Xie Mingzhe spent a calm night in the hospital room, sorting through all of the original owner’s past memories.
The original owner grew up in an orphanage. Due to his talent in painting, he was admitted to the art department of Imperial Capital College through the art entrance exam. The Imperial Capital College would start school on September 1st, leaving only one month. He had to prepare as soon as possible.
Firstly, he needed to find a way to be discharged. For a patient like him, lying in the ICU for even one day would cost a lot of money. He had no relatives and friends in this world, and he didn’t know who was paying for his medical expenses. Thinking of this, Xie Mingzhe became restless and hurriedly put on his slippers to find the attending doctor.
At 8 o’clock in the morning, the boy in Room 7 suddenly pushed open the door and came out.
Dr. Qin, who had been making rounds, raised an eyebrow and looked at him with suspicion. “Xie Mingzhe? Why aren’t you lying down? What are you doing out here?” Usually, people who woke up from a vegetative state were very confused when they first woke up and needed a long time to adjust to the changes in the world. This boy was strange. There wasn’t a trace of confusion or frustration on his face. He ran out in slippers early in the morning, looking quite energetic.
“Doctor, could you please tell me when I can be discharged?” XIe Mingzhe looked earnestly at the doctor. “Also, how do I pay my medical bills?”
“All your physical data are normal. We will observe you for another day. If everything is fine, I will process your discharge tomorrow.” Dr. Qin walked up to him, meeting the boy’s clear, bright eyes. This caused his voice to soften. “You also don’t need to worry about the hospitalization costs. You previously purchased a critical illness insurance, so you can settle the bill with the insurance company when you are discharged.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” Xie Mingzhe sighed with relief. He remembered that the orphanage had bought him medical insurance when he graduated from high school. The insurance company would cover the treatment costs, so he wouldn’t be burdened by debts at least. This was good news for him.
Back in his room, Xie Mingzhe started to pack his personal belongings. He had gone for a job interview at a themed restaurant when he accidentally fell from the third floor and was taken to the hospital by onlookers. This meant he didn’t have much with him. There were only his room key, ID card and smartphone in his pocket.
His ID card had his photo on it and was linked to his bank account, so he didn’t have to worry about it being stolen. He remembered the room key was for a tiny ten square meter room he was temporarily renting in a low-rent apartment building. As for his phone, it was the cheapest one he had managed to save up for, with only a few phone numbers saved in it. This was because Xie Mingzhe didn’t have many friends in the world.
This meant no one would care that his personality had changed and a different soul was inhabiting his body.
Xie Mingzhe finished packing his things. Then he went to the window, still dressed in his hospital gown.
Outside the window, tall buildings stretched out as far as the eye could see. They were hundreds of stories high, with seven or eight crisscrossing floating roads in the air, various strangely shaped hovercars flying around them. Xie Mingzhe stared wide-eyed, observing the world with curiosity.
His ICU room was on the third floor, so he could clearly see downstairs.
Just then, a little girl walked by downstairs with an incredibly cute pet. It was an animal he had never seen before. It was over one meter tall, hopping and skipping as it walked. Its long ears resembled… a rabbit?
Were there rabbits this big? The pink clothes it was wearing was quite adorable. However, shouldn’t hospitals prohibit pets? Pets could carry many infectious pathogens. What if they transmitted them to patients?
Xie Mingzhe was somewhat confused. Even the original owner’s memories couldn’t explain this.
Just then, Dr. Qin pushed open the door and entered. This middle-aged doctor had a good temper and a gentle tone. He carefully examined Xie Mingzhe with his medical equipment and said, “You’ve been lying in bed for two months, relying on IV fluids to stay alive. Your muscles have atrophied to some extent and you’ve lost a lot of weight. Once you are discharged, you need to strengthen your exercises to slowly recover.”
Xie Mingzhe knew he was extremely thin right now. His bones felt hard to the touch. He had lain down half-dead in the hospital for a month, so it was normal to be skin and bones. He used to have a standard good physique and knew how to exercise, so he wasn’t too worried about this.
Downstairs, another little girl walked past with a pet rabbit that looked similar to the one before, but this one was a few centimeters taller than her. Xie Mingzhe couldn’t contain his intense curiosity and asked, “Dr. Qin, what is that little girl’s pet? Does the hospital allow pets in freely now?” This was something that even the original owner of this world couldn’t explain. Xie Mingzhe thought it wasn’t too strange to ask.
“That is a Star Card illusion,” Dr. Qin explained. “The hospital doesn’t allow pets. We aren’t veterinarians.”
“Star Card illusion” Xie Mingzhe looked puzzled.
“It looks like you don’t play this game?” Dr. Qin joked. “There aren’t many young people who don’t play this game.”
“Ahem, I don’t really pay much attention to games.” Xie Mingzhe rubbed the back of his head, smiling somewhat awkwardly. After all, he came from a poor planet and knew nothing about the trends in the bustling Imperial Capital. He must be a country bumpkin in the doctor’s eyes, right?
Star Card illusion? What exactly was that?
Xie Mingzhe secretly memorized the term, planning to search for it more thoroughly later.
After completing the examination, Dr. Qin asked, “Your stomach and intestines are still quite weak. For the next three days, you should eat only liquid foods. Then you can eat normal meals, but avoid anything too stimulating. Do you understand?”
Xie Mingzhe obediently nodded. “Yes, thank you, Doctor.”
The moment the doctor turned to leave, Xie Mingzhe immediately sat cross-legged on the bed and took out his phone to search for the keyword ‘Star Card Illusion.’
Soon, a large number of results popped up. Xie Mingzhe became increasingly shocked as he read.
It turned out that these Star Card illusions all came from a game called Star Card Storm.
This was a globally popular holographic card battle online game that had been operating for a full ten years and had over three billion users.
The official team launched a card league with generous prize money ten years ago. Since then, it had become unstoppable. It gave rise to many professional card game players who made a living from it, as well as various formal card game clubs.
It was a famous interstellar online battle game. This game naturally had its own merits to be able to maintain its leading position for ten years.
The core of the game was the various cards officially called Star Cards.
Star Cards could be used for battles on the holographic network, but there were also a large number of fun pet cards that could be used to create illusions in the real world. For example, the most famous Long-Eared Rabbit Star Card could create an adorable big rabbit. The illusion was so lifelike that it was as if there was a real rabbit in front of them.
The moment this game came out, girls went crazy with excitement. All types of pet cards featuring things like Persian cats, toy poodle dogs, lop-eared rabbits, etc. quickly became a global sensation. Almost every girl had several pet Star Cards, which she could summon to play when she had nothing to do. They were just illusions created by a holographic projection and didn’t actually exist, but their cuteness was undeniable!
In addition to the pet cards, which were so popular with girls that they almost sold out, many battle Star Cards also appeared.
Xie Mingzhe glanced at the highly rated battle cards online. For example, Nie Yuandao’s top-tier battle Star Card, the Flame Dragon, could summon a giant dragon with a fiery red body and unleash a Flame Storm that swept through the surroundings, burning all illusions around it to ashes. Tang Muzhou’s Millennium Divine Tree was even more exaggerated. It could directly summon a divine tree that covered the sky and the sun. Countless green vines stretched and spread rapidly like tentacles, and its power was enough to instantly strangle the surrounding illusionary creatures.
The emergence of these top-tier battle cards meant the professional card game league had become increasingly exciting.
After ten years of development, the card game league was now highly standardized, with mature business models for various clubs. The number of participants in amateur competitions had exceeded 100 million, and the viewership of the top-tier official league surpassed 30%. The income of top professional players was beyond the reach of ordinary people.
It was said that top players like Nie Yuandao and Tang Muzhou easily earned over 100 million annually, and their fan base rivaled that of top celebrities.
This reminded Xie Mingzhe of e-sports games like League of Legends and StarCraft, which were wildly popular during the Earth era. Heh ad played these types of games in college, but he never imagined that it would be so extreme in the current era. Star Card Storm had become almost a national game, with 80% of people playing it.
This game offered extremely high freedom and all players could create their own cards. For example, the two top-tier combat cards that he just saw, the Flame Dragon and Millennium Divine Tree, were both original creations by professional players. Of course, netizens could also create and develop their own unique cards. This was one of the reasons why Star Card Storm had remained popular for ten years.
Xie Mingzhe reviewed all the information and was truly impressed by the game’s developers.
He was a science student in the 21st century and had studied computer programming. However, the technology back then couldn’t create a game like this. Today’s engineers were truly amazing, especially their Star Card Illusion Projection Technology. This could project adorable Star Card creatures into the real world for people’s entertainment. Xie Mingzhe had almost mistaken the little girl’s pet for a real one when he saw it earlier!
Online sources said that the biggest difference between real pets and Star Card pets was their shadows and penetration ability.
Star Card illusions didn’t cast shadows under light and people could pass right through them. After all, it was just a high-tech visual effect and didn’t actually exist. This was why Dr. Qin recognized it as a Star Card illusion at a glance. People in this world were already used to all types of illusions and Xie Mingzhe was making a fuss over nothing.
Xie Mingzhe wanted to search for more game information when a text message suddenly appeared on his phone. “Xie Mingzhe, this is your landlord, Aunt Zhang. I just checked the accounts and you haven’t paid your July rent yet. It is 800 crystal coins. Please pay it as soon as possible.”
Xie Mingzhe was stunned. Rent? Right, he found a temporary place to stay when he came to the capital and rented an apartment. This month, he had been lying in the hospital in a vegetative state and hadn’t paid the rent yet.
Xie Mingzhe immediately checked his bank account balance on his phone.
Central Bank: Dear user, your account balance is: 1,000 crystal coins.”
Xie Mingzhe, “……”
If he paid the rent of 800 crystal coins, he would only have 200 left.
Judging by the original owner’s memories, the prices in this world should be similar to the yuan of 2018.
How long could 200 crystal coins last? How could a penniless person like him survive? He couldn’t possibly starve to death right after being reborn!
Xie Mingzhe rubbed his temples, his head aching. He started to consider how he should survive in this strange world.
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