"I'm an NPC."
Chu Guang said this to the mirror, took a deep breath, straightened his collar, and tried to make himself look imposing enough.
And expressionless.
Three days had passed since then.
In a few minutes, it would be time for the players to log into the game.
As for the blue jacket he wore, it was the one he had been wearing when he had first crossed into this world long ago.
Old Charlie from Bette Street had once told him that residents who emerged from shelters all seemed to wear these.
"I'm an NPC."
Chu Guang practiced it again in front of the mirror he had picked up outside.
The nature of this "new job" was completely different from the sales work he had done before. A warm smile and polite demeanor had no place on a manager.
After all, this was a wasteland ruled by the law of the jungle.
To survive in this wasteland, he did not necessarily need to look like an iron-blooded tough guy, but at the very least, he needed to inspire confidence and make people feel safe.
Touching the contours of his cheek, Chu Guang wondered whether he should put a scar on his forehead.
Or perhaps just style his hair into a punk Mohawk?
After all, this was a wasteland ruled by the law of the jungle.
Too handsome.
It would ruin the immersion.
"Master."
Still fussing with his appearance in the mirror, Chu Guang raised his chin expressionlessly.
"What is it?"
Xiao Qi spoke softly.
"According to the information I found, NPCs in games usually do not call themselves NPCs."
Chu Guang's expression froze slightly. He cleared his throat.
"Of course I know..."
Facing the mirror, he muttered again.
"...I am the manager of Vault 404."
It was about time for the agreed-upon hour.
Three hours ago, the cultivation pods had already finished synthesizing the clones.
Earlier, he had also arranged with the four "lucky ones" who had obtained closed beta access over QQ. Before 9 PM Yanjing time, they were to put on their helmets, find a comfortable position lying flat or on their sides, and log into the game right at nine.
Just as Chu Guang was considering what sort of entrance he should make before the players, a ding suddenly sounded in his mind.
A line of text then appeared before him.
Mission complete!
Chu Guang's heart tightened slightly.
They were here!
"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! This is insane!"
In an unremarkable room in the living area beside the residents' hall, the locks on four cultivation pods disengaged simultaneously, and their translucent doors opened.
Sitting up from an open cultivation pod, Ye Wei stared wide-eyed around the room. His face was full of astonishment, almost blankness.
This—
Was the game world?!
Until a minute ago, he had still been wondering whether this might be some elaborately planned prank.
Yet when he put on the fully charged helmet and lay flat on his bed, just as he was about to fall asleep, a beam of light had pierced through the darkness toward him.
When he opened his eyes again, he was already in an unfamiliar room.
His body felt wet and sticky.
As if he had just been fished out of a pool.
The air blowing from the vent above landed on his shoulders, and he could clearly feel the liquid slowly evaporating, drawing heat from his body.
There was also a faint but unpleasant smell mixed in.
Ye Wei suddenly realized something and widened his eyes.
Vision!
Smell!
Touch!
Taste!
Hearing!
All five senses were present!
This was fucking amazing!!!
The immersive sensation made his eyes well up with tears.
He had never imagined that he would actually witness fully immersive virtual reality technology in his lifetime!
Even "mind-blowing" was not enough to describe this!
He was not the only one.
The other three players who had sat up from their cultivation pods wore similarly stunned expressions.
"Holy shit, holy shit holy shit holy shit."
"...I fucking thought this was a joke."
"Motherfucker! It really is fully immersive!"
"Technology is already this advanced??? Fuck, why have I never seen this on the news?!"
"Hiss... it even has pain." One player pinched himself.
"Who the hell are you? An NPC?"
"What NPC? I'm Old White! Fleeting Time! Who the hell are you?"
"Holy shit? Old Skinny?! I'm Gale! Level 8 Gale! Why do you look like that? Hahahaha, I'm dying."
"Fuck off! Call me Old Skinny again and I'll show you what Old Thick means... Heh, this game is pretty interesting. Are appearances already set? I wonder if the open beta version will let us customize our faces."
Old White pinched himself as well. Although the pain made him grimace, his face was full of joy.
Excitement!
Thrill!
Disbelief!
A dream had become reality!
Ye Wei, in the bed beside them, sat with his eyes wide open, motionless as he tried to process the shock in his heart.
Besides him, another guy was sitting still. He was probably Long Days Ahead from the group chat.
The guy was staring thoughtfully between his legs, though nobody knew what he was thinking about.
"Are male characters the default setting? There isn't even a character customization step. What I mean is... can we make a female character?"
"Fuck, you're so horny! You must be Ye Shi."
"I'm Fang Chang..."
"Holy shit?! Fang Chang?! Brother... you know what I mean, right?"
"Fuck off, I was just saying. The brother beside me is Ye Shi, right... You all made it?"
When the three looked at him, Ye Wei finally snapped out of it.
Realizing he was still naked, he hurriedly grabbed the uniform hanging beside the cultivation pod and pulled it over his head, casually replying.
"Yeah, just got here... How do we play this game? Isn't there a beginner tutorial?"
"No idea. We just got here too."
As soon as he finished speaking, the door to the room opened.
A man in a blue jacket walked in from outside.
Behind him followed a robot shaped like a wastepaper basket. Its barrel-like body looked somewhat adorable and clumsy, but its streamlined shell and polished-looking silver paint gave it a distinctly sci-fi feel.
The four players' eyes went wide.
"An NPC!"
"He looks exactly like a real person!"
"Is this really a game world?"
"This is way too realistic!"
"Quiet." Chu Guang cut off their chirping, swept his gaze across the four players in the room, and slowly said, "Welcome to Vault 404."
"I am the manager here."
"Codename—Dawn."
The air fell silent for an instant.
The four players were unexpectedly well-behaved, holding their breaths as they stared at him, terrified of missing even the smallest plot detail.
It seemed his presence had successfully brought the room under control.
Chu Guang sighed in relief inwardly and continued according to the script he had prepared.
"First, I have good news for you. The war is over."
"But the bad news is that our world is unrecognizable. If you expect to immediately pick up your luggage and go home to your mothers, that is clearly impossible."
"This is the two-hundredth year after the apocalypse. Fortunately, we have successfully endured the hardest years. Being able to stand here makes you luckier than 12 billion people, and now I need you to recognize the situation as soon as possible, then fulfill the declaration you made beneath the banner of the Human Alliance—rebuild our homeland!"
"The one beside me is my assistant. Its name is Xiao Qi. If you have any questions about the shelter, or anything you do not understand, you may ask it."
That was the opening speech.
When the next batch of players arrived, Chu Guang would say it again.
After all, he had worked hard to come up with it.
As for Xiao Qi, Chu Guang had already told it in advance what it could and could not say, so he did not need to worry about it letting anything slip.
Even if it did let something slip, it would not matter.
Anything that could not be explained could be dismissed with, "That's part of the game setting." These days, what setting was flawless? If people insisted on nitpicking, they could find bugs in the evening news.
Seeing that Chu Guang had finally finished speaking, the player registered under the nickname Ye Shi hurriedly asked.
"Excuse me, where's Brother Guang? I mean, the game developer who gave us the helmets."
"I don't understand what you're talking about," Chu Guang answered expressionlessly.
"How do we log out?" Old White followed up.
"Return to the cultivation pod and lie down. You can log out normally."
There was actually another method. Abnormal states such as unconsciousness, sleep, or death would also sever the connection, but Chu Guang did not want them trying that casually.
Lying in the cultivation pods was more energy-efficient. If they dropped dead wherever they pleased, it would be troublesome to deal with.
"What about levels? Where is the player system interface? Why can't I find it?"
As soon as Gale asked this, before Chu Guang could answer, Fang Chang immediately cut in with another question.
"What about the character customization system? Can character settings not be changed? And regarding character gender—"
"Enough. Ask the dev... cough, it is not your turn to ask questions yet."
With dark lines practically covering his face, Chu Guang interrupted their endless questions. Keeping a stern expression and adopting an official tone, he unceremoniously tossed four small booklets into their hands.
"I will show you around and explain the things you need to pay attention to."
"Especially what you can do, and what you should not even think about doing."
-
(Thanks to "εYileinaз" and "Kakarot from the Future" for the Alliance Leader rewards~~~~~)
Before you continue