Facing the mirror, Chu Guang took a deep breath, straightened his collar, and tried to make himself look sufficiently authoritative.
Three days had already passed since that day.
In a few minutes, it would be time for the players to log into the Game.
As for this blue jacket he was wearing, it was the same one he had been wearing when he first arrived in this world long ago.
Old Charlie on Bet Street had once told him that the residents coming out of the shelter seemed to all wear this.
Chu Guang practiced again, using a mirror he had found outside.
The nature of this "new job" was completely different from the sales job he used to do—smiles like a breath of spring and polite attitudes shouldn't appear on a Manager's face at all.
After all, this was the Wasteland, where the law of the jungle prevailed.
To survive in this wasteland, his image didn't have to be that of a tough iron-blooded man, but at least it should give enough confidence and security.
Touching the lines of his cheeks, Chu Guang pondered in his mind whether he should carve a scar on his forehead.
Or maybe just style his hair into a punk Mohawk?
After all, this was the Wasteland, where the law of the jungle prevailed.
It would affect the sense of immersion.
As Chu Guang, still playing with his look in the mirror, raised his chin expressionlessly.
"According to the data I looked up, NPCs in the Game usually don't refer to themselves as NPCs."
Chu Guang's expression froze slightly, and he cleared his throat lightly, saying,
"Of course I know..."
Facing the mirror, he muttered again.
"...I am the manager of Shelter No. 404."
The appointed time should have almost arrived.
Three hours ago, the cultivation chamber had already completed the synthesis of the clone.
And he had agreed on Penguin with four "lucky" players who got the beta testing opportunity that before 9 PM Beijing time, they would wear their helmets, find a comfortable position to lie flat or sideways, and log in on time at 9 PM.
As Chu Guang was thinking about how he should make his entrance in front of the players, suddenly, a "ding" sound echoed in his mind.
Following that, a line of text appeared before him.
Chu Guang's heart tightened slightly.
"Holy, holy, holy, holy! Incredible!"
In a nondescript room next to the resident hall's living area, four cultivation chambers unlocked simultaneously, opening their semi-transparent chamber doors.
Sitting up from the opened cultivation chambers, Ye Wei looked around, dumbfounded, his face filled with surprise and even bewilderment.
Is this the Game world?!
Until a minute ago, he was still wondering if this could be a meticulously planned joke.
However, just as he lay on the bed with his fully charged helmet about to fall asleep, a light pierced through the darkness toward him.
When he opened his eyes again, he was already in a strange room.
Covered in a damp mess.
As if he had just been fished out of a pool.
The air blowing from the vent above fell on his shoulders, and he could distinctly feel the liquid evaporating bit by bit, taking away his body warmth.
There was also a faint odor accompanying it.
Ye Wei suddenly gasped, widening his eyes.
All five senses intact!
This immersive feeling filled his eyes with tears.
He couldn't believe that in his lifetime, he would truly witness fully immersive virtual reality technology!
This was beyond incredible!
The other three players who had sat up from the cultivation chambers also simultaneously showed shocked expressions.
"Holy, holy, holy, holy."
"...I actually thought it was a joke."
"Damn! It really is fully immersive!"
"Has technology advanced this much already??? Damn, why haven't I ever seen this in the news?!"
"Hiss... even the sense of pain is damn real." A player pinched himself.
"Who the hell are you? An NPC?"
"An NPC my ass, I'm Old White! 'White Horse Passing a Gap!' And who are you?"
"What the fuck? Boss?! I'm Wild Wind! Level Eight Great Gale! Why do you look like that? Hahahaha, you're killing me!"
"Get lost! Call me 'boss' again, and I'll show you what rough means... Hey, this game is pretty interesting. Did it already set appearances? Wonder if we can edit characters in the public version."
Old White pinched himself too. Despite wincing in pain, his face was filled with joy.
Dreams turned into reality!
Ye Wei, who was on the neighboring bed, stared wide-eyed, unmoving, trying to digest the shock.
Besides him, another guy sat unmoved, who seemed to be Long Days Ahead from the group.
He stared pensively between his legs, apparently deep in thought about something.
"Is the character setting defaulted to male? No character customization phase. I mean... can I create a female character?"
"Damn, you're quite saucy, aren't you? You must be Night Ten."
"What the fuck?! Fang Chang?! Good brother... you get what I mean, right?"
"Beat it, I was just saying. This guy next to us is Night Ten, right... You all came?"
As the three of them looked over, Ye Wei finally snapped out of it.
Realizing he was still naked, he quickly grabbed the uniform hanging beside the cultivation chamber and threw it over his head, casually responding.
"Yeah, just arrived... How do we play this game? Isn't there a tutorial for newbies?"
"Don't know, we just got here too."
As soon as he finished talking, the door to the room opened.
A man in a blue jacket walked in.
Behind him followed a trash-bin-shaped robot, its tubular body looking somewhat comical yet its streamlined shell and polished silver paint exuded a sci-fi vibe.
All four players stared intensely.
"Just like a real person!"
"Is this really the Game world?"
"It's too realistic!"
"Quiet," Chu Guang halted the noisy chatter, glancing around at the four players in the room before slowly speaking, "Welcome to Shelter No. 404."
"I am the Manager here."
An instantaneous silence filled the air.
The four players, unexpectedly well-behaved, gazed at him holding their breath, afraid to miss any plot detail.
It appeared his presence had successfully taken control of the scene.
Chu Guang breathed a sigh of relief internally and continued according to the script he had prepared.
"Firstly, I have some good news—the War is over."
"But the bad news is, our world is unrecognizable. If you're hoping to grab your bags and go home to find mom, that's obviously not possible."
"It's the two-hundredth year post-apocalypse, and fortunately, we've survived the toughest years. Standing here, you're luckier than 12 billion people. And now, I need you to quickly understand the current situation and fulfill your oath under the United Human flag—rebuild our homeland!"
"Beside me is my assistant, its name is Xiao Qi. If you have any questions about the shelter or anything unclear, feel free to ask it."
That was the opening speech.
When the next batch of players came, Chu Guang would say it again.
After all, it had been painstakingly crafted.
And on Xiao Qi's part, what could be disclosed and what couldn't had already been briefed by Chu Guang, so there wasn't much worry about slipping up.
Even if something did slip up, it wouldn't matter.
Any unanswerable questions could be dismissed with "It's just a game setting." These days, what setting is perfect? If someone insisted on nitpicking, even the national news broadcast could be found buggy.
Seeing that Chu Guang had finally finished, the player whose registered nickname was Night Ten quickly asked.
"Could you tell me where Brother Guang is? I mean, the game planner who gave us the helmets."
"I don't understand what you're saying," Chu Guang replied expressionlessly.
"How do we log out of the game?" Old White followed up.
"Go back and lie down in the cultivation chamber, and you can log out properly."
There was another way to log out—by fainting, sleeping, dying, or other abnormal states, but Chu Guang certainly didn't want them to experiment at will.
Lying in the cultivation chamber was energy-efficient, while handling bodies lying around would be problematic.
"What about the levels? Where's the player system interface? I can't seem to find it."
Wild Wind had just voiced this question when Fang Chang immediately interjected.
"Where's the character customization system? Can't we change the character settings? And about the character's gender—"
"Enough, those are questions you should ask the planner... cough, it's not your turn to ask questions yet."
With a face full of frustration, Chu Guang sternly interrupted their endless queries. He flung four booklets into their hands without explanation.
"I will show you around here and tell you what you need to beware of."
"Especially what is allowed and what you shouldn't even think about."
(Thanks to "εIrnaз" and "Kakarot from the Future" for their generous donations~~~~~)