Chapter 11

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Chapter 11: Major Upgrade, v2.0!

[Welcome to Paradise.]

“Ah—!”

Zhang Zhiyuan’s eyes flew open as he gasped like he had awoken from a nightmare. The writing on the screen gradually faded until it disappeared entirely.

What happened just now? He could only recall putting on the VR headset that had been delivered by mail before losing consciousness.

The sensation was difficult to describe; it felt as if all five senses had been cut off.

Suppressing the lingering dizziness within his mind, Zhang Zhiyuan looked around—what used to be his familiar office was now transformed into a dimly lit wooden room, and apart from him, there were five other people sitting inside.

Was this…the legendary Paradise?

“Damn…” Zhang Zhiyuan couldn’t help but let out a curse under his breath.

His training allowed him to maintain composure under any circumstances, but it seemed there were limits to such training, especially when confronted with something too shocking.

Only one of the four applications submitted by the organization was genuine, and the final Paradise only gave out one slot, which was unsurprising. But he never could have imagined that the so-called game would reach this level!

He could smell the rotting wood in the air and feel the friction of his coarse clothes against his skin. As for the people sitting across from him, they seemed to be real individuals, not characters created by data and algorithms.

Since when had virtual reality technology advanced to this point? Or perhaps…this wasn’t some illusion at all, but he was currently standing within a corner of the real world?

But the place where he’d put on the headset was clearly inside the bureau itself—if the organizers of Paradise were capable of stealing a living person away from the bureau without anyone noticing, their skills were no different from those of a true virtual reality.

It took Zhang Zhiyuan quite some time to suppress his shock before he planned to carefully observe his surroundings, only to find that the other five individuals also suddenly began moving.

Zhang Zhiyuan immediately raised his guard!

He pressed himself against the wall and prepared to fight—he would strike first if these foreign-looking individuals showed even the slightest hint of hostility, knocking them unconscious before figuring out what to do next.

“Ah…another body swap?” A plump man rubbed his neck, speaking fluent Russian, “But why am I feeling dizzy?”

“Who are you guys? Give your names,” another middle-aged man mumbled, “I’m Joe James.”

“Zhou Zhi.”

“Asahara Naruko.”

The rest of the people spoke up one after another.

Zhang Zhiyuan immediately understood that these were all participants from last time’s game! And the man who called himself Joe James was his target to keep an eye on.

“I am Anthony, I believe you should still remember me.” The second the Russian man woke up and shifted his gaze toward Zhang Zhiyuan and the person beside him, “It seems like there are two newcomers this time.”

At this point, the other party began speaking fluent Mandarin.

Realizing everyone’s gazes were fixed on him, Zhang Zhiyuan cleared his throat and calmly said, “Zhang Zhiyuan, aside from my name, is there anything else I need to explain?”

In fact, before participating in the game, the bureau had created a completely new identity for him, including family background and history. After all, while Paradise could verify his identity, it didn’t mean the same went for the other participants; proper camouflage was still necessary.

“You have the freedom to say or not. We’re only here for some fun, so there’s no need to complicate things,” Anthony waved his hand nonchalantly and turned to the last person, “So what about you? Are you also a newcomer?”

“He’s called Jason Taylor,” James volunteered himself, “A friend I brought along.”

“That’s right, I’m from England.” The man nodded continuously. “When Joe told me about this, I didn’t believe him at all and thought he was just talking nonsense because he was drunk. Who could’ve known that his words couldn’t even begin to capture one-in-a-millionth of this world… This game is truly magical!”

Zhang Zhiyuan agreed wholeheartedly.

He began to suspect that perhaps the police department had misunderstood the situation entirely—Joe James wasn’t organizing some secret gathering here; he simply enjoyed this game only the rich could partake in.

But it would be impossible to withdraw now, so he could only continue playing along with the script until the end.

“Does Paradise allow us to invite others?” Naruko asked curiously.

“I don’t know, but when I signed up, I filled out his information, and he also received a VR headset through mail,” James shrugged.

“Can this window open?” Jason Taylor walked around the small wooden cabin, stopping before a closed window. “Don’t get the wrong idea… I just want to know where we are right now.”

Everyone exchanged glances, no one voicing any objection.

In truth, everyone wanted to know as well.

Seeing this, Jason pushed on the window, which did not appear to be locked, and quickly opened a small gap. Light shone inside, illuminating the room lit by oil lamps with a few more rays.

He eagerly leaned forward.

“Good heavens… Jesus bless us! Outside is a city!” he couldn’t help but exclaim at almost exactly the same time.

“A city?” The rest of them crowded over as well.

Zhang Zhiyuan was no exception; when it was his turn to peer out, his reaction wasn’t much better than the last. Beneath the gray fog, a line of urban sprawl slowly unfurled before their eyes. Countless houses were arranged neatly like rows of scales, gradually ascending like a mountain range. Pedestrians and carriages traveled back and forth on the streets, making the area seem quite bustling and lively. Judging from architectural styles, this place seemed to differ greatly from 21st-century Earth, yet there weren’t many visible differences in human appearance. If all of this was merely a virtual simulation generated by the game’s program, what terrifying computational power would the mainframe need to possess?

“Could it be… that this city is the one we saw last time?” Zhou Zhi murmured.

“Where did you appear last time?” Zhang Zhiyuan asked immediately.

“On the sea,” Naruko replied. “We played pirates.”

“Pirates?” As someone who worked in law enforcement, Zhang Zhiyuan felt somewhat uncomfortable.

“That’s right, but just as soon as we landed, the patrol team wiped us out,” Naruko said mildly. “At the time, we could only see a poor village and distant towering city walls.”

“Then what roles do we play this time?” James rubbed his hands together, excitement already filling his tone. “Are we going to sneak into the city as terrifying criminals or rob a bank that’s been under surveillance for years?”

“Hey, can’t you think of something less vulgar?” The British man scoffed. “Please don’t bring reality into the game.”

“Haha, I’m just impatient.”

Zhang Zhiyuan’s expression remained unfazed, but he internally sneered at the thought—this guy was undoubtedly Wayne Jenkins, the notorious criminal who had been on the run for years and grew used to crime.It seemed like Jason knew Joe quite well; perhaps by extracting information from him, they could open up a new avenue to solve the case.

“That reminds me, where is our host?” Anthony asked. “Last time, he said it was only a trial run, so things will be different this time around.”

“I hope he gives us some more reliable weapons,” Naruko seemed to still harbor resentment over having to fight off the patrol team with a rusty weapon last time.

“Of course, I’m sure this time will not disappoint,” suddenly came a voice from behind everyone.

Everyone was startled and turned around in unison.

At some point, a man dressed in a red and black cloak with a Sichuan opera mask appeared in one corner of the room.

The host of the Paradise game! Zhang Zhiyuan immediately locked his gaze on him. Even though he knew it was just a virtual image, he still hoped to find some clues from the person’s appearance.

“Hurry up, what roles do we have this time?” James urged.

“Don’t worry, I want you all to first look at the upper left-hand corner—yes, where your eyes are now.” The host calmly instructed them.

Though suspicious, Zhang Zhiyuan followed the instructions and looked toward the upper left-hand corner.

Then he noticed that a pale white number slowly emerged before his eyes.

It read: 1000.