"I'm sorry, Mr. James. I really can't do it again."
A young man's voice, tinged with pleading, echoed in the washroom, followed by an older and much more desperate response.
"I—But Mr. John, you promised to sign up pretty soon. May I ask why you decided to slip out at the critical moment? Is there anything wrong? Do you want more compensation? But we already promised to make sure your family lives a comfortable life and even compensate them with a million dollars if anything goes wrong. Moreover, there might not even be a problem, and you'll definitely shoot to universal fame and prosperity if things go as planned. Don't you want to be a hero? This is your chance!"
There was a moment of silence, followed by the first voice, shaky yet determined.
"No, your conditions are great, so it's not about that. It's just..." the voice turned softer. "I've gotten back together with my girlfriend, and now, I just want to spend the rest of my life in her embrace. I can't take the risk.
Moreover, if I were to bind with this system of yours—didn't you say I'd be saving heroines and might end up building a harem? It'll make my girlfriend jealous. I'm sorry, I can't do it again."
"But Mr. John..."
"I'm truly sorry, Mr. James, but my decision is final... I hope you'll find someone willing to be your beta tester. Have a nice day."
A soft click followed as the cubicle door opened and footsteps hurried away. It was the 'Mr. John.'
Near the sinks, a young man stood silently, hands slowly rubbing together under cold water. His long fringe hung just above his eyes, his face pale and unreadable. Mike hadn't moved once during the entire exchange ongoing in the cubicle—but he'd heard everything.
He was a bit curious.
The compensation... wasn't it too much?
No doubt, if it were his past self, he'd have accepted it in a blink of an eye. Isn't it only a beta test?
But then… if it's only beta testing, why would the compensation fee be so enormous?
Unless… unless death is involved.
Mike held his breath as he waited patiently for 'Mr. James' to come out. He would like to know about this game!
Just as he thought the other party might be sleeping in the cubicle as almost three minutes had passed with no movement, the door slowly opened, and a middle-ages with a weary appearance stepped out.
His eyes were distant and bloodshot. His hair was messier than a bird's nest due to constant ruffling, and his shoulders sagged as though it was the end of the world.
James sighed for the hundredth time as he walked forward.
As the man passed, Mike turned.
"Excuse me."
James blinked, turning toward him. Two dark circles hung beneath his eyes like sagging lanterns, a testament of his lack of sleep.
"Yes?"
"Can you tell me about the game?" Mike asked directly.
James stopped mid-step, eyes widening. For a moment, his expression was a mixture of shock, then hope, and the fog in his gaze began to clear.
"You heard us?"
"You talked like your throats had built-in speakers," Mike muttered with a straight face.
James flushed in embarrassment—but a moment later, he chuckled. The fatigue didn't vanish, but something brighter sparked in his eyes.
This was the first person to be curious about the game his company had painstakingly developed over the last ten years.
"Let's leave here. I'll explain everything to you!" His voice beamed with excitement, his eyes twinkling with happiness.
"Sure, let's go to my table."
Soon, they arrived at Mike's private room.
There was only an unopened bottle of water on the table, and after sitting down, Mr. James asked for permission to take a sip.
Placing down the bottle, his eyes met the dark ones of the young man before him, and suddenly, a hint of doubt appeared in his heart.
Would this young man volunteer?
All the young men who had tried to volunteer over the past year somehow backed out after a few days.
At the same time, he thought to himself that he should have been looking for men in their forties. Those ones were often orphans, and often tend to seek some kind of escape, and had seen the world more clearly than those in their twenties, who were still in the process of settling down and treating love like a treasure.
Who knew if this young man would be any different?
But then again...
If someone had approached him in his twenties, he would probably have said no too.
Anyway, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try and tell him about it, except that he didn't dare to get his hope up.
"You can begin now." Seeing the man staying silent, Mike spoke up.
James cleared his throat, straightening his back with a now serious expression. He fished out a business card from his pocket and passed it to Mike.
"I'm James Thompson. Project Director at AstralSync Industries and lead developer of a system ten years in the making—Multiverse Hero System, though some of the employees jokingly call it Multiverse Harem System."
Mike turned the card over, then glanced back up with a slight frown. "Multiverse Hero System? Never heard of it."
James nodded. "You wouldn't have. We've kept our work classified for the past ten years. What we've developed is beyond anything the public's ready for yet. If it succeeds..." James's eyes seemed to travel through time, and you could hear the hope in his voice as he turned his gaze back to Mike, "the future of our world will change. It'll usher in a new era—an era where we can freely travel to different worlds, different eras… and even universes."
For some reason, Mike's heart stirred, his expression subconsciously turning serious.
James continued. "The Multiverse Hero System, as I love to call it, is a fully immersive, neural-anchored platform that connects a user's consciousness into other realities. Real danger. Real people. Real consequences."
As he listened further, Mike's expression slowly shifted—shock, wonder, confusion, amazement, and finally, doubt.
According to James's words, this game allows a user to enter another world. As for the type of world, it might be an apocalypse, a normal modern world like ours, or a world filled with different species. It might be an ancient era or a future one—but the one thing they all shared was this:
In every world, the heroines were in danger.