A man in a beige trench coat, numb to the extreme, knew he must have been beguiled by a Deity, otherwise he wouldn't have found himself sitting in front of this metal box in a daze.
As soon as he sat down, he began to review his life.
His life could be said to be quite wasteful in the first half, but incredibly successful during the middle, even verging on reaching the pinnacle. His career advanced with each step, his salary grew with each day, he always had the upper hand in negotiations with clients, he accomplished great feats for his company, and at one point he climbed to become the third most powerful person in the entire company, with much of the company's growth and expansion before that point the result of his efforts.
In this process, he also met the love of his life, and after a brief passionate romance, they married immediately. His wife had fallen in love with him at first sight, and she was extraordinarily beautiful and charming.
Then, quite suddenly, his life began to fall apart.
First, the company went bankrupt unexpectedly.
He was tricked by the company and ended up burdened with a massive debt.
He was diagnosed with pneumoconiosis by the Medical Cultivator Association, whose robust members suggested cutting him open and washing out his lungs. Though the medical practices of the Association were bizarre, their diagnoses were always accurate.
His wife cheated on him with a real Minotaur.
And that Minotaur, while in the act with his wife, turned over and crushed their young son to death.
As he walked the streets, sudden drops of steel plates or billboards from above would injure his legs.
Even when he had no money on him, he would encounter Minotaur thieves robbing him, fortunately without castrating him.
And after that, even more severe "repercussions" awaited him.
Seeing his life in ruins, he became disheartened and decided to spend all his remaining money in a tavern and then jump into a filthy ditch to end his life.
He knew why this was happening, because he had taken a "loan" from "Death," and although the demands of the loan were not high, the payback had been incredibly "intense."
The God of Death is one of the highest of the gods in this world, governing the value of life and death.
Those whose lives don't go well, even the most worthless among them, pray to the God of Death, who will surely respond to you. Once you receive that response, the value you create in your life thereafter will be immense. In other words, you go from being worthless to becoming an elite of the mortal world, and then, just when you think you're at the peak, various abstract Curses of Death follow immediately.
If you want something, there is always a corresponding price to pay.
The man once wished to the God of Death to escape his worthless life, even if he could only live for half a year, to let him experience the world of a successful person. And so, the God of Death granted his wish.
Everything turned out this way.
Others looked upon his life as if it were a legend.
From a nobody, he reached the pinnacle of life, and then inevitably, what is at the pinnacle is destined to tumble into an abyss.
All the good things you received will come to an abrupt halt at this time, and everything you acquired through your wish will face Death.
The added value of the living will vanish as death draws near, and the disparity in value between the peak and death is the God of Death's demanded remuneration.
This is the price of taking a loan from a God!
But no matter what, as long as you meet the criteria chosen by the Deity, God will always answer when you call!
This man already knew that he was at the cusp of death. Reflecting on his life, the man in the trench coat felt he too was an abstract object.
So no matter what the iron box was, he didn't mind spending the last few silver coins he had in his hand.
Perhaps in the last few hours of his life, this mysterious iron box might give him the feeling that there were still some new tricks in the world.
All the past was just something the God of Death lent to him, and he didn't really have any ability. When everything crumbled, it was only then he realized that what he had gained was just an illusion.
But at least he had truly lived once, reached the peak, and that was not a loss.
Because that was the choice he had made.
The man consoled himself in his mind, and if possible, he didn't want to die. But when a supreme Deity demanded a price from him, he could not resist. The reason he wasn't being actively sought out now was that he still possessed fresh "death value."
The man in the trench coat followed the operating instructions on the box and tossed in a silver coin.
Immediately after, dozens of shiny steel coins popped out of a narrow slot in the iron box.
As the instructions indicated, the scruffy-bearded tourist in the trench coat put these so-called Game Coins into another coin slot.
Following that, a pleasant and unheard melody suddenly filled the air outside the tavern by the roadside, causing those wandering on the street, as well as those talking loudly inside the tavern doors, and workers in another area dressed in neat attire, all to look over in unison.
"What's that iron box?"
"Is someone using that iron box?"
A lot of people watched with the intent to gather around.
The iron box required coin insertion to operate, and everyone saw that written above the coin slot of the box was, depending on the value of the coins inserted, the iron box would spit out an equivalent value of "Game Coins" from another slot.
For most people, they were not willing to put a portion of their day's salary into an unknown iron box. If it went to waste, it would be terribly upsetting.
However, if someone else was paying, that was a different story.
More and more people gathered around.
They clustered behind the man in the trench coat, staring intently as colorful images appeared on the iron box in sync with the pleasant music, revealing a strange interface.
Here comes the little plane.
A triangular iron bird... the people of this world, including the man in the trench coat and the crowd around him, had never seen an airplane before, so they didn't know what to call it.
In any case, this iron bird was red and blue, flanking both sides, with a row of text in the middle. The text, made up of characters unique to their world, spelled out a name— "Raiden."
Beneath the Raiden text were several options. The scruffy-bearded tourist pressed without hesitation the option above, selecting:
"Single-player mode."
Then the little red plane appeared in his view, and at the start of the first level, a slightly uplifting tune began to play.
Music... that's right, music.
The man watched the screen, thinking to himself, was there such wonderful music in this world?
Although it was not extraordinarily pleasant to the ear, compared to the five fixed tunes available in this world, a new sound could always refresh the senses and even slightly uplift the spirit.