ITOTIABSAM | Landlord Tenant | 44
What does it feel like to encounter a celebrity? Zhang Ya experienced it today.
Although it might sound exaggerated, the moment the young man in front of her took off his mask, she really felt like the entire venue was illuminated, just like some of the overly romantic descriptions in those rainbow-colored posts.
Previously, with his face covered so tightly, she had only noticed the tall and handsome guy standing next to him. She thought that the young man's appearance would be stunning enough once he removed his hat and sunglasses. However, she still underestimated the extent of the heavens' favoritism. At such close proximity, the youth's delicately beautiful features still showed no flaws.
And his skin was so fair.
Especially his aura, it even made it difficult for people to focus on his appearance, simply feeling that he was beautiful.
—Could he really be a celebrity?
Today must be a lucky day. In the midst of work, encountering two exceptionally handsome guys who don't seem like Cosplayers is quite unusual.
While her mind was filled with various thoughts, Zhang Ya's hands moved swiftly and kindly, guiding the three individuals, including Gu Cong, to put on their headsets. She heard the young man named Xie Ye, who was closest to her, ask, "Hello, how can I know who my teammates are?"
In regular games, teammates can be identified by their IDs. However, in this VR version, there are only five official accounts, including ordinary players who are matched into the game, and all IDs are completely blocked.
"This experience is in single-player mode," Zhang Ya gently reminded, her caring smile almost slipping as she observed the young man's exposed slender jawline, which somehow exuded a hint of confusion and vulnerability, perhaps due to the inability to see reality, causing her to completely overlook the peculiar hoarseness of his voice.
Almost unable to contain her affectionate smile, she continued softly, "All the items in the official account's item shop are unlocked. Maybe you can think about how your companions will dress up?"
The game mascot is a rabbit, and the game characters are naturally related to animals. Players can dress up as their favorite animals by unlocking various tail and ear accessories.
With lively and cheerful background music playing, the initial setting requires players to dress up as plush toys to enter the game. The cursor, controlled by the controller, paused for a few seconds, and Xie Ye pressed it. Immediately, the game character's hands were adorned with a pair of entirely black, yet with two pink paw pads, cat gloves.
Just like in reality, in the first-person shooting game, players can see others but not their own appearance. After a longer-than-expected wait, Xie Ye was transported into the map.
While waiting in line, he glanced at the promotional sign. To obtain the rabbit plush toy mentioned by Gu Cong, one must eliminate more than 20 opponents. In this cute version of a battle royale game, both luck and skill are indispensable.
Replacing the system announcement, 1101 declared, "Ding ding ding, the game begins."
【I won't cheat for you, just so you know.】
Xie Ye: "It's not necessary."
With full immersion, apart from climbing and shooting, movements and turns that should be controlled by a mouse and keyboard also rely on footwork. As a result, players on-site may find it difficult to adapt. To ensure relative fairness, the players matched by the official system are also in friendly silver-tier matches.
The sound of gunfire echoed in the distance. If it weren't for the fact that the bullets fired were all hard candies that would burst into juice-like splashes, 1101 would even suspect that this VR version of the game wouldn't pass the censorship.
Unlike other players cautiously adapting to the new equipment by hiding in corners, Xie Ye skipped the "adaptation" phase altogether. He decisively bypassed the learning curve, swiftly scavenging for supplies as if he had no worries about his real self bumping into walls.
Faint footsteps could be heard, and Xie Ye swiftly sidestepped into a corner, holding his breath and waiting. After five seconds, a hapless Mr. Bear passed by and was hit head-on by a strawberry-flavored "hard candy."
Watching the synchronized screen with some surprise, Zhang Ya hadn't expected him to adapt so quickly.
He seemed to handle the VR equipment as if it were normal, unlike most players whose movements appeared somewhat comical and awkward when wearing the VR gear. Even in casual attire, Xie Ye's actions were remarkably precise, giving the impression of being in a spy thriller movie.
1101 couldn't resist but add a word of caution: "Hehehe, be careful."
After all, this alt of the world hadn't undergone any training in interstellar simulation combat.
However, Xie Ye simply responded, "Rabbit."
Eliminate twenty first.
Virtual reality was still virtual reality. In real life, Xie Ye's body wouldn't withstand the recoil from firearms, but in the game, he quickly adapted to the varying levels of vibration caused by different weapons. With the help of his alt's memories, Xie Ye, sporting black cat ears, soon occupied the highest point on the left side of the map.
At this moment, his kill count on the screen had already reached seven. He had been staring blankly after setting up a sniper rifle. Unable to resist, 1101 invaded his perspective and asked, "What are you looking at?"
In the alley on the left side of the unfinished building, a canine gentleman with a shining golden tail fired his gun—his marksmanship was a bit lacking, with both bullets hitting the wall.
However, it was evident that he was very familiar with the map and quite agile. After a series of twists and turns, he successfully shook off his pursuer.
Not twenty seconds later, the golden retriever, having reloaded, dashed out again, searching for targets. This time, although he didn't miss, he only hit the opponent's arm. Then ensued a chaotic chase.
1101: "It's him."
The style of play, the obvious signs of a newcomer gradually getting the hang of it—there was no doubt it was Gu Cong.
Amidst the melee, the golden retriever's health bar, visible only to himself and those who hit him, had already dropped by half. Unaware that a cat was watching him from the adjacent rooftop with an eight-time scope, he quietly opened a supply box, discarded useless weapons, and took out a roll of bandages to hastily wrap around himself.
Unfortunately, such actions couldn't escape the notice of a seasoned player.
Quietly, the fox miss with pointed ears approached the house where the golden retriever was hiding. Just as she raised her gun at the window on the next second, bang—his forehead was burning hot.
Juice splattered everywhere as the pink strawberry candy hit her.
Startled by the sound, the golden retriever wearing a safety helmet, cautiously peeked out, only to see the fox lady gradually dissipate into pixels, leaving behind a "corpse" and the backpack they dropped.
Sensing something, he glanced towards the higher rooftop next to him, but found nothing there.
Gu Cong: "A bit lucky."
Regardless, he didn't hesitate to loot the backpack.
Watching everything unfold, 1101 couldn't help but exclaim: "That's what you call carrying a teammate! That's how you do it!"
No communication needed and able to save even from eight hundred meters away—truly worthy of you, Xie Ye.
Ding.
Ding ding.
The sound of players being eliminated rang out three times in a row, prompting Xie Ye, who was hiding behind cover, to abruptly halt his attempt to follow Gu Cong's footsteps:
The last two eliminations came too quickly, likely indicating that the same player was clearing out others.
His hunch proved correct. About five minutes later, with the game progressing past the halfway mark, there were significantly fewer animals safely tucked away in the safe zone than usual. In the chatroom visible only to eliminated players, discussions were rampant:
"Damn, that black cat named Player One is too strong."
"And that cheetah named Player Five."
"I don't know what cheats they're using, but this is clearly teaming up. I'm reporting them."
"Wait, guys, isn't this the Easter egg the developers mentioned yesterday?"
"VR?"
"Can you really fish in VR mode?"
"Are you kidding? I heard it's super hard to control, and you can't even see player IDs or chat boxes. You're dead as soon as you step out."
After a while without any movement from the host in the game, 1101 emerged from the elimination chat room with curiosity: "Xie Ye? Do you want me to..."
【Shh.】
In the scope, a sleek black and gold-spotted leopard tail appeared, Xie Ye lifted his gun and squeezed the trigger.
This time, the bullet was lemon-flavored, yellow and round. With a flick of its ears, the targeted cheetah suddenly crouched down, narrowly avoiding the deadly shot.
Unable to see player IDs and with repeated player appearances in the game, Xie Ye had lurked in the shadows for a long time before finally identifying the person causing trouble: "It's him."
With access to the overall information, 1101 acknowledged:
Indeed.
But the host is too capable. Will it make this system seem useless?
Worried.
With a limited number of players in each game, coupled with the internal conflicts among ordinary players, in order to get twenty kills and win the rabbit doll prize, they must deal with the cheetah who's competing with them for elimination.
The opponent, whether with the same intention or simply wanting to retaliate, fired a shot while on the move, giving Xie Ye a shot in return.
For other players on the scene, even if they knew it was fake, when the realistic bullets flew towards them, their instinct would be to dodge.
However, the black-haired youth who gradually attracted more and more attention was different.
On the big screen, he merely tilted his head slightly, allowing the whistling apple-flavored hard candy to brush past his ear and burst into bright red juice on the wall behind him, as if he was certain that the opponent couldn't possibly hit him.
Among the onlookers, someone couldn't help but whisper, "So handsome."
"Which team is he from?"
Once the VR headset was on and the game sound effects started, players were completely unaware of the outside world.
After changing cover several times and exchanging shots, seizing the opportunity when the cheetah was changing bullets, Xie Ye pretended to pause for reloading. He raised his head and swiftly shot, hitting the cheetah's forehead.
It caught the opponent off guard.
His alternate self was meticulous in its actions, just as serious in playing games. Apart from the models updated in the past half year, he remembered the ammunition count for all firearms.
Coupled with Xie Ye's constant provocation to make the cheetah fire and silently memorize the opponent's remaining ammunition, he managed to anticipate the moment when the cheetah's magazine was empty. By pretending to reload first and tricking the opponent into letting down their guard, he delivered a fatal blow.
The faint golden dots scattered as the cheetah was eliminated, immediately promoting Xie Ye to the position of controlling the entire battlefield like a big boss.
It seemed he had noticed that this fierce black cat had a special fondness for golden retrievers.
During the final round, multiple angles were broadcasted on the large screens at the exhibition, and suddenly three dogs with identical costumes appeared.
Yes, three of them.
"Disguise Juice," one of the most redundant items in the resource pack, was mostly used by players for entertainment in group photos during casual matches. In regular matches where there were IDs to distinguish players, it wouldn't cause any confusion. However, for Xie Ye now, the three large dogs with bald heads were almost indistinguishable.
Some players realized they were using test accounts.
Instantly realizing this, Xie Ye furrowed his eyebrows lightly and voluntarily exposed himself from behind cover.
1101: ??
Even if it's a bait operation, this is too risky.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Knowing that the opponent's marksmanship was good, the leftmost golden retriever crouched down, while the one on the right seized the opportunity to fire a few shots, trying to take a chance. Only the one in the middle, at the moment when the cat appeared, dashed out of cover without hesitation and joyfully ran towards the opponent.
"Tsk."
The dark barrel of the gun immediately shifted towards the center, the black-haired youth's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, and he pulled the trigger.
Author's Note:
Dog Gu Cong: My wife wants to shoot me? Doesn't matter, still gotta pounce.
Cat Xie Ye: Fool.
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