On the outskirts of Saint Petersburg, beside the Fontanka Canal.
An old man in a black trench coat sat on a bench by the road, glancing at his watch as though waiting for something.
At that moment, two young men around seventeen or eighteen, wearing baseball caps and dribbling a basketball, passed by him. Their excited expressions suggested they were discussing something.
"Have you heard? The Virtual Reality System is entering closed beta!"
"I heard about it ages ago. It's in Jinling, right? Damn it, I really fucking want to go."
"Forget it. Nobodies like us with no followers and no buzz won't get a chance. I refuse to believe they don't have reserved slots. By the way, did you watch Rant God James's stream? He said on YouTube that if Starry Sky Technology's virtual reality technology was really like the one in SAO, he'd eat his keyboard."
"Haha, so what happened?"
"No idea, but I heard that after he got back from Hua Nation, he ordered a chocolate keyboard from a cake shop."
"Hahahaha!"
The air was filled with cheer as the two young men's laughter and chatter gradually faded into the distance.
Professor Faltings watched their retreating backs, and the corners of his brows rose slightly.
Jinling?
He had not expected to hear such a familiar word in this foreign land.
Thinking of that person, a nostalgic expression appeared on Faltings's face.
As for things like virtual reality and YouTube, he ignored them entirely.
Ever since smartphones appeared, old fossils like them had gradually fallen behind the younger generation. Learning about something even trendier than smartphones was probably beyond his energy even if he had the interest.
Just then, a middle-aged man whose beard and hair were untidy, with cheap-looking shopping bags hanging all over him, stopped in