Chen Xu leaned back in his chair, a pen tucked under his nose, his eyes fixed on the computer screen, seemingly thinking about some difficult problem.
In fact, he was in a daze. It was about to get off work, and he was thinking about where to eat.
Old Tang, who was sitting behind him, came over and whispered, "Old Wang said he wants to treat the new colleague to a meal, remember it later."
Another dinner party? Chen Xu felt a little headache. After hesitating for a second, he said, "I know."
Lao Wang is their supervisor. This boss is good in every way except for one thing: he likes to have dinner parties all the time, and he comes at least two or three times a month.
He basically avoids it whenever possible. But this time it is to welcome new colleagues, so it would be awkward not to go.
Moreover, he found excuses to turn down the last two dinner parties. If he doesn’t go this time, I guess Lao Wang will make a note of him in his little notebook.
He felt a little depressed when he thought about wasting two hours after get off work on a boring dinner.
He didn't have any problem with his colleagues, but after get off work, he preferred to be alone.
The most important thing is that after sending money home last week, he didn't have much living expenses left, and they all went AA for dinner...
He couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Working was hard enough, and after work, he couldn't manage his time. This kind of life was enough.
When can I put aside these trivial matters and live the life I want?
“Beep——”
"Language calibration completed, virtual dream device activated, identity verification started—"
Chen Xu was startled when he heard the sudden sound in his ear. His hand shook and the pen fell to the ground.
What sound? In an instant, many thoughts passed through his mind. While bending down to pick up the pen, he glanced at his colleagues next to him, but could not see anything unusual.
It doesn't look like a prank orchestrated by colleagues.
Could it be an illusion?
Then, the voice sounded again.
"Verification failed, switching to visitor mode."
"Welcome to experience this product, which is manufactured by Xingyu Virtual Equipment Manufacturing Group. It allows you to experience a 100% virtual and real dream. There are many scenes for you to choose from, allowing you to have a wonderful dream life."
Chen Xu instantly felt dry in the mouth. In addition to the sound, a page appeared in front of him with an icon in the middle. It was like a virtual computer desktop.
To verify it, he closed his eyes and opened them again after a few seconds.
The page is still there, and the high-definition color icon in the middle is so conspicuous.
His heart was pounding.
………………
After a while, it was time to get off work, and Chen Xu was still immersed in shock until Old Tang patted him on the shoulder, and then he suddenly came to his senses.
"It's time to get off work. Why are you still standing there?" Old Tang asked curiously.
"Nothing." He looked up and saw that all his colleagues had left. He quickly packed up his things and said, "Let's go."
The department chose a nearby restaurant for the dinner this time.
There are eleven people in the advertising department, and when we arrived at the restaurant, we could just fit together a table.
The new colleague is a girl, and everyone is very enthusiastic about her. It’s not because she is so pretty, but it’s almost the end of the year, and the advertising department will become very busy. Everyone is naturally happy to have one more person to share the work.
The only discordant thing was Chen Xu, who didn't say much and seemed absent-minded.
No one else cared. During previous dinner parties, Chen Xu rarely spoke and everyone was used to it.
After dinner, everyone dispersed. They had to go to work the next day and couldn’t play too late to avoid affecting their work.
After the show, Chen Xu went back in Lao Tang’s car.
After getting in the car, Old Tang suddenly asked, "Chen Xu, are you okay? Chen Xu, Chen Xu..."
He called out several times in a row, and Chen Xu, who was in a daze, finally reacted and asked in confusion, "Huh?"
Old Tang became even more worried and asked, "After get off work, you always seemed to be worried. Did something happen?"
"Nothing, just thinking about something."
Chen Xu tapped his forehead lightly, lowered the window a little, and let in the wind outside to clear his mind.
Since he got off work until now, he has been studying the "virtual dream device", which is why he seems absent-minded.
Old Tang looked at him and said, "Is there any difficulty at home? I have 20,000 yuan of private money here, you can use it first."
"No, no..." Chen Xu hurriedly explained, "It's not this, I'm thinking about something else."
"Yes." Old Tang nodded and said, "If you really have difficulties, just tell me, don't be so stubborn and suffer in vain."
Chen Xu felt warm in his heart and said, "Thank you."
Old Tang didn't say anything else and started the car.
Chen Xu felt lucky to have a friend like Lao Tang. Lao Tang graduated from the same university as him, five years older than him. The two met after Chen Xu joined the company.
It is precisely because of this relationship that Old Tang usually takes good care of him.
He was grateful to Old Tang, but no matter how difficult it was, he didn't want to ask Old Tang for help.
Old Tang got married not long ago and has to pay off his mortgage and car loan every month. His pressure is not much less than his.
…………
More than half an hour later, Chen Xu arrived at his rental house. The location was quite remote, and it took ten minutes to walk to the nearest bus stop.
He rented a single room, about 20 square meters, with only a single bed and a computer desk. It was a little small, but it had a separate bathroom, which was enough for one person.
The key is cheap. The cost of living in this city is quite high, and rent is often the largest expense. It is not easy to find a place close to the company with cheap rent. He was lucky to find this place.
He put down his briefcase, lay on the bed, picked up his cell phone, and looked at the bank balance in the text message, 499.32 yuan. He had a headache. There was still more than half a month before salary was paid, and there was only this little money left. It seemed that he would have to tighten his belt and live a frugal life.
Then, he thought of the "virtual dream device" again, and hesitated, should he go in? He looked through this inexplicably appeared product, suspected to be a black technology or system, but there was not even an instruction manual.
Normally, this device would not automatically appear on his retina. It would only appear after he "woken up" it. There was only an icon on it, which read "Do you want to enter the dream "End of the World Survival"?"
When he focuses on this line of words, he will get a brief prompt and can choose an item or a companion to enter the dream. There are many item and character templates provided above.
Moreover, he carefully discovered a hidden option, which allowed him to not choose the items provided by the dream, but to copy an object or a character in reality into the dream.
(End of this chapter)