Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~
The shrill doorbell kept drilling into Ren Suo's ears. He muttered and rubbed his eyes, then turned over and continued sleeping.
The doorbell kept ringing, and Ren Suo felt a patch of dampness on his right cheek—his drool had run onto the pillow, and he touched it when he turned his face.
The strange disgust and the irritation of the doorbell finally drove away Ren Suo's drowsiness. He wiped the mysterious fluid from the corner of his mouth, put on his slippers, walked to the door, unlocked the security lock, and opened it to find a delivery worker in a red-and-white uniform outside.
"Your package," the delivery worker said. "Please sign here."
Ren Suo remembered something, and excitement instantly surged through him. He hurriedly opened the security door, signed for the package, carried the large box inside, and eagerly dug out a knife to open it!
"Hehehe—" Ren Suo rubbed his palms together, fire blazing in his eyes. He used the knife to cut through the plastic straps around the box, preparing with a devout heart to marry the dream bride he had longed for for twenty-two years—
A home video game console!
As a young man who had grown up healthy, possessed sound values, and had nowhere to vent his daily energy, Ren Suo, like most people, yearned for a game console he could play however he wanted.
But his family had not been well-off when he was little, and his parents had not bought him a game console so that he could focus on his studies.
By the time he entered university, coursework and internships meant that he had only bought a laptop for work and studying. Besides, he had no spare money for games, and there was nowhere suitable to put a game console in his dorm.
Now, he was a fourth-year student preparing to work. He had found a job and was working on his graduation project. Moreover, Ren Suo's uncle owned a property in Lianjiang City and had let him rent an apartment in a residential complex in the city center at a very affordable price—half gift, half rent. He could be considered settled in Lianjiang City now.
With a few months left before graduation and starting work, Ren Suo used the little money he had earned during his internship to buy a Hell 4 Game Console from an online shopping platform, intending to properly experience the thrill of gaming and enjoy the hottest blockbuster titles of the day!
However, when Ren Suo opened the delivery box, what appeared before him was not the Hell 4 packaging he had seen countless times online, but a...
Round black steel box?
He hesitantly pulled out the round box. His palm was met with an icy touch, like a cool stream dispersing the heat from his body—Lianjiang City had already begun to grow hot by mid-March. To save on electricity, Ren Suo set the air conditioner to turn off after an hour and a half even on summer nights, so he would naturally wake up in the morning from the heat.
The box was about the same size as a tin of blue cookie biscuits, but Ren Suo could not find a lid. It looked like a perfectly seamless steel mold.
However, when Ren Suo weighed it in his hand, it did not feel particularly heavy. It definitely was not solid steel inside.
Ren Suo turned the round box over and saw a twistable indentation in the center of the other side—like the knob on those scammy capsule toy machines. Without hesitation, he turned the knob inside the indentation.
A loud clank startled Ren Suo. He saw cross-shaped cracks suddenly appear across the upper and lower surfaces of the round box. Mist like dry-ice vapor poured from the cracks, and the box came apart, revealing the object inside.
Ren Suo picked up the black steel round lid with the knob and examined it. He found mortise-and-tenon joints around the inner edge. When he had turned it just now, he had pulled out the central support from the mechanism, which was why the box had come apart.
Ren Suo could understand how it worked, but a box meant to hold things had gone through so much trouble just to create that mist-spreading, pretentious effect. Whoever made this box really had too much time on their hands.
Inside the box sat a strange round machine. It was also pitch-black, and its exterior looked like countless vinyl records stacked together.
Ren Suo scraped the side of the machine with his fingernail. He felt his nail pass over layer after layer of metal cross-sections, confirming there were gaps between every "layer." The gaps were ridiculously tiny, though—too small even for a fingernail to fit into.
"This thing isn't a Hell 4, is it?"
Ren Suo was utterly baffled. He immediately took out his phone, found the online shopping platform's customer service, and sent a message: "Hello."
Customer Service: "Dear Mao Mao user, hello. This is the official customer service for Hell Games. The Hell 4 Eternal Unrivaled Limited Collector's Bundle is now available for preorder. (Click for details); popular games are 50% off. (Click for details); Hell Store online top-up cards. (Click for details); deliveries are handled by Mao Mao Express, while Mission Accomplished deliveries to remote areas may take up to ten days. To check delivery information, (click for details)."
Ren Suo: "Are you there?"
Customer Service: "Hello, I'm here. How can I help you?"
Ren Suo: "Here's the thing. I discovered that the Hell 4 Game Console I received doesn't seem to be the model I wanted to buy..."
Customer Service: "All right, please wait a moment. I'll check that for you now..."
Thirty seconds later, customer service sent a message: "Dear customer, it appears that when you purchased the Hell 4 Game Console, you automatically applied a 888-off-2000 coupon. However, the Mao Mao platform did not apply the discount when processing payment. When the information was sent to the backend, it was identified as a purchase of the 2888 Hell 4 PRO version, so the Lianjiang warehouse directly shipped a Hell 4 PRO."
Ren Suo: "Huh? You sent me a Hell 4 PRO?"
Customer Service: "Yes. If you are dissatisfied, you can return it through the Mao Mao platform's after-sales service. However, the 888-off-2000 coupon you used will not be restored. Hell Games is willing to give you a 500-off-2000 store coupon as compensation."
Ren Suo looked at the round game console on the table, hesitated for a moment, and replied, "I'll try using it first. If I don't like it, I'll return it."
"Certainly. Returns are unconditional within seven days. Once your return is successfully processed, Hell Games will automatically send you the coupon. If you like the product, please take a photo and leave a five-star review~"
Ren Suo put away his phone and began fiddling with the new game console.
Yet he still had some doubts—Ren Suo did know about the Hell 4 PRO. In fact, as the newest game console released that year, the Hell 4 PRO was an upgraded version of the Hell 4 with more powerful performance. It had only gone on sale in the Xuan Kingdom two days ago. Ren Suo had considered whether to buy the Hell 4 or the Hell 4 PRO, but given his empty wallet, he had chosen the Hell 4.
But he remembered that the Hell 4 PRO did not look like this either!
"Whatever. I'll try it first. I can return it anyway..." With the mindset that free gains were not to be passed up, Ren Suo began studying the console.
He quickly discovered three problems.
First, he could not find the game console's power plug, nor could he see any port for one.
Second, he could not find an audio-video output cable, nor could he see any port for one.
Third, he could not find a controller.
"Is this some fucking oversized piece of junk?!" Ren Suo was practically dizzy. Just as he was about to complain to customer service, the doorbell rang again.
He opened the door and found another Mao Mao Express courier outside.
"Your package. Please sign for it."
"Another package?" Ren Suo was somewhat confused. After signing, he brought the package inside and swiftly opened it with his knife.
Three seconds later, the packaging box for a Hell 4 PRO Game Console appeared before him.
Before you continue