True Neutral Hei Fan

December 31st, 2048 AD

Mo Tan dragged his weary body home, staring blankly as several burly men carried a huge rectangular cardboard box into the living room, then busied themselves deftly for half an hour.

Throughout this process, he simply sat quietly on his not-so-spacious sofa, watching these employees of the 'Innocent' company work diligently.

Their task was to assemble a dedicated gaming pod for Innocent World, the company's first mental simulation product.

Once assembled, Mo Tan politely saw off the sweating workers, turned around, and plopped down onto the expensive, space-hogging contraption that he'd spent half a day queuing for. His right hand unconsciously tapped the glossy black shell of the pod, a cryptic smile forming after a moment.

Clearly, Mo Tan wasn't exactly normal. In fact, he was quite abnormal...

Multiple personality disorder, a rare condition in any era, lacks effective treatment. Its sensational nature has been exploited in countless films, novels, and other artistic works as a gimmick and selling point, generally doing quite well unless executed poorly.

As you might have guessed, Mo Tan, 21 years old, suffers from multiple personality disorder. The reason he's currently at home, preparing to log into the latest virtual reality game, rather than muttering to himself in front of a mirror in a mental institution, boils down to two main factors.

First: he diagnosed himself. After extensive research and self-assessment, Mo Tan was confident in his diagnosis by the age of thirteen.

Second: he's intelligent. Despite suffering from such a unique and difficult-to-control condition, Mo Tan has managed to conceal it well, preventing anyone from noticing anything amiss. To give you an idea of his intelligence...

Incidentally, the information Mo Tan consulted wasn't the basic knowledge readily available on a smartphone, but rather confidential data held by major medical institutions both domestically and abroad. He even hacked into police databases more than once to gain a more detailed understanding of various cases.

Of course, he has no arrest record.

In short, it's complicated.

Instead of launching into a lengthy introduction here, I prefer to gradually reveal his situation through the story. So, let's return to the narrative...

[Want to try living another way? Here, you can possess your truest self!]

Mo Tan repeated the slogan emblazoned on the gaming pod, which was also Innocent World's promotional tagline, in his mind, and chuckled self-deprecatingly, "As a broke and skeptical mental patient, what was I thinking when I bought you..."

He stood up, stretched slightly, and then murmured, "Well, let's start the experiment. If the official claims weren't exaggerated, then the truth will soon be revealed..."

With that, he opened the gaming pod, but didn't immediately lie down. Instead, he closed his eyes slightly and began to take deep breaths.

After a moment, Mo Tan's demeanor shifted from its usual rebellious air to one of gentleness and serenity, a transformation so profound that it was immediately noticeable... The kid had probably split.

Indeed, Mo Tan's personality had changed. However, this personality was somewhat special, almost a product of his giving up on self-treatment (no mistake), and the one he used most of the time over the years—the dominant personality.

He then lay down in the gaming pod, set the sleep and wake-up times, and switched the AI's voice to a calm and soothing female tone before closing his eyes.

[Mental connection detected. Synchronizing personal information...]

[Innocent World welcomes you. Character creation process will now begin...]

After a short period of light sleep, Mo Tan found himself on a platform carved with countless patterns, surrounded by nothingness. Myriad colorful and beautiful patterns flickered in the void. In a short time, he recognized familiar constellations, plants, human outlines, as well as geometric patterns and mythical beast images he had never seen before...

"Hmm, the realism is high," Mo Tan murmured, assessing the space and his current physical sensations. "It said 'Character creation process will now begin,' not 'Please create a character.' So, it's as I expected..."

Before he could finish, nine different colored orbs appeared in the void, accompanied by a not-unpleasant whistling sound that grew louder and louder. By the time Mo Tan realized what was happening, he was surrounded by a circle of towering gates.

"Uh?" Slightly taken aback by the lack of system prompts, Mo Tan looked around and muttered, "Am I supposed to pick one to go through myself? If that's the case, how is that different from choosing actively?"

He said this because he could see that each gate was inscribed with four distinct characters, corresponding to the different auras they emitted...

Without hesitation, he walked directly toward the gate closest to him. It was a dark red gate, faintly emitting black mist, like the entrance to hell, flanked by skeletons and pools of blood, exceptionally flashy.

"Alright, let me create a character, experience thirty thousand yuan's worth, and then log off and return it," Mo Tan muttered as he reached out. He found that his seemingly weak push unleashed a deafening roar, and then... the gate collapsed...

It felt like some creature that realized it was cornered, unable to bear the humiliation, committed suicide!

"Hey, hey, hey!" Mo Tan looked down at the wreckage, his lips twitching. "That's a bit much... How much did you not want me to go in! Couldn't you have just kept yourself shut so I couldn't push you open? Did I offend the gate that much!"

Despite his words, a smile appeared on his face. The scene hadn't made him feel annoyed or disappointed. On the contrary, he would have been disappointed if Mo Tan had been able to push open the gate labeled [Chaotic Evil].

Continuing his steps, he arrived in front of another black and white gate, and was just about to reach out...

BOOM!!

"Hey..."

Mo Tan rolled his eyes, staring at the gate 'lying' on the ground in front of him, unsure what to say. Just now, the thing had suddenly lunged forward, trying to knock him over.

This was a gate filled with unstable energy, labeled [Chaotic Neutral].

"What a characterful alignment," Having gotten the answer he wanted, Mo Tan sauntered over to a gate that was entirely gold with white patterns, and asked, "I assume you won't open for me either, will you?"

The gate inscribed with [Lawful Good] shifted back slightly, subtly and politely expressing its refusal of Mo Tan's ugly... uh, polite rejection.

"Okay, I admit this super-personalized D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) rule has attracted me." Mo Tan moved a few steps to the left, placed his hand on the pure white gate, gently pushed it open, and then walked in as a matter of course.

After his figure disappeared, the gate representing [True Neutral] slowly closed with a series of rumbles.

[Your alignment is—True Neutral. This alignment is permanently irreversible. Calculating your initial talents, race, and abilities.]

In the darkness, Mo Tan heard the system's voice again.

As he expected, the official information for the game Innocent World stated that players' initial alignment would permanently follow their characters, and its specific effects were to be further explored by the players...

As for the official not mentioning that race or talents were determined by the system, this surprised Mo Tan somewhat.

[Calculation complete. Your initial character information is:]

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Level: None

Alignment: True Neutral

Talent: Affinity (Slightly increases the favorability of all unremarkable creatures towards you)

Base Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 5, Intelligence 7, Constitution 5

※Hyperlink※

Strength – Increases physical attack power, encumbrance, specific skill damage

Dexterity – Increases movement speed, dodge chance, theoretical hit rate, specific skill damage

Intelligence – Increases magic damage, mana limit, magic resistance

Constitution – Increases health limit, stamina limit, physical resistance

[Note: What you see is just the tip of the iceberg]

"Okay~ A note basically negates all the description." Mo Tan, unaware of his whereabouts, closed the hyperlink with his consciousness and continued reading.

Visible Attributes: Oratory 5, Charisma 2, Knowledge 8, Leadership 0

"High knowledge should be because I know the D&D rules well, charisma and leadership... okay, I admit I have no temperament." Although Mo Tan didn't click on the hyperlink, that didn't stop him from casually complaining.

Combat Attributes: None

[Please name your character]

Mo Tan thought for a moment and said the words 'Hei Fan', because he knew that this self, who spent most of his time acting as the dominant personality, was not 'Mo Tan' at all. So he randomly took a part from each character of his real name, and then modified the 'Fan' in the word 'ordinary', and came up with such a self-deprecating name.

[Character Name: Hei Fan, please confirm.]

The words 'Hei Fan' appeared at the top of the character information. After all, the system synchronized with the player's thoughts, so there was no nonsense of homophones with different characters. However, it still made another confirmation.

"No need."

[Would you like to adjust your appearance?]

The moment Mo Tan heard this sentence, he suddenly saw himself, dressed in coarse cloth clothes, floating in mid-air.

"No need."

[Character creation complete, Hei Fan of True Neutral alignment, welcome to Innocent World]

The darkness receded, and Mo Tan opened his eyes the moment he regained control of his body.

Snow-white linen sheets came into view, and he found himself lying on a fairly spacious bed.

[Guidance Quest Triggered——]

A semi-transparent small window suddenly appeared in his field of vision, and Mo Tan quickly read the line of small characters on the quest panel: Leave the Green Inn and join the Marshall Territory Self-Governing Army.

A simple, clear, and concise quest.

Mo Tan got off the bed and found that his clothes were exactly the same as when the system asked him if he wanted to adjust his appearance. Then, according to the tutorial he saw in the manual while queuing during the day, he opened the equipment panel with his mind.

There are fourteen equipment slots for characters in Innocent World, namely head, shoulders, cloak, clothes, pants, shoes, wrist guards, gloves, main hand weapon, off-hand weapon, rings (two), amulet, and a special equipment slot. Except for the last one, the difference from the usual mainstream games is not significant.

Mo Tan now only has equipment in the clothes, pants, and shoes slots.

The specific attributes are not listed. If I have to use one sentence to explain it, it is - a linen suit with a total defense of 3.

As for the character and skill bars, he also took a look at them. The former is the same as the initial state, and the latter has nothing yet.

Next, Mo Tan didn't leave the room immediately, because according to his experience, there should be some loot to be found in this kind of place...

Finally, after three rounds of disappointing searches under the bed, explorations of the closet, and furious carpet flipping, Mo Tan finally found something behind a potted plant in the corner of the room.

[A Pack of Novice Potions]

Weight: 0.5kg

Contains: One bottle each of Novice Healing Potion, Mana Potion, and Antidote Potion.

[Note: Why is it hidden in this place?]

"I also want to know... why is it in this place..." Mo Tan, panting, packed the potions into his backpack and left the room. Just a little searching just now had consumed thirty percent of his stamina.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw a humanoid creature with a lizard head carrying an oak barrel trotting past him. When he passed by, he didn't forget to turn his head and give him what was supposed to be a smiling expression: "How did you sleep, guest?"

"Uh, not bad~" Mo Tan raised his hand in response, feeling that this NPC was quite humane, and then went downstairs to the inn lobby.

The time here seemed to be afternoon, but there were only a few people on this floor besides a blonde female elf dozing behind the counter.

Mo Tan thought for a while and decided to say hello first, but before he could get close, the tired-looking elf girl's ears suddenly twitched twice, and she raised her head and lazily said to him: "You woke up right on time. The recruitment office should still be open. Turn left when you go out and keep walking. Good luck."

"Ah?" Mo Tan was a little surprised, after all, he hadn't had time to ask and she had already answered.

"Ah what ah." The elf twitched her ears and scratched the corner of her eye with her slender finger: "Didn't you say when you checked in late last night that you planned to try your luck at the Self-Governing Army this afternoon?"

Mo Tan probably understood at this moment, nodded slightly to show his respect: "Thank you, I'm just about to leave."

"You're welcome~" The young landlady of the Green Inn waved her hand: "You don't have to be so anxious. The recruitment meeting will last for three days. It doesn't matter if you miss the first day. You can stay here for another night, of course, you have to pay extra~"

Mo Tan thanked her again, then turned around and walked out of the inn door. The air outside was fresh and dry, and the fragrance of the soil revitalized his spirit.

"At least I don't have to worry about losing health due to air quality here." Mo Tan sighed slightly, as if the smog he had inhaled in reality for twenty years had shortened his lifespan by many years. Then he strode into the faint golden afterglow cast by the setting sun.

Chapter 1: End