he did not lose his consciousness as a human being.
"Look," he said, "you can take this off when you get off work."
"If you hit me, it won't hurt me, it's just statistics," he said, "but it will hurt you."
"If you give up now," he said, "they promised to make an exception to let you enter this world, will you still insist?"
He is here to lobby.
He Miao was silent for a moment.
"I've actually thought about it many times," he said. "I wondered why."
Why don't mom and dad want him? Why does he live in such an environment? Why among so many people in this world, he still seems to be the most unlucky one.
Why.
Why are there accidents? Why does death occur? Why is there pain and fear?
"I can't think of an answer." He Miao said with a smile, "This world is so unreasonable. As soon as a person opens his eyes, he lives in this world. All experiences seem to be destined."
"But then I think," he smiled, "why? I'm going to try to resist."
"It's strange," he said. "When I had the idea of rebelling, I suddenly felt that life was not so boring anymore."
"I think the statement that happiness is set off by suffering sounds particularly victorious," He Miao said. "Happiness is happiness, and suffering is suffering. But I find that contrast is really useful. Now I feel that no matter whether I am happy or miserable, as long as I am still unique and real, then everything I have experienced does not seem so unacceptable."
"I'm not saying that you made a bad choice." He lay on the ground, revealing his beautiful eyes and eyebrows. "Who doesn't want eternal life? Even if it's just data, we don't know how many parallel worlds there are in the universe. This is my personal choice."
"I want to live happily," he said. "You know, I have always hated myself since I was a child. I felt that I was a piece of trash that no one wanted. It was during this period that I felt for the first time that I am not that bad. At least, I have tried my best for one thing."
Humans are such small and yet such great creatures. Every person is a grain of sand in the operation of the times and the world, but when they try their best to burst out with energy, they themselves can see it, and all living things can see it too.
This may also be the meaning of being human.
"I've rested." He stood up, "Come on."
He gestured with the weapon in his hand. After confirming that it was as smooth as new again, he rushed towards the boss in front of him.
Fall down and get up. Fall again and get up again.
Under the big screen, with cheerful background music and mechanical electronic sound effects, the handsome boy was knocked down again and again, and his blood bloomed into gorgeous and shocking flowers in the air. Together with the faint sound of firecrackers outside, they form a beautiful symphony.
And the moment the weapon in his hand pierced the boss's heart. Huge fireworks suddenly bloomed in the sky made up of pixels.
The word "Victory" appeared in large letters on the screen.
He lay on the ground, with the fireworks and stars reflected in his eyes. At this moment, he finally reconciled with his fate.
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