The First Batch of Closed Beta Testers

“I am NPC.”

Saying this while looking in the mirror, Chu Guang took a deep breath and straightened his collar, trying to make himself look authoritative enough.

And expressionless.

It had been three days since that day.

In a few minutes, it would be time for the players to log into the game.

As for the blue jacket he was wearing, it was the outfit he had on when he first crossed over to this world long ago.

Old Charlie from Beit Street had once told him that the residents who came out of the shelter all seemed to wear this.

“I am NPC.”

Chu Guang practiced again in front of the mirror he had picked up from outside.

The nature of this “new job” was completely different from the sales job he had before. The sunny smile and polite manner should never appear on a manager.

After all, this was the wasteland that followed the law of the jungle.

To survive in this wasteland, his image didn’t necessarily have to be that of a tough guy, but he at least had to give people enough confidence and sense of security.

Feeling the lines on his cheeks, Chu Guang pondered whether he should get a scar on his forehead?

Or maybe just style his hair into a punk mohawk?

After all, this was the wasteland that followed the law of the jungle.

Too cool.

It would affect immersion.

“Master.”

Still posing in front of the mirror expressionlessly, Chu Guang raised his chin slightly.

“What is it?”

Little Seven said in a low voice.

“According to the information I found, NPCs in games usually do not refer to themselves as NPCs.”

His expression faltered slightly, and Chu Guang coughed lightly, saying.

“Of course I know…”

Muttering again in front of the mirror.

“…I am the manager of Shelter 404.”

It was about time for the appointed meeting.

Three hours ago, the cloning pods had completed the synthesis of the clone bodies.

And earlier, he had arranged with the four “lucky ones” who got beta test access on Penguin to put on their headsets, lie down or recline comfortably before 9pm Beijing time, and log into the game precisely at 9pm.

As Chu Guang pondered what pose to strike when appearing before the players, a sudden “ding” rang in his mind.

Immediately after, a line of text appeared before him.

[Mission Accomplished!]

Chu Guang’s heart tightened slightly.

Here they come!

…

“Damn! This is crazy!”

In the living quarters next to the residents’ hall, four nondescript cloning pods in one room simultaneously unlocked and opened their semi-transparent lids.

Sitting up from the open vats, Ye Wei’s jaw dropped as he looked around in astonishment, his face filled with shock and even blankness.

This—

This is the game world?!

Up until a minute ago, he was still wondering if this could possibly be an elaborate prank.

But just as he was putting on the fully charged headset and lying down on the bed, about to fall asleep, a beam of light pierced through the darkness and shot towards him.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in an unfamiliar room.

His body was damp and sticky.

As if he had just been pulled out of a pool.

The wind blowing from the overhead vents fell on his shoulders, and he could clearly feel the liquid slowly evaporating, taking away his body heat.

There was also a faint unpleasant odor accompanying it.

Ye Wei suddenly realized with wide eyes.

Sight!

Smell!

Touch!

Taste!

Hearing!

All five senses present!

Amazing!!!

He couldn’t help but tear up, never imagining he would live to see truly immersive virtual reality technology in his lifetime!

This could no longer be described as awesome!

And it wasn’t just him.

The other three players sitting up from the cloning pods all had the same look of shock on their faces.

“Oh my god, oh my god oh my god.”

“…I really thought it was a joke.”

“Holy crap! It really is total immersion!”

“How advanced is the technology now?? How come I’ve never seen this in the news?!”

“Ow…even pain is there.” One player pinched himself.

“Who the hell are you? An NPC?”

“What NPC, I’m Old White! White Steed Passing! Who are you?”

“What the heck? Old man?! I’m Gale! Level 8 Gale! How come you look like that? Hahaha, dying of laughter here.”

“Screw you! Call me old man again, and I’ll show you what a real old tough guy is… Hey, this game is interesting, are our appearances pre-set? I wonder if we can customize in the official release.”

Old White pinched himself too, grimacing in pain, but his face was full of delight.

Excitement!

Thrill!

Disbelief!

Dreams becoming reality!

Next to him, Ye Wei stared wide-eyed, unmoving, trying to process the shock.

Besides him, there was one other guy sitting still, who should be Fang Chang from their group.

This guy was staring intently at the area between his own legs in contemplation, not knowing what he was thinking about.

“Character default is male? There’s no character creation stage. I mean…can we make a female character?”

“Geez, you’re such a pervert! You must be Night Ten.”

“I’m Fang Chang…”

“What?! Fang Chang?! Good buddy…you know what I mean, right?”

“Get lost, I was just saying it casually. This brother next to me must be Night Ten…are you all here?”

Seeing the three looking at him, Ye Wei finally came to his senses.

Realizing he was still naked, he quickly grabbed the uniform hanging next to the cloning pod and put it over his head, casually responding.

“Yeah, just got here…how do you play this game? No tutorial?”

“No idea, we just got here too.”

As he finished speaking, the room door opened.

A man in a blue jacket walked in from outside.

Behind him followed a trashcan-shaped robot with a cylindrical body that looked somewhat silly, but its streamlined casing and seemingly polished silver paint exuded a sci-fi vibe.

The four players’ eyes were glued to the sight.

“An NPC!”

“Looks exactly like a real person!”

“Is this really the game world?”

“It’s too realistic!”

“Quiet” Interrupting their commotion, Chu Guang scanned the four players in the room and slowly began, “Welcome to Shelter 404.”

“I am the manager here.”

“Codename——Dawn.”

A momentary silence filled the air.

The four players, unexpectedly obedient, held their breaths and stared at him, afraid to miss any detail of the story.

It seemed his presence had successfully controlled the scene.

Relieved, Chu Guang continued according to the script he had prepared.

“First, I have to tell you some good news, the war is over.”

“But the bad news is, our world has been completely altered. If you were hoping to pack up and go home to your mom right away, that’s clearly not possible.”

“It’s now been two hundred years since the apocalypse. Fortunately, we’ve made it through the most difficult years. Being able to stand here already makes you luckier than 12 billion others. Now I need you to quickly face reality and fulfill the pledge you made under the banner of the Human Federation—to rebuild our homeland!”

“This is my assistant next to me, its name is Little Seven. You can ask it any questions about the shelter or anything you don’t understand.”

That was the opening speech.

When the next batch of players arrived, Chu Guang would repeat it again.

After all, it wasn’t easy to put together.

As for Little Seven, Chu Guang had already informed it beforehand about what it could and couldn’t say, so there was no need to worry about it slipping up.

Not that it mattered even if it did slip up.

Anything unexplainable could just be brushed off with “that’s how the game is designed.” These days, what setting is truly perfect and flawless? If you really wanted to nitpick, you could find bugs even in the national news broadcast.

Seeing that Chu Guang had finished speaking, the player with the username Night Ten quickly asked.

“Where is Brother Light? I mean, the game developer who gave us the headsets.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying”, Chu Guang answered expressionlessly.

“How do we log out of the game?” Old White followed up.

“By lying down in the cloning pods, you can log out normally.”

In fact, there was another way. Abnormal states like fainting, falling asleep, or death would also cause a disconnect, but Chu Guang didn’t want them to try those methods recklessly.

Lying in the cloning pods was more energy-efficient, it would be troublesome to have corpses lying around randomly.

“What about levels? Where’s the player interface? I can’t find it.”

Just as Gale asked this, before Chu Guang could answer, Fang Chang cut in with another question.

“What about character creation? Can’t the character settings be changed? And character gender…”

“Enough, we’re not taking those questions yet”, Chu Guang cut them off with a frown, maintaining a professional demeanor as he unceremoniously tossed small booklets into each of their hands.

“I’ll give you a tour of the place and tell you what you need to pay attention to.”

“Especially what you can and cannot do, don’t even think about it.”