Chapter 6: A Meaningless Gathering
The time ratio in mental simulation to real time is 2:1.
Not only does [Innocent Realm] follow this ratio, but most other similar products do as well. In reality, human thoughts and mental states cannot be fully manifested, but if they are converted into a set of data, a "theoretical fast-forward" can be achieved, thereby maximizing thinking efficiency.
However, this landmark discovery involves such a vast scope that, to avoid straying too far off topic and ending up unable to circle back, let us return to the main point.
After a simple calculation, Mo Tan roughly deduced that there seemed to be an issue with the time ratio between reality and the game. In other words, following normal logic, it should now be around five in the morning, not the seven o'clock displayed on his phone...
"Did I experience a blank period in my time, or is there something wrong with this device?" Mo Tan frowned. He was currently in his most normal personality, so his way of thinking was relatively conventional.
But after a moment of pondering with no results, Mo Tan decided to first get himself something to eat. After all, from yesterday noon until now, he had consumed nothing—not even a drop of oil or salt—and was starting to feel quite hungry.
He didn't forget this doubt entirely but temporarily set the question aside from his main concerns, planning to think about it when he had time.
Although there were now few things that could baffle Mo Tan, if something inexplicable did arise, he wouldn't dig too deeply into it. After all, high-intensity thinking was a troublesome affair, and even if he found answers to many problems, they might not be solvable. So, why bother?
Mo Tan's home was not large; it took less than a minute to walk from the living room to the kitchen. He simply boiled himself a bowl of noodles to get breakfast out of the way. From lighting the fire and boiling the water to bringing the bowl of noodles to the computer desk, it took him less than ten minutes in total.
Cooking was one of the essential skills for a single man living alone. Although Mo Tan's illness was quite a spectacle, he still fell within this category, so he had a certain level of culinary skill. While he couldn't prepare any dish costing over two hundred yuan, he was steadily advancing in the realm of low-cost cooking. One of his few friends had once given him a bold review: "I actually tasted happiness in your rotten vegetable noodles and plain boiled porridge! So please, go get a sex change..."
Starting up the computer, Mo Tan slurped his noodles while opening the forum for Innocent Realm. Although this new game hadn't invested much in promotion, it had still gathered a certain following on its first day of release. Even someone like Mo Tan, who initially approached it with a mindset of "I'll return it as soon as the 24-hour trial period is up," had abandoned that idea, a testament to its undeniable charm.
Compared to those mainstream games with extremely high freedom, where a little spending or grinding lets you slay gods and demons, trample all NPCs underfoot, and only fall short when facing someone who spends or grinds more than you, Innocent Realm is quite unaccommodating to its players.
Aside from being able to adjust your appearance and choose a name to a certain extent, nothing—alignment, race, birthplace, or talents—is decided by the player. Moreover, the NPCs in the game are not only highly anthropomorphic but also have distinct personalities. If your attitude is even slightly off, ignoring you is the least of it; getting beaten up or having a blade drawn on you are not unheard of.
Humans are always like this: yearning for freedom within the constraints of various rules and regulations, but when 'freedom' truly arrives, they instead long to be bound and restricted.
And Innocent Realm is precisely such a world full of constraints, yet at the same time, it grants you another kind of 'freedom.'
Because in this game, you don't feel like a player; instead, you feel like you are part of this world.
While browsing the forums, Mo Tan ate his noodles and occasionally made a comment or two, such as, "So, human nature is inherently cheap~~," "Since you can't play Innocent Realm during the day, why don't you go die and show me?!" "Holy crap, the death penalty is this harsh?!" and so on...
That's right, the death penalty in the game is quite severe. It's not as simple as running back to your corpse, tossing a coin, or waiting a few dozen seconds to revive on the spot.
Regarding this detail of the death penalty that the officials hadn't previously disclosed, countless players had already personally proven and experienced it last night. If their words were summarized, it could probably be summed up in six words: "Extremely poor gaming experience!"
Upon death, aside from character talents and soul-bound items being retained, all class levels, attributes, and the like are completely reset to zero. Then, the player is randomly resurrected somewhere on the Innocent Continent, starting over in a place where no one knows you.
"Isn't that just like deleting your account and starting over?!" Mo Tan was also taken aback. Although he had anticipated that 'death' in this game wouldn't be simple, he hadn't expected it to be this... thrilling...
But only then would players cherish their lives more, and what follows is the revelation of their true selves. After all, if for some people death is merely running back to a corpse, even if that person is a coward, it wouldn't stop them from putting on a noble front in the game—covering the retreat, sacrificing themselves, or acting fearless and heroic—to boost their cool factor.
Then, at eight o'clock that morning, the officials officially released a statement, the content of which was as follows:
[Innocent Realm] is a complete world, so it does not have an instance system.
[Innocent Realm] strives to make everything real, so it does not have a party system.
[Innocent Realm]'s native lifeforms are very intelligent, so please take NPCs seriously.
[Innocent Realm] is, after all, still a game, so it has independent player spaces.
[Innocent Realm] places great importance on economic development, so it supports a trading system.
【Innocent Realm】hopes that players will drive the story, so it does not have expansion packs.
【Innocent Realm】's Main System is extremely powerful, so... the programmers declare they bear no additional responsibility.
A single stone stirs a thousand ripples, and the Official Forum practically exploded in an instant...
But Mo Tan didn't keep following it, for two reasons.
First, he had finished eating; second, he was having a... well, a Personality Switch...
At this moment, his [Chaotic Neutral] self didn't like wasting time reading other people's nonsense. Instead, he thought it would be better to take advantage of Christmas to wander around places like churches, preferably finding a believer to chat with and give them a hard time~
Of course, he wouldn't actually do it, because Mo Tan was afraid that if he uncontrollably switched personalities again, he might accidentally be persuaded to believe in a religion, which would be troublesome. Although he was an atheist, he was also a kind person, and those fanatical believers, in order to make you believe in their Lord, would even do crazy things like holding a knife to their own neck...
Mo Tan reluctantly washed the dishes, then briefly checked his mental state. After confirming that he wouldn't undergo a drastic personality change for a while (don't ask me how he did it), he picked up his phone, casually replied to a message, and then softly counted under his breath: "Five, four, three, two..."
Buzz, buzz, buzz~~
The phone still in his hand vibrated. The caller ID showed: Buddy A
In fact, most of the names in Mo Tan's phone contacts were like this, such as: Buddy A, Buddy B, Buddy C, Minion A, Minion B, Undercover A, Classmate X, Balding Teacher, Menopausal Teacher A, Fly, etc., all with unclear meanings...
Although when in a more serious personality, Mo Tan always had the urge to change them to normal names, after a certain unfortunate phone theft incident, he had to admit that this method was quite useful. At least he didn't have to spend over half a month helping some idiot who was scammed out of hundreds of thousands to get his money back, while also pulling off a counter-extortion.
"Hey~ hello there, Buddy A~~" Mo Tan answered the phone with a chuckle.
"If you call me that again, I'll take you to Africa for poverty alleviation while you're still a model youth!" The guy on the other end of the line said irritably.
Mo Tan shrugged: "I have no problem with that, but after we come back, I might post your photos and personal info on various gay dating websites, with bilingual introductions worldwide."
"Brother Tan, I was wrong! Forget Buddy A, you can even call me Gay A if you want!" The guy on the other end immediately caved, because Mo Tan—at least the current Mo Tan—was definitely capable of doing such a thing, and with explosive execution!
Mo Tan whistled: "Alright, Comrade Xiao Yi, what do you want from me?"
[Yi Dong]
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Align...
Sorry, wrong channel~
Yi Dong was a friend Mo Tan had known since their time at the orphanage, and one of the few people in the world unfortunate enough to know about Mo Tan's split personality. However, unlike Mo Tan—who was a true orphan—this young master was different. For some superstitious reason (in Mo Tan's eyes), his parents had dumped him at the orphanage when he was one year old, only to take him back five years later, claiming that the child's negative karma had been eliminated or something...
"Psychos!" Those three words were Mo Tan's assessment of Yi Dong's family, partly out of standing up for his friend. But Yi Dong himself didn't seem to mind much; instead, he felt that meeting a weirdo like Mo Tan at the orphanage wasn't without its gains.
As for why the orphanage would take in a child whose parents—and even great-grandfather—were still alive and whose family was wealthy and influential, the reason was simple: money talks~
As the saying goes, money makes the world go round!
By the way, Yi Dong and Mo Tan were also classmates—both in middle school and university~
"There's a pointless gathering tonight. Come with me!" Yi Dong cut straight to the chase without any nonsense.
Mo Tan asked doubtfully, "Aren't there classes tonight?"
"One of my aunts is on the board of directors~" Yi Dong said nonchalantly. "I'll just give her a heads-up."
"Heh, rich folks are something else, with all those connections~" Mo Tan sneered. "Us commoners are so scared!"
The young man on the other end of the phone immediately got riled up: "Hey! You bastard, who only shows up for exams from day one and always gets perfect scores, have no right to talk about me!"
"No, I do have the right, because my intelligence is my own," Mo Tan replied. "Everything should rely on real talent. If you'd actually put in the effort to seduce the principal and get her to give you a pass, I wouldn't look down on you."
"Bro! You're my real brother!" Yi Dong exclaimed in exasperation. "Our principal is almost eighty! Give the old lady a break! And I'm not that desperate!!"
He took a couple of deep breaths and steered the conversation back: "I'll drive to pick you up this afternoon. Deal?"
"No deal," Mo Tan replied lazily. "I don't want to go with you."
"Why?" Yi Dong asked. "Do you have something to do?"
"First, I want to play a game, and that game is only available at night," Mo Tan said. "Second, you said it yourself—it's a 'pointless' gathering, which means it's bound to be a hassle. And while I don't mind trouble right now, that doesn't mean I won't mind it later. You get it?"
Yi Dong was silent for a moment, then said, "I get the second part—your mental state is pretty messed up, after all. But that game you mentioned that's only playable at night... Uh, bro, you know the saying about 'ashes and smoke flying away'..."
"If you dare say another word, I'll find a few guys to 'fly you away' tomorrow," Mo Tan threatened. "I'm just playing an online game that only supports sleep mode."
"Oh? That's rare! Tell me about it later!" Yi Dong laughed, then his speech sped up: "Anyway, I promise I'll have you home before midnight. Consider this one a favor from me. The thing is, that gathering is mostly strangers, and I'm pretty awkward in those situations. With you there, at least I'll have someone to talk to. We'll chat about the details when we meet this afternoon. That's it, bye!"
Click...
"This bastard is getting more and more outrageous..." Mo Tan listened to the dial tone on his phone and couldn't help shaking his head with a sigh. "He used to be such a simple and innocent kid... Ah, forget it."
Since Yi Dong had already said something like "consider this a favor," Mo Tan decided not to refuse anymore. Besides, he wasn't the type to stay idle anyway. Having a small social circle didn't mean he was antisocial or reclusive. He wasn't exactly opposed to tagging along with a rich second-generation heir to an event where he could probably score a good meal.
But since he'd decided to go, he needed to prepare.
"It's better if I go in this state..." Mo Tan said softly to the mirror while washing his face. "A gathering with 'unknown meaning' should be pretty interesting~"
Then, he deliberately guided out his other personality, changed his clothes, and went to the neighborhood to do some Christmas charity work.
...
That afternoon, when Yi Dong drove over in his SSC-13, which Mo Tan called "Capital Original Sin," Mo Tan had already switched back to his [Chaotic Neutral] personality mode and was lying listlessly on the sofa, staring into space.
"You sure you don't want to change clothes?" Yi Dong asked, looking at Mo Tan's cheap outfit that totaled less than a hundred bucks. "I remember you have a suit, right? I'm worried it might be awkward. After all, it's my first time meeting those people, and I have no idea what they're like."
Mo Tan pointed toward the wardrobe. "Haven't worn it in too long. It's gone sour."
"Then..." Yi Dong ventured cautiously. "How about I buy you—"
"If you're planning to buy me some brand-name stuff worth a few years of my food expenses," Mo Tan squinted at Yi Dong, "you might as well buy me a house first, get me a car as flashy as yours, and introduce me to a princess from the UAE as a wife—preferably one with a father in late-stage cancer."
Yi Dong naturally understood what Mo Tan meant. Honestly, aside from the "father with late-stage cancer" part being a bit tricky, he could handle everything else. But Yi Dong had no doubt that if he actually did that, Mo Tan would post his info and photos on every gay dating website worldwide, with real-time contact updates.
"Forget I said anything~" Yi Dong sighed. "If you don't need to freshen up, let's head out now."
...
An hour later, the two appeared on the second floor of a top-tier hotel in the city, walking toward the private room with the number [666] on its doorplate.
...
Chapter 6: The End