The next day, Xiang Chen woke up bright and early to the smell of delicious food. After settling in last night, he had called his family to let them know how the day had gone, keeping critical information at a minimum due to the NDA. Mother Xiang was naturally worried, so they talked for quite a bit. Thus, Xiang Chen slept rather deeply last night. 

 

Luckily, the living quarters also had small private bathrooms for each participant. Therefore, Xiang Chen was able to wash up and get ready with ease. 

 

“Good morning.” He greeted everyone as he sat down at the table for breakfast. Many delicious-looking dishes were placed on the table, and Xiang Chen felt his stomach grumble lightly with enthusiasm. However, he was also quite curious at who had the time and energy to make so much food so early in the morning?

 

“A chef came early in the morning to cook for us.” Yi Xiaozhi explained, throwing a friendly smile in Xiang Chen’s direction.

 

“En, thanks.” He replied politely as he began to eat. 

 

The only people at the table were Yi Xiaozhi, Chen Rong, Jiang You, and himself. It seemed that Lu Wei and Su Qing had left early to deal with some matters. At the end of last night, Manager Jia had informed them that he’d come up around noon to take them to the testing floor for the first game. 

 

It wasn’t long before everyone finished their breakfast and began to help clean up. The leftover food was put away, and then everyone did their own thing until it was time to meetup with Manager Jia. Eventually, Lu Wei and Su Qing returned.

 

The elevator bell dinged as the doors parted with Manager Jia greeting all of them. He wasted no time in bringing them up to the testing floor. The staff were preparing everything, and there was an undertone of excitement in the air. Xiang Chen also observed that there were cameras set up around the floor, obviously to record them for probably some sort of behind-the-scenes footage. 

 

“Please follow me.” A staff member led Xiang Chen into his own private room. There was a comfortable looking chair against the far wall, a table with a cup of water and a small mini fridge with beverages and snacks. A camera had been set up to face the chair, and there wasn’t much else there. “Please have a seat while we get you all setup, okay?”

 

Xiang Chen obediently sat down in the chair. It was actually quite comfy as he relaxed into it. 

 

“This is a button on your armchair that you can press. If for whatever reason, you are feeling unwell or want to exit the game, you can press this button, and we will come get you.” The staff member kindly explained. “We will also be hooking you up to a heart monitoring machine to keep track of your pulse.” 

 

Xiang Chen understood that this was for health reasons but also, it was probably an addition to highlight the scariest parts of the gameplay in the episodes they were going to release. He had to admit that it was an interesting feature. 

 

After the staff member hooked him up and explained a few things, another staff member came in with the Mirage VGD. Xiang Chen recognized it right away due to all the promotional advertisements he’d seen. It was shaped similarly to a riding helmet; however, the eyes were covered off while the lower face area was kept open to probably feel less suffocating. It was a simple and sleek design in a black color. 

 

“You’ll put the Mirage VGD on and press the button on the left side once. We’ve already preloaded the first game into the headset for you. As the device is booting up, it’ll do a neural scan to analyze your brain waves. Then, it’ll output data after connecting to your neural network, and then you’ll wake up in the game, okay?”

 

“Okay.” Xiang Chen nodded in understanding. It seemed simple enough.

 

The staff member smiled, feeling that the handsome young man was quite smart to be able to understand all that without any questions. “You nervous?” She asked.

 

He shook his head lightly. 

 

“Alright, good. You’re all set up. We won’t be in the room with you, but we’ll be monitoring the cameras to make sure everything’s ok. Don’t worry and have fun, alright?” 

 

Xiang Chen thanked the kind staff member with a smile, and she left shortly after dimming the lights in the room. Xiang Chen put on the Mirage VGD headset and leaned back comfortably in his chair. Following her instructions, he pressed the button on the left side and waited. 

 

There was a light humming noise of a machine, and Xiang Chen felt his scalp tingling as the Mirage VGD seemed to be doing things. Probably, this was the feeling of the neural scan she was talking about. 

 

His vision was still shrouded in darkness, but then, after awhile, he felt the nerves on the surface of his skin start to tingle. It was already quiet in the room, but any small sounds were silenced. He felt a familiar feeling, as though he was falling asleep. 

 

With his hearing muted and his vision obscured, Xiang Chen felt a strange feeling isolation. But it only lasted for a second before he blinked and found himself sitting in a classroom. 

 

[Welcome to Five Tales of Terror: The First Story. Please input player name.]

 

A holographic keyboard popped up, and Xiang Chen obediently typed in his name. 

 

[Is the player ‘Xiang Chen’ ready to start?]

 

Two options appeared before him.

 

[Yes/No]

 

Xiang Chen clicked on the Yes button. The holographic prompt disappeared, and a new one popped up in its place. 

 

[Game Starting… Story One: Thirteen Steps. Wishing the player success in surviving the terror!]

 

Xiang Chen found the prompt’s enthusiasm a little amusing. 

 

As the prompts disappeared once again, Xiang Chen was left alone in the empty classroom. He observed his surroundings curiously. It wasn’t a particularly creepy classroom. The desks were neat and tidy, and light filtered in through the many windows. It looked rather ordinary. 

 

He thought about the story’s title, ‘Thirteen Steps.’ It didn’t sound particularly scary either, but then again, this was level one. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

 

“Xiang Chen, what’re you doing here, sitting all alone ah?” Someone remarked as the door to the class flew open. Two students, one guy and one girl, walked in and made their way towards Xiang Chen. 

 

Xiang Chen was unsure of what to say. He wondered if there would be designated prompts for him, just like other video games, but nothing popped up. The other two students gave him a weird look. 

 

“Heeey, anybody home in there?” The female student playfully knocked on Xiang Chen’s head. 

 

Xiang Chen cleared his throat, giving them a smile. “Yeah, just thinking.” He glanced at the nametags sewed onto the students’ uniforms. 

 

The male student was named Bai Shen, and the female student was named Li Qianru. 

 

“Well, less thinking and more doing, man! Let’s get going! We promised to meet the others in front of the old school building, remember?” Bai Shen said. 

 

Li Qianru pulled out her phone to check her texts. “I just got a text that everyone is already there. They’re just waiting for us!”

 

“En, let’s go.” Xiang Chen answered as the three of them headed out.