Chapter 1

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The drowsiness!

The dizziness!

The blurry vision!

An indescribable sense of discomfort filled the depths of Lu Jin’s mind. It was as if the world was spinning continuously. With the throbbing pain, Lu Jin, who had just opened his eyes, would rather pass out.

Unfortunately, the constant pain and dizziness would not change because of Lu Jin’s thoughts.

Thirty seconds… Ten minutes… One hour passed…

As time passed, Lu Jin’s pain slowly began to ease.

“What an uncomfortable feeling. Could there be a fault in the AR machine?”

Lu Jin, who had barely regained his thoughts and consciousness, thought of the world’s first ARMMORPG machine, which he had received that day.

It was April 1st, 2054!

The first AR (Enhanced Reality) technology in the world was fully utilized in the MMORPG. This could be said to be a huge change in the gaming industry. At the same time, as it could completely virtualize people’s lives, it was the greatest invention that rewrote history.

Lu Jin was a lucky person, being fortunate enough to be globally selected as one of the hundred internal beta testers.

After three years of internal beta testing, it was finally the debut of “Fantasy World”.

However, to Lu Jin’s surprise, just as he put on his AR glasses and was about to start the journey to “Fantasy World”, the situation suddenly changed…

After an indeterminate period of drowsiness and fogginess, a small and unfamiliar room entered Lu Jin’s sight.

The room was only five square meters. Apart from a creaky wooden bed and a small wardrobe, there was nothing else. Oh, there were also a few garbage bags thrown on the ground.

Besides those, there were many pictures on the wall and a mirror hanging near the window.

“Who… Who is this person?”

Lu Jin’s hair stood on end as he fixed his gaze on the mirror that had the dimensions of 30 to 40 centimeters.

The person in the mirror seemed to be around 20 years old. Although his face was extremely pale and his bloodshot eyes made it seem like he had not slept for more than 10 days, one could tell that he was a handsome young man.

Furthermore, judging from the T-shirt that he was wearing, one could tell that his body was well-defined. He simply looked like a sports star.

Compared to Lu Jin, who was already in his thirties, they were worlds apart.

Barely a few seconds after Lu Jin saw himself in the mirror, it was as if his mind was triggered. Memories, in the form of images, flooded his mind uncontrollably.

“How… How can… How can this be?”

“There must be something wrong with my mind. How can it be four hundred years later?”

After the flood of memories, Lu Jin was dumbfounded. Looking at the handsome young man in the mirror, Lu Jin could not believe that it was real.

February 10th, 2455 – that was a completely impossible date that should not have occurred.

However, even if Lu Jin was unwilling to believe it, he had no choice.

In the mirror, he was wearing a pair of high-tech AR glasses. These glasses were completely different from the first-generation AR glasses, which were bulky and complicated, making it look as though one was wearing a headgear. The AR glasses that he was currently donning looked like an ordinary pair of anti-dust glasses.

With just a click of the frame, everything in front of him changed drastically.

The beach, the waves, the sea breeze…

It was as if he had arrived at a deserted island. The faint salty smell from the sea and the coolness of the sea breeze made it feel extremely real, as if he was really on a beach by the sea.

In terms of taste, smell, touch and hearing, it has completely surpassed the first-generation AR prototype.

The first-generation AR prototype was just the size of a room…

That level of technology could not have been achieved in mere decades. Without hundreds of years of progress, it was impossible to achieve such a realistic virtualization and super-miniaturization.

However, it was precisely because of that that the AR glasses, or rather, Fantasy World, had replaced all social tools and electronic devices, such as cell phones, computers, entertainment games and the like, becoming the only thing in people’s lives.

Even people’s work – production and manufacturing – had become completely inseparable from Fantasy World, or had become a part of it.

After Lu Jin’s momentary experience with the AR glasses, a video he saw from the corner of his eye caused him to fall into a state of panic suddenly.

“He’s already… dead?”

After opening the video, Lu Jin quickly noticed a video that was recorded by a young man, who was dead.

The video was recorded on February 6th by the young man. That was three days ago.

The young man in the video was also sitting in this small room. The difference was that he seemed to be in an excellent state. One could say that he was very healthy and his body seemed a lot stronger, unlike now, where it seemed like he had not eaten for ten days.

“Although I don’t know why, I can feel that they are close by. Recently, with this feeling getting stronger, my body is starting to get weaker. I’ve visited the doctor, but the doctor said that it was all an illusion. Although physical tests of my body have proven that everything is normal, I still want to record this.”

“I hope this is just an illusion. After all, I was the chosen one. My bright future is just about to start…”

The young man in the video had an indescribable look of excitement and joy in his eyes. Then, the recording stopped.

“It’s only been three or four days. How can a person change so much?” Lu Jin looked at the young man in the video and then helplessly looked at his extremely weak and frail self in the mirror. They looked completely different. “What exactly… did he experience in the past three to four days?”

In general, even if he did not eat for three or four days, a strong young man like him would not have lost more than 10 kilograms like the man in the video did.

Not to mention, there was a lot of fast food in the garbage bags, which proved that the young man had been eating normally for the past three to four days.

“‘They are close by?’ What does that mean exactly?”

Lu Jin thought of the strange illusion that the young man had mentioned at the end of the video. After all, when nearing death, some people could notice things, or notice some signs from their self-preservation instinct that ordinary people would not have discovered.

However, after pondering for a moment, Lu Jin shook his head and gave up.

According to the young man’s memory, the past three to four days were completely empty, as if they had been removed by something.

The other possibility was that the young man died shortly after recording the video, so Lu Jin was not able to access his memories for the past three to four days.

“Forget it, I shall not think about it anymore.” Lu Jin immediately deactivated the virtual beach and rubbed his stomach. He was starving. “I don’t understand the feeling that the young man was describing, but my hunger is getting stronger. If I don’t eat now, I’m afraid that I might starve to death. I have to eat promptly.”

Having abruptly arrived at the world 400 years into the future, Lu Jin was predictably puzzled. However, since he was already here, surviving is what he needed to do the most right now.

Just as Lu Jin stood up and the virtual beach disappeared, the room became dark all of a sudden, completely unlike a room that was awash with rays from a bright afternoon sun.

Then, Lu Jin suddenly heard a jarring, mechanical voice, which made his hair stand on end.

“I’m… hungry…”

It was unsure when, but a huge shadow with countless mouths and eyes stood in front of Lu Jin now. Ten pairs of its eyes were fixated on him as its speech became clearer and its voice became louder.

“Can… you… let me… eat you?”