He himself was an internet-addicted youth — otherwise he wouldn't have become a shut-in in the first place. Putting himself in her shoes, he completely understood the agony of having a computer right in front of you but not being able to get on it.
It was like walking into a gentlemen's club and only being allowed to sing karaoke.
"Forget it, I'll treat you." Liu Haoming sighed.
It was one night's worth of electricity anyway — no big deal. He'd think of it as buying a pretty girl two bowls of six-yuan malatang.
"Thank you so much!"
Li Xi expressed an appropriate amount of gratitude, even though she didn't actually want to get on a computer.
"No problem. By the way, what do you usually play?"
Liu Haoming asked out of curiosity. If she also played League of Legends, he wouldn't mind queuing up a couple games with her — carry her to Legendary, carry her to the skies.
"Play... what?"
Li Xi looked confused, not understanding what she was supposed to play.
"What I mean is, what are you good at playing?"
Li Xi hesitated. She wanted to answer him honestly — she wasn't good at playing anything. Her strengths lay in academics.
In the Age of Catastrophe, humanity's purpose had been reduced to one thing: staying alive. All forms of entertainment had vanished. Computers were only used for studying and calculations. In eighteen years of life, Li Xi had never once played a game.
"I'm fairly good with guns... my marksmanship is pretty accurate."
After a moment's hesitation, Li Xi finally came up with something she was good at besides studying. During military training, she had been the best shot in her year. Her instructor had even recommended she enlist in the military after graduation instead of pursuing a civilian career — otherwise her talent with firearms would go to waste.
"Good marksmanship?"
Liu Haoming rubbed his chin. She probably played CrossFire or some kind of battle royale shooter.
Back in his school days, Liu Haoming had played shooters too, but after a while he decided the genre wasn't for him — mainly because his reaction time was too slow. He always lost sniper duels, frequently dying without even catching a glimpse of the enemy. It was a serious blow to his ego.
"Go ahead and play then. Pick any machine — they all work fine." Liu Haoming's enthusiasm had gone out of him entirely.
If she played League too, carrying her through a couple games would've been no problem. But shooters? Forget it. No need to embarrass himself in front of a pretty girl.
***
"O-okay."
Li Xi answered nervously and did as she was told. She hesitated a moment when she reached the row of computers.
Since He had guided her here, He surely wanted her close to Him.
She chose a machine near Liu Haoming.
The instant the girl's shapely bottom met the leather cushion, a tearing pain like an electric shock ripped through her body. She tried to scream on instinct but couldn't make a sound — she was locked rigid in the gaming chair.
Then Li Xi discovered in horror that she had lost all control of her body. She couldn't move. Though she had done nothing, the computer screen, pitch black as an abyss, flickered to life on its own, and within seconds a line of blood-red text appeared:
Welcome to the Wasteland Survival Game.
Li Xi's hands moved on their own and settled the heavy over-ear headset onto her head.
Bzzzt!
Her brain shuddered violently, as if her soul were being ripped from her body. Darkness swallowed the girl's vision. The next moment, the image on the screen shifted — the walls of a fortress rose into view, engulfed in artillery fire, monsters surging forward like a tide.
Liu Haoming was busy waiting for his next game to match and didn't notice anything unusual about his cafe's guest.
***
【You have entered the game. Please select your character's gender.】
A robotic electronic voice sounded. Li Xi opened her eyes to find herself standing in a strange blue space, a row of light-panels hovering before her:
【Male】
【Female】
【Intersex】
"Is this VR technology?" Li Xi murmured, staring at her own hands.
She was no stranger to VR. Her university ran courses that used VR to simulate how to react in a face-to-face encounter with a monster. The only difference was that entering those virtual worlds took a proper VR headset first.
"That headset must serve the same function as a VR helmet," Li Xi reasoned silently, reaching out to tap the 【Female】 option.
Virtual world or not, she had no desire to inhabit a body of a different gender.
【Gender selection successful. Please customize your character's face, or select random generation.】
The robotic voice chimed again as a featureless female model appeared before Li Xi — a blank face devoid of eyes, nose, or mouth.
Li Xi couldn't fathom what that existence wanted her to do in this virtual world. She wasn't in the mood to sculpt a custom face, so she tapped 【Random Generation】. The system generated a thoroughly unremarkable female appearance and build for her.
【Customization complete. Main quest issued: Help Jianglin Fortress repel the Beast Tide invasion. Quest reward: +10 base points to all player attributes.】
Before Li Xi could react, darkness swallowed her vision once more.
***
"Damn it! How can there be this many monsters?!"
"At this rate the fortress won't hold! When are the reinforcements from Sector Two arriving?"
"Hold it whether we can or not! If the walls fall, every last civilian in this fortress becomes monster food!"
"..."
Men's hoarse screams mixed with the thunderous roar of gunfire. Li Xi opened her eyes in a daze, finding herself standing atop a fortress wall in military uniform, a Type 97 sniper rifle in her hands.
As far as she could see, soldiers packed the walls shoulder to shoulder, firing frantically at the ground below. The gunfire was deafening, and everything felt impossibly real.
Li Xi had experienced VR before and knew that virtual worlds could be indistinguishable from reality, so the realism itself didn't surprise her. What struck her as strange was this: why... did these fortress walls look so familiar?
When her gaze swept across a stone tablet nearby, carved with the words "Jianglin Fortress," her mind went blank. She froze completely.
No wonder it looked familiar — these were the walls of Jianglin Fortress!
She had been here once before, during military training.
"Main quest: help Jianglin Fortress repel the Beast Tide..."
Li Xi suddenly recalled what the robotic voice had said.
"What are you spacing out for?! Shoot! Can't you see the monsters are about to breach the walls?!"
A soldier beside her grabbed Li Xi by the collar and screamed in her face, woman or not. Flecks of spit landed on her cheeks.
"We hold back this Beast Tide at all costs! Otherwise your parents, your family, your friends — everyone dies! You understand?!"
"I'm sorry... I'll shoot right now!"
Li Xi's face flushed scarlet as she blurted it out.
Only then did the soldier release her collar, shouldering his submachine gun and spraying a burst of fire at the monsters below.
Li Xi quickly joined the battle, taking aim at an enormous black bear and pulling the trigger.
Bang!
The bullet punched through the black bear's left eye socket. The sheer impact shredded its brain and killed it where it stood.
【Monster killed. Earned 3 gold coins, 300 EXP.】
【Player leveled up to Lv. 2. Earned 1 skill point.】