It was already raining heavily by the time Liu Yichen left his workpce. The time was 9PM in the evening, so the streetlights that lined his usual path to the train station had long lit up along with the various signages hanging upon the neighboring establishments and storefronts. The multi-colored luminescence all melted into each other and reflected onto a wide puddle on the ground, giving off the feeling that he was peeking into a distant future or a parallel reality where technology was way more advanced.

  Today was truly a day filled with tears and suffering for him.

  He had been working for twenty hours straight with only three hours of sleep in between because their team cked people and now, he even had to endure the commute home while a storm was brewing. There weren’t many people on the streets. Perhaps he was the only person crazy enough to still be out at this moment. The local news had warned the public that this storm would be stronger than anything the city has ever seen in the previous years and had strongly advised everyone to stay home. Liu Yichen suspected that if any of the older people saw him walking about in the streets right now, they would surely shake their heads in disapproval and click their tongues while saying that this youngster must surely be trying to die.

  But Liu Yichen would argue that he had little choice in the matter. He worked in a small start-up company that paid an average sary to a small team of people. His team leader was close to running away due to the pressure from the upper management, and the company was still too small and too dependent on the clients’ money to risk any contract termination as a result of failed service level objectives. Even if the root cause was force majeure. So, in order to show their sincerity, commitment and resilience, Liu Yichen who was the youngest and had only been working in the company for around a year was chosen as the very unwilling sacrifice.

  In fact, Liu Yichen was someone determined to live for a long, long time. If he had any say in the matter, he would’ve been hiding away in his small 4th floor apartment five stations away already snuggled safely under his fluffy bnket. He was too afraid that he’d get struck by lightning on the way home or be decapitated by a flying roof or signboard. He had zero physical strength so if a tree fell on him, he would just y there and wait to die, and if he got stranded due to a fsh flood, he wouldn’t be able to survive because he didn’t know how to swim.

  For someone as fragile as him, would it make sense to run around outside in the middle of a storm?

  Of course not.

  Yes, yes, anyone could say whatever they wanted, but it was true that Liu Yichen was the biggest coward of all time.

  It must’ve been a mistake working for a company whose mission and vision were founded on sincerity, commitment, and resilience because Liu Yichen wasn’t sincere at all. His days were always filled with fake smiles and every single day he fought against the urge to run away and cry in a bathroom stall. But money makes the world go round, and he too was a sve for capitalism.

  He both hated and loved money.

  Sometimes, he wished that money just didn’t exist and he could just say “Hey ndlord, want to trade your monthly rent for a month’s worth of lettuces and pumpkins I grew in your backyard?”

  Speaking of rent...

  His rent was due in three days.

  This was a problem as just around a week ago, he had watched an empowering documentary that encouraged their viewers to take control of their own lives and to not let trivial things get in the way of achieving their happiness.

  At that time, Liu Yichen truly felt empowered, so as an act of defiance, he had purchased a new smartphone to repce his old one whose screen had shattered long ago after it had fallen on the floor inside the train during the morning rush and kissed the soles of multiple unknowing people’s feet. When the bills came in a few days ago, Liu Yichen immediately regretted his decision and knelt to apologize to the money god, even though he didn’t worship any in the first pce. But what’s done was done and he had paid valuable rent money for a valuable life lesson – that is to never proceed with any major decision while emotionally unstable. On the brighter side, his new phone’s screen was shiny and spotless, so he could now read the billing statements with ease.

  Liu Yichen’s yellow umbrel looked like a bright full moon gliding along a dark starless sky as he walked through the gloomy monochromatic streets.

  He had intentionally chosen to bring the yellow umbrel to remind himself of the happier days during these gloomy times. It worked for a while until he remembered that his colleague who was supposed to be at work with him today was also wearing a yellow shirt when he suddenly disappeared on him in the middle of the system maintenance preparation. He cimed that his wife had suddenly gone into bor and ran off. Liu Yichen almost pointed out that it was the third time his wife was giving birth this year, and that the children in the womb seemed to have a preference for coming out on important days like when a heavy system maintenance activity was due. But since the man was the son of a higher up, Liu Yichen bit his tongue and wished his poor wife a safe delivery.

  Of course he would.

  He was not only a coward, but he was also a little bit of a pushover.

  This colleague was vengeful and shameless enough to hold grudges and Liu Yichen wasn’t really interested in becoming anyone’s moving target board. He’d rather run away like a dog with his tail between his legs than to get caught up in bothersome things like struggles for power. If he had to choose between two p’s – pride or peace – he would choose P-E-A-C-E in capital letters any time.

  Liu Yichen squeezed on a cute and palm-sized stuffed yellow star keychain to relieve some of his stress as he raced through the rain.

  Once he was home, he’d be sure to take a big sniff from the big jar of menthol aromatherapy a friend brought back from a trip overseas.

  The wind started to pick up just around the time Liu Yichen passed by an old local appliance store. After almost rising up in the air like Mary Poppins, he finally decided to stop momentarily and take shelter under the building’s protruding roof. Behind him, rows of televisions of different brands and sizes were showcased behind a gss window. In the morning, these would usually be showing a bck screen, but today, each one was turned on and switched to a different channel and soft murmurs of sound blended into each other with the pouring rain.

  […typhoon has made its ndfall north of the country and has approached the city at 6pm in the evening. The local government is once again reminding everyone that all train stations will cease their operations at 12am midnight in anticipation of the….]

  [...and the local authorities have joined hands amidst the mysterious disappearances all over the world…]

  […SA has once again unched another project in an effort to discover the possibility of life existing outside Earth…]

  […of Finance described the arming rate of inftion in the country as well as its steady increase…]

  […I’m your fiancé! Don’t you remember me? She’s lying to you...]

  Liu Yichen frowned.

  The small television at the bottom was showing a drama from five years ago and the scenario followed the amnesiac-male-lead trope. The actors were good, but the storyline was poorly written. Liu Yichen had only been watching for ten minutes, but his expression didn’t look good. The male lead was supposed to be the son and heir of a rich company who was being torn between two women who both cimed to be his fiancé.

  Liu Yichen clearly remembered that just two minutes ago, the scene showed that he was staying in a VIP hospital room eating a bundle of grapes so big and shiny that it looked like the wine god grew it himself. Surely, he could afford to look into the truth with all his money and connections, but disappointingly, all he did was stand by on the sidelines and watch the first and second female lead fight over him.

  Liu Yichen wanted to go inside the screen, shake the male lead back and forth, and remind him that he was an amnesiac and not a brain-dead patient.

  This narcissistic jerk!

  The star-shaped stuffed keychain was deformed in his hands.

  At this point, let the two female leads end up together!

  Times are changing after all, and they both also had enough fighting spirit to show for it.

  Liu Yichen sighed and turned his back away from the screen. Perhaps today was such a tension-filled day that even something like this was enough to pull at his strings. Deep breaths, Liu Yichen – he reminded himself – before he finally decided to move again.

  [shh…tchh…remember…zzz…me…ksk…ha…tsss…Liu Yichen!]

  He had only walked a few steps when Liu Yichen stopped again. His head turned instinctively when he heard his name.

  “…That surprised me.”

  It turns out that the male lead he hated on with a passion was also called Liu Yichen. Liu Yichen turned around just in time to see the character Liu Yichen getting spped. Then, with impeccable timing as if everything was orchestrated, lightning and thunder roared in the distance, and all the screens simultaneously turned bck before turning into static. The audio became distorted as if someone was changing the channels quickly and the dispy couldn’t keep up. Liu Yichen jumped at the explosive sound of thunder, and the static sound from the appliance store did nothing but give him a weird feeling while he stood alone in front of a seemingly empty store in the middle of an empty street.

  “I…won’t buy from this store in the future,” he decred.

  Right now, the shop looked haunted. If he ever did, he worried that whatever appliance he bought might just come with an unwelcome bonus.

  Liu Yichen started walking again, but this time, with a little more speed in his steps. It was only when he arrived at his station ptform that he started seeing some sembnce of life. Another tall young man who seemed less distraught about the weather than Liu Yichen stood at the opposite ptform lightly bobbing his head to the music from his headphones from time to time. His red varsity jacket was wet and the edges of his loose pants were soggy and dirty as if he had waded through murky waters. Liu Yichen couldn’t see his expression under the white cap, but he could see him popping a pink bubble out of his mouth while chewing gum. He checked the time from the big rectangur LED clock hanging above the young man’s head before he took his own phone and wired headset out. He had just chosen a song in Findify when a notification from Vapor appeared at the top of his screen.

  [The World Is My Pyground has finished downloading.]

  “Huh, did I install this?” Liu Yichen stared at the notification apprehensively.

  Lately, simply clicking on game advertisements automatically triggered a download, so he would often find applications in his phone that he didn’t remember installing. Some applications also seemed quite shady so most of the time, he went straight to App Management and deleted them right away without taking a look. But this particur game had an interesting icon and title so he opened Vapor to check it out.

  Game: The World is My Pyground

  Publisher: Cosmos LLC

  Game Description:

  Tired of the everyday mundane life? Want to add some thrill and excitement to your boring days? Py The World Is My Pyground now! Transcend all limits and create an ideal world where all your dreams and desires can be made possible! An entire universe awaits!

  Tags: Highly immersive, High-definition graphics, Open-world, Exploration, Based on a True Story, Adaptation, RPG

  Pyer Entry Requirements:

  A certain level of awareness to multiple “realities” or feeling out of pce in your own world.A certain desire to escape your own reality.Pyer Exit Requirements:

  There is none.Liu Yichen raised an eyebrow at the tags.

  The game description seemed generic, and the entry and exit requirements which he assumed to be the instaltion and uninstaltion requirements on theme seemed a bit cheesy, but the combination of the tags “Based on a True Story”, “Adaptation”, and “RPG” intrigued him. He felt that the description wasn’t quite enough to describe what the game actually was about except for the fact that it was an open-world role pying game.

  So, just like that, he let himself fall for the game’s obvious marketing ploy and clicked on the “Open” button.

  Out of nowhere, he heard a strange robotic sound in his ear as his vision slowly faded into bck.

  […as such, your achievements…, but your…will be…in your official account via…to maximize user experience of the official version.]

  [Entry requirements have been satisfied. Account creation is being triggered. Initiating connection to Server Earth 2…]

  [Connection to Server Earth 2 has been established.]

  [Welcome to the World is My Pyground, esteemed pyer! My name is Cosmos Rover! Before you start exploring, please create your profile and avatar. At the moment, no skills or items that can alter your appearance in the game can be obtained or purchased from the C-Market, so please take your time in creating an avatar that will suit your tastes!]

  When Liu Yichen opened his eyes, he found himself in a boundless white space standing face to face with a talking vacuum. Liu Yichen’s first thought was that the twenty-hour shift had finally gotten to him, and he finally fainted at the station out of excessive overwork and fatigue.

  After all, how else could he suddenly appear in a space like this out of nowhere?

  That was the only expnation he could think of.

  He looked at the vacuum-looking thing on the floor and knelt down to scrutinize it. Even for a dream, this vacuum looked very high-tech and advanced. The human brain was truly amazing. It had somehow managed to take the details of the game he was looking at seconds before he passed out and integrated it into his dream.

  He knocked on the gray tin-like surface with the back of his index finger while he spoke in a thoughtful voice, “…I wonder if the suction is at the bottom? Doesn’t seem so efficient at getting to the corners.”

  It looked like a short cylinder with a rounded top.

  Suddenly, he heard the vacuum-like thing speak in a cross tone. Its body tilted up to look at him intimidatingly. It seemed to possess a lot of spunk despite its size that barely reached half past Liu Yichen’s bent figure, “Oi, human. I’ll say this again, but I’m not a vacuum! I’m a robot, a robot! I’m an exploration rover! Don’t you dare compare me with one of those lowly ugly-shaped things who’d stupidly run off the edge of a balcony and die. Also, I can get to corners just fine.” He said the st sentence with an air of pride.

  “…Oh, is that so? Sorry. You looked like a vacuum at first, but looking closely now, you do look like an exploration rover.”

  Rover stopped abruptly in the middle of his protest. He instinctively rolled his wheels a few centimeters backwards. Most of the people who found their way into the game either panicked or rejoiced, but this particur pyer was unnervingly calm.

  “…Ahem…ahem...insolent human, this…is your first time logging into this game, right?” Rover asked cautiously.

  Liu Yichen only returned a questioning look as if the answer was obvious. After all, this was the first time he had such a dream. In games like these, the user usually couldn’t leave the game until he finished the account setup process. He figured he might wake up the moment he logged out so Liu Yichen didn’t worry too much and just went with the flow.

  “So, how do I set up my profile?” He asked as he stood up.

  “…Just call the ‘system’ in your mind and you’ll see a screen pop up. You're the only one who can see the content of your own screen, so please keep that in mind, and don’t embarrass yourself when you join the other pyers in the common area ter.”

  Liu Yichen did as he was told and soon after, a blue system window appeared in front of him.

  [Account name: Not yet configured.]

  [Channel name: Not yet configured.]

  [Appearance: Not yet configured. Users may proceed with a body scan for convenience.]

  [Skills: Skill list is empty as of the moment.]

  ...

  He decided to just fill-in the necessary parts and opted for a body scan to setup his avatar.

  He clicked on the “Confirm” button at the bottom of the window without much thought.

  [Error. The details you have entered already exist. Please modify the details below in order to proceed. You may also select one from the list of suggestions below.]

  Liu Yichen frowned and selected the first option for each field.

  Although he knew it was unlikely that the field would generate any error messages, he also set his avatar to be randomly generated. He didn’t mind whatever. After all, he didn’t want to spend too much time on creating a profile account in a dream. He was in a hurry to logout, wake up, and go home. If only he knew that this was in fact real, he would’ve put in more effort.

  “I’m done,” he decred.

  “…! That…was fast,” Rover peered at him from below with a doubtful look. He asked for a second time, “Are you very, very, very, very certain that you’re done?”

  Rover had welcomed many pyers, and Liu Yichen beat the record for the fastest account creation ever. Most people spent the longest during the avatar creation – they did something as trivial as adding a few centimeters to their height or simple cosmetic modifications such as smoothing out skin imperfections while others even made major physical changes to the point that they became unrecognizable. Pyers were rarely ever so contented when it came to aesthetics.

  This human was really a strange one.

  “You can’t change it again once you start the game, you know? Even with points,” He warned.

  Liu Yichen gave an affirmative. Seeing the easy expression on his face, Rover reluctantly accepted his account details submission. The system window disappeared from Liu Yichen’s view.

  “Is that all?” Liu Yichen asked.

  “As far as setting up your initial account, yes, that is all.”

  Liu Yichen’s face brightened, “Then, how do I log out?”

  When Rover heard this, he paused abruptly. His next words instantly turned the theme of Liu Yichen’s dream from fantasy into horror.

  “Logout? What do you mean? Didn’t you read the exit requirements? You can’t log out. Once you’ve entered the game, there’s no way of leaving. Even when you think you’ve escaped the scenario, you’ll always be part of the scenario, Liu Yichen.”

  Rover’s LED panels started alternating erratically between red and green. Suddenly, the small robot looked quite sinister. Liu Yichen knew this was all a dream, but hearing a figment of his own imagination speak this way was quite jarring. It was his dream after all, but somehow, he couldn’t shake the feeling that things weren’t going his way at all.

  “…What scenario?” Liu Yichen asked. His voice finally showed a hint of panic.

  In that instant, the ground around Liu Yichen began to light up. He heard a whirring sound very much simir to the sound of a CPU powering on. A white circur pattern appeared with him stuck in the middle. Liu Yichen frantically reached his hand out, but it was repelled as if he was encased within walls of invisible gss. He only had enough time to hear Rover’s st sentence before his hearing became distant like he was sitting inside a moving vehicle.

  “Well then, pyer Ban Yue, please do your best at your first scenario. It would be a shame if you die so quickly after all.”

  Cosmos Rover’s voice was devoid of emotion this time unlike his initial greeting. His voice became like that of a normal non-sentient robot – emotionless and pre-programmed.

  He didn’t know it was possible in a dream, but for the second time today, Liu Yichen bcked out.