Chapter 7: The Demised Board of Directors

Chu Cheng sat in the classroom, his chin resting on his hand, looking listless. He yawned about five times per minute on average. It wasn't until the linear algebra teacher called his name that he became slightly more awake.

"Are you that sleepy?" Chu Cheng's nearby friend glanced at him.

His friend's name was Wei Futong, a middle school classmate of Chu Cheng's. Although they weren't particularly close during middle school, fate had it that they ended up attending the same university and majoring in the same field. Over time, they started chatting, playing video games together, going to the restroom, and gradually developed a brotherly bond.

That's how male friendship works, simple and straightforward.

Even though they weren't in the same class, they checked each other's course schedules before this semester. They had chosen the exact same classes. Whoever arrived in the classroom first would often save a seat for the other.

"I slept a bit late last night," Chu Cheng casually replied, yawning again.

Wei Futong glanced meaningfully at Chu Cheng's hand, as if he understood something. He leaned in, lowering his voice in a mysterious manner. "Do you have any resources?"

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb. Judging by your appearance, the teacher must have been really good last night, right? How about sharing some with your buddy?"

"I don't have any," Chu Cheng replied.

Seeing Wei Futong's skeptical expression, Chu Cheng couldn't help but laugh and cry.

"I really don't. I was playing games last night, and I slept late," he honestly explained.

Wei Futong looked disappointed and had a look of "Oh, it was just games," before he retreated to the side to play with his phone.

Although Wei Futong also played games, he had no interest in single-player games. He was only interested in competitive games—especially competitive mobile games—because there were more girls in those types of games.

Chu Cheng had stayed up past midnight yesterday and even in bed, his dreams were filled with the intense scenes from the game's storyline.

To be honest, the first level after the game's beginner tutorial was indeed a thunderous spectacle, quite literally. With its excellent production value and realistic visual effects, it left a deep impression on people.

Chu Cheng, who had been through various horror games and thrilling movies, hadn't experienced such feelings in a long time. The last time he felt so unsettled was with the classic old movie "The Ring."

At that time, Chu Cheng hadn't been exposed to horror movies much, and his resistance to the supernatural was not high. "The Ring" left a deep shadow on his young heart. He still remembered being scared as a child when he saw Sadako crawling out of the TV with disheveled hair and wearing a white gown.

Although he gradually forgot about it over time, "The Ring" remained a childhood shadow, and even when he was alone at night with the lights turned off, he would feel afraid while facing the dark TV or computer screen.

This lingering effect persisted until a close friend, through a life-and-death friendship, recommended him a taste-challenging book, which completely cured him.

The basic plot was about Sadako appearing inside the television of a nerdy protagonist's home. However, the protagonist was a poor guy with a small-sized TV, and Sadako's well-developed secondary sexual characteristics tragically got stuck, leaving her unable to come out completely. From there, a series of unconventional stories unfolded between Sadako, with her upper body trapped in the television, and the protagonist.

Since then, a new world had opened up before Chu Cheng. He marveled at the fact that the human XP system had already reached a level where they could even install patches for daily ghosts. Simultaneously, his years of Sadako-induced PTSD miraculously vanished in an instant, and his mother no longer worried about him having nightmares.

So, this kind of uneasiness hadn't occurred in Chu Cheng for a long time. He wasn't sure if it was simply due to the excellent production and realistic visuals of the game or if there was another reason. Even now, the shortened gameplay of the first level from last night kept replaying in his mind, lingering persistently.

"Damn."

Wei Futong, who was engrossed in his phone, suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

Curious, Chu Cheng leaned over. "What's going on?"

"Do you know about the Klein Corporation?" Wei Futong asked.

"I don't know," Chu Cheng shook his head.

"It's a company in the Lower City district, seems to be in the pharmaceutical industry," Wei Futong said. "Just came across some news. People are saying that the entire board of directors of the Klein Corporation was found dead last night!"

"Found dead?" Chu Cheng was taken aback.

He had been in the world of Polar Star for a month since his transmigration, and at least during this month, everything had seemed quite normal. The memories inherited from the original owner also informed him that this was a safe and peaceful world.

This kind of event should be a major news story.

"What happened?" Chu Cheng asked.

"Take a look for yourself," Wei Futong replied, handing his phone to Chu Cheng, while continuing to explain in a hushed voice.

"The person who posted this said they are an employee of the Klein Corporation. They heard about it early this morning when they went to the company. But the exact reason is still unknown. It seems that the company was attacked by unidentified individuals last night."

Wei Futong kept talking, but Chu Cheng wasn't listening to what he said afterwards.

His gaze fell on the attached image in the post, and in an instant, it was as if his eyes were magnetically drawn to it.

It was a towering black building, surrounded by official police tape.

Chu Cheng stared at the photo for a while, initially feeling a growing sense of familiarity as if he had seen it somewhere before. After a moment, his pupils contracted, and he froze as if he had been shocked.

Damn, why does it look so much like the building where Batman infiltrated in the game last night!?

Although in the game it was nighttime and in the photo it was daytime, and the image only showed a limited part of the building, Chu Cheng had spent a considerable amount of time maneuvering Batman around the building, surveying it from every angle. He was familiar with the exterior structure of the building and was confident that he couldn't be mistaken.

Wait a minute, the board members of the Klein Corporation were found dead last night. Chu Cheng immediately thought of the game level from last night. The man with the mask who appeared in the meeting room, and those insane NPCs whose heads exploded after being taken down by Batman.

So, is it possible that maybe... just maybe they weren't NPCs?

Perhaps what he experienced on the computer last night was more than just a virtual game process?

The moment this thought crossed his mind, he felt a chill run down his spine. The game visuals from last night surged back into his mind, sending shivers down his spine even more.

Having read quite a few novels in his free time, Chu Cheng was familiar with various cheat codes and hacks that the protagonists used after transmigrating. He immediately thought that the game he had brought from his original world was indeed peculiar.

Could it be that he had somehow transmigrated into the world set by the game?

By the way, he remembered that in the game's loading screen last night, it initially displayed a map loading failure, but then the system automatically fixed the issue and showed the message "New map system loaded."

So, this newly loaded map could possibly be the map of Polar Star. "Avengers vs. Justice League: A New Era" might have automatically analyzed the laws of this world and loaded its geographical layout as the background map. Of course, all of this was just Chu Cheng's wild speculation, and he had no idea if it was true or not.

He swiped down on the phone screen, hoping to load more information, but a large "X" popped up on the screen along with the message "The post you are trying to access does not exist."

Chu Cheng was taken aback.