Inside the n-star Building, he Huaizhou is looking through the unstained floor-to-ceiling windows at the large laboratory covering an area of more than 2, 000 square meters. the center of the laboratory rotates and projects a huge three-meter-high full-length portrait of Saint Theresa, and research and development staff are making final data adjustments to her.

He Qin stood behind him and shouted, "Uncle."

He Huaizhou, who was lost in thought, seemed to be awakened by him, hurriedly turned around and beckoned him to come over.

"Ah Chin, come and have a look. What do you think?"

He Qin took a few steps forward, and the assistants behind him waited two meters away in a measured way. He looked at it and suddenly asked, "Uncle, I've always wanted to know, on the 200th anniversary, why did you propose to the board of directors to release a horror game?"

He Huaizhou laughed and whispered, "fear makes you a prisoner, hoping to set you free."

A strong man can only save himself, and a great man can save others. " He Qin smiled and then answered skillfully.

This is the line from the movie "the Redemption of Shawshank". When he Qin was a child, he Huaizhou took him to see this classic over and over again. Over the past few hundred years, it has been remade no less than a hundred times, and he Huaizhou has carefully treasured them, from the oldest videotape form to the most advanced holographic somatosensory form.

He was a naive president with childlike innocence when he was young. Decades later, he has become an old man, and his love of games remains the same.

Apart from relying on the natural keen sense of smell of businessmen and the instinct to fight on the battlefield of interests, the most important thing for n-star to grow up to this point are the geniuses in the family who are obsessed with games and are willing to devote their whole lives to them.

They lead the trend of the holographic era, and are the core, decision-makers and forerunners of n-star. The pure enthusiasm of businessmen for profit will not work in this future world full of fantasies. Only those works that are really filled with painstaking efforts and love can be immortal, immortal and praised by the people of the world.

"I think our work has been surrounded by flowers, halos, wealth and victory for too long." He Huaizhou said slowly, "it is true that games should bring happiness to people, but if games can only bring happiness to people, it is also completely contrary to the original intention of n-star."

Listening quietly, he Huaizhou sighed and said, "n-star is a huge country that transcends the times, transcends the government, transcends any centralized country, and even transcends the limits of time and space. It closely ties the joys and sorrows of all people together, forming another world without boundaries and estrangement-but it is precisely because of this, Aqin, that our responsibilities are particularly heavy."

"I understand, uncle." He Qin replied, "I understand."

"there is always someone who needs to lead the times," he Huaizhou said, pointing to the front of nothingness. "you see, even if we say irresponsibly now, 'where are we going?' the giant wheel of Nova City will immediately turn and take the whole world in that direction, but is going there good or bad for our future? No one knows. "

"therefore, the research and development of the Horror Valley is also out of this concern." He Huaizhou whispered, "you know, Aqin, the greatest wealth of mankind is hope."

"hold on to hope, and you will have dreams and everything in your hands. Whether it's the fear of reality or the fear of fictional ghosts, it's a prison for us, break it, break it hopefully-that's what I and the developers in Horror Valley expect to see. "

He Qin nodded and said, "that's the way it is." I understand. "

He Huaizhou smiled, took off his coat of worrying about the country and the people, and became the optimist old man again: "forget it, I heard you almost didn't come in today?"

He Qin smiled helplessly: "No, I lost a bet with someone in the game two days ago and bet on the brand to others."

He Huaizhou said strangely, "who can beat you?"

"it's not really a win." He Qin mused for a moment and said frankly, "well, I released the water, because I didn't expect that the child would come up with such valuable chips."

He Huaizhou's eyebrows were raised high, and his eyes sparkled at he Qin: "what chips do you need to mortgage your dog tag?"

Hechin said with a wry smile: "Uncle, let me ask you, what are the chances of raffling 3s props in Nova City?"

He Huaizhou said firmly: "Zero, because it is completely impossible."

He turned and took Hechin into an open passageway. When the lights on both sides were completely dimmed, the walls of the passageway seemed to be retreating at a rapid speed, replaced by the vast expanse of the universe and the swirling bright river of stars.

Pieces of glittering props emerged from the stars. He Huaizhou looked at them softly as if they were his carefully watered seedlings. He asked, "which piece of props did you take with the kid you bet on?"

"Eternal City of time." He Qin Dao.

He Huaizhou opened his eyes wide in amazement. He scratched his head and wondered, "are you sure?" This is the treasure in the hands of the sage of time, and there is no way to get it up to now. Wait, it suddenly occurred to me that there is another possibility. "

He Huaizhou said, removing a slap-sized crystal hourglass from the starlight, his hands were empty and pulled, and the hourglass was immediately divided into countless small parts, one of which was the piece that he Qin looked familiar with and smelled the broken willow.

He Huaizhou was about to open his mouth when the light brain on his wrist suddenly "ticked". He pressed it quickly, and his joy was overflowing with words: "what, the test is complete?"

As soon as he Qin heard this, he didn't care about the fragments. He Huaizhou hurriedly went out with him. In front of them, the huge and beautiful nun slowly opened her arms, her snow-white soft skirt was spotless, and she smiled to the world and said, "Welcome to the Valley of Terror. Do you want to hear the gospel of heaven or the echo of hell?"

On July 25, 2301, "Valley of Terror" was officially launched and went on sale all over the world. as soon as it was launched, it immediately triggered a frenzy, with projections and portraits of Saint Theresa everywhere in the streets. The first volume of money | the film "Twilight in London" had reached a staggering number of 30 billion hits on the network by the early morning of the 26th, but the first batch of open access qualifications were only 5 million randomly distributed, which made the players discuss it aggrieved for a while.

In the fast food restaurant, Wen Shuiliu stood at the front desk and smiled brightly at every guest who came to order. Although the business model of this fast food restaurant has long been in the mechanical assembly line, the front desk and the delivery waiter cannot be emotionless robots. Wen Ziliu was able to find this weekend part-time job.

"Hello," he smiled. "what can I do for you?"

"Vanilla beef burger, large French fries, a half-sugar cocoa." He flew with both fingers and ordered the order skillfully and quickly on the light screen. "just a moment, please. The meal will be delivered to you right away."

Perhaps because of the sale of the Horror Valley, the number of customers in the store has been greatly reduced these days, and when some regular customers come to the front desk, they can still have a leisurely chat with Wen Qiliu.

"the valley of terror. It's really scary. If you just watch the movie, I can't breathe! " The middle-aged bald man sighed to hear the folded willow, "Hey, it's still suitable for you young people to play."

Wen Zailiu said curiously, "I heard, isn't there a defense mechanism against heart disease patients, the elderly and children?"

The man laughed a few times: "although the words say so …". However, now that we people do not even have access qualifications, we do not have to think so much about it. "

"the second batch will be opened on the 10th of next month," Wen Zailiu comforted. "you will certainly be able to draw the admission qualification."

Standing next to a group of young girls twittering and waiting for a long time, they finally found a way to cut in: "Brother, I want a two-color cone, a spicy chicken wing, and a Portuguese egg tart.". "

The girls were full of words, and one of them suddenly plucked up his courage and shouted, "and your star number!"

The girls were silent for a moment, then burst into laughter, flushed when they heard the broken willow order fingers, and said sheepishly, "I don't actually play well. I have nothing to add."

The girl refused to forgive: "you boys should be very good at playing games, add more, add one!"

As he took out his personal terminal, he had to report his own id, and other girls to join the fun, begging his star network id, to hear the willow, and he didn't know what to do. Finally, the store manager came out to the rescue, saying that his salary would be deducted if it went on, and they just gave up.

"Today's little girls are full of energy." The middle-aged man sighed.

Hearing that he bowed his head and said nothing, others thought he was shy, but only he knew that he had something else on his mind.

From that day on, he was forced off the line by Liu Tianxiong, and after a fight at the Liu family, he never logged in to Nova City again. Of course, he also thought of taking a bus to n-star Company to find he Qin, but when he arrived at the station, he hesitated again.

Who is he Qin? The majority shareholder of n-star and the future owner of Nova City. Their identities are compared day by day, almost ten Mariana trenches apart. Before him, the most remarkable person he had ever met was Liu Jianzhang's superior, the head of a department of a small company in the n-star division-and he Qin was at the level that even the president of that small company had no access to.

What about yourself? A dependant orphan has a problem of adequate food and clothing. In order to pay off the living expenses owed to Liu Jianzhang and Wen Qian over the past decade, he can only steal some time every week to take up tasks in Nova City to make money. In the future, if he can get back what his parents have left to him, if he and his wife hide a little bit in the east and a little bit in Tibet, leaving him only a house in the old city, then he will have to make other plans.

On one side is the beloved son of heaven, who stands at the top of the world, and on the other is the poor children who need to run around and struggle for their livelihood. Why should they forcibly close the distance because of a joke-like bet? He still has the last card in his hand, and if he can't make it, he's not completely desperate. Someone will certainly be willing to pay a sky-high price to buy that fragment.

He looked at the clean and transparent windows of the fast food restaurant and secretly made a decision that he would send the dog tag back to he Qin after work, and then say thank you to him.

After all, after so many years of being bullied, beaten and scolded by Liu Tianxiong and his wife, he really wanted to have a brother.

In the evening, when the sun was shining and the clouds on the horizon were on fire, heard that as soon as took off apron and walked out of the store, received a message on the personal terminal.

"[Star Mail Communications] your express has been deposited at the mailbox No. b, Building 6, Huaxing District. Please pick it up as soon as possible."

He was confused. He didn't know who sent him the express delivery. at the moment, he didn't care about sending back the dog tag, so he hurried home. Fortunately, Liu and his wife had not yet left work. Liu Tianxiong also went to the after-class tutoring class, and there was no one in the room. He picked up a small encrypted package from under the mailbox, looked at it curiously, and saw that "recipient: smell the flute" was written on it, and his heart thumped.

Who gave it to him?

Is it the teacher and friends, or the players he knows in the game?

He opened the door with his fingerprints, unlocked the package with a dog tag, threw it into the trash can and found a small box that needed an iris CAPTCHA to open.

The battle looked so familiar that an incredible idea gradually came to his mind when he heard that the folded willow stood still.

He Qin didn't give it to him, did he?

In a hurry, he opened the box three or two times and saw a delicate silver-white chip lying quietly on the black velvet, like a small gem condensed into dewdrops, reflecting the breathtaking light.

What is this. Huh?

There was also a letter, like an instruction manual, in which he pulled out the paper, closed the box and walked upstairs, reading as he walked.

"Why don't you come to me and want to wander around the world with my dog tag?"

The handwriting pen on the letter is like a dragon and a snake, and the first sentence makes a big red face in the first sentence. OK, there is no need to guess, it is he Qin that is right.

Why did he give himself this thing?

Wen Ziliu went on to look down.

"I know you have logged on the official website of n-star and logged on my account." He whispered, his eyes filled with an uncontrollable smile. "then I got your ip address, but I waited for you for several days, but I didn't see you coming."

The figure in the photo of the official website is gradually moving away from him, and back to Wen Ziliu is the chin he knows like a big boy.

". So, I gave you this chip. You open the chip groove of the dog tag and replace the original one. "

Smell fold willow curiously took out his dog tag, there is a chip filled on the edge of the groove, the chip is to ensure that players and Nova City connection pass, every time into the game warehouse need to scan this chip, why he Qin let him change?

He thought for a moment, went to the table and sat down, turned on Liu Tianxiong's unwanted cleaning instrument, and temporarily created a simple, dust-free environment. He carefully pulled out the black chip, which was as thin as a cicada wing, put it into the box, and then gently twisted the silver chip into the dog tag.

". After the change, log in to the player's official website, enter the personal account, and select the scan activation portal. "

He followed the steps to open the personal terminal, tentatively held up the dog tag before scanning the laser, heard only a clear click, the light screen showed the words "activated successfully", and then slowly floated a line of small print.

"Congratulations to the player [Wen Di] on becoming the 4697800 resident of the Horror Valley, do not walk at night, do not enter the lonely building, wish the game happy!"

I was dumbfounded when heard the broken willow.

He hurriedly opened the letter paper, looked down, and saw that he Qin continued to write: "…". Then log on to Nova City and meet me in the Valley of Terror. Don't you dare hide again, I'll kick your ass.

Also, we'll talk online about how you got that 3s fragment. "

There is no sign-off, so this letter is over.

Smelling the willow mouth twitching, he picked up his dog tag.

He never imagined that what he Qin gave him was the admission qualification of the Horror Valley!

There was a faint noise downstairs. It should be the Liu family who came back, heard the folded willow and thought about it, covered the box with the original chip, put the dog tag aside, and searched the social platform for chin, the id, to send a friend application.

"I am Wen Di."

The attic door was suddenly knocked. Wen Qian looked in and shouted uncomfortably, "fold willow, why don't you go down to dinner?"

Wen Ziliu pushed the box onto the table, turned off the buzzing cleaner, and turned his head to stare at her.

"I see."

The closer they were to his adulthood, Liu Jianzhang and Wen Qian kept a low profile towards him, as if they were trying not to quarrel between the two sides, because they knew that when he was 18, the vulnerable groups Protection Agency would come as promised and ask for what he deserved in order to smell the broken willow.

He thought about the money in his account going downstairs, and on the dinner table, Liu Tianxiong was ready to spit into his bowl several times, but he was stopped by Wen Qian with his eyes.

After dinner, he saw that Wen Qian had something to say to him that he didn't want to struggle with her more, so he consciously picked up the dishes and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes. Fortunately, the fully automatic dishwasher bought by Liu Jiaxin was very easy to use, and the sound of the water masked the voices around him. It also allowed him to let go of his thoughts for a while and leaned against the kitchen counter for a while.

The dishwasher stopped, heard the broken willow and put the dishes and chopsticks one by one, without looking at Wen Qian, went straight upstairs.

The door of the attic was half-open, and the sound of "rustling" came from inside. When heard that there was suspicion under the heart of the broken willow, suddenly had a bad premonition.

He pushed the door open and snapped, "what are you doing in my room?"

Liu Tianxiong trembled with fear, and the dog tag in his hand clanked on the table. He looked back and said, "Why, this is my house. I can do whatever I want!" Can't you come in? your little shabby room is so expensive? "

Smelling the folded willow gritting his teeth, he said, "this is the house your family traded my parents' money for. Put my things down and get out of here!"

Liu Tianxiong sneered and said, "I just saw you sneaking around. What's the name of your game id? smell the flute?" Who sent you something? It's still the admission qualification for Horror Valley. You're pretty good. "

Smelling the broken willow, he took a deep breath and knew that he was careless. He shouldn't have put the express carton in the dustbin in the living room. He repeated again: "I told you, it has nothing to do with you. Get out of here."

"you didn't activate the chip, did you?" Liu Tianxiong turned a deaf ear, took the dog tag that smelled the willow, and used his fingernails to dig the grooves next to him. "give it to me, I want to play."

Hearing the uncontrollable curse of the folded willow, he finally rushed up and punched him in the face: "I told you to put it down and get out of here, are you fucking deaf?"