Chapter 5: Your Game Time Has Reached the Limit

Fang Qi accepted the spirit crystals, and the renewal notice on the computer screen vanished instantly.

Just as Fat Wu was playing with sheer delight, a youth dressed in green appeared outside the main door, followed closely by a burly man of imposing stature; the youth glanced up at the signboard overhead before stepping inside.

He pushed open the glass door, cast a haughty glance over the occupants, and spoke: "Who is the owner of this establishment?"

"Is something the matter?" Fang Qi cast a casual glance at him.

"Origins?" The youth cast a contemptuous look at Fang Qi, pointing toward the plaque outside the entrance. "Can just any random person use such a grand name these days? What exactly does your shop do?"

Fang Qi offered no long explanation, merely pointing at the game Fat Wu was currently engrossed in: "See for yourself."

The youth walked up behind Fat Wu's seat and looked at the computer screen, where the scenes displayed were unimaginably lifelike!

A tremor of surprise shook his heart: "What is this?"

"What is this fat fellow doing?"

"Controlling the character on the screen," Fang Qi explained.

Naturally, the youth in green did not believe him: "The person on there is clearly moving by himself, on what grounds do you claim this fat fellow is controlling him?"

Fang Qi wore a look of utter disdain; the youth had truly never even seen a computer, making a fuss over nothing.

Though completely disinclined to waste his breath, considering the system's task of filling up the internet cafe, he patted the fat man's shoulder anyway: "Exit the game and show it to him."

Fat Wu was right in the middle of a thrilling session, but hearing Fang Qi's words, he could only reluctantly exit the game, turning around to ask: "What is it?"

Sure enough, the youth in green saw the figure on the screen come to a halt.

He was greatly astonished; could it truly be this fat fellow?

Still half-doubting, he pointed at the monitor and asked: "You were truly controlling that just now? How does it feel?"

"Exhilarating! Adventuring in the world inside, if you die, you can start over at any time! It is a hundred times more entertaining than those princes and nobles hunting demon beasts!"

After all, the entertaining things the fat man knew of were limited, so he could only bring this up again as a comparison.

At the mention of this, Fat Wu danced with excitement, but he quickly remembered that his own time was precious, so he waved his hand hastily and said, "If you want to play, try it yourself, I am going back to my game."

Seeing this display, the curiosity of the youth in green was instantly piqued.

What did this mean? One could adventure in the world inside?

If it were truly so, this was far too miraculous; could such a wondrous thing actually exist?

He immediately spoke to Fang Qi: "I shall try it, how do I go about this?"

Fang Qi pointed to the small blackboard: "The pricing system is all written there."

"7 spirit crystals?!" The youth's face darkened, and he let out a cold laugh, "Do you take us for fools? Ordinary spiritual artifacts, on the cheaper end, cost only about five or six spirit crystals, yet your thing requires 7 spirit crystals for a mere one-hour trial?"

"The first time includes an additional 5 spirit crystals for the activation fee; thereafter, it is 2 spirit crystals per hour," Fang Qi said calmly.

"How do I know the two of you are not colluding to swindle me?" Though this amount of money was not too significant for the youth in green, it was not something to be thrown away carelessly either.

Fang Qi had encountered quite a few such customers over the past two days; they were interested, but found it expensive.

"My shop is situated right here, I cannot run away after swindling people." Fang Qi shrugged, "If you do not believe it, forget it; if you do not want to try, I shall play myself."

"Damn it!" In any other shop, when meeting a customer of his status, which owner wouldn't bow and scrape respectfully? Who would have thought the proprietor of this bizarre, incomprehensible little shop would be so incredibly arrogant?

He glared coldly at Fang Qi, wishing to discern even a shred of pretense from his face, but to his dismay, there was absolutely none!

Furthermore, he watched as this owner actually ignored him completely, sitting straight back down to play his game!

"Fine!" he finally spoke, his expression turning even icier, "I shall see for myself what exactly is so miraculous that a mere trial is worth so many spirit crystals!"

"Xiaoman! Pay the money!"

"Young Master, I am here!" The grey-clothed man immediately bowed before the youth in green, suggesting, "How about letting your servant try it first?"

"No! I shall do it myself." He waved his hand, staring haughtily at Fang Qi, "If I discover that these things of yours are not worth this much money at all, believe it or not, I will smash your shop to pieces!"

Fang Qi smiled and said: "Feel free to try; once you are done, if you feel you do not wish to pay, you are welcome to smash this shop as you please."

"Good! You said it yourself!" the youth in green said coldly, "When the time comes, do not expect me to show any mercy!"

"Suit yourself."

Clicking on the Resident Evil icon and putting on the virtual reality headset, the youth in green smoothly entered the game before long.

"Is the inside of this thing truly a world of its own?!" Looking at the incredibly realistic visuals, the youth's heart was shaken to its core!

Could it be that I can truly control someone from another world across space?!

Could it be that these two fellows were truly not colluding to deceive him?

"Recently, a number of horrifying, shocking murders have occurred in Raccoon City." The screen introduced the background plot while moving alongside the Alpha Team's helicopter, "The authorities received bizarre reports claiming that multiple families were attacked by a group of about ten people, and the victims were eaten."

"Thus, Bravo Team was dispatched to investigate, but they have gone missing!"

The opening plot introduction of Resident Evil 1 was very simple, but with just a few words, it managed to create a mysterious and incomprehensible atmosphere fraught with doubts!

After all, the system's advanced technology was something that even the world before his reincarnation had only just begun to explore in terms of virtual reality; how could a person from this world, who did not even know what a computer was, understand it?

"Is this truly a game?" The youth in green was genuinely shocked by the incredibly authentic experience, the humans who seemed exactly like real people, and the extremely rigorous structure of the world! It was as if another door to a new world had been flung open right before his eyes!

"Otherwise, what did you think it was?" Fang Qi spoke up, "Actually, the keyboard and mouse can also be used for control."

With that, he demonstrated the keyboard and mouse control method to the youth: "Using this style of operation limits freedom significantly; only through the virtual reality headset can you achieve an immersive effect, so how you choose to operate it is entirely up to you."

The youth in green watched, dumbfounded!

He then looked at Fat Wu's and Fang Qi's computers, which displayed the exact same scenes and characters as his own; the same world, the same people, yet the three parties could not meet, as if behind every screen lay an identical yet entirely distinct world!

Such a thing was possible?

"This is simply too miraculous!" How could such a wondrous thing exist in this world?!

He finally began to believe that this was indeed a game.

For such a creation, let alone 7 spirit crystals, even 70 spirit crystals might not guarantee a glimpse of it!

He then pointed to the computer again: "Are there any side effects to using this thing?"

"If being startled by monsters counts..."

Hearing Fang Qi's words, he could not wait to start playing.

As the exploration proceeded, this strange world entirely different from the present era, the zombies that could not be killed and would resurrect, and the mansion teeming with zombies, all left a deep impression on him!

The incredibly lifelike scenes and combat made him feel thoroughly exhilarated!

A flash of inspiration struck his mind: "Right! Is this not exactly the kind of plot one only encounters in biographical novels?"

Thinking of biographical novels, he immediately thought of another matter: "Which means, these people... are equivalent to the... protagonists in biographical novels?"

Biographical novels only allowed one to read text, and relying solely on literal descriptions was not satisfying enough in many aspects; furthermore, the ending was entirely controlled by the writer. Yet this shop had actually designed such a thing, allowing them to play the protagonist themselves?

Did that not mean the future fate of the protagonist could also be controlled by oneself?

In other words, this was interpreting a biographical novel by oneself?

No wonder this shopkeeper termed it a game! This was indeed a game! And it was a unique game that they had never even dreamed of before!

As a person of this era, what other entertainment could a game offer besides rolling dice, visiting brothels, or hunting?

This kind of game simply could not be compared in the same breath as the games he knew of!

"Who on earth designed such a thing!" His hands trembled slightly, overcome by a surge of sheer excitement.

Biographical novels were all the rage these days, but their quality was a mixed bag; a plot setting this novel and refreshing was something he was encountering for the very first time.

If he had previously relished the thrill of actual combat—of unleashing his full power and feeling every solid blow hit home—he was now completely immersed in the narrative. Clenching his fists tightly, he declared, "Since I am the protagonist, then I, Song Qingfeng, will definitely uncover the conspiracy hidden within and lead my teammates out of this place!"

As a man, who wouldn't want to personally experience a blood-pumping, passionate adventure?!

He felt that if he could just utilize that special weapon, dealing with these monsters would absolutely be no problem at all! Now, all that was left was to test it out!

Right at that moment, a notification popped up on the desktop: "Your game time has reached its limit."