Chiba Michiko walked very nervously and cautiously into a room that was completely painted black.
There was nothing but a table and some chairs in the room.
On one side of the table sat a woman in the uniform of the Blackguards of the Federal Empire.
The stripes on her shoulders let Chiba Michiko know clearly that this woman was a lieutenant in the Blackguards.
This made the cute little girl even more terrified.
"Take a seat." The Blackguard lieutenant sounded extremely kind.
Chiba Michiko cautiously sat down in the chair and quickly said, "I am Chiba Michiko, a refugee from Fusang, reporting to the officer!"
After that, she handed over all her identification documents that she'd brought with her, as well as those from the committee.
Ever since the Federal Empire had been founded, the founding fathers of the nation had promised its people that the new Federal Empire of Xia would not be a country of immigrants.
And so the laws on immigration were very strict.
In theory, it was almost impossible to even become a permanent resident in the Federal Empire if you were just an ordinary person.
Never mind getting actual citizenship.
On the other hand, the Federal Empire prided itself on being a compassionate country that respected the rule of law.
It felt a special responsibility to uphold justice in the world.
It felt a responsibility to help those in need and rescue those in danger. It wanted to help people to get their lives together and continue living in a safe environment.
The first battle the country had ever engaged in was for the sake of the Shang Dynasty.
After a battle that spanned a hundred years, which involved much bloodshed and the loss of countless lives, the Federal Empire had finally managed to completely destroy an era where only the strongest survived and immigrants were treated as slaves.
As a result, the Federal Empire had to take in huge numbers of refugees from other countries.
And they found them a place in the vast lands of the empire.
However, they would inspect and appraise them from time to time to see if they were suitable to remain in the empire.
Nonhuman refugees like Chiba Michiko were even more strictly observed.
If she even went slightly over the line, she might be sent out of the Empire immediately back to where she came from.
"Don't worry!" The lieutenant seated across from her took her documents without even looking at them and consoled her in a friendly manner. "Don't be afraid. Today you've been called here for a good thing."
She pushed a form in front of Chiba Michiko.
"Take a look at this form. If you don't have any questions, please fill it out quickly!"
Chiba Michiko looked down at the form that had been placed in front of her.
She suddenly felt warm tears fill her eyes.
Because…
This was the form to apply for permanent residence in the Federal Empire of Xia that she had always dreamed of getting.
Out of 10,000 refugees that the Empire took in, 9,999 never got a chance to see this form!
******
Ling PingAn lay back on the chair at the counter and looked at the clock hanging on the wall.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
The second hand continued to move little by little across the clock face.
It was still another five minutes until 11:00 o'clock in the morning.
He held his phone in his hand, waiting in anticipation for the game on the screen, Legend of Nightmare, to open its servers.
Time slowly ticked by.
The hour hand finally moved to 11.
Ling PingAn immediately unlocked his screen. He saw that the eye icon on his screen had already opened.
It was an eye that kept moving and seemed to be scanning the area in a rhythmic fashion.
Ling PingAn didn't care what it was up to. He just pressed it.
The screen went dark, and then tiny sparkles appeared on the screen.
After that, a door appeared in the middle of the sparkles.
There was a gigantic eye on top of the door. It was high up and seemed as if it was looking down condescendingly on everyone who was looking at it.
"Oh my," Ling PingAn exclaimed with praise. "This animation is pretty well done!"
The door on the screen opened.
A log-in and register page appeared on the phone.
Ling PingAn clicked on registering a new account and used his phone number as his user ID.
Then he logged in.
The screen immediately went dark.
An evil, otherworldly voice started to chant in a low voice. "Look up at the high and faraway sky, night has fallen, and the stars have filled the sky. Paradise no longer exists, and judgment awaits…"
As this chanting went on, sound effects also chimed in. "Ever since a human who could dream appeared…"
A patch of cloudy gray fog appeared on the screen.
"Dreams started to exist in the Inner World…"
"Millions of people would dream, year after year, day after day…"
"Most dreams would soon sink to the deep end of the Inner World before long…"
"But some dreams don't…"
Bloodshot eyeballs appeared in the gray fog and twisted bodies looked as if they were about to climb out of the screen.
"They are nightmares."
"Nightmares that appear in countless people's dreams."
Then a gigantic eye replaced everything on the screen.
"Welcome to Legend of Nightmare!"
A row of text slowly appeared.
Then it faded, and the page changed. Another line of text popped up. "If you just play the game casually, you might disrupt the peace. But if you immerse yourself fully, you could save the world!"
This part made Ling PingAn let out a snort. "No wonder it's an invitation-only game. This line alone could land the game developers in deep trouble."
But Ling PingAn didn't care about any of this. He only cared about whether the game was fun to play or not.
Eventually, the screen stopped at a character-creation menu.
Ling PingAn realized that this game allowed players to customize their characters fully.
"So many gimmicks…," he grumbled, but he had already started making selections for his character.
He thought about the dream he had the night before and decided to remove the hair from his character.
Then he added a row of scars.
He left the rest to the game to choose for him.
In the end, a realistic-looking tall, large monk appeared on his phone screen.
Ling PingAn looked at his screen, and his eyelids started twitching. "This guy is a bit too muscular, isn't he?"
The monk on the screen had a large face and a vicious expression. Large muscles could be seen all over his body.
He was practically a ferocious beast in the form of a human.
But most importantly, he looked extremely realistic.
Ling PingAn was so pleased with this.
So he keyed in a name for his character, "MonkFahai."
After clicking on confirm, a new character appeared in the game's universe.
After clicking on this character, the screen moved to another menu.
There were three options on the screen—Single-Player Adventure, Multiplayer Adventure, and Random Selection.
Ling PingAn thought about it for a while and felt that he didn't really need teammates, so he selected the Single-Player Adventure option.
But the game didn't start immediately. Instead, what he got was a prompt. "Dear Player, Legend of Nightmare is a virtual reality free adventure game. The system has detected that you are not currently connected to any VR equipment. Please locate your nearest VR equipment and connect it to the system before starting the game."
Ling PingAn froze. "Virtual Reality?"
"It's so high-tech?"
But he still clicked on the okay button anyway.
A line of text appeared on his phone screen. "Locating the nearest VR equipment. Please follow the instructions on the screen to connect equipment."
An arrow to show the way appeared soon after.
Ling PingAn scratched his head. "I'm going to see what other tricks this game has up its sleeve!"
He then followed the direction of the arrow.
He soon discovered that this arrow was pointing upstairs.
He followed the arrow and went upstairs to find that the target was near his own fridge.
He walked to the front of the fridge, and a prompt popped up on the screen. "VR equipment detected."
Ling PingAn lifted his head and saw that the watch that he had placed on top of his fridge was now giving off a faint blue glow.
He frowned and picked up the watch.
The moment he picked the watch up, it immediately became attracted to the phone as if it were a magnet.
In no time, it was stuck firmly to the back of the phone.
The prompt, "Equipment has been connected," was displayed on the game screen.
The start screen of the game also lit up after that.
"This seriously works?" Ling PingAn was surprised.