Chapter 1: New World
Walking out of the company gate, Zhang Shan felt a little confused and reluctant to leave, after all, this was the place where he had worked for several years.
Zhang Shan lost his job and became a vagrant temporarily.
The reason for his resignation was simple: he saw no hope and no money. He wanted to make a change, but as he got older, he would have no chance if he didn't change.
In this materialistic age, being poor is a sin. You can’t be rich, but having enough food and clothing is not enough. You are not qualified to find a partner. You can’t have a car or a house, but at least you need to be able to support your family.
Zhang Shan knew that he didn't have the ability to do so at the moment. He could only support himself, so every time a blind date failed, he wouldn't complain. He thought that it was his own problem that he wasn't doing well. He even looked down on himself, let alone others.
So, Zhang Shan resigned. He wanted to change his job and lifestyle. Even if it meant jumping from one pit to another , he had to try. If he didn't try and didn't change, he would always be stuck in this state of neither life nor death.
Walking on the bustling city streets and looking at the busy workers, Zhang Shan suddenly stopped and looked up at the electronic advertising screen on a building.
"There are still two days until the opening of "New World." The video shows passionate battle scenes, gorgeously dressed character designs, and grand-scale scenes that make people's blood boil.
Watching the advertising video, Zhang Shan is full of expectations for the future.
Yes, this is what Zhang Shan plans to do regarding his future work and lifestyle. He wants to make a living by playing games.
Speaking of which, in this era, working as a gamer is nothing new, and a large number of people make a living by playing games.
For example, game companies, game live broadcasts, professional game players, game studios, professional treasure hunting teams, virtual game merchants, etc. This is also a large professional group.
Zhang Shan also wanted to enter this industry and give it a try.
However, Zhang Shan does not want to work for others anymore. He wants to be a professional gamer, work freely and live freely. Many gamers make money by earning game coins, equipment and items in the game and then trading them.
"New World" is different from any previous game. It has no recharge channel, only a trading channel. In other words, the game operator does not sell game coins or any game props. If the krypton gold bosses want to krypton, they can only use blue coins to buy from other players. The game officials have opened a special trading channel to support player transactions.
Why does such a seemingly public welfare game appear? The reason is very simple. This is a game developed and operated by the Blue Star Alliance Government. Its purpose is not to make money, or it is not simply for the purpose of making money.
"New World" is a brave attempt by the government to solve a series of social problems arising in the new era. It tries to increase people's entertainment life, expand people's living space, and enrich people's spiritual world, even if it is virtual.
It was because of the background of this game that Zhang Shan decided to resign and give it a try. Maybe he could create a future. People need to have dreams. People without dreams are no different from salted fish. He has been a salted fish for so many years, and he can't be a salted fish forever.
After returning to his residence, Zhang Shan immediately took out his mobile phone and went online to order a special gaming helmet for "New World". It cost him 10,000 blue coins, which was not cheap. It was almost equivalent to his previous two months' salary, which made him feel distressed.
Fortunately, although his salary was low in the company before, he has worked for so many years after all, and he saves a little every month, and has saved about 100,000 yuan. This amount of money is not enough to do anything big, but it is no problem to buy a helmet to play games for a while.
New World is a fully immersive virtual reality game that can only be played with dedicated gaming devices. One of them is the gaming helmet Zhang Shan just ordered, and the other is a high-end game cabin similar to a space travel device.
If the game cabin is filled with nutrient solution, it is said that it will allow people to continue playing the game for more than ten days without any problems. It will not cause any harm to the human body, but will be beneficial to the body.
Of course, Zhang Shan had no chance to buy such high-end goods. Not to mention that the game cabins cost several million, he couldn't even afford the nutrient solution. The nutrient solution was said to be a mixture of various high-end health-preserving medicines, specially developed. Zhang Shan didn't know much about it, but it was just expensive.
Zhang Shan can't afford it, but that doesn't mean others can't either. According to the official website, more than 50,000 game pods have been sold so far. The spending power of the people in the alliance is astonishing. Among the 10 billion people in the alliance, there is no shortage of rich people.
The sales of gaming helmets are even higher, with statistics showing that more than 20 million helmets have been sold. This also shows how popular this game is, and before it is officially released, countless people are ready to join in.
I checked the progress of the order on my mobile phone. The helmet will be delivered in about half an hour. The speed of express delivery is becoming more and more satisfactory.
There was nothing to do while waiting for the delivery, so Zhang Shan found "Boss Wu" in his phone address book.
Of course, this Boss Wu is not the real boss, but his close friend Wu Qinglin, who smoked the same cigarette with him during college.
When we just graduated, we all went to Shenzhen to make a living. At a party, Wu Qinglin joked, "I hope we will all be big bosses in the future. I have marked our names as "Boss So-and-so" in the address book."
The passion of youth makes me smile when I think of it now. The memories are infinitely beautiful.
The call was connected and there was a noisy sound coming from the other end. Wu Qinglin must have just got off work.
"Boss Zhang, do you have any instructions?"
"Fuck instructions, I'm out of work."
"No way, why? You were doing a good job, weren't you fired by your boss for flirting with girls at the company?"
"Nonsense, you know that there are no girls in our company, only young ladies. I just don't want to do this anymore. I've been working for so long and it doesn't seem interesting, so I left."
"Your boss can let you go. If you leave, what will happen to your job?"
"The boss is eager for an old hand like me to leave as soon as possible. My job, as our boss said, can be done by anyone with hands. I can leave at any time. Even the handover of work is done in minutes. I can pick up the job and leave on the same day."
"That's true. Your job is boring. You've been working there for so many years, but your salary hasn't increased much. If you stay here any longer, I'm afraid you won't even be able to earn enough for food. So what do you plan to do in the future? Do you have a plan? Do you want me to ask around for you and see where they're hiring?"
"No, I plan to join the gaming army and see if I can make a living from gaming."
"No way, is this possible? Wait, you're not talking about New World, right? That's possible. This game is different just by looking at the introduction. It's not like the games we played before, which have all kinds of traps."
"What about you? Do you plan to have some fun after get off work?"
"Where can I get the money? A helmet costs 10,000 yuan, and I need to save some money to buy milk powder for my baby."
Wu Qinglin got married the year before last, and his child is over one year old. Come to think of it, raising a child is quite stressful for ordinary people nowadays. Even someone as carefree as him has to think about saving money for milk powder for his baby, and he dare not spend money on buying a helmet. The social pressure is huge.
"Okay, I'll try out New World in a couple of days to see how the game works. I'll try for half a year first, and if I can't make it, I'll try to find a job."
"Well, you can give it a try first. You are single anyway, so you can be casual and cool. Come over and get together when you are free."
"Okay, let me play for a while and see how this game is. When I have time, I will come to your place to meet up and see Xiao Mengmeng." Xiao Mengmeng is the nickname of his baby, a very cute little girl.
The two chatted for a few more words and then ended the call.
Thinking back to the days when I was full of vigor and vitality, I sigh.
Putting down his phone and looking at the messy room, Zhang Shan decided to clean it up first. He put away his clothes, put all kinds of useless things in a cardboard box and threw them out, picked up the mop and started to clean up. After a little cleaning, the room would look like a place for people to live.
"Ding dong ding dong, 1102. Shunmeng Express."
Zhang Shan opened the door and saw a courier boy holding a delivery box outside.
"Hello, sir. Please check the delivery signature."
Looking at the smiling courier, I signed for the package.
"Thank you"
After closing the door, he quickly opened the express package and took out the beautifully packaged gaming helmet. Zhang Shan was excited. He opened the package, followed the instructions, plugged in the power supply and put it on.
The scene in front of me slowly unfolded. A pleasant voice came from my ears: "Welcome to the new world, identity verification in progress, please wait..."
"Beep, beep, identity verification completed. Alliance citizen Zhang Shan, user information has been bound to the game device. The New World will be officially opened at 8:00 a.m. on August 18, 2058. Please stay tuned. You can visit the official website and official forum of the New World to learn more about this game."
Hearing this, Zhang Shan remembered that the game discussion forum had been opened today. As for the official website, he had already carefully read it. How should I put it? There is very little information about the game. It is better to go to the official forum and see what the forum leaders understand about the game.
In the upper right corner of the screen, there was a game forum. Zhang Shan looked towards the upper right corner, thinking about entering the forum. The entire screen changed immediately, and the forum in the upper right corner quickly enlarged and floated above the game screen, occupying about one-third of the entire screen.
Brainwave connection is a bit like mind control. Technology is so advanced that it seems that in the future, you can also kill monsters in the game while reading the forum. To be honest, Zhang Shan hasn't played games for many years, and has never experienced a gaming helmet. It feels very sci-fi and magical.
