A Cat Kept It Real

Looking at the drink bottle near the edge of the cabinet, the tabby silently reached out a wicked little paw.

Most people who had owned cats had probably encountered this: whether it was bottles, jars, or other small objects on a table or cabinet, if a cat was nearby, especially one that couldn't keep its paws to itself...

Then the object was as good as doomed. Just like the drink bottle now, it had appeared somewhere it shouldn't have been.

Under the paw's persistent nudging, the bottle inched toward the edge of the cabinet.

With a bang, the drink inside splashed everywhere, and some of it landed right on the cheap power strip Xiahou had bought.

The liquid slowly seeped into the power strip. With a soft pop, a wisp of smoke rose from it.

An alarm suddenly sounded from the gaming pod. "Power failure detected. Emergency protocol activated. Staff have been contacted for urgent on-site maintenance." Then it fell silent.

Xiahou, however, showed no reaction inside the gaming pod. At the same time, sparks began to flicker from the power strip.

The tabby that had caused it all had already run outside the room and settled in to eat melon and watch the show (⓿_⓿).

After everything went black before Xiahou's eyes, he found himself in a shabby little alley.

His first reaction upon opening his eyes was, Where am I?

Then he remembered, I was just using the gaming pod. He lowered his head and looked himself over.

Hmm, a white T-shirt, sweatpants, and a pair of skate shoes. Standard beginner equipment.

The only difference was the game interface around the edges of his vision.

"Not bad. It's got a strong cyberpunk vibe. It looks just like a first-person game."

Then he smacked his forehead. "Wait, I am playing a game! Damn, I'm a dumbass ~ (￣▽￣)~*"

Xiahou looked around. It was an utterly ordinary little alley, filthy and rundown. There were hardly any places like this left in China. This really was the glamorous America.

Then he tried to bring up the game panel. First, he waved and tapped his hands around at random, but that didn't work. Next, he called out, "Panel! Where's the panel? Where's my game panel? System? Daddy? Fuck!"

But that didn't work either. Finally, he thought, This crappy game doesn't even have a game panel. How the hell am I supposed to play?

But an information box suddenly appeared before his eyes:

Name: Xiahou D Diaomao

Strength: 3 (normal human: 5)

Agility: 2 (normal human: 5)

Intelligence: 4 (normal human: 5)

Initial assets: 100 energy points

Abilities: none

Current main quest: none

Current side quest: none

Black lines appeared all over Xiahou's face as he said, "Am I even worse than a battle power of five weakling? Never mind strength and agility, but what the hell is with 4 intelligence?"

"So normal people have 5 intelligence, and I'm freaking mentally deficient? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻"

"And are you serious about the name? I was just messing around earlier! How did it become my name?"

"System! Get out here! The two of us need to have a proper chat! (눈益눈)"

After raging helplessly for a while without getting any response, Xiahou could only grumble, "No wonder they need people to test it! This is a half-finished, brain-dead version! It isn't intelligent at all! And the main thing is, why the hell is my intelligence only 4?! Ah~"

"Forget it! I'm not getting mad at an idiot! That said, the environment is pretty realistic. The way it feels, the temperature, the smell! (´ཀ`" ∠)"

As he spoke, he went around touching and examining everything nearby. When he came to a pile of indescribable matter, the overpowering smell made him throw up on the spot.

Although he only threw up a little water, Xiahou felt an inexplicable burst of delight.

"You can actually throw up in this game! Then does that mean I can..."

As he spoke, he moved his hands to his waistband...

After some trying, he stood there in a pair of white boxer briefs, staring up at the sky.

"Tch, I thought this game was completely realistic! It won't even let me take my underwear off. What am I supposed to do when I need to pee or poop?"

As he spoke, he walked over to the corner of a wall and thought about peeing. A stream of liquid appeared out of thin air in front of his boxer briefs. Looking at the puddle splashed against the corner, Xiahou could only express how he felt with Brother Jing's standard meme expression.

"So, does this count as a superpower? Other people strike a cow through a mountain, but I pee through empty space? (?_?)"

"Come to think of it, if I can't take them off, can I damage them? If not, aren't they even better than Hulk's pants? His still stretch, but mine should let me pee and poop anywhere, right? No, that should be change size anywhere."

After circling the area, he finally found a badly chipped knife in a pile of garbage. Xiahou picked it up and stabbed it straight into his underwear.

With a scream of "Ah!" a trickle of blood seeped from where the knife had gone in.

"Argh, that hurts! Is this a hundred percent pain experience? Is this game that sick? Ah, it hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts!"

As he complained and howled, he quickly called up the panel in his mind. It's a game, so I should be able to adjust the pain, right? That's how it always works in the novels I read. Surely this game isn't that brutal either.

After poking around the panel, he finally found the pain adjustment setting in a corner. But it could only be lowered to thirty percent. Thinking that any reduction was better than nothing, Xiahou dragged it straight to the minimum without a moment's hesitation.

"Phew~ That's much better. Now it just feels like getting a vaccine shot. But I can't believe it won't go down to zero or one. This game really is garbage!"

"But there are no main quests or side quests. What am I supposed to do now? Free exploration? A sandbox game?"

Pondering what to do, Xiahou walked out of the alley in his boxer briefs, the knife still sticking out of him, without so much as looking at the clothes and pants he had taken off. He was ready to explore the world outside.

Outside the alley was a somewhat rundown street, with only a few pedestrians scattered along it.

The pedestrians looked at the bizarre Xiahou, particularly the knife sticking out of his leg, and went out of their way to avoid him. Clearly, they didn't want to invite trouble. He looked like he'd been robbed, and it was best not to get close.

Xiahou, meanwhile, was just wondering why the NPCs in this game were so strange. Didn't NPCs in normal games only act according to their preset programming?

Why do the ones here all seem intelligent? And what's with the way they're looking at me?

Why do their looks seem so full of pity, and why are they avoiding me? Do I have some kind of aura? He gave no thought at all to his current appearance or the wound on his leg, which was still bleeding profusely.

Meanwhile, thick black smoke had begun pouring out of Xiahou's bedroom, and the tabby had fled from the smoke to the living room.

The surrounding residents had also noticed what was happening and called the fire department.

But inside the bedroom, fierce flames had appeared along with the black smoke. Xiahou lay motionless in the gaming pod, as if the thick smoke and intense heat around him didn't exist.

(This book doesn't have a constitution stat. By default, when strength or agility increases, constitution automatically rises to the corresponding level. Nor does a stronger constitution mean greater recovery ability. Strength leans toward explosive power, agility toward reaction speed, and intelligence toward spirit and abilities, without increasing IQ. I won't explain it much more later on. Anyway, what I say goes (*￣3￣)╭.)