Proofread by Dark Pride
***
As Vira opened the door of the room, little George rushed inside. As if he wanted to show off his new toy, he ran over to a white coffin-like object.
"Dad, this is mine. That is mom's and that one is yours. One of the uncles that brought them here said it himself," George said while pointing at the coffin-like objects.
"Huh! That looks like a coff…,Ow! Ow! Ow! What are you doing?!," Alex looked at his wife resentfully. He felt a sharp pain in his side because of Vira's pinch.
"That was an ominous word. Don't ever say it in front of George," Vira whispered.
He nodded. Although Alex didn't agree, he was too lazy to argue.
"A week ago, some of the sanctuary's people came and gave them to us. They asked us to play the game when it is launched. By the way, the settings have already been arranged for all of us." Vira said.
Alex approached the capsule and rubbed the cover of it. He felt its material was smooth. As he opened it, he saw a bed-like arrangement with a pillow on top of it. He also saw some holes in some places.
"They also said to enter the nutrient liquid and check its volume every day, they will give us more if it's almost empty. Oh! and there is a waste pipe that connects to the drainage system. We should always check their status when we go online," Vira continued.
"This is a complicated device. Are you sure they gave them to us for free?" Alex thought it was weird that the government gave such expensive-looking devices to all of its citizens for free.
"It seemed like it was only for the families that have children. The neighbors also got them, but the people at the other block had to order them if they wanted to play," Vira answered.
Alex thought it made sense after listening to her. Just as he wanted to ask another question, Alex heard George's voice, "Dad! Mom! Let's play it. You promised we could play when Dad gets home."
Alex looked at Vira with doubt, he asked, "Honey, isn't the launch still a few days away?"
"We can make an account now, we can also try out the tutorial. But before that, I have something I need to talk to you about," She then said to George, "After dinner sweetheart, I need to make dinner for us soon. Is that alright?"
"Alright~," George said in a down mood.
Alex couldn't help being amused, "I think you should take a shower. You're all sweaty. Do you want to take it with me?"
"No way! I am a big boy. I will do it myself," George then ran to the bathroom as fast as he could.
"George! No running in the house. What does mom always say?" Vira shouted.
"Got it, Mom!" Alex then heard slower footsteps on the stairs. It seems George really wanted to go to his room for a shower.
"He always listens to you, you know," Alex then heard Vira's quiet voice next to him.
"What's going on?" Alex felt something was wrong.
"Some kids said that you are a bad man because you are a gambler. He couldn't accept that, and then did bad things to them," Alex could feel sadness in Vira's voice.
"I know you like to gamble, and that you are good at it. Every time you go home, you always bring thousands to tens of thousands of credits. You have proven to me you have a talent for it, but that doesn't change the fact that gambling is not something to be proud of," Vira said in a trembling voice.
Alex could only listen to her without refuting because he knew that what she said was the truth.
"Please, for us. Never gamble again. Make your son feel proud of you. Become a hero for him because you're a very important figure for him. Even more than me," Vira finally couldn't hold back her tears anymore.
Seeing such a sight, his pride as a skilled gambler was falling apart. Something inside his heart felt like it was ripped apart. He then approached his wife and hugged her. He said, "I promised. This month's trip was the last. I will never gamble again, I can't gamble anymore anyways. As I said, no casinos will open their doors to me anymore. Do you want to hear something good?"
"What?" Alex felt her calming down.
"I love you," Alex whispered to her.
Vira paused for a moment, "That I already know. Tell me, what is it?" Alex knew her mood had improved.
"I got a million credits baby! Can you believe that?" Alex said aloud and spun her around while still hugging her.
"What!? Say that again!" Vira shouted in disbelief.
"You can check my account after this. We are rich honey!"
***
"Did you really tell the truth back then?" Vira asked him, still in disbelief.
Alex stopped eating his stew and looked at her, "You saw it yourself. Are you starting to doubt your eyes?"
"It's still unbelievable to me," She said.
Then Alex felt his shirt was tugged. He then saw George looked at him with curious looks, "Dad, what are you two talking about?"
Alex then put his spoon down and messed up his son's hair, "We just talked about some money that Daddy got from this trip. So, because I can not buy the game capsules because we have already had them. What do you want? I will try to fulfill it."
"Promise?" George then looked at him with stars in his eyes.
"Of course, even if you want to go on a vacation to mars or the moon, we will go immediately," Alex said.
"Then let's play the new game together," George said in an unconfident tone. As if it was a difficult demand.
Alex smiled bitterly. 'Just how selfish was I before?' Alex said in his heart.
Without hesitation, Alex answered, "Sure, Do you want anything else?"
"No, I just want to play the game. It looks fun," George said.
"Then let's finish the meal, and then we can try it," Alex said while picking up his spoon once more.
"Ok…," George nodded, and he started to shovel his meal into his mouth with gusto.
"Slow down sweetheart, or you'll choke," Vira said with a concerned tone.
"Got it," George said, but he didn't slow his pace, he just continued to shovel his meal into his mouth.
Vira then stared daggers at Alex. Alex could only smile and shrug.
***
"Everything ok in there?" Alex asked after closing the cover of George's capsule.
"I'm fine," George answered from inside of the closed capsule.
"Alright, I will enter in a second," Alex said.
"Um!" George said.
Hearing that, Alex and Vira entered their capsules.
After lying in the capsule, he felt the setting of the bed was quite comfortable. The elasticity and the soft surface of the bed really made him satisfied. He then closed the cover.
Then he saw the screen behind the cover light up and he heard a woman's voice, "Welcome to dream portal, as the system finds that you haven't made an account. Would you like to make one?"
Alex said, "Yes."
After following some steps, he created his account without problems. He then got another question, "It is detected that an underage child that is registered as your offspring hasn't made an account, would you like to give the system permission to register him?"
He also gave an affirmation to the question. After following some steps that were basically the same as when he was registering, George's account was successfully created.
"The game, 'Desolate World' will be launched on 1 January 131 A.R. at 08.00 of your area time, but you can make a game character, do a tutorial and buy limited items in the beginner shop. Do you want to make your game character now?"
"Huh? So not only you can do the tutorial, but you can also buy some game stuff here huh?" Without much thought, he responded.
The system answered, "Yes."
Alex was shocked, discovering that the system could answer him. He had to admit the AI that was used by the game was pretty advanced.
"So, can I look at the items that are being sold in the shop?" Alex tried to get an idea about what was sold in the shop.
Honestly, he was not too comfortable about the idea of players buying premium items from the system. As it was not really fair. The rich could leave the poor behind by miles if they could get privileges at the beginning of the game.
"I'm sorry, you can't. You can only access the shop after creating your character."
Alex nodded, he felt it was pretty logical. "Then, I want to create my character."
"Please, look at the screen in front of you, you will be connected in a minute," The system said.
Alex then saw a countdown in front of him. In the background of the countdown, many pictures were displayed, and a relaxing song was being played.
'So it used a hypnotic suggestion to make the person who wants to connect to the game fall asleep, huh?' Alex said in his heart.
'It actually pretty convenient. At the least, I will be fresh when waking up later.'
As the countdown reached 30, he started to smell something fragrant and he started to feel sleepy.
'Damn! Now you use gas. I hope it is saf….'
Then, Alex fell asleep.
***