Virtual World – Unparalleled under the Sky Chapter 1

[Prologue]

Listening to the far away chatterings

Please guide me to the path to move forward

I start my journey with this battered body

My loved ones, please don’t cry over me

I’ll protect you, even if I have to slave through my life

……

[Main Story]

At night, the warm breeze of spring blew the sweet smell of flowers and gra.s.s through the forest, and the tree branches swayed with the wind.

Suddenly, two shadows flew past, entering the depths of the forest in an instant.

“Swoosh…”

Threading on the soft gra.s.s, I looked at the night sky as I buried my sadness in my heart.

My team was annihilated yet again.

Beside me, my fellow comrade, a beautiful elf archer, looked heart-rending under the moonlight that shone on her body. Her exquisite, innocent oval face shone with a magnificent splendour under the moonlight.

“Sigh…”

She leaned  on a nearby old pine tree behind her, her elegant face expressed tiredness and indignation. Her chest heaved up and down as she held a light sword in her hands. After that intense battle, her chest armour became so tattered that it almost revealed the perfect mounds underneath. Her wrist and leg guards also suffered the same fate, as her perfectly-shaped, snow white legs became exposed to the wind. Her white cloak was covered in blood, almost torn to shreds.

“Stop running, Lu Chen.” Her oval face was flushed pink as she turned to me.

“Why are we stopping?” I asked, astonished.

She shook her hands, “We are going ahead with our plans two days early. Let’s give them one last fire attack, and then we’ll delete our accounts!”

“Yes, all up to you, boss.”

I nodded, slowly raising my blood drenched hands.

“Shua!”

Suddenly, a missile tore across the skies and exploded in the air. Thousands bits of flaming pieces rain down from the skies, turning the whole forest into a sea of fire.

“AHHHH…”

Blood-curdling screeches can be heard all around as the countless players chasing after us were burnt down to the ground. Each and everyone of the pursuers fell to the ground, charred black in the sea of fire.

I heaved a sigh of relief, “It should be alright now.”

“Yes.” The girl nodded her head. “Let’s go and start our new journey!”

I raised my palms as flashes of data turned into a s.h.i.+ning light that started spiralling out of my palm. In the next moment, my body slowly disappeared. The beautiful archer sitting in front of me smiled and nodded at me as she also took out her delicate palms. Flashes of data appeared, and we disappeared from the virtual forest.

……

“Phew…”

I released a heavy sigh and took off my virtual gaming helmet.

Finally, it’s over.

After playing for two years, campaigning north and south, we had experienced both glory and sorrow, met great comrades and enemies. But in the end, we are finally leaving this land of virtual reality.

Not far from me, another helmet laid on the my table, glimmering with light. A bold, beautiful and flamboyant calligraphy was written on the helmet: !

That’s right. The most established game producers in the world, Yue Heng Corporation, who had released previously, had finally released their next VRMMORPG, . They had the unshakable reputation as the king of VRMMORPGs. In terms of their game play and number of users, they top the charts and had the monopoly over the industry. They have sold more than 800 million helmets in just a month, netting 95% of the whole sales market.

would officially start at 12 midnight in two days without an alpha or beta test. This was also one of the reasons why I left . After hearing this news, a lot of guilds had started to prepare leaving and continue their guild expansion in the new VRMMORPG. We were not an exception.

helmets were separated to low, middle, high and VIP standard, each having different prices. Well, my helmet was the VIP helmet. On the side of the helmet, a small line of words – “CGL Hall of Fame – Fallen Dust” was written in blue ink.

That’s right, I am Lu Chen.
(TL: Lu Chen’s in game name is p.r.o.nounced Luo Chen in Chinese)

My legend was known throughout this country.

“Ah…”

I smiled at myself and turned on my laptop. An MSN icon was shaking on my screen, and a nickname “boss” was displayed beside it. It was my beautiful Guildmaster.

I clicked on the icon and saw the message she left, “Can we meet tomorrow afternoon? Tell me the meeting place.”

“Tomorrow 9 am, at the gym on Sanxiang Road.”

She quickly replied to my message, “Alright, I have sold all of our equipments. In addition to your salary, it would be a total of RMB 200,000. I have created a new card for you. I’ll pa.s.s it to you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

With that done, I lied down on my bed and thought about all the things that happened in the last two years. Everyone’s lives had its ups and downs. Sometimes, it really made people feel so helpless.

I had been following boss for a little more than a year, yet I had never seen her in person. She said that her in-game avatar had been altered, her real self was actually a dinosaur, not a beauty.

With regards to this, I wouldn’t think about it that much.

……

Early morning the next day, I woke up, wore casual clothes and strolled down the streets. The distance between the gym and the place I lived was not that far, a simple 10 minutes walk was enough.

I was feeling a little nervous. I called boss’ phone number and asked, “Boss, what do you look like? How am I going to recognize you?”

On the other side of the phone, a chuckling voice could be heard, “Foolish guy. Look for the most brilliant person in front of the gym, she should be your boss.”

“Alright…”

I turned off my phone and walked to the bus station in front of the gym. I looked around in all directions for her as I waited.

There were around 7,8 people on the bus station. Suddenly, I saw a brand new, black racing car stopping nearby. The car’s movement was extremely smooth. Although I didn’t recognize the car’s brand, its price should be exorbitant.

It was 9am, but boss had not appeared yet.

I was getting a little impatient. Taking out my phone, I started calling again.

At this time, everyone’s eyes pointed towards the magnificently beautiful woman stepping out from that branded car. Her face was extraordinarily perfect, the kind that you would see on national pageants compet.i.tion. With a smile decorating her face, her long hair flowed with the wind. Her smile sends s.h.i.+vers down the others present here; almost everyone was staring at her like a fool. n.o.body would ever thought that such a beauty would own that branded racing car.

……

This was my first meeting with He Yi. Being the unrestrained, outstanding beauty that she was, she was like a light guiding me out of my chaotic ways. At that instant, my mind turned blank. It seemed like all the things around me started to disappear, all except for that matchless beauty. Like a holy light s.h.i.+ning down from the heavens, I couldn’t help but be attracted to her. Unconsciously, I walked towards her.

The beauty didn’t care about the people staring at her and instead, she took out her phone and called a number, her rosy lips slowly revealed a displeased expression.

“Beep beep beep…”

My phone rung, and I heard boss’ voice, “Lu Chen, you brat, why aren’t you here yet?”

Startled, I almost couldn’t believe what was happening. The boss I had followed for two years was actually this beautiful lady? Then she had evidently lied, because she was definitely a gorgeous woman. She was so stunning that her beauty would shake heavens and earth.

“Boss, I’m already here…”

It was a little awkward as I was holding my phone while standing right in front of her.

The beauty turned towards me and a smile blossomed on her face. She opened the car door and said, “So it was you? Come and get on the car, I’ll bring you to some place today.”

Under the stares of everyone present, I got into the matchless beauty’s car. I felt the stinging looks full of envy and jealousy behind me, sharp like swords, piercing against my back.

“Boss, I didn’t think that you could actually be…”

“I could be what?” She looked at me and smiled, her beautiful eyes full of mischief.

I gulped and stopped my sentence. This lady’s attire had a low neckline, revealing a snow white cleavage underneath that caused a thrill down my spine. Her deep cleavage made me even more lost in my daze. Such an attractive sight, it really made others feel hot by just looking at her.

An exquisite looking employee pa.s.s was pinned near the boss’ collar. She had clearly ran here during her office hours. Three big letters “GGS” – the company’s name – were printed on the employee pa.s.s, and below it, was boss’ name, He Yi! The more shocking thing was the position written underneath boss name: Vice President (Asia Region)!

“Boss, are you called He Yi?” I asked.

“Yeah, my name sounds nice, right?” she laughed. At the same time, she started the car, “Lu Chen, what do you plan to do in the future? Do you, perhaps, have a dream or something?”

“Dream?”

I gave it a thought and then chuckled, “My dream is to live in seclusion in the forest starting tomorrow. I shall become a happy person feeding horses, chopping firewoods, and travel around the world. Starting tomorrow, I will eat healthily and build a big house facing the ocean, as spring flowers bloomed nearby…”

“Go then!”

He Yi snorted, “You really have no future. Why don’t you let this boss be your guiding light! Come, let’s go to a place.”

“What place?”

I sat on the seat beside her, a little nervous.

He Yi grinned mysteriously, her eyebrows slowly raised, “A place to make your dreams come true. We, the [Ancient Sword Dream] guild will be establis.h.i.+ng a studio. The members of this studio must be permanent employees, and you are the first person that I thought of.”

“Studio?”

I was a little at lost. I had been alone for so long, and now I would actually join a game studio?

“Boss, I think if it’s only me…” Staying silent for a moment, I then continued my words, “Actually, [Ancient Sword Dream] would be fine with or without me…”

He Yi squinted her eyes at me. In an imposing manner, she replied, annoyed, “Stop talking rubbish, if I told you to join, you should join!”

I could only stay silent. Having followed He Yi for two years, her bold and straight-forward personality was something that everybody knows of. Whatever He Yi had decided, we, her followers, could only obey.

I didn’t say any more as He Yi focused driving the car. I caught her stealing glances at me from time to time as she smiled happily.

He Yi pa.s.sed me a card that contained my share of income for half a year. The car then quickly drove out of the district, where there were fewer cars on the road.

Never did I know that on that calm afternoon, my life would take a 180 degrees turn. Before this, I had never thought that I would embark on this path of my life.