Chapter 141 - Li Ling Is A Bit Angry

"A-Zhi..." Li Ling looked at the man in shock and disbelief as he asked, "I thought I asked you to come here alone." 

Zhihao scratched his head as he responded with a sense of guilt, "He wasn't letting me go." 

Wang GuiYing smiled happily as he put his arm around Zhihao's neck and greeted Li Ling, "Little lover, how are you?" 

Li Ling rolled his eyes as he turned around and entered the arcade. 

Zhou Xinyi pulled Wang GuiYing's collar and forced him to release Zhihao. 

Zhihao didn't even bother looking at Wang GuiYing as he followed after Li Ling like a lost puppy. 

Wang GuiYing and Zhou Xinyi shared a look and concluded that they had just intruded on a date, but it wasn't like Wang GuiYing cared to apologize or leave the two alone.. He thoroughly enjoyed being a third-wheel and Zhou Xinyi was forced to join him as a fourth wheel.

There weren't many people inside the arcade so when they entered, they were personally greeted by a few staff members who excitedly walked up to them and said something to Li Ling. 

Li Ling said something back and the staff nodded as they happily responded, "All preparations have been made." 

Zhihao wanted to talk to Li Ling but Li Ling seemed to be a bit mad about the sudden last-minute changes to their original plan. He had planned this to be a date! A date with just him and Zhihao playing T.I.A.D. and when Zhihao is finished playing, he'll give him a ride back home and the kiss that had been promised. That was how this was planned to go! But now that two uninvited guests were here, his original plan had been ruined completely. 

One of the staff stopped Zhihao from approaching Li Ling, "Sir, please let us help you put the gear on." 

"The gear?" Zhihao looked at the staff and then glanced at Li Ling who wasn't even looking at him. 

"Yes, sir. You need to first put on the gear," The staff smiled as she showed him the gear that she was talking about. 

Zhihao looked at the Virtual headset that looked pretty alike the one he had at home, but at a single glance, he knew it was different since this one was a lot more lightweight and thinner in comparison. 

"Whoa! This thing is amazing!" It was the voice of Wang GuiYing and when Zhihao turned around to look at the man, he found that Wang GuiYing had already put most of the gear on. 

Zhihao wanted to clear a few things with Li Ling but in the end, he still ended up deciding to put on the gear before he talked it out. They were still gonna enter the same level in the game so he was sure that he would have a lot of opportunities to apologize to Li Ling for ruining their date. 

The staff picked up a watch and put it around Zhihao's wrist as she spoke, "This is the pulse monitor." 

She then continued to help him take his shoes out and exchange them into the ones she had given him, "Footwear sensors." 

Zhihao nodded. He lifted his right foot and jumped a few times. 

These shoes... They were surprisingly really comfortable! 

The staff chuckled as she saw him jumping and being amazed at how comfortable this thing was. 

"They are made to help the players have the best, most comfortable experience." 

"They are great. Are they for sale?" 

The girl shook her head, "Unfortunately, not yet." 

Zhihao sighed. 

The girl continued to help him put on the 'handbands'

"This helps sense your muscle movements."

There was a lot of individual equipment that he was made to wear, but once he was done wearing them all, he looked at himself in the mirror and found that all the individual equipment was so small that it almost looked like he was wearing something casual. 

He entered the T.I,A.D. sensory gaming room and the last piece of equipment he put on was the VR Headset and just as he did, instead of starting T.I.A.D. right off the bat, they were now experiencing a virtual demo. 

Zhihao was amazed. 

This was certainly an experience worth living for. 

He looked down at his hands and couldn't help but feel that they really were his hands, he jumped and it felt so natural that he almost wanted to keep on jumping. 

He looked around and saw Wang GuiYing excitedly running around with Zhou Xinyi silently following him and Li Ling being his usual unaffected self. 

[Welcome to the first ever completely immersive virtual reality.] 

It was a really attractive voice of a woman that sounded rather computerized and yet, at the same time, it didn't.

[Here, you can do anything you do in your real life and more.]

[Where your imagination is your only limit.]

[We'll now be moving on to a few tests to help you get comfortable and improve our performance] 

[The first test would be 'floating balls'] 

The area around them turned white and there was now a ball in front of each one of them. 

[Focus on the ball and when you are completely focused, the ball will start floating.] 

[Don't lose focus in the middle or the ball will fall down again.] 

[Keep the ball in mid-air for more than five seconds and you pass the test.] 

Zhihao looked at the ball in front and wondered if it would work. 

In the end, he still decided to try it out first before saying anything. 

He focused on the ball so much that the area around was no longer even visible to him and after focusing so much, the ball started floating up. 

Zhihao was so happy to see the ball floating that he immediately lost focus and the ball fell down again. 

Zhihao looked at the other three only to find that Li Ling had already cleared this test and there was a green cleared sign sitting in front of him whereas Wang GuiYing had already started to get annoyed that the ball wasn't going up and shockingly, Zhou Xinyi had also managed to clear this small test. 

Zhihao looked back at the ball in front of him and decided that it would truly be really embarrassing if he were to lose against Wang GuiYing so with this in mind, he focused on the ball once again, and just like magic, it started rising, but this time, Zhihao made sure that he didn't lose focus as he kept his eyes on the ball and the ball was able to stay above ground for more than five seconds. 

[Congratulations on clearing the test!] 

[We'll now be giving you another test.] 

The area around them changed once again and now there was a huge field in front of them and a ball clutched in their hands. 

What was truly amazing was the fact that Zhihao could touch the ball and feel it. 

This was truly too hard to distinguish from reality. 

[You can now throw the ball as far as possible.] 

[If the ball crosses the required distance, you'll clear this test.] 

Zhihao listened to the voice and threw the ball with all the force he could muster up and this time, he was able to clear this test in one go, being the first among the four to complete the test and wait around for the others to complete it as well. 

He looked at Li Ling, who was now the second person to clear the test and Zhou XinYi was the third. Wang GuiYing was the last person to clear the test and it wasn't because he didn't use enough energy. It was because he was busy analyzing how real the ball was before throwing it. 

[Congratulations on clearing the second test!]

[We'll now be asking you to help test your shoes.] 

The area around them changed once again and now, they were suddenly standing at the starting line of a racecourse as they waited for the girl to continue giving instructions. 

[Run as fast as you can.] 

[The requirement to pass this test is the time taken by you to reach the end line.]

Zhihao was never great at sports or at least, that was what he would always say. He wasn't the best, but he wasn't bad at it either. Most people would praise him for his speed so this test was easy for him, but he was still not the first person to clear the test. It was Wang GuiYing who ran the fastest and won, making Zhihao wonder: this man was so talented at running that it almost seemed like he had practiced it so much by running away from trouble and responsibilities all the time. 

Zhihao ran so fast that he was able to secure the second position and Zhou Xinyi was the third, while Li Ling took the last position since he was taking his own sweet time to finish the race. 

Li Ling had lost the race but cleared the test by being the most intelligent man among them who already knew that all they needed to do was run 200 meters under 1 minute. It wasn't that hard and since the rest didn't know this, they ended up completing the race in just a few seconds. 

[Congratulations on clearing the test!]

[You have passed all the tests.] 

[You are now ready to go!]

[Enjoy your time with us!]