Earth calendar year 474.
In the heart of the Pacific Ocean lies a rather unremarkable island. The entire island is roughly the size of a medium-sized community. Due to its unique location, there's no underground rail connection, and only a few designated skytrains provide access. And on the island, there's only one hundred-story building.
This is the "real" project base formed by the joint efforts of three major regions. Because the three regions cannot trust each other, they finally chose such a no-man's land to establish the base. The three regions then selected technical personnel to participate in the project to ensure that the project is not affected by "politics" to the greatest extent, so as to ensure that the chances of each other interfering in the project are minimized.
Aside from project development, the rest of the island is free to handle any other matters independently. If there are any needs, the leaders of the three district research institutes will consult with the higher authorities and submit a report to the higher authorities, who will review and decide whether to allocate funds.
And now, the three project leaders are sitting in the conference room on the 100th floor.
"It's time to propose to the higher-ups to invest in a dedicated power generation device for the project." After a moment's silence, one of them spoke.
Just now, a small earthquake struck near the island. Of course, the island's security system was robust and unaffected. However, the power lines laid on the seabed were damaged. Although there were power storage devices and backup lines were quickly activated, the entire system still stopped operating for 0.0001 seconds.
This stagnation doesn't appear to have had any negative consequences so far. After all, it's the result of an intelligent computer calculation, something the human brain can't grasp. However, as with anything like this, there are always other things to worry about, so we must be prepared. The island is located in the ocean, so if we use hydroelectric power generation equipment, it's perfectly possible to provide an independent power supply.
After a moment, the other two also spoke.
"Second."
"Second."
…
Yang Jia was sure she wasn't seeing things, but she didn't know what was going on, and what she could do.
There's definitely something wrong with this world! Yang Jia had already made her mental judgment. Although she was young, perhaps due to her years of online browsing, she had come across countless imaginative works. Forums, for example, often discussed such spurious themes as aliens, gods and ghosts, angels and demons. In many of these works, the protagonist, who was once a normal person, one day discovered that the world they inhabited was amiss.
These are all works of the author's wild imagination and are not for reference, but for Yang Jia now, they are enough to judge the situation he is facing.
Perhaps she, like the other protagonists, encountered some bizarre events that could not be explained by science—starting from the moment she received the interview notice for the part-time job offering a salary of 3,000 yuan.
Yang Jia had actually had a vague premonition of this before, but she had always been unwilling to believe it, let alone think deeply about it. But now, the scene she had witnessed kept replaying in her mind, and she couldn't help but think about it.
Sometimes, the most terrifying thing is the unknown. Once Yang Jia understood his situation, although he still couldn't accept it in his heart, and he didn't know what the problem was with this "problematic world", and he didn't know whether he would encounter danger, but once he tried hard to stabilize his shaky world outlook, Yang Jia was able to calm down.
This incident didn't happen suddenly, but rather had traces. If that were the case, I would just have to follow the clues and I'd be able to uncover something.
But honestly, after figuring out what might be going on, Yang Jia was a little hesitant about whether to continue exploring. She wasn't the type with a particularly strong curiosity, and she had no interest in becoming the protagonist and saving the world.
She has a lazy and easy-going personality. This can be seen from the fact that while all graduates are in a hurry to find a job, most of them decide on their future plans around the New Year, but she has been able to take it easy until now, playing games online and sleeping in her rental house every day.
So if the world is truly in trouble, saving it should be left to others. She is truly just a very, very insignificant person, and cannot bear such a heavy responsibility.
So for just a second, Yang Jia decided to pretend she hadn't noticed anything. She continued with her "part-time job," and after finishing this one, she decided not to look for work for the time being. The world was too dangerous; who knew when she would encounter another bizarre incident?
But... Yang Jia sighed, looked up at the group of people walking in front, and followed them helplessly.
Three thousand yuan, she said to herself, just bear with it for two more days and it will be over.
"What happened to you just now?" After she caught up, Bai Ting came over and asked.
Yang Jia couldn't help but glance at her. Her question meant that none of them had noticed the pause, and only she had noticed it?
"It's okay." She forced a smile, "It's just that I've never been outside the city, and I didn't expect it to be like this."
"Yes, this is the first time I've seen it too. It's so beautiful!" Bai Ting couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. "Even if it's just for this beautiful view, it's worth it!"
"But it's very dangerous." Yang Jia couldn't help but say.
Bai Ting said, "What are you afraid of? It's just a wild beast. We are here to hunt wild beasts!"
What?! Were they here to hunt wild animals? Why didn't I know about this beforehand? Isn't this a tour group? When did travel agencies start offering this kind of program?
Yang Jia couldn't help but look at the female tour guide walking next to him, but the other party didn't seem surprised at all and didn't respond to his words.
She wiped her face. "Just the rest of us? How are we going to hunt? With our fists?"
Bai Ting gave her a strange look. "What else can we do? We don't have any weapons right now, but don't worry. We're not too deep here, and the beasts aren't very powerful. We won't die now, so what are we afraid of? Once we hunt the beasts and bring them back to sell, we'll have money to buy weapons. If we're lucky, we might even be able to make weapons from the materials on the beasts. Besides..."
"What else did you say?" Yang Jia asked when he saw her stop.
Bai Ting quickly shook her head, "No, no, no, it's nothing. Anyway, as long as you know that you won't encounter any serious danger, that's all that matters."
"..." Yang Jia thought back to what Bai Ting had said before, and with great effort, he suppressed the urge to complain. "Do you think this is like playing a game and killing monsters in the wild?" However, this statement was indeed not wrong, and it was feasible.
So, although the wilderness is dangerous, it's not that scary. Why didn't anyone in the city think of this for so many years?
Moreover, Yang Jia knew that it was not just Phoenix City that was like this. The other eighty-eight cities were all similar. They seemed to have forgotten the existence of the outside world and were only concerned with their own development and life.
So where did these people, those planning to hunt wild animals outside the city, come from? And where did that travel agency find these guests? ...Oh, right, what was the name of the travel agency? Yang Jia was horrified to find that he couldn't remember it!
No, no, no, it’s not that she can’t remember, it’s that she has never paid attention to it.
Since she arrived for the interview, she had walked around the travel agency several times, but she had never consciously looked at the sign hanging nearby. So she was sure it was a large and formal-looking travel agency, but she couldn't remember its name no matter how hard she tried.
Another strange incident made Yang Jia break out in a cold sweat.
Bai Ting noticed something was wrong with her and asked, "What's wrong with you? You don't look well."
"No." Yang Jia tried hard to suppress the trembling in his voice. "By the way, Bai Ting, do you remember the name of our travel agency?"
"Feitian Travel Agency." Bai Ting gave her a strange look, "How come you even forgot this?"
"Your brain froze for a second," Yang Jia said, wiping away a streak of sweat that didn't even exist. Bai Ting still remembered it, and after she mentioned it, he surprisingly remembered it too. In other words, it was a supernatural event that only he had experienced.
What is going on?
For some reason, a thought suddenly popped up in Yang Jia's mind at that moment - is it this world that is abnormal, or me?
This thought made her heart beat faster, and she could almost hear a thumping sound in her ears. Yang Jia didn't dare to think about it, but she couldn't help but follow this thought. If it was her who had the problem, then what was the problem, when did it appear, and why did it happen to her...?
This series of questions made her mind explode, but at this moment, she heard a pleasant voice say, "There is a beast."
This sentence brought Yang Jia back to reality. Noticing that everyone had stopped, she also stopped. Then she realized that the words just now were said by her roommate.
This was the first time she had spoken in front of a crowd since yesterday. Her words were clearly powerful, as everyone, including the Shamatte boy and his group, stopped and looked around warily.
But after waiting for a long time, there was still nothing. Yang Jia suspected that her roommate had made a mistake in judgment. But when she turned around, she saw that everyone around her was still on high alert. It was obvious that everyone had great trust in her judgment and had not relaxed or become impatient because of the long wait.
However... Yang Jia had another realization in his mind: these people were probably trained. Also, how could ordinary people really challenge wild beasts outside the city with bare hands?
Just when Yang Jia waited for a long time and still found nothing, and couldn't help but move his body, a black shadow rushed into the crowd at a speed that was almost impossible to capture with the naked eye, and then someone screamed soon, obviously injured.
The black shadow flashed again and disappeared into the woods.
Everyone checked themselves and found that four people were injured. They were scratched by sharp claws. The wounds were thin and deep, but mostly on the arms, and they were indeed not fatal.
"What the hell is this thing?" someone asked. "It's completely invisible. How do you fight it?"
Many people looked at the roommate who had spoken earlier, but he clearly wasn't going to steal the spotlight. Finally, the Shamatte boy stepped forward and said, "Leave a few skilled ones outside, and the rest of you gather together, the closer the better. I think this thing is fast, but it can't fly. It's probably something like a cat, just smaller and able to leverage its power. If we stand apart, we'll just become pillars for it. If we gather together, it'll be powerless. Then, those of you who stay outside will try to catch and kill it."
Everyone agreed and quickly stood close together. Bai Ting also pulled Yang Jia over. Yang Jia turned around and saw the female tour guide standing aside. No one seemed to care about her. He couldn't help but ask, "What about her?"
"Don't worry, she is different from us and won't be attacked by wild beasts." Bai Ting said casually.
The female tour guide is different from these tourists, but she is the same as them?
The author has something to say: Some little angels said they couldn’t understand it, so I’ll just explain it casually.
This is a holographic game, developed around the 29th century. The Earth's environment back then was completely different from what it is today, which I'll discuss later.
The world in the game is set by combining the reality of the 29th century (eighty-eight main cities, etc.) and the information of the 21st century (social customs, people's behavioral habits, and the level of technology at the time).
Our protagonist, Yang Jia, is an ordinary NPC living in this holographic game. Then one day, she mutated into [Hey] and began to feel that the whole world was not right, and then...
Then just keep reading ^_^
Don’t worry if you don’t understand these settings. Just read the story. When the protagonist understands them, you will understand them too!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
