Chapter 26 Unworthy
After get off work, Zhang Li walked into the ‘Duan Bar’ where he often went, accompanied by the bustling and familiar street scene.
Zhang Li likes to play games at Duanba, definitely not because he is a single man and feels lonely at home alone.
He just simply likes the atmosphere here.
Duanba equipment is somewhat different from home equipment. The former are generally not equipped with somatosensory suits. Most of them just have a sensory helmet device, and the upper limit of true somatosensory is also locked at 95%.
When you enter the bar, you can often see dozens or hundreds of people sitting on large and small sofas, wearing mushroom-shaped light helmets on their heads, with iced drinks and delicious fruit plates on hand. From time to time, someone will laugh a few times, Or make some vulgar remarks.
Some end bars also have some gray industries.
Two individually linked, modified sensory helmets with unique scenes set up. A 'waiter' who provides special services and the consumer wear the helmet at the same time, allowing the brain to have a pleasant time without any contact with the body. maintenance experience.
Of course, that type of bar is usually located in a remote corner, and the overall layout is ambiguous.
Zhang Li stood at the bar at the front door, looking at the formal bar filled with soft light.
"Brother Zhang, do you want the fruit plate today?"
The waiter standing at the bar asked with a smile.
"No, have a glass of orange juice and remove the ice."
Zhang Li retracted his gaze from looking around, took the card handed over by the waiter, and walked towards the empty seat in the distance.
The sofas are placed at random, with some coverings placed on the side to create a private environment.
Zhang Li chose a two-seater in the middle, took off his jacket and tie, inserted the card into the helmet hanging on the side, and the helmet was activated smoothly.
The girl wearing a short skirt floated over on roller skates, placed a glass of juice on the round table next to Zhang Li, and complained:
"Brother Zhang! Where is the dagger you said you wanted to help me make? I have prepared the materials for a long time!"
——She was referring to the props in the game.
"It's not like I'm not free yet," Zhang Li responded with a smile, "Tomorrow, tomorrow I will be free, and I will definitely help you fight."
"A man's mouth, slightly!"
The girl pulled her eyelids with her fingers and made a face, threw off her two slender long legs, and floated to the bar not far away on the pulley.
Zhang Li naturally wouldn't look at young girls too much. He was already in his forties, financially independent and had a successful career, so it wouldn't be good for him to be regarded as a pervert.
The light strip on the edge of the helmet has been fully lit, and the light green light shines on Zhang Li's face.
He sank into the sofa holding his helmet.
The support module hidden in the sofa adjusts itself according to Zhang Li's weight and body shape, accurately supporting Zhang Li's body.
Inexplicably, Zhang Li held the helmet in silence for a while, his eyes stopping on the small display screen on the top of the helmet.
Everything you do in the game can be seen by others through this display.
At this moment, the display screen is still on the standby page, showing the quarter hour.
His thumb lightly crossed the silver-white numbers. Zhang Li smiled, cheered up, put on his sensory helmet and entered the login interface.
The world around him became dark, and there seemed to be a faint light in the darkness, and a fork in the road appeared before his eyes.
The wooden door directly in front was his last option - to enter Dawn Street.
Zhang Li turned to the simple wooden door with the word "Al" engraved on it, pushed it open and walked in.
Warm orange light hit his face, and he was already in a neat and spacious wooden house.
This is his home in this game world and his personal safe spot.
Leaving this wooden house, a lively town full of medieval European elements from the Earth Era appeared before Zhang Li's eyes. The sound of "ding, ding, ding" forging iron was clear and sweet.
Zhang Li showed a faint smile and glanced at the street.
A beautiful girl with a delicate figure, wearing an exquisite satin robe and carrying a gorgeous magic wand, was busy assisting a street vendor in carrying honey.
In the tavern across from the wooden house, several hot female waitresses were looking at several burly but raggedly dressed men with disdain. After these strong men threw out a bag of currency, they immediately He showed an enthusiastic smile.
On the far corner of the street, several beggars stuck their butts out and put their heads together, counting the valuable items in a brand new leather bag;
Following the stones on the ground that have been polished smooth by the soles of shoes, let the sight spread further to the horizon at will, leaving this small town that is used as a foothold for caravans, and passing by the endless fields covered with wheat and grape trellises. , you can see the golden-domed castle standing on the top of the mountain, as well as the bustling main city that wraps the entire conical mountain.
Traditional Western fantasy games like magic, knights, dragons, and dragon slayers will always have a place among the player base.
Today's home planet, or any administrative planet, has countless black box game worlds running at the same time. The black box world has already been segmented under the guidance of the market, and most of the games are in "small categories". .
Due to changes in the home planet's landforms and deep environmental pollution, there are not many areas where cities can be built, and the permanent population is only one-tenth of the peak population in the Earth Era.
Therefore, today, a black box game world that can have 100,000 people online at the same time is already considered a masterpiece.
This black box game called "El" belongs to the ranks of masterpieces.
One of its selling points is that there is no obvious menu interface for players, and it is impossible to distinguish players from the indigenous characters of the world at a glance.
Of course, it is not difficult to distinguish the players from these virtual characters due to their fancy dress and the cultural elements brought into the world from the outside.
"Sean! You slept in again today! Why didn't you get up until now!"
The uncle from the blacksmith shop next door shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Sleeping is a beautiful thing."
‘Sean’ Zhang Li answered calmly, naturally not explaining that when he went home to sleep in the game world, he was getting up and moving in the real world.
He pulled out a simple wooden stick from behind the door and hung his beloved small hammer around his waist. ——This kind of dressing can make his combat profession full of confusion.
"Praise the goddess," Zhang Li stretched and walked towards the 'old place' at the entrance of the town.
Zhang Li has his own fixed teammates.
They work as a team of twelve people and have a fixed three hours of collective activity time every day. As long as the twelve people can gather eight or nine people online, they can handle most of the bounties and tasks in this game.
There is no dialog box in "El", and the communication privileges are given to players by spirit-like owls.
Zhang Li calculated the time and realized that he was already a little late. He sped up his feet in deerskin boots and turned around the main street. He soon saw the lively square at the entrance of the town.
"Uncle!"
A young girl with a ponytail brandished a mace full of spikes and was shouting happily.
Zhang Li waved calmly in response. Seeing that the team was almost assembled, he picked up his wand and pointed it forward. His figure flashed and appeared ten meters away.
The slight dizziness you get when you perform space magic is so intoxicating.
Teammates greeted warmly:
"Uncle is still on time today as always."
"Uncle, did you bring enough magic potions? The leader took on three big tasks today! If we don't work until early in the morning tonight, we probably won't be able to get offline."
"I'm just saying, you can get full daily rewards with two large tasks. Why do you have to embarrass yourself? Let's just relax, right?"
"Damn fat man, do you want to go offline and date your artificially retarded person? Accompany me to farm monsters tonight!"
Laughter, noise.
Zhang Li looked at these all-too-familiar pictures in front of him, and he was inadvertently lost in thought.
Soon, Zhang Li walked behind several soldiers with a smile and chatted with two middle-aged men and women of the same age group in the team.
This is a couple whose shared gaming hobby makes their love life full of fun.
"Uncle!"
The girl with twin ponytails and a leather skirt jumped over, grinned at Zhang Li, held up the oak shield in her hand, and said with a hint of arrogance:
"My level has caught up with you! The equipment rating has also passed! The leader said, I will be responsible for being your shield today! Your life is in our hands, please say something nice!"
Her face, which was lightly covered with pollen, still looked a little childish as if she had just walked out of school.
Zhang Li shrugged helplessly and shook his head: "When I chant the long spell, remember not to rush too far and leave a backup for me at any time."
"Okay, don't worry!"
She patted her chest, the knight's chainmail banged, and said proudly: "Our results in the advanced assessment of the Temple of War are top-notch!"
"Take these medicines."
Zhang Li pulled out a large package from his narrow sleeves and threw it into the girl's hand, "Enough for you to use for half a month."
"Wow - there are also advanced toughness potions!"
The girl was amazed and winked at Zhang Li: "Uncle, are you showing favor to me? I have been single for two years."
"Did you call it love before?"
Zhang Li rolled his eyes, and just as he was about to complain about her, the team initiator already called them to assemble.
The girl was not upset when she was attacked. She came up with a shield and began to stick to her mission, staying by the side of Zhang Li, a 'fragile' man.
Their first task was to escort the caravan.
The game world will not produce a real feeling of fatigue.
A group of nine people, accompanied by more than a dozen NPC mercenaries, set out from the small town, escorting several oxen loaded with goods, and headed towards the main city in the distance on foot.
The mountains are close, but the journey is far.
In this kind of escort mission, they usually encounter three to five attacks. The strength of the attackers is not necessarily certain. They may be players or virtual characters. The ambush locations are similar.
Of course, if they are lucky, they can also complete the escort mission perfectly without running into trouble.
The caravan has its own sentinel, a slender woman currently circling in the sky on a huge bald eagle.
It is common for people to not be attacked when they just leave town. The teammates started chatting, and the topic could not avoid the "Lingming Street Murder Case" that had just been popular for a long time.
"That Detective Wang Ze is so handsome. Have you watched his live broadcast? He is collecting clues now."
"Who can remember this old game more than 20 years ago so clearly? I think their collection of clues is in vain."
"What happened on Liming Street?"
"It must be Wei Xing's opponent who wants to take over Wei Xing. Wei Xing has been standing on the home planet for so many years, and there must be people in this market who are jealous, but committing a murder case is really too much."
"There is also the previous sky rail train hijacking case. I would not believe it if there was no one behind it."
"Wei Xing has done a lot of evil, isn't it? This kind of company should be closed down. What a disaster the game market is now. The player base of our home planet has a steady income and ranks first in spending money!"
"Isn't Detective Wang Ze from the Sixth Star Cluster? What do you think, if we go there, what are the chances of meeting Detective Wang Ze by chance?"
"Nympho."
"Wake up."
"You have a husband."
"Your child has reached the legal minimum age to enter the game world!"
"Hmph, disgusting!"
The plump healer stomped his feet in annoyance, and a group of teammates burst into laughter.
Zhang Li was at the back of the team, watching these guys playing around with a smile. The corners of his mouth were slightly pursed, but his smile was tainted with a little loneliness.
"Uncle?"
The girl's head came from the side.
"What's wrong?"
"Are you unhappy?" the girl asked in a low voice, "Are you worried about something at work? You can share anything with me. I can comfort people."
Zhang Li smiled and shook his head, without saying much. He took two steps to the side as if he was avoiding her on purpose.
The girl puffed up her lips and walked beside him holding an oak shield.
She felt a little frustrated, so much so that she drooped her head and felt a little depressed.
"Hey! Lao Zhang!"
The teammate on the side bumped Zhang Li with his elbow, turned on the privacy mode, and whispered:
"What's going on with you? I've been running two games to chase you, and I've been leveling by myself for two months. Is your heart really made of stone?"
Zhang Li frowned, looked at his old friend, and said with a smile: "I'll forget it, I'm not worthy."
"Why don't you deserve it? You have a stable job, a car and a house. You are afraid that you are getting older... By the way, haven't you also played Genesis Titan? I have heard you talk about it before. Have you watched the news recently? ?”
“I’ve played it before, but I can’t remember it clearly.”
Zhang Li responded with a smile and continued to move forward.
There’s about an hour and a half left;
During that time, it is best for you to be in the bustling main game city or in the square of a small town;
Let’s leave the team to do some activities later.
I just said that I was not feeling well and had to log off. Fortunately, this game does not have a friend system...
Phew——
Suddenly a shrill wooden whistle sounded overhead.
The bald eagle flapped its wings vigorously and made a shrill call to the northwest.
This is a safe zone, and it stands to reason that you will not encounter bandits or groups of monsters.
The nine people in the team and the more than ten NPC guards looked northwest at the same time, and immediately caught the traces of the enemy.
The guards who were born and raised in this virtual world drew their weapons without any hesitation, and a small team quickly moved towards the northwest.
But these nine 'players' who came from the material world and had complete cognitive concepts were all stunned at this moment.
A strange black mist;
A figure walked out of the black mist...
"Ghost!"
"The ghost of the murder on Lai Ming Street!"
"He...why is he here?"
Zhang Li was obviously stunned for a moment, but soon showed panic, pushed the two people beside him away, turned around and ran towards the town.
The figure took a step forward, twisted and flickered, and instantly appeared a hundred meters away, standing in front of Zhang Li.
The black shadow slowly raised its head, revealing a face covered with rotten flesh, and a pair of dark eyes flickering gently.
The harsh voice, like a knife cutting glass, fell on the ears of everyone here:
"Autumn mood."
The black shadow raised his left hand. Although he was more than three meters away, he seemed to have grasped Zhang Li's collar and slowly lifted Zhang Li off the ground.
"No! Don't kill me!"
Zhang Li blushed and struggled desperately.
"Who are you...who are you! How do you know what happened back then! It's obviously impossible for anyone to know!"
"Uncle!"
Suddenly there was an anxious shout from the side.
The young girl raised her oak shield and launched reinforcements without hesitation, rushing towards Zhang Li with a string of afterimages.
"You are the second one."
The black shadow's raised left hand clenched slightly, and a terrifying blood hole exploded in Zhang Li's chest.
When the blood splashed on the girl's face, it was sticky and hot. (End of chapter)