On a cold night in late autumn, the Yangtze River was rolling, and a thin and gloomy figure squatted on the riverside, looking at the surging river, as well as the countless colorful neon and bizarre skyscrapers on the opposite bank, and sighed long:

"Alas, if you go on like this, you really don't live as well as a stray dog, is it really going to be mixed up in the river?"

The figure stood up with a wry smile, and by the bright moonlight and the colorful night of the metropolis, it could be seen that this person was a young man in his early twenties, with a thin figure, a medium height of about 1.75 meters, short black hair, and fairly handsome facial features. But his complexion is pale, his expression is decadent, and his shabby old clothes all show the characteristics of silk and dick. Xu squatted for so long that his legs and feet were numb, he staggered to his feet, and walked towards the road leading to the old city by the river, and the sarcastic voices seemed to echo in his ears:

"Chen Xi, you kid listen to me, if you don't make an order this month, you will leave me, I don't raise waste that eats dry rice for nothing, understand?"

"Chen Xi, if you don't pay the rent this month, hurry up and roll up the cover and get out, how can there be a reason for a white house!"

"Chen Xi, you should pay back my money, it's only three hundred yuan, you've been delaying it for a few months, are you embarrassed?"

"Mr. Chen, you owe 2,974 yuan on the credit card you handled in our bank, and the arrears have been in arrears for two months......

"Chen ......"

His name is Chen Xi, his parents died when he was a child, and he was raised by his widowed grandmother. was already from a poor family, and he had no talent, so he was only admitted to a third-rate university. In this era when graduation is equal to unemployment, and it is difficult for students from prestigious schools to find jobs, you can imagine what kind of bird he is after graduation, and he has changed seven or eight jobs in a row without working for a full three-month probationary period. In addition, the elderly grandmother finally became ill after years of hard work, and the treatment was ineffective. The high cost of medical care was the last straw that overwhelmed the poor family. In addition to a butt of debts, the current Chen Xi is no different from the stray dogs on the street.

Chen Xi put his hands in his pockets, wrapped his thin clothes as tightly as possible, and staggered in the cold autumn night breeze. Just as he was passing by an old five-story building on the side of the road, he was suddenly stopped by a person:

"Hey, this handsome guy, the new opening of our store is a big reward, today's trial operation is all free, do you want to come in and play!"

The voice was purely the voice of a legendary male duck, and it sounded extremely obscene. Chen Xi turned his head to look, only to see a middle-aged man in a black suit and a clown mask bowing slightly to himself. On the first floor of the gray old building behind him, there is a huge neon sign with five big characters on it: Infinite Video Game City. It turned out to be a newly opened game hall.

Chen Xi saw that he couldn't live, how could he have the heart to play any game, and refused at the moment: "I'm sorry, I'm not interested." ”

"Hey, handsome guy, don't go, it's a big reward for opening today, not only free, but also a lucky draw, the first prize is 10,000 yuan!" The clown man in the black suit saw that a guest who had finally passed by in this old alley where birds don't poop was leaving, and hurriedly pulled in.

"Big lottery, 10,000 yuan!" Chen Xi, who was already almost poor and crazy, couldn't help but feel hot in his heart when he heard this, and the ghost made a god stop and said, "Okay, then I'll go and play." ”

The clown man was overjoyed, and hurriedly nodded and welcomed Chen Xi into the game hall called "Infinite Video Game City", and as soon as he stepped into the door of this store, Chen Xi couldn't help but gasp, he didn't expect that the appearance of this store was so inconspicuous, but the inside was extremely spacious and luxurious.

But what catches your eye is a huge bar, decorated with a very sci-fi feeling, like the set of a spaceship in a movie, and rows of gifts, drinks, snacks and so on behind the bar. Then there is the hall, which covers an area of thousands of square meters, neatly placed dozens of colorful large arcade machines, but only seven or eight people are playing. The walls of the hall are painted with huge murals of fierce battles between gods and demons, and the pictures are vivid and majestic.

The clown man led the stunned Chen Xi to the bar, and a purple-haired girl suddenly appeared in the bar, startling Chen Xi.

"Xiaoli, you are shrunk under the table playing games again, be careful that the boss knows that your salary will be deducted."

"your crow's mouth, old high. The dog takes the mouse, you want to take care of me! The purple-haired girl glared at her and replied-for-tat.

Chen Xi suddenly realized, it turned out that the girl was shrunk in the bar just now, and looked at the girl, with short bright purple hair, a few strands of silver bleached on one side, and heavy makeup on her face, her facial features were very beautiful, but she always gave people the feeling of a rebellious girl.

The clown man saw that the purple-haired girl was about to turn her face, and hurriedly said: "Don't talk about useless, I'm here to bring a guest!" After speaking, he glanced at the purple-haired girl.

The purple-haired girl looked at Chen Xi at this time, as if she was still angry that she was interrupted to play the game, she glanced at him, and slapped a form in front of Chen Xi with a "snap": "Fill out the form!" ”

"Why do you have to fill out the form? Aren't all game halls just getting coins to play? Chen Xi looked at the clown man suspiciously.

"Hehe, this is the feature of our video game city, for every guest to apply for a high-tech membership card, and as long as you have a membership card to draw a lottery!"

"It's a nuisance." Chen Xi muttered quietly and began to fill out the form.

The content of the form on the A4 paper is not much, just name, gender, age, and phone number to fill in a few items, but there are a lot of notes below, and there are dozens of dense small characters. Chen Xi didn't bother to look at it, and directly signed his name in the signature in the lower right corner of the form.

The purple-haired girl Xiaoli casually put the form into a printer-like machine behind her, and then pressed a switch under the counter, and the counter opened immediately, revealing a palm-shaped square.

"Put your hands in." The purple-haired girl said coldly.

Chen Xi was a little panicked, how should I have to record palm prints for a membership card? “

The clown man hurriedly explained: "Hey, handsome guy, that's not the case, this is a gimmick of our company to disguise high-tech, it's impossible to record your palm print, just press it, you can draw a lottery after pressing it, a grand prize of 10,000 yuan!" ”

Chen Xi shook his head helplessly, quite a feeling that he couldn't get off the thief ship, and still put his hand into the chapter-shaped square. As soon as I put it in, I suddenly felt a slight numbness in my palm.

As a thin red light flashed from the square, the purple-haired girl turned around and took out a translucent amber card from a machine and threw it to Chen Xi: "It's done, take it, don't lose it, it's very troublesome to reissue." ”

Chen Xi hurriedly caught it, carefully looked at the card in his hand, and saw that the amber card was streamlined, and the bronze-colored metal stripes were regularly distributed on the card surface, which looked extremely high-end and exquisite. Holding it in your hand and feeling the texture of the card, there is a feeling of jade texture. He couldn't help but whisper a praise: "Damn, what a delicate card, enough for the next book!" ”

"Hehe, our company is one of the world's top 500 high-tech companies, aiming to build a new arcade era that monopolizes the world with world-leading epoch-making technology, and the cost of this membership card alone is tens of thousands of yuan." The clown man hurriedly bragged.

Chen Xi rolled his eyes when he heard this, and thought: You just blow it, it's just an arcade hall, it's a chain, a typical sunset industry, what kind of Fortune 500 companies, what epoch-making technology, what a card costs tens of thousands of yuan, deceive fools! “

He snorted disdainfully and asked, "Okay, I know, when is the lottery going to be drawn?" ”

The clown man blinked slyly and said with a smile: "I'm sorry, according to our company's newly opened big reward regulations, members can only participate in the lottery after two hours of game experience." ”

"You ......" Chen Xi was speechless for a while, and then thought about it, anyway, he was fine, and he might have run into the landlord chasing the rent when he went back, so it was better to play a game and have fun, so he followed the clown man to the arcade hall.

Looking at the arcade machines with flashing screens, Chen Xi didn't know anyone, and carefully identified the names on each machine: "The Legend of King Arthur, The Legend of the Three Kingdoms, The Legend of the Journey to the West, The God of Fighting...... I'm rubbing, what the hell are you, it's also epoch-making technology, isn't this Nima all copycat classic arcade game stuff? Chen Xi couldn't help but be rude when he saw it.

The clown man waved his hand again and again and smiled: "Hehe, although our company has borrowed some classic games, it is definitely an epoch-making virtual reality technology in terms of technology, you can try it." ”

Chen Xi pursed his lips disdainfully, and sat down in front of the machine with "The Legend of Arthur" printed on it, but found that there was no joystick button on the console, as long as two metal balls the size of billiard balls, one left and one right, were placed on the console. Seeing Chen Xi wondering, the clown man smiled and introduced: "This is the embodiment of our company's application of world-leading virtual reality technology in the field of arcade machines, come, you insert the membership card first, then put on this helmet, hold the metal ball with both hands, and put your feet on the pedals of the seat, yes, that's it, okay!" ”

Chen Xi followed his instructions, first inserted the amber card that claimed to cost tens of thousands of yuan into the card slot under the arcade machine that should have been the position of the coin slot, and then put on a fully enclosed helmet with a silver-white transparent mask, which looked extremely stylish, and it was actually very comfortable to wear, and then held the metal ball with both hands, and stepped on the pedals of the seat with both feet. But when you hear the melodious sound of Scottish bagpipes, the light and shadow flash in front of you, and suddenly a vast grassland appears, with rolling mountains, dense forests and azure lakes in the distance, and a medieval castle in the West.

"I'll go, it's virtual reality!" Chen Xi was taken aback and almost jumped up from his seat, this immersive feeling, he seemed to be able to feel the breeze blowing in his face and smell the fresh air on the grassland. Immediately afterward, the picture in front of him changed again, and Chen Xi found himself suddenly in front of the gate of the medieval castle, and from left to right, five lifelike game characters appeared in front of him.

The one in the middle wears a golden crown, with a majestic face, dressed in gold armor and a red robe, holding a long sword and standing proudly, a powerful royal wind is not angry and self-threatening, if you ask who this person is, it is displayed in a translucent luminous font on his head, it is the first protagonist of the game, King Arthur.

To the left of King Arthur is a handsome knight with long blond hair and a purple robe, holding a silver spear, a purple cloak fluttering behind his back, and the font floating above his head is Lancelot, the ever-popular knight of the Round Table.

To the right of King Arthur is a tall man two meters away, as strong as a giant bear, with short brown hair and a brown beard, extremely powerful appearance, and a steel giant axe. The name suspended on the forehead is Posivar.

In addition, there are two characters, one is a magician Merlin with long silver-white hair and an elegant and clear face in a black mage robe, and a beautiful woman Elena wearing red leather armor and long fiery red hair, who is known to be an archer by looking at her holding a longbow and carrying a quiver behind her back.

These five characters are really lifelike, even the fine lines on every hair and face are made to the fullest, which is almost like real people. It's just that the living people in reality are not as perfect as these game characters. Chen Xi looked at the five game characters in front of him dumbfounded, and kept shouting in his heart: "This is amazing, is there really such an awesome virtual reality technology, it is actually in this inconspicuous arcade hall!" ”

"Please select a game character." A cold voice sounded in Chen Xi's ears, which was the prompt tone of the machine.

Chen Xi hurriedly looked around the five characters again, and finally fixed his gaze on King Arthur in the center. Just kidding, although he Chen Xi doesn't know much about the legend of the Knight of the Round Table, he also knows that the one in front of him is the absolute boss in the plot of the game, the first brother in the protagonist, and the sword in his hand is not the legendary sword in the stone, so he doesn't choose who he chooses. But how do you choose? This has no buttons, no joysticks.

Just in confusion, the game seemed to perceive Chen Xi's thoughts, and King Arthur in the middle suddenly raised his long sword and performed a knightly etiquette towards Chen Xi, and then Chen Xi felt that his perspective flew towards King Arthur violently, and instantly coincided with him.

"It's amazing!" Before Chen Xi finished sighing, the majestic horn and rumbling war drums sounded in his ears again, and the picture in front of him changed again, and the game began......