Chapter 2

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Chen Xu racked his brain for a whole night but was unable to make up his mind.

The next day, he woke up to his alarm. Looking at the familiar ceiling, the day he was about to face artlessly floated across his mind.

Walk ten minutes to the bus stop, sit on a bus for 45 minutes, reach office, start working on his boring job, all until 6 o’clock when he’d get off from work…

Day after day, he has done so for nearly two years.

Moreover, within the foreseeable future, such a life would go on for many more years.

All of a sudden, he figured it out. Since the Heavens were giving him a chance to break away from this kind of life, what was there to be hesitant about?

He sat up on his bed with a bounce, making up his mind to go into the dream world that very night.

This dream gear that came from nowhere had an anti-addiction system. It was stipulated that a person could only enter the dream world after midnight. A person couldn’t get in during the day even if they wished to.

…

On the crowded bus, Chen Xu awakened the “Virtual Dream Gear” and began making preparations for his entry.

He was viewing the items provided by the system. More than a dozen items were on display, such as an unlimited power supply with a rated power of 100,000 kilowatts, a multi-function dagger that could cut through everything, a 100-ton truck with perpetual motion, and so on.

It would be so cool if he could actually have any one of these items in real life. Unfortunately, all of these items could only appear in the dream world.

Later on, he looked at the second option. He could select an assistant.

There were many character templates to choose from in the system. These people had all kinds of skillsets, like doctors, field survival experts, tier-eight repairers, chefs, and so on.

In the dream world with a post-apocalyptic framework, these objects and assistants would all come in handy greatly.

So, which one should he choose?

Considering it over and over again, he first ruled out the item category.

If the background was a post-apocalyptic world, it would probably be very difficult to run into humans. Being in such an environment all alone – just the thought itself is terrifying enough. I think I’ll be better off choosing an assistant. At least, there would be someone there that I could talk to.

So, which character should he select?

Chen Xu looked at the figures of the dozens of assistants that he could choose from, still opting for the exclusion method.

Hmm, first get rid of all the guys, seven girls left.

These two look a bit old, goodbye.

These two look very androgynous, so, nope.

In the end, Chen Xu looked at the remaining three female characters and stroked his chin. How should I put it… a little unsatisfactory? Which means they were not beautiful enough. From his point of view, these girls were only a six out of ten.

If there was a choice, he would certainly prefer a prettier one.

Chen Xu turned his attention to the “more” option. A new set of characters immediately refreshed before his eyes. They were all a whole level higher in looks, about an eight out of ten.

“To select this character, you need to spend 15 universal credits. Please recharge your credits. Directing to the top-up page.”

“We are sorry. Visitors are not authorized for top-ups.”

Chen Xu looked at the two messages that popped up. His eyelids twitched. Sure enough, no matter how much technology had developed, all companies were still after money.

Looks like I can only choose one of these three.

At this time, his bus arrived at the station. He followed the crowd and got off the bus. Lifting his head, he saw bustling office workers everywhere. At a glance, he spotted a tall girl amidst the crowd. He couldn’t help but think, “Anyone on the street is better than those three female characters.”

“Oh yea.”

Suddenly, he had a lightbulb as he thought of something, “I could use a person in real life as the template to make a character, right?”

His eyes sparkled as he became excited.

…

“F*ck, I have to use a real person as the template.”

Chen Xu sat on his desk, feeling a little dispirited. Just now in the elevator, he wanted to recreate a female celebrity at the peak period of her beauty.

In the end, it failed ignominiously.

The system prompted that the template must be based on someone that truly existed in reality. Moreover, the figure had to be within his line of sight for the system to model it via scanning.

How very disappointing.

He stared at the computer screen, wondering if there were any suitable candidates among the people he knew.

Several of his female colleagues in his department were excluded first because their looks were all very ordinary. Other girls that he was acquainted with were also excluded. There were no particularly beautiful women in his social circle.

Whom should I choose…

At this moment, a woman in a trench coat and sunglasses came out from the end of the corridor.

His eyes sparkled. How could I have forgotten her?

Fair skin, beautiful face, long legs, she would be the one.

This lady went by the name of Luo Xiyun. She was around 23 or 24 years of age, and just joined the company that year. She was given the position of director right when she came in. Many speculated that she might be a close relative of one of the bosses at the company headquarters. She was an ascertained belle.

It could be said that such a woman and him were from two entirely different worlds. In a normal development pattern, the two of them would not intersect at all.

She was literally the perfect candidate.

Today, Luo Xiyun was wearing a black trench coat to set off her tall figure. From her style of walking, one could feel her confidence.

This was the first time Chen Xu carefully observed her appearance. He had to admit that, even with his eyes that had become hypercritical after being bombarded by the images of many ladies who applied makeup, edited their photos, and used beauty camera functions, she was still a woman who could charm him at a glance.

“She’s the one.”

So, he unhesitatingly activated the scanning function of the “Virtual Dream Gear”.

“Scanning success. Character template has been created.”

When he heard the prompt, he was extremely excited, wishing that he could enter the dream immediately.

…

The time period of a day would seem very short for some people, but for others, it would seem especially lengthy.

Chen Xu painstakingly endured through office hours and returned home enthusiastically. After eating and cleaning himself, he laid down on the bed and slowly entered a dream bearing an inexplicable mood.

After an unknown period of time, Chen Xu, who was sleeping, heard a voice, “You are about to enter the virtual dream “The Apocalypse”. When you are the only person left in the whole world, how would you survive?”

“This dream world has a difficulty of zero and will last for 180 days. We wish you a wonderful experience in this dream.”

Wait, 180 days?

Chen Xu forcefully opened his eyes and saw the ceiling he was familiar with. After living in this rented house for two years, he has been seeing this yellowish ceiling every day when he woke up.

“Did it fail?”

He was a little confused and despondent. He didn’t know what went wrong. He wanted to summon the console of the “Virtual Dream Gear”, but even after yelling a few times, nothing responded.

“How could this be?”

He scratched his head, vaguely feeling that something was off.

He fumbled upon his phone beneath his pillow, wanting to look at the time, but discovered that it was unknowingly turned off.

After booting his phone, he looked at the time, and saw it was already 7.30 am. He quickly got up and changed his clothes, preparing to go to work.

His company was very strict about work attendance. If he was late, not only would his salary be deducted, but also his year-end bonus. He didn’t want to give up all his efforts until now after having already suffered for about half a year.

When he went to the bathroom, he discovered that the light couldn’t be turned on. He thought it was a blip and ignored it. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he looked at the electricity panel before going out. It seemed fine, but the power shutters were all up.