NOVPUBChapter 92: Chapter 91: The New Guest
Chapter 92 -91: The New Guest
An awkward silence fell among the three.
Zhang Zhiyuan had thought the other party would joke it off, but after pondering for a moment, Xue Quan asked, “How do we get there?”
Zhang Zhiyuan couldn’t help but think more highly of him, “Please follow me.”
After going through identity verification and two sealed doors, the three arrived in a bright and spacious room. Originally a testing room, it had been transformed into the new game login location—it was also one of the few rooms that could connect to the external network. Compared to the hidden chamber in the Interpol building, the furnishings in this room were much more complete. They could not only monitor various physical indicators of the participants but also record and analyze multiple aspects such as the memory layers of the brain and brainwaves.
“It feels more like a lab here, and we are the test subjects,” Xue Quan said bluntly.
“Take a seat first, we still have time,” said Zhang Zhiyuan as he approached a computer and sent a message using the phone number from before. Since the network here was based on physical optical fibers and electromagnetic signals were blocked, mobile phones could not be used for messaging directly. “Before we officially enter, I’d like to talk to you about something related to Paradise.”
“I’m all ears,” Xue Quan responded cooperatively.
Zhang Zhiyuan started from the first time he heard of the Paradise game and went on to talk about their hijacking of the train and their dramatic escape. He refrained from reemphasizing the reality of the event or its confidentiality because he believed it was pointless to repeat these in front of the thoroughly vetted third person.
As expected, Xue Quan listened very intently. Although skepticism occasionally flashed across his face, he never showed signs of absurdity or disbelief from beginning to end.
“…So my task is to manage the company that Paradise established in Magnificent Castle?”
“It’s only that Paradise has such a need, but it won’t put all the responsibility on you alone,” Zhang Zhiyuan replied after some thought.
“Because this is a multiplayer game, or should I say, Paradise hopes it still appears to be a game?” Cui Zhen’en suddenly interjected.
“You could think of it that way if you like.”
Xue Quan turned to look at Cui Zhen’en, “Why would Paradise do that?”
“What?” The latter didn’t catch on at once.
“Why does it insist on making the world of Paradise seem like a game?”
“Oh, you’re asking that…” Cui Zhen’en spread out his hands, “Probably because it doesn’t want us to investigate too closely. I should say I haven’t been over there. All the information I have is from Zhiyuan, but if you think about it a little, you’ll realize what it actually means to create something out of thin air in the real world, even if that thing is temporary. Games can do it because they run on program code, so what principle would be needed to achieve that in reality? If it were not gamified, chances are you’d have difficulty even connecting to that result, let alone cooperating with the host’s demands to complete tasks.”
Zhang Zhiyuan found what the other said to be quite reasonable.
Even for him, who had come to believe in the reality of the other world, still felt an inadvertent sense of detachment when faced with the host’s various operations.
Or rather, he had basically come to accept Paradise as a hyper-realistic game taking place in the real world.
At that moment, the computer emitted a beep.
After reading the message, Zhang Zhiyuan nodded at the other two, “Paradise has opened up to us. Now, all you need to do is put on the VR headset.”
“Honestly, it’s really hard to imagine that the vehicle to another world is VR,” Xue Quan lay on a medical bed, picking up the glasses next to him, “It shouldn’t be able to simulate other sensations.”
Indeed, it couldn’t.
The sole purpose of the VR headset was to allow Paradise to see the player himself.
Zhang Zhiyuan thought to himself but did not say it aloud.
“We won’t be separated, will we?” Cui Zhen’en asked with some concern.
“No, based on previous experiences, you’ll see me as soon as you land,” Zhang Zhiyuan put on the headset, “Well then, let’s meet in Paradise.”
A sudden and severe contraction brought on a wave of dizziness.
But he quickly overcame the discomfort.
This time, the bright light came earlier than in previous times.
The first thing he sensed was a faint smell of damp and slightly rotten wooden planks.
Zhang Zhiyuan opened his eyes and slowly sat up, only to discover that he was inside a coffin.
“Paradise is getting more and more outrageous, huh!”
Or was it that players like them who didn’t pay for admission deserved to be treated a notch below the paying players?
“Oh my God! Where is this?” A woman’s scream suddenly came from beside him. He turned his head and saw a grey-haired girl about ten years old struggling to climb out of a coffin, “It stinks… so cold, achoo—there’s actually a sense of touch!”
The expletive “achoo” instantly let Zhang Zhiyuan know the girl’s identity.
“Shh, mind your identity, don’t yell!”
“Are you… Zhang Zhiyuan?”
“Yes, where’s the other comrade?” Zhang Zhiyuan looked around and found the place was actually quite dark, with the only light coming from above, barely illuminating half of the room. Unable to find the third member, he couldn’t help feeling a bit anxious.
Thud thud thud…!
A rhythmic knocking sound suddenly came from one of the coffins.
Zhang Zhiyuan and Cui Zhen’en exchanged glances and hastily made their way in the dark to that coffin, pushing the lid off together with force.
“Huff… Where is this?”
The other person asked the same question as Cui Zhen’en.
“Comrade Xue?”
“It’s me.”
“We’ve arrived,” Zhang Zhiyuan said with a wry smile, “This is Paradise.”
Xue Quan took a few deep breaths, sat up, and looked at his own hands, then touched his face, murmuring softly, “I have to say… all those decades were lived in vain. Humanity actually managed to open a passage to another world.”
“It’s okay, take your time to feel it. Your body should have been replaced, so it’ll take some time to adapt,” Zhang Zhiyuan gently guided.
Regardless of how impressive the background of the person was, everyone was bound to feel skeptical about life when they first entered Paradise — an experience he had already gone through personally.
“I have no problem controlling my body, and there’s no delay,” Cui Zhen’en commented while moving his limbs, “Next is the taste test… Yuck, this moss is disgusting, like rotting sludge, which means there’s no deviation in memory regarding the perception of smell and taste.”
Er… But some people are naturally quicker to adapt, Zhang Zhiyuan silently added in his mind.
“Strange…” He suddenly realized that apart from the three of them, there were no other sounds in the room — this was different from past situations. Where was Zhou Zhi? Where was Qianyuan Meiko?
Just as he was pondering, a familiar figure silently materialized before them.
“Welcome to Paradise.” The host still wore that mask, “I hope the new login location hasn’t confused you.”
Xue Quan and Cui Zhen’en jumped in shock!
Zhang Zhiyuan quickly explained, “It’s just a virtual image, the host can contact us anytime after we enter the game.” After he finished speaking, he looked at the apparition, “What about the others? Are they absent this time?”
“The others have already entered the game. You three are the last batch.”
What? Zhang Zhiyuan’s heart skipped a beat. Other players had already started the mission? Why didn’t Paradise send out a separate notification this time? He suddenly thought of a critical question, “How much time has passed since our train robbery?”
“It’s already the eighth day,” the host replied.
Zhang Zhiyuan silently remarked that it was as he suspected! He had returned to reality for just over three days, yet the time difference on the other side had almost doubled! However, the rate of time flow had changed compared to the second game, seeming to be slightly slower.
Recalling the third entry where there was almost no time difference, he sensed that he had begun to grasp the key to the changes in Paradise’s timeline.
