VCRMM: Chapter 2

A week later, the laboratory of a research institute. Xu Sili took off the last sensor attached to his body. Behind him, the assistant had shaken open a shirt and draped it over his shoulders to cover his slender and graceful back. The young man stretched his arms through the sleeves and slowly buttoned up his coat under the regretful gaze of a nearby laboratory researcher.

“Is it okay?” He looked at an old man with white hair.

The old man was wearing a white lab coat and a pair of reading glasses. Right now, he was holding an electronic board in his hand and recording something on it. He nodded when he heard the words. “Yes, your body data is all recorded.”

He operated the electronic board for a moment and a virtual character was shown on the big screen. It was a model of Xu Sili. Of course, the lower body was wearing pants. Only the upper body was bare but even so, it was enough to make people’s eyes widen.

The doctor looked at Xu Sili’s data model. “Once it is done, it might be different from reality. I will try my best to help optimize the image and strive for perfection. However, the plot setting isn’t my job. If you have any ideas then you can discuss it with the game developer side. We will try our best to fulfill it as long as it is your request.”

Xu Sili nodded before hearing the doctor say, “Your suggestion a few days ago is good. The linkage of the two games can really bring a lot of benefits.”

“As for accessing your data in Game of the Gods, it can be done technically as long as there is the authorization of the game company.”

Xu Sili’s eyes lit up and his lips curved. “Yes, the authorization isn’t a problem. Thank you, Doctor.”

The doctor saw the smile on his face and sighed with relief. “It’s nothing. After all, this project would’ve been stopped due to insufficient funds without your support. If you have any other needs then just mention it.”

Xu Sili pursed his lips. He pondered for a moment before saying seriously, “I know it is hard but I hope to see results in two years.”

The doctor couldn’t help smiling bitterly. “I don’t dare to say this for certain. I can only say that I’ll do my best.”

“Yes, do your best and listen to fate.”

Xu Sili raised his head and stared at himself on the big screen in a slightly entranced manner.

Buzz— buzz.

Just then, the phone in his pocket rang. It was his second brother, Xu Yuheng.

“Yes, the plane is at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and will arrive at night.” Xu Sili picked up the call. He waved to the doctor and walked out of the research institute with his assistant. “Don’t worry, I will definitely help you mess up the blind date.”

Xu Sili got in the car to head to the airport and hung up. Then he opened Game of the Gods again. In the gap when the game was loading, he looked up at the sky outside. The weather today was very good. There was the blue sky and white clouds and he could see a plane flying across the sky, leaving a shallow white line.

Xu Sili’s thoughts drifted away. Finally, he opened his contacts and called his agent.

“Sister Yun, I’m going to hold a concert. The time is set for two months. You can arrange it.”

“After the concert, I will officially retire.”

“No reason. I’m just a bit tired.”

“Yes, I will trouble you.”

At 2:50 p.m., Xu Sili boarded the plane and prepared to go back to the capital to attend the blind date party on behalf of his second brother. Everything was in order. He just never expected that fate would make fun of people like this. The parting that should’ve occurred two years later was actually so early.

As the plane fell from the sky toward the deep sea, Xu Sili had time to grab his phone. In the background of the whistling and screaming, he sent a final text message. Thankfully, flight mode might’ve been turned on but the plane had WiFi. He could still access the Internet.

Ding.

In an empty office, the mobile phone on the table suddenly rang and an unread message appeared.

[Don’t be sad Brother]

There was no punctuation and it wasn’t immediately read. Still, it was successfully delivered and had completed the mission…

***

Xu Sili’s death wasn’t painful. The moment the plane entered the sea, he was knocked unconscious by a heavy object. Once he regained consciousness again, he found that he had no body. He had turned into a spot of light floating in the night sky. This should be… the night sky?

The surroundings were dark but he could see stars near and far. They dotted the dark blue sky and were gorgeous and charming. This was the world after death? Xu Sili looked at this night sky in confusion. It turned out that after death, people would really turn into stars in the sky?

In fact, when he got the case report and learned he had only two years to live, he digested it alone for a long time. He was a young master raised by the Xu family and was a star who had tens of millions of fans at a young age. He was only 23 years old and his life had just begun.

Anger, pain, unwillingness…

After all these emotions, he finally accepted his fate and started to arrange his affairs. Perhaps he could live for more years if he actively received treatment. Then Xu Sili thought of the ugly appearance of his hair falling out after chemotherapy and he was discouraged. He didn’t want to die in such an undignified manner.

Then he inadvertently came into contact with the holographic game project and had an idea. He took out almost all his net worth and helped cover the gap in funding so that the project could continue. It would be best if he could play the holographic game before his death. If not, at least…

He could leave some thoughts for his loved ones. Unexpectedly, he planned everything well but he didn’t die of illness. Rather, it was a plane crash and he had got on the plane for the sake of his second brother…

He hoped that he didn’t leave too much of a psychological shadow on his second brother. After all, he was originally going to die. It was just a bit ahead of time.

Xu Sili floated quietly in the air. He looked back on his short life and found that he had lived wonderfully enough. Still, he couldn’t help feeling some regret that he didn’t get to see the holographic game come out and play it. He was thinking like this when he suddenly noticed an icon appearing in front of him. The words ‘Star Forum’ were written under the icon.

Xu Sili blinked. No, he had no eyes now.

He stared at the icon. His mind moved and the icon jumped. Then a white light screen appeared in front of him.

“……”

Could he continue to surf the Internet when dead? Xu Sili felt it was a bit mysterious but his attention involuntarily fell on the light screen.

Official Forum of Starry Sky Age.

These words at the top made Xu Sili startled. Starry Sky Age was the name of the holographic game he invested in. He continued to look down.

“August 18th, the stories that have to be told of the two big guild presidents of the Freedom Summit and Dark Blue Fire.”

“Collecting star cores! There is a price MMMM”

“10 years of Starry Sky, a record of my inexplicable relationship with the game and the friends I’ve known over those years.”

“Ahhhh, Si Sheng and Mu Xingzhou are real! I support it!”

“I am a new player who just bought a virtual cabin, hoping to find a master to show me the ropes. I only have time to play in the evening.”

“……”

The posts on the front page were very mixed and the activity was high. New posts appeared almost every second. Xu Sili spent a long time browsing through all the posts he saw. He was surprised to find that this was really the game forum of ‘Starry Sky Age’ and…

It had been 10 years since the game was launched!

10 years after his plane crash, Starry Sky Age came out successfully. Once it was launched, it caused a major earthquake in the game field. There was some controversy over the high price of the game consoles, the recharging mode and the limit on the number of players in the beginning but the overwhelming quality and 99% realism meant that Starry Sky Age became a phenomenally popular game.

It was even more so because it was linked with Game of the Gods. All the important NPCs in the early stage of Starry Sky Age basically used the character images and names of the former game. Game of the Gods was a mobile game that had been launched for nearly a decade but it was still very popular. Once all the characters in it were virtualized, the linkage effect produced was amazing.

This provided an endless stream of popularity in the early stage of Starry Sky Age. 10 years after it was released, almost no one on Earth didn’t know about this game. The number of simultaneous online users had exceeded 200 million.

Thanks to the popularity of the game consoles and the value exploding, Xu Fengqing who was the chairman of the Xu Group was promoted to the position of the world’s richest man in one fell swoop.

Xu Sili was in a daze in front of the light screen. He hadn’t expected this game to really become so popular. Seeing his oldest brother Xu Fengqing becoming the richest man in the world, he couldn’t help thinking that his parents and oldest brother wouldn’t want to beat him up anymore, right? Inexplicably, there was a bit of emptiness in his heart.

Xu Sili continued to read the forum posts. The more he looked at it, the more his envy grew. If only he was still alive…

Soon, his mind moved. If this was really the game forum from 10 years later and if paper people like Si Sheng had been successfully implanted then his game character…

He remembered it was called Snow Roland? His mind turned and the search bar on the light screen entered the keyword ‘Snow Roland’. In less than a second, all the posts appeared. The most eye-catching one was a red ‘most important’ post called: ‘That young man brought us this golden age but there isn’t even a single thought of him.’

The post time was around half a year after the game was launched. The title of the post didn’t have the keyword but it was the first search result. There was a slightly bad feeling in Xu Sili’s heart.

He finally opened the post.

[Snow Roland]

[Star Calendar 1012-1030, the 15th emperor of the Roland Empire died one month after he took the throne at the age of 18. The cause of death is unknown.

Everyone should’ve heard of the emperor with the shortest reign in the Roland Empire. What I want to say is that if you see his true face, you will find—

He looks exactly the same as Xu Sili, the superstar who died in the plane crash 10 years ago!

I accidentally discovered this when doing a special task because I am a fan of Brother Xu. Although Brother Xu has been gone for many years, I still listen to his songs from time to time. This was my youth.

So when I saw the portrait for the first time, my first reaction was that the game planner was also a fan of Brother Xu. My second reaction was—anger!

If they wanted to commemorate Brother Xu then it should be done well. It is ridiculous to create such a game character and give him this tragic fate! It is too vicious!

I angrily rushed to complain. Then because I know some insiders, I found out an unknown behind-the-scenes story. This game character was indeed designed to commemorate Brother Xu but it was authorized personally before his death.

I also learned a cold knowledge. The reason why Starry Sky Age could be released successfully was because Brother Xu took out all his wealth to invest in this project before his death.

After his death, the continuous funding and talents provided by the Xu Group pushed it forward and this game could be born at least 10 years earlier. The regrettable thing is that during the first closed beta, the game developers discovered…

Snow Roland, who was created based on Brother Xu, died one month before the start of the closed beta. His 10-year-old brother replaced him as the emperor.

We all know that in the holographic game Starry Sky Age, the NPCs are really dead when they die. They can’t be resurrected. I also finally believed the phrase that the GMs often say, ‘Once the game is running, it is handed over to the main brain and we can no longer forcibly interfere with the game process.’

I heard that the Xu family almost killed the planners after hearing the news. Damn, I also want to kill those dog planners! Anyone who has played this game can foresee the glorious future of it. However, Brother Xu who brought us this golden age can’t accompany us to witness it all…]

There was still a lot left but Xu Sili didn’t continue to read it. He was very unhappy right now. He also wanted to curse along: dog planners!

Didn’t they say his role in the game was very strong? Why did he die so early? However, no one could answer him. He could imagine how much his parents and brothers were hit when they received the news.

Xu Sili couldn’t help lying down. He stared at the stars in the night sky in a daze, wondering what he should do now and what would happen in the future. Would he stay as a star in the sky forever? Or would he reincarnate?

Gradually, he felt his body, or his soul, start to fall and cease to be under his control. What was happening? After an extreme darkness, he felt like his soul was no longer light. It was as if he had been sucked in by something. He seemed… to have a body again?

Immediately afterwards, there was pain from his chest like he had been hit by a heavy object. The pain spread from his chest to his limbs. Xu Sili frowned and slowly opened his eyes.

A magnificent palace was in front of him. The chandelier of the dome shone slightly in the moonlight. Under him was a luxurious and beautiful golden chair inlaid with countless precious stones. However, he didn’t have time to study this unfamiliar environment. All his attention was attracted by the person in front of him.

It was a blond man wearing a white military uniform. No matter whether it was his outfit or his handsome appearance, he gave Xu Sili a feeling of familiarity. There was a name that appeared in his mind.

Then the man lifted his foot and broke Xu Sili’s thoughts. He saw that black knee-high boot slam down onto his chest. The man looked down at him condescendingly, gray-blue eyes indifferent and without a trace of emotion. It was as if he was looking at a dead thing.

Suffocation and pain came, making Xu Sili understand that the scene before him wasn’t an illusion. He frowned deeply while his heart was more at a loss.

Then before Xu Sili could have time to think and inquire, a smile suddenly appeared on the man’s face. It was bloodthirsty and cruel and a hint of scarlet flashed in the man’s gray-blue eyes. He raised his hand and placed the laser g*n against Xu Sili’s forehead.

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Proofreader: Purichan