VIP Ward, Baiyun Hospital, the Capital.

Xiao Yi, lying in a nutrient tank, constantly changed his expressions—happiness, anger, sadness—all were evident on his face. Yet, the “awakening” that Mr. and Mrs. Xiao had been anxiously waiting for never came.

That day, Mr. Xiao indeed mobilized thousands of company employees to search for Xiao Yi in various novice villages in the game. However, unfortunately, since these employees were all newcomers when they entered, and in a game where strength is paramount, how much power can a newborn newcomer exert? Naturally, the grand plan to find him fell through.

“So, what should we do now?” Mrs. Xiao frowned, wrinkles beginning to appear on her forehead and the corners of her eyes. Her once beautiful eyes were now burdened with dark circles and eye bags. Since Xiao Yi's accident, she hadn't stopped watching over him for a moment, forgetting all about maintaining her appearance.

“Old buddy, I suggest you two shouldn't worry too much. Although there are no clues about him in the game, I am confident he has entered the game and is experiencing it.” Dr. Fu patted Mr. Xiao on the shoulder. “You need to have faith in your son. If he can wake up, he will wake up.”

“Sigh! It seems that's all we can do for now. So what should we do now?” Mr. Xiao looked at Xiao Yi in the nutrient tank, feeling a pang of sorrow. He had lost his usual sharpness and was clearly at a loss.

“Go do what you need to do! Don't you still have a business to run? Your son is safe here, and the nutrient tank can provide him with all the necessary nutrients.” Dr. Fu patted his chest reassuringly. “I'll have the prettiest nurse take care of him, don't worry!”

“You old rascal!” Mrs. Xiao managed a bitter smile.

——————————————————————————

“Ah!”

A piercing scream, Du Ruo woke up from a nightmare, drenched in sweat. In her dream, she was hit by a speeding car, flying into the sky, then continuously falling... She had been having this dream for several days. Well, to be precise, since that car accident.

That day, Du Ruo was as usual, stopping at the intersection on her way home from work when the light turned red. Naturally, she stopped to wait for the cars to pass. A car was indeed speeding from a distance—the light was about to change. At that moment, Du Ruo was suddenly pushed hard, falling towards the center of the street.

It was like a scripted scene. Du Ruo was pushed into the street, and the car swerved sharply to avoid her, crashing into the roadside barrier. Having brushed with death, Du Ruo fled the scene in terror—the desperate and regretful twisted face and eyes of the man in the car had since haunted her mind.

“Is it time to enter the game?” Du Ruo thought. Only in the game could she temporarily forget that face, those eyes. Only by immersing herself in the game's world could the guilt and remorse in her heart temporarily fade away.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

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Rubbing my head, sore from the stones, I stood up and stretched.

I hadn't had such a real sleep for a long time. Oh, I really have to thank those guys! In the darkness, there was no concept of time or space, nothing as real as here. Even sleeping felt just like reality. If I hadn't interacted with other players, I might have really thought I had arrived on another continent.

Speaking of continents, “Destiny” has its own set of history and settings. The place we are standing on now is called the Tessi Continent, quite a magical name. On the Tessi Continent, there are seven large cities including Edia Port, Taixi, and Haililand. It is said that these seven cities were the capitals of seven countries on the Tessi Continent. During a resistance against an alien invasion, the entire Tessi Continent was forced to unite into a federation. Silent years passed, and after many vicissitudes, it evolved into its current state.

Of course, these are just the backgrounds created by the game company, not to be taken seriously. But at this moment, I was flipping through the extremely simplistic map provided by the system, trying to locate myself.

After waking up, I checked my friend list and found that Thunder Axe and the others were online, but the avatar of the girl in purple was gray. Opening the message receiver, I found that this girl had sent me a message afterward, and seeing no reply from me, she went offline in disappointment. There were also several anonymous messages, which I didn't need to look at to know they were from that leader. I filtered them out and set the messaging function to only receive messages from friends. Then I opened the private chat channel, preparing to ask Thunder Axe about the situation below.

Thunder Axe and Shui Rulan were still in a team together, their location was just in the level 23 monster area ahead. Thunder Axe went to the foot of the mountain to check the situation and replied, “Hey, who did you offend? There are about ten people waiting down here.”

That leader really takes me seriously. I'm just a little mage, is it worth so many people waiting? I gave a bitter smile to Thunder Axe, “How would I know? Last night, a group wanted to rob my equipment, and I took one of them down before escaping up this mountain.”

“Rob your equipment?”

“Yeah, the staff Shui Rulan gave me. Thank her for me.”

“Hehe, you thank her yourself, I won't help.” Thunder Axe laughed lewdly. “Oh no, seven of them are coming up the mountain.”

Coming up the mountain? Damn! Are they really going to waste their time on this? This guy is really a prime example of vindictiveness.

So, I ran in the deep mountains and forests for a whole day. At noon, I crossed the mountain top, but when I reached the top, there was no joy of looking down on all the mountains, only anger and helplessness at being deceived by the system map.

According to the map, past the Lion Valley and the Saint Calais Mountain should be another big city, Taixi City. But when I reached the top of the Saint Calais Mountain, I found out it wasn't the case! The Saint Calais was clearly a mountain range, not an ordinary mountain peak! Damn fake map!

So, I wandered through the undulating Saint Calais Mountains, fortunately still having Thunder Axe and Shui Rulan's comfort, so I wouldn't feel so lonely. However, my patience was tested again and again in the absence of any person or monster.

“Should I bite my tongue or hit myself with the staff?”

“Should I jump off a cliff or bump into a rock?”

…

These thoughts of possible ways to die flashed through my mind more than once. I couldn't drag this out any longer! If I kept going, I wouldn't know if I could get out, and more importantly, time. If I had the courage to kill myself from the start, I would have been leveling up by now.

Jumping off a cliff it is! I made up my mind one last time. The sky gradually turned golden, the sun slowly sinking into the horizon with a trail of colorful clouds. At this moment, I found a cliff that looked bottomless.

I put all my equipment into my bag, then clutched it tightly, took a deep breath, and before dying, cursed the mage leader with all my might. At the same time, the heroic scene of the Five Heroes of Wolf Tooth Mountain a hundred years ago appeared in my mind. With a loud shout, I jumped into the bottomless abyss!