"24th subject, warki solution injected, survived 2 min 45 s, time of death, 4:22 am."
No one else is home… who is talking?
Xiao Han opened his eyes, prickling bright lights hung on the roof. The game chamber disappeared. Cold walls, and a white bed sheet - everything looked like an ICU in the hospital. He found himself lying on a metal table rather than a bed, with dozens of colourful wires attached to his upper body.
People in lab coats surrounded him, staring at him, astonished.
"I just started a new account as normal, where am I?" Xiao was suffering a headache and felt like his 25 years had passed through his mind in seconds. His last memory was that he just took a power levelling request from a client and started a new account in 'Stellaris Legend'. He entered the game chamber as normal and put the headset on. Then there was a…burning smell?...
"Hurry!! Tell Ms. Li the subject revived!"
"Guard, control the subject!"
The people in lab coats were shouting. The headache was still torturous, and Xiao had a bad feeling about the words 'subject' and 'guard'. He could hear several people rushing closer to the room.
Stay or Run? Xiao quickly decided as he never waits for fate to come. He fights his fate. He jumped up and rushed to the door, leaving all the wires behind. The researchers were obviously scared and no one came to stop him.
"BANG!" The door was broken and there were a dozen guards running toward him with batons in hand.
Xiao recognised the 'Sprout' badge on their uniforms and was surprised. "Version 1.0? The Sprout? They have been eliminated, haven't they?"
It only takes seconds for the guards to get close and a baton smashed towards Xiao. Electrified, he was knocked to the floor.
"The pain sensation is definitely 100%!" Xiao is amazed. The upper limit of pain in 'Stellaris Legend' is 40% as the game company found out that there was a risk of permanent damage to players' nerves if pain sensation is set over 40%. The chamber has a monitor which screens the player's condition. With a serious fault like this, the connection should have been forced to drop!
What happened? The chamber is broken again?! Damn! The f** engineer just came a week ago and charged me £100. The f** bastard promised that no fault in one year! I will definitely report him!
The muscular guards picked Xiao up like he was a small rabbit and took him to a dark room. They left him there alone.
Xiao felt the headache and the pain in his body. Hours passed before he finally figured out what happened.
"I was... put in 'Stellaris Legend'??"
'Stellaris Legend' is a worldwide virtual reality game. At peak time, over 6 million people are online. The game background is a new universe. All maps and scenes are formed by the supercomputer. The massive game world is big enough for over a billion players at the same time. A great number of guilds, companies spent loads of time and resources on acquiring the currency of the game and accomplishing various dungeons. A masterpiece sword can be sold for millions of pounds.
In a good game, everything is balanced. People willing to pay have their advantages, but it is possible to fill the gap with a 'mysterious chance'. It is not a surprise that there is an international competition at the end of each version. All over the world, there are professional players fighting for the championship, a big money pot and fame like the Olympics in the old days.
Xiao is not a professional player, but he is good enough to be. He doesn't like those esports organisations which limit the freedom of the players and take all the good equipment.
"'The Sprout', Version 1.0, one of the novice locations and major events in Blue Planet." Xiao mutters. Before he was put in the game, 'Stellaris Legend' had been running for more than a decade. Version 1.0 is history; has he travelled to the past?
The memory of his 'body' was not full. He couldn't remember what his body had experienced. Even its name was forgotten. The only thing in his body's memory is that it's SL-year 687 now. The game is released in SL year 688.
In version 1.0, 'Light Federation', 'Red Kingdom' and 'Void Vatican', the three top powers in the universe stay at peace. The army of the 'Silver Revolution' has not formed. The origin of 'Power disaster' is unknown to the universe. 'Shining World' has not been explored. The 'World Tree' super civilisation hasn't invaded this part of universe. Blue planet is a tiny star on the edge of 'Broken River'.
'Stellaris Legend' took the successful experience from the great game 'World of Warcraft'. Every version was linked to a disaster or major event in the universe. The fire from the black dragon Nefarian... Lich King gazes at Azeroth... All these features made 'Stellaris Legend' very popular. But it was another story to be inside it...
'The Sprout' was powerless compared to the war between galaxies, but it was deadly for the present Xiao.
"Blue Planet is similar to Earth and 'The Sprout' is an organisation which aims to overthrow the six-country system. If what I remember is right, the warki solution will be used to produce warriors which will be brainwashed to be loyal to 'The Sprout'."
It seemed that this body was 'raw material' for warki solution experiments. Memory of this body was intact and he could only remember that he was one of the prisoners.
The body was around 25 years old and was injected with warki solution which was a genetic reagent invented by 'The Sprout'. The warki solution was used to improve the efficiency of the brain and the death rate is over 70%. If his memory was correct, he died and revived...
Suddenly, there is a line of blue sentence pops out in front of his eyes:
[You were injected with 'warki solution', the potential of endurance +1, Special talent obtained - Elementary mental resistance; Special talent obtained - Mental focus]
"Panel info!!" To Xiao's surprise, there was a semi-transparent blue panel in front of his eyes, just like the one in sci-fi movies.
-------------------------------
Name: Xiao Han
Race: Carbon-based human (coloured)
Model: NPC (Counting down for version 1.0: 358 days 11 hours 03 minutes)
Level: 1
Experience: 0
Specialisation: N/A
Profession: Citizen lv. 1 (0/50)
Attribute: Strength 2, Agility 2, Endurance 3, Intellect 2, Mystery 1, Charm 2, Lucky 1.
Free Attribute: 0
Stamina: 0 (lv. 0)
Power: 1 - 2
Class: F
[Dreg, Anyone can kick your ass!]
Health: 23/30 (injured)
Special talents: Mental focus - The speed of learning and manufacturing is increased by 10%
Elementary mental resistance - Grant 3 resistance when suffering from mental damage
Talents: N/A
Free Talent points: 0
Legend points: 0
Equipment: N/A
-------------------------------------------
Game panel in 'Stellaris Legend'. Thank God! At least there was a panel.
"Hold on? NPC?" Xiao noticed the weird part. "NPC model? I am not a player? Version 1.0 counting down? What the f***?!"
Xiao quickly thought it through and noticed several facts:
1. This is a real world to him. If he died, he wouldn't revive like other players in-game.
2. He is an NPC with the players' panel which means he could level up as players.
3. Counting down means that he was put into the past. Will the player appear as normal?
4. He is in f**** danger!
Why did all this shit happen to me?! Who am I? Real life? A set of data? Soul in a body?
"Whatever, let's see how it goes" Xiao muttered. He wanted to survive. There was one year before the player entered the world. He had time to prepare.
"Swish" The door was opened, and several people entered the dark room with uncomfortably bright lights. A beautiful lady took the lead.
"How is the subject?" The lady asked elegantly. Her voice was like a cup of coffee, delicate and dark.
"Looks like he has calmed down" The research leader, Gramme, stared at Xiao like he belonged to him only.
"Who are you?" Xiao said, confused.
"Ah? Memory lost?" The lady was surprised.
"Warki solution can stimulate the brain; memory loss is common." Gramme answered.
Getting used to the light, Xiao was able to see who he was talking to. Red curly hair covered half of her face. Her tight black suit showed a perfect curve. Her facial features gave away that she was a pretty mixed-blood. Exotic nose and oriental soft eyes ensured her prettiness. Proper black eye shadow made her graceful like a princess.
If Helen were as pretty as her, the Troy war was inevitable, Xiao had a quick thought in mind.
"Haila Lee, the manager here" The pretty lady looked at Xiao, turned back to the people behind her, "Take him for a blood test. I want the report now!"
Two muscular guards came forward and their giant biceps forced any thoughts of struggling out of Xiao's head. He recognised 'Red Snake' - Haila, this was the warki lab, one base of 'The Sprout'.
In Version 1.0, Haila was so insanely powerful that players were killed over and over again. In the later version, her power even made her famous in the whole of 'Broken River'. A class A NPC which was known as 'Death Goddess'.
Xiao wants to cry...