"Perfect Life" is a recreational healing game that can nourish the soul and soothe the body as well as the mind. There are heart-warming plotlines, welcoming daily life, and we will bring positive power to all players with hope and happiness as the main theme ..."
Time passed minute by minute until 23:59 when that mechanical synthesized voice coming from the depths of the mind came to an abrupt end.
"Now, you can choose the perfect life which belongs to you."
The rough, cold ground irritated the nerves on his face, Han Fei slowly opened his eyes, and he found himself lying in an unfamiliar room.
The house was about seventy square feet, the furniture was covered with dust, and the walls were speckled with some dark red stains.
"My head hurts, it feels as if a hole has been drilled into the back of my head."
A faint musty smell wafted into his nostrils, and Han Fei could clearly perceive everything around him.
Hearing, seeing, smelling, and touching, this game is not much different from the real world.
Sitting dumbly on the living room floor, Han Fei looked at the empty, cold, and quiet room.
Observing the architectural layout of the house, the furniture inside the house looks as if it has maintained the same style as it was decades ago, and it was dusty everywhere as if it hadn't been occupied for a long time.
"Is this my home in the game?"
Han Fei rubbed the back of his head and stood up from the ground: "According to the game description, this is a healing simulation game, with an open world and no fixed play style, I can work hard to upgrade my character to improve attributes, or collect money to squander and enjoy, and also get to talk to a virtual girlfriend and have virtual family and love."
While thinking about what to do next, Han Fei suddenly heard a knock on the door from the outside of the house.
Tuk, Tuk, Tuk!
Walking to the other side of the living room, Han Fei opened the main door, and the dim light of the sound-controlled lighting shone into the house, dispelling the coldness and loneliness.
"Young man, you are the new tenant, right?"
A kind and friendly voice came from outside the door, and there was a kind-faced, silver-haired grandmother standing in the hallway filled with various miscellaneous items.
"Today is New Year's Day, granny's family has wrapped dumplings, come and eat them together.
In real life, everyone in the modern city is extremely busy, so neighbors may go weeks without speaking to one another. Han Fei has never seen an occasion where neighbors would invite each other to their houses for a meal.
"Thank you for inviting me. I don't want to bother you at this hour." Han Fei had become quiet since he was fired from the agency. He was not too willing to communicate with people.
"My son and daughter-in-law are working abroad, so there are only me and my little grandson at home, I've cooked many dishes, and it will be wasted if I can't eat them all."
The grandmother looked at Han Fei as if she was looking at her own child, and every word she said was like the sunshine in the morning, making people feel warm.
"Dumplings have the same symbolic meaning as the new year, reunion, and good fortune, and eating dumplings can get rid of the bad luck of the year. It's not easy for you kids to work alone, come and have a hot dumpling to warm up your stomach."
The old woman repeated the invitation. In the real world, Han Fei would undoubtedly think of a variety of excuses to decline the invitation if he was invited.
However, since he is playing a game, it should serve as treatment for him. The old woman might just be an NPC to help him discover this game.
The old woman was probably just trying to guide himself through the plot. After nodding, Han Fei picked up a large set of keys from the living room coffee table and walked out of the house, helping the old woman towards the stairs.
"Granny, be careful and take it easy as you go down the stairs."
The corridor was littered with trash and junk, the iron handrail was rusty, and the walls on each side were covered in numerous small ads and graffiti.
This apartment is clearly part of a long-gone community from several decades ago. With the rapid development of technology, such neighborhoods are extremely rare.
After leading Han Fei down a floor, she halted at the entrance of room 1031.
The numbers painted on the walls with blood-red paint were already somewhat fainted. The granny coughed gently and opened the door to room 1031.
Han Fei swallowed his saliva and peered inside the home as the savory aroma of fish filled the air.
There were no lights in the house. A few candles were torched on the dining room table.`
"The fuse is burned. The repairman probably didn't come over because of the New Year holidays."
"Granny, why don't I help you with this? I used to change the burned fuse myself at my home." Han Fei did not treat the old couple as a game NPC. He did not know why, perhaps because the couple gave him the feeling of a living, breathing person.
"The spare fuse is in the drawer; don't electrocute yourself." The old woman guided Han Fei and then walked into the kitchen.
Stepping on the stool, Han Fei replaced the fuse, turned on the electric switch, and a yellow light illuminated the dark room.
" Player number 0000 please pay attention! The G grade general task to replace the fuse has been completed, Meng Shi friendship plus five, a harmonious neighborly relationship is the first step to a perfect life."
A cold robotic synthesized voice came from deep in Han Fei's mind: "The mission system has been activated, the newbie mission is updated, and completing the newbie mission will help you understand everything about this world as soon as possible."
Listening to the unfamiliar voice in his head, an attribute panel appeared in front of Han Fei, but before he could take a closer look, the old woman walked out of the kitchen with a pot of fish soup.
"The fish soup has just been stewed, enjoy it while it's hot." The old woman smilingly put the fish soup on the dining table, she turned around and walked to the bedroom door and unlocked the iron lock on the bedroom door, "Chen Chen, come out to eat."
A moment later, a little boy aged five or six came out of the bedroom, he kept his head down as if he was throwing a tantrum at the old lady.
"You guys eat first, I still have a few dishes left to prepare." The old woman opened the refrigerator door and took out a half-frozen chicken from the top compartment: "It's been so long since the power went off, and it hasn't defrosted yet?"
She put the frozen chicken into a small pot and casually placed it on the dining table.
"Grandma, don't make anything. The soup is enough. Save the chicken for some other day."
"It's rare to have company around. It would be disrespectful if we didn't prepare more dishes for the guests. How long can the meat be preserved? All the meat in the refrigerator will spoil if it is left for too long." The warmth and kindness of the old woman in the kitchen reminded Han Fei of his childhood.
When he was young, the people around him were always very busy on New Year.
The fragrance of fish soup was piping hot, and the hazy aroma put Han Fei in a trance, and the memories in his mind seemed to overlap with the virtual game.
The dim light illuminated the small house, the sound of pots and pans came from the kitchen, the small TV played commercials, and the faint smell of smoky fire seemed to wash away the coldness of this strange place.
"Life itself may be beautiful in these simple ways."
Life will always have a specific period of darkness. If you give up at that time out of fear for the future, you will become the prisoner of the darkness. Every cloud has a silver lining. Life is also like a cloud. No bad days last forever.
Han Fei picked up the pot and prepared two bowls of soup for himself and Chenchen.
Han Fei inhaled deeply into the bowl, enjoying the mouth-watering aroma of the creamy broth.
He just put a mouthful of the broth in his mouth when he saw from the corner of his eye that the child beside him had raised the bowl full of soup above his head.
"What does this kid want?"
Before Han Fei could react, the child slammed the bowl filled with soup onto the floor!
"I'm not eating anything taken out of the coffin!"
Poof!
Han Fei's mouthful of soup was immediately spewed out after hearing the child's comments.
A coffin?
The ceramic bowl shattered on the ground, while the fish and broth flowed everywhere. The old lady heard the sound and rushed out from the kitchen, "Chenchen! What are you doing?!"
"You are cooking all the food that comes out of the coffin!" The boy, who looked only five or six years old, raised his head, and his eyes were bloodshot, filled with tears.
"What nonsense are you talking about!" The old lady was so worried about the boy being burned that she couldn't even untie her apron and ran to the dining table.
"The building manager said that only the dead are put in coffins!" The boy broke away from the old woman's hand, threw the frozen chicken she had just taken out of the refrigerator onto the floor, and ran for the bedroom.
"Come back here!"
Han Fei was left alone in the dining area with a bowl of soup while the old woman walked into the bedroom.
"The child's actions were too scary." Han Fei silently put down the bowl. He found a broom and dustpan behind the door and prepared to clean up. When he was about to clean up, he suddenly remembered something.
The kid said he wouldn't consume the items taken from the graveyard. Han Fei saw that the refrigerator was tidy and clean when the older man took the half-frozen chicken from it.
That would have been no big deal, but if you think carefully about the kid's words ... The building manager told the kid that only dead people are put in the coffin.
Why would this kid act in such a way? Is it because they have a body buried in their garden or hidden inside the freezer at home?
Huh?
Han Fei froze as he gave it some thought. This doesn't feel like an ideal healing game!