A Return to Familiar Ground

Did this count as reincarnation?

Su Jiang felt the extra memories in his mind and found it strange.

At the same time, he wondered what relationship his future self had with Kurumi that made her willing to use Twelve Bullets to return to the past.

To gather enough time to activate Twelve Bullets, she must have killed quite a few people...

Su Jiang turned on the television with complicated feelings.

Kurumi had long since vanished from the room, as though being shot last night had all been a dream.

Yet the additional memories told him that it had truly happened.

Meanwhile.

The morning news was broadcasting information about "Meta World."

"Yesterday, a virtual game called 'Meta World' invaded the networks of various nations and carried out viral marketing. According to the latest information released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this is a dangerous act that disregards international rules and undermines international peace. We hope that whichever country developed 'Meta World' will cease these invasive actions. We also urge the public to remain vigilant toward this unknown game..."

The news really was reporting on it.

When the game first appeared, the entire world believed it had been developed by the USA. Even after the USA personally stepped forward to deny it, no one believed them, and resistance policies remained in place.

It was only several months later, when things from "Meta World" began affecting reality, that people truly believed the game was not a conspiracy by the USA.

At the current level of technological development, no country could create a game that allowed players to use skills in reality.

Then someone said, "Perhaps aliens developed it."

Once that claim emerged, it spread like wildfire.

But that was not the truth.

From those fragmented memories of the future, Su Jiang knew that this was a spiritual world unconsciously constructed by the Human Race.

At first, it had been bizarre and chaotic, with worlds collapsing and forming everywhere. Then it evolved according to the real world and humanity's fantasies, eventually becoming a relatively stable space.

That was the current "Meta World."

If that were all, then "Meta World" would merely have given humanity another form of entertainment. Unfortunately, it was not.

With his future memories, Su Jiang knew that human emotions and subconsciousness had an extremely severe influence on this space.

It could be said that every action in the game was a collective choice made by the subconsciousness of the majority of humanity, including the later invasion of other races, encompassing the Milky Way, and materializing monsters from the game into reality.

It even developed to the point of making enemies of the entire universe...

All of it was influenced by humanity's subconsciousness, so humanity could not blame the game itself.

In my previous life, I would choose the second contract tomorrow, then be assigned to a subsidiary of the group, living the dull life of an office drone—working, doing overtime, and going home every day.

Su Jiang did his best to recall the memories of his previous life.

Because of the public's wariness toward "Meta World," and because I did not want to spend money on VR equipment that would become obsolete so quickly, I missed the game's launch. By the time the nation required everyone to enter the game, a small number of players had already become its overlords.

And because my talent was special, one of those overlords captured me and imprisoned me.

Su Jiang always felt that after entering the game in his previous life, he had lived an extremely miserable existence. Whenever he tried to recall more, a chilling terror rose within him.

As though there were memories there that could make a person fall into depravity...

Forget it... It did not matter if he could not remember.

Now that he had been reincarnated, everything could still be changed.

After sorting through his fragmented memories, Su Jiang returned to the company.

He signed the other resignation agreement.

Now that he knew how the future would unfold, Su Jiang naturally would not waste time working for money.

Besides, in the future world...

Though order still existed, the strong were respected above all else. Money was no longer as powerful as it was now.

After settling the trivial matters, Su Jiang returned home.

He ordered a VR device and browsed several popular forums to get a grasp of the situation.

"My god, a virtual game? Is it the kind of virtual game I'm thinking of?"

"Sword Art Online did not deceive me! Although it's a year late, virtual games have finally appeared!"

"The country says this game might be a plot by foreign forces. I think we should forget it. Besides, there wasn't even the slightest hint before this virtual game appeared. Now it's almost time for it to launch, and only then are they promoting it worldwide. No matter how you look at it, something's off."

"Even the cheapest VR device costs over ten thousand... I can't bear to spend that much. I can't afford to play..."

"Heh, I think it was made by forces from outside the planet. How could people on Earth today possibly create a virtual game like Sword Art Online?"

Su Jiang was not surprised by all the conspiracy theories online.

Anyone would remain somewhat wary of unknown things, especially technology that clearly did not belong to this era.

To play this game, one had to spend at least ten thousand on VR equipment. Ordinary people could not afford it either.

But that situation would improve soon enough.

Half a year later, "Meta World" would draw on massive amounts of internet and human consciousness material, gaining enough growth. What followed would be its invasion of reality, forming a gigantic human Mind Net. Every human would be able to access the internet through thought anytime and anywhere, without relying on any equipment.

By then, any attempt by any nation to stop or contain it would be futile.

Even though they all self-righteously believed this game had been created by aliens with unknown motives.

Two days later, the equipment Su Jiang had purchased arrived.

Following the instructions, he set it up and waited patiently for the game to launch.

During this period, advertisements for "Meta World" continued bombarding the world, leading many countries to publicly oppose this privacy-invading, life-disregarding form of promotion. Their opposition was useless, however.

Another five days passed.

It was time for the game to launch.

After dinner and a shower, Su Jiang lay on his bed wearing the VR device.

Inside an electronic space stood a gigantic screen resembling a computer desktop. Su Jiang saw an extra game on the desktop.

It was "Meta World"!

It was eleven thirty now, with half an hour remaining before launch.

With nothing to do, Su Jiang called his daughter and asked how she had been lately and whether she needed money.

Su Yu was very sensible.

"No, Dad. I'm not short on money."

"Mm. Isn't your mom with you?"

Su Yu glanced at her mother, who was still unconscious from a hangover.

She did not want her father and mother to argue again, so she could only say quietly, "Mom went to work."

"Alright. When your mom gets back, have her call me."

"Okay."

A soft, gentle voice came from the phone.

Su Jiang sighed faintly.

The appearance of "Meta World" would change everyone's fate. Su Jiang hesitated over whether to let his ex-wife and daughter get ahead as well.

But when he recalled the contempt and mockery on her face when the court ruling came down, his stomach filled with anger.

Su Yu was innocent, and Su Jiang did not want his daughter to suffer the same miserable fate as in his previous life.

At that moment, the clock struck twelve.

He launched "Meta World."

Under Su Jiang's mental control, the virtual space instantly changed.

"Game launching..."

"Logging into server..."

"Linking consciousness..."

Several lines of white text appeared within the pitch-black virtual space.

Many people logged into the game at this very moment.

Consciousness-linking technology could be considered one of the few future technologies that humanity currently understood and had achieved preliminary results with.

After all, at technology exhibitions, staff members wore sensing helmets to control robots. That was one application of consciousness linking.

What shocked them now was that this game had actually applied that technology—and it even seemed to be mature technology!

How could current VR devices possibly support such technology?

They could not make sense of it no matter how hard they thought.

None of that affected Su Jiang. Looking at the login screen before him, the fragmented memories in his mind gradually overlapped.

He suddenly felt as though he had returned to a familiar place...