At 7 pm, in the Hanhai Villa District of Yuanjing City, a heavy downpour was underway.
A top-notch display screen, having been idle for too long, automatically went into standby. The dark screen immediately reflected a figure.
Chu You's slightly pale face was dully fixed on the screen. Even when the screen suddenly blacked out, Chu You didn't move.
He sat still on the leather chair. No one knew that Chu You had been sitting like this for two hours, without moving.
A bolt of lightning tore through the distance outside the window, the thunderous rumble sounding a moment later.
At this moment, the mobile phone on the computer desk rang.
The ringtone pulled the young man out of his daze. Chu You slowly came to his senses, picked up the phone, glanced at the caller ID. This name triggered a sensation best described as: a familiar stranger.
Chu You awkwardly pressed the answer key, switched to hands-free, and placed it back on the computer desk.
"Hello, Brother You, it's pouring outside, can you come and pick me up in your car? I'm waiting for you at the school gate," a female voice came from the phone.
Chu You continued to stare at the black screen, not saying a word.
"Hello? Hello? Why aren't you responding?" The voice was somewhat puzzled and a little anxious.
'Beep!' Chu You hung up the phone and glanced at the time on the phone screen.
September 21, 2187.
He reached out and grabbed the mouse, casually moving and clicking. The black screen sprang to life, filled with various pages displaying the time around the world at this moment, all pointing to the fact that it was indeed September 21, 2187.
After sitting still for another moment, Chu You's pupils suddenly shrank, and his expression turned ferocious. Suddenly standing up, he grabbed the mouse and hurled it violently at the screen.
Regrettably, neither item was damaged because of their excellent quality.
Chu You turned around and walked briskly to the window, flinging it open, letting the wind and rain from outside blow onto him.
Looking at the dark, intermittently lightning-filled sky, Chu You suddenly vented his pent-up emotions.
"Why! Why! If I was given a chance to be reborn, why only ten years ago! Why not before my parents died!!" Chu You yelled into the sky. No one could understand Chu You's feelings at the moment, feelings of absurdity and distortion.
At that moment, a voice came from the villa opposite.
"What are you yelling about? Can you tone it down?"
"Am I bothering you?!" Chu You immediately snapped back.
The other party was dumbfounded, and then, with a 'whoosh,' they closed their window, drawing the curtains as well. Clearly, they believed they had encountered a madman.
Chu You once again looked up at the dark sky, his teeth gritted. The rolling thunder seemed to respond to Chu You.
A moment later, Chu You returned to his room despondently. Then, as if remembering something, he began frantically searching his room.
A few moments later, Chu You broke into hysterical laughter and shook his head. He remembered, this villa wasn't his, he'd rented it after coming to Yuanjing City to attend university, and this was his third year there.
He picked up the phone again. Finally, Chu You found a photo. It was a group photo of him and his parents. Unconsciously, Chu You's eyes moistened. He lovingly rubbed his thumb over his parents' faces in the photo, as if in this way he could feel their warmth.
Gradually, Chu You's expression turned vicious again. In his mind, different faces appeared one after the other — the faces of those who had caused his parents' death.
If in his previous life he hadn't ended up penniless, if the world hadn't become unstable due to the game, revealing the killers' true identities, he would have thought his parents' death was merely an unfortunate plane crash.
Just the thought of the influence those people still wielded, forces Chu You knew he couldn't handle yet, was daunting. Even though he was in a state of rage, he was still somewhat sane.
A bolt of lightning streaked across. From the room came a sound like grinding teeth.
"You all have to die again! I promise, I absolutely promise..." Chu You made a big vow. At this moment, he seemed to deeply understand the relentless obsession of the King of Hell.
In his previous life, after Chu You had taken care of all his enemies one by one and saw that he was surrounded by police, he laughed manically and joyfully in the room, then he lifted the hand holding the gun, slowly pointing it towards his own temple...
A moment later, Chu You came back to reality, sat back in front of the computer, taking the mouse and typing in a string of keywords.
Immediately, the web page was flooded with advertisements and a variety of heated discussions.
A game appeared in the most conspicuous place, ranking first in hot search, headlines, and focus.
"Celestial World" is a holographic virtual game developed in collaboration by top research institutes from around the world. It's realism reached an astonishing 99%, and most excitingly, this game had opened up exchange channels with major banks around the world.
That is to say, you could make a fortune entirely through this game, as long as you mastered the ins and outs of it.
The whole world was having a heated discussion about this game, its popularity was unprecedentedly high, so much so it was practically about to explode.
Various media outlets with intentions were promoting it widely, everyone, from every strata of the world's populace, was targeted with different types of promotion, very much intending to pull everyone into this game.
Everyone knew that this was a money-making game, but only Chu You knew that on the day the game officially launched, the terminal mainframe of the game would automatically enter intellectual awakening, and once awakened...
Chu You let out a miserable laugh, it was this game that led to his bankruptcy in his previous life. Because once the so-called 'Red Queen' awakened, it would gradually control all the network space in the world and become a god-like existence.
In the end, an unprecedented economic storm would sweep across the globe, currencies of all nations would become worthless, and the Game Coins of 'Celestial World' would become the only circulating currency in reality.
Chu You entered the game's official website and took a look. 'Celestial World' would open in a week.
A week! Chu You opened his bank account. Seeing those consecutive numbers, he shook his head slightly, picked up his phone and looked at the names of many property managers under his name. He recalled slightly in his mind, and dialed one by one.
Chu You was an only child, his parents were a pair of big merchants. After their death, they left a huge inheritance for Chu You, both in terms of cash and assets which were of great value.
What Chu You needed to do now was to turn all the assets into cash, dissolve the companies that could be dissolved or sell them off, sell the hotels as quickly as possible, even at a loss. He needed to turn all valuable resources into liquid funds as soon as possible.
In the end, Chu You found a name on his phone, it was written: Youyou Orphanage.
He put down his phone without calling the manager, because an image of a woman emerged from Chu You's mind. This orphanage was established by his parents who perhaps, had their belief in amassing good karmic deeds.
The reason why Chu You didn't decide to dissolve the orphanage was because he knew that in his previous life, when he was penniless and downtrodden, a girl from Youyou Orphanage stepped into his world.
You're probably only nine years old now... Chu You lifted his head, his eyes flickering with a certain kind of look.
Snapping back to reality, Chu You glanced at the official website, and his eyes settled on a conspicuous word that everyone was sensitive to: top-up!
He moved the mouse and clicked on it.
Chu You saw that on the newly opened top-up page, there was a conspicuous top-up leaderboard. Although there were still seven days before the game's opening day, the top-up channel had already been opened.
The top-up leaderboard was divided into a global leaderboard and regional leaderboards. Clicking on the Huaxia leaderboard, the highest amount was only three million.
It must be known that although this game is much-anticipated, people are extremely cautious about investing in unknown fields. Moreover, who knows this game will close the top-up channel after the game starts when the host awakens...
Chu You picked up his phone and called customer service.
"Reserve a top-tier Game Pod for me as soon as possible and deliver it here. My address is..." He hung up the phone. Chu You put on a cruel smile. He knew that in this life, his revenge would take place in the game.
As early as a year ago, the exclusive Game Helmets and Game Pods of 'Celestial World' had already been put up for sale at various points across the world. According to statistics, up till now, more than 200 million Game Helmets had been sold, and the number was still skyrocketing.
If you want to top up money, you can only bind it with the game equipment you bought. After registering an account in the game, you can top up.
So, now Chu You can only wait for the arrival of the Game Pod.