Charlie was sitting in the classroom, resting his cheeks in his hands listlessly, yawning five times a minute on average. It wasn't until the linear algebra teacher called his name that he became more awake.
"Are you so sleepy?" His buddy, sitting beside him, glanced at him.
His buddy's name was Walter Freeman, Charlie's high school classmate. Originally, they weren't very close friends in high school, but they unexpectedly ended up in the same university and major. Over time, they started chatting together and developed into buddies. Men's friendship is that simple.
They had checked each other's schedules before choosing courses this semester, and the courses they chose were all the same. Whoever got to the classroom first would often save a seat for the other.
"I slept a little late yesterday," Charlie responded casually, yawning again.
Walter looked at Charlie's hand meaningfully as if he understood. He approached mysteriously and lowered his voice: "Any links?"
"What?"
"Don't pretend to be stupid. Look at you; the 'reading materials' must have been great last night, right? Share one with your buddy."
"...No."
Seeing Walter's disbelief, Charlie couldn't help but laugh.
"Really, no. I played games last night and didn't sleep until late," he told the truth.
Walter had a disappointed expression on his face, showing a look of, "It turns out it's a game," and leaned back in his seat to play with his mobile phone. Although Walter also played games, he had no interest in single-player games. He was only interested in competitive games—especially competitive mobile games—because there were many girls in such games.
Charlie didn't go to bed until after midnight yesterday. He tossed and turned in bed for a long time, his mind still filled with the shocking scenes from the game's plot last night. To be honest, the first level after the game's novice tutorial was indeed a striking opener. Coupled with the sophisticated production and realistic graphics, it was truly impressive.
Charlie, who had been baptized in various horror games and thriller movies, hadn't felt this way for a long time. The last time in his memory that made him feel so uneasy was the classic old movie "The Ring." At that time, Charlie hadn't had much exposure to horror movies and was not very resistant to supernatural beings. The movie left a deep shadow on his young mind. He still remembered being scared when he saw Sadako in white clothes and disheveled hair crawling out of the TV.
Although it faded away with time, "The Ring" became a source of trauma, so much so that he would still be afraid of dark TVs and computer screens when he turned off the lights at night and was alone. This sequela was not completely cured until a close friend gave him a parody book. The general plot was that Sadako appeared on the TV set of the otaku hero's house. However, the protagonist was poor. The size of the TV was too small, and Sadako's secondary sexual characteristics were too developed to fit, so she got stuck. This led to some comical situations...
Since then, the door to a new world has opened before Charlie. At the same time, his PTSD from Sadako was miraculously cured instantly. So, this kind of discomfort only appeared for a short time. But now, he didn't know whether it was simply because the game was well-made and the picture was too realistic or for other reasons, but the cut-off process of the first level still replayed in his mind, lingering as if on repeat.
"Fuck."
Walter, who was swiping away on his phone with his head down, suddenly made an improper exclamation.
Charlie poked his head curiously. "What happened?"
"...Do you know the Klein Group?"
"I don't know," Charlie shook his head.
"A company in the lower city. Seems to be a pharmaceutical company," Walter said. "I just got the news that someone said the Klein Group's board of directors died suddenly last night!"
"...Sudden death?" Charlie was taken aback.
It had been a month since he traveled to the Pole Star, and everything seemed normal. The memory inherited from the original body also told him that this was a safe and peaceful world. This kind of thing should be heavy news.
"What happened?" Charlie asked.
"See for yourself."
Walter handed the phone to Charlie while continuing to explain in a low voice.
"The person who posted said he is an employee of the Klein Group. He heard about it when he went to the company early this morning. But the specific reason is still unknown. It seems the company was attacked by unknown people last night..."
Walter kept talking, but Charlie didn't listen to what he said next. The moment his eyes fell on the picture attached to the post, he was firmly attracted like a magnet.
It was a pitch-black building, and the perimeter had been cordoned off by the authorities. Charlie stared at the photo for a while. At first, he felt it looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before. After a while, his pupils shrank and he froze as if electrocuted.
Damn, why does this look so much like the building Batman sneaked into last night in the game!? Although it was night in the game and day in the photo, and only a limited part of the building was captured on the screen, Charlie had controlled Batman to circle around the building for a long time to survey. He was confident that it was impossible to mistake its appearance and structure.
Wait, the board members of the Klein Group died collectively last night... Charlie immediately thought of the game level last night. The man who raised his head in the conference room and those crazy NPCs who blew their heads after being confronted by Batman.
So is there a possibility, maybe...
...maybe they're not NPCs? Maybe what he experienced on the computer last night was not just a virtual game process?
The moment this thought came to him, he felt a chill all over his body, and at the same time, the game screen from last night flooded his mind again, making his spine even chillier. Charlie also read a lot of novels in his free time, and he had seen all kinds of weird cheats after the protagonist traversed. He immediately thought that something was wrong with the game he brought from the original world.
Maybe he transmigrated into the world set by the game? He remembered that the game loading interface last night showed that the map had failed to load at first, then the system automatically repaired the problem, and the words "The new map system has been loaded" popped up. So this newly loaded map may be the map of 'this' world. "Avengers VS Justice League: New Era" automatically analyzed the laws of this world and loaded the territory of this world as the map background...
Well, of course, it's all Charlie's speculations. He doesn't know if it's true or not. He swiped down the phone screen to load more information, but a big "Error 404" popped up on the screen, followed by a prompt: "The post you visited does not exist."
Charlie was taken aback.
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