Chapter 120 Virtual World

Jiang Shuxuan looked over to the direction of the cold beverages shop. It wasn’t too far away but one needed to make a turn before reaching it. Hence, Gu Xiqiao wasn’t visible from where he stood. After waiting for a while and realizing that the person wasn’t coming, the dreaded feeling of regret slowly surged within him. He should have gone with her but before he could even step forward, a figure emerged in front of him, blocking his path.

Miko, with her head drooped, awaited for Jiang Shuxuan’s answer nervously. In her mind, countless possibilities of his answer played out repeatedly, for every one of which she had prepared a response. No matter what he said, she had no choice but to speak up.

And so, she stood there for what she felt was like an eternity. The only outcome she did not expect was for him to walk past her without even sparing her a glance.

How did things turn out this way? This was the first time someone had ignored her as if she was nothing but a mere phantom. Seeing how Jiang Shuxuan decided to walk away so abruptly, she looked back up and reached out in an attempt to grab the sleeve of his shirt.

Whoosh!

She had failed to stop him as a strong gust of wind blew her hand away. Red scratches caused by rock fragments had appeared all over her pale, delicate fingers. Miko was wide-eyed. She stared at Jiang Shuxuan in bewilderment. How could he do such a thing to her?

Jiang Shuxuan’s gaze was distant and cold; he had finally made eye contact with her. However, his eyes were devoid of emotions, perhaps reflecting the indifference he had toward her.

Even if she was a little dim-witted, Miko knew perfectly well that he had no interest in her. But why? Ever since she got herself a place in the rankings, she had become obsessed with this man. She had even asked her brother to bring her here, just for the sake of meeting him. She had left the land of the rising sun for this alien piece of land, just so she could fulfil her dream. But why was he treating her so coldly?

Miko was frustrated. She had given up so much for him but why did it never seem to be enough?

Miko, who had always been under the protective wing of her caring big brother now felt extremely wronged. Her vision started to blur up as tears welled up in her eyes. Passersby gawked at the two as different images flared up in their imagination. Nearly all of them flashed unfriendly looks at Jiang Shuxuan.

Only a handful of people chose to look away; most of them were angry at Jiang Shuxuan but as mere outsiders, they couldn’t just step in and start yelling at him. Thus, a great deal of them looked at Miko with sympathetic eyes.

Miko was the very definition of moe back in her country. Her cute appearance appealed to the male protective instinct and since their society was at its core, superficial, beautiful people were given more attention than your average Joe.

Seeing Miko slowly break into tears, some justice-seeking youth felt obliged to stand out for her. He appeared to be below average in terms of both emotional and intellectual intelligence. Though, he did seem to be a college freshman despite that. Helping Miko get back on her feet, he yelled at Jiang Shuxuan distastefully, "You think you can act all high and mighty just ’cause you have more money? How dare you bully girls! Do you still call yourself a man or what!? Failures like you are like a plague to our society!"

Of course, Jiang Shuxuan was not prepared to start a debate with such a man. He shot the youngster a glance silently before turning to leave.

While he couldn’t care less about the situation, others could. Gu Xiqiao was walking with two soft-serve ice creams in her hands as her ears picked up the ruckus created by the feisty youngster. Her eyes blinked but the expression on her face remained the same. With a pair of brightly shining eyes, she scanned the two men in front of her. In a matter of seconds, she could deduce roughly what had happened. And so, she opened her mouth.

"So what if he’s rich? Did he eat your food, drink your water, or sleep on your bed? Young man, hating the rich isn’t particularly healthy for the mind you know?"

The sun shining above her head momentarily blinded the young man. Through the gap between her fingers, he could vaguely make out a halo created by the sunlight around her. Her words were clear but it stung also. The man, now with a face as red as a tomato, wanted to refute her statement but his mind had gone blank, which made him even more frustrated. It sounded like she was hinting to him how pathetic of a person he was.

"Let me give you some advice, young one. Some things, you have to see with your own eyes to believe. What you think is true however, is usually nothing but false images projected unto you by others." Gu Xiqiao eyed Miko as she spoke. She was confident that Jiang Shuxuan did not harm her directly. At most, he probably would have given her a few frost blades.

"I..."

Gu Xiqiao’s demeanor was so intimidating that her words cut like actual knives. It tore through the youngster whose words failed to come out of his mouth. In fact, he actively averted his gaze when she stared at him menacingly.

Jiang Shuxuan tugged on Gu Xiqiao’s finger, urging her to leave. She wasn’t that much of a chatterbox usually and killing someone with words was an even rarer occasion. However, she forced herself to do this for the sake of him. A warm, fuzzy feeling swelled up in her heart but she knew how pointless it was to waste her time on this clown of a stranger. Since they rarely spent time together, she wanted to make every second count.

Miko stared at Gu Xiqiao for a long time and naturally, she recognized her as that girl who walked beside Jiang Shuxuan a few days ago. Though, the two of them were walking at a frantic pace so she couldn’t get a good look at who she was. Now that she was standing right in front of her, she noticed how warm and gentle the woman actually was beneath her mask of ice. For the first time, Miko admitted that she could not replace the woman that stood beside her crush!

Miko panicked upon seeing that the two were about to leave. If she were to let Jiang Shuxuan leave like that, god knows how long it would be until they met once more. Miko struggled to get back on her feet but the moment she got up, her body crumpled limply onto the floor. She had lost consciousness.

Gu Xiqiao, who was supposed to be walking off, stared with her jaws agape.

’Had she learned a new technique?’

Gu Xiqiao blinked dumbfoundedly at the lifeless girl before passing the two cones over to Jiang Shuxuan. Using her mouth, she silently said to him, "I’m gonna play with her for a while."

Since she had medical skills, Gu Xiqiao knew that Miko hadn’t truly fainted. At most, she would see stars above her head but her condition wasn’t such that she would black out instantly like that.

As Gu Xiqiao got closer to Miko, the youngster was able to get a good look at her face. Her eyebrows appeared almost as if it had been painted on by an artisan ink-painter and her skin, as delicate as snow. In terms of beauty, Miko’s cutesy appeal paled in comparison to this woman standing before him. In fact, he had been so captured by her looks that he did not notice the silver needle clenched between her fingers.

As the needle pierced into her skin, Miko’s face twisted in pain. She was a girl, pampered since birth, so when the needle stabbed mercilessly into her skin, she cursed under her breath.

’Why are the men in this country so unconventional!? Damn it, Chinese people will always be Chinese people! Where’s the chivalry?!’

Miko was still adamant in keeping up her act. Through the gap between her eyelids, she could see Gu Xiqiao’s porcelain-like skin, which as a woman, she was deeply envious of. Gradually, Miko focused her eyes and the finger she hid behind her back twitched. Strands of gray-green smoke began flowing out of her hand; some drilled into the body of the youngster while the remaining ones floated towards Gu Xiqiao.

Looking at the smoke, Miko thought to herself, ’Instead of putting the blame on me, you should blame my unrivaled ability instead.’

Before the smoke could penetrate Gu Xiqiao’s skin as they did with the youngster’s however, she pinched the three worm-like strands and hung it above Miko’s face.

"What’s this?"

Miko stared back at Gu Xiqiao in awe. The green smoke had been given her by her elders for personal protection. Once they found their way into the body of her opponents, they would let down their defenses for her to attack. How on earth did she manage to stop her attack? Impossible!

Seeing how Miko wasn’t going to answer her question, Gu Xiqiao’s brows twitched.

’Fine, if you’re not gonna give me an answer, I’ll have to shove your own products down your throat.’

Blowing lightly, the green smoke was sent straight back into Miko’s body. Gu Xiqiao had now lost interest in toying with her any further. She returned to Jiang Shuxuan’s side. With a flick of her finger, she shot a gray-colored tablet into the mouth of that youngster. In an instant, the solid pill liquefied upon making contact with his tongue.

Although she was not particularly fond of him, he was a fellow Chinese; she couldn’t stand seeing her own people being bullied, especially by their neighbors. For this reason, she didn’t mind the mini confrontation that they had mere moments ago.

She might turn the other cheek when bullying happens between her countrymen but when things get international, she could no longer do the same.

That young man was frozen in place due to pain but in the next instant, as the liquid spread around his mouth, the pain he felt drained out of his body, returning to its usual state.

After what he had gone through, the way he looked at Miko changed.

Miko’s face grimaced in pain as she tugged on the sleeve of the youngster. Teary-eyed, she begged for him to help her. And yet, the man slowly pulled away from her.

He backed off and stared at Miko in her eyes. "I am a patriotic man."

’Oh god how I wish I could kill him right now!’

However, every second brought about a new pang of pain.

Jiang Shuxuan had already prepared to lash out with his frost blade as Miko released her sneaky ambush. Without hesitation, he was prepared to lay waste to that girl but to his surprise, Gu Xiqiao managed to take control of the situation. His surprise was reflected in his eyes when she returned to his side. It seemed that there was more than met the eyes about this woman.

Gu Xiqiao retrieved her cone from Jiang Shuxuan’s hands. Despite the sweltering weather where other peoples’ soft serves would start melting and dripping, the two cones in Jiang Shuxuan’s hands remained pristine. In fact, they were so cold that the air had condensed into a layer of fog, flowing down from his hands as if they had just been taken out of the freezer. Luckily, no one took notice of this odd phenomenon.

"Are you done?" asked Jiang Shuxuan who held onto his cone, not knowing that it was in fact, bought for his own consumption. Even though there was no one else apart from him that Gu Xiqiao would buy the soft serve for, he convinced himself that the second cone must’ve been sold for half the price.

"I’m bored. Let’s go." Gu Xiqiao said with a slightly dejected look. She was fascinated by ninjas and Miko initially reminded her of one.

The pair proceeded to drive home. Gu Xiqiao wolfed down both of the cones before starting to text on her phone. Mu Zong had already arrived at the village and began reporting his progress to her. Opening her mailbox, she slowly scanned through the lines of text.

"The hospital called me yesterday." Jiang Shuxuan broke the silence. He figured that Gu Xiqiao could just fill in the blanks with the sea of information she had gathered from the guardian.

"..."

Gu Xiqiao rubbed her nose, realizing that she had done something incredibly foolish.

"What did they say?"

Sullenly, Jiang Shuxuan replied, "They want me to prepare you for the marrow transplant next Monday."

Gu Xiqiao stole a glance at Jiang Shuxuan.

"Brother Jiang..."

While Jiang Shuxuan was upset about this, he couldn’t help but place the blame on Gu Xiqiao’s shoulders. Had she become tired of living? To agree to a marrow transplant for someone else when she herself had such a frail body?!

Transplants like these were damaging to one’s body, which was why Jiang Shuxuan was so unhappy about this. He had not slept even a wink last night as he was searching through the sea of information on his computer, noting down points to take note of after the surgery. In addition to that, he had even created a post-surgery meal plan to speed up Gu Xiqiao’s recovery.

Knowing that she had indeed, caused Jiang Shuxuan to worry for her, Gu Xiqiao sighed. Luo Wenlin being her half-brother wasn’t the only reason why she had chose to save him. A larger part of the reason for her self-sacrifice was because of his friendship with Luo Wenlin. Their interaction reminded her of what her adoptive mother did for her.

While Jiang Shuxuan was angry at her for making such a decision, seeing her acting so depressed made him feel even worse; he found it incredibly difficult to despise her for doing such a thing.

"Please don’t be upset, Brother Jiang. As compensation, how about I give you the first holographic helmet prototype that Nine Heavens developed?"

Gu Xiqiao put down her phone and clasped her palms together to beg Jiang Shuxuan for forgiveness.

"Holographic helmet?" This was the first time he had ever heard of such an item. Of course, his interest had been piqued. And so, Gu Xiqiao had successfully subverted their topic.

She sighed out in relief. She already planned to give the holographic helmet to him anyway but fortunately, this was her first time mentioning it to him. "It’s currently planned to be used for gaming. You should give it a go when we get back. You’ll love it, I promise."

"If it’s planned for gaming, does that mean its use will change in the future?" Jiang Shuxuan caught on rather quickly.

"We’ll launch a few test models first. If everyone accepts the use of such a helmet, then our market will be near endless. Think about it, if every network user uses this helmet, everyone would have their own virtual avatars to traverse through the network. And, we now have GPS modules installed in the helmets, which is awesome. With that module, our users can do things which they otherwise cannot do in the physical world..." Gu Xiqiao became more excited the more she talked about their prototype. Suddenly, a new idea popped up in her head.

To be more precise, she had come up with a name for this system–The Gifted.

The manufacturing process of this helmet was an incredibly complex procedure and when completed, this helmet would be the pioneer of a completely new market. Though, all it would do was alter one’s reality; it remained impossible for one to upload his or her consciousness onto the network. This, in Gu Xiqiao’s opinion, would be against the order of God.

A virtual world? Uploading someone’s conscious mind onto the net? How would such a world turn out? Jiang Shuxuan had no idea. Even so, he understood how difficult it would be to actually pull this off. Looking at Gu Xiqiao’s enthusiasm, he felt amazed by her. Every time he thought that she had finally arrived at her limit, she would tear down the wall, unleashing a new, mind-boggling ability.

Being with her meant that every day came with new surprises. Fortunately, she was living with him. If it were someone else, then she would’ve been dead a long time ago. Thinking of how Yin Shaoyuan complained to him a few days ago about how defiant she was, and that defeated look on his face, Jiang Shuxuan couldn’t help but smirk proudly at his creation.

"Why are you acting so surprised Brother Jiang? To be honest, the US is already years ahead of us in the field of virtual reality research. They’ve just achieved a new breakthrough just recently. Bet you didn’t know that the satellite they’ve just launched was precisely in preparation for the further advancement of this branch of technology. Though..." Gu Xiqiao smiled gleefully as she trailed off. "It would take them at least five years before they can fully generate a virtual world. The source code of our Nine Heavens Virtual World will soon be announced and believe it or not, our system can even handle 3D images. Though, the obstacle that remains is the internet. The internet as we know it today, must be changed from a static, 2D webpage into a 3D dynamic plane you can physically traverse through."

This problem was currently being troubleshooted by Yu Ning. In her free time, Gu Xiqiao had hoarded terabytes of data in an attempt to help solve the puzzle. Because of this, she had now become somewhat of a computer scientist herself even though the network was once a completely alien concept to her.

However, the biggest contribution to this virtual world project remains in the hands of the system itself, which provided the crucial source code.

"My lovely little system! I will fight on every day for the sake of your precious upgrade!"

Being spoken to like that made the system feel a little embarrassed.

[Oh no. I am sorry if it bothers you to do so.]

"Okay. Then I guess I shouldn’t do that. Give me the exchange rate for today..."

[Here you go. Beauty Qiao, you’re still 2589 points away from giving me an upgrade. I will cheer you on! Please fight on! You have my support!]

"..."

Jiang Shuxuan peered at Gu Xiqiao’s bright eyes. She was throwing around a lot of technical terms, terms he had no idea what they were, but he still listened to her voice intently. Sometimes, he would throw her a question or two and in the end, he had a rough grasp on what the virtual world project actually was and how it was constructed.

Something inside him told him that this truly was going to be a revolutionary project for humanity.

It was only after finishing her lengthy explanation that Gu Xiqiao realized how much she had spoken. She glanced at Jiang Shuxuan, whom she feared would be bored out of his mind from all the boring tech talk. However, she was unexpectedly met with an interested face, urging her to continue. His face seemed relaxed, and his expression indicated that he was actively taking in her words; to her astonishment, he wasn’t bored by her talk.

"I’ll let you try it out when we get back. Although this helmet is specially dedicated for gaming, it isn’t too far off from the ones we plan to link up to the virtual world. Artificially-generated projections will replace the physical items around you so I can guarantee that it’ll be a magical experience." Gu Xiqiao couldn’t wait for Jiang Shuxuan to test out their new product. To think that she had angered the old man so much that he vanished into thin air just this morning.

Jiang Shuxuan increased the throttle upon seeing her excitement. It’s a good thing that they weren’t too far away from home.

Yu Ning had already sent over two helmets and Gu Xiqiao completed the installation of the Nine Heavens browser and games on their study room computer.

"Pick a name for your avatar."

"What’s your name?"

"For A Millenium."

Jiang Shuxuan thought about it for a while before slowly typing out the words "A Flowing River."

(*TL note: This is a play on their names. Jiang in Chinese, means river. So when translated, it means "a flowing river".)

"Put on the helmet. Stay at Rookie Village. Like, don’t move! I’ll be right with you when I get back to my room!" Gu Xiqiao scurried back to her room. Since she had a high-spec computer, it took just a second for her to boot up the game. Finally, she could plop the helmet over her head.

The system has become more and more addictive as of late. As it has been a while since Gu Xiqiao has been online and playing, she heard a crisp ding-dong the moment the game booted up.

She had spawned at the entrance of a dungeon outside the city. There were peach blossoms all over the trees and looking at the hyper-realistic flower generations, she couldn’t help but reach out to touch them. It felt real, like she was actually touching it. If she wasn’t aware that she was in a game, she would’ve thought that this was the actual world for sure.

Gu Xiqiao reminded herself not to frolic around for too long as Jiang Shuxuan was still waiting for her in Rookie Village. She pulled out her map before a voice from behind prompted her to turn around.

"So you are For A Millenium?"

Entering her vision was a swordsman dressed in white. Just a glance was enough for her to make out that he too, was another helmet user. This was Nine Heavens Network’s godly marketing at work here. The winners of their program would receive a helmet for free while the others would have to cough up 20,000 for one unit. Worse still, the units for sale were limited to 500 only. Though, games aren’t exactly known to be frugal pastimes. Real gamers couldn’t care less about the 20,000 yuan price tag and so, demand for this product was pretty much inelastic.

Floating on top of the swordsman’s head was "Common". He looked at Gu Xiqiao with cold and distant eyes.

"Anything I can help you with?" Gu Xiqiao asked as she summoned her horse, ready to race towards Rookie Village.

Her voice sounded equally as cold as his gaze, which reminded the man of someone he wasn’t fond of.

"Do you know how to paint?"

"No."

Common called up his horse as soon as he heard her answer. Then, just like that, he disappeared into the horizon without saying another word.

He definitely came across as slightly rude, thought Gu Xiqiao as she raced towards Rookie Village on her horse.

It wasn’t long before a loli character dressed in pink appeared before Jiang Shuxuan’s eyes.

"Hee hee, how are you feeling?"

"It’s really bizarre." Jiang Shuxuan walked in circles before reaching out for an apricot flower hanging down from a tree branch. "It’s way too real, to the point where the line between reality and the virtual world is blurred."

"When this helmet hits the production line, the game’s main aim will switch over to representing the actual player in the game. Of course, they will still be able to alter their appearance."

Gu Xiqiao brought Jiang Shuxuan over to different locations in the game; they were here more to sightsee rather than to battle monsters.

The in-game scenery was hyper-realistic and their walk did not differ too much from walks in their actual world. After personally experiencing what it was like in a virtual world, Jiang Shuxuan grew a little more excited for that virtual world Gu Xiqiao was talking about.

If a mere game could be so realistic, what about a virtual simulation of their actual world?

China had taken the world by storm. Not by anything else but by a single game on a helmet. Countless people from every continent were seeking to experience firsthand what it was like to be in such a hyper-realistic virtual world. The hype was so intense that the helmet, which was originally sold for 20,000 a pop, now sold for over 150,000 on the international market.

Some IT experts were willing to pay the price just so they could reverse engineer the helmet but the sheer complexity of its components were such that they scratched their heads at what was going on. What they found and speculated was the heart of this computing marvel, was nothing but a fingernail-sized chip.

Unfortunate experts on the other hand, who hesitated to buy the expensive piece of technology now felt extremely bitter as Nine Heavens announced their decision to not produce a second batch of these helmets!

Their statement on Weibo went roughly like this: "Because our company is restricted financially, we will stop producing the helmets for now. See you next month."

’Bullshit! Financial restriction my ass! Millions worth of investments could be raised in an instant for empty air, let alone such a precious piece of technology! Their latest game raked in over eight digits in terms of revenue so who would believe such a blatant lie!?’

But so what if they didn’t believe in their lie? Nine Heavens Group couldn’t care less. Seconds after they issued the statement, the comment section had exploded with over tens of thousands of spiteful insults but they were all in vain.

These netizens who have been waiting for their helmet lost their steam over time. In the end, they could only refresh Nine Heavens’ official webpage for any new announcements on the possible release of the much-anticipated gadget.

The gamers who managed to land their hands on the helmet started flexing on some well-known forum.

[One setback with the helmet is that you run the risk of mismanaging the in-game pain level you receive. I’ll never forget the pain I felt when I died while exploring a dungeon!]

[+1, I stumbled upon a tiger while wandering around and it felt way too real! Sh*t, I almost had a heart attack man!]

[Boohoo, I fell into the water when crossing a bridge. I choked way worse than I thought I could, cough cough cough...]

[Too bad my man. I used to fear getting underwater but I learned how to swim in the river outside the city yesterday. Guess what, I shocked my friends at the pool yesterday when I dived straight into the water and swam around!]

[Good job. I think I’ve just invented a new way to play this game.]

[+1]

[+2]

[+10086]

[...]

[Damn son, why do I have a feeling that I’m in the middle of a circlejerk? Y’all should eat shit and die!]

[Give us your helmet and we’ll spare your life!]

[Hey, thread starter! If you’re afraid of the pain, then you should just give your helmet to me! How does 30 grand sound?]

[I’m willing to pay 40!]

[I think 70 should be the lowest dude...]

[These are selling for 150 on the black market. At this point y’all are nothing but a bunch of clowns.]

[I’ve got news that Nine Heavens will be launching another thousand units next month. Location: Beijing. Buy your plane tickets now~]

[Really? Why there though?]

[Why the hell would you know this?]

[The wife of the son of the aunt of my aunt’s daughter’s schoolmate works as an employee at Nine Heavens so you’re welcome!]

This unintentionally started thread went viral overnight. News of Nine Heaven Group’s decision to release their helmets for sale in Beijing spread faster than a worldwide pandemic.

***

Ever since they got their helmets, Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen have been playing longer and longer sessions. Though because their chosen class, ancient warriors had notoriously low agility, they were being utterly crushed by Yao Jiamu.

"You two fight me together. I’ll use 30% of my strength this time," said Yao Jiamu on the training ground.

Wu Hongwen: "Dammit why is this guy so punchable!? One day, I’m gonna get Er Qiao to teach you a lesson!"

He then thought of how Yao Xiaomu grew so much stronger after being defeated by Gu Xiqiao. Wu Hongwen shook his head. He couldn’t let Er Qiao touch Yao Jiamu. No, if anyone, he should be the one to be crushed by Er Qiao. At least, he would stay still throughout the entire ordeal!

Xiao Yun: "She’s just an innocent child who has yet to become accustomed to using an ancient warrior. Why do you keep mentioning her all the time? Couldn’t you be anymore thick-skinned? Do you want to be punished so badly?"

At the same time, the both of them thought the same thing.

’How I miss Er Qiao!’

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