[Guys, do you think President Gu is so handsome and rich, yet he’s never had a single romance rumor, is he useless, or is he gay?]
[Are those really the only two options???]
[Is he actually that handsome?]
[Supposedly he looks even better in person than in photos, and he’s super tall!]
Mo Yu was typing his manuscript, feeling thoroughly annoyed. Looking over at the work group chat, he found his colleagues fawning over someone again.
As a miserable corporate wage slave, how could anyone think a capitalist was handsome!
They were even posting pictures directly in the group.
Mo Yu narrowed his eyes, critically examining the photos in the chat. Gu Jinzhi looked like a cold, sharp guy with deep features, long legs, and “I am a bossy CEO” written all over his face.
[I think he’s pretty average.]
Sun Ya, sitting next to Mo Yu, was enjoying the gossip on her phone. When she saw his message, she burst out laughing, nearly snorting aloud.
“What are you so sour about? You’re handsome too, but he’s a CEO! It’s not the same.”
Mo Yu shook his head. Thinking about having to work overtime tonight, he continued typing away aggressively, advising his colleagues in the group chat with an extra dose of bitterness to open their eyes, pick up their moral compass, look past the outer appearance, and return to the right path.
[Keep calling him handsome, but once he makes you rewrite your draft a few more times, you’ll all fall in line!
Do you know how many times he made me rewrite a single side quest storyline?
I swear, he’s probably the kind of stupid client who will end up telling me to use the first version after all.]
Just after Mo Yu sent the message, he suddenly felt an eerie, cold draft blow against the back of his neck.
He shivered, looking out the window in confusion.
The sun had already set, but a sliver of twilight remained outside.
Yet, the previously clear sky was suddenly overcast with a layer of dark, heavy clouds. They formed a localized circle directly over the company building.
Just as Mo Yu found it odd, he looked back and noticed his phone had frozen.
In a momentary daze, he seemed to see a row of extremely fast text flashing across the screen.
Mo Yu only caught words like… [Boss] [Resentment] [Enter] [Late Night] [Passionate] [Game]… followed by a dense trail of heart emojis, making the whole thing feel completely unrefined! It was moving far too fast to read clearly.
Finally, a pop-up window appeared, asking if he accepted.
How could anyone accept that!
Mo Yu tried to click exit, but tapping anywhere on the screen resulted in selecting ‘Agree’.
Rogue software.
By the time he looked back, his phone had returned to normal.
What was going on?
Mo Yu flipped his phone over and checked it thoroughly, but found no issues. Just as he was puzzling over it, the phone buzzed again.
It was the editor in chief.
Opening the chat window revealed a series of long voice messages that killed any desire to listen. Without checking, he knew he was about to get scolded.
Mo Yu took a deep breath, randomly tapping one. The editor in chief’s characteristic preachy tone came blaring out immediately.
“What’s going on with you? Is it a skill issue, or are you just not putting in the effort? How is your draft the only one personally rejected by President Gu…”
Mo Yu hit pause.
He switched to the last message.
“Hurry up and write the new detailed outline. If this affects our collaboration with Qiming Games and the boss comes down on us.”
Mo Yu cut him off again.
Sun Ya broke into a cold sweat on his behalf.
“Do you have any ideas yet?”
“Nope.”
“Then… what are we going to do now?” This was going to take an all nighter.
Mo Yu closed his eyes, suddenly shut off his computer, and stood up with a look of firm resolve.
“Hey, where are you going?” Sun Ya asked frantically. “It’s fine, don’t do anything reckless…”
“Since things have come to this, let’s clock off first.”
Sun Ya: ?
For real?
Seeing Mo Yu actually pack his things and leave, Sun Ya’s eyes widened in sheer admiration.
“As expected of you, Mo Yu! The number one anti-crunch advocate in the office, the king of leaving on time.”
“Ah, is it going to rain?”
By this time, a few other colleagues working late had also noticed the odd scene outside the window.
The clouds overhead grew thicker and heavier, and the office building was already half-empty. Mo Yu entered the elevator alone.
As the elevator doors closed, he subconsciously checked his phone again.
At that moment, the hands pointed precisely to eight o’clock in the evening.
A sudden, intense wave of drowsiness washed over Mo Yu.
In the next second, he seemed to lose consciousness entirely, his head bumping against the elevator wall.
“Ow, that hurts.”
Mo Yu rubbed his forehead. When he opened his eyes again, the elevator doors parted before him.
He stepped forward on instinct, then halted abruptly.
Why were there no lights?
Wait, where was he?
The surroundings looked entirely unfamiliar. Mo Yu scrambled backward immediately, but the elevator doors slid shut behind him.
He turned and fumbled along the wall, but couldn’t find an elevator button anywhere.
It was pitch black all around.
Mo Yu tapped his phone screen to turn on the flashlight.
[~Host detected to be over 18 years old~]
[Welcome to the Game]
“???”
He really hadn’t downloaded that kind of game!
Looking down, Mo Yu noticed his clothes had been swapped.
He was wearing a solid white jumpsuit he had never purchased in his life. Printed over his chest was a strange code, A69.
Hiss… now this was getting scary.
Once his eyes adjusted slightly to the dark, Mo Yu took in his surroundings and turned to head toward the emergency exit.
After just a few steps, he suddenly spun around and threw a punch.
There was someone there!
Mo Yu had quick instincts, but the other person was even faster, pinning his arms and shoving him against the wall in a couple of swift moves.
“Ugh!” Mo Yu was about to fight for his life, but his eyes widened in shock.
The person in front of him was none other than… Gu Jinzhi?!
The tall, silent man had a harsh, stony expression, his brows knit tight, rendering his sharp features even more aggressive than in the photos.
Mo Yu was initially startled by the coincidence, but then realized Gu Jinzhi was currently treating him with extreme hostility, holding him down tightly.
“Wait, I know… you!”
Gu Jinzhi paused slightly upon hearing that. The young man before him had handsome features, but had swung at him fiercely moments ago, leading him to assume he was an enemy.
Looking closely now, Mo Yu’s face was drenched in cold sweat within seconds. His sudden strike was likely just because… he was too terrified?
Gu Jinzhi scrutinized his expression, then suddenly released his grip, pulling him into a nearby corner.
Mo Yu glanced up, noticing several tiny red dots on the ceiling.
Surveillance cameras?
“Did you… suddenly cross over here as well?”
Gu Jinzhi stood very close, keeping his voice low.
There was one thing his colleagues hadn’t gotten wrong: Gu Jinzhi was indeed extremely tall, likely around 190 cm. Standing together, their noses were almost level, separated by only a few centimeters.
Mo Yu nodded.
Gu Jinzhi’s brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze down, appearing lost in thought.
“Judging by the scenery outside the windows, this location strongly resembles XX Road in S City, but there are differences, the road signs aren’t quite the same.”
Mo Yu was surprised. Their company building was indeed on XX Road.
“So this might not be a simple time travel or trans-world scenario…” Gu Jinzhi paused, perhaps feeling that his own thought sounded absurd, but shared his logic nonetheless.
“I’m a bit concerned that we’ve entered some kind of infinite survival game situation.”
Infinite survival? Mo Yu’s face darkened.
After years of working as a creative writer, he never expected such a high-risk trope to happen to him in real life.
Yet, looking at Gu Jinzhi, he inexplicably felt like he had a top-tier carry on his team.
In that case, maybe he could just coast through and survive, right?
He exhaled slowly and lowered his voice too. “So where are the muscular guy, the blonde dude, the guy with glasses, and the high school girl?”
Gu Jinzhi glanced at him, seemingly missing the joke entirely, and simply moved past the topic to continue.
“The priority right now is finding a way out. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any clues, nor is there any ‘system’ like in those web novels.”
Just as he finished speaking, Mo Yu’s phone vibrated.
There was actually a signal? That made no sense. He pulled it out to check.
Gu Jinzhi noticed Mo Yu’s expression shift. “What is it?”
“Do you have a phone on you…”
“No. Even if I did, it probably wouldn’t work.”
“Mm.”
Mo Yu’s expression grew complex, and he remained silent.
Uncertainty flickered in Gu Jinzhi’s eyes once more.
“Yours has a signal?”
Mo Yu parted his lips, but ultimately shook his head. Tightly clutching his phone behind his back, he wore an utterly indescribable expression.
On the screen hidden behind Mo Yu’s back, the unlock slider had vanished. Turning on the display only revealed the time, date, and a popped-up mission notification.
[Player, please work together with your companion to complete the following key plot point.]
Directly below was an electronic chart styled like an experimental log.
Clearly written on it was, [Night of June 7th. Contact between S0 and A69 goes smoothly. Complete mating.]
Complete what?
Oh, mating.
Black text on a white background, thoughtfully set in bold.
Mo Yu’s silence was deafening.
The date currently shown on his phone screen was June 7th.
The label on Mo Yu’s clothing was A69.
The number on Gu Jinzhi’s clothing was S0.
This wasn’t an infinite survival game at all! This mission required zero guessing or deduction, everything was terrifyingly clear.
It was just completely impossible to say out loud, for fear of being beaten to death by President Gu as a total pervert!