4 The Arrival of The Gamers

A gentle breeze caressed upon his cheeks. 

When Sun Shuai opened his eyes, he was stunned at the view before him. 

It was surreal. 

The breeze in the air seemed to be real, with a hint of earthy scent. A large stretch of hills stood before him along with the luscious trees.

He still remembered being in the game room in his five-story villa in the city center before he entered the game, fiddling around his virtual reality game equipment that he had spent tens of thousands of bucks on. Then, just as he put on his VR headset, the scenery before him had changed and he seemed to have arrived in a different world. 

Everything felt unbelievably inconceivable, yet it did not feel fake at all. 

"I don't remember it being so realistic when I played my other games! How did they make this feel so real? Did they use some kind of human sympathetic nervous system technology to do this?" 

Sun Shuai remembered reading a neurology article once that explained how the human body formed images and perceived senses of the outside world through the transfer of neurons. Now that he was experiencing such a surreal virtual reality, he realized only such virtual reality devices could transfer electronic signals to stimulate the brain to form such imagery. 

"D*mn, this online virtual reality game is really something. Is it possible that I have transmigrated?"

Still stunned and confused, Sun Shuai heard a rough voice from behind him. He turned around and saw something cylindrical had appeared before his eyes that resembled a bucket. No, it seemed more like an oil barrel. 

"D*mn, d*mn, Journey To The Other World is really pretty d*mn amazing!" 

Soon after, another voice sounded not far away from Sun Shuai. A young man who seemed to be in his twenties, clearly equally amazed at the surreal imagery before him, could not help blurting out curses of amazement as the wind blew through his long hair. 

"Now this is what I call a true virtual reality MMO game! The experience is indeed extraordinary!" 

Xu Zhe looked at the three figures in front of him and looked back down at himself. His clothes on his body did not seem to have changed, just the scenery around him. He was no longer in the tiny 70 square meters house he had painstakingly worked hard to pay for, but instead, in the middle of the wilderness. 

"Oh my, where am I?" 

Then, a slightly more delicate voice caught the attention of the four men. Each of them looked in the direction of the voice and saw a scantily clad girl standing on the spot with a blank expression. Her curvy figure and long, smooth legs were accentuated by the short hot pants she was wearing, and the four men ranging from 20 to 30 years old could not help but stare. 

"Erm… We're all players, right? Why don't we go around and introduce ourselves first?"

Xu Zhe let out an awkward cough and looked at the people in front of him, then started speaking first, "I'm Xu Zhe. I guess we're all inside the online virtual reality MMO game now? Journey To The Other World?" 

Once Xu Zhe stopped speaking, everyone exchanged a weird glance with each other. "Does this game not have a system to insert our names?" 

"Is there an NPC?" 

"Doesn't seem like it. I didn't see any cutscenes or any personalization page to change my character's looks, race, or job. It seems like I was just directly brought in from reality."

"That's dark technology!" 

The five of them looked at each other again before glancing around to check their surrounding environment, realizing they were indeed in the middle of the wilderness. There was a stretch of hills in the distance and there seemed to be no sign of any other living creature or anything else aside from the few of them in the plains. 

"Hello everyone, I'm Ma Xiaoling. The Ma in 'Troublesome', not the Ma in 'riding a horse'."1 The girl who wore very little clothing had not expected to be brought into the game wearing the clothes she was wearing in reality, so she felt extremely embarrassed under the men's stares. 

"Hello, I'm Zhuang Dafa." The fatty who went next was over two hundred catties and his body was shaped like an oil barrel, but the honest and genuine smile on his face made him seem harmless despite his rugged appearance.

"Liu Chuanfeng." The young man with long hair and skinny legs flicked his slightly greasy hair and introduced himself coldly. 

"Sun Shuai." 

Sun Shuai introduced himself softly with his real name. His attention was not focused on the few people around him, but instead, he kept checking his body and his surroundings. First, he pinched his arm and felt a shot of pain, which meant his body sensitivity was at 100%. Then, he bent down and touched the soil and flowers. His senses were clear as usual and the small details felt exactly the same as the real world.

… 

In a dark cave. 

Not far away from the wooden prison, the pig-headed monster was still sound asleep. 

Meng Yang huddled in the innermost corner of the wooden prison, growing increasingly worried. 

He and the old man were the only ones left in the cave now, and he had a feeling that when this pig-headed monster woke up, it would treat him as a sumptuous meal. 

After all, the old man did not seem to have much meat in his body. Unless the pig-headed monster was already sick of meat and craved ribs. 

"Ballie, aren't my summoned creatures here already? Show me where they are now!" 

Meng Yang called out to the Summoning Pixie. After his first summoning through SMS had failed, he tried again by initiating another summoning through a game, an online virtual reality MMO game. 

He had first launched a website that would initiate pop-up windows in online gamers' game interface, thinking that if web pages with mottos like "If you're a bro, come at me" could survive, the gimmick he had come up with for the online virtual reality MMO game must be able to attract some attention.

The most important key was the pop-up windows. More people would notice it in comparison to the text messages sent earlier, and due to the fact that there was an official website, it was more likely that some people might stay and have a look. 

As long as one agreed and signed the contract with him, he could summon the person over. After all, they would not die anyway. 

Aside from that, Meng Yang figured that with the huge number of game players in the world, it was impossible not to recruit at least five people to fulfill his summoning quota. 

Sure enough, Meng Yang closed his eyes to access the Summoning Pixie. Soon, he had a bird's-eye view and saw the five silly figures standing in the middle of the wilderness. There were four men and one woman, all of whom were marveling at the vividness of their surrounding environment. 

Meng Yang had earlier realized that there were still many processes to make in order to let players believe that this Other World was indeed a game. For example, cutscenes, character personalization, character role input, character attributes, character panel customization, and character occupation.

However, he did not have the time to set all of those up, let alone the world views and maps. He was still locked in a wooden cage and did not have the slightest idea of what kind of world he was in, hence it would be impossible for him to make something up in such a short amount of time.

Well, a 100% online virtual reality MMO game had to feel real enough. 

He had the ability to summon living creatures through an online virtual reality MMO game as a medium, but it would take a lot of time to perfect the other details as such. 

What he needed to do now was to get those few people over first. No, he had completed the first step of summoning them over, the urgent task on-hand now was to guide them to save him. Many offline games start off their game storylines like the current situation anyway, and it was a beta trial, after all, so he would just have to fumble along the way and figure things out.

"Oh yeah, I shouldn't let them stand around stupidly anymore. It's time to issue them their mission." 

It had only been a few minutes but he noticed there were a few of them who were already growing impatient as they kept glancing around. He must quickly gather their attention and have them focus on their first mission. 

Through the vision of the Summoning Pixie, Meng Yang was able to see the wilderness the five of them were at, which was an area he had never been to. 

He had his reason for placing them far away from where he was at. Meng Yang was afraid that this group of people would straightaway KO under the hands of the pig-headed monster. That would affect their in-game experience too, so there must be a preparation process. 

After Meng Yang issued the mission, he made a mark on his location. Since there was a dependent relationship between the summoner and the summoned creature, he only had to fix a small setting so that these people could locate him. 

Once everything was settled, Meng Yang crumbled back in the wooden cage as he waited patiently. 

"The mission has begun. My babies, come save me!" 

… 

"Woah, it's really realistic! The simulation effect is really 100% and it doesn't feel like a game at all. Honestly, it feels like I'm in a whole other world now!" 

The long-haired young man who was fighting with a primary school student for a seat at the internet cafe could not hold back his amazement. He had tried multiple games himself, whether it was AR or VR, but those were nothing compared to this. 

"There are so many delicate details, I can even see every strand of my hair." The two hundred catty heavy Zhuang Dafa who resembled an oil barrel raised his thick arm and gestured to the crowd before him. Then, he grabbed onto the belt that was barely visible below his belly. "The only thing I don't like is that they straightaway keyed in our body data into our characters. We should be able to customize our character." 

"It's true to reality simulation, I guess," Xu Zhe suggested. They were currently in the middle of the wilderness that was surrounded by mountains and hills, and he could hear the vague chirping and buzzing sounds of birds and insects. If it was not for the fact that he had known in advance he was entering a game, he would have thought he had transmigrated. 

"This game development company must have used dark technology." After wandering around the area for a while, the look of shock remained on Sun Shuai's face. Born of second-generation wealth in addition to being an avid gamer, he was more knowledgeable in cutting-edge games than many others. 

After taking a few steps, he hardly noticed any flaws. Then, he jogged another few steps forward, and there were no signs of borders or any edged wall zone. Everything seemed to expand indefinitely. 

"Who cares if it's dark technology as long as it's fun," the long-haired young man said excitedly, his expression immediately loosened up. He was not going to bother about the game development company if the game was good. 

"Then… What are we supposed to do now?" 

In the midst of their heated discussion, the girl dressed in very little clothing asked softly. She had been confused ever since entering the game and she had been studying her surroundings as well, but nothing made sense. 

"Yeah, what are we supposed to do next? There seems to be no official guidance or whatsoever. I don't see a character panel or a map, or anything else!" 

"I doubt the GM wants us to just stay here and wait for nothing." 

"Open the map!" 

Just as everyone was chattering, a digital voice sounded in their ears. 

"Hello strangers, welcome to the Other World!" 

"This game is just a beta version, but it's 100% true simulation!" 

"A new adventure has begun! Please claim your first mission." 

"The main character of this world was unfortunately caught by a pig-headed monster during a trip, and his life is currently at stake. At this very critical moment, the main character has summoned you from across dimensions. Please rescue our main character as soon as possible!" 

[Mission: Battle Line Rescue] 

[Location: A cave 500 meters away from current location] 

With the sound of a prompt tone, the five of them came to a realization as excitement filled their faces. 

They could see a small arrow appearing in front of them, seemingly leading them to move forward. 

"Finally, we know what to do!" Long-haired Liu Chuanfeng jumped up excitedly. 

Zhuang Dafa, being the smart and experienced player asked in confusion, "Is there no reward for this mission?" 

"This is the main storyline, what kind of reward do you expect from a plot mission?" Sun Shuai rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed at the idiotic question. 

"I guess we'll only get our reward after defeating the pig-headed monster. I think I remember this scene from the pop-up window," Xu Zhe said in an encouraging tone, keen on lifting everyone's spirits, "Come on, let's go! We're not newbies anyway, let's not waste any more time. We have five people - a tank, a healer, and a DPS! We're all set!" 

"Who's the healer?" Someone asked2. 

Everyone immediately turned to Ma Xiaoling.