The science area humbly lies beneath the extravagant and majestic chains of entertainment facilities. Designed specifically for researchers and scientists who must race against time to publish papers while still wanting to enjoy a meaningful holiday, the area consists of a lab with every apparatus spanning various fields, a garage-like tech room for creating inventions and fixing machines, and a field open to the public to facilitate virtual reality simulation. This self-explanatory description can easily tell you why the lab and the tech room are almost always empty. Mirai drags me to the tech room.
- So, what are we doing here, specifically? - I ask.
- Two things. I will be brief.
- Go ahead.
Mirai just stands still. In the next second, a fleet of drones appears in front of my eyes like a performance.
- That is what I get from analysing the core chip. It seems to use the same technology as our BlueTooth, except that the Intruders can manipulate inanimate things like rock and dust.
Then, she points at me.
- I am a robot, so I can just solder a replica of the core chip to directly link to my central processing unit. But you are a human, and I just cannot risk performing surgery on you due to my lack of expertise. So, take this.
Mirai throws a ring at me. I put it on my ring finger.
The ring suddenly grows little spikes that poke my finger, but the pain is just for a few seconds.
- Now, think about what weapon you want to withdraw.
I concentrate my mind and think of the photon submachinegun SMG01. It appears on my hand the next moment.
- Amazing...
- Right? I have installed a connection module on every single item in the archive. Whenever needed, just think of the specific weapon or device, and it will appear on your hand or any preset coordinates. Remember that the place you are in must establish a stable connection between the archive and where you hold the tablet, otherwise, it will not work.
- Noted. What is the second thing?
Mirai projects her vision onto the wall next to us. It shows a map filled with annotations.
- As you can see, this is the map of the South Pacific Ocean. I have marked...
- Wait a minute... Is this trip an intentional plan to drag me into another dangerous journey?
- This one is just a coincidence, I swear. But the severity is worth noticing, so I must...
- Come on! Please give me some rest. I feel as if I am not appreciated for what I have done. - I interrupted.
Mirai lets out a loud sigh. She switches off the projection.
- You can just go around and get something you like. I will be staying here for the day, so whenever needed, just come here.
After the statement, Mirai goes to the tech room's storage area to pick up some electrical components, before she chooses a corner in the tech room and sits down, focusing on her research.
I feel sorry for suddenly disturbing the mood, but there are times that my well-being, both physical and mental, needs some proper rest to recover. I walk out of the tech room, heading towards the virtual reality area.
- Come, come. The hundred-and-fifty-second simulated warfare tournament is now open for registration. We will start in an hour, and based on first-come-first-serve. The winner will receive a diamond trophy that proves his or her exceptional skills and calculations. Come, come!
A person is standing at the entrance of the virtual reality area, handing posters to the people visiting the area. I take one of them.
The poster says that this tournament is simultaneously conducted with other cruise ships around the world at the same time. It will follow the solo battle royale format with sci-fi elements, where around one to two hundred players will land on a simulated island based on one of the real islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They will loot high-tech items scattered around the island, and hunt down each other, and the last person standing will win. At the end of the poster, there is another line, saying 'Remember, other players are not the only threat.'
If it is free, it is best to make the most out of it. I register for a slot without any hesitation.
After getting a ticket from the registration booth, I am led to the virtual reality area, where there are another nineteen players already geared with sensors and modules all over their bodies.
- Please wear this virtual reality headset and stand still. We will help you put on the other gear onto your body.
- Thank you.
I put the headset on. My vision slowly fades, before turning bright again into the loading screen of a game. Then, they just play a ten-minute-long introduction video about the game mechanics and the map I will be playing on.
After the long video, I feel like many tiny fingers are touching my skin, probably from the sensory modules. Then, some kind of console that resembles a two-handed gun is given to me, because I feel something touching both of my hands. I hold onto it.
- We will be sending all players to the waiting area, while the organisers are confirming that all players have joined and loading the map data. Try to spend your five minutes familiarising yourself with the movements and controls of the game. - There is a sound that pierces through my head.
The video footage is turned off, and slowly, my vision is changed to inside a storage room with another a hundred and ninety-nine players, meaning that there are also nine other cruise ships operating at the moment. My avatar has finished loading, and I can move around in the storage room.
In the game, one's physical strength will be reflected since the players will be moving on a floor made with rotating mini-balls, which allows real life motion within a small area but unrestricted degrees of motion in the virtual world. Not only that, the size of the avatars is synchronised so that nobody gets a height advantage or so.
I try to move around. It initially feels harder than in real life, but I quickly get used to it. I can also peek, jump, sit, prone and slide, just like in real life. This is commendable.
Then, I raise my right arm and flick a line with my finger. A small interface which shows my statistics and my inventory appears in front of me. Since this is just a waiting room, I have access to every single available item. The inventory has limited slots, so I choose an assault rifle and a sniper from the archive and put them into my backpack.
I flick my finger and the assault rifle appears in my hand, while simultaneously I feel something in my hand in real life, and this may be because the sensory modules can inhibit my normal sense of touch so that even when I hold a console in my hand, when I do not hold anything in the game, it feels like I am not holding any.
I inspect the assault rifle by looking at it from different angles.
- Wait a minute, this is odd...
I switch to the sniper rifle and take a close look.
- Aren't these the weapons Mirai used during the previous missions?
I know that this game takes the futuristic, science fiction theme, but all items in their game look the same as everything I have in the archive. This is definitely not a coincidence.
I switch back to the assault rifle and fire a few rounds. Except for the aim assist function, everything feels the same, from the spray pattern to the damage effects.
Anyway, I have another advantage. I will ask Mirai later about this thing.
The countdown timer quickly reduces to zero the moment every player has joined the waiting room. The screen blackens again, redirecting me to the loading screen of the game.
The next moment, I find myself on a platform floating in the sky, with a map in my hand, which shows the locations of the island. The areas that are rich in items are named with red and larger letters, while other regions are marked with yellow and green. The central area of the island is a city, so it will be the richest area with many strategic positions, at the cost of spiking player density. Anyway, this is just a game, so I press on the city area without any hesitation.
The platform that I am standing on disappears as soon as I confirm my location, sending me free-falling from two kilometres, with a parachute. Normally, I would be scared, but after that expedition, I have a basic understanding of parachuting. I put my limbs in a streamlined pose to minimise air resistance and more quickly reach the ground to gain time advantage. I dive downwards, and at three hundred metres above the ground, the gliding device is automatically triggered as a safety mechanism. I land on the top of a building and cut my gliding device.
Several decisive players have already landed on the adjacent buildings. I move around to search for items and get myself a photon shotgun with a few rounds and a Compact Shield, which are my advantageous weapons. I can start searching for players and eliminate them before they are fully armed.
As soon as I move out of the building with sufficient items for combat, I sense something watching me from above. I switch to my photon slug rounds, tune the frequency to maximum and make a backflip, shooting at the drone. My objective is not to eliminate the tracking attempts, but to use their items against them. A photon slug round is analogous to an electromagnetic pulse that would disable the drone. By convention, the drone will fall to the ground, if it is not covered in at least a ten-centimetre layer of lead protection.
It did not fall. Right after registering an attack, it starts firing at me. I run back into the building while being chased by the drone.
I manage to get myself away from the commotion and am currently hiding in a room to check my stats.
- What the hell? That thing is not even protected, and it cannot be disabled with a gamma ray round. And one laser shot drains half of my health bar? - I am using a bandage kit to heal while feeling the pain of getting shot. The sensory modules seem to stimulate the feeling of getting shot, which is real, but way too real.
Then, there is a voice that again pierces through my head, like a server-wide notification.
- I presume that some of you have already figured out the mechanism of this game, but in case you do not, let me explain. This game reflects correctly your status in real life, including your wealth. The richer you are in real life, there will be more buffs granted. If one shot drains your health by almost half, it is just because you are too poor.
I know it. This game is rigged somewhere, but as a commoner receiving a free trip, I cannot complain anyway.
- However, as mercy we can give you poor people, if you manage to eliminate a rich player, you can loot their stuff and enjoy their perks. But there is no way you people can.
The notification ends with a hysterical laugh.
Seems like I should not waste this cardiovascular warm-up opportunity. I will get that diamond trophy.