Virtual Dream Device

At 5:49 p.m., the vast office was silent.

Chen Xu leaned back in his chair, a ballpoint pen tucked beneath his nose, his eyes fixed on the computer screen as though he were pondering some difficult problem.

In truth, he was spacing out. It was almost time to get off work, and he was wondering where to eat later.

Old Tang, who sat behind him, leaned over and whispered, "Old Wang said he's treating the new colleague to dinner. Don't forget."

Another group dinner? Chen Xu had a bit of a headache. After hesitating for a second, he still said, "Got it."

Old Wang was their supervisor. There was nothing wrong with him as a boss, except for one thing—he loved organizing group dinners at the drop of a hat, at least two or three times a month.

Chen Xu generally avoided them whenever he could. But this time, it was to welcome a new colleague, so it would not look good if he did not go.

Besides, he had already made excuses to skip the last two gatherings. If he skipped this one too, Old Wang would probably put him in his Notebook.

Just thinking about wasting two hours after work on a dull, boring dinner made him feel depressed.

It was not that he had any issue with his colleagues. He just preferred being alone after work.

Most importantly, after sending money home last week, he did not have much living money left. Their group dinners were always split equally...

He could not help sighing inwardly. Work was already exhausting enough, yet even after getting off work, he could not decide how to spend his own time. He had had enough of this kind of life.

When would he finally be able to cast aside all these trivial matters and live the life he wanted?

"Beep—"

"Language calibration complete. Virtual Dream Device activated. Beginning identity verification—"

Chen Xu was startled by the voice that suddenly sounded in his ears. His hand jerked, and the pen fell to the floor.

What was that sound? Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. As he bent down to pick up the pen, he turned his head and discreetly looked over the colleagues beside him, but saw nothing unusual.

It did not seem like a prank they had planned together.

Could it be a hallucination?

Then, the voice sounded again.

"Verification failed. Switching to guest mode."

"Welcome to this product. This product is manufactured by Star Universe Virtual Device Manufacturing Group. It allows you to experience dreams that are one hundred percent virtually real. Numerous scenarios are available for selection, granting you a wonderfully exciting dream life."

Chen Xu's mouth went dry. In addition to the voice, a page had appeared before his eyes, with an icon in the center. It looked like a virtual computer desktop.

To verify it, he closed his eyes. Only after several seconds did he open them again.

The page was still there. The high-definition color icon in the middle was incredibly conspicuous.

His heart pounded wildly.

Before long, it was time to get off work. Chen Xu was still immersed in shock until Old Tang patted him, jolting him back to his senses.

"Work's over. What are you still staring blankly for?" Old Tang asked strangely.

"Nothing." He looked up and saw that all the other colleagues had already left. He hurriedly packed his things and said, "Let's go."

For this department gathering, they had chosen a nearby restaurant.

There were eleven people in the Advertising Department. Once they arrived at the restaurant, they filled a table perfectly.

The new colleague was a young woman, and everyone was very welcoming. It was not because she was particularly beautiful. The end of the year was approaching, and the Advertising Department would soon become extremely busy. Naturally, everyone was happy to have one more person share the workload.

Most of those present were young, and the atmosphere quickly became lively.

The only discordant note was Chen Xu. He barely spoke and seemed absent-minded.

No one paid much attention to it. Chen Xu had never talked much during group dinners, so everyone was used to it.

After dinner, everyone dispersed. They still had work tomorrow, so they could not stay out too late and affect their jobs.

After the gathering ended, Chen Xu rode back with Old Tang.

After getting into the car, Old Tang suddenly asked, "Chen Xu, are you okay? Chen Xu, Chen Xu..."

He called several times before Chen Xu, who had been lost in thought, finally reacted and asked in confusion, "Hm?"

Old Tang grew even more worried and asked, "You've looked preoccupied ever since getting off work. Did something happen?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking about something."

Chen Xu lightly tapped his forehead, lowered the window a little, and let the wind outside clear his head.

From the moment work ended until now, he had been studying that "Virtual Dream Device," which was why he had seemed so absent-minded.

Old Tang looked at him and said, "Is your family having some difficulties? I've got twenty thousand yuan in private savings. Take it and use it first."

"No, it's not..." Chen Xu hurriedly explained. "It's not that. I'm thinking about something else."

"Mm." Old Tang nodded and said, "If you really run into trouble, just say so. Don't suffer just to save face."

Warmth rose in Chen Xu's heart. "Thank you."

Old Tang said nothing more and started the car.

Chen Xu felt that he was quite lucky to have made a friend like Old Tang. Old Tang had graduated from the same university as him, five years ahead of him. They had only met after Chen Xu joined this company.

Because of that connection, Old Tang usually took good care of him.

Chen Xu was grateful to Old Tang, but no matter how difficult things became, he did not want to ask Old Tang for help.

Old Tang had only recently gotten married. He had a mortgage and car payments to make every month, so his pressure was not much less than Chen Xu's.

More than half an hour later, they arrived at Chen Xu's Rented House. The location was rather remote, and it took ten minutes on foot to reach the nearest bus stop.

He rented a Private Room of around twenty square meters. It contained only a single bed and a computer desk. It was small, but it had its own bathroom, which was enough for one person.

The key was that it was cheap. Living costs in this city were fairly high, and rent was often the largest expense. It was not easy to find somewhere close to the company with cheap rent. He had only found this place through good luck.

He put down his Briefcase, lay on the bed, and looked at the bank balance displayed in a text message on his phone: 499.32 yuan. His head ached a little. Payday was still more than half a month away, and he only had this much left. It seemed he could only tighten his belt and get by.

Then he thought of that "Virtual Dream Device" again and hesitated. Should he enter it? This inexplicably appearing thing, seemingly some kind of Black Technology or system-like creation, did not even have an instruction manual despite all the time he had spent searching.

Normally, the device would not appear on his retina on its own. It only appeared after he "awakened" it. There was only one icon on it, displaying: "Enter the dream 'Doomsday Survival'?"

When he focused his attention on that line, he received a brief prompt: he could choose one item or one companion to enter the dream with him. It offered quite a few item and character templates.

Furthermore, he had carefully discovered a hidden option. Instead of selecting an item provided by the dream, he could copy an item or a person from reality into the dream.